Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates, Write themThe phrase "write them" refers to the commandments and teachings of God. In the Hebrew context, the word "write" (כָּתַב, kathab) implies a permanent and intentional act. This is not a casual suggestion but a directive to engrave God's words into the very fabric of daily life. The act of writing signifies the importance of making God's laws an integral and visible part of one's existence, ensuring they are remembered and followed. on the doorposts
The "doorposts" (מְזוּזוֹת, mezuzot) of a house were significant in ancient Israelite culture. They were the entry points to a home, symbolizing the threshold between the outside world and the sanctity of the family dwelling. By inscribing God's commandments on the doorposts, the Israelites were reminded every time they entered or exited their homes of their covenant with God. This practice is still observed in Jewish tradition today through the mezuzah, a small case containing scrolls of Torah verses affixed to the doorframe. of your houses
The "houses" (בָּתִּים, batim) represent the private and personal spaces of the Israelites. By including God's commandments within their homes, the Israelites were to ensure that their domestic life was governed by divine principles. This highlights the importance of integrating faith into every aspect of life, not just in public or communal settings but within the intimate sphere of family and home. and on your gates
The "gates" (שְׁעָרֶיךָ, she'arecha) were the public entry points to a city or community. Writing God's laws on the gates signifies the extension of divine authority and moral guidance beyond the individual household to the broader community. It underscores the idea that God's commandments are not only personal but also communal, shaping the social and civic life of the people. The gates were places of judgment and decision-making, and having God's words there served as a constant reminder of His justice and righteousness. Persons / Places / Events 1. MosesThe author of Deuteronomy, delivering God's commandments to the Israelites. 2. IsraelitesThe chosen people of God, receiving instructions on how to live in the Promised Land. 3. Promised LandThe land of Canaan, which God promised to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 4. Doorposts and GatesPhysical locations in a household and community where God's laws were to be visibly displayed. 5. CovenantThe agreement between God and Israel, emphasizing obedience and remembrance of His laws. Teaching Points Visible Reminders of FaithWriting God's commandments on doorposts and gates serves as a constant, visible reminder of His presence and authority in our lives. Consider how we can create visible reminders of our faith in our homes today. Integration of Faith in Daily LifeThe command to write on doorposts and gates signifies the integration of God's word into daily life. Reflect on how we can incorporate Scripture into our daily routines and environments. Family and Community InfluenceBy placing God's laws in prominent places, families and communities are influenced to live according to His statutes. Discuss the role of family and community in nurturing faith and obedience. Obedience and BlessingThe act of writing God's laws is tied to the covenant promise of blessing for obedience. Explore the relationship between obedience to God's word and experiencing His blessings. Legacy of FaithWriting on doorposts and gates is a way to pass down faith to future generations. Consider how we can leave a legacy of faith for our children and community. Bible Study Questions 1. How can we create visible reminders of God's word in our homes today, similar to writing on doorposts and gates? 2. In what ways can we integrate Scripture into our daily routines to ensure it remains central in our lives? 3. How does the practice of displaying God's commandments influence family and community dynamics? 4. What are some practical ways to demonstrate obedience to God's word in our everyday actions? 5. How can we ensure that our faith is passed down to future generations, creating a lasting legacy? Connections to Other Scriptures Exodus 12:7The Israelites were instructed to mark their doorposts with the blood of the Passover lamb, symbolizing protection and obedience. Deuteronomy 6:9Similar command to write God's laws on doorposts and gates, emphasizing the importance of constant remembrance. Joshua 24:15Joshua's declaration to serve the Lord, highlighting the choice of obedience for households. Psalm 119:11The psalmist's commitment to hiding God's word in his heart, paralleling the physical act of writing on doorposts. Matthew 22:37-40Jesus summarizes the law as loving God and neighbor, reflecting the heart of the commandments written on doorposts. People Abiram, Canaanites, Dathan, Eliab, Moses, Pharaoh, ReubenPlaces Arabah, Beth-baal-peor, Egypt, Euphrates River, Gilgal, Jordan River, Lebanon, Moreh, Mount Ebal, Mount Gerizim, Red SeaTopics Door, Doorposts, Door-posts, Doors, Gates, Hast, Houses, Pillars, Posts, Side-posts, Towns, Writing, WrittenDictionary of Bible Themes Deuteronomy 11:20 5299 door Deuteronomy 11:13-21 7410 phylactery Deuteronomy 11:18-20 8764 forgetting God Deuteronomy 11:18-21 5302 education
5685 fathers, responsibilities
8313 nurture Library Canaan on Earth
Many of you, my dear hearers, are really come out of Egypt; but you are still wandering about in the wilderness. "We that have believed do enter into rest;" but you, though you have eaten of Jesus, have not so believed on him as to have entered into the Canaan of rest. You are the Lord's people, but you have not come into the Canaan of assured faith, confidence, and hope, where we wrestle no longer with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus--when …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 2: 1856The God of the Rain
(Fifth Sunday after Easter.) DEUT. xi. 11, 12. The land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven. A land which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year, even unto the end of the year. I told you, when I spoke of the earthquakes of the Holy Land, that it seems as if God had meant specially to train that strange people the Jews, by putting them into a country where they …
Charles Kingsley—The Gospel of the Pentateuch Gilgal, in Deuteronomy 11:30 what the Place Was.
