“You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6.9

No people has ever been able to do without culture. Culture includes the artifacts, institutions, and conventions by which a people defines, sustains, and enriches its life. Culture is thus very important to human life; it falls to every people, therefore, to ensure that their culture is guarded by standards which are designed to promote goodness.

This was part of the function of the Law of God in ancient Israel, as we shall see in this section. God knows that culture can be used for good; it can also be used for evil, however. Since human beings learn culture – how to use, make, and understand it – in their homes, it makes sense that God would intend the homes of His people to be cultural microcosms for the whole nation. By “writing” the Law of God “on the doorposts” of their houses, Israelites would have understood a practice more symbolic than literal.

By painting the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of their homes on the first Passover, the people signaled to God and one another that they and everything in their homes were looking to Him for deliverance from captivity. Similarly, while there are ways of writing the Law literally on the walls and door jambs of our homes, more is intended than this. Our homes and property, all our possessions and furnishings, the décor with which we adorn our homes, all the conversations we engage in there, and whatever of culture we allow into our homes from the outside must all be brought under the cope of God’s holy and righteous and good Law.

If we can establish our homes as forges, schools, and parade grounds for godly culture, the likelihood will be greater that this will carry over into every other cultural area of our lives as well. Parents especially must exercise vigilance and pastoral care to make their homes the kind of Kingdom outpost God intends them to be. Whether our homes are humble or splendid, God intends to rule there by His Law, and to have His holiness, righteousness, and goodness on display through all the cultural life of our homes. He promises that, as we submit the culture of our homes to His governance, we will know His blessings in rich abundance.