Where would you go in the Bible to find a complete curriculum for the training of children? Most parents would cite this passage: “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up” (Deuteronomy 6:4-7). What a most excellent choice of verses for parents!
So what are “these words” to which Moses refers in verse six? It would be easy to simply look back to verses four and five for the answer. Doing so yields three “words”: (1) “The Lord is our God.” (2) “The Lord is one.” And, (3) “You shall love the Lord your God . . . .” According to this identification, these three declarations constitute the specific subject matter for the child-training process outlined in verse seven. Accordingly, parents would make “the three truths” the topic of conversation with their children 24/7.
It is my studied opinion that while these three “words” (in Deuteronomy 6:4-5) are essential child-training curriculum, they are but a part of a much larger whole. Moses had something far more expansive in mind when he referred to “these words.” Let’s pull back for the big picture.
Moses delivered four messages east of Jordan.
The Book of Deuteronomy is largely a series of four sermon manuscripts. (Click here for a full sized downloadable copy of the chart.) According to Deuteronomy 1:1-2, the book records what Moses said to Israel in the Jordan rift (“the Arabah”), in the last month of their wilderness wanderings. Once the final sermon concludes, the last four chapters of Deuteronomy chronicle events in the closing days of Moses’ ministry before God brought him home.
In the first sermon (Deuteronomy 1:5-4:43), Moses begins by giving a narrative account of the 40 years of grace culminating in Israel’s arrival at the eastern border of the Promised Land. Then, Moses zeroes in on Israel’s immediate need: “Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I am teaching you to perform, so that you may live and go in and take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you” (Deuteronomy 4:1). Israel is about to cross the Jordan under the guidance of a new leader. They need critical instruction about how to prevail in the “new normal” awaiting them on the other side. God, through Moses, is calling His people to live by the Law. This will prove critical to their future in the land.
The central theme in all four messages concerns loving God by keeping His commandments.
The objective in the three sermons that follow the first are all the same. Sermon two begins: “Then Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: ‘Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I am speaking today in your hearing, that you may learn them and observe them carefully’” (Deuteronomy 5:1). Sermon three is similar: “Then Moses and the elders of Israel charged the people, saying, 'Keep all the commandments which I command you today'” (Deuteronomy 27:1).
Sermon four begins: “These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He had made with them at Horeb” (Deuteronomy 29:1). This fourth message includes a powerful altar call, a closing appeal for Israel to enter into a covenant with God. Here are two key excerpts: “For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach” (Deuteronomy 30:11). “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it” (Deuteronomy 30:15–16).
In all four messages, God, through Moses, is calling Israel to love Him alone, to express that love by keeping His commandments, and to thereby enjoy His blessing. Did you notice the common terms defining how Israel’s actions should be aligned, i.e., according to God’s “statutes,” “judgments,” “ordinances,” “commandments,” “covenant,” and “ways?” The majority of the sermon content in Deuteronomy lists and explains these statutes and commandments. Moses charges Israel to understand, to remember, and then to do all that God expects of them as they enter the land. This concern is the center around which all else in Deuteronomy orbits.
“These words” refers to this central message of Deuteronomy.
In Deuteronomy 6:6, what are “these words” which Moses calls parents to teach their children? Moses’ focus for all four sermons in Deuteronomy is key to answering this question. “These words” are the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments of the Law of Moses. For convenience, we will simply refer to these words as “The Book of the Law,” the same title used by Moses in Deuteronomy (29:21; 30:10; 31:26) and used by God Himself when He instructed Joshua, “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success” (Joshua 1:8).
At the center of The Book of the Law is a single commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5). From this single command flow another Ten Commandments as outlined in Deuteronomy 5:6-21. And from these ten flow a host of statutes and judgments that are suited to specific circumstances and that clarify the implications of the Ten Commandments.
Someone might object, “Well, if this is what Moses intended in Deuteronomy 6:6, why didn’t he just say so?” He did! We need simply read our often quoted passage in context: “Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the Lord your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it, so that you and your son and your grandson might fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:1–9).
Did you notice the reference to “the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments” in verse one? Did you notice the phrase, “all His statutes and His commandments,” in verse two. These phrases specify what Moses calls “these words” a few verses later. If you isolate Deuteronomy 6:4-9 from its context you will miss this clear connection. But once you read verses 1-9 together, the connection is obvious. Notice, too, that “your son and your grandson” are explicitly identified (in verse two) as part of the target audience for “the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments.” The Book of the Law is a powerful parenting tool.
One additional piece of evidence demonstrates that Moses had something big in mind when he instructed parents to teach their children “these words.” Although we know the second book of the Old Testament by the title, “Deuteronomy,” it is commonly known by it’s original title, “elleh haddebarim,” in the Hebrew Bible. This title is drawn from the first two words of the book and can be translated, “These are the words.” If someone were to direct – “Teach your children elleh haddebarim!” – he would be calling parents to teach their children “these words” of Moses as found in Deuteronomy. Not surprisingly, these are the precise two terms (eleh + dabar) found in Deuteronomy 6:6: “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children . . .” (ESV). Everything Moses taught to the children of Israel, he instructs parents to diligently teach to their children.
Deuteronomy 6 calls parents to train their children in how to use the ultimate moral compass.
Moses desires Israel to learn from and live by the Book of the Law. Their efforts to transmit this legacy across generations will prove critical to their success in the new land. Hence, Moses calls parents to impart to their children a love for God alone and a desire to express that love by keeping His commandments. He calls parents to pursue this calling as a full-time job, to teach these things during times of both repose and labor, from the moment they first awake ‘til they fall asleep at the end of the day. The Book of the Law is everyman’s curriculum for the training of children 24/7.
In Psalm 78, Asaph recounts a sad and sober tale of Israel’s failure. One charge against God’s people lies in their refusal to use the Law according to its child-training purpose: “For He established a testimony in Jacob And appointed a law in Israel, Which He commanded our fathers That they should teach them to their children, That the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, That they may arise and tell them to their children, That they should put their confidence in God And not forget the works of God, But keep His commandments” (Psalm 78:5–7). Herein lies the signal failure of fathers to teach their children the Book of the Law and to train them in how to live accordingly.
The Book of the Law, by which I mean the one commandment, plus the Ten Commandments that flesh out the one, plus the many statutes and judgments that help us measure the scale and scope of the ten, were given to Israel as a child training curriculum.
On balance, the law was not given solely for the purpose of training children. For example, here is a passage from Deuteronomy which underscores the Law’s purpose as an evangelistic tool: “So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people’” (Deuteronomy 4:6). God intended Israel to order her society according to His Law and thereby provoke positive interest among her neighbors. But, we should not allow our understanding of these other uses for the Law to diminish our appreciation of the Law as a tool for the training of children.
Based on comments in this and a previous post, we can affirm that both The Book of the Law and The Book of Proverbs were written for parents. Proverbs was written expressly as curriculum that teaches children how to walk wisely. The Book of the Law was not written solely for parents. But it provides curriculum that trains children in ways to express love for God by obeying His commandments. Any effort to understand what God says parents should do will draw extensively from Proverbs and The Book of the Law. Any “parenting guide” that doesn’t is incomplete.
Comments