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Deuteronomy 11

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The Requirement of Love and Obedience 1–7

1
Therefore thou shalt love Jehovah thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his ordinances, and his commandments, alway. ​
2
And know ye this day: for I speak not with your children that have not known, and that have not seen the chastisement of Jehovah your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his outstretched arm, ​
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and his signs, and his works, which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land;
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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 Jehovah hath destroyed them unto this day;
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and what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came unto this place;
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and what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben; how the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the midst of all Israel: ​
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but your eyes have seen all the great work of Jehovah which he did.

Obedience Secures the Promised Land 8–12

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Therefore shall ye keep all the commandment which I command thee this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go over to possess it; ​
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and that ye may prolong your days in the land, which Jehovah sware unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land flowing with milk and honey.
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For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs; ​
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but the land, whither ye go over to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven, ​
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a land which Jehovah thy God careth for: the eyes of Jehovah thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year. ​

The Conditional Covenant: Rain and Drought 13–17

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And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love Jehovah your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, ​
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that I will give the rain of your land in its season, the former rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy grain, and thy new wine, and thine oil. ​
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And I will give grass in thy fields for thy cattle, and thou shalt eat and be full.
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Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; ​
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and the anger of Jehovah be kindled against you, and he shut up the heavens, so that there shall be no rain, and the land shall not yield its fruit; and ye perish quickly from off the good land which Jehovah giveth you. ​

Internalizing and Teaching the Law 18–21

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Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul; and ye shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. ​
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And ye shall teach them your children, talking of them, when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. ​
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And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates; ​
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that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which Jehovah sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth. ​

The Promise of Conquest and Dominion 22–25

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For if ye shall diligently keep all this commandment which I command you, to do it, to love Jehovah your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him; ​
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then will Jehovah drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves.
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Every place whereon the sole of your foot shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness, and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the hinder sea shall be your border. ​
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There shall no man be able to stand before you: Jehovah your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath spoken unto you.

The Choice Set Before Israel 26–32

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Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse: ​
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the blessing, if ye shall hearken unto the commandments of Jehovah your God, which I command you this day;
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and the curse, if ye shall not hearken unto the commandments of Jehovah 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.
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And it shall come to pass, when Jehovah thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt set the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal. ​
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Are they not beyond the Jordan, behind the way of the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites that dwell in the Arabah, over against Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh? ​
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For ye are to pass over the Jordan to go in to possess the land which Jehovah your God giveth you, and ye shall possess it, and dwell therein.
32
And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and the ordinances which I set before you this day.

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Deuteronomy 11

Verse 1

keep his charge — 'Charge' is mishmereth, from shamar, to keep, so the phrase is literally 'keep his keeping', what is to be guarded. Love is named first, as in 6:5, and the keeping follows from it 'alway'. The list runs charge, statutes, judgments, commandments.

Verse 2

his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm — 'Chastisement' is musar, from the root of 'chasteneth' in 8:5. With 'his greatness' (godel, as in 3:24 and 5:24) and the 'mighty hand… stretched out arm' of 4:34 and 7:19, these are what the hearers have seen and their children have not; the acts follow in vv.3–7.

Verse 6

Dathan and Abiram — They were Reubenites, 'sons of Eliab', who joined Korah the Levite (Num 16:1). The earth 'opened her mouth, and swallowed them up' with all that was theirs (Num 16:32–33), while fire consumed the two hundred and fifty offering incense (16:35). Num 26:11 adds 'the children of Korah died not'; Ps 106:17 recalls the event.

Verse 8

that ye may be strong — Chazaq, the verb of 3:28, where Moses is told to 'encourage' Joshua. Here strength is tied to keeping the commandments, 'that ye may be strong, and go in and possess'. Joshua hears the pair again: 'Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do' (Josh 1:7).

Verse 10

wateredst it with thy foot — In Egypt the sower waters his own seed 'as a garden of herbs', by his own labour. Lot saw the plain of Jordan 'well watered every where… like the land of Egypt' (Gen 13:10). The land ahead is set against it in v.11, where the watering comes from heaven.

