Deuteronomy 30:20:  “That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, [and] that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he [is] thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

There is a very curious phrase in this verse, He is your life.  Why must we love the Lord God, why must we obey his voice and cleave to Him?  Because He is our life.   Not only is he our life, but He is also our length of days.  The word in Hebrew for length is ‘orek which is a physical length of time.  In other words He is the one who decides how long we will live on this planet.

Isaiah 38:5: “Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.”  God added 15 years to Hezekiah’s life.  It is believed that Hezekiah died at the age of  51 or 52.  Thus, it was God’s plan that he would that would live to be only 36 or 37.   We are told to honor our mothers and fathers that our days may be long on the earth Exodus 20:12.  Again the length of days are in the control of God yet it appears God offers some flexibility.  In this case, however, God not only lengthened the days of Hezekiah He told him when he would die, that is in fifteen years.  How would you like that hanging over your head.  Every year that goes by you know you are one year closer to that dead end.  I mean we all have a dead end but knowing when it is makes you feel like a condemned man.  If I live as long as my parents it would mean I would have another twenty years on this planet.  But I have no guarantees.   It is that old parlor game people like to play, would you like to know when you are going to die?  It is always good for hearty discussion, but not for this discussion.

But we overlook the fact that God determines the length of stay on this earth because He is our life.  The word for life is chayiy.  Often you hear the word chaim which is life in a plural form.  The sages teach that chayiy is found in a plural form to express both our earthly existence and our heavenly existence.  The word found in Deuteronomy 30:20 which expresses God as our life is the word chiyika which is in a singular form. Hence this is a reference to our physical life.  God is our physical life. Our lives belong to Him.  The Lord gives and the Lord takes away Job 1:21.

It then stands to reason that if God is our life then we should love Him, serve Him and cling to Him.  In doing that then life has meaning and purpose because He provides that meaning and purpose.  The word love in the verse is ‘ahav which is a love of passion and caring.  To love God is to care what He wants to accomplish, it is wanting to do whatever it takes to bring Him pleasure.  To harken to His voice is a tough one because we do not hear an audible voice.  The word voice is qol which is an audible sound. Samson Hirsch the 19^th Century linguist describes qol as hearing thoughts.   Do we really hear God’s thoughts out loud?  Thoughts are vibrations striking against the atmosphere.  That is why there is no sound in outer space. God has no vocal causing our lungs to breathe, our diaphragm to send the air to our vocal chords causing vibrations that hit our tongue to form a certain sound that strikes against the atmosphere and we hear words. God has no vocal chords, lungs, diaphragm or tongue  God’s thoughts hit directly with our thoughts. We hear His thoughts as they enter out thoughts.  But only when our minds are set on him and not distracted by other thoughts.

A wife’s biggest complaint to her husband is often, “You are not listening to me.”  Sure the old boy is listening to her, but he is filled with so many other thoughts that he is not really hearing her, he is thinking of all the opposing arguments and the reason he is disagreeing with her. He is not harkening to her voice.  He is too busy thinking of how he disagrees.  The word harken is shama which is to hear and obey or listen. If a man really listens to his wife he will not think of all the reasons she is wrong but he will listen and seek to understand why she feels the way she feels and try to understand how he can protect her heart so whatever it is that he is doing  won’t hurt her and that he can somehow please her even if it means giving up what he wants.  So too with God, we come to God with so many things that we want, so many directions that we want our lives to go that we never hear what God is saying. We never stop to think if what we want will please God.  If we love God then we will try to understand if our wants are pleasing to God or not.  Not if it satisfies us, but if it will bring pleasure to God.  Even if it means giving up what we want.

God extended Hezekiah’s life for only one reason, his repentance.  His desire to please God meant that there were things Hezekiah would do that would bring pleasure to God in the next 15 years.

The next thing we are told to do that will lengthen our days is that we cleave to him.  That is the word devekut which I have spoken of so much and my favorite rendering for that word is a hug.

Thus, if we love God, harken to his voice, that is follow what will please Him and cleave or give Him a hug He will lengthen our days.

But as for me, I can love God, harken to His voice and Hug him so much better in heaven than in this world. If I have twenty years or twenty hours left it doesn’t matter, for He is my life and whether it is here on earth or in heaven I can still love Him, hear His voice and hug Him.  So I do this loving, harkening, and hugging  not to gain more days, but simply because that is what my life is all about.