20<\/strong>. When<\/em>, etc.] Read, with Sam. and LXX, And it shall be when<\/strong>, as in the opening of Deu 6:10<\/em><\/span> and in Exo 13:14<\/span> (J), which the rest of this clause follows.<\/p>\n the testimonies the statutes, and the judgements<\/em> ] as in Deu 4:45<\/span> q.v.<\/em> With Sam. omit and<\/em> before the statutes<\/em>; the statutes and the judgements are the contents of the testimonies.<\/p>\n our God<\/em> ] For the reason of this instead of the usual Sg. thy God<\/em> see on Deu 5:24<\/span>.<\/p>\n hath commanded you<\/em> ] The perfect is natural to the time of the questioners’ generation, when the laws would already have been published. You<\/em> (so Sam., but LXX us<\/em>) is, of course, the older generations; this, therefore, is not an instance of the Pl. address.<\/p>\n 20 25<\/strong>. These verses return to a favourite theme of Deut.: the close relation between Jehovah’s Laws and His Deeds. When a future generation shall ask the meaning of the Laws it shall be referred to the Lord’s deliverance of the nation from bondage in Egypt and His conduct of them to the land He promised. Having thus made them a nation, He would now preserve them as such by the Laws which He commands. These vv<\/em>., throughout in the Sg., expand Deu 6:7<\/em><\/span> a<\/em>, and contain nothing which leads us to doubt their originality. See on Deu 6:24<\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n Deu 6:20-21<\/span><\/p>\n When thy son asketh thee.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Remembrances of holy privileges<\/strong><\/p>\n We are also favoured with Divine ordinances, as were the Israelites; and for the same purpose, for a pious testimony to keep alive upon the earth a remembrance of Gods surpassing love. As to them pertained the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the service of God and the promises, so to us pertain the gracious promises of life and salvation, and all the privileges and ordinances of the Christian covenant. So that when children, as reason begins to dawn, and they find themselves growing up amid certain religious ordinances, shall ask the meaning, we may always be able to point, with humble gratitude, to the origin and intent of every duty and service. The lisping babe is given to hear, perchance is taught to sing, of the cross which was traced on its forehead in infancy; and the pious mother is asked, What did it signify? She will point with tenderness to the Cross of Christ, to the sacrifice of the spotless Lamb; and the holy emblem, thus stamped upon the youthful mind and heart, may be there forever fixed by the Holy Spirit of God, as a living image of the truth in Jesus, as an everlasting memorial of His dying love. The child lifts up its hands in prayer; and wherefore lifted up? To its Father in heaven; to the mercy seat at which a Saviour pleads; and from which the Holy Spirit, with His manifold gifts, is sent down, gifts for childhood and youth, for manhood and age: and this in obedience to that Saviours word (Mat 7:7<\/span>; Joh 14:13<\/span>; Joh 15:16<\/span>). The child learns to read; the Bible is opened; and every page is fraught with grace, is glowing with mercy. Here are tender invitations which the youngest can understand and feel. And thus our youth have in their hand a constant remembrancer of God Almightys goodness; the Word written by the Spirit, and taught by the Spirit, to each obedient heart of old and young. The points are but few, respecting children, upon which we can now touch; but there is yet another, which marks rather the transition state between the child and the man, at least where greater responsibility beans. The children of the Church are brought to the bishop to be confirmed and here is a mighty memorial. All the privileges of holy baptism are then placed in view, and impressed powerfully on the heart. And over the whole of our Christian life and walk the tokens and reminiscences of Gods goodness are plentifully spread; in all our Divine ordinances and services, and in all our providential experiences. Every Sabbath, what a blessed memorial! How does it remind us of the great Creator, and of His resting from all His works! how of our own rest in Him and in heaven! There is likewise that holy rite and service which the Lord Himself appointed with His dying breath as the sacramental emblem of His love. This is the most perfect of all the testimonies: a perpetual representation of the sacrifice before the Church, for the benefit of the faithful, for the conviction of all; a perpetual application of it, through the power of the Spirit, to the believers heart and soul. And our faithful Church, in all her constitution and services, has acted upon this monitory plan; has sought to stir up continually the pure minds (of her children) by way of remembrance; and to keep the wonders of Divine grace, one after another, always before our eyes. At various seasons of the year she sets before us the marvellous acts of redeeming love, all that Jesus has done and suffered on our behalf: the mystery of His holy incarnation; His holy nativity and circumcision; His baptism, fasting, and temptation; His agony and bloody sweat; His cross and passion; His precious death and burial; His glorious resurrection and ascension, and the coming of the Holy Ghost. And besides her faithful dealing on these great occasions, she is continually bringing to view other objects also, other tokens of love, other means of grace, of high importance to be borne in mind and diligently observed. The lives and deaths of her apostles and martyrs are set in order, as so many patterns of righteousness, so many beacons of grace, etc. And there are other dealings of God with us to be treasured in the memory; the mercies of His providence and of His grace experienced in our own persons. We have been cast on a bed of sickness; who raised us up? in danger, who delivered us? in the deep of affliction, who sent the Comforter? We have sinned: we have been alarmed; we repented, prayed, promised, and were spared; and should not that holy season, should not all these days of grace, be kept in mind? Let us not unfrequently shut up the busy present, and muse upon the solemn past. God give us grace to deal faithfully; to prize the privileges, to look upon the blessings showered down upon us, to keep them in grateful remembrance, and so fix our affections upon the one thing needful. (J. Slade, M. A.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Questions and answers<\/strong><\/p>\n Suppose that one wholly uninstructed as to Christian faith and doctrine and practice should ask us–What mean ye?–account for yourselves; what are you doing? and why do you act as you do?–it would be pitiful to the point of unpardonableness if in the presence of such an inquiry we were dumb; our speechlessness would show that our piety is a mere superstition. It is surely, therefore, incumbent upon us to be able to give some reason or explanation for the faith and the hope that are in us. We cannot adopt a better reply than the answer suggested by Moses. No originality of answer is required. The leader of Israel gave the only reply that will stand the test of reason and the wear and tear of time. All we need is in this paragraph. Adopting this reply, what answer should we make to the kind of inquirer now supposed? We should, first of all, make the answer broadly historical. We are not called to invention, or speculation, or the recital of dreams: we do not want any mans impressions as a basis of rational and universal action; we call for history, facts, realities, points of time that can be identified, and circumstances that can be defined and have a determinate value fixed upon them. We could enlarge the answer which Israel was to give, and ennoble it. We, too, were in a house of bondage. That must be our first point. The house was dark; the life of the prison was intolerable; no morning light penetrated the dungeon; no summer beauty visited the eyes of those who were bound in fetters. Human nature had gone astray. The Christian argument starts there. All Christian doctrine is founded upon that one fact, or bears direct and vital relation to it. We, too, could add with Israel, human nature was Divinely delivered. The action began in heaven. No mans arm delivered us; no mans eye could look upon us with pity that was unstained and unenfeebled by sin. Gods eye pitied; Gods arm was outstretched to save. Then we could change, but their inner meaning is an eternal truth: it abides through all the ages, for every purpose of God in the miracles which were wrought was a purpose of life, growth, holiness, transformation into His own image. The purpose is in reality the miracle. That being so, the miracles never cease, for today the Gospel performs nothing less than the miracle of making the dead live, and the blind see, and the dumb speak in new and beauteous eloquence. In the next place, still following the idea laid down by Moses, we must make this answer definitely personal:–thou shalt say unto thy son (Deu 6:21<\/span>). Speak about yourselves, about your own vital relation to the historical facts. The history is not something outside of you and beyond you: it is part and parcel of your own development, and your development would have been