“When he sits on the throne as king, he must copy for himself this body of instruction on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. He must always keep that copy with him and read it daily as long as he lives. That way he will learn to fear the Lord his God by obeying all the terms of these instructions and decrees. This regular reading will prevent him from becoming proud and acting as if he is above his fellow citizens. It will also prevent him from turning away from these commands in the smallest way. And it will ensure that he and his descendants will reign for many generations in Israel." - Deuteronomy 17:18-20 (NLT)
a little backgrounder: here were the Israelites clamoring for a king to rule over them. God says: Hmmm.. i'm not so sure if that's such a great idea. the Israelites say: Come on, we want a king like all the other nations that surround us. Then God says: Ok, but here are the rules....
one of the rules is above. the king will have to do all those things as a rule. even before he will be crowned king, he has to write down all the scriptures by hand in front of the priests. this ensured that the king will know all the scriptures word by word. also, this solved the practical problem of the king not having a copy of the bible for himself -- since there were no printing presses then and owning a copy of the bible was virtually impossible.
the king will then have to read the scriptures every day of his life so he will: 1) revere the Lord, 2) obey the rules, 3) be humble.i propose a similar rule for the future presidents of our country. any takers?
2 comments:
our history teacher (phoebe z.) made us copy blair and robertson by hand. she said it's the only way we could ever retain what we read. now i believe she was on to something. nyahahahahha.
oh right! bitaw. hehehhe
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