Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 11:1
Therefore thou shalt love the LORD thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, always.
Deu 11:1. Therefore ] The conclusion of the preceding verses.
thou shalt love ] See on Deu 6:5.
keep his charge ] ‘Only here in Dt.; often in P (esp. Numbers), but usually in a technical sense, with genitive of the object to be kept, as Num 1:53; Num 3:28: “Jehovah’s charge” (of a specific duty), Lev 8:35; Lev 18:30; Lev 22:9; Num 9:19; Num 9:23; in a more general sense, as here, Gen 26:5 (JE); Jos 22:3 (D 2 ); 1Ki 2:3 (Deut.)’ (Driver). There is therefore no conclusive proof that this v. is secondary. Yet the recurrence of a phrase so characteristic of P after another in the previous v. is significant.
statutes, judgements, commandments ] See above.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Chs. Deu 10:12 to Deu 11:32. Final Exhortations, Introductory to the Laws
Enforced by the preceding Retrospect, the discourse continues to urge its practical conclusions of full fear and love to God, by worshipping and obeying Him (Deu 10:12-13); because, though all heaven and earth is His, He was pleased to love the fathers of Israel and to choose their posterity (Deu 10:14-15). Changing to the Pl. address the discourse urges Israel to circumcise their hearts and be no more stiffnecked, for their God is the greatest God and Lord, mightiest and most terrible and absolutely impartial (Deu 10:16-17). He secures justice for the widow and orphan and loves the stranger, as Israel, themselves strangers in Egypt, must do (Deu 10:18-19). Returning to the Sg. exhortations follow to fear, worship, and cleave to Jehovah, for He is Israel’s God who has done all these mighty things for the people, and out of seventy individuals who went down to Egypt, made them a multitude like to the stars; therefore loving God they shall keep His commandments (Deu 10:20 to Deu 11:1). Once more in the Pl., Israel are reminded of the discipline of God, which they themselves have experienced in their deliverance from Egypt and guidance through the desert, and in the punishment for rebellion of Dathan and Abiram (Deu 10:2-7); therefore they shall keep the commandment, that they may be strong, possess the land and prolong their days upon it (Deu 10:8-9). Oscillating between Sg. and Pl. there follows a description of the distinction of the land from the flat and rainless Egypt, irrigated from the Nile by the foot of man: it is a land whose water comes from heaven and God’s eyes are always upon it (Deu 10:10-12); if Israel observe His commandments (vv. here the discourse passes from Moses to the person of the Deity), He will give the rains in their seasons and fulness of crops (Deu 10:13-15). Let them not turn away from Him to other gods, lest in His anger He send drought and they perish (Deu 10:16-17). Therefore they shall lay His words to heart, bind them as signs on their hands and brows, teach them to their children, and write them by their doors and gates that their days, and their children’s, may be long in the land (Deu 10:18-21). For if they keep all his commandments (vv. the discourse is already again in the person of Moses) God will expel all these nations and give them every part of the land they tread, from the desert to Lebanon and from the Euphrates to the Western Sea (Deu 10:22-22). The speaker, in short, has set a blessing and a curse before Israel on conditions respectively, and they shall put them up on Gerizim and Ebal on the other side of Jordan, which they are about to cross and then they must keep all the statutes and judgments now to be delivered to them (Deut 10:26 32). So we reach the close of the discourses introductory to the Laws. The frequent changes between the Sg. and Pl. forms of address, sometimes coinciding with transitions to subjects not always relevant to the main theme of the discourses, are proof of the composite character of this closing section; and after the text (which, as the versions show, is by no means certain) has been corrected, furnish material for the question whether it is possible to discriminate two original discourses, introductory to the Code, one Sg. the other Pl., or whether the changes of address may be explained by the expansion of one original at the hands of editors.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Deu 11:1
Love the Lord thy God, and keep His charge.
On the imperfection of righteousness without religion
In the expression, the love of God, are comprehended admiration of Him, and delight in meditating upon Him, reverence towards Him, desire of His approbation, and a fear of offending Him, gratitude for His benefits, and trust in Him as our Father; for perfect goodness, which is the object of this love, at the same time calls for the exercise of all these affections of soul. And this inward religion is the sole fountain of an uniform righteousness of keeping the commandments of God alway.
I. The influence of religion upon righteousness will appear, if we consider–
1. That God, who is the wise and righteous Creator and Governor of the universe, and the object of all religion, is also the perfect pattern of all excellence.
2. As loving God under the notion of the pattern of all goodness, naturally transforms a devout mind into the Divine image, by a secret but strong sympathy betwixt God and the pious soul, by its essential admiration and love of what is really beautiful, righteous, and excellent, and by its desire of possessing what it so much admires; so the same view of God will appear to work the same effect in another way. Perfect goodness, which is the true object of love, is an awful thing, commanding reverence from every mind, and a care not to contradict its ordinances. It is not a changing principle, but ever holds one fixed invariable course. Every attentive person therefore will perceive that the only way to be acceptable to this goodness is to resemble it, and consent, in all his actions, to its dictates. This must be a natural reflection upon the first just apprehension of the Divine goodness, and of some force even before love towards it has grown strong in the soul. Can, then, a man who really loves the perfect goodness of God, be without great awe of Him? Must he not be earnest for Gods approbation, and be afraid to do anything disagreeable to Him?
3. The devout Christian looks upon himself as a son of God through Jesus Christ the Redeemer of mankind; and shall he not be animated with a spirit suited to the dignity of his high birth and origin?
4. Must not the soul of that man who loves God be animated by a strong gratitude towards Him? Can he behold the Almighty continually pouring forth His bounty on himself and on all other creatures, without feeling himself moved with the warmest sentiments of gratitude leading him to keep the charge and statutes of God cheerfully?
II. We come now to make improvement of all that has been said.
1. Hence we may see how much we are indebted to our holy religion, which has given us so amiable a character of God as naturally invites our love. The Gospel has opened our eyes to discern the beauties of His holiness; it has banished all that darkness which overshadowed the nations, and all those dreadful opinions of the Almighty, which were fitted only to excite terror in the breasts of men.
2. Considering the necessity and great advantage of religion and true devotion, whence can it proceed that a matter of such moment is so generally neglected? It is very observable that many, who bestow little thought upon God and His righteousness, never fail to applaud every instance of worth and righteousness amongst men. An upright, a merciful, a generous man they extol with the most liberal praises; while the fountain of all this excellence is not acknowledged, is not heeded. What can occasion this egregious contradiction? There are many causes for it; but amongst others this must be acknowledged not a small one. That the hypocrisy and sinful lives of many who profess piety and devotion, bring a strong prejudice against religion itself, and occasion it to be evil thought of and evil spoken of.
3. From what has been said, let us all be persuaded to cultivate a spirit of devotion, and strive to grow in the love of God. (John Drysdale, D. D.)
God requires our love
You buy a camellia, and determine, in spite of florists, to make it blossom in your room. You watch and tend it, and at length the buds appear. Day by day you see them swell, and fondly hope they will come to perfect flower; but just as they should open, one after another they drop off, and you look at it, despairingly exclaiming, All is over for this year. But someone says, What! the plant is healthy; are not the roots, and branches, and leaves good? Yes, you answer, but I do not care for them, I bought it for the blossom. Now, when we bring God the roots, and branches, and leaves of morality, He is not satisfied, He wants the blossoming of the heart, and that is love.
God the only object of supreme love
There is a noble economy of the deepest life. There is a watchful reserve which keeps guard over the powers of profound anxiety and devoted work, and refuses to give them away to any first applicant who comes, and asks. Wealth rolls up to the door, and says, Give me your great anxiety; and you look up and answer, No, not for you; here is a little half-indifferent desire which is all that you deserve. Popularity comes and says, Work with all your might for me; and you reply, No; you are not of consequence enough for that. Here is a small fragment of energy which you may have, if you want it; but that is all. Even knowledge comes, and says, Give your whole soul to me; and you must answer once more, No; great, good, beautiful as you are, you are not worthy of a mans whole soul. There is something in a man so sacred and so precious that he must keep it in reserve till something even greater than the desire of knowledge demands it. But then, at last, comes One far more majestic than them all–God comes with His supreme demand for goodness and for character, and then you open the doors of your whole nature and bid your holiest and profoundest devotion to come trooping forth. Now you rejoice that you kept something which you would not give to any lesser lord. Now here is the deep in life which can call to the deep in you and find its answer.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XI
The people are exhorted to obedience from a consideration of
God’s goodness to their fathers in Egypt, 1-4,
and what he did in the wilderness, 5,
and the judgment on Dathan and Abiram, 6,
and from the mercies of God in general, 7-9.
