When he [the king] sits on the throne as king, he must copy for himself this body of instruction on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. He must always keep that copy with him and read it daily as long as he lives. That way he will learn to fear the Lord his God by obeying all the terms of these instructions and decrees. [Deuteronomy 17:18-19 (NLT)]
When I was in elementary school, the homeroom teacher would give us a list of spelling words to learn by Friday. Along with the week’s words, there usually was a spelling rule to learn which would help us spell them. Surely you remember the old maxim, “It’s i before e, except after c, or when sounded as a as in neighbor and weigh!” Applying that rule helped us know how to spell words like siege, yield, ceiling and rein.
Our spelling homework included writing the week’s words at least ten times. Just writing the words, however, was not enough to learn them so, in preparation for Friday’s spelling test, my mother made me spell them for her every night. This was long before spell-check and auto-correct, so spelling was important and we were expected to remember how to spell those words forever (or at least until the end of the year).
The book of Deuteronomy was written to remind the Israelites of what God had done in the past and to guide them in their future conduct once they reached the Promised Land. Although we know from 1 Samuel that God did not want the people to have an earthly king, in His omniscience, God knew they eventually would insist on having one. As a result, in Deuteronomy 17, we find instructions for any future kings of Israel. As part of their training, each new king was to write a copy of the law on a scroll. Whether this was to be the entire book of Deuteronomy or only the principles for godly living found in Moses’ second address (Deuteronomy 5 through 29), we don’t know. Either way, without scanner or copier, this was a tedious task; the king had to do it himself and in the presence of the priests.
Just as writing spelling words was to fix them in my mind, copying the law was to imprint its message on the king’s mind. Simply copying the words, however, was not enough. In the same way I continued to study those words after copying them, the king was to keep his copy of the law with him at all times and to read the words he’d written daily. Then, just as I was supposed to apply spelling principles to any new words I encountered, the kings were expected to apply God’s word to the way they ruled the kingdom. All that copying and reading were worthless if God’s regulations didn’t guide every decision they made.
Write it, read it, and practice it in life! That’s what children are supposed to do in spelling class and what the kings were supposed to do in Canaan. They may have written and read the law but, as the rest of the Old Testament aptly illustrates, they certainly didn’t do a good job of applying it. Let’s learn from their mistakes. Study God’s word but remember that it does no good to be able to recite every chapter and verse if we fail to apply its truth to our lives!
The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. [Søren Kierkegaard]
When my father called me the apple of his eye, while I knew that meant he cherished me, I didn’t know the idiom originated in the Bible. The Hebrew expression used was ‘iyshown ‘ayin which literally means “little man of the eye.” The ancient metaphor most likely refers to the eye’s pupil—the opening through which light enters the eye. Because our eyes are both necessary and vulnerable, God provided us with reflexes that automatically shut them, turn our heads, or shield them with our hands as a means of protection. Throughout Scripture, the apple of the eye metaphor is used to mean something as precious as the pupil of the eye. With this in mind, the psalmist may be asking God to protect him as if he were the pupil of God’s eye. Supporting that interpretation, the psalmist switches metaphors by asking God for protection by hiding the man in the shadow of His wings. In line with this interpretation, the NLT and other thought-for-thought Bibles translate the above verse as, “Guard me as you would guard your own eyes.”
When one of his congregation suddenly stopped coming to church, a pastor friend asked him about his absence. The man angrily explained that he’d stopped attending because the pastor hadn’t suitably (and publicly) recognized his large donation to the church’s building fund. My friend assured the miffed man that, had the money been given to the pastor for his personal use, he would have thanked him profusely. But, he added, the money hadn’t been given to him; it was given to God! While the church truly appreciated it (and had acknowledged it in his contribution statement), the issue of both the donation and any recognition or thanks really was between the donor and God. A similar experience was shared by a friend who is in charge of the care ministry for her church. One of her volunteers quit because she felt the church had failed to sufficiently appreciate and publicize her service.
For the most part, being a “stiff-necked people” is a pejorative label, but could there be occasions when that’s exactly what we should be? Are there times we should be intractable, stubborn, and uncompromising—even instances we should disregard the law?
There is a funny scene in the movie When Harry Met Sally when, in the middle of a delicatessen, Sally proves to Harry that women can successfully fake being in the throes of passion. After a rather loud and vivid demonstration, Sally calmly returns to her meal. After watching Sally’s display of ecstasy, an older woman tells her waiter, “I’ll have what she’s having!” While it may be possible to fool people about a number of things, we can’t fool God. He looks beyond appearances right into our hearts.
With its declaration of one all-powerful infinite God, Jewish tradition holds that the Shema’s first verse “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one,” is the most important and, as such, demands greater concentration so the eyes are closed or covered by the right hand during its recitation. The Talmud traces this practice back to Rabbi Judah the Prince (135 – 219 AD) who often interrupted his lectures to recite the Shema. Whenever he did so, the rabbi placed his hands over his eyes as a way of disconnecting from his surroundings.