an impossibility apart from the history; let us, therefore, know what this history has done for you. The answer will be poor if it be but a recital of circumstances and occurrences and anecdotes–a vague, although partially reverent, reference to ancient history. The man who speaks must connect himself with the thing which is spoken. The answer is still incomplete. It is broadly historical, and therefore can be searched into by men who care for letters and events and ancient occurrences; the answer is definitely personal, and therefore the character of the witness has to be destroyed before any progress can be made with his particular view of the history; now the answer must, in the third place, be made vitally experimental. The twenty-fifth verse thus defines this conclusion: And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as He hath commanded us. One targum says, it shall he our merit. The general meaning would seem to be–it shall be accounted unto us for righteousness: the attention and the service shall not be disregarded or put down into any secondary place, but what we do in the way of attention and observance and duty and service shall be reckoned unto us as a species of righteousness. What is the meaning to us in our present state of education and our present relations to one another? The meaning is that out of the history and out of the present relations to that history there will come a quantity which is called character. God is all the while forming character. His object has been to do us good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is at this day. Without the righteousness where is the history? Without the character what is the value of our personal testimony? We may be speaking from a wrong centre–from mental invention, from intellectual imagination, from spiritual impulse, from moral emotion; we may not be standing upon vital facts and spiritual realities. The outcome, then, is righteousness, character, moral manhood, great robustness and strength, and reality of life. The Christian mans history is to himself worthless if it be not sealed by character. (J. Parker, D. D.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Childrens questions<\/strong><\/p>\n Children often break upon their parents with very tough questions, and questions that wear a considerable looking towards infidelity. It requires, in fact, but a simple child to ask questions that no philosopher can answer. Parents are not to be hurried or flurried in such cases, and make up extempore answers that are only meant to confuse the child, and consciously have no real verity. It is equally bad if the child is scolded for his freedom; for what respect can he have for the truth when he may not so much as question where it is? Still worse, if the childs question is taken for an evidence of his superlative smartness, and repeated with evident pride in his hearing. In all such cases a quiet answer should be given to the childs question where it can be easily done, and where it cannot, some delay should be taken, wherein it will be confessed that not even his parents know everything. Or, sometimes, if the question is one that plainly cannot be answered by anybody, occasion should be taken to show the child how little we know, and how many things God knows which are too deep for us–how reverently, therefore, we are to submit our mind to His, and let Him teach us when He will what is true. It is a very great thing for a child to have had the busy infidel lurking in his questions, early instructed in regard to the necessary limits of knowledge, and accustomed to a simple faith in Gods requirement, where his knowledge fails. (H. Bushnell.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Let the Bible speak<\/strong><\/p>\n The mother of a family was married to an infidel, who made a jest of religion in presence of his own children; yet she succeeded in bringing them all up in the fear of the Lord. I one day asked her how she preserved them from the influence of a father whose sentiments were so openly opposed to her own. She answered: Because to the authority of a father I did not oppose the authority of a mother, but that of God. From earliest years my children have always seen the Bible upon the table. This Holy Book has constituted the whole of their religious instruction. I was silent that I might allow it to speak. Did they propose a question; did they commit any fault; did they perform any good action; I opened the Bible, and the Bible answered, reproved, or encouraged them. The constant reading of the Scriptures has alone wrought the prodigy which surprises you. (A. Monod.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The significancy of the Jewish passover<\/strong><\/p>\n The ordinances of Israel were the ordinances of a redeemed people, and they were the signs and memorials of the fact of their redemption. Selecting the passover, then, as the most prominent of these ordinances, let us inquire what it was designed to teach.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>In the first place, we see in it a memorial of Divine sovereignty. Could the Jew look back upon the history of his forefathers, and doubt that it was not their own might nor their own wills that carried them forth from the land of tears?<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Again, we see in it a memorial of Divine goodness and truth. It was a promise that God would not forget, that Abrahams seed should inherit the land of Canaan; and now that he was in possession of all this, was it not well that Abrahams child should be reminded of what had been done for him? In the passover, then, he learned how true and gracious the Lord had been to him and to his fathers. What would he trace but mercy and faithfulness in all His ways?<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>These were the aspects of the ordinances as they looked Godward; but there were others which reminded him of his own personal position. Could the Jew, for example, forget the Egyptian yoke, as he stood up, year after year, his loins girded and staff in hand, to eat the Lords passover? Is it not a little remarkable, that though they have lost the Sacrifice, this is the only ordinance the Jews celebrate to this day? Even in a strange land, and at such an interval of time, they fail not to call to remembrance the bondage of Pharaoh. How often does God set this before His people in the course of His dealings with them! Thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt. He frequently reminds them. He would have kept them in a due subordination, that they might not be lifted up to their own destruction.<\/p>\n 4. <\/strong>But we see in the passover, lastly, a memorial of present deliverance. As long as the Jew could celebrate it in his own land, he was reminded of his deliverance from Egypt. In this respect the redemption of Israel from the house of bondage has been always a present blessing. As a nation, and therefore as a type of the Christian Church, they have never been enslaved a second time in Egypt. Once delivered, they were delivered forever from that bondage. Most truly, therefore, could the Jewish parent teach his son–We were Pharaohs bondmen in Egypt. That was a past history of terrible suffering and disgrace, and the remembrance of it could call up nothing in the heart of a faithful Jew but thankful, peaceful joy. The passover, consequently, was eminently a joyous festival; it was a feast upon a sacrifice; it was a celebration of Divine mercies, and of the entire destruction of the Egyptian yoke. And is not the Christian ordinance and history a counterpart of this? (W. Harrison, M. A.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The Lord brought us out of Egypt.<\/strong>—<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Deliverance from Egypt<\/strong><\/p>\n It has been said that the earth is but the shadow of heaven, and that things therein are each to other like, more than on earth is thought. This may be a great truth, for in the Scriptures earthly things are used as types and symbols of heavenly. It is so in the words that I have read to you. Egypt was the symbol of captivity, darkness, and death; and the land of promise, the type of heaven, where there is freedom, light, and life without end. And so, the deliverance of the Israelites out of the bondage of Egypt by the mighty hand of God, and their entrance into the land of Canaan, are typical of our deliverance from <\/em>the bondage of sin and the devil, and entrance into the kingdom of heaven, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Hence we shall consider these words: first in their literal sense; and, secondly, in their spiritual meaning.