Verse 11

the rain of heaven — Canaan 'drinketh water of the rain of heaven', a land of 'hills and valleys' that depends on what is sent. The same land has its springs (8:7). Heb 6:7 uses the picture: 'the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed.'

Verse 12

careth for — Darash, to seek, the second verb of 4:29, 'if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul'. Israel is to seek the LORD, and the LORD seeks the land. His eyes are upon it 'from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year', and Ps 33:18 says the same of persons, 'the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him'.

Verse 13

hearken diligently — The Hebrew doubles the verb, 'hearkening, ye shall hearken'. Love and service 'with all your heart and with all your soul' are the terms of 6:5 and 10:12. The LORD speaks in the first person from here: 'my commandments which I command you', and in the next verse 'I will give you the rain of your land'.

Verse 14

the first rain and the latter rain — Yoreh is the autumn rain and malqosh the spring rain; James 5:7 speaks of the farmer waiting 'until he receive the early and latter rain', and Joel 2:23 promises both. 'Due season' is the wording of Lev 26:4, and Deut 28:12 has 'in his season'. The harvest named is 'corn', 'wine' (tirosh, fresh juice) and 'oil' (yitshar, fresh oil).

Verse 16

your heart be not deceived — Pathah, to be enticed or made simple. Job uses it of a heart, 'my heart hath been secretly enticed' (Job 31:27). Deut 29:18 describes the case, 'whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations', and Heb 3:12 the end of it, 'an evil heart of unbelief'.

Verse 17

he shut up the heaven — Solomon's prayer names the case, 'When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee' (1 Kings 8:35). Elijah's word to Ahab shut it for 'three years and six months' (1 Kings 17:1; James 5:17). The warning is that of 4:26, 'ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land'.

Verse 18

frontlets between your eyes — Totaphoth is found only here, in 6:8 and in Ex 13:16. The words are to be laid up 'in your heart and in your soul' before they are bound on the hand, so the inward place comes first. The wording repeats 6:6–8, with the commands 'written' on the doorposts in v.20.

Verse 19

when thou sittest in thine house — The four settings, the house, the road, lying down and rising up, are the four of 6:7. The teaching of 'your children' is the standing charge of 4:9–10, where the things seen are to be taught to 'thy sons', so that 'they may teach their children'.

Verse 20

upon the door posts of thine house — Mezuzah, the doorpost, is the word of the Passover night: the blood was struck 'on the two side posts' (Ex 12:7). The command is the same as in 6:9, with the 'gates' added in the same words.

Verse 21

as the days of heaven upon the earth — The length of days is measured by the heavens, as in Ps 89:29, 'his throne as the days of heaven'. 'Multiplied' is rabah, the verb of 8:1 ('multiply'), and the land is the one 'which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them'.

Verse 22

cleave unto him — Dabaq is the verb of Gen 2:24, a man 'shall cleave unto his wife'. It is used of the LORD in 10:20, here, 13:4 and 30:20. The verse runs in order: keep, do, love, walk, cleave; 13:4 puts the same list as 'walk after the LORD… fear him… keep his commandments… serve him, and cleave unto him'.

Verse 24

the soles of your feet shall tread — Joshua is told the same: 'Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses' (Josh 1:3). The boundary at 'the river Euphrates' is that of Gen 15:18, and Solomon 'reigned over all kingdoms from the river' (1 Kings 4:21).

Verse 26

a blessing and a curse — The choice is set out in the plainest terms, and Moses states it again at the end of the book: 'I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life' (30:19). The conditions follow in vv.27–28, the blessing for hearkening and the curse for turning aside.

Verse 29

Gerizim… Ebal — Deut 27:12–13 assigns the tribes: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin to stand on Gerizim to bless, and Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali on Ebal to curse. Joshua did it, 'half of them over against mount Gerizim, and half of them over against mount Ebal' (Josh 8:33).

Verse 30

the plains of Moreh — Moses places the two mountains beside the plain of Moreh, where Abram first stopped in the land and the LORD said 'Unto thy seed will I give this land' (Gen 12:6–7). The question 'Are they not…?' sends the hearers to a place they can find, in the land of the Canaanites 'over against Gilgal'.