Deuteronomy: Family and Education

 For my theme tracing this week I picked family and education. First off I would like to say that family as an education style could be a theme in itself. I say this because in a lot of cultures education does not come through the family (they rely on schools to educate their children). And that is a pity. Because a family that teaches each other is a lifestyle choice that gets passed down from generation to generation. (which is what Moses wanted to happen) This means that children being educated in their families will be taught right from wrong at a very young age which is a brilliant thought! Kinda like the nature vs, nurture theory. If a kid is brought up in a certain way they will most likely be that way when they grow up. This was a common theme throughout Deuteronomy (11:19 Moses wanted them to teach these things to their children; 12:25; 17:15 leadership in Israel is supposed to be within their family. why? because the laws are being taught in the family. these are just a few examples)
 And to go even deeper, the education  the children receive (as in the laws) from their parents is laced with healthy theories about how families should run. (14:28--take care of the sojourners, fatherless, widows, and Levites;15:2 the whole nation has a brotherly love because of God's laws;17:7 getting rid of the evil from their midst was for the benefit of the whole community; just to list a few). These were all laws with one big concept; Community. The Israelites were supposed to take care of each other and not mistreat one another by stealing property or using faulty weights to measure money. Moses wants them to be 1: educated on the written law and 2: be educated on the reason behind the written law. And the reason behind the written law has everything to do with loving you brothers and treating them right. which in my opinion is like saying the whole culture is supposed to be like one big family.
 The Sojourners involvement in the laws regarding family is pretty cool too. There are times when the brotherly laws only seem to encompass the Israelites (like you can take interest on foreigners but never take interest on your brothers) but there are laws protecting the foreigners from mistreatment (24:14) A nation with laws protecting foreigners from mistreatment would be very appealing. This  invites foreigners from the north and south of the promise land to come visit, inhabit, do business whatever with Israel; a nation with such high moral standards. Now we have foreigners being educated about Israel's laws! And something we can observe from Duet; if you know God's laws, you are one step closer to knowing God. The foreigners get the chance to be apart of the Israelite's family and to love God and serve him with all their heart, mind, and soul.