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>Egypt was the mother of learning and of gross idolatry; of worldly light and spiritual darkness. It was sacred for a time to the physical sun, the source of light and life in the natural world; but it will be forever an emblem of darkness and death. It reared its pyramidical temples to the sun, symbolising its worldly greatness and light; but it was as full of darkness and dead mens bones as the pyramids themselves. In human language, Egypt, with its various names, means light; in the language of heaven, darkness; in the language of earth, life and fruitfulness; but in the language of heaven, death and corruption. Hence it is that Egypt in the Scriptures symbolises the present world. It was the source of worldly wisdom and gross idolatry. The Egyptians, professing themselves to be wise, became fools; for the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. We read the wisdom of this world in the ruins of Egypt, Assyria, Palestine, Greece and Rome. The kingdoms of this world may build their nests in the rocks, as the Kenite of old; nevertheless they shall be wasted, and their palaces shall be for beasts to lie down in.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Egypt is synonymous with the world, and we know that the world is enmity against God. Let us, therefore, cast off the world, and its Egyptian darkness, and its enmity to God and truth. Let us turn from the world, so full of error, darkness, folly, and death; let us come out of it; let us walk worthy of our high calling; let us walk as children of light and children of the day. Now the deliverance of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage was typical of our deliverance from sin and Satan. We know very well how great the oppression of Egypt was. We know that their cries pierced the clouds, and found their way to the throne of God, and He came down to deliver them; and He accomplished this by His own power, and wisdom, and mercy, and gave them the land of Canaan, and a code of Divine laws. Now this faintly shadows forth the deliverance of all mankind from the slavery of sin and the devil, than which a more cruel slavery never oppressed the family of man. Our text admits a still higher development, namely, that the entrance of the Israelites into Canaan was typical of the entrance into heaven of all true believers. Of that glorious place, the brightest scenes of earth are but shadows dim and dark. The Israelite in Egypt never looked to the land of Canaan with the earnest longing of the disciples of Jesus for the heavenly Canaan; and why? Our title to it is clearer. It is our heavenly inheritance, purchased for us with the precious blood of Christ; and it is kept for us by the power of God through faith. We dwell on earth; but our heart and our life are there, hid with Christ in God. (A. Jones.<\/em>)<\/p>\n Verse 20<\/span>. And when thy son asketh thee, &c.<\/B><\/I>] “Here,” as Mr. Ainsworth justly remarks, “followeth a brief catechism<\/I>, containing the grounds of religion.”<\/P> <\/P> What mean <\/B>the testimonies, &c.<\/B><\/I>] The Hebrew language has no word to express to mean<\/I> or signify<\/I>, and therefore uses simply the substantive verb what is<\/I>, i. e., what mean or signify, &c. The<\/I> seven thin ears<\/I> ARE, i. e., signify<\/I>, seven years of famine. This form of speech frequently occurs.<\/P> <\/p>\n 20-25. when thy son asketh thee intime to come, saying<\/B>The directions given for the instructionof their children form only an extension of the preceding counsels.<\/P><\/p>\n And when thy son asketh thee in time to come<\/strong>,…. Or “tomorrow” x; that is, in later times, as Jarchi interprets it; any time after this, and particularly after they were come into the land of Canaan, when the several laws, statutes, and ordinances appointed, would take place and be obeyed:<\/p>\n what [mean] the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord our God hath commanded you<\/strong>? what is the reason of the various rites, customs, and usages, the observance of which is directed to, such as the feasts of passover, pentecost, tabernacles, sacrifices, and other duties of religion?<\/p>\n x “cras”, V. L. Pagninus, Montanus.<\/p>\n In Deu 6:20-25<\/span>, the teaching to the children, which is only briefly hinted at in Deu 6:7<\/span>, is more fully explained. The Israelites were to instruct their children and descendants as to the nature, meaning, and object of the commandments of the Lord; and in reply to the inquiries of their sons, to teach them what the Lord had done for the redemption of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt, and how He had brought them into the promised land, and thus to awaken in the younger generation love to the Lord and to His commandments. The “ great and sore miracles<\/em> ” (Deu 6:22<\/span>) were the Egyptian plagues, like , in Deu 4:34<\/span>. – “ To fear<\/em>,” etc., i.e., that we might fear the Lord.<\/p>\n Verses 20-25:<\/strong><\/p>\n This text affirms the principle that each generation is responsible to teach the succeeding generations the Word and will of God.<\/p>\n The duty of parents does not end with the biological act of bringing a child into the world, nor of providing food and clothing and shelter. God’s plan for the family includes the vital proviso that the parents, the father in particular, shall teach the child, and instill in him godly character. This is done as the parent instructs the child in who God is, His nature and His character, and what He does, His plan for man. This leads to instruction in what the child is to do in response to God’s nature and His works.<\/p>\n The righteousness of man consists in keeping God’s commandments, not in setting his own standards and attempting to follow them, see Rom 4:5-8<\/span>.<\/p>\n 20. And when thy son asketh thee. The sole point which Moses urges in these verses is, that the people should testify their gratitude by obeying the Law, and that the same religion, (232) which he commands the fathers to teach, should descend to their posterity. The sum is, that there was good reason why all the precepts of the Law should be observed, since by them it was that God desired His people, after their deliverance, to shew forth their sense of His loving-kindness. Again, therefore, in this passage, he commends the Law by reminding them of their redemption, that the people might more willingly and more earnestly reverence it; for its authority has stronger claims upon them, because it was not imposed before God had laid them under obligation to Himself; and it would have been too base and absurd in them to refuse God as their Lawgiver, when they knew that by Him they had been purchased to Himself. In the next place He reminds them that for the same object they had been constituted the heirs of the land of Canaan, that they should honor God as the author of this special favor; thus he concludes that they are bound by a two-fold tie, for God had devoted them to Himself not once only, but had confirmed His dominion over them by their continued possession of the land. But there is nothing inconsistent in his saying that the land was promised by oath to their fathers before the Law was given; for, although God bestowed this gift gratuitously, yet did He justly claim the testimony of their gratitude; just as now-a-days, although He invites us to the hope of an eternal inheritance of His own free bounty, yet the end of our calling is, that we on our part should celebrate His glory all our life long. When in verse 24 he uses the words “to fear the Lord our God,” he briefly defines the sum of the Law; for it would not suffice for us to perform whatever is there commanded, unless our obedience had reference to the fear and worship of God. Integrity and uprightness, indeed, give God delight; but none will say that men’s life is duly ordered, if, whilst they exercise equity one towards another, they defraud God of His right. But it is well known that legitimate honor and worship are comprehended under the name of fear. Just afterwards, he commends the Law on account of its profitableness; for God provided for their own good, in delivering to them the rule of a just and pious life. In these words he intimates that they would be doubly ungrateful if they rejected what God meant for their own advantage. For this expression, “for our good,” is equivalent to saying that God not only had respect and care for His own rights in enacting the Law, but at the same time regarded what would be useful to them; and this he more clearly states in the next verse, where he says that “this shall be their righteousness if they observe” the Law; otherwise, that the rule of a righteous life, which would please God, was prescribed to them, than which nothing better could be desired. But it will be elsewhere shewn at greater length how the keeping of the Law is in itself righteousness, and yet that no man is justified by the Law; for, that the Law brings only wrath and condemnation, does not arise from any defect or faultiness in its doctrine, but must be imputed to our own guilt, as being far removed, nay, aliens from the righteousness (233) which it contains. <\/p>\n (232) Addition in Fr., “qu’il a apprinse de Dieu;” which they have learnt of God. <\/p>\n (233) La doctrine. — Fr. <\/p>\n 3. TEACHING THE LAW (Deu. 6:7-9<\/span>; Deuteronomy 20-25)<\/p>\n 20 When thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which Jehovah our God hath commanded you? 21 then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaohs bondmen in Egypt: and Jehovah brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand; 22 and Jehovah showed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his house, before our eyes; 23 and he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers. 24 And Jehovah commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear Jehovah our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as at this day. 25 And it shall be righteousness unto us, if we observe to do all this commandment before Jehovah our God, as he hath commanded us.