👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Deuteronomy 6:7 - "You shall teach..." (this week's verse)

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📧 In today’s email…

• 🤔 What you need to know about Deuteronomy

• 👂️ A word on the famous Shema

• 📖 A short reading to prepare your heart for the week

• 🎵 A song to help you memorize this week

Let’s dig in…

 🧠 Memorize

You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house,

and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

Deuteronomy 6:7

Author & Audience Context: Deuteronomy ✍️ 

Deuteronomy is the 5th and final book in the Torah (the first 5 books of the Bible).

• Book: The word Deuteronomy comes from the Greek deuteronómion which literally translates to “second law.”

  • In other words, Deuteronomy shares the second telling, or re-telling of the law given in Exodus and other parts of the Torah.

• Author: Moses

• Audience: The new generation of Israelites who were about to enter the Promised Land of Canaan.

A bit of background..

• After hundreds of years in slavery, God used Moses to liberate the Israelites from Egypt

• God renews His covenant with the Israelites and gives the 10 commandments + other laws. Shortly after, the Israelites blatantly disobey by worshipping the golden calf (Exodus 32)

• Israelites wander for 40 years in the wilderness

• The generation that was freed from Egypt dies and does not enter the Promised Land due to their lack of faith and disobedience (despite God’s continued faithfulness)

A helpful way to think about the book of Deuteronomy is that Moses is re-telling the story of God’s people and teaching the Torah to this new generation that will enter the Promised Land.

Much of Deuteronomy reads as series of speeches from Moses pleading, reminding and urging the new generation to be faithful to their covenant with God - something that previous generations did not do.

Moses is trying to help the next generation choose the right path - the path of blessing, not destruction.

As we memorize Deuteronomy 6:7 this week, let’s realize that we have this same opportunity to choose a life of obedience every day.

Apply & respond 🏃‍♂️ 

The Shema was a daily prayer in ancient Israel and is still recited by Jewish people today.

It specifically comes from Deuteronomy 6:4-5, which sets the stage and context for what we’re memorizing this week (verse 7).

The word ‘shema’ means ‘hear’ or ‘listen.’ And it’s not just a physical, literal listening - it’s means to listen and respond to what you hear.

Put another way:

• Shema = Listen + Respond

• Listen + Respond = OBEY

Pray 🙏 

Lord, as I meditate on your Word this week, help me connect with this passage that generations of your people have prayed for thousands of years.

Read 📖 

Read Deuteronomy 6:1-9 slowly, preparing your heart to be worked on this week.

Bonus: Read it out loud at the dinner table 🍽️ 

Listen 🎵 

Ever wonder why you can remember lyrics from a song you haven’t heard in 20 years? What if we could use that to help us memorize Scripture?

Verses is a project by a collection of musical artists that create original songs only containing Scripture in them as their lyrics.

Occasionally, we’ll use their songs to help us soak in the verse we’re memorizing.

You can listen to Deuteronomy 6:6-7 on Spotify here to help you memorize it this week! (or click here to listen on Apple music) 

LAUGH 😂 

Here’s how to set up the Malachi Daily App 📱 👇️ 

1. 🔗 Tap here or the button below on your mobile phone. Or type app.malachidaily.com in your phone browser.

2. Once you’re there, follow the device-specific instructions that pop up and be sure to…

3.  🔔 Tap the notification bell and ‘Allow’ notifications

4.  ⚙️ Tap the settings icon to choose your translation & more

This is the #1 way to memorize the verses we’ll be studying via email.