GOD'S WORD

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 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. [6] And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: [7] And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. [8] And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. [9] And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

The other day as I was pulling my car into a parking stall at lunch time, I glanced over into a truck to my left and noticed the driver was reading a small, well worn Bible . . . I found that refreshing. Most of the time when we see people reading in public it is a newspaper, a magazine, or a paperback, etc. But here was a person, relaxing in a shady parking spot and reading their Bible. Today we have a bewildering array of things we can read, but sometimes the old things are the best. It reminds me of Moses' directions to the nation of Israel contained in our opening passage.

The book of Deuteronomy is interesting because it appears to repeat much of the Law and describes many of the things contained in Leviticus, Exodus, and Numbers. It makes sense when we realize that Moses, under the inspiration of God, addressed this book to the generations that came after those who died in the wilderness for their unbelief (see Numbers 14:26-30 and 26:64-65). Many of the people that Moses was talking to at the end of his life had not witnessed the giving of the Law on Mt Sinai, or all of the miracles God did to sustain their nation in the wilderness. He wanted them to know their history before he died.

The people of that day only had the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible). It is widely believed that Moses was responsible for writing down all the history of the human family from the creation until Israel was poised to enter the Promised Land. Historians think that before Moses wrote it into books, Israel 's history was passed down orally by story telling, and perhaps even in ballad form.

Today we have much more history of how God dealt with ancient people. We also have the New Testament, which is the account of Jesus Christ's ministry on Earth. It also details the spread of Christianity throughout the Middle East and across southern Europe. It wraps up with a book containing prophecies of the end times. In Moses' day the “Bible” was quite small . . . but how much more should we treasure all of it in our time? Some Jews today still bind the scriptures to themselves especially as they worship God. But whether we use a phylactery (frontlet) or read the Bible in our car on our lunch break the same admonition applies to us . . . these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart.

Pastor Howard