<\/p>\n THOUGHT QUESTIONS 6:2025<\/p>\n 138.<\/p>\n Read Psa. 119:97<\/span>; Psalms 148<\/span> and examine your love for His law.<\/p>\n 139.<\/p>\n Why emphasize the deliverance from Egyptian bondage?<\/p>\n 140.<\/p>\n What relation did the signs and wonders have to the truthfulness of Gods word?<\/p>\n 141.<\/p>\n Please notice the purpose of the law of God as stated in Deu. 6:24<\/span>.<\/p>\n 142.<\/p>\n How does Satan use the law of God to slay us? Cf. Rom. 7:7-9<\/span>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n AMPLIFIED TRANSLATION 6:2025<\/p>\n 20 When your son asks you in time to come, What is the meaning of the testimonies and statutes and precepts, which the Lord our God has commanded you? COMMENT 6:2025<\/p>\n ALL THESE WORDS, WHICH I COMMAND THEE THIS DAY, SHALL BE UPON THY HEART (Deu. 6:6<\/span>) See also Deu. 11:18<\/span>i.e. shall be the express object of meditation and thought (See Jos. 1:8<\/span>). David, perhaps more than any other Old Testament character, caught the essence of this command. He could say,<\/p>\n Oh how I love thy law! (Psa. 119:97<\/span>)<\/p>\n Mine eyes anticipated the night watches, (Psa. 119:148<\/span>)<\/p>\n And their children were to grow up tutored and continually exhorted from the pages of Gods Book:<\/p>\n AND THOU SHALT TEACH THEM DILIGENTLY UNTO 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 (Deu. 6:7<\/span>)That is, be teaching and applying the word of God to your children continually. Let them not for a moment forget their responsibility toward the Lord, his word, and his work. Today, it is certainly needful that we have family altarsa time when the family gathers together specifically for prayer, praise, and study. But these words would take us far beyond that phase of teaching. They take us to the daily life of the family! How many hundreds of times throughout a childs life does a parent have opportunity to show him how Gods word applies to this case or that, why it teaches this, how it condemns that, how Gods work is seen in nature, etc., etc.<\/p>\n I feel compelled, here, to insert the pointed and worthy remarks of Adam Clarke on this important subject; A most injurious and destructive maxim has lately [and still is!] advanced by a few individuals . . . though the authors affect to be thought Christians and rational ones, too; the sum of the maxim is this: Children ought not to be taught religion for fear of having their minds biased to some particular creed, but they should be left to themselves till they are capable of making a choice, and choose to make one. This maxim is in flat opposition to the command of God, and those who teach it show how little they are affected by the religion they profess. If they felt it to be good for any thing, they would certainly wish their children to possess it; but they do not teach religion to their children because they feel it to be of no use to themselves. . . . But what can be said to those parents who, possessing a better faith, equally neglect the instruction of their children in the things of God! They are highly criminal; and if their children perish through neglect, which is very probable, what a dreadful account must they give in the great day! PARENTS! Hear what the Lord saith unto you: Ye must diligently teach your children that there is one Lord, Jehovah, Elohim; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost: and that they must love him with all their heart, and with all their soul, and with all their might. And as children are heedless, apt to forget, liable to be carried away by sensible things, repeat and re-peat the instruction, and add line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, carefully studying time, place, and circumstances, that your labour be not in vain: show it in its amiableness, excite attention by exciting interest; show how good, how useful, how blessed, how ennobling, how glorious it is. Whet these things on their hearts till the keenest edge is raised on the strongest desire, till they can say, Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth I desire besides thee! [Psa. 73:25<\/span>] p. 757.<\/p>\n AND THOU SHALT BIND THEM FOR A SIGN UPON THY HAND, AND THEY SHALL BE FOR FRONTLETS BETWEEN THY EYES. AND THOU SHALT WRITE THEM UPON THE DOOR-POSTS OF THY HOUSE, AND UPON THY GATES (Deu. 6:9-10<\/span>)That is, every available means must be employed that the law of God might be firmly and indelibly impressed upon the mind. (And note here that adults, and not just children are now being addressed). The word of God was to be continually before themboth in the minds eye and the literal eye. Lange, noting that the expressions of this verse are precisely in accordance with oriental usage, states: to bind them upon thy hand is to keep them for a sign for thy conduct, as over to be regarded, and which must determine the manner of action. The brow, between the eyes, represents the chamber of thought, is as the door to the intellectual nature of man . . . The commandments, as frontlets or browbands, become therefore a badge or confession by which one may be known, and embrace the private life . . .<\/p>\n SIGN UPON THY HAND (Deu. 6:8<\/span>)The Hebrew word (OTH) is defined by Gesenius as a sign . . . [and specifically here] a sign of something past, which serves to keep it in memory, Exo. 13:9<\/span>; Exo. 13:16<\/span>; Deu. 6:8<\/span> . . . Baumgartner has sign: . . . reminding token.<\/p>\n FRONTLETS BETWEEN THINE EYES (Deu. 6:8<\/span>)The Hebrew word TOTAPHOTH signifies bands, fillets (Gesenius); appendage, phylacteries, mark (Baumgartner).<\/p>\n It is the belief of this writer that the two above phrases were not necessarily intended to be literali.e. God did not mean that the scripture should be printed on the hands or inscribed between the eyes. The idea of the command was that they were to be continually reminded of Gods law. (Of course, in carrying out the command, it might be necessary to write the law in many places). In Exo. 13:9<\/span>, with reference to the Passover feast, God said, and it shall be for a sign [Heb. oth] unto thee upon thy hand, and for a memorial [Heb. zikkaron, memorial, reminder, remembrance] between thine eyes, that the law of Jehovah may be in the mouth: for with a strong hand hath Jehovah brought thee out of Egypt. I do not understand this to mean PASSOVER or any other such words were to be printed on the hand or between the eyes, anymore than a parchment containing the law was to be in the mouth. Rather, the feast itself was to be a memorial firmly planted in the memory. Continuing in Exodus, with reference to the consecration of the first-born, we are told in Deu. 13:16<\/span> And it shall be for a sign [Heb., oth] upon thy hand, and for frontlets Heb. [totapheth] between thine eyes: for by strength of hand Jehovah brought us forth out of Egypt. Note how the latter passage is strikingly similar to that above, with the same Hebrew words for sign and frontlets. Thus the fact itself of the word of God being constantly and continually in the mind, heart, and memory, (and, of course, proceeding also from the mouth) causes it to be as it were, a token in the hand and a symbol on the forehead to all who know us.<\/p>\n In process of time, however, the spirit and purpose of the above law was lost in the letter, and even though the word was not in their mouth, nor the law in their heart, they had their phylacteries on their heads and on their hands. And the Pharisees, who in the days of Christ put on a great show of sanctimonious piety, made their phylacteries very broad to be seen of men (Mat. 23:5<\/span>). The intent and purpose of this law had been totally bypassed for the letter, Reminders (of the kind mentioned here) or otherwise, were in order. But, like the command to have fringes on their garments (Num. 15:37-41<\/span>, Deu. 22:12<\/span>, Cf. Mat. 23:5<\/span>) as reminders, the Jews degenerated into enlarging them to be seen of men. Such phylacteries as shown below were thus wornfar more elaborate than either the spirit or the letter of this law would endorse.<\/p>\n I.S.B.E. states, It is evident that the words in Exodus are beyond all question, used figuratively; a careful reading of the verses in Deuteronomy in close connection with their contexts [we have the same phrase in Deu. 11:18<\/span>], in which are other figures of speech not to be taken literally, is sufficient proof of their purely figurative intention also. Only the formalism of later ages could distort these figures into the gross and materialistic practice of the phylactery. Just when this practice began cannot accurately be determined. While the Talmud attempts to trace it back to the primitive, even Mosaic times, it probably did not long antedate the birth of Christ. In conservative Jewish circles it has been maintained through the centuries, and at present is faithfully followed by orthodox Judaism.<\/p>\n (20) What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments.