Deuteronomy 11

CHAPTER 11

Love and Obey the Lord (11:1–32)

1 Love the LORD . . . and keep his requirements. Loving and obeying God cannot be separated; our love is expressed in our obedience (John 14:15). Love without obedience is a dead love, just as faith without action is a dead faith (James 2:17,26).

2–7 Moses again tells the Israelites: Remember (verse 2). Addressing his remarks to those Israelites between the ages of forty and sixty,³³ Moses reminds them in verses 2–4 that they themselves had witnessed the Lord’s marvelous acts of deliverance (Exodus Chapters 7–14). They also had witnessed the entire time of discipline in the desert (verses 5–6), during which time (among many other events) the earth swallowed up Dathan and Abiram, who had been leaders in a rebellion against Moses (Numbers Chapter 16).

8–12 See Deuteronomy 8:6–9 and comment.

13–15 Moses again reminds the Israelites that they can expect the blessings of rain and good harvests only if [they] faithfully obey the commands of the Lord (verse 13). Moses is about to give them numerous and detailed commands in Deuteronomy Chapters 12–26, but here in verse 13 he states in summary form the one great commandment upon which all the other commands depend: love the LORD your God and . . . serve him with all your heart and with all your soul (see Deuteronomy 6:4–5 and comment). And then God will send rain (verse 14).

16–17 The foremost danger facing the Israelites wasn’t the armies of their enemies; it was the temptation to follow their gods. If they did this, the Lord would shut the heavens,³⁴ and soon there would be famine from lack of rain, and the Israelites would perish from the land—a land that was good, a land that was a gift from God Himself. Over and over God (through Moses) warned the Israelites not to worship other gods; but as we know from history, that is exactly what they did. And as a result they did “perish from the land” by being driven into exile.

18–21 See Deuteronomy 6:6–9 and comment.

22–25 See Exodus 23:27–33; Deuteronomy 1:6–8 and comments.

26–27 Here Moses presents to the Israelites in the starkest terms their two basic choices: they can choose to be blessed, or they can choose to becursed. Obedience will bring blessing; disobedience will bring curses. God has given every human being the freedom to obey or to disobey. Obedience and disobedience are choices; those choices are ours to make.

28–32 Here Moses tells the Israelites that after they have entered the land they are to hold a solemn ceremony in which six of the tribes stand on Mount Gerizim and pronounce blessings, and the other six tribes stand on Mount Ebal and pronounce curses³⁵ (verse 29). This ceremony is described in detail in Deuteronomy Chapter 27. The ceremony was meant to impress upon the Israelites the respective consequences of obedience land. In the next fifteen chapters, and disobedience, and to encourage them Moses will describe in detail those to keep on obeying the Lord’s commands commands—the decrees and laws³⁶ of as they took up residence in their new the Lord (verse 32).