Deuteronomy 11:19
And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
Deuteronomy 11:19 calls parents to teach God's words and commandments to their children continually in the ordinary course of daily life, sitting in the house and walking by the way, lying down at evening and rising in the morning, not only in set lessons. It belongs with treasuring those words in heart and soul, binding them on hand and forehead, and writing them on doorposts and gates. Parents are to first let the commandments shape their own thought and conduct, know the Bible themselves, and then interest their children by speaking of God's goodness, majesty and power in His word and in creation, recounting His deliverances and the promised Redeemer with figures and symbols, nature, worship, sacrifice and prophecy to fix truth in memory. Faithful obedience brings blessing and length of days in the promised land as enduring as heaven upon earth, while turning aside to other gods brings a curse, upholding the sacredness of God's law for every age. This remains a grave responsibility on all who know the truth in each successive age, requiring household leaders to keep every direction from greatest to least, pray for the home, purify the soul from commonness, and set an example in word and deportment that leads children to consecrated service, guarding them against deceptive teaching and the distractions that crowd out home training.
Continual Teaching at Home
The command is for parents to teach God's words and commandments to their children continually through the ordinary rhythms of daily life, speaking of them when sitting in the house and when walking by the way, when lying down at evening and when rising up in the morning. This teaching is continuous and woven into home life, travel, bedtime, and rising, not confined to a formal lesson. It is instruction for training children to avoid idolatry and wickedness, given first to the Hebrews concerning the heathen nations around them.
This continual speaking belongs with laying up God's words in heart and soul, binding them as a sign upon the hand and as frontlets between the eyes, and writing them upon the doorposts of houses and upon the gates. The commandments are thus to shape the parents' own thoughts and actions, so that they guide their children by their principles. Keeping the words in heart and soul and as a constant sign before the eyes goes together with ongoing instruction in God's requirements as part of faithful obedience.
Parents must themselves be interested in the Bible and familiar with its teachings in order to interest their sons and daughters in the varied knowledge found in its pages. Those who desire their children to love and reverence God are to speak to them of His goodness, His majesty, and His power as revealed in His word and in the works of creation. Thoughts of God are to be woven into ordinary daily life, telling children of His deliverances and the promised Redeemer. Figures and symbols helped fix these lessons in memory, while nature, worship, sacrifice, and the prophets' words taught the young to recognize God and His providence.
Teaching God's requirements and recounting His dealings is a special duty of every parent, not one to be delegated to another. It begins from the cradle and earliest childhood and from the beginning of life, with line upon line and precept upon precept. Not men only but women and little ones also are to hear the reading of the law, for it is important that they too know and do their duty. This early training includes teaching youth to control passion, to deny appetite, and to overcome selfishness.
Covenant Promise and Application
The instruction was given to the Hebrews as they journeyed toward Canaan to train their children to avoid the idolatry and wickedness of the heathen and surrounding nations. It calls for teaching God's words to children continually through the ordinary rhythms of daily life, at home and when walking by the way, at lying down in the evening and at rising up in the morning, from the beginning of their lives.
Faithful obedience brings blessing and multiplies the days of parents and children in the land promised to the fathers, enduring as the days of heaven upon the earth, while disobedience and turning aside to other gods brings a curse. The constant home instruction belongs with laying up God's words in heart and soul, binding them as a sign upon the hand and as frontlets between the eyes, and writing them upon the doorposts of houses and upon the gates. The chapter's lessons on blessing and curse uphold the sacredness of God's law and apply beyond ancient Israel to every age, given as truly now as to Israel.
Diligent keeping means doing what is right and good in God's sight rather than deciding what is pleasing to Him, living by every word from God's mouth. This especially requires keeping holy the seventh day He sanctified without concluding that another day may be kept in its place, for obedience brings it being well and a blessing while disobedience brings a curse.
Neglect of the command was verified in Israel's history when the disobedient died in the wilderness and only two adults who left Egypt entered Canaan, and God will vindicate His word today if leaders depart from His commandments. The command was a wise, plain counsel for spiritual welfare and a provision of divine grace meant to hold back apostasy, but generation after generation lost sight of it until the barriers were swept aside and judgment came in Elijah's time in three years without rain. Its setting also includes Israel's failure to honor and glorify God as His peculiar people, which brought the foretold scattering and captivity and the destruction of the Temple, as declared beforehand through His servants.
The surrounding verses connect faithful keeping of the commandments with a thousand generations, which is a long time, yet the Lord will come before it ends and His faithful people will be in His kingdom.
The command is a grave responsibility resting on all who know the truth through each successive age, carrying full weight as coming from Him with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning. God's people must keep Christ's teachings before them to be guarded against deceptive teachings and false science that can undermine faith. Obedience was meant to establish them as a pure, happy, healthful people as they journeyed toward Canaan and remembered and obeyed the Lord, while disobedience brings lawlessness, discord, hatred, strife, and violence.
For today this requires household leaders, especially those carrying responsibilities in sacred work, to observe all God's directions from greatest to least, purify the soul from all commonness, pray for the home, and set an example in word and deportment that leads children to desire above all things to render consecrated loving service, putting away carelessness in speech, cheapness of speech, and frivolity in words and works. Satan opposes this by ever-changing fashions and attractive parties and amusements that leave mothers little time to educate and properly train their children, spending probationary time on frivolous matters. Mothers must therefore teach youth from their very cradles and from early childhood self-control, denial of appetite, control of passion, and overcoming selfishness, giving line upon line and precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, which helps children resist idolatry and wickedness. The Lord is longsuffering and full of compassion and love, yet when continued rebellion and obstinacy passes the boundary line, punishment will follow the transgressor.