18 “You shall therefore [n]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 [o]frontals [p]on your forehead. 19 You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. 20 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your sons may be multiplied on the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as [q]long as the heavens remain above the earth. 22 For if you are careful to keep all this commandment which I am commanding you to do, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and hold fast to Him, 23 then the Lord will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you. 24 Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours; your border will be from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the river, the river Euphrates, as far as [r]the western sea. 25 No man will be able to stand before you; the Lord your God will lay the dread of you and the fear of you on all the land on which you set foot, as He has spoken to you.
26 “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today; 28 and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, [s]by following other gods which you have not known.
29 “It shall come about, when the Lord your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, that you shall place the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. 30 Are they not across the Jordan, west of the way toward the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside the [t]oaks of Moreh? 31 For you are about to cross the Jordan to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall possess it and live in it, 32 and you shall be careful to do all the statutes and the judgments which I am setting before you today.
I’m not sure if God literally meant for them to write his law on their foreheads, but He certainly wanted them to keep his law foremost in their minds.
The other bit that goes with this is to bind a reminder on their hands, and that definitely makes sense, and one wonders how many actually took this seriously as they struggled over the coming decades and centuries.
We need to know that we are fickle creatures, with our emotions and feelings trying to run the show, so we need anchors or reminders in our lives to keep us on track.
A few months ago I was at a church where they had scriptures on various signs of varying designs, and they were everywhere. In classrooms, in the fellowship hall, in the lobby, all over the place. And at first glance it seemed a bit over the top.
But I think they were onto something there, which is what God was trying to teach us in this passage. Put His word before you in as many places as possible, and it will serve as your guide throughout your day.