<\/strong>These three words appear for the first time together in the introduction to this discourse (Deu. 4:45<\/span>). The Law, or Torah, <\/em>includes charges, <\/em>and institutions, <\/em>and requirements. <\/em>The Decalogue itself is primarily the Torah; <\/em>the charge which follows may come under the head of testimony. The statutes and judgments more properly describe the contents of the chapters from Deuteronomy 11-26 inclusive.<\/p>\n And What They Know For Themselves They Must Explain To Their Children So That Righteousness Might Prevail In The Land ( Deu 6:20-25<\/strong><\/span><\/strong> ).<\/strong> <\/p>\n Analysis in the words of Moses: <\/p>\n a <\/strong> When your son asks you in time to come, saying, “What do the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which Yahweh our God has commanded you, mean?” (Deu 6:20<\/span>). <\/p>\n b <\/strong> Then you shall say to your son, “We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt, and Yahweh brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand (Deu 6:21<\/span>). <\/p>\n c <\/strong> And Yahweh showed signs and wonders, great and sore, on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his house, before our eyes (Deu 6:22<\/span> a) <\/p>\n c <\/strong> And He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land which He swore to our fathers (Deu 6:23<\/span>). <\/p>\n b <\/strong> And Yahweh commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear Yahweh our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as at this day (Deu 6:24<\/span>). <\/p>\n a <\/strong> And it shall be righteousness to us, if we observe to do all this commandment before Yahweh our God, as he has commanded us (Deu 6:25<\/span>). <\/p>\n Note that in ‘a’ the children question what the statutes and judgments are telling them, and in the parallel they learn that they are telling them of the righteousness that must be theirs if they are to dwell in the land that belongs to their covenant Overlord. In ‘b they are to tell them that they had been Pharaoh’s bondmen, and in the parallel that they are now Yahweh’s freemen. In ‘c’ we have described how Yahweh did His great wonders against Pharaoh and Egypt, and in the parallel how He brought them out from Egypt in order to give them His land which He had promised to their fathers. <\/p>\n Deu 6:20<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n ‘<\/strong> When your (thy) son asks you in time to come, saying, “What do the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which Yahweh our God has commanded you, mean?” ’ <\/p>\n So when their children in the future asked each of them concerning the testimonies, and the statutes and the ordinances, which ‘Yahweh our God’ (their covenant God) had commanded them, and what they meant, they would be able to point to the faithfulness and goodness of the God of the covenant, and stress that they were His commands which he had a right to require of them because He was their overlord and Deliverer. <\/p>\n “Thy”<\/strong> clearly mainly has in mind here each individual to whom he is speaking. <\/p>\n Deu 6:21-24<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n ‘<\/strong> Then you shall say to your son, “We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt, and Yahweh brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and Yahweh showed signs and wonders, great and sore, on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his house, before our eyes, and he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he swore to our fathers. And Yahweh commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear Yahweh our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as at this day.’ <\/p>\n They will then be able to explain to their children that they had been Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt, and how they had been bound to him by a kind of covenant, a slave covenant, and had suffered sore. And how Yahweh had delivered them out of Egypt with a mighty hand. How He had freed them from their bondage and from the covenant that bound them. And how He had shown signs and wonders, which had proved great and sore for Egypt, and these had come on Pharaoh and all his house in front of their very eyes, so that he had released them. And God had then brought them out from there so that He might bring them to the land which He had sworn to their fathers. And it was He Who had commanded them to do all these statutes, and to fear Yahweh their covenant God, and it was for their permanent good so that He might preserve them alive to that day and bless them. <\/p>\n Here once again we have repeated the important theological lessons on which the covenant was based. It is a partial covenant in brief. <\/p>\n Firstly they were bound to Pharaoh, and under his rule and in bondage, enslaved and enchained, and in his kingdom. <\/p>\n Then they were delivered with a mighty hand, the hand of Yahweh, Who had come against Egypt with signs and wonders and stricken it. Yahweh as their redeemer brought them out of Egypt. <\/p>\n This was then followed by Him bringing them to the good land promised to their fathers, and establishing them there. Yahweh as their sovereign was constant, faithful and gracious, revealing further His mighty power, and bringing them into the promised land. <\/p>\n And then finally He established Himself as their Lord so that they might obey His laws. Yahweh became their righteous ruler and sovereign, and they under His kingly rule, free and unchained, were in His kingdom. <\/p>\n This last was always how it was always intended to be. <\/p>\n For us there is an even greater reason for our worship. For we know that we were bound by sin and in bondage to our selfishness, but have been delivered from both by the mighty hand of God through the offering of His Son, Jesus Christ, on our behalf, once for all, revealed through greater wonders than those of Egypt. By this we have therefore come under the Kingly Rule of God, and He has been established as our Lord so that we might obey His will, awaiting our entry into His heavenly kingdom. <\/p>\n And the statutes were always an important part of this, for they alone could ensure that His people in the land remained just, and right, and prosperous. Only by a people obedient to these could the kingdom of God be established, with themselves as priests to the nations and a holy nation (Deu 7:6<\/span>; Exo 19:6<\/span>). Without them they would simply sink once more to the level of other nations (as in fact they did). <\/p>\n “And Yahweh commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear Yahweh our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as at this day.”<\/strong> The principle here is that life and death are in His hands. Their fathers had died in the wilderness because, as a result of their disobedience, that had been their sentence. But God did not seek men’s deaths, He sought that they might live. Thus all who were now alive at this time could give thanks for life and credit it to the goodness of Yahweh. But continuing to live was based for Israel on fearing God and living according to His will. That was the only guarantee of life. And it was on that that they should set their hearts. It is the nation as a whole that is in view, not the individual, although the individuals make up the nation. <\/p>\n Of course men would die. It was happening constantly, and sometimes the good died young and the wicked lived long. This problem is dealt with elsewhere by looking at God’s further purposes (see Psalms 73<\/span>). But here the principle is being established that on the whole fearing God will result in continuing life, blatantly disobeying God will tend towards death. They had already learned this from what had happened to their fathers. Thus the statutes which encouraged them to fear God are seen as for man’s good always. <\/p>\n Deu 6:25<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n ‘<\/strong> And it shall be righteousness to us, if we observe to do all this commandment before Yahweh our God, as he has commanded us.’ <\/p>\n For if they observed to do all this commandment before Yahweh their covenant God it would be righteousness for them. By it they would be acceptable to Him and vindicated before Him, because it would reveal that they truly loved Him. The thought was not of what they would earn by it, but that being seen as righteous would be the consequence of their vindication as a result of being delivered and made a righteous people. And it would result in God’s continual blessing. <\/p>\n Elsewhere ‘before Yahweh’ signifies the court of the tabernacle and its surrounds, but here it possibly refers to the whole country, stressing the holiness of the whole land. <\/p>\n “It shall be righteousness to us.”<\/strong> This may mean it would be counted as righteousness to them so that they would retain possession of the land, or it may mean that it would be a vindication for them with the same result. Compare Deu 24:13<\/span> where ‘it will be righteousness to you’ means that a man will be pleasing to God and seen as having done the right. In Gen 15:6<\/span> we are told of Abraham, ‘he believed in Yahweh and He counted it to him for righteousness’, that is, He accepted him as fully righteous before Him in spite of his failings. Thus the principle idea is of being acceptable to God as a result of a response of faith to His activity. <\/p>\n Ver. <\/em><\/strong>20-24. <\/strong>And when thy son asketh thee, <\/em><\/strong>&c.