Re:Verse passage – Proverbs 3:1-4 (day two)
Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart. Vs. 3
Your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you. Psalm 119:11
These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:6-9
Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, Deuteronomy 11:18-20
How do we learn? Experience, sure, it is valuable and often necessary. There are some things, basic, fundamental that are taught over and over by a remembering, a recitation, a liturgy. These foundational truths are spoken of again and again throughout scripture. It is how the ancients learned the ways of Abraham, Moses, David, and Jesus. The told and retold. They recited and shared. If the God knows human nature, and he does, the amount of references to this kind of learning and instruction should be a clarion call to all of us to study more, to talk of scripture more, to be comfortable hearing these words repeated. How can we follow the Word if we don’t know it?
To this thoughtful presentation of pertinent Old Testament scripture I respectfully add the following verbiage.
I would expand by adding Deut. 6:4: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” because it is an immensely important biblical commandment referenced in verse 6. This command to continually worship Yahweh as one God is a seminal passage, principal theological truth, and watershed scripture. Written to ancient Jews, it applies equally to all Christians past and present and needs to be in their thoughts when studying scripture and praying to Yahweh. This portion of the Shema [Jewish (Old Testament) confession of faith] should be in their minds as they contemplate and study the ancient Hebrew and Christian Godhead (Jesus consubstantial with the Father) and Christian monotheism as described in the Pentateuch, the New Testament, and the Nicene Creed.
Being an educator I always wanted to be sure my student learned & could ultimately apply this knowledge to patient care. Years ago I attended a Catholic funeral & was amazed that the congregation had memorized scripture & knew when to stand, seat, kneel. I asked my friend how did they know all these scriptures. Her reply “catechism classes” around ages 6-8. They retained all the scriptures for many years! So I looked up that word & realized it was a powerful approach to learning, achieving long term retention – asking questions & replying with answers. A very similar approach to how I taught my nursing students. And really a way God uses to teach us.