Deuteronomy 6 (a very famous chapter of scripture) focuses on the importance of absorbing the faith into our hearts and integrating it into our lives so that it may be transmitted to the next generation.
God's interest is in blessing His people (vs. 1-3). If they keep these commandments and fear the Lord, their days will be long, it will go well with them, and they will multiply in the Promised Land.
Verse 4 is known in Judaism as the Shema. "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God. The Lord is one!" It is a calling to the nation to practice passionate monotheism - to put God, and God alone, first and foremost in our lives. Moses goes on to say in verse 5 (which is later quoted by Jesus), "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." Love is the center of our relationship with God, and the basis of our faithful obedience to His Law.
Moses stresses how the people are to immerse themselves in the Law. The commandments and statutes are to be absorbed in their hearts, "kept," "recited," "bound," "fixed," and "written" (vs. 6-9). Many Jews throughout history have done this literally, cherishing the Torah and making physical emblems of the Law to keep around them. The centrality of the Law in Jews'relationship with God cannot be overstated.
With the Law thus integrated into their lives, their faith becomes not something that is "Sabbath only," but wholly a part of who they are. This will enable them to seamlessly pass on that faith to successive generations. Verses 20-25 again make the point that the past is a guide for the future, that the Israelites should use their history, especially the Exodus, as a topic of teaching to their children so that the faith may be transmitted.
Unfortunately, as we will see in the book of Judges, Moses' instructions were not taken to heart and future generations turned away from the Lord, resulting in great misery for the people.
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