Teach the Next Generation

Deuteronomy 6:20–25 is the movement “Teach the Next Generation.” Read it inside Moses’ final covenant instruction to Israel on the eastern side of the Jordan as the people prepare for life in the land. The section opens with: “And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD our God hath commanded you?” It closes with: “And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.”

The immediate task here is to understand the covenant instruction in its own setting before asking whether later Scripture develops the same theme. No later connection should be forced merely to make the section look fuller.