Deuteronomy 6:20 describes a future moment when a child asks a parent why God’s commands matter, and it tells the parent how to answer. The verse is less about a rule than about a story: God’s commands are meant to be explained by remembering what He has done for His people. Moses is speaking to the Israelites as they prepare to enter the land of Canaan, and the words are addressed to the parents who will one day be asked the question.
When your son asks you in time to come, saying, “What do the testimonies, the statutes, and the ordinances, which the LORD our God has commanded you mean?”
Deuteronomy 6:20 (WEB)
What Deuteronomy 6:20 Means
The verse imagines a child who is curious and perhaps puzzled. The phrase “in time to come” points to a future generation that did not witness the Exodus or the wilderness journey. The child asks what the “testimonies, statutes, and ordinances” mean. These three words name different kinds of instruction: testimonies are reminders of God’s character and covenant, statutes are fixed laws, and ordinances are decisions or judgments that shape daily life. Together they describe the whole body of God’s guidance.
The verse does not promise that the child will automatically understand or agree. It assumes a relationship in which questions are welcome and expected. It also does not say the commands are optional or that they can be reasoned away. Instead, it presents the question as an opening for a parent to tell the story of redemption, which the following verses do in detail.
The Context of Deuteronomy 6:20
Deuteronomy is Moses’ farewell address to Israel on the plains of Moab, a series of speeches recalling the journey from Egypt and restating the law before the people cross the Jordan. Tradition attributes the book to Moses, though scholars note the text’s final chapter describes his death and suggests later editing. The original audience is the generation born in the wilderness, who need to hear the covenant again before they inherit the promised land.
The verses just before this one urge the people to keep God’s commands diligently so that it may go well with them in the land. Verse 20 shifts the focus to teaching the next generation. Verses 21 through 23 then give the answer the parent should give: a brief account of slavery in Egypt, deliverance by the LORD, and the promise of land. Reading the verse in this setting shows that obedience is grounded in a remembered rescue, not in arbitrary demands.
Key Phrases in Deuteronomy 6:20
Deuteronomy 6:7
And you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.
(WEB)
This verse, earlier in the same chapter, instructs parents to speak of God’s commands while sitting at home, walking along the road, lying down, and rising up. It shows that teaching children is meant to happen naturally in everyday life, which is the setting in which the question in verse 20 is likely to arise.
Exodus 12:26-27
26 It will happen, when your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ 27 that you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the LORD’s Passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians, and spared our houses.’” The people bowed their heads and worshiped.
(WEB)
These verses describe the Passover, where the child asks what the rite means and the parent explains the rescue from Egypt. The pattern of a child’s question and a parent’s story of deliverance matches the pattern in Deuteronomy 6:20 and 21, showing that this form of teaching runs throughout Israel’s history.
A Short Prayer From Deuteronomy 6:20
Lord, you have given us commands not to burden us but to guide us into life. Help me to remember the ways you have rescued and provided for me, so that when questions come, I can answer with a true story of your faithfulness. Make me patient with the questions of children and honest with my own doubts. Let my life show that your word is good and worth passing on. Amen.