<\/strong> What Moses says in this place principally concerns the observation of the solemnities established to keep up a perpetual memory of God’s mercies towards the Israelites, particularly the observation of the sabbath, and the passover. Compare Exo 13:14<\/span>. In the following verses, Moses offers three motives to obedience, which the Jews ought never to forget. 1. The happy liberty which God had procured for them, with a mighty hand and a stretched-out arm. 2. The rich country which he gave them. 3. The assurance that they should share in his favour, by the observance of his laws; and, in the opinion of the Jews, this last (ver. 24.) comprehended the hope of eternal good things, as Grotius has remarked. <\/p>\n What a most delightful subject seems to be opened to us in these verses. The Jewish children are naturally supposed to enquire into the peculiarities of their fathers faith. And the fathers are supposed as naturally to be earnest in gratifying their infant minds in the information of the truth. Oh! that all Christian parents, and masters of families, were but alive to this most interesting business! Reader! do turn to the gospel, and take a view of the children in the temple, when, under the divine teaching of the HOLY GHOST, they were saluting the blessed Redeemer with Hosannas. This will afford somewhat of an idea of the loveliness of early piety. Mat 21:16<\/span>Mat 21:16<\/span> ; Psa 8:2<\/span> . I only detain the Reader, just to observe, what Moses saith of the conduct of Israel, that it shall be their righteousness, (an imputed righteousness implied,) meaning, no doubt, that all their acceptance would be in GOD their Savior, and in his complete righteousness; for the apostle tells us, that CHRIST is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Reader! do not fail to consult the apostle upon this important subject. Rom 10:3<\/span> .<\/p>\n Questions and Answers<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n Deu 6:20-25<\/p>\n Questions upon religious subjects will be asked, and we ought to be prepared to answer them in some degree at least. We are not called upon to be irrational that is, without reason even in our Christianity. We did not part with our reason when we were enabled to yield ourselves to the higher inspiration of faith. We ought to be able to say something in reply to inquiries addressed to us concerning the most important portions of our history. We ought, therefore, to be instructed in our own doctrine, and to have some clear conception of the way along which Christian doctrine has passed; and we ought, further, to be able to identify ourselves with that doctrine, and thus give sharpness and clearness to all our religious recitals and arguments. Moses told Israel that questions would be asked. The son would ask of the father the meaning of institutions, statutes, and judgments, and the father was bound to reply to the son’s natural and rational inquiry. Such is our position now. Suppose that one wholly uninstructed as to Christian faith and doctrine and practice should ask us, What mean ye? account for yourselves; what are you doing? and why do you act as you do? it would be pitiful to the point of unpardonableness if in presence of such an inquiry we were dumb; our speechlessness would show that our piety is a mere superstition. It is surely, therefore, incumbent upon us to be able to give some reason or explanation for the faith and the hope that are in us. We cannot adopt a better reply than the answer suggested by Moses. No originality of answer is required. The leader of Israel gave the only reply that will stand the test of reason and the wear and tear of time. All we need is in this paragraph.<\/p>\n Adopting this reply, what answer should we make to the kind of inquirer now supposed? We should, first of all, make the answer broadly historical. We are not called to invention, or speculation, or the recital of dreams: we do not want any man’s impressions as a basis of rational and universal action; we call for history, facts, realities, points of time that can be identified, and circumstances that can be defined and have a determinate value fixed upon them. We could enlarge the answer which Israel was to give, and ennoble it. We, too, were in a house of bondage. That must be our first point. The house was dark; the life of the prison was intolerable; no morning light penetrated the dungeon; no summer beauty visited the eyes of those who were bound in fetters. Human nature had gone astray. The great cry of the ages was, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way;” “There is none righteous, no, not one.” The Christian argument starts there. All Christian doctrine is founded upon that one fact, or bears direct and vital relation to it.<\/p>\n We, too, could add with Israel, human nature was divinely delivered. The action began in heaven. No man’s arm delivered us; no man’s eye could look upon us with pity that was unstained and unenfeebled by sin. God’s eye pitied; God’s arm was outstretched to save. Great was the compassion of God and tender his love; and every action of his hand, though an action of almightiness, was chastened, softened, mellowed, by an indwelling and overflowing tenderness.<\/p>\n Then we could continue the reply, and say the divine deliverance was attested by many “signs and wonders.” Christianity has its miracles corresponding, according to time and speciality of need, to the miracles wrought in Egypt by the Jehovah of Israel. We do not surrender the miracles. Some of them we have seen. As we grow away from them we grow towards them, in their highest and most spiritual meaning. To-day miracles are wrought miracles of the higher sort: an inner vision is opened, the ear of the soul is excited to reverent attention, the whole nature is transformed, changed, lifted up into new relations, and made glad with new and immortal hopes. The temple of God is a temple of miracles. The nature of the miracles may have undergone considerable change, but their inner meaning is an eternal truth: it abides through all the ages, for every purpose of God in the miracles which were wrought was a purpose of life, growth, holiness, transformation into his own image. The purpose is in reality the miracle. That being so, the miracles never cease, for today the Gospel performs nothing less than the miracle of making the dead live, and the blind see, and the dumb speak in new and beauteous eloquence. We, too, had a Deliverer, as Israel had; the name of our Deliverer is Jesus Christ. He was born in Bethlehem; he proclaimed himself the Son of man, the Son of God; he looked upon the whole race with eyes filled with tears; he tasted death for every man; he died the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God; he was crucified, he died and was buried, and on the third day he rose again, and now he is in heaven, our Advocate before the throne; his wounds still upon him as historical marks, but the pain of the wounding is for ever gone. That is our answer in brief and imperfect outline. We, therefore, stand upon this historical ground. Right or wrong, here we are. We did not make the history, we may not modify it, we are not at liberty to introduce any new elements into it; our position is historical: we continue a story, we are chapters added to a great narration. Never part with your history; always go back upon the fact. We are not called upon, as has been said many times, to invent a Bible or to suggest a new form of revelation; we stand upon history, and therefore give a broadly historical reply.<\/p>\n In the next place, still following the idea laid down by Moses, we must make the answer definitely personal: “thou shalt say unto thy son” ( Deu 6:21 ). Speak about yourselves, about your own vital relation to the historical facts. The history is not something outside of you and beyond you: it is part and parcel of your own development, and your development would have been an impossibility apart from the history; let us, therefore, know what this history has done for you. The answer will be poor if it be but a recital of circumstances and occurrences and anecdotes, a vague, although partially reverent, reference to ancient history. The man who speaks must connect himself with the thing which is spoken. Christianity, in its incarnations, is not the recital of a lesson: it is the embodiment and vitalisation of a truth. We may repeat the history all day long, and who will care? But give it personality, show how it bears upon the individual life and the personal witness, include and involve your own integrity in the story which you recite, then the man who hears it has two things to do: not only to disprove the history but to disprove your testimony. Suppose, then, we could speak thus in reply: We perused the history; it seemed strange to us; many a question was excited by the perusal; sometimes our faith was in the ascendant, sometimes doubt seemed to break our wings so that we could not fly heavenward: we fell to the earth enfeebled and distressed; but we returned to the history and considered it deeply; in the first instance we felt our own need of something of the kind; the miracles