A comparative description of Egypt and Canaan, 19-12.
Promises to obedience, 13-15.
Dissuasives from idolatry, 16,17.
The words of God to be laid up in their hearts, to be for a sign
on their hands, foreheads, gates, c., 18,
taught to their children, made the subject of frequent
conversation, to the end that their days may be multiplied,
19-21.
If obedient, God shall give them possession of the whole land,
and not one of their enemies shall be able to withstand them,
22-25.
Life and death, a blessing and a curse, are set before them,
26-28.
The blessings to be put on Mount Gerizim and the curses on Mount
Ebal, 29, 30.
The promise that they should pass over Jordan, and observe these
statutes in the promised land, 31, 32.
NOTES ON CHAP. XI
Verse 1. Thou shalt love the Lord] Because without this there could be no obedience to the Divine testimonies, and no happiness in the soul for the heart that is destitute of the love of God, is empty of all good, and consequently miserable. See Clarke on De 10:12.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
1. Therefore thou shalt love theLord thy God, and keep his chargeThe reason for the frequentrepetition of the same or similar counsels is to be traced to theinfantine character and state of the church, which required line uponline and precept upon precept. Besides, the Israelites were aheadstrong and perverse people, impatient of control, prone torebellion, and, from their long stay in Egypt, so violently addictedto idolatry, that they ran imminent risk of being seduced by thereligion of the country to which they were going, which, in itscharacteristic features, bore a strong resemblance to that of thecountry they had left.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God,…. Because he is so great and glorious in himself, and because he had done such great and good things for them, the Israelites, particularly in the multiplication of them, the last thing mentioned:
and keep his charge; whatsoever the Lord had charged them to observe, even what follow:
and his statutes and his judgments, and his commandments, alway; all his laws, ceremonial, judicial, and moral; and that constantly and continually, all the days of their lives.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
In Deu 11:1-12 the other feature in the divine requirements (Deu 10:12), viz., love to the Lord their God, is still more fully developed. Love was to show itself in the distinct perception of what had to be observed towards Jehovah (to “ keep His charge,” see at Lev 8:35), i.e., in the perpetual observance of His commandments and rights. The words, “ and His statutes,” etc., serve to explain the general notion, “His charge.” “ All days,” as in Deu 4:10.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Persuasives to Obedience. | B. C. 1451. |
1 Therefore thou shalt love the LORD thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway. 2 And know ye this day: for I speak not with your children which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the LORD your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched out 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 hath destroyed them unto this day; 5 And what he did unto 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.
Because God has made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude (so the preceding chapter concludes), therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God (so this begins). Those whom God has built up into families, whose beginning was small, but whose latter end greatly increases, should use that as an argument with themselves why they should serve God. Thou shalt keep his charge, that is, the oracles of his word and ordinances of his worship, with which they were entrusted and for which they were accountable. It is a phrase often used concerning the office of the priests and Levites, for all Israel was a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. Observe the connection of these two: Thou shalt love the Lord and keep his charge, since love will work in obedience, and that only is acceptable obedience which flows from a principle of love. 1 John v. 3.
Mention is made of the great and terrible works of God which their eyes had seen, v. 7. This part of his discourse Moses addresses to the seniors among the people, the elders in age; and probably the elders in office were so, and were now his immediate auditors: there were some among them that could remember their deliverance out of Egypt, all above fifty, and to them he speaks this, not to the children, who knew it by hearsay only, v. 2. Note, God’s mercies to us when we were young we should remember and retain the impressions of when we are old; what our eyes have seen, especially in our early days, has affected us, and should be improved by us long after. They had seen what terrible judgments God had executed upon the enemies of Israel’s peace, 1. Upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians that enslaved them. What a fine country was ruined and laid waste by one plague after another, to force Israel’s enlargement! v. 3. What a fine army was entirely drowned in the Red Sea, to prevent Israel’s being re-enslaved! v. 4. Thus did he give Egypt for their ransom, Isa. xliii. 3. Rather shall that famous kingdom be destroyed than that Israel shall not be delivered. 2. Upon Dathan and Abiram that embroiled them. Remember what he did in the wilderness (v. 5), by how many necessary chastisements (as they are called, v. 2) they were kept from ruining themselves, particularly when those daring Reubenites defied the authority of Moses and headed a dangerous rebellion against God himself, which threatened the ruin of a whole nation, and might have ended in that if the divine power had not immediately crushed the rebellion by burying the rebels alive, them and all that was in their possession, v. 6. What was done against them, though misinterpreted by the disaffected party (Num. xvi. 41), was really done in mercy to Israel. To be saved from the mischiefs of insurrections at home is as great a kindness to a people, and therefore lays them under as strong obligations, as protection from the invasion of enemies abroad.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
DEUTERONOMY – CHAPTER ELEVEN
Verses 1-9:
This chapter is a renewal of Moses’ exhortation to obedience, based upon Israel’s experiences in Egypt and in the wilderness, and a consideration of the blessings promised for obedience and the curses pronounced for disobedience.
“Charge,” mishmereth, “a thing to be watched,” also translated “office, ordinance, ward.” The most frequent use of the term is in Numbers (27 times). The first occurrence is Gen 26:5; see also Lev 8:35. The term here denotes what God has ordained to be observed and done, see Num 1:53.
“Know ye,” lit., “take note of.”
This is directed primarily to the older generation, many of whom were eye-witnesses of those things Moses described, though they were young at the time of their occurrence. It was the responsibility of the older generation to teach the younger, those born in the wilderness, of God’s mighty works.
“Chastisement,” musar (paideia, LXX) not punishment but discipline, training, education, see Deu 8:5.
Moses first refers to the plagues which came upon Egypt, and the destruction of Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea. These events demonstrated the awesome power of Jehovah God, and His superiority over the gods of Egypt.
Next, Moses refers to the rebellion of Dathan and Abiram, Numbers 16. They were accomplices in the insurrection of Korah. Moses does not mention Korah in this text, perhaps in deference to his sons who did not share in his fate.
The events to which Moses referred illustrated God’s power and majesty, and provide an incentive for obedience to His commands. This is still a powerful incentive for God’s child today to honor and obey Him.
Obedience to God assured to Israel prosperity and peace in the Land God had promised. Obedience to God assures to God’s child
today His Presence and blessing, Mat 28:19-20.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
1. Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God. The whole address has this scope, that the people should testify their gratitude by their obedience, and thus being allured by God’s bounties, should reverently embrace His Law. On this account also, he requires them to love God, before he exhorts them to obey the Law itself. For, although he might have imperiously and menacingly commanded them, he preferred to lead them gently to obedience, by setting before them the sweetness of His grace. In sum, he exhorts them that, being invited by God’s love, they should love him in return. Meanwhile, it is well to observe that free affection is the foundation and beginning of duly obeying the Law, for what is drawn forth by constraint, or servile fear, cannot please God. He designates the precepts of the Law by various names, in order that they may zealously and attentively apply themselves to listen to God, who has omitted nothing calculated to regulate their life; for, by this variety of words, he signifies that God had familiarly and perfectly taught whatever was required. As to the three latter words, “his statutes, and judgments, and commandments,” what I have observed in Genesis and in the Psalms may be referred to. The word משמות, (254) meshamroth, or guards, (custodiae,) which here stands first, is spoken in commendation of the Law on this ground, that it fences in our life, as it were, with rails, lest it should be exposed to errors on the right hand and on the left,. At the end of the verse he exhorts them to perseverance, because it was not allowable for the recollection of their deliverance ever to cease.
(254) משמרת . A. V., charge. The LXX. keeps closest to the Hebrew idiom, φυλάξη τὰ φυλάγματα ἄυτου. — W.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE RECAPITULATION OF THE LAW
Deu 5:1 to Deu 26:19 record for us a recapitulation of the Law. The study of this section sets out clearly certain fundamental truths.
The Decalog is repeated with significant variations. Chapter 5, fundamental to all the laws of God is the Decalog. In Exodus, Moses delivered the same as he brought it from the tip of the fingers Divine. In Deuteronomy, the Law is given again. From the first to the tenth commandment, the very language of Exodus is employed, save in the instance of the fourth. Here, the reason assigned to the Jew for keeping the Sabbath, is strangely and significantly changed, namely, from because the Lord in six days made heaven and earth and rested on the seventh day, to Remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm; therefore, the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day (Deu 5:15).
