Deuteronomy 11

1 Therefore, thou shalt love the LORD thy God and keep his charge and his statutes and his rights and his commandments, always.

2 And know ye this day; for I speak not with your children who have not known and who have not seen the chastisement of the LORD your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his outstretched arm,

3 and his miracles and his acts, which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh, the king of Egypt and unto all his land,

4 and what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses and to their chariots, how he made the water of the Red sea to overflow them as they pursued after you and how the LORD has destroyed them unto this day,

5 and what he did with you in the wilderness until ye came into this place,

6 and what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben: how the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up and their households and their tents and all the substance that was in their possession in the midst of all Israel;

7 but your eyes have seen all the great acts of the LORD which he did.

8 Keep, therefore, all the commandments which I command you this day that ye may be strong and enter in and inherit the land, into which ye go to inherit it

9 and that ye may prolong your days in the land, which the LORD swore unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land that flows with milk and honey.

10 For the land, into which thou goest to inherit it, is not as the land of Egypt, from which ye came out, where thou didst sow thy seed and water it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs.

11 The land, into which ye go to inherit it, is a land of mountains and valleys and drinks water of the rain of heaven,

12 a land which the LORD thy God procures; the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.

13 And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day: to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul

14 that I will give you the rain of your land in its due season, the early rain and the latter rain, and thou shalt gather in thy grain and thy wine and thine oil.

15 And I will send grass in thy fields for thy beasts, and thou shalt eat and be full.

16 Keep yourselves, therefore, that your heart not be deceived and ye turn aside and serve other gods and worship them;

17 and then the LORD’s wrath be kindled against you and he shut up the heavens, that there be no rain and that the land yield not her fruit, and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD gives you.

18 Therefore, ye shall lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul and bind them for a sign upon your hand that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.

19 And ye shall teach them to your children that ye may think of them sitting in thy house and walking by the way, lying down in bed, and rising up.

20 And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house and upon thy gates

21 that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, upon the land which the LORD swore unto your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens upon the earth.

22 For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, loving the LORD your God and walking in all his ways, to cleave unto him,

23 then the LORD will drive out all these Gentiles from before you, and ye shall possess nations greater and mightier than yourselves.

24 Every place upon which the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours, from the wilderness and Lebanon; from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the western sea shall be your border.

25 No one shall be able to stand before you; for the LORD your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he has said unto you.

26 Behold, I set before you this day the blessing and the curse:

27 The blessing if ye hear the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day,

28 and the curse if ye will not hear the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.

29 And it shall come to pass when the LORD thy God has brought thee in unto the land where thou goest to inherit it that thou shalt put the blessing upon Mount Gerizim and the curse upon Mount Ebal,

30 which are on the other side of the Jordan, by the way of the west, in the land of the Canaanite, who dwells in the plain over against Gilgal, beside the plains of Moreh.

31 For ye shall pass the Jordan to go in to inherit the land which the LORD your God gives you, and ye shall possess it and dwell therein.

32 Keep yourselves, therefore, to do all the statutes and rights which I set before you this day.

Deuteronomy 11 Commentary

Chapter 11

The great work God wrought for Israel. (1-7) Promises and threatenings. (8-17) Careful study of God's word requisite. (18-25) The blessings and the curse set forth. (26-32)

Verses 1-7 Observe the connexion of these two; Thou shalt love the Lord, and keep his charge. Love will work in obedience, and that only is acceptable obedience which flows from a principle of ( 1 John. 5:3 ) works of God which their eyes had seen. What our eyes have seen, especially in our early days, should affect us, and make us better long afterwards.

Verses 8-17 Moses sets before them, for the future, life and death, the blessing and the curse, according as they did or did not keep God's commandment. Sin tends to shorten the days of all men, and to shorten the days of a people's prosperity. God will bless them with an abundance of all good things, if they would love him and serve him. Godliness has the promise of the life that now is; but the favour of God shall put gladness into the heart, more than the increase of corn, and wine, and oil. Revolt from God to idols would certainly be their ruin. Take heed that your hearts be not deceived. All who forsake God to set their affection upon any creature, will find themselves wretchedly deceived, to their own destruction; and this will make it worse, that it was for want of taking heed.

Verses 18-25 Let all be directed by the three rules here given. 1. Let our hearts be filled with the word of God. There will not be good practices in the life, unless there be good thoughts, good affections, and good principles in the heart. 2. Let our eyes be fixed upon the word of God, having constant regard to it as the guide of our way, as the rule of our work, ( Psalms 119:30 ) . 3. Let our tongues be employed about the word of God. Nor will any thing do more to cause prosperity, and keeping up religion in a nation, than the good education of children.

Verses 26-32 Moses sums up all the arguments for obedience in two words, the blessing and the curse. He charged the people to choose which they would have. Moses then appointed a public and solemn proclamation of the blessing and curse, to be made upon the two mountains of Gerizim and Ebal. We have broken the law, and are under its curse, without remedy from ourselves. In mercy, the gospel again sets before us a blessing and a curse. A blessing, if we obey the call to repentance, to faith in Christ, and newness of heart and life through him; an awful curse, if we neglect so great salvation. Let us thankfully welcome these glad tidings of great joy; and let us not harden our hearts, but hear this voice of God while it is called to-day, and while he invites us to come to him upon a mercy-seat. Let us be diligent to make our calling and election sure.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 11

In this chapter, the exhortation to love the Lord, and keep his commands, is repeated and urged again and again from various considerations; as not only from the chastisement of Pharaoh and the wicked Egyptians, but of such Israelites who offended the Lord, and transgressed his law, De 12:1-7, from the goodness and excellency of the land they were going to inherit, De 11:8-11, from the blessing of rain that would come upon it, and be productive of all good things for man and beast, in case of obedience, and a restraint of it in case of disobedience, De 11:12-17, from the continuance of them and their offspring in the land, should they be careful to observe the commands themselves, and teach them their children, De 11:18-21, and from the extensiveness of their conquests and dominions, De 11:22-25 and from the different issue and effects of their conduct and behaviour, a blessing upon them if obedient, but a curse if disobedient, De 11:26-28 and the chapter is concluded with an exhortation to pronounce the blessing on Mount Gerizim, and the curse on Mount Ebal; the situation of which places is described when they should come into the land of Canaan, of which they are assured, De 11:29-32.