Proverbs 7:3 (ESV)
bind them on your fingers;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
Solomon may have spent the morning reading commandments in the Torah (first five books of the OT) prior to writing this proverb. Note the following from Deuteronomy (the 2nd giving of the Law):
Deuteronomy 6:8 (NASBStr)
You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.
Deuteronomy 11:18 (NASBStr)
“ You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.
The Rabbis took these words of Moses so literally that they would tie a box on their head that would be displayed on their forehead. Inside the box would be a small scroll, or role of paper, with these words from Deuteronomy recorded. They missed the mark as what God wanted was them (and us) to carry God's word around in our memory and in our hearts. The character of proverbs is actually written in ways we can carry in our memory banks large truths in small packages. When we "bind" them and "write" them we are attaching our collective memory and outward action to them. God does not want us to simply be aware that He has said truth. He wants us to be so attached to that truth that it comes with us and flows with us wherever we go and whatever we do. In this chapter of Proverbs in particular, the young naive one would have benefited from having these proverbs with him. Instead he forgot them, or ignored them and they he fell into sin that would result in death and has for many men. You can see why the Rabbis would actually write them on their hands. They so feared forgetting them that they placed them conspicuously on their hands. (Not a bad plan actually. Unless, like the Rabbis you failed to actually believe in the theme of the Scripture, Jesus Christ.) God wants us to follow Him. The first step in that progress is to memorize and secure the proverbs to our being.
When I show up for high school soccer practice I often see my young athletes still putting on their equipment. In my observation is not unusual to see them with ink on the back of their hands. Not professional ink as in a tattoo, but rather a message they have written on their hand to remind them to finish a science project or study for a history test or call their girl friend ... well, not that last one, but you get my point. Their "ink spot" is a gentle and smart way to remember their tasks for the day. The memory, even for young people, is short. A note on the back of the hand was the forerunner to sticky notes and iPad reminders. Solomon was way ahead of any technology reminder. God instructed him to record this proverbs as a way to avoid the tempter, sweet, sullen and destructive Sin. When we "bind them on your fingers" he is talking about God's Word. We all need reminders to call to mind the precepts and principles that save us and rescue us from Sin. We should go throughout our day with our reminders on our note pads, computer screens and refrigerator magnets. Whatever it takes to "write them on the tablet of our hearts" to use them to ward off sin. God has given us marvelous tools to fight sin ... if we could only remember them.
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