bewildered us, but when we came to the offer of salvation, when a Man called Jesus stood up before us and said, “I will give you rest” we said within ourselves, Rest is what we need: we are restless; we are killed all the day long; the burden of life is heavy over us, and the accusations of life bear down upon us like a final judgment; then we began to see that perhaps this Man is the very man we needed; we trusted him; we began shamefacedly at first: we were almost afraid to be caught in the company of the Man or listening to his doctrine; but as he advanced we wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth; we turned aside and said to one another, He knows us altogether: he has plumbed the depth of our necessity; hear how he speaks! with what wisdom! with what grace! with what sympathy! he will cast none out; now we begin to see a new light shining upon the miracles; we could have doubted them; we could have brought them altogether in one view and written our denial across them; but, becoming familiar with the Miracle-worker himself, getting to know somewhat of his spirit, feeling in some degree the fascination of his sympathy, we were enabled to go farther, and we stood before the Cross: we watched the whole tragedy; and as we looked upon him we said to one another, “Truly this Man was the Son of God;” our reason could not go much further, but a new faculty was called into operation, a faculty called faith trust, confidence, an outleaping of the heart towards outstretched arms; we were enabled to cast ourselves into the arms of Jesus Christ, and having done so rest came into our souls, a sense of pardon made us glad; we entered into the mystery of spiritual peace; then we were stirred towards beneficence of ministry: we became eyes to the blind, and ears to the deaf, and a tongue to the man that was silent; and we followed Christ step by step, doing as he did according to the measure of our power; and now we feel the energy of God in the soul, renewing us every day, drawing us forward by gracious compulsion to nobler life. That is our answer to any man who asks us, What mean ye by this Christian profession and activity?<\/p>\n Thus the answer is, in the first instance, broadly historical a mere outline of facts, the facts being well-nigh innumerable, and so striking in many instances as to be almost incredible. Then the answer is distinctly and definitely personal. We had to deal with the facts, to weigh them and consider their value. We adopted that course, and the outcome of the process was faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, a tender, vital clinging to the Saviour’s Cross. So far we feel the solidity of our ground. The ground would not have been solid to us if the history had not been personalised, vitalised, adopted by the individual man himself so that he who went through the process of conversion becomes an annotator upon the page of the history, and where there was difficulty before there is light now. The answer is still incomplete. It is broadly historical, and therefore can be searched into by men who care for letters and events and ancient occurrences; the answer is definitely personal, and therefore the character of the witness has to be destroyed before any progress can be made with his particular view of the history; now the answer must, in the third place, be made vitally experimental. The twenty-fifth verse thus defines this conclusion: “And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us.” One targum says, “it shall be our merit.” The general meaning would seem to be, “it shall be accounted unto us for righteousness:” the attention and the service shall not be disregarded or put down into any secondary place, but what we do in the way of attention and observance and duty and service shall be reckoned unto us as a species of righteousness. What is the meaning to us in our present state of education and our present relations to one another? The meaning is that out of the history and out of the personal relation to that history there will come a quantity which is called character. God is all the while forming character. His object has been to do us “good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.” Without the righteousness where is the history? Without the character what is the value of our personal testimony? We may be speaking from a wrong centre from mental invention, from intellectual imagination, from spiritual impulse, from moral emotion; we may not be standing upon vital facts and spiritual realities. The outcome, then, is righteousness, character, moral manhood, great robustness and strength, and reality of life. The Christian man’s history is to himself worthless if it be not sealed by character. The speaker’s eloquence is as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal if it be not followed by solid and invincible character not the kind of character that is mechanically arranged, one part being beautifully consistent with another but so beautiful as to be suspicious; it may be a rugged character, but in the centre of it is a burning fire, a desire after God and God’s holiness. The character is not a neatly trimmed and dressed arrangement: it is a spirit, a meaning, a high and noble purpose in life; the word is a bond; the outputting of the hand is an oath; an assurance is a pledge that cannot be broken. The man who is thus righteous may die, but will never break his word; he may suffer much, but he will never falter in his testimony; he may be marked by a thousand defects as to action, attitude, and temporary relation, but his soul is alive with God and his life is consecrated to his Saviour. Who adds righteousness to the good-doer? Not himself. If the man made record of his own actions and totalised them into some nameable virtue, his diary and his reckoning would throw suspicion upon his motive. God is not unrighteous to forget your work of faith and labour of love. It is God who imputes righteousness. It is God who says, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” It is the Father who says, “Bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat and be merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found” make the house thrill with music, for there is a birth in it of manhood and immortality. So, we must have no mongering in virtue, no dealing and tricking and arranging in nice little actions and pat little circumstances, having upon them the bloom of a bastard piety. We must keep up the history, relate ourselves personally to it, turn it into character, and leave God to count the righteousness and to number up our actions and to put a value upon them. Character involves solidity, hope, recompense, reality. A man cannot pretend to character who may lay some little claim to reputation. Reputation is but expressive of appearances, superficial estimates; but character is the man, the man’s very soul, the man’s very self, without which he would seem to have no existence. So then, there is a doctrine of virtue, a doctrine of works, a doctrine of legal values. The fatal mistake upon our part would be if we set ourselves to its adjustment and determination. We have really nothing to do with it. We begin with duty, we continue with duty; we add nothing to God’s Word: we obey it by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; and at last we shall be startled and gladdened by finding that all our life long we have by the grace of God been building up into heaven.<\/p>\n Deu 6:20<\/span> [And] when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What [mean] the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD our God hath commanded you?<\/p>\n Ver. 20. What mean the testimonies?<\/strong> ] Here we have a brief catechism, which is a course and practice of singular profit. Luther scorned not to profess himself discipulum catechismi:<\/em> and the Jesuits, by the example of our churches, do catechise their novices.<\/p>\n NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Deu 6:20-25<\/p>\n 20When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What do the testimonies and the statutes and the judgments mean which the LORD our God commanded you?’ 21then you shall say to your son, ‘We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt; and the LORD brought us from Egypt with a mighty hand. 22Moreover, the LORD showed great and distressing signs and wonders before our eyes against Egypt, Pharaoh and all his household; 23and He brought us out from there in order to bring us in, to give us the land which He had sworn to our fathers.’ 24So the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God for our good always and for our survival, as it is today. 25And it will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all this commandment before the LORD our God, just as He commanded us.<\/p>\n Deu 6:20 This is the continuing emphasis on the spiritual, covenantal training of the children (see full note at Deu 4:10).<\/p>\n The unusual aspect of this context (i.e., Deu 6:20-25) is that the eyewitnesses were dead and their descendants were telling the story. Therefore, this may have become a liturgical formula (i.e., when your children ask. . .you shall say. . ., Exo 12:26-27; Exo 13:14-15; Deu 6:20-25; Jos 4:6-7; Jos 4:21-24).