“Helping our feeble memories”

By Rev Michael Stonhouse

Meditation – Monday, June 5, 2023

Deuteronomy 11:13-19 (Forward, p. 38) CEV p. 179

For the people of Israel, remembering, and particularly remembering the gracious deeds of God and His commands to them, was a matter of life and death. Remembering, and obeying, simply determined whether they would continue on as a people, or whether they would cease to exist. It was as plain as that.

And so, as a means of assisting them in remembering, God devises a number of strategies:

-they were to memorize, that is, internalize, God’s laws and allow

them to become part of their very beings;

-they were to meditate upon them, to ponder them and think about

them as they went about their daily routines;

-they were to make copies of them and tie them to their wrists and

their foreheads, and to their door frames and city gates (and,

according to Deuteronomy 6:9 upon their gates as well.). These were

two of the three ‘memorials’ that Israel was expected to erect as

visible reminders of its obligation to keep and obey God’s law and

commandments. Ancient Israel took this obligation most seriously,

and literally. The first of these, not mentioned here, was the fringe

or tassel, or zizith, that was worn on the corners of their outer

garments. The second were the tephillin or phylacteries, small boxes about a cubit in size that contained a piece of parchment upon which was written various sections of the Law. These were worn on the inside of the left forearm and on the forehead during times of prayer and were intended to remind the wearer to continually think upon God’s Law and act according to its precepts.

The third of these ordained remembrances were the mezuza, a small

oblong box containing a passage from Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy

64-9). It was affixed t the right-hand door post of each inhabited

room in a house, upon its outer gatepost and its city gates as well.

These were tangible, readily observable reminders of God’s ready

presence with them and of their obligation to serve Him and keep

His holy Law. Unfortunately, as can often become the case, they

could become mere decorations or ornaments and be overlooked or

perfunctory. However, they could also be real assists in one’s

observance as I noted in a factory in Israel. There was one of these mezuza at the entrance of every room and one young worker in particular would touch it with his finger every time he passed it. It was, he told me, a reminder to keep God’s word continually in his mind and first and foremost in his thoughts.

-one final thing: they were to teach God’s laws to their children and

talk about them all the time—whether at home or travelling, and

whether getting ready for bed or getting up in the morning. So, not

just at mealtimes or worship times but as integral parts of their

everyday lives.

I must say that I find all of this rather challenging—and even, seemingly impractical or impossible to carry out—or at least, in any literal fashion. And, even if we don’t apply these principles in any literal fashion, how are we to put these principles into practice otherwise?

My sense is that far too often we do not put up reminders about God in our homes and businesses, much less talk about these things, and when we do put up reminders, they can be easily overlooked or taken for granted, mere decorations as it were. And yet, as with ancient Israel, it is a matter of life and death, of life in Christ or in a life and death without Him. And so, while I don’t have any answers, I think that trying to apply these principles would be a good thing for all of us to attempt. Anything to help our feeble memories. Amen.

Forward notes: “If you will only heed his every commandment… loving the Lord your God, and serving him with all your heart and with all your soul— then he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, and you will gather in your grain, your wine, and your oil; and he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you will eat your fill” (verses 13-15).

“Follow these commandments—love God and neighbour—and everyone will have what they need. The Hebrew people followed these commandments faithfully for stretches—a generation or two at a time. How

were they seduced into turning away from something that was working so well?

“There are always those who want more. And while violence is fundamental to their reordering of society, they also consolidate their violence through cult. And when scarcity comes as a result, the cult spins it—your offering wasn’t bountiful enough or pure enough—next time beef it up by taking more from the ‘impure’ people to justify sacrificing them on the altars of capital and death.

“Here we find ourselves today. And yet, the invitation to smash idols and return to God is always before us. The blessing and the curse are always before us.”

Moving Forward: “What seduces you to turn away from God?”