This change is so strange and so unexpected that it arrests immediate attention and demands adequate explanation. Why did God shift the reason for keeping the Sabbath from the finished creation to a completed redemption? The answer is not difficult. In the Divine plan, redemption is a far greater event than creation; the soul of man exceeds the weight of the world; for that matter, of all worlds. The Law was given by Moses, but Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ. The Law was given for Jews; the Gentiles were never in bondage to it, and above all, believing Gentiles are not bound by it. To them, the Law is not a great external or outside force created for practices of restraint. Its spirit is transcribed to their souls rather; they walk at liberty while seeking Divine precepts. This is not to inveigh against the Law. The Law is just, and true and good, but by Law no man has ever been redeemed. It is to exalt Grace, which God hath revealed through Jesus Christ, in whom men have redemption from sin. If I only love my father and mother because the Law commands it, I do not love them at all; if I refrain from making images and bowing down before them because this is the demand of the Law, my heart may yet be as full of idolatry as a heathen temple. Redemption is not by the Law; it is by Grace in Jesus Christ!
The early Church was shortly called upon to settle this question of salvation by Law or Grace, and in the Jerusalem Conference Peter rose up and said unto them,
Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the Word of the Gospel, and believe.
And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as He did unto us;
And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? (Act 15:7-10).
Later he said, We believe that through the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ (not by Law) we shall be saved, even as they (Act 15:7-11). Mark you, in that very sentence, Peter, the Apostle, proves his realization of the fact that the Law had failed as a savior and the very Jew himself had hope alone in grace. How strange, then, for men of the Twentieth Century to turn back to Law and proclaim the Law as though it were a redeemer, and protest that men who ignore the Jewish Saturday as the Sabbath will plunge themselves into the pit thereby, when the Law never saved! The keeping of the Sabbath was the one Law that contained in itself no ethical demand. The Law to worship, the Law to honor father and mother, the Law against killing, stealing and covetousnessthese are all questions of right and wrong; but to tithe time by the keeping of the Sabbath was a command solely in the interest of mans physical life. When, therefore, by the pen of inspiration the reason for it was shifted from a finished creation to a finished redemption, the act was lifted at once to a high spiritual level and became a symbol of the day when Christ, risen from the grave, should have completed redemptions plan. That great fortune to mankind fell out on the first day of the week, creating not so much a Christian Sabbath as making forever a memorial day for redemption itself, for the eighth day, or the first day of the week, clearly indicated the new order of things, or the new creation through Christ.
We have no sympathy whatever with secularizing each one of the seven days; but we would have the first day of the week kept in the spirit of rejoicing as redemptions memorial. On that day our Lord rose from the dead; on that day He met his disciples again and again; on that day the brethren at Troas assembled with the Apostles and broke bread; on that day the Christians laid aside their offerings; on that day they met for prayer and breaking of breadthe fellowship of the saints; on that day John was caught up in the spirit and witnessed the marvels recorded in his apocalyptic vision. Oh, what a day! No legal bondage, for what have we to do with holy days, sabbaths and new moons; but salvations memorial, a day of special service to the Son of God, our Saviour, a day for the souls rejoicing in Jesus. Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
But as we pass on in the study of this section of Scripture, we find Moses defends the Decalog in character and consequence. He reminds them of the glory out of which the voice spake (Deu 5:24). He reminds them of the obligation in the words themselves (Deu 5:32). He reminds them of the relationship of the possession of the land to obedience of the precepts. He pleads with them as a father, Hear, therefore, O Israel (Deu 6:4). He anticipates the day of prophecy and begs that these words have place in their hearts (Deu 6:6), to be diligently taught to their children (Deu 6:7); bound for a sign upon their hands and frontlets between their eyes, lest they be forgotten (Deu 6:8); written upon the posts of the house and on the gates, where they could not be unobserved (Deu 6:9). Moses knew the relationship of law-keeping to national living. It is doubtful if modernists now have or will ever again entertain the same sacred reverence for Law that characterized the ancients, even the heathen of far-off days.
We cannot forget how Socrates, when he was sentenced to death and, after an imprisonment of thirty days, was to drink the juice of the hemlock, spent his time preparing for the end; friends conceived and executed plans for his escape and earnestly endeavored to prevail upon him to avail himself of the opportunity, but he answered, That would be a crime to violate the law even when the sentence is unjust. I would rather die than do evil. If a heathen philosopher could treat unjust laws with such reverence, Moses was justified in pleading with his people to regard the laws that were true and just and good, and such were the mandates of Deuteronomy.
It is easy enough for one to pick out some one of these precepts and, by detaching it from its context, create the impression that it was foolish or superficial or even utterly unjust; but when one reads the whole Book, he sees the effectual relationship of laws, general and particular, to the life Israel was leading, and for that matter, catches the supreme spiritual significance of the same as they interpret themselves in the light of New Testament teaching. There is not a warning that was not needed, nor an exhortation which, if heeded, would have failed to profit the people. It all came to one conclusion for Israel.
What doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul (Deu 10:12)?
And as there was not a law in the Old Testament but was fitted for the profit of Israel, so there is not a command in the New Testament but looks to the conquest of the Christian soul.
Among these enactments were personal and significant suggestions. They gave dietary and sanitary suggestions (Deuteronomy 14); they established the Sabbatic year (Deuteronomy 13); they fixed the time of the Passover (Deuteronomy 16); they set forth the character of the offerings (Deuteronomy 17); they determined the duties of the Levites (Deuteronomy 18); they gave direction concerning the cities of refuge (Deuteronomy 19); they determined the way of righteous warfare (chap. 20); they established a court of inquest (Deuteronomy 21); they announced the law of brotherhood (Deuteronomy 22); they descended to the minute instances of social life and regulations of the same (Deuteronomy 23); they dealt with the great and difficult question of divorce (Deuteronomy 24); they ended (Deuteronomy 23) in an almost unlimited series of regulations concerning the social life of the people knowing a wilderness experience, including the law of the first fruits (Deuteronomy 26).
It is interesting to study not alone the laws enacted here, but the penalties declared, including the blessings and curses from Ebal to Gerizim. There is about them all an innate righteousness that has been unknown to those purely human codes for which God never assumed responsibility. From the curse against bribery to the curse against brutal murder to this day the sentences are justified in the judgment of the worlds most thoughtful men.
In all they contrast the injustice and inordinately severe punishments often afflicted by godless governments. Plutarch, in writing about Solon, tells us that he repealed the laws of Draco except those concerning murder. Such was the severity of their punishments in proportion to the offense that we are amazed as we read them. If one was convicted of idleness, death was the penalty. If one stole a few apples or potherbs, he must surely die, and by as ignominious a method as did the murderer. And out of that grew the saying of Demades that Draco wrote his laws, not with ink but with blood. And when Draco was asked why such severe penalties, he answered, Small ones deserve it, and I can find no greater for the most heinous. Such were human laws in contrast to these laws Divine.
But a further study of these laws involves a third lesson.
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
CRITICAL NOTES.Deu. 11:1-12 develops more fully the other features of Divine Requirements, Deu. 10:12. Love must be seen in perpetual observance of commands. Keep, Lev. 8:35; Num. 18:23.
Deu. 11:2. Know own, i.e., ponder and lay to heart the chastisement, the mighty acts of God to Egypt and to Israel; the purpose of which is to educate (discipline) by correction and instruction, cf. 7, with the word in Pro. 1:2; Pro. 5:12.
Deu. 11:3-6 Instances given of discipline.
Deu. 11:4, Waters. Cf. chap Deu. 4:34; Exo. 14:26 sqq.
Deu. 11:5. All acts in guidance and protection of Israel and punishment of enemies.
Deu. 11:6. Destruction of Korahs company specially given, cf. Num. 16:31-33. Moses only mentions Dathan and Abiram, followers of Korah, and not Korah himself, probably from regard to his sons, who were not swallowed up by the earth with their father, but had lived to perpetuate the family. (Keil.) Datnan and Abiram also were more determined and audacious against Moses. All substance, lit. everything existing, Gen. 7:4, which was in their following (at their feet) cf. Exo. 11:8; Num. 16:32.
Deu. 11:7. The reason for admonition, cf. Deu. 11:2. Know Gods purpose in the acts you have seen.
Deu. 11:8-9. This knowledge was to impel them to keep the law, that they might be spiritually strong, enter the land and live long in it. cf. Deu. 4:26; Deu. 6:3.
Deu. 11:10-12, Another motive for fidelity is added, viz., the entire dependence of the Promised Land upon God for its fertility. Its richness was not like Egypt, the reward of human skill and labour but entirely the gift of God. Egypt and Canaan are distinguished in their most remarkable physical traits, the spiritual significance of which must not be overlooked, (cf. Speakers Commentary.)
Deu. 11:10. Wateredst. in two ways, viz., by means of tread-wheels, working sets of pumps, and by means of artificial channels connected with reservoirs, and opened, turned, or closed by the feet. Both methods are still in use in Egypt and other similar districts of the country. (Speakers Commentary.)
