And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
Thou shalt teach them diligently, х wªshinantaam (H8150)] - thou shalt sharpen them. It is probable that Moses used the phraseology in the seventh verse merely in a figurative way, to signify assiduous, earnest, and frequent instruction. But the mode of teaching among the Israelites was chiefly oral. They were enjoined to instruct their children from infancy (Isaiah 28:9) in the decalogue and other principal parts of the law, by speaking on every suitable occasion (cf. Deuteronomy 11:18-20; Psalms 34:11; Psalms 69:13; Jeremiah 31:34; Josephus, 'Antiquities,' b.
iv., ch. 8:, sec. 12). 'No reference is made to letters or books. What the parents could retain in memory from hearing the law read once in seven years, they were to inculcate upon their children' (Stuart, 'On the Old Testament Canon'). But this is a mistake, for a reference to their having the precepts of the law in a written form is contained in this very passage (Deuteronomy 6:9), and abundant evidence exists to show that the Israelites were familiar with the art of writing before the exodus from Egypt (Exodus 30:11-16; Numbers 1:2, Numbers 1:47-54; Numbers 2:2, Numbers 2:34; Numbers 17:2-3; 38:21,25). This injunction to write the "words" on the door-posts of every house shows the extent of the popular attainments in reading as well as writing; and their previous education in those branches, however limited it might be, was a wise arrangement of Providence for transmitting in Israelite families a knowledge of religious precepts, by inscriptions profusely painted on their walls, as they still are in printed placards on those of our public schools.