Churches and governments must contribute to the education of the young.

“At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at the Feast of Booths, when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law…” Deuteronomy 31.10-12

In ancient Israel responsibility for instructing the young so that they could take their proper place in an economy based on justice and neighbor-love devolved upon the parents, as we have seen. However, religious and civil leaders also shared in this educational responsibility.

If the synagogue model, which we find in the New Testament, reflects Old Testament practice, then we can assume that regular instruction in God’s Word existed in all the communities of ancient Israel, under the sponsorship of the priests and Levites. This instruction, together with the example of the sacrifices and the celebrations of the feast days, would have provided a strong supplement to the work of parents in preparing young people to love God and their neighbors.

The civil magistrate’s role in education was primarily by example. The king was to read daily from the Law of God and to lead the nation in observing all its teaching. Local judges and elders administered justice by their deliberations in the gates of the city, where all members of the community would be reminded of the importance of obedience to God’s Law. The Law of God required both religious and civil leaders to be faithful in following God’s instructions and provided means for their discipline or removal if they failed to do so.

The reading of the entire Law of God before the assembled nation every seven years would have served as a reminder to all parties concerning their ability to hear, obey, and teach the Law of God, so that an economics of justice could continue and the nation could flourish in all its affairs.

Parents were thus not entirely on their own in educating their children to love God and their neighbors. The leadership of the community and the nation joined with parents in submitting to God’s Law and in teaching – by instruction and example – the importance of following the Lord in every area of life.

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