- Joined
- Oct 26, 2007
- Messages
- 12,539
"When the LORD your God has cut off the nations whose land the LORD your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses, "you shall separate three cities for yourself in the midst of your land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess. Deuteronomy 19:1-2 NKJV
In recent days, Moses has commanded the Israelites to write the Lord’s commandments “on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:9 and 11:20).
Men often look at this twice-given exhortation and wonder, “Did Moses mean they were to literally write the Lord’s commands at the entrances of their homes?”
Until today’s reading, most men have missed the fact that, at this point, the Israelites didn’t have houses or gates! They hadn’t had either for a generation, and wouldn’t have for some time still.
Not every command applicable to believers today necessarily applies to you. That’s the case if you don’t own a home yet, if you aren’t married, or if you don’t have children. It’s also true if you aren’t sick, if you don’t have unconfessed sins, or if you aren’t elderly yet.
Just be sure to obey the commands applicable to you, now and in the future!
Prayer: Lord, You want me review Your commands at each new step and new stage of life. I want to follow You wholeheartedly at every turn.
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Side Note: This is particularly interesting to me because I grew up in different apartment buildings in New York City. What I noticed but did not find out the contents of for years later, was there were little metal covers on the door frames of some of the apartments my mother and me lived in. Most had just been painted over. What I didn't know was that they are called mezuzah which itself consists of a small scroll of parchment (k’laf ) on which are written two biblical passages. The first is Deuteronomy 6:4–9: Hear, O Israel! The Eternal is our God, the Eternal alone. You shall love the Eternal your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. Take to heart these instructions with which I charge you this day. Impress them upon your children. Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead; inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
The second passage is Deuteronomy 11:13–21: If, then, you obey the commandments that I enjoin upon you this day, loving the Eternal your God and serving [God] with all your heart and soul, I will grant the rain for your land in season, the early rain and the late. You shall gather in your new grain and wine and oil—I will also provide grass in the fields for your cattle—and thus you shall eat your fill. Take care not to be lured away to serve other gods and bow to them. For the Eternal’s anger will flare up against you, shutting up the skies so that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its produce; and you will soon perish from the good land that the Eternal is assigning to you. Therefore impress these My words upon your very heart: bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead, and teach them to your children—reciting them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up; and inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates—to the end that you and your children may endure, in the land that the Eternal swore to your fathers to assign to them, as long as there is a heaven over the earth.
In recent days, Moses has commanded the Israelites to write the Lord’s commandments “on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:9 and 11:20).
Men often look at this twice-given exhortation and wonder, “Did Moses mean they were to literally write the Lord’s commands at the entrances of their homes?”
Until today’s reading, most men have missed the fact that, at this point, the Israelites didn’t have houses or gates! They hadn’t had either for a generation, and wouldn’t have for some time still.
Not every command applicable to believers today necessarily applies to you. That’s the case if you don’t own a home yet, if you aren’t married, or if you don’t have children. It’s also true if you aren’t sick, if you don’t have unconfessed sins, or if you aren’t elderly yet.
Just be sure to obey the commands applicable to you, now and in the future!
Prayer: Lord, You want me review Your commands at each new step and new stage of life. I want to follow You wholeheartedly at every turn.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Side Note: This is particularly interesting to me because I grew up in different apartment buildings in New York City. What I noticed but did not find out the contents of for years later, was there were little metal covers on the door frames of some of the apartments my mother and me lived in. Most had just been painted over. What I didn't know was that they are called mezuzah which itself consists of a small scroll of parchment (k’laf ) on which are written two biblical passages. The first is Deuteronomy 6:4–9: Hear, O Israel! The Eternal is our God, the Eternal alone. You shall love the Eternal your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. Take to heart these instructions with which I charge you this day. Impress them upon your children. Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead; inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
The second passage is Deuteronomy 11:13–21: If, then, you obey the commandments that I enjoin upon you this day, loving the Eternal your God and serving [God] with all your heart and soul, I will grant the rain for your land in season, the early rain and the late. You shall gather in your new grain and wine and oil—I will also provide grass in the fields for your cattle—and thus you shall eat your fill. Take care not to be lured away to serve other gods and bow to them. For the Eternal’s anger will flare up against you, shutting up the skies so that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its produce; and you will soon perish from the good land that the Eternal is assigning to you. Therefore impress these My words upon your very heart: bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead, and teach them to your children—reciting them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up; and inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates—to the end that you and your children may endure, in the land that the Eternal swore to your fathers to assign to them, as long as there is a heaven over the earth.
