Explain it to your children

When the festival begins, explain to your sons that you do all this because of what the LORD did for you when you left Egypt. This observance will be a reminder, like something tied on your hand or on your forehead; it will remind you to continue to recite and study the Law of the LORD, because the LORD brought you out of Egypt by his great power. Celebrate this festival at the appointed time each year. (verses 8-10)

Read Exodus 13:3-16

The feast of Unleavened Bread was not to be a ‘one off’ celebration. It was to be celebrated annually. Therefore it was necessary that the next generation understood what it was all about.

The celebration had a purpose. It was to remind God’s people to continue to study God’s law. It was not to become something done for its own sake, losing its meaning and purpose somewhere in the sands of time. So each generation was to be taught why it was being observed.

The Israelites were told many times to ‘teach it to your children’. Telling children of their spiritual heritage was a very high priority. As it should be for us, too.

There is a trendy thought today that children should be left to make up their own mind about God. Parents who do this have already made their children’s minds up for them. The children will learn much which is ‘anti-God’ from the world around them. If that is all they learn, they can never make a decision about God from a position of knowledge. We, too, need to remember to ‘teach it to [our] children’.

Thank you, Father, for all you have done for us. May we tell our children that your love is for them, too. Amen.

by Robert Turnbull, in ‘Renewed Hope for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 2000)

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