Words to Live By
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Deuteronomy 6:6-9
And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, 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. And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Moses is the author of most of this book and both his love for God and his people is obvious by its tone. Oral tradition, family stories around the table after dinner, and at bedtime were the norm. The Jews were very serious about their religious laws and traditions. Their very lives were lived in accordance with the laws handed down by their ancestors. Everything from how they cooked, ate, prayed, married, reared children and absolutely every aspect of their lives was based upon “the Law.”
Prayers were said several times a day and were an integral part of ebb and flow of life. Jewish men at the time wore a frontlet or phylactery, either of two small, black, leather cubes containing a piece of parchment inscribed with verses 4–9 of Deut. 6, 13–21 of Deut. 11, and 1–16 of Ex. 13: one is attached with straps to the left arm and the other to the forehead during weekday morning prayers
Deut: 6 4-5: 4. Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God [is] one Lord: 5. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. Deut. 11:13-21: 13. "And if you will obey my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14. he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. 15. And he will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you shall eat and be full. 16. Take heed lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them, 17. and the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and he shut up the heavens, so that there be no rain, and the land yield no fruit, and you perish quickly off the good land which the Lord gives you. 18. "You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 19. And you shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 20. And you shall write them upon the doorposts of your house and upon your gates, 21. that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth.
Exodus 13: 1-6: 1. The Lord said to Moses, 2. "Consecrate to me all the first-born; whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine." 3. And Moses said to the people, "Remember this day, in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage, for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out from this place; no leavened bread shall be eaten. 4. This day you are to go forth, in the month of Abib. 5. And when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall keep this service in this month. 6. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord.
Basically, these are the only words needed to know how to live a life pleasing to God. I wonder what the world would be like if each of us lived by these words every moment of our lives; if we acted on them continually in our dealings with others; if we kept them ever present on our person, on our doorposts and on our gate, so we would never forget them, and so the world was put on notice that we live as God’s chosen people.
My prayer today is that you keep God’s words in the forefront of your mind and heart as you go through your day. And that you declare to the world whose you are by everything you say and everything you do.
Mary