Deu. 11:11. Hills mountainous. Drinketh, i.e. received its watering, the main condition of all fertility, from the rain and therefore the providence of God. (Keil.)
Deu. 11:12. Careth for, lit. seeketh or inquireth after., i.e. for which God cared. Pro. 31:13; Job. 3:4. LXX. Oversees. Psa. 142:4; Isa. 62:12; Jer. 30:17. Eyes ever under the special keeping of God.
Deu. 11:13. Thus dependent, it behoved them to fear and obey, that these blessings might continue.
Deu. 11:14. First autumn rain, about time of sowing from October to December, latter spring rains in March or April, which prepares ground for harvest. This rain would be given with plentiful supply of food for man and beast.
Deu. 11:15. If Israel would be faithful.
Deu. 11:16-17. If not obedient, Gods anger would burn against them, heaven would shut up (as a womb, Gen. 16:2), earth would yield no produce, and they would speedily perish, Lev. 26:19-20; Deu. 28:23.
Deu. 11:18-20. Almost a verbal repetition of Deu. 6:6-9, to impress the mind.
Deu. 11:21. Above, i.e, as long as heaven continues above earth, or to all eternity, cf. Psa. 89:30; Job. 14:12. The promise of Canaan to Israel then was a perpetual promise, but also a conditiona one.
Deu. 11:23. If faithful, God would drive out all nations. Greater, Deu. 7:1; Deu. 9:1.
Deu. 11:24. Give them the land in its length and breadth, every place within the land. Full possession in the time of Solomon.
Deu. 11:25. So fill Canaanites with fear, that none could stand before them.
Deu. 11:26-28. Concluding summary. Shalt put, lit., give forth, utter, proclaim upon Mount Gerizim, the most southern of the two, and according to Jewish ideas, the region of light, life, and blessing (cf. Speakers Commentary.) Ebal on the north side, opposite Gerizim (cf. Stanley. Sinai and Palestine.
Deu. 11:31-32. Contain a reason for the instructions and an assurance that if they observe to do, they shall cross Jordan, enter and possess the land, Deu. 4:5-6.
DIVINE DISCIPLINE IN HUMAN LIFE.Deu. 11:1-9
God frequently repeated His commands, to meet the child-like character and condition of Israel, and to check their proneness to forget and rebel. Love to God was to show itself in distinct perception and perpetual obedience to His statutes. To awaken this love they must trace Gods dealings with them, and realise that these dealings were chastisement, discipline to train them in His service.
I. Divine discipline displayed in various ways. All the great acts which God performed have a bright and a dark sidewere filled with mercy or judgment according to the moral condition of the spectator.
1. In acts of love to Gods people. The miracles of deliverance, guidance, and defence were intended to wean from sin and awaken right feeling. Their afflictions were corrections, less than their rebellion deserved, which taught them to pray and depend upon God. The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor Christians perfected without adversity.
2. In acts of judgment to Gods enemies. The mighty hand destroyed Israels foes and chastised the oppressor. Proofs of Gods power and purpose were seen on every hand. The overthrow of pride and the defence of the weak; the bestowment of good and the infliction of evil were a process of education. God was seen the friend of His people, and the judge of His enemies; training by peculiar discipline, and warning by solemn visitations. Thus life is a school. The great events of life are appointed and directed by God to train us for service.
There is a Divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough hew them how we will.
II. Divine discipline to be recognised in the events of life. Know ye this day. Men are unable, unwilling to learn. Life to them is ordinary, accidental, or without value. We must take note, ponder this truth, and discern Gods purpose in our life. If we could see the end of the Lord in his dealings with us and others, we should murmur less, and be more thankful and resigned. We quench the light of life by our theory of life. It is not the want of greater miracles, but of perception of spiritual insight, that leads us to forget God and misinterpret His providence. Wherever the hand of God is, there is miracle and meaning if we desire to learn. All processes of life point to mental and moral development. It is our wisdom, our interest to believe and co-operate. I would rather do the will of God than work miracles, said Luther. Consider (i.e., carefully regard) the work of God (Ecc. 7:13). Whoso is wise and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord (Psa. 107:43).
III. The recognition of this Divine discipline in life to be shown in cheerful obedience.Because your eyes have seen the mighty acts of God and the design for which they were done. Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments (Deu. 11:8). The older generation had witnessed more than others, enjoyed greater advantages, and were therefore put under deeper obligation. Those who have seen signal events, who live in remarkable times, times of revival, judgments, and deliverances, are more indebted to God and doubly guilty in their disobedience. Duty must be measured by privilege. The lessons of our life must be taught to others, and embodied in our character and conduct. If unfaithful and indifferent how great will be our punishment. Exalted to heaven, we may be cast down to hell!
IV. The consequences of this obedience are manifold. If Israel would hear, rightly interpret, and obey the voice of God in the events of their history, the results would be manifold.
1. Spiritual strength. That ye may be strong (Deu. 11:8). As we gain strength naturally by walking, so spiritually we become strong by obedience. God is the source of all power, and by dependence upon Him that power is ours. Unbelief is infirmity; joyful trust gives strength for work and welfare.
2. Possession of Canaan. And possess the land. Earthly possessions and distinctions are reserved for those who are trained for them. Strength derived from obedience inspires with courage to gain new dominions. Those strong in the Lord are resistless, and drive before them nations greater and mightier than they.
3. Length of life. That ye may prolong your days. Long life to individuals or nations, the perpetuation of the Church or a godly seed, depend upon God more than natural causes. Disobedience in its nature and in the judgments of God upon it, brings to untimely ends. Obedience contributes to the length and the enjoyment of life. The fear of the Lord prolongeth days; but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.
THE OVERTHROW OF CONSPIRATORS.Deu. 11:6
This is specially mentioned as one instance of those acts which had been done to warn and instruct. The words may be compared with Numbers 16, and the following outline will be suggested.
1. The sin of the conspirators. Korah sought not to abolish the distinction between Levites and the people; but to secure the chief dignity for himself. They rebelled against Moses (Num. 16:2-3); refused the text proposed (6 and 7); refused to leave their tents (Deu. 11:2), and reproached Moses as if responsible for their protracted sojourn in the wilderness. Ambition oerleaps itself. The fate of Nadab and Abihu should have warned them. God hath a special indignation at pride above all sins, says Bp. Hall. A mans pride shall bring him low (cf. Pro. 29:23; Pro. 11:2; Pro. 17:19.
2. The overthrow of the conspirators. Opposition to Gods authority is highly displeasing, when determined and open. The destruction was:
1. Sudden. The earth opened.
2. Supernatural. This not in a country undermined with subterranean fire, but in the sandy desert; where earthquakes seldom happen, and are little expected.
3. Complete. Swallowed them up and their households, tents, and all possessions.
4. Admonitory. In the midst of all Israel. It vindicated the rights of Moses, and is a warning for all ages. My son, fear thou the Lord and the king, and meddle not with them that are given to change; for their calamity shall rise suddenly, and who knoweth the ruin of them both? (Pro. 24:21-22.)
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Deu. 11:2. Not seen. He speaks to them as to eye-witnesses, and those that have such evidence and self-experience are usually more affected than those that have things by hear-say only. Mine eye affects my heart. (Lam. 3:51.)Trapp.
Deu. 11:3. His miracles. Acts of power, acts of publicity, yet unable to convert the soul.
Deu. 11:5. Did to you. A personal diary, to help our weak memory and stir up our cold hearts. Forget not all His benefits.
Deu. 11:6. Dathan and Abiram. Place hunters in their object, method and punishment. Their history illustrative of the perils of bad company. Unity with wicked companions is one of the strongest chains of hell, and binds us to a participation both of sin and punishment.(Sibbs.) Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces. (Isa. 8:9; cf. Pro. 11:21; Jos. 9:1-2.)
Deu. 11:3 to Deu. 9:1. God has a people among men.
2. He separates this people from men in various ways.
3. He unites them in bonds of fellowship.
4. He trains them to love Him.
5. He guides them to rest.
Deu. 11:4-6. Nature subservient to Gods purposes.
1. In the destruction of His enemies.
2. In the deliverance of His people. It was a marvel that the waters opened; it was no wonder that they shut again; for the retiring and flowing was natural. It was no less marvel that the earth opened, but more marvel that it shut again, because it had no natural disposition to meet when it was divided. Now might Israel see they had to do with a God that could revenge with ease.(Bp. Hall.) All the elements of nature under Gods control, hence the folly of offending one who can easily and awfully punish.
