Deuteronomy 11:18-21
“Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 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. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.”
To have the holy oracles in our hands is one of the greatest advantages that we enjoy above the heathen! Romans 3:2. A due improvement of them therefore will be expected of us. The Jews, who were in like manner distinguished above all other nations upon earth, were required to show the most affectionate, obediential regard to the writings of Moses. But the injunctions given to them with respect to the revelation they possessed, are still more obligatory on us, who have the sacred canon completed, and, by the superior light of the New Testament, are enabled to enter more fully into its mysterious import.
The words which we have just read, point out to us,
I. Our duty with respect to the Word of God.
A revelation from Heaven cannot but demand our most serious attention.
1. We should treasure Scripture up in our hearts.
It is not sufficient to study the Scriptures merely as we read other books; we must search into them for hidden treasures! Proverbs 2:1-4, and lay up “in our hearts,” yes, in our inmost “souls,” the glorious truths which they unfold to our view; and be careful never to let them slip, Hebrews 2:1. They should be our delight, and our meditation all the day, Psalm 119:92; Psalm 119:97.
2. We should make Scripture a frequent subject of our conversation.
It is to be regretted that there is no other subject so universally proscribed and banished, as that of religion. But, if we loved God as we ought, we could not but love to speak of his Word, that Word which is our light in this dark world, and the one foundation of all our hopes.
When Moses and Elijah came from Heaven to converse with our Lord, the prophecies relating to the sufferings and glory of Christ were their one topic of discourse, Luke 9:30-31. Thus at all times and places should our conversation be seasoned with salt, Colossians 4:6, and tend to the use of edifying, Ephesians 4:29. If it were thus with us, God would listen to us with approbation, Malachi 3:16-17, and Jesus would often come and unite himself to our company, Luke 24:14-15.
3. We should bring Scripture on all occasions to our remembrance.
The Jews, putting a literal construction on the passage before us, wrote portions of God’s Word on scraps of parchment, and wore them as bracelets on their wrists, and as frontlets on their heads. But we shall more truly answer the end of this commandment by consulting the Scriptures on all occasions as our sure and only guide, and making them the one rule of our faith and practice. There are many general precepts and promises which we should have continually in view, as much as if they were fixed on our doors and gates; which also, as if fastened on our foreheads and our hands, should both direct our ways, and regulate our actions.
4. We should instruct the rising generation in the knowledge of the Scriptures.
All are solicitous to teach their children some business, whereby they may provide a maintenance for their bodies; and should we not endeavor to instruct them in the things relating to their souls? Abraham was particularly commended for his care with respect to this, Genesis 18:19; and the injunction in the text, confirmed by many other passages, Exodus 13:8; Exodus 13:14-16; Psalm 78:5-8, requires that we should “diligently” perform this duty. Nor should we imagine that the mere teaching of children to repeat a catechism will suffice; we should open to them all the wonders of redemption, and endeavor to cast their minds, as it were, into the very mold of the Gospel.
In the close of the text we are directed to bear in mind,
II. Our encouragement to fulfill this duty.
This sincere love to the Scriptures will be productive of the greatest good:
1. It will tend greatly to our present happiness.
A peaceful enjoyment of the promised land, and of all the good things of this life, was held forth to the Jews as the reward of their obedience; but we are taught rather to look forward to the possession of a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Nevertheless, “godliness has at this time also the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come, 1 Timothy 4:8;” and therefore we may properly consider the present benefits arising from a due attention to the Scriptures.
Suppose then that the blessed Word of God were regarded by us as it ought to be, that it engaged our affections, entered into our conversation, regulated our conduct, and were instilled into the minds of the rising generation.
Would not much frivolous, obscene, and impious discourse be suppressed?
Would not sin of every kind receive a beneficial check?
Would not many of the diseases, the troubles, the feuds, and the miseries that result from sin, be prevented?
Would not many of the judgments of God which now desolate the earth—the wars, the famines, the pestilences, be removed? verse 13-17.
Would not, in numberless instances, knowledge be diffused, consolation administered, and virtue called forth into act and exercise?
Would not our children, as they grow up, reap the benefit of such examples? Proverbs 22:6.
Let anyone judge impartially, and say, whether a due regard to the Scriptures would not greatly improve the state of society, and of every individual, in proportion as his life was conformed to them? Psalm 19:11.
2. It will secure an inheritance beyond the grave.
The earthly Canaan was typical of the Heavenly Canaan; when therefore we see the possession of that good land promised to the Jews, we must, in applying the promises to ourselves, raise our views to the heavenly Canaan above.
Now what are the means which God has prescribed for the securing of that glorious inheritance? Certainly an attention to the Scriptures is that one means, without which we never can attain to happiness, and in the use of which we cannot but attain it. It is by the Scriptures that God quickens us, Psalm 19:7-8; Psalm 119:50, and brings us into God’s family, James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23. See also Acts 8:28-39. It is by the Scriptures that God directs our way, Psalm 119:105, and keeps our feet, Psalm 119:9; Psalm 119:11; Psalm 37:31, and sanctifies our hearts, Ephesians 5:26, and makes us wise unto salvation, 2 Timothy 3:15, and gives us a very “Heaven upon earth.”
And shall not the hope of such benefits allure us? When we have the one way to eternal life explained in the Scriptures—shall we not search them? John 5:39, yes, and meditate upon them day and night! Psalm 1:2. Let then the word be sweeter to us than honey or the honey-comb, Psalm 19:10, and be esteemed by us more than our necessary food! Job 23:12.
Charles Simeon (1759-1836)