“So realize that the LORD your God is the true God, the faithful God who keeps covenant faithfully with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,”
This verse is given to the Isaelites when they are a very numerous, but if you look back at verse 7, you will see that this covenant was given to them before they became so numerous. In fact, it was originally given to one man – Abraham.
This verse is also part of the second commandment (in what we call the ten commandments). Most people only think of the ten commandments as the “thou shalt nots and the thou shalts”. Do you realize that most of the “ten commandments” come with further explanation. Go back to Dt. 5 and see for yourself. There are only three commandments that do not go on further than what we know as the commandments. And those are what the world today calls the “big ones”. Don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, and don’t steal. And the middle one there is no real big deal in most of America today.
My social media friend quoted the NIV, but here I quoted the same verse from the NET. Notice in the NIV, the verse ends in a period, but the NET ends with a comma. Why is that? Because the thought goes on further into verse 10. Before I deal with the seondary thought, I want point out that where the NIV says the word “know”, the NET uses the word “realize”. I like the word realize better. One can get the idea of “make it real”. This is indicative that nearly everyone believed in higher beings, but that the LORD is the one true God as the focus verse states. The complete thought is also that for those that hate, ignore, disobey the one true God will be dealt with personally and fully. When stated in the second commandment in Dt. 5, those to be punished are mentioned first, not second as here in chapter 7.