Deuteronomy 11:18-19

by Norma Cook Everist

You shall put these words of mine in your heart and soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and fix them as an emblem on your forehead. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.
(New Revised Standard Version)

“Remember these commands and cherish them. Tie them on your arms and wear them on your foreheads as a reminder. Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you are resting and when you are working.”
(Today’s English Version)

Remember these commands and cherish them!
In Deuteronomy Moses recalls the great events of the past forty years as he appeals to people to remember how God has led them through the wilderness. He reviews the commandments that are to guide the people’s life in the promised land. He reminds the people of God’s covenant with them, that God has saved and blessed them and calls for them to renew their commitment. A key verse of the book for us to remember is 6: 5: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your might,” (which is followed by verses 6-8, very similar to Heb. 11:18-19). Recall! Review! Remember! Renew! Read the book of Deuteronomy all the way through. How do we remember the God who has saved and blessed us as a community of faith?

Bind them!
“Bind them,” “tie them” refers to an ancient Hebrew practice of wearing a phylactery on the head and arms, a small square leather box holding inscriptions of the commandments. We may not be able to picture that practice, nor do many of us want to “wear our faith on our sleeves.” But we who live thousands of years later, on this side of the cross and resurrection, do “put on Christ” each day as we splash water on our faces in the morning and remember we have been baptized in the waters of new life. Splash! Tie! Bind! Wear Christ on every occasion. We bind God’s Word to ourselves so closely, so intimately that we are unable not to share it with others. How might you bind Scripture to yourself? Your mind? Your heart? Your home? How might we live and teach the Bible to our children, and our children’s children, in our churches and neighborhoods?

In addition to questions found in this study, here are some general questions that can be used:
1. What is God saying to us through this passage?
2. What does this passage tell us about God?
3. How does this passage speak to us as a community?
4. What does this passage teach us about our neighbors and our world?

Teach Them!
Teach the words, yes, memorizing key verses. More importantly teach for understanding, reaching out with the good news for which the world hungers. Biblical interpretation is key. We study the Commandments not in order to count which sin is worse than another, proving our worth by judging others. One could read Deuteronomy and see only “Obey” (11:8,13, 22, 27), or “All the land that you march over will be yours” (11:24). Such a narrow reading could lead one to think we earn God’s favor through obedience or that our own nation is God’s chosen people today with special entitlements in the world. But searching the context further, one notices the call to love and serve God with all our hearts. God’s people, then and now, are to stop being stubborn and thinking our will is God’s will. This God who is great and mighty does not show partiality. This God makes sure that orphans and widows are treated fairly. This God loves the foreigners who live among our people and gives them food and clothes (10:17-18). Search! Study! Serve! Teach! Notice how different translations of the Bible present us with variations on interpretation and understanding. Read parts of Deuteronomy in more than one version of the Bible.

Talk about them!
As Lutheran Christians we appreciate the reformation heritage of being able to read the Bible in the vernacular, in our own languages in this multicultural world. We need to not only read and teach the Scriptures, but to become so fluent in their deep meanings that we can talk about them easily and comfortably in our daily lives, in our homes and in our places of vocation, our ministries in daily life, to pray them as we go to sleep and when we arise. What are some of the languages that you speak all week long? Engineering? Health care? Agriculture? Art? How can you become biblically fluent in your languages so that you can listen to the deep needs of all kinds of people and talk about God’s unconditional love and covenant faithfulness with them in your places of daily vocation? Listen! Pray! Share! Talk!

Norma Cook Everist teaches at Wartburg Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa.

Questions on Deuteronomy 11:18-19

How do we remember the God who has saved and blessed us as a community of faith?
How might you bind Scripture to yourself? Your mind? Your heart? Your home? How might we live and teach the Bible to our children, and our children’s children, in our churches and neighborhoods?
How do different translations of the Bible present us with variations on interpretation and understanding?
What are some of the languages that you speak all week long? Engineering? Health care? Agriculture? Art? How can you become biblically fluent in your languages so that you can listen to the deep needs of all kinds of people and talk about God’s unconditional love and covenant faithfulness with them in your places of daily vocation?

As you consider opening Scripture, you may wish to consider these questions:
1.How does the Bible feed your daily life?
2. How does the Bible feed the life of this community?
3. How are we renewed, empowered, and enlivened by the word?
4. What stands in the way of our opening the Bible and joining the conversation?

See also