וה' האמירך היום, and the Lord has distinguished you today, etc.⁠" The words" להיות לו לעם סגולה, "to be for Him a precious nation,⁠" mean that even if some other nation were to come along and achieve a moral standard superior to that of the Israelites we would not lose the status of being God's chosen people. This is the deeper meaning of the word סגלה, "precious, treasured.⁠" כאשר דבר לך, "as He has said to you,⁠" immediately prior to the revelation at Mount Sinai (Exodus 15,5) when God said: "you will be unto Me more precious than all the nations.⁠"

Alternatively, this is intended as reassurance to the Jewish people that although there would be stormy periods in their relationship with God, periods during which God would be very angry at them, God would never exchange them for another nation. The words כאשר דבר לך have to be understood as in Berachot 7 where the meaning of Exodus 33,16: ונפלינו אני ועמך, "and I (Moses) and Your people will be distinguished" is discussed. This was a request by Moses that God not allow His Presence to rest on any other nation and not to grant them prophets. We have explained in our book Chefetz Hashem that what Moses meant was that even if another nation were to qualify for such favourite treatment by God on the basis of its moral and ethical achievements, whereas at that same time the Israelites would be habitually violating the Torah precepts, God should not distinguish such a nation by making it His favourite. At that time God promised Moses that the Israelites would retain their status of being special to God.

ולשמר כל מצותיו "and to observe all His commandments.⁠" Seeing that this is a commitment undertaken by Israel vis-a-vis God why does the Torah write such a line in a verse which portrays God's commitment to Israel?

Perhaps the glory of Israel consists in the fact that God has seen fit to "give" this nation all His laws, something He had not seen fit to do for any nation or individual during the 2,000 years of mankind's existence prior to God's revelation at Mount Sinai. God had only given a few laws to Adam and Noach, holding back the vast majority of them until He revealed them to Israel. We must remember that the principal function of these commandments is to act as a barrier against the various abominations in our universe. Observing these commandments acts like inoculation against the danger of becoming polluted by these various spiritually negative influences which abound all around us.

A second explanation for the strange phenomenon of God being described as "keeping all His commandments,⁠" maybe that it is an assurance that God will strengthen all the forces which are active to promote the keeping of His commandments. We have to understand this verse as a gentle reminder that even with the best will in the world we would not be able to observe all of God's commandments unless we received a heavenly assist.

A third meaning may be based on Kohelet 8,5: "he who keeps the commandments will know no evil;⁠" our sages in Pesachim 8 derive from that verse that anyone engaged in the performance of a commandment either himself or even as a delegate for someone else, will not come to harm while so engaged. The word ישמר in our verse then means that God will watch over people engaged in מצוה-performance.

A fourth meaning may be that our verse speaks of a dimension which even Moses himself had not attained, even though he too was part of this nation called עם סגולה. Our sages in Sotah 14, commenting on Moses' prayer to be allowed to enter the Holy Land, ask why Moses was so anxious to do this. Did he perhaps want to taste the produce of that land? They answer that what motivated Moses to make this request was his desire to be allowed to fulfill all the commandmnets which can only be fulfilled on the soil of that land, not in the desert or anywhere else for that matter. God's promise here refers to His granting the Israelites the opportunity to fulfill all the commandments, i.e. to let them live in the Holy Land. This is why the Torah emphasized the word היום when speaking about God's undertaking vis-a-vis Israel. He referred to the time when entry to the Holy land had become imminent. This was a distinction which had been denied even to Moses.

When you examine the two verses 17 and 18 respectively you will find that between them they describe six virtues which Israel excels in, and 6 six distinctions God bestows on the Jewish people. 1) "to be your God;⁠" 2) to walk in His paths; 3) to observe His statutes; 4) to observe His commandments; 5) to observe His social laws; 6) to hearken to His voice. (18) is God's response where He bestows six distinctions upon us. 1) to be His precious people; 2) to protect us when performing all His commandments. 3-5) to make Israel supreme over all the nations; to be famous and a glorious example amongst all the nations through the performance of laws given to us exclusively by God; 6) to be a holy nation, an achievement which is due to Torah-observance. The verse concludes with כאשר דבר לך, "as He said to you" (in Exodus 19,6) where the Torah wrote: "these are the words you are to say to the children of Israel.⁠"