That which is said by Moses, that "Gerizim and Ebal were over-against Gilgal," Deuteronomy 11:30, is so obscure, that it is rendered into contrary significations by interpreters. Some take it in that sense, as if it were near to Gilgal: some far off from Gilgal: the Targumists read, "before Gilgal": while, as I think, they do not touch the difficulty; which lies not so much in the signification of the word Mul, as in the ambiguity of the word Gilgal. These do all seem to understand that Gilgal which …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica Josiah, a Pattern for the Ignorant.
"Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before Me; I also have heard thee, saith the Lord. Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place."--2 Kings …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII The Blessings of Noah Upon Shem and Japheth. (Gen. Ix. 18-27. )
Ver. 20. "And Noah began and became an husbandman, and planted vineyards."--This does not imply that Noah was the first who began to till the ground, and, more especially, to cultivate the vine; for Cain, too, was a tiller of the ground, Gen. iv. 2. The sense rather is, that Noah, after the flood, again took up this calling. Moreover, the remark has not an independent import; it serves only to prepare the way for the communication of the subsequent account of Noah's drunkenness. By this remark, …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament Subjects of Study. Home Education in Israel; Female Education. Elementary Schools, Schoolmasters, and School Arrangements.
If a faithful picture of society in ancient Greece or Rome were to be presented to view, it is not easy to believe that even they who now most oppose the Bible could wish their aims success. For this, at any rate, may be asserted, without fear of gainsaying, that no other religion than that of the Bible has proved competent to control an advanced, or even an advancing, state of civilisation. Every other bound has been successively passed and submerged by the rising tide; how deep only the student …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life In the Fifteenth Year of Tiberius Cæsar and under the Pontificate of Annas and Caiaphas - a Voice in the Wilderness
THERE is something grand, even awful, in the almost absolute silence which lies upon the thirty years between the Birth and the first Messianic Manifestation of Jesus. In a narrative like that of the Gospels, this must have been designed; and, if so, affords presumptive evidence of the authenticity of what follows, and is intended to teach, that what had preceded concerned only the inner History of Jesus, and the preparation of the Christ. At last that solemn silence was broken by an appearance, …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah The Worship of the Synagogue
One of the most difficult questions in Jewish history is that connected with the existence of a synagogue within the Temple. That such a "synagogue" existed, and that its meeting-place was in "the hall of hewn stones," at the south-eastern angle of the court of the priest, cannot be called in question, in face of the clear testimony of contemporary witnesses. Considering that "the hall of hew stones" was also the meeting-place for the great Sanhedrim, and that not only legal decisions, but lectures …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life Among the People, and with the Pharisees
It would have been difficult to proceed far either in Galilee or in Judaea without coming into contact with an altogether peculiar and striking individuality, differing from all around, and which would at once arrest attention. This was the Pharisee. Courted or feared, shunned or flattered, reverently looked up to or laughed at, he was equally a power everywhere, both ecclesiastically and politically, as belonging to the most influential, the most zealous, and the most closely-connected religions …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life Covenanting Confers Obligation.
As it has been shown that all duty, and that alone, ought to be vowed to God in covenant, it is manifest that what is lawfully engaged to in swearing by the name of God is enjoined in the moral law, and, because of the authority of that law, ought to be performed as a duty. But it is now to be proved that what is promised to God by vow or oath, ought to be performed also because of the act of Covenanting. The performance of that exercise is commanded, and the same law which enjoins that the duties …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting The Old Testament Canon from Its Beginning to Its Close.
The first important part of the Old Testament put together as a whole was the Pentateuch, or rather, the five books of Moses and Joshua. This was preceded by smaller documents, which one or more redactors embodied in it. The earliest things committed to writing were probably the ten words proceeding from Moses himself, afterwards enlarged into the ten commandments which exist at present in two recensions (Exod. xx., Deut. v.) It is true that we have the oldest form of the decalogue from the Jehovist …
Samuel Davidson—The Canon of the Bible Deuteronomy
Owing to the comparatively loose nature of the connection between consecutive passages in the legislative section, it is difficult to present an adequate summary of the book of Deuteronomy. In the first section, i.-iv. 40, Moses, after reviewing the recent history of the people, and showing how it reveals Jehovah's love for Israel, earnestly urges upon them the duty of keeping His laws, reminding them of His spirituality and absoluteness. Then follows the appointment, iv. 41-43--here irrelevant (cf. …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Deuteronomy 11:20 NIVDeuteronomy 11:20 NLTDeuteronomy 11:20 ESVDeuteronomy 11:20 NASBDeuteronomy 11:20 KJV
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