Virtually everyone wants to have a loving, caring and supportive family. Someone ran a
survey among Fortune 500 chief executive officers and asked them what they wanted more
than anything else. 

They said they wanted "strong family relationships." An article appeared in
Readers’ Digest a couple of years ago which suggests that it’s a good idea to write out a
list of "50 Things You Would Like to Do Before You Die." Admittedly I wrote down
some selfish things like my desire to own a pickup truck before I die. When I looked at
the list, however, I soon realized that most of the things I want to do involve my family.
Over the next few weeks, I want to share some insights concerning the role of families in
communicating the things of God.

PART ONE: HOW SPIRITUAL VALUES WERE TAUGHT IN ISRAEL

 Perhaps the most important text one encounters in reviewing the nature of Hebrew
education is Deuteronomy 6:4-8

" Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with
all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that
I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about
them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you
get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. "

That text briefly outlines God’s educational plan for the nation of Israel. Spiritual
education was a family responsibility. The people of Israel did not go to the tabernacle
to receive religious instruction. They didn’t tack on a group of classrooms off to the
side of the main tabernacle, so they could instruct Hebrew children at various age levels.
Moses didn’t call together a curriculum committee to devise instructional objectives and
write literature for the education of young Hebrew minds. Later on, the children of Israel
would develop formal education. Apparently Samuel was tutored by Eliat Shiloh. Even later
on in 1 Samuel 19, David fled from Saul and went to Samuel at Ramah and a group of
prophets were there with Samuel. Perhaps they studied under him. Much later, the synagogue
developed. The synagogue was clearly a place of instruction.

But basically and fundamentally, the teaching of spiritual values was the
responsibility of the home. Home schooling is as old as Deuteronomy and probably older.
Instruction took place in the natural flow of living. It was as common as eating meals and
sleeping. It was a constant activity. The Deuteronomy passage says, they were to teach
when they sat at home. There was no television to distract and compete with the learning
process. When they walked along the road. 

It took a long time just to go the market place. There were no cars, no CD’s blasting
at such a loud level as to make conversation impossible. Parents were to teach when they
lay down at night.  Father’s weren’t out bowling and mothers weren’t talking on the
telephone. When they got up in the morning. Dad didn’t have to get up an hour before the
rest of the family in order to drive through freeway traffic to reach the workplace.
Actually the family worked tegether. Life was structured around the business of sharing
the Lord with the family.

The children of Israel took the responsibility of sharing the Lord with the family very
seriously. In Deuteronomy 4, Moses talked with the people about how they were to conduct
themselves upon their entry into the promised land. In verse 9, he said, " Only be
careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have
seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and
to their children after them." 

Family instruction went on throughout the Old Testament period. The writer of Proverbs
advised the young man this way in 1:8 "Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction
and do not forsake your mother’s teaching." Family education about God was so deeply
ingrained into the lives of the Hebrew people, that one of the old Rabbis said, "a
father might as well bury his child as neglect his instruction."

NEXT WEEK: Family Sharing in the First Century

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All About Families Newsletter

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