Early in my Christian walk, I was drawn in by the logic and systematic approach of the Bible.  In particular, when I wondered how it is we are supposed to learn and obey the ten commandments, I found the commands in Deuteronomy 5 were followed by how to live them in chapter 6 – teach them diligently to your children; talk of them when you sit, walk, lie down, or rise; bind them on your hand; write them on your doorposts and on your gates (verses 7-9).

And I still learn new pearls many years later in the same passages. It wasn’t just the techniques and the doing, but God’s hand in the learning. Author Jack Klumpenhower, in his book, Show Them Jesus, asks the question, “How were kids in those (Old Testament) days taught to follow God’s laws?”  Check out Deuteronomy 6.20-21: “When your son asks you in time to come, ‘what is the meaning for the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the LORD our God has commanded you?’ then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, And the LORD brought us our of Egypt with a might hand.”

Just as New Testament motivation for a Christian walk is based on the salvation provided by Jesus on the cross, the motivation for Israel  to follow God was the salvation he provided in bringing them out of Egypt.