In ancient Jewish culture, formal education began at six years of age. Jewish boys enrolled in the local synagogue school called bet sefer, which means ‘house of the book’. By the time they graduated four years later, they had memorised the entire Torah – every jot and tittle of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy was engraved on their cerebral cortex via memorisation. There goes our excuse for not being able to remember, right? According to tradition, the rabbi would cover the students’ writing slates with honey on the first day of class. Then the rabbi would instruct his class to lick the honey off their slates while reciting Psalm 119:103: ‘How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!’ (NKJV). That was the first and perhaps most important lesson in their entire education. The rabbi wanted his students to fall in love with the Word of God. He wanted them to taste and see that the Word is good (see Psalm 34:8). Jeremiah thought so: ‘Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart’ (Jeremiah 15:16 NKJV). David said: ‘The entrance of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple’ (Psalm 119:130 NKJV). Solomon said: ‘For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding’ (Proverbs 2:6 NKJV). When you acquire a taste for God’s Word, the Holy Spirit, who is the author of the Word, will do two things for you. First, He will reveal it to you. Second, He will remind you of it.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.