Heart, House, Hand

Here old Moses speaks his word of farewell to the assembled tribes of Israel. In the distance lies Nebo, the place where the man of God will die. Presently the people will leave the plains of Moab to cross the Jordan. Yet once more, in a long farewell sermon, the book of Deuteronomy, Moses binds upon the hearts of the people not to forget God’s Word in the land of promise. “Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee!”

It is an admonition which we also may take to heart, indeed. A new school year stretches out before us. It will be well with us and our schools only if we will hear God’s words and do them. Which words? Moses speaks of these words, which I command thee this day. Thus, these words hold true literally for the book of Deuteronomy. However, we will surely not do violence to the meaning of the Holy Spirit if we apply the expression “these words” to the Holy Scripture.

The first thing to which Moses urges the people of Israel is that God’s words have to be in their heart. In Scripture the heart is the center of the entire human personality. If the Word of the Lord is to have effect and bear fruit in our life, it will have to pierce even to the dividing assunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow. It will have to root itself in the deepest part of our existence. We live in such a superficial time. With many the Word of God does not pierce any further than the mind or the emotions, or it may touch the conscience. The heart of many will remain unmoved, unbroken. Then, after a while, the seed will be unquestionably choked among the thorns, or wither on the rocks. “These words shall be in thine heart!” For this nothing less is necessary than the miracle of the internal calling by Word and Spirit. Then the Lord opened the heart of Lydia….It is of the greatest importance to keep this in mind. Before Moses speaks about teaching diligently the words of God unto our children; before he mentions talking about these words in the home and by the way, he first admonishes Israel and us: these words shall be in thine heart! Will not our students recognize the great difference between a Bible lesson just recited to them and the teaching of one who, by grace, may have the words of God in his heart? How little power, little admonition, little jealousy-provoking love issues from us if we do not know personally of that sweet, unsearchable, wondrous, supernatural opening of the heart in the hour of God’s good pleasure!

“And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children….” Repeatedly in Deuteronomy the concern for children is emphasized by Moses. How could it be any different with a man who prayed in Psalm 90 that the Lord would let His work appear unto His servants, and His glory unto their children! Now we may indeed note well the words teach diligently (the Dutch says, inscherpen, grind into). It is a word that makes us think of stubborn (weerbarstig), hard material. This word is also used for the sharpening of a sword. By using precisely this word, the Holy Spirit wants to remind us of the fact that also our children are completely unsusceptible to the words of God. To teach them those words is no easy work. Humanly speaking, the Lord has all counts against Him. Scripture speaks of “hardness” of the heart.

Is it not remarkable that the world does not have to teach its message diligently unto our children, to grind it into them? That transpires automatically. But the Word of God is repelled, meets resistance and enmity even with children, also our children. Our children — that should fill us with humility at the same time. Our children are so stubborn (weerbarstig) because they are our children. Unclean out of the unclean! Grinding-in —a word that brings us to the bitter reality of our fall into sin.

“And shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house….” Talk of them. Do we still talk with our children? In the house, by the way? It seems best to understand the well-known words, “When thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up,” not in such a way as if Moses means to always talk with them. Scripture teaches us here, too, that the wise man will discern both time and judgment. There is a way of dealing with our children and with God’s words which does not win, but repels. We must not talk of the words of God with our children in an untimely manner. We can be so overly spiritual that the fruit becomes very unspiritual. Moses, or rather, the Holy Spirit, does not intend this here. The best explanation of the words about “house and way, lying down and rising up” seems to be indeed, that here is meant at every suitable moment, at every suitable opportunity which occurs, wherever you happen to be, even if it is on your bed, even if it is by the way.

Well, how is it with this in our lives? Do we still talk with our children? One reads sometimes of some of the effects of television: breaking up families, deadening relationships. I believe that, too. But is it any better with us? Do we actually know our children? Do we use the opportunity to talk with them? They need this as they need daily bread. And then, not only the children in the family need this, but also the students whom God, in His providential counsel, has placed in our paths. Oh, how our schools have a crying need for teachers who themselves may fear the Lord and who, when the right opportunity occurs, impress it upon their students, in the class, but also and especially, personally!

“And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand….” The explanation of this sign upon the hand and the frontlets between the eyes is a matter of quite some argument. Already among rabbinical Judaism we meet a group that holds these words to be a figure of speech and another group that wants to see them taken literally. The latter opinion was responsible for the origin of these “little boxes” tied to head and hand with small leather straps and filled with small scrolls of parchment upon which various Scripture texts were written. Could this really have been the Lord’s intention? We dare to doubt it. Likewise, we are of the opinion that certainly it was not God’s intention that the ninth verse be understood in such a way that it would be sufficient to write some portions of Scripture upon the posts of our house and on the gates of our city. No! When the Lord commands that His words shall be bound upon our hands and between your eyes, He wants to emphasize that His Word should de-termine our actions and our thinking. And furthermore, when the Lord commands that His Word be written upon the posts of our house and on our gates, then He demands that family and societal life be under the discipline of His Word!

All this has so much to tell us. We can have our mouths full of God’s Word, but does it also determine our walk of life? Is it a sign upon our hand? In the education of our children and students we can uphold the old truth of Scripture and confession, but does the Word determine all of our thinking? How can we couple an orthodox confession and a respectable revelation of life to a way of thinking so completely conformed to the world? Does not the Lord look in the heart and know our most secret thoughts? Are His words to us truly frontlets between our eyes?

And as far as our schools are concerned: we have written — sometimes literally—God’s words upon their posts and on their gates. They bear names and have constitutions, mentioning the words of God. But let us consider: wherever life that is from God is no longer known, there the beautiful names and the scriptural constitutions petrify to a facade. The greatest danger and the most serious threat to our Christian educational system does not come from the nation’s capital, nor from political groups that are not favorably inclined to us. The greatest danger threatens us from within: that God’s words are no longer in our heart, no sign upon our hand, no frontlets between our eyes. The Lord have mercy upon us and upon our children and keep us under His covenant-faithfulness!

Rev. A. Moerkerken is pastor of the Netherlands Reformed Congregation (Gereformeerde Gemeente) of Gouda, The Netherlands.

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