(Deuteronomy 10:12-13) This immediately takes me to Micah 6:8, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” The closest translation to the original Hebrew goes like this, “He has declared to you, man, what is good; and what does Jehovah require of you, but to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”

Doing the same thing for Deuteronomy 10:12-13, we see, “And now, Israel, what has Jehovah your God asked of you, except to fear Jehovah your God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve Jehovah your God with all your heart, and with all your soul; to keep the commands of Jehovah, and His statues which I am commanding you today, for your good.”

How do these two verses, which both tell us what God requires of mankind, compare? The requirements from the Deuteronomy verses are like the first four of the Ten Commandments; they are all focused on our relationship with God. If you take the first Commandment, have no other gods before Him, the four points that come from the Deuteronomy verse address what that looks like:

• If you fear the LORD your God, you will have no other gods before Him,
• If you walk in all His ways and love Him, you will have no other gods before Him,
• If you serve Him with all your heart and soul, you will have no other gods before Him,
• If you keep His commands and statutes, you will have no other gods before him.

The requirements of Micah 6:8 are more of a progressive set of actions like we see in the Beatitudes. It progresses from me to those around me, to God.

• To act justly, or to do justice, is a command for you to focus on your requirement,
• To love kindness or mercy is how you act to those around you, to love well,
• To walk humbly with your God goes back to Deuteronomy 10:12-13, how we love God.

The obvious landing spot is Matthew 22:34-40, “But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together. One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

These two ‘requirement’ verses point to this teaching. As a matter of fact, the passage in Deuteronomy is from the law, and the passage from Micah is from the prophets.