EGYPT AND CANAAN.Deu. 11:10-12
Moses adduces another motive for obedience to Gods law founded upon the peculiar nature of the land. It was a land flowing with milk and honey; yet its richness was not, as was that of Egypt, the reward of human skill, but simply and entirely the gift of God, and resulted from the rain of heaven. Hence on account of dependence upon God they should not forget Him. The two countries are
1. A proof of natural variety. In Egypt there was little or no rain, the people depended upon the yearly overflow of the Nile. Its waters were stored up by artificial means and its fields irrigated by human toil. Canaan was a laud of hills and natural reservoirs. It was watered by rains from heaven and depended not on the toil and skill of man to fertilise it. In physical beauty and natural products, in situation and configuration, territories differ and display the wisdom and benevolence of God.
2. An indication of moral purpose. Some countries are more suited than others to train a people. God has located nations and fixed the habitation of individuals that they might seek and serve Him (Act. 17:26-27). Canaan seems in every sense best suited to foster dependence upon God and train Israel for their high destiny. Hence in natural scenery, in the structure of the hill and the extent of the valley; in the course of the river and the climate of the sky, we have proof of Divine goodness and elements for religious training.
3. An illustration of special providence. God was in Egypt in every place. But Canaan was a land on which Jehovah fixed his special attention and regard. He watched it with unceasing care, and sustained it by constant favour. He gave early rain for seed time, and latter rain for harvest. Its inhabitants had no need to slave like Egyptians. Fidelity to God would always secure their prosperity and happiness. Thus do we find moral purpose, wonderful providence in natural surroundings, and the forces of nature employed in spiritual training.
Read Nature; Nature is a friend to truth;
Nature is Christian, preaches to mankind;
And bids dead matter aid us in our creed.Young.
THE CONNECTION BETWEEN MORAL CHARACTER AND MATERIAL PROSPERITY.Deu. 11:10-17
If Israel would serve God and be faithful, He would give them plentiful supplies for man and beast. But, on the other hand, if they turned away from Him, He would withhold the rain, deprive them of harvest, and they would utterly perish. Material blessings depended upon moral conduct.
I. There is a moral purpose in the bestowment of material prosperity.God in bestowing physical good designs the moral training of men. Rain from heaven and fruitful seasons testify to His goodness, and should excite to gratitude (Act. 14:17). The greater the blessing the higher is the end in view. Canaan was given to Israel for a special purpose. The blessings of this land and of all lands are too uniform to spring from chance; too rich and manifold for human labour to produce, and too wisely adapted to human wants to be given without moral purpose.
II. The continuation of material prosperity depends upon moral conduct.The sources of prosperity are under the control of the Creator, He can seal the earth and shut up the heavens. The influence of imperial power and the excellency of legislation can neither create a sunbeam nor command a shower. Happiness, all kinds of prosperity, would accrue to the Israelites by a faithful observance of the commands of God, but terrible were the punishments which awaited them if they transgressed (cf. Lev. 26:3-17; Amo. 4:7).
III. Material prosperity will affect moral character for good or evil. If it teaches dependence upon God, creates gratitude, and leads to consecration to Him, it will be a blessing; but if it weans our hearts from Him, leads to proud self-reliance, it will be a curse to us. Take heed (Deu. 11:16). According to their pasture so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted: therefore have they forgotten me (Hos. 13:16).
THE BIBLE THE FAMILY BOOK.Deu. 11:18-21
These words of warning must be deeply impressed upon their own minds, taught to their children, and perpetuated from one generation to another. They are partly a verbal repetition of Deu. 6:6-9. The sense is, Keep the covenant faithfully, and so shall your own and your childrens days be multiplied as long as the heaven covers the earth.Speakers Commentary.
I. The words to be treasured up in the heart. Lay up these words in your heart. If we forget the words, we shall neglect the things. There must be personal reception, esteem, and influence. We must weigh them over, ponder them in our hearts. Thy word have I hid in mine heart.
II. The words to be taught to posterity. Ye shall teach them your children. What we love and treasure up for ourselves must be communicated to others. Children have the first claim. Parental responsibility can never be shifted on to the Sunday school or schoolmaster. The words of God must be elements of family instruction. The home school must be gathered together, trained, and made an institution to preserve and spread true religion. A large portion of the Bible is intelligible to children, and full of interest for them. Read the Family Bible and engage in family prayer. Train up (lit., imitate, dedicate, as house (Num. 7:10-11😉 or temple (1Ki. 8:63), a child in the way (his way) he should go; and when he is old he will not depart from it. (Pro. 22:6.)
III. The words to result in open profession by the household. They are to be written on doorposts and gates to be constantly before the eyes of others. The whole family or household are interested, indoctrinated and collectively identified with public profession. The preservation of religion and the welfare of the community demand a church in the house. Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law.
THE FOUR PLACES IN WHICH A GOOD MAN KEEPS GODS TRUTH.Deu. 11:18
I. The first place is the heart. The heart furnishes metal for the mind.
1. Lay them up like treasure in a chest; for the words of God are the family plate of believersthe heirlooms of the household of faith.
2. Like books in a library ready for reference.
3. Like clothes in a wardrobe ready for all weathers; for summers sunshine and winters storms. The truth of God should be the garment of the soul.
4. Like conserves of precious fruit, gathered in the time of plenty, to be eaten in time of scarcity.
5. Like knowledge hidden but not lost.
6. As guides. It is useful to have a map to consult if we desire to know a country; so these words are for meditation and use.
7. In the heart not like misers hoards, but like bankers gold, wealth itself, and the means of creating more.
II. The second place in which we are to lay up these words is in heart and soul. Religion should have a place in our affections and in our thoughts.
1. For the soul is the seat of thought or understanding. Some do not think and attempt not to understand.
2. The soul is the seat and place of the mind life.
3. The soul is the seat of conviction, and conviction is mental activity and independence.
III. Now the relations of the text change, and this third head brings us to the second department. The word revealed in the heart and soul refers to moral and mental power of man. In this third particular religion is brought into notice; therefore shall ye bind these words for a sign upon your hand. As much as to say, realise them in your life. If you have any religion, use it. Christians should carry their light like the old blind man, who always carried a bright lantern when he went out on dark nights. When laughed at and called a foolish old fellow, Oh, said he, I carry it to prevent people stumbling over me. Bind these words,
1. Like a glove on the hand for defence. It would be fearful for the hedger and ditcher to grapple prickly thorns with his ungloved hand.
2. A sign on the hand like a gauntlet. These words are signs of the side on which we stand, and the conflict we intend to wage.
3. For a sign, like a tool in the hand; something to work, to build with.
4. For a sign like a sword in the hand. The sword of the Spirit is the word of God. Remarkable have been the encounters in which this sword has been wielded with power. None more remarkable than the temptation of our Lord in the wilderness.
IV. There is yet a fourth place, where the good man keeps Gods truth. That they may be as frontlets between the eyes. The Jews forgot the spirit, and gave a literal interpretation to the words. They must be before us. We must profess, avow the words.
1. The words are to be a source of pride, for what is worn on the head, is a thing we are proud of. Be proud not of yourself, of your attainments, but of that which has conferred upon you the possession of these words.
2. As frontlets, giving dignity, ornament, rank, and elevationan ornament of grace about the head, chains of gold about the neck, wreathed into a coronet, diadem and crown.
3. As frontlets a source of protection. Wear them as helmets are worn. For a helmet the hope of Salvation. These are principles of a religious life, the principles which the great Hebrew lawgiver beheld as lying at the foundation of all prosperous states and all truly noble personal character.The Preachers Lantern, Vol. II.
THE DAYS OF HEAVEN UPON EARTH.Deu. 11:21
I. When may our days be said to be as the days of heaven upon the earth? When
1. We enjoy much of a sense of the Divine presence, and live in the contemplation of the glorious perfections of God.
2. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost.
3. We enjoy a spirit of gratitude and praise.
4. We possess brotherly love and enjoy the happiness of fellowship with the saints.
5. We obtain great victories over sin and have intense love of purity.
6. We cheerfully obey Gods commands.
7. We frequently meditate on the heavenly state.
II. What course should we take in order that our days may be as such? We must
1. Be partakers of vital faith in Christ, and be renewed in the spirit of our minds.
2. Make the glory of God our highest aim.
3. Wean our hearts from earthly things.
4. Watch against grieving the Holy Spirit.
5. Be perpetually employed for God, and resign our wills to His.Dr. Ryland.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Deu. 11:10-12. The distinguished honour of Canaan.
1. Its great natural beauties.
2. Its special guardianship by Jehovah. Careth forIn its preparation for the people, its wonderful products and various seasons.
Deu. 11:13-15. Rain.
