There are four aspects to the concept of family worship in the above mentioned passage. First, we see the DIRECTIVE: “The LORD your God commanded to teach you…” It was given to the men of God to hand down the laws of God: first, by word of mouth and later by written word. It had been commanded that the Israelites be instructed and trained in these commandments and statutes and judgments.
The word commandment means to distinguish, regulate, and determine. These are not suggestions, or good advice, or just good counsel. Adam Clark states in his commentary, “meaning those things which God has determined that men shall pursue, by which their whole conduct shall be regulated, making the proper distinction between virtue and vice, good and evil, right and wrong, justice and injustice;…”
By statutes is meant, to mark out, define, or trace out. A surveyor marks out the boundaries of a plot of land. Statutes are; that men would always have a perfect pattern before their eyes, to teach them how they might walk so as to please God in all things. This could not be done without instruction from His word.
Judgments means to command, ordain, and appoint. These have to do with the obligation the people are under to act according to the statutes and judgments; and penalties imposed for acting contrary to those laws. A simple stop sign can illustrate the commandments, statutes, and judgments. The color, shape and language on the sign tells you what the law is. The place where the sign is located gives you the boundary of where the law begins and ends; thus the statute. The blue light in your rear view mirror or the fear of it, coupled with the fine imposed when caught running the stop sign is the judgment.
The second aspect in family worship found in the passage is the DESIGN (Deuteronomy 6:1-2): Fear the Lord; that it may be well with thee; in this context, the word fear has two meanings: one, “reverence, honor and respect.” Two, “To be fearful, be dreadful, be feared.” They were commanded to reverence their God and also be fearful of the consequences of not doing so. Deuteronomy 6:15 “(For the LORD thy God [is] a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.” The commandments, judgments and statutes were to be passed on to their sons and their son’s sons. Family worship is designed to do that very thing. A parent cannot expect a visit to church once, twice, or even three times in a week to be sufficient means of passing alone these ORDINANCES and PRECEPTS to their children and their grandchildren. Contrary to the socialist philosophy of Hilary Clinton, it doesn’t take a village to raise a child; it takes caring, courageous parents instilling the commandments, the statutes and the judgments of God into their children.
I have just about run out of space, so I will continue these thoughts next issue, the Lord willing. I would like to say this in closing: Americans, as a society are drifting farther and farther away from biblical values; that is, the departure from God’s commandments, statutes and judgments with people living together in fornication, adultery and sodomy. God is not pleased and will, as some point, either shack us to get our attention or allow us to collapse. Christians must pray for our country to return to these values and to family worship. E-mail, johnpruitt@frontiernet.net
