What is the meaning of Deuteronomy 11:20? Write them • “Write them” points back to Deuteronomy 11:18—“these words of Mine.” God does not leave His commands floating in abstraction; He asks for ink on wood, stone, and heart. • Writing anchors truth in memory. Just as Israel would later engrave the Ten Commandments in stone (Exodus 34:28), every family was to copy God’s Word so it would never drift into hearsay. • The action is personal. Israel’s fathers, mothers, and children were to pick up the stylus themselves—no outsourcing devotion. Compare Deuteronomy 6:6-9, where the same command launches the famous Shema. • This is durable obedience. What is written survives feelings and fashions (Isaiah 40:8; Psalm 119:89). • For us, the principle endures: post Scripture where eyes are sure to land—journals, screensavers, dashboards—so that the mind is trained to default to God’s voice (Colossians 3:16; Psalm 1:2). on the doorposts of your houses • Doorposts mark the threshold between private life and public life. God wants His words present at the very point where family members step in and out. • The command keeps the household centered on the Lord: – Entering home: “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15). – Leaving home: a reminder that His presence goes with us (Psalm 121:8). • Doorposts already carried redemptive meaning—Israel had painted them with Passover blood (Exodus 12:7). Now they also bear ongoing instruction, linking salvation with daily obedience. • The directive protects the family: “The LORD blesses the home of the righteous” (Proverbs 3:33); “Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain” (Psalm 127:1). • Today, visible Scripture in living spaces cues conversation and discipleship—parents “bring them up in the discipline and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). and on your gates • Gates were the town’s nerve center—commerce, justice, elders’ meetings (Ruth 4:1; Deuteronomy 16:18). Placing God’s words there made the entire community accountable to His standards. • The inscription turned every entrance into a silent herald: “The LORD, He is God; there is no other” (Deuteronomy 4:35). • It also proclaimed welcome—foreigners passing through would meet the God of Israel before they met any citizen (1 Kings 8:41-43). • For us, the “gates” are schools, offices, social media profiles, storefronts—any arena where culture is shaped. The principle: do not quarantine faith within church walls; let it season public life (Matthew 5:14-16; Philippians 2:15). • Obedience here promotes justice and mercy in civic life (Micah 6:8), steering leaders and citizens toward righteousness (Proverbs 14:34). summary Deuteronomy 11:20 calls believers to make God’s Word visible and unavoidable—written, not wished; posted on the house, not hidden in a drawer; displayed at the gates, not confined to private devotion. The verse weaves together personal, family, and public spheres, insisting that every threshold we cross be marked by the Lord’s commands. When Scripture shapes our going out and coming in, our homes and our communities alike become places where God’s truth is read, remembered, and revered. |
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