Deuteronomy 11 Study Notes

11:17 The Lord’s shutting of the sky would prove that the gods of the heathen did not exist and that he was the one who created and sustained life.

11:18-20 God’s command is a repetition of the instruction given when introducing the Shema (6:4-9; see note at 6:4-5), here clearly showing that all of God’s instruction is to be learned and passed along, not just the Shema. Hearts is a metaphor for the intellect, and minds represents the person as a whole being. Together, they are the internalizing of the word of God.

11:21 The phrase as long as the heavens are above the earth is a biblical way of expressing the idea of forever. The Lord promised this land to the patriarchs on the condition of their obedience and the obedience of their descendants (28:36-37; Gn 17:9-14; Lv 26:14-33).

11:22-23 Success in conquering the land would depend on faith and obedience. Ceremony, ritual, and other professions of religion would count for nothing if Israel’s personal relationship with the Lord was missing.

11:24-25 Every place the sole of your foot treads is a way of describing conquest and occupation of a territory, usually (but not always) by military might. The image occurs in Gn 13:17 where Abraham was told to “walk around the land, through its length and width,” a sign that it would become his as a gift from the Lord. God also told Joshua on the eve of the conquest of Canaan, “I have given you every place where the sole of your foot treads” (Jos 1:3). The area described here is essentially the territory controlled by David (2Sm 8:1-3) and promised in ancient times to Abraham (Gn 15:18-19).

11:26-28 Blessing and curse were essential elements in ancient Near Eastern covenant or treaty texts. Moses, as covenant mediator, set before the people a blessing and a curse, the full texts of which he elaborates later (27:15-28:58). The disobedience mentioned was covenant disloyalty, defined as following other gods.

11:29 Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal were twin peaks overshadowing a wide valley in which ancient Shechem (and modern Nablus) was located. This is where Jacob bought property and dug a well (Gn 33:19-20; Jn 4:6), the very well where Jesus encountered the Samaritan woman and from which she directed his attention to Mount Gerizim, the site of the Samaritan temple (Jn 4:20).

11:30-32 The sites mentioned in v. 30 echo the patriarchal journeys and covenant. Verses 31-32 prepare for the laws to follow.