Deuteronomy 11:2-12

2 Keep in mind that I am not talking now to your children, who have never experienced the discipline of the LORD your God or seen his greatness and his strong hand and powerful arm.

3 They didn’t see the miraculous signs and wonders he performed in Egypt against Pharaoh and all his land.

4 They didn’t see what the LORD did to the armies of Egypt and to their horses and chariots—how he drowned them in the Red Sea as they were chasing you. He destroyed them, and they have not recovered to this very day!

5 “Your children didn’t see how the LORD cared for you in the wilderness until you arrived here.

6 They didn’t see what he did to Dathan and Abiram (the sons of Eliab, a descendant of Reuben) when the earth opened its mouth in the Israelite camp and swallowed them, along with their households and tents and every living thing that belonged to them.

7 But you have seen the LORD perform all these mighty deeds with your own eyes!

8 “Therefore, be careful to obey every command I am giving you today, so you may have strength to go in and take over the land you are about to enter.

9 If you obey, you will enjoy a long life in the land the LORD swore to give to your ancestors and to you, their descendants—a land flowing with milk and honey!

10 For the land you are about to enter and take over is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you planted your seed and made irrigation ditches with your foot as in a vegetable garden.

11 Rather, the land you will soon take over is a land of hills and valleys with plenty of rain—

12 a land that the LORD your God cares for. He watches over it through each season of the year!

Deuteronomy 11:2-12 Meaning and Commentary

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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew sea of reeds.