Old Testament Musings

Dear Family,

I've been reading a lot in the Old Testament to see what it has to teach.  I thought I'd share the following...

I love this simple reason given for all the commemorations we do ….Exodus 13:14-18  "And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this?  that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the LORD brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage."

They evidently employed a relentless stream of reminders…..Deut 6:4-9…  “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is ^bone Lord:   And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.   And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:    And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.   And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.  And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.”

Then there is the hymn that Moses wrote, a sort of theme song that the children of Israel repeated often…

 A homeless Aramean was my father[1], and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, andpopulous:   And the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage:    And when we cried unto the Lord God of our fathers, the Lord heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression:    And the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders:    And he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey.  (Duet 26:5-10

Upon crossing Jordan on dry ground, Joshua directs construction of a memorial: Joshua  4:20-24  -  “When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones?    Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land.   For the Lord your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over:   That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the Lord your God for ever.”

It raises the question: What are our family memorials, the monuments or mementos which cause our children to ask: What is meant by this handcart? What is meant by this photograph? What was this event?