Deuteronomy 6:7

6:6-16 Here are means for maintaining and keeping up religion in our hearts and houses. 1. Meditation. God's words must be laid up in our hearts, that our thoughts may be daily employed about them. 2. The religious education of children. Often repeat these things to them. Be careful and exact in teaching thy children. Teach these truths to all who are any way under thy care. 3. Pious discourse. Thou shalt talk of these things with due reverence and seriousness, for the benefit not only of thy children, but of thy servants, thy friends and companions. Take all occasions to discourse with those about thee, not of matters of doubtful disputation, but of the plain truths and laws of God, and the things that belong to our peace. 4. Frequent reading of the word. God appointed them to write sentences of the law upon their walls, and in scrolls of parchment to be worn about their wrists. This seems to have been binding in the letter of it to the Jews, as it is to us in the intent of it; which is, that we should by all means make the word of God familiar to us; that we may have it ready to use upon all occasions, to restrain us from sin, and direct us in duty. We must never be ashamed to own our religion, nor to own ourselves under its check and government. Here is a caution not to forget God in a day of prosperity and plenty. When they came easily by the gift, they would be apt to grow secure, and unmindful of the Giver.

Therefore be careful, when thou liest safe and soft, lest thou forget the Lord. When the world smiles, we are apt to make court to it, and expect our happiness in it, and so we forget Him who is our only portion and rest. There is need of great care and caution at such a time. Then beware; being warned of your danger, stand upon your guard. Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God; neither by despairing of his power and goodness, while we keep in the way of our duty; nor by presuming upon it, when we turn aside out of that way.

Deuteronomy 6:7 . Thou shall teach them diligently — Hebrew, whet, or sharpen them, so as that they may pierce deeply into their hearts, This metaphor signifies the manner of instructing them, that it is to be done diligently, earnestly, frequently, discreetly. To thy children — They that love the Lord God themselves will do what they can to engage the affections of their children to him, and so preserve the entail of religion in their families from being cut off. Bishop Patrick well observes here, that Moses thought his law so very plain and easy, that every father might be able to instruct his sons in it, and every mother her daughters. That good thing which is committed to us, we must carefully transmit to those that come after us, that it may be perpetuated. Thou shalt talk of them — With due reverence and seriousness, for the benefit, not only of thy children, but of thy other domestics, thy friends, and companions. When thou sittest in thy house — At work, or at meat, or at rest. When thou walkest by the way — For air and exercise, for conversation, or on journeys. When thou liest down — Art about to retire from thy family for sleep. And when thou risest up — Returnest again to thy family in the morning. Take all occasions to discourse with those about thee of divine things; not of unrevealed mysteries, or matters of doubtful disputation, but of the plain truths and laws of God, and the things belonging to their peace.

(7) And thou shalt teach them diligently. —The same Jewish commentator remarks that there should be no hesitation in answering anything that a man might ask. Had this system of education been carried on from the first, the history of Israel would hare been very different from what it is.

And thou shalt {c} teach them diligently to thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. {teach: Heb. whet, or, sharpen} (c) Some read, You shall whet them upon your children: that is, that they may imprint them more deeply in their memory.

Since there is but One God, and that God is Israel's God, so Israel must love God unreservedly and entirely. The "heart" is mentioned as the seat of the understanding; the "soul" as the center of will and personality; the "might" as representing the outgoings and energies of all the vital powers. The New Testament itself requires no more than this total self-surrender of man's being to his maker Matthew 22:37. The Gospel differs from the Law not so much in replacing an external and carnal service of God by an inward and spiritual one, as in supplying new motives and special assistances for the attainment of that divine love which was, from the first and all along, enjoined as "the first and great commandment."

CHAPTER 6 De 6:1-25. Moses Exhorts Israel to Hear God and to Keep His Commandments. 1-9. Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them … whither ye go to possess it—The grand design of all the institutions prescribed to Israel was to form a religious people, whose national character should be distinguished by that fear of the Lord their God which would ensure their divine observance of His worship and their steadfast obedience to His will. The basis of their religion was an acknowledgment of the unity of God with the understanding and the love of God in the heart (De 6:4, 5). Compared with the religious creed of all their contemporaries, how sound in principle, how elevated in character, how unlimited in the extent of its moral influence on the heart and habits of the people! Indeed, it is precisely the same basis on which rests the purer and more spiritual form of it which Christianity exhibits (Mt 22:37; Mr 12:30; Lu 10:27). Moreover, to help in keeping a sense of religion in their minds, it was commanded that its great principles should be carried about with them wherever they went, as well as meet their eyes every time they entered their homes. A further provision was made for the earnest inculcation of them on the minds of the young by a system of parental training, which was designed to associate religion with all the most familiar and oft-recurring scenes of domestic life.

It is probable that Moses used the phraseology in De 6:7 merely in a figurative way, to signify assiduous, earnest, and frequent instruction; and perhaps he meant the metaphorical language in De 6:8 to be taken in the same sense also. But as the Israelites interpreted it literally, many writers suppose that a reference was made to a superstitious custom borrowed from the Egyptians, who wore jewels and ornamental trinkets on the forehead and arm, inscribed with certain words and sentences, as amulets to protect them from danger. These, it has been conjectured, Moses intended to supersede by substituting sentences of the law; and so the Hebrews understood him, for they have always considered the wearing of the Tephilim, or frontlets, a permanent obligation. The form was as follows: Four pieces of parchment, inscribed, the first with Ex 13:2-10; the second with Ex 13:11-16; the third with De 6:1-8; and the fourth with De 11:18-21, were enclosed in a square case or box of tough skin, on the side of which was placed the Hebrew letter (shin), and bound round the forehead with a thong or ribbon. When designed for the arms, those four texts were written on one slip of parchment, which, as well as the ink, was carefully prepared for the purpose.

7 . teach them diligently ] lit. whet or sharpen , Deuteronomy 32:41 ; make incisive and impress them on thy children; rub them in, Germ. einschärfen. The Eng. metaphorical use of ‘sharpen’ or ‘whet’ (‘whet on,’ ‘whet forward’) has usually for object the mind, not the material employed on it. Yet cp. Shakespeare’s ‘Thou hid’st a thousand daggers in thy thoughts, Which thou hast whetted on thy stony heart To stab at half-an-hour of my frail life.’ unto thy children ] So not only in D, Deuteronomy 6:20 , Deuteronomy 4:9 , Deuteronomy 11:19 , but also J, Exodus 13:8 ,etc. talk of them , etc.] Deuteronomy 11:19 . With LXX and Sam. read the for thine before house . Deuteronomy 6:7