At least two kinds of teaching (and, correspondingly, learning) are described in the Bible (and both are well-known to professional educators). One involves the communication of ideas; the other involves the inculcation of skills. In the first, the student ends up knowing the concepts that the teacher knows; in the other, the student ends up being able to do the things that the teacher does. Some people are better at one kind, and some are better at the other.
God gave his Ten Commandments to the Israelites the first way: using words. The Israelites proved to be good at learning that way. To this day, their descendants (now known as Jews) can recite Deuteronomy 6:4–5, and many do that every day. But, Moses went on to urge the Israelites to learn the other way: to actually practice the commandments by doing the things that they command and not doing the things that they prohibit. His “bottom line” is found in Deuteronomy 6:24–25 — “to do all these statutes . . . for our [own] good . . . [to] preserve us alive.”
It isn’t enough to know what’s the right thing to do; it’s necessary to actually do the right thing if we want to enjoy its benefits.
John H. Roller