1. In its origin. I will give you the rain. Not therefore from fixed laws, nor from idols. Jupiter could not create dark clouds and distil them in blessings. Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain?
2. In its effects. Corn, wine, and oil. Crops ripen for the sickle. The vine with its clusters, and grass for cattle in due season. All benefactions of God.
3. In its continuance. It tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men. It depends upon the power and goodness of God; withheld or bestowed in times and quantities according to the conduct of the people (Joe. 2:23; Zec. 10:1; Deu. 28:12). How easy were it for God to starve us all by denying us a harvest or two.Trapp.
Deu. 11:16. A caution against deception. We notice hereI. An evil anticipationthat of having the heart deceived. The probability of such deception may be inferred from the deceitfulness:
(1.) Of human knowledge.
(2.) The heart.
(3.) Sin.
(4.) The world.
(5.) The devil. II. a caution urged against it: Take heed to yourselves, by
(1.) Being sensible of your extreme danger.
(2.) Seeking for the illuminating influences of the Holy Spirit.
(3.) The constant practice of self-examination.
(4.) Watching over yourselves.Biblical Museum.
Deu. 11:17. I. Dreadful evils.
1. The Lords wrath kindled.
2. Heaven shut up. The keys of heaven, of the heart, of the womb, and of the grave, God keeps and carries under His own girdle (Trapp). II. How brought on. By disobedience, self-deception, and idolatry, Deu. 11:16; cf. Jos. 23:16; Jer. 17:9; Job. 31:27.
Deu. 11:18-21. The Bible the rule of human life. I. Its power over private life.
1. In the heart, governing feeling and affection.
2. In the soul, controling thought and meditations. II. Its power over public life. Before the eyes to direct; in the hand prompting to action and service; confessed in the family; and avowed before the world, in conversation by the way, and inscription on the gates, etc. A single book has saved me, said M. L. Bautin, but that book is not of human origin.It is this belief (in the Bible), the fruits of deep meditation, which has served me as the guide of my moral and literary life. I have found it a capital safely invested and richly productive of interest, although I have sometimes made but a bad use of it (Goethe).
He alone who hath
The Bible need not stray;
Yet he who hath and will not give
That light of life to all who live,
Himself shall lose the way.
J. Montgomery.
The benefits of obedience.
1. in bracing up, engaging, and cultivating all the powers of heart and mind.
2. In testifying for God in the family and before the world.
3. In securing personal advantage, national existence and permanent possessions. These lessons should we remember Write them upon the door. Write the vision and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it (Hab. 2:2).
LOYAL OBEDIENCE THE WAY TO NATIONAL PROSPERITY.Deu. 11:22-25
To secure Gods help in gaining and keeping the land it was needful to obey him. Obedience would introduce them into their inheritance, enlarge their boundaries, and make them valiant over every foe.
I. The national advantages secured. Many great promises are given.
1. Conquest of enemies. Then will the Lord drive out all these nations. The strongest foes, mightier and greater than ourselves will be subdued if we trust in God. With him we can drive away rebels within or foes without our borders. Gideon over the Medianites, Hezekiah over Sennacherib, and England over the Armada were victorious through God.
2. Enlargement of territory. When nations were driven out of Canaan, Israel would grow numerous, and spread beyond it. Every place on which the soles of their feet should tread would be their own. Territories are not gained and kept by war, alliance of commerce, and human might. They are the gift of God, for the welfare of which the possessors are responsible.
3. Security of possession. It is one thing to get and another to keep. Nations have gained and lost their dominions. Reliance upon God is better than valiant soldiers and mighty ships.
4. Moral supremacy. God would lay the dread of Israel upon others. Nations would be afraid, be unable to touch them if they loved him. Their conquest would be easy, and their possession secure and permanent. Moral power is better than military power. Righteousness exalts a nation, gives more influence than imperial armies and extensive wealth. Let nations covet this, let Christian churches be clad with this; then no enemy will dare to attack, and no traitor within can weaken. Salvation will God appoint for wall and bulwarks.
II The method of securing the advantages. Nations form alliancesco-operate in aggressive war to gain their ends. How different the principles of the Mosaic legislation. In itself, Israel was a match for no warlike nation; in loyalty to God it was superior to all. Only diligently keep all these commandments, and then would they rise in material prosperity and moral grandeur.
1. Diligent obedience. Diligently keep. Excellence, individual or national, is beyond the reach of indolence. It is diligent, energetic obedience to right that makes rich in self-culture, social influence and national progress.
2. Hearty obedience. The affections must be enlisted; no mechanical, slavish service. I love the service of my God; like the bird, I fly at liberty on the wings of obedience to His holy will (Dr. Chalmers). Love the Lord your God.
3. Constant obedience. I leave unto Him. We must be unitedcemented to Him in soul, mind, and strength; never be dissolved by selfishness or distrust. This therefore is the way to prosperity in nations and churches. Cleave to right, rely upon God, and He will give valiant hearts, speed true progress and elevate above danger. But the nation and kingdom that will not serve Thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.
FAITHFUL OBEDIENCE THE WAY OF PROGRESS AND SAFETY
I. This is a declaration of Gods will. It is not taught by politicans or learned in schools of philosophy. Divine counsels excel human laws. In the Bible we are taught that the fear of God is the surest foundation of social happinesss and public security.
II. This is a fact in Christian experience. We know by experience that we can only go forward in knowledge and holinessonly conquer temptations and sins by faithful reliance upon God and constant obedience to His commands. The history of Israel and of all nations confirms the truth. When God has been forsaken and His authority defied, the bonds of society have been broken, thrones have been shaken, and empires rift asunder.
III. This is a law of Christian effort. Without strength there can be no effort, and without obedience there can be no strength. I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me. In benevolent aims and evangelistic works, we only succeed and reap the fruits of our labour by walking in all His ways. Be strong all ye people of the land, saith the Lord, and work; for I am with you saith the Lord of Hosts.
THE IMPORTANT CHOICE.Deu. 11:26-30
Moses now shows that a blessing or a curse depends upon their conduct. If they obey a blessing will rest upon them: if they disobey a curse. From the frowning peaks of Ebal or the sunny sides of Gerizim their condition will be decided. Before they enter the laud the choice must be made. Which shall it be?
I. The choice to be made. Carefully examine the words and discover.
1. It is plainly revealed. We cannot obey a rule we do not understand. There may be mysteries in the Bible, but there is no mystery about the commandments. Duties are plain and easily understood. I set before you.
2. It is practicable. A law whose demands are impossible is a contradiction. Gods commands are all practicable. But we must judge them not by infirmities of the flesh, but the attainments of saints, the energy of grace and the power of God.
3. It is voluntary. Force makes hypocrites, never any genuine Christians. Obedience must be free. There must be no constraint in this choice.
4. It is urgent. This day. It must be done. The more difficult will it be the longer the delay. Choose you this day whom ye will serve.
II. The reasons for decision. There is no reason, no excuse whatever for indecision.
1. God demands decision. All His claims are reasonable. He is supreme and should be obeyed; good perfectly good in Himself and the author of all good in others. If the Lord be God follow Him!
2. Indecision is most mischievous. If obedience be profitable, if Gods service conduces to happiness, then indecision is unprofitable and mischievous. (a) Mischievous in its nature. It withholds from God the gratitude and service which are due to him. It admits and encourages rivals with God, and therefore implies rebellion and treason. (b) Mischievous in its tendency. Wicked men may be blind to their own faults, but they understand what Gods servants should be; speak reproachfully of them and become hardened in their sins through mere pretensions in religion. (c) Mischievous in its effects. It pays some compliment to religion and begets hope which is delusive. Those who are not obedient, entirely decided for God on earth, will be disowned in a future state.
3. Indecision is most foolish. It is not acceptable to God, but exposes to his censure and wrath, to the upbraidings of conscience and the danger of hell. Consider these things and decide. See I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil. (Deu. 30:1-15.)
THE SOLEMN ALTERNATIVE.Deu. 11:26-30
I. The things to be chosen. Life or death, God or sin, heaven or hell. Not education, trade or profession; but a much more solemn and momentous choice. The gospel offers life and death. One must be chosen. There is no alternative whatever.
II. The medium through which they are given. Two mountains were selected from which the announcement was to go forth in solemn ceremony, and as it were transfer them to the land to be apportioned to its inhabitants according to their attitude towards the Lord their God.(Keil.) cf. Deu. 27:14. Learn from this.
1. That nature may remind of God in its blessing or curse, fruitfulness or barrenness.
2. That nature may be affected by the moral character and moral conduct of a population.
3. That nature may warn men, co-operate with God, and be helpful to His cause.
III. The consequences involved in the choice.
1. God served or refused and thus insulted or honoured.
2. The people blessed or cursed. How miserable is life spent under the dominion of guilt, the curse of God and the fear of torment I How happy and glorious is life devoted to God and His service! Happy while on earth you live, mightier joys ordained to know.