<\/p>\n It is possible that Deu 6:20-24 is one of several passages that recite Israel’s faith journey with YHWH, from the call of Abraham to the Exodus-Conquest (cf. Deu 26:5-9; Jos 24:2-13; Psalms 77; Psalms 78; Psalms 105; Psalms 136).<\/p>\n Deu 6:21 with a mighty hand See note at Deu 4:34.<\/p>\n Deu 6:22 This is referring to the ten plagues of Egypt. Each one of the plagues was a judgment against one of the Egyptian gods. Apparently these plagues spanned a period of about eighteen months, if one assumes there was some degree of natural phenomena involved. God could have delivered them much faster but it is my personal belief that He was working with the Egyptians’ faith as well as that of the Hebrews. The mixed multitude which left Egypt contained some believing Egyptians.<\/p>\n Deu 6:24 This verse expresses the benefits to Israel for obedience to God’s commandments (1) for their good (BDB 375 III, cf. Deu 6:18) always and (2) for their survival (BDB 310, KB 309, Piel INFINITIVE CONSTRUCT) as a people (e.g., Deu 4:1; Deu 8:1; Deu 30:16; Deu 30:19).<\/p>\n NASB, NKJV,<\/p>\n TEValways<\/p>\n NRSV lasting<\/p>\n NJB for ever<\/p>\n This is literally a construct all (BDB 481) and days (BDB 398) used as a metaphor for permanence (cf. Deu 5:29; Deu 28:33; Gen 6:5; Psa 52:1, see Robert B. Girdlestone, Synonyms of the Old Testament, p. 316).<\/p>\n Deu 6:25 And it will be righteousness for us As Abraham’s initial faith\/belief and subsequent obedience was accepted by YHWH (cf. Gen 15:6) as righteousness, so too, covenant obedience on the part of israel (cf. Deu 24:13). See Special Topic: RIGHTEOUSNESS .<\/p>\n if we are careful to observe all of this commandment Notice the repeated conditional nature of these promises:<\/p>\n 1. if we are careful – BDB 1036, KB 1581, Qal IMPERFECT, cf. Deu 4:6; Deu 4:9; Deu 4:40; Deu 5:1; Deu 5:10; Deu 5:12; Deu 5:29; Deu 5:32; Deu 6:2-3; Deu 6:17(twice)<\/p>\n 2. to observe – BDB 793, KB 889, Qal INFINITIVE, cf. Deu 4:6; Deu 5:1; Deu 5:15; Deu 5:27; Deu 5:32; Deu 6:1; Deu 6:3; Deu 6:18; Deu 6:24-25. See note at Deu 5:1.<\/p>\n DISCUSSION QUESTIONS<\/p>\n This is a study guide commentary which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.<\/p>\n These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought provoking, not definitive.<\/p>\n 1. How is chapter 6 related to the Ten Commandments?<\/p>\n 2. Why is there such an emphasis on obedience to the covenant?<\/p>\n 3. What is the significance of Deu 6:4-6 and how does it relate to polytheism, henotheism and monotheism?<\/p>\n 4. What is the responsibility of believing parents toward their children?<\/p>\n 5. Explain the etymology and the Biblical use of the term righteousness in both its OT and NT focus.<\/p>\n in time to come. Hebrew “to-morrow”. Definite date put for indefinite. <\/p>\n No Compromise with Idolatry<\/p>\n Deu 6:20-25; Deu 7:1-11<\/p>\n The great Lawgiver had His eye constantly on the coming generation. It is good when the children are so arrested by our religious life, that they come to ask us to tell them the reasons that account for it. Seek to live so purely and devoutly, and yet so attractively, that the young people around will be compelled to inquire after your secret, Luk 11:1.<\/p>\n We are not only to teach the children, but to guard them against forming friendships and making marriage alliances with those who might divert them from God. In the New Testament, Christians are forbidden to marry except in the Lord, and equally stringent are prohibitions against worldly intercourse, 1Co 7:39; 2Co 6:14.<\/p>\n God can break the seven-fold power of sin in the heart of those who are absolutely given over to Him and are willing to surrender their evil ways. This is pledged to us by His fidelity and love, Deu 7:8-9.<\/p>\n when thy son: Deu 6:7, Exo 12:26, Exo 13:14, Jos 4:6, Jos 4:7, Jos 4:21-24, Pro 22:6 <\/p>\n in time to come: Heb. to-morrow <\/p>\n Reciprocal: Exo 10:2 – And that Exo 21:1 – the judgments Deu 4:45 – These Jos 22:24 – In time to come Eze 17:12 – Know Eph 6:4 – but<\/p>\n 6:20 [And] when {i} thy son shall ask thee in time to come, saying, What [mean] the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD our God hath commanded you?<\/p>\n (i) God not only requires that we serve him all our lives, but also that we see that our posterity sets forth his glory.<\/p>\n Exhortation to remember the past 6:20-25<\/span><\/p>\n God explained more fully here the teaching of children that He had hinted at previously (Deu 6:7). We can learn from these verses how to maintain and transmit a realistic consciousness of the true God from one generation to the next. This whole chapter deals with the first commandment in the Decalogue.<\/p>\n "Later Judaism wrongly concluded that covenant keeping was the basis for righteousness rather than an expression of faithful devotion. But true covenant keeping in the final analysis is a matter of faith, not merely of works and ritual. Thus the central feature of the covenant stipulations is their providing a vehicle by which genuine saving faith might be displayed (cf. Deu 24:13; Hab 2:4; Rom 1:17; Rom 4:1-5; Gal 3:6-7)." [Note: Ibid., p. 175.] <\/span><\/p>\n In view of God’s grace to His people, believers should respond with love for God. We should express that love in obedience to His revealed will, and we should perpetuate the knowledge of God in the next generation.<\/p>\n [And] when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What [mean] the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD our God hath commanded you? 20. When, etc.] Read, with Sam. and LXX, And it shall be when, as in the opening of Deu 6:10 and in Exo 13:14 (J), which … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 6:20”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5115\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
I. <\/strong>First, we shall consider these words in their literal sense. Nearly four thousand years ago, a period soon after the deluge, Egypt appears to have had its kings and princes, and to have been great as a kingdom of this world. Nor is it only remarkable for its antiquity, but also for its physical phenomena, its worldly wisdom, its idolatry, and its monuments. It was peopled by the descendants of Ham, and was dedicated to him, and therefore, from the earliest times, in the hieroglyphics and Scripture, it was called the land of Ham. Now Ham, as a deity, was reverenced as the sun, and no doubt he was the sole introducer of the worship of the sun after the deluge. That Egypt was addicted to sun-worship there can be no doubt; for it is not only seen in the hieroglyphics or sacred writings, but also by means of several of its most ancient names. The theology of Egypt, however, being so closely connected with astronomical principles, underwent as many changes as the planets themselves. Hence it is that there are so many and various opinions upon it. One thing is clear, that they paid great honours to brute animals, and employed them as representatives of their deities. Thus God manifested His power, and mercy, and faithfulness. His power in delivering a defenceless people from the oppression of one of the greatest military nations of the ancient world; and His mercy in giving them the land of Canaan; and His faithfulness in performing the oath which He sware unto Abraham, that He would give them.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>We shall now consider the spiritual meaning of the words of our text. And here it will assist us very much to know that Egypt had several names; and we have found, after much research, that under whatever name we contemplate this land of spiritual darkness, we perceive the same root and source of post-diluvian idolatry–Ham associated with the sun; and along whatever line we pursue our investigations in the etymology of this land of spiritual wickedness, we arrive at the same goal. Here let us learn a lesson on worldly wisdom and human power.<\/p>\nFuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
21 Then you shall say to your son, We were Pharaohs bondmen in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand;
22 And the Lord showed signs and wonders, great and evil, against Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes;
23 And He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land which He swore to give our fathers.
24 And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to (reverently) fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as at this day.
25 And it will be accounted as righteousness [conformity to Gods will in word, thought, and action] for us, if we are watchful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as He has commanded us.<\/p>\n
It is my meditation all the day.<\/p>\n
That I might meditate on thy word.<\/p>\n
If a man know the worth of his own soul, he will feel the importance of the salvation of the souls of his family. Those who neglect family religion neglect personal religion; if more attention were paid to the former, even among those called religious people, we should soon have a better state of civil society. On family religion God lays much stress; and no head of a family can neglect it without endangering the final salvation of his own soul. (pp. 747, 748)<\/p>\nFuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"