Deuteronomy 11:13-14 And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, that I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.

Another way of translating how the start of the second part of the Hebrew confession of faith, the Shema, — “vehayah im shamoa tishmau” — is “if you will earnestly heed the commandments I give you this day” (Deuteronomy 11:13). The words are really important in this passage. It raised four points for me. Let’s start with the obvious instructional elements and then get into a couple of really detailed “language” issues.

The first thing is that it’s not enough just to listen, or hear, or hearken. The force of the word is “pay attention!”. And pay attention doesn’t just mean concentrate. It means “hear and obey”. It’s exactly what James was talking about:

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. (James 1:22)

The second thing Is that it’s good to pay attention — but you have to pay attention diligently. It can’t be an occasional attention, it must be consistent and committed. It’s another point that James makes:

Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. (James 4:17)

The third point is the first of the “language” issues.  Perhaps the most important word in this passage is one of the smallest! “If”. The issue is about choice. It might be argued that, in both Jewish and Christian faiths, choice is the big issue. The space between God’s will and man’s will is the space where salvation and damnation are decided. For the Jews of Moses’s day it was the space between blessing and cursing. We need to choose to hear and obey, of our own free will.

The last point is the second “word” issue. Did you know ancient Hebrew doesn’t contain a word that strictly means “obey”? Modern Hebrew does — but it’s an Aramaic loan word. In the Old Testament, “obey” is usually a translation of “shema” which might well be translated “to hear intelligently”. 

So putting it all together, make your mind up to listen carefully to God’s instructions and do what He says, and be blessed … or don’t, and be prepared to be cursed.

It’s not that complicated is it?