Deuteronomy<\/em><\/a> (Vol. 4, p. 167). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers. It is not much of a leap to move from Scripture memorization to Bible study. Bible study no doubt can lead to Bible memorization, and especially memorization and understanding of the substance of Scripture.<\/p>\n\n\n\nVerses 7-9 then proceed to set out more details about how to put \u201cthese words,\u201d i.e., the Bible, on one’s heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Verse 7a says that one should \u201cteach them diligently to your children.\u201d This phrase can equate to instruction for one to spend the time and effort in the sense of to chisel these words into the thinking of one’s children. In this regard, while inscribing words on a rock slab, for example, is hard work, it is well worth it because of the permanency resulting from the effort. Verse 7a is consistent, in the context of the 21st Century, with the overall command to study the Bible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Verse 7b presents four \u201cwhen\u201d instances wherein you \u201cshall talk of them [these words] when \u2026\u201d. These are: (1) when you sit in your house; (2) when you walk by the way; (3) when you lie down, and (4) when you rise. Even a cursory consideration of these four \u201cwhen\u201d actions leads to a command to talk of these words during all the time one lives life. \u201cThese words\u201d must be at the very center of one’s life in all its aspects. For Moses to command that \u201cthese words\u201d be so central to one’s life correlates in the 21st Century context to a command by God to study the Bible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Verse 8 presents two commands relating to one’s person; namely, to bind \u201cthese words\u201d on one’s hand and wear \u201cthese words\u201d as frontlets on one’s forehead between their eyes. Both of these commands are most likely metaphorical, but they signify constant exposure to \u201cthese words,\u201d as well as comprise a visual display of the covenant relationship the people had with God. To correlate in the 21st Century, verse 8 commands Bible study as normative behavior for the Christian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finally, verse 9 commands that the people \u201cshall write\u201d \u201cthese words\u201d on the doorposts of their houses and their gates. While, like for verse 8, these are most likely metaphorical, these instructions show God’s intention to expose the people and their entire household, as well as the community, to \u201cthese words,\u201d i.e., the Bible in the context of the 21st Century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Given the completeness and totality of the commands of verses 6-9, it is clear that this Old Testament text, when contextualized to the 21st Century, teaches that God commands a Christian study the Bible. In other words, Bible study is to be normative behavior for a 21st Century Christian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NOTICE OF PERMISSIONS<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am mindful of and respect the rights other authors and\/or publishers possess in their works. I thus try my best to not violate any copyright laws or rights other authors and\/or publishers possess in their works. The below copyright permission statements are the result of my best efforts to understand that limited usage or \u201cfair use\u201d is available and\/or to secure direct permission for specific works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scripture quotations are from the ESV\u00ae Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One very fundamental reason for studying the Bible is that God commands it. It is impossible to argue against this fact. In Knowing Scripture, at pages 22-26, R. C. Sproul points to two passages that demand we study the Bible. This article looks at the Old Testament passage of Deuteronomy 6:6\u20139 (ESV), which reads: 6 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[321],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-study"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stevebelsheim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stevebelsheim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stevebelsheim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stevebelsheim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stevebelsheim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=117"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.stevebelsheim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":118,"href":"https:\/\/www.stevebelsheim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117\/revisions\/118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stevebelsheim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stevebelsheim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stevebelsheim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}