THE LAND OF PROMISE.Deu. 11:31-32
Its physical features have been described. Palestine was always coveted by surrounding nations for its excellence and beauty, its products and position. It thus becomes a type of the inheritance reserved for the righteous.
I. The nature of its enjoyments. The land was gloriously privileged by its exemption from evil, and its enjoyment of good.
1. Perfect security. Victory over enemies was complete, and Gods people are ever under His protection. It stands securely high, indissolubly sure.
2. Undisturbed rest. Dwell therein. Conflict and toil over; unbroken, and eternal peace enjoyed. My chief conception of heaven is perfect rest said Robt. Hall. The Saints everlasting rest.
3. Everlasting joy. In the presence, friendship, and service of God. There we shall ever be with the Lord.
O ye blest scenes of permanent delight!
Full without measure! lasting beyond bound!
A perpetuity of bliss, is bliss.(Young.)
II. The method of its possession. This is distinctly revealed. 1 By faith in the Leader. Israel had to observe to do all the statutes. Our daily life must be a walk with God and keeping His commandments.
2. By crossing Jordan. Ye shall pass over Jordan to go in to possess the land. It is the home beyond, and the river cannot be avoided. There was no bridge to go over, and the river was very deep, says Bunyan. But God can divide the waters and give a safe passage.
3. By receiving it as a gratuity. Which the Lord your God giveth you. We cannot buy this inheritance. It is the land of promise, and will be given to all who believe and seek it in Christ. He is the way to heaven, the truth to direct in the way, and the life to help us in walking in it when found. (Joh. 14:6.)
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Deu. 11:22; Deu. 23:1. The service commanded, Man made to serve and can only be happy in loyal obedience to God. This service should be diligent, loving, active and constant.
2. The rewards bestowed. Subjugation of nations and secure possessions of the land. Walk in all His ways. As God requires in conformity to His word. Without delay. (Job. 22:21; Psa. 119:59-60.) Courageously, without fear. (Psa. 116:18-19; Isa. 51:7-8.) Peseveringly, without declension. (Job. 23:11-12; Num. 14:24.) Closely, with holy fervour and joyful hope.
Deu. 11:26 to Deu. 28:1. What is the blessing set before us? The blessing of him whose sins are forgiven, who lives in Gods favour and dies in peace. The blessing is lost through sin and the way to regain it; but revealed in Christ, made known in scripture and taught, illustrated and explained in every page almost.
2. What is the curse? Just this, The soul that sins shall die. Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things written, etc. The consequences of sin here and the punishments of sin hereafter.
3. What is the way to escape the curse? It is set forth plainly in the Biblein Christ the way, the truth and the life. By the death of Christ we are delivered from sin, redeemed from the curse, and by His obedience entitled to a blessing.
4. Which will you choose? Some people think they can make a compromise; that they need not be intensely Christian, as they are not, and will not be intensely worldly. If they do so, it is not really an alteration of their state, but a deception of themselves. There is no alternative between a blessing high as the throne of Deity, and a curse deep and terrible as the nethermost hell. You must take the sunshine or the shadowthe evil or the goodthe Come, ye blessed, inherit the kingdom; or the withering sentence, Depart ye cursed, into everlasting fire.Dr. Cumming.
Deu. 11:32. The course of life urged.
1. Attentive in its object, observe.
2. Divine in its origin, I set before you.
3. Comprehensive in its demands, all the statutes and judgments.
4. Energetic in its nature to do.
5. Prompt in its actions, to-day.
6. Beneficial in its results, In matters of great concern, and which must be done; there is no surer argument of a weak mind than irresolution, to be undetermined when the case is so plain and the necessity so urgent. To be always intending to live a new life, but never to find time to set about it, this is as if a man should put off eating and drinking and sleeping from one day to another, until he is starved and destroyed.(Tillotson.)
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 11
Deu. 11:2. Chastisement. Happy is that condition, which forces us to trust only in God, and to be in the hand of His providence. Afflictions dispose us to pray; and we are sure to want nothing if we find God in prayer.Bp. Wilson.
Deu. 11:3-5. His acts. To those the eyes of whose understanding are enlightened, and the avenues of their hearts opened, to discern and adore the perfections of God, how manifold are the instances which occur of the providence of God in interfering to direct the course of human events towards a salutary end; to make afflictions of men the bye-path to enjoyment; out of evils temporal and transitory to produce substantial and permanent good.Bp. Mant.
Deu. 11:6-7. Dathan. The earth could no longer bear up under the weight of these rebels and ingrates. Gods patience was exhausted when they began to assail his servants, for his children are very dear to him, and he that toucheth them toucheth the apple of his eye.Spurgeon. This element was not used to such morsels. It devours the carcases of men; but bodies informed with living souls never before. To have seen them struck dead upon the earth had been fearful; but to see the earth at once their executioner and grave, was more horrible.Bp. Hall.
Deu. 11:10-15. Rain. Mr. Lothian, an English farmer, who was struck during his journey from Joppa to Jerusalem by not seeing a blade of grass, where even in the poorest localities of Britain some wild vegetation is found, directed his attention particularly to the subject, and pursued the enquiry during a months residence in Jerusalem, where he learned that a miserably quantity of milk is daily sold to the inhabitants at a dear rate, and that chiefly asses milk. Most clearly, says he, did I perceive that the barrenness of large portions of the country was owing to the cessation of the early and latter rain, and that the absence of grass and flowers make it no longer the land (Deu. 11:9) flowing with milk and honey.Crit. and Exper. Com.
Deu. 11:10-17. Keep my commandments and I will send grass. The prosperity of a country depends, not on the abundance of its revenues, nor on the strength of its fortifications, nor on the beauty of its public buildings; but it consists in the number of its cultivated citizens, in its men of education, enlightenment and character; here are to be found its true interest, its chief strength, its real power.Luther.
Deu. 11:16. Be not deceived. Deceit is only a game played by small minds.Corneille. No real greatness can long co-exist with deceit.S. T. Coleridge.
Deu. 11:18-21. Teach. The sacred books of the ancient Persians sayIf you would be holy, instruct your children, because all the good acts they perform will be imputed to you.Montesquien. We have a thorough belief that the great secret of training lies in always regarding the child as immortal. The moment we forget this we scheme and arrange as though the child had to live only upon earth and then our plans not being commensurate with the vastness of their object will necessarily be inadequate to secure its good. Educate on the principle that you educate for eternity, otherwise it is impossible to produce a beneficial result.Canon Melvill.
Deu. 11:21. Many days.
To be is better far than not to be.
Dr. Sewell.
This life is the childhood of eternity.
Archbp. Manning.
Deu. 11:22. Keep. Obedience, promptly, fully given, is the most beautiful thing that walks on earth.Dr. Raleigh. It is the only satisfactory evidence of the sincerity of our profession.Bridges.
The path of duty is the way to glory.
Tennyson.
Deu. 11:25. Stand. A man in the right, with God on his side, is in the majority, though he be alone, for God is multitudinous above all populations of the earth.Beecher.
Deu. 11:26-28. Blessing. As bliss is happiness in the highest degree, it can only be given by a God, and enjoyed by a saint.E. Davies. Curses. They are not merely imprecations, impotent and fruitless desires; they carry their effects with them, and are attended with all the miseries denounced by God.Cruden. Our actions must clothe us with an immortality loathsome or glorious.Colton.
Deu. 11:31. Shall possess. Possibilities are as infinite as Gods power.Dr. South.
Deu. 11:32. Do this day. There is no work on earth easier than the true service of God.Luther. God counts that free service which love dictates, and not necessity.St. Augustine. The carrying on the affairs of the day that lies before us.Goethe.
Defer not till to-morrow to be wise,
To-morrows sun to thee may never rise.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(2) BY AN ABIDING LOVE (Deu. 10:12 to Deu. 11:1)
12 And now, Israel, what doth Jehovah thy God require of thee, but to fear Jehovah thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve Jehovah thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, 13 to keep the commandments of Jehovah, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good? 14 Behold, unto Jehovah thy God belongeth heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth, with all that is therein. 15 Only Jehovah had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all peoples, as at this day. 16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked. 17 For Jehovah your God, he is God of gods, and Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty, and the terrible, who regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward. 18 He doth execute justice for the fatherless and widow, and loveth the sojourner, in giving him food and raiment. 19 Love ye therefore the sojourner; for ye were sojourners in the land of Egypt. 20 Thou shalt fear Jehovah thy God; him shalt thou serve; and to him shalt thou cleave, and by his name shalt thou swear. 21 He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen. 22 Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now Jehovah thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude.
