Deut 17:18-20
18 “Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom,
that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before
the priests, the Levites. 19 And it
shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may
learn to fear the Lord his God
and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, 20 that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he
may not turn aside from the commandment to the
right hand or to the
left, and that he may prolong his days in
his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.
Any king ruling over God’s people was required to
write out the Torah (the law) – to make a copy with his own hand. They were to do this in addition to reading
and obeying.
I recently decided to incorporate this into our daily
school work. Right now, that includes me and our 3 youngest. We also do it when
we have family devotions. And, I plan to have my high schooler do it daily when
we “officially” start school.
It’s a very simple habit. We start our day with
10 minutes of Bible Writing. We use a composition notebook and write for
10 minutes. The next day, we each pick up where we left off. It’s not a race
(until the 14 and 18 year olds do it). For me and my 12 year old son, it’s a
chance to read really closely and we often pick up details we hadn’t noticed
before.
My two youngest aren’t very good readers yet and
would have a hard time copying straight out of a Bible. So, I print up one
chapter at a time for them. As they write each word, they cross it off on their
paper. It helps them remember where they are in the copying exercise.
The kids appreciate it more than I expected them
to. I have actually found my 9 year old copying just because he wanted to.
It’s definitely a long term project. And, it’s a
great use of our time.
