“For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him;”
My Notes
What Does Deuteronomy 11:22 Mean?
"If ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him." Moses describes obedience with four verbs: keep (guard), do (perform), love (desire), walk (live), and cleave (cling). The obedience isn't one-dimensional. It operates at every level: intellectual (keep), behavioral (do), emotional (love), directional (walk), and relational (cleave).
The word "diligently" (shamor tishmerun — guarding you shall guard) uses the emphatic infinitive: not casual compliance but intensive, deliberate, watchful obedience. The diligence is the guarding — you protect the commandments the way a sentinel protects a post. Attentively. Constantly. Without relaxation.
The five-verb sequence builds from external to internal: keeping is outward (guarding the commands). Doing is active (performing them). Loving is emotional (desiring the God behind them). Walking is habitual (living the commands as lifestyle). Cleaving is intimate (clinging to God personally). The obedience journey moves from the perimeter to the center.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Where are you in the five-verb sequence — keep, do, love, walk, or cleave?
- 2.What does it look like to move from external obedience to internal intimacy?
- 3.Which transition is hardest for you — from keeping to doing, doing to loving, walking to cleaving?
- 4.What would 'diligently' — sentinel-level watchfulness — look like in your spiritual practice?
Devotional
Keep. Do. Love. Walk. Cleave. Five verbs that describe complete obedience — not just behavioral compliance but a whole-life orientation toward God that moves from external to internal, from action to intimacy.
The sequence is a progression: keeping (guarding the commands in your mind) leads to doing (performing them with your hands) which leads to loving (desiring the God behind them with your heart) which leads to walking (living them as your daily path) which leads to cleaving (clinging to God with your entire being). Each verb takes you deeper into relationship.
You can keep without doing (know the commands without obeying). You can do without loving (obey without desire). You can love without walking (feel affection without consistent lifestyle). You can walk without cleaving (live rightly without intimate attachment). Each level without the next is incomplete. All five together constitute the diligent obedience Moses describes.
The 'diligently' — guarding you shall guard — means the obedience requires constant attention. Not autopilot. Not habit without awareness. Active, deliberate, sentinel-level watchfulness over the commandments. The keeping is a guarding — the way a soldier guards something precious.
Where are you in the five-verb sequence? Are you keeping (knowing) without doing? Doing without loving? Walking without cleaving? The sequence invites you to move inward — from the outermost expression (guarding) to the innermost experience (clinging). Each verb deeper. Each step closer.
The destination is cleaving. Everything before it is the road to the embrace.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
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Cross References
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