“Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”
~ Deuteronomy 6:7
Hi James and Ellen,
Is your dad teaching you Who God is? Is your dad teaching you how God glorifies Himself through you? Is your dad teaching you what God’s Word – the Bible, says? Does your dad write verses on phylacteries which he ties to his forehead and left arm? Does your dad write portions of God’s Word – the Bible, on papyrus which he puts in a mezuzot – which is a small wooden box or metal container, that he hangs from the doorframe of your house? Is your Heavenly Dad teaching you Who He is? Is your Heavenly Dad teaching you how He glorifies Himself through you? Is your Heavenly Dad teaching you what He had guys several thousands of years ago write down over a couple of thousand years in a harmonious way a hodgepodge of sixty-six books, letters, songs and poems? Is your dad telling you what kind of life that you will have if you obediently listen to him and do what he tells you to do? Is your Heavenly Dad telling you what kind of life that you will have if you obediently listen to Him and do what He tells you to do? What to your dad is the most important decision that you will ever make? What to your Heavenly Dad is the most important decision that you will ever make? Is your earthly dad on the same page with your Heavenly Dad or is your Heavenly Dad on a very different page than the page that your earthly dad is on?
What do you think that life 3400 years or so ago was like for kids? Do you think that 3400 years or so ago kids had to go to school? How do you think that 3400 years or so ago kids were taught or learned things? What do you think that life 3400 years or so ago was like for a kid or kids whose dad was one of God’s specially chosen guys – an Israelite people group’s guy? God 3450 years or so ago induced His specially chosen guys and gals to pack up their belongings, gather together their animals and begin an exodus with their kids from Egypt to a land called Canaan. The land of Canaan was the land that God had promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – who are the patriarchs of His special chosen guys and gals – the Israelite people group’s guys and gals, that their extended families would always have to live in as their very own land. God made sure that His specially chosen guys and gals would never forget the things that He said to them through Moses. God – as God the Spirit, had Moses record in books everything that He said through him to His specially chosen guys and gals. One of the books that Moses recorded what God the Spirit told him to tell God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids became known as Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy means the second giving of the law. Moses scribed his Deuteronomy Book not long before God took Moses from planet Earth to live with Him in heaven. Deuteronomy 6 lists all the things that God said that He would do for His specially chosen guys and gals – the Israelite people group’s guys and gals, if they feared Him, served Him and did not worship the Baals or false gods that were worshipped by the guys and gals who were living in the land of Canaan. God had Moses tell His specially chosen guys and gals that He was a jealous God Who would be angry with them if they did not do what He was telling them to do. God had Moses tell His specially chosen guys and gals that He would have to destroy them if they did not do what He was telling them to do. God had Moses tell His specially chosen guys and gals to not test Him by being disobedient to what He was telling them to do and not to do.
God specifically told the Israelite people group’s dads to make sure that their kids always knew how to live His laws in and through their lives. Verse 7 says that God wanted the dads among His specially chosen guys and gals to “Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” Your grandpaa’s dad and ma made sure that their kids knew while they were growing up about God’s Word. Your grandpaa’s ma always read something from the Bible after a meal. Your grandpaa’s dad and ma made sure that their kids were taught the Bible. Your grandpaa went from the second grade through the eighth grade at the Christian School that was in Volga, South Dakota that was built and staffed by the church – the Volga Christian Reformed Church, where your grandpaa’s dad and ma were members. Your grandpaa went to Sunday School. Your grandpaa had to go to catechism classes. Your grandpaa was taught by his ma to pray right before he went to bed each night. Your grandpaa is making it sound like it was your grandpaa’s ma who was the one who was always teaching your grandpaa and the other five kids who were in your grandpaa’s family and it was your grandpaa’s ma who was the one who was always setting a really good example for your grandpaa and for the other five kids in your grandpaa’s family but it was obvious to your grandpaa that it was also really important to your grandpaa’s dad that the Bible was always read, that God was always talked to before and after every meal and that your grandpaa and the other five kids in your grandpaa’s family prayed a prayer before they went to bed. Right before God took Moses to heaven to be with Him, God had Moses remind His specially chosen guys and gals – the Israelite people group’s guys and gals, that He was giving them the land to always to have to live in as their very own land if . . . that had flourishing cities which they did not have to build, houses that were filled with all kinds of food that they did not have to prepare, wells that they did not have to dig, vineyards and olive groves that they did not have to plant and . . . your grandpaa knows that how your grandpaa’s dad as an earthly father lived his life as his Heavenly Dad glorified Himself through him was a really great model for your grandpaa. Your grandpaa knows that it takes time for an earthly dad to teach his kid or kids about his Heavenly Dad but it is something that he must do.
Deuteronomy 6 (359)