Proverbs 6:21
Bind them upon your heart always; tie them around your neck.
These are not just a bunch of rules to keep in order to ensure God is happy with us. God’s commands are a most loving gift [see Psalm 119]. Here the writer speaks of a mother and father’s instruction, what is true wisdom, what is good and right.
I do not think this is telling us to follow our parents’ instruction no matter what. Many have received ungodly instruction from parents or no instruction at all. One of the kids I worked with at Outreach told me of his parents supplying him with his first gun when he was barely a teenager and how they instructed him on how to profitably deal drugs on the street.
Our loving God tells us and shows us, in Jesus, how to live life really well. Any caring, loving parent does this for their children. Godly parents give God’s word, not their own. My dad did this, and I am ever grateful for it, for God’s word convicts and penetrates the heart like no mere mortal’s words can. I desire to intentionally instruct and model for my daughters a life worth living, a life in the kingdom of God’s loving rule of agape.
What do you model for those around you? Do they want to be in the kingdom because of you, and how you live? What do you intentionally instruct your children in day to day?
Mark 9:4
Elijah appeared to them, and Moses too, and they were talking with Jesus.
The Old Testament was originally divided into two parts, the Law and the Prophets. Moses represented the Law, Elijah the Prophets, and Jesus is the fulfillment of all of it. Everything in the OT led to Jesus. May we never forget that.
He’s kind of a big deal. Listen to Him.
Way back in the 200s, Origen of Alexandria said of this verse, “By means of the device of synecdoche he is holding conversation not with one prophet only, but symbolically with all the prophets.”
And yes, I just wanted to use the word synecdoche, which as we all know is a figure of speech by which the whole of a thing is put for a part or a part for a whole.
Bonus thoughts:
The more I read and start to grasp, the more I see that only Jesus could have interpreted the Old Testament rightly, and show how it speaks of and points to Him. I don’t see how the OT writers, or even Jesus’ disciples, could possibly have figured out the master mosaic of Scripture divinely given by YHWH, for it was hidden and a mystery, to be revealed only by Him in His time. As far fetched as it may sound, I believe this was done, at least in part, to keep the mystery veiled from the supernatural dark forces who oppose YHWH. For if they had known the plan, they would not have crucified Jesus.
The book of Hebrews, which we looked at last year, also contains brilliant interpretation of Scripture, putting together and highlighting key parts to form the picture ultimately intended by YHWH. This, to me, could not have been given merely by human minds. It is the wisdom and mystery of God.