Therefore thou shalt love Jehovah thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his ordinances, and his commandments always.
THOUGHT QUESTIONS 10:12-11:1
208.
Please read carefully this whole section as an expression of the heart of our Lord respecting His children. Does this sound like a tyrant type law giver?
209.
Fill in the blanks: “What does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear _______ _______ your God, to walk in all _______ _______, to love _______, to serve _______ _______ your God with all your _______.
210.
In what sense are God’s commandments for our good?
211.
Why mention the thought that God owns all?
212.
Isn’t Deu. 10:16 a strange word? What does it mean?
213.
Why mention the fatherless and widow?
214.
Please list the verbs that refer to the proper relationship of the Israelite to Jehwah, such as “fear, walk, love,” . . . etc. What does the Lord require of thee and me?
215.
What is the suggestion in the expression: “Ile is your praise”?
AMPLIFIED TRANSLATION 10:12-11:1
12 And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but (reverently) to fear the Lord your God: [that is,] to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your (mind and) heart and with your entire being.
13 To keep the commandments of the Lord, and His statutes, which I command you today for your good?
14 Behold, the heavens and the Heaven of heavens belong to the Lord your God, the earth also, with all that is in it and on it;
15 Yet the Lord had a delight in loving your fathers, and He chose their descendants after them, you above all people, as this day.
16 So circumcise the foreskin of your [mind and] heart; be no longer stubborn and hardened.
17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, the terrible God, Who is not partial and takes no bribe.
18 He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and loves the stranger or temporary resident and gives him food and clothing.
19 Therefore love the stranger and sojourner, for you were strangers and sojourners in the land of Egypt.
20 You shall (reverently) fear the Lord your God; you shall serve Him and cling to Him, and by His name and presence you shall swear.
21 He is your praise; He is your God, Who has done for you these great and terrible things which your eyes have seen.
22 Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons; and now the Lord your God has made you as the stars of the heavens for multitude.
Therefore you shall love the Lord your God, and keep His charge, His statutes, His precepts, and His commandments always.
COMMENT 10:12-11:1
WHAT DOTH JEHOVAH . . . REQUIRE OF THEE, etc. (Deu. 10:12-13)Surely one of the most moving passages in this book! We are immediately reminded of Deu. 6:4-5, and also that famous scripture in Mic. 6:8. One cannot help but see in these passages that God demanded the heart of his servants in the Old Testament! He was dissatisfied and displeased when service was rendered to him only out of habit, form, and dry conformity. Reader, if that was true then, under the partial light of that distant age, what shall we say of the expectations of God now?
FOR THY GOOD (Deu. 10:13)See also Deu. 6:24, Deu. 8:16.
UNTO JEHOVAH THY GOD BELONGETH HEAVEN AND THE HEAVEN OF HEAVENS, THE EARTH, WITH ALL THAT IS THEREIN (Deu. 10:14)A graphic way of saying that all belongs to God. The earth is Jehovahs, and the fullness thereof (Psa. 24:1) on one hand, The heavens are the heavens of Jehovah (Psa. 115:16) on the other. Concerning the phrase, heaven and the heaven of heavens, Gesenius remarks, i.e. all the spaces of heaven, however vast and infinite, citing this passage and 1Ki. 8:27.
CIRCUMCISE . . . THE FORESKIN OF YOUR HEART, AND BE NO MORE STIFFNECKED (Deu. 10:16)See also Deu. 30:6. Circumcision was, of course, an identifying mark of all Israelites. But, as Paul later states, he is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God (Rom. 2:28-29).
Before God would be pleased, their hearts must be circumcised. Circumcise yourselves to Jehovah, the prophet said, and take away the foreskin of your heart (Jer. 4:4), A mere outward alteration simply would not (and will not) do with God! The inner man, the hidden man of the heart must be changed. See Joe. 2:12-13.
[GOD] LOVETH THE SOJOURNER . . . LOVE YE THEREFORE THE SOJOURNER (Deu. 10:18-19)If Israel was to be godlike, his love, like Gods, would extend to all. The reference here is, of course to those who joined themselves to Israel and embraced Jehovah and his worship, such as Ruth the Moabitess and Uriah the Hittite. Cf. Lev. 19:33-34.
BY HIS NAME THOU SHALT SWEAR (Deu. 10:20)See Deu. 5:11 and remarks, Also 613.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
XI.
(1) Therefore.There is no break here in the original. The Lord thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God.
And keep his charge.Literally, keep his keeping, i.e., all that is to be kept in obedience to Him.
Alway.Literally, all the days. (Comp. I am with you all the days in Mat. 28:20) Israel must not omit one day in keeping the charge of Jehovah, for He that keepeth Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1. Keep his charge That is, observe what Jehovah requires of you. What follows more fully explains the passage.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Chapter 11 They Face The Final Choice.
This chapter continues the themes of the previous chapters and brings this section to a close. In it Moses summarises what has gone before and lays emphasis on the past history which they have experienced, both of deliverance and judgment. On the basis of this he is concerned that they respond fully to the covenant, for if they do they will know the full blessing of the land and God’s fullness of provision for it, and will be able to drive out its inhabitants. This is then expounded in vivid pictures of the abundance of that provision. Thus if they would enjoy His blessing they must take His words to their hearts and apply them in every part of their lives. For if they keep His covenant then they will be blessed and will be victorious in what lies ahead, while if they turn to idolatry then only judgment will await them.
The choice is therefore with them as to whether they experience blessing or cursing, and once they are in the land they must ensure that they seal this very fact at the place that He has chosen by the oaks of Moreh, the place where He had first revealed Himself to Abraham, and where Abraham first worshipped Him, on entering the land, at Shechem (compare Gen 12:6).
Let Them Consider Their Past, Recognising God’s Activity In It, and Respond To It ( Deu 11:1-9 ).
Moses reminds them of different ways in which they have seen Yahweh at work, against Egypt, against rebels, and even against themselves, in all cases because of sin. But now that is behind them and they must therefore love Him and go forward in obedience to His commands and covenant stipulations.
Analysis in the words of Moses:
a Therefore you shall love Yahweh your God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his ordinances, and his commandments, always (Deu 11:1).
b And know you (ye mature Israelites) this day, for I speak not with your children who have not known, and who have not seen the chastisement of Yahweh your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his outstretched arm, and his signs, and his works, which he did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and to all his land (Deu 11:2-3).
c And what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Reed Sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and how Yahweh has destroyed them to this day (Deu 11:4).
d And what he did to you in the wilderness, until you came to this place (Deu 11:5).
c And what he did to 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 (Deu 11:6).
b And your eyes have seen all the great work of Yahweh which he did (Deu 11:7).
a Therefore shall you keep all the commandment which I command you this day, that you may be strong, and go in and possess the land, to which you go over to possess it, and that you may prolong your days in the land, which Yahweh swore to your fathers to give to them and to their seed, a land flowing with milk and honey (Deu 11:8-9).
Note that in ‘a’ it commences ‘therefore (and) you shall love’ and requires the keeping of His commandments, and in the parallel it begins ‘therefore (and) you shall keep’ and promises rewards for keeping His commandment. In ‘b’ he reminds them that they have seen the great works that Yahweh has done in Egypt, and in the parallel refers to their eyes having seen all the great work of Yahweh which He did. In ‘c’ he refers to what He did to the Egyptians who were enemies of Israel and in the parallel to what He did to Dathan and Abiram who were (internal) enemies of Israel. And in ‘d’ he refers centrally to what He did to Israel in the wilderness.
Deu 11:1
‘ Therefore you (thou) shall love Yahweh your God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his ordinances, and his commandments, always.’
Therefore, because of what he has been saying in the previous chapters, and especially what He has declared about Yahweh’s superlative greatness in chapter 10, and because He has demonstrated His love by multiplying them like the stars of heaven, they, as a nation and as responsible individuals (thou), are to recognise His great sovereignty and graciousness and love Him, and keep His charge, and His statutes, and His ordinances, and His commandments always.
Once again we see that loving response and appreciation comes first, to be followed by obedience (compare Deu 6:5; Deu 10:12). Unless there is that personal relationship with Yahweh the remainder will not happen. Love must come first. But then it must be followed by responsive action. And that responsive action is to be revealed by keeping His charge (compare Lev 8:35), in this case to possess the land, to destroy its inhabitants and to keep His commandments. This is the only use of the noun ‘charge’ in Deuteronomy. That charge is now to be described in some detail in the following chapters.
We can compare this verse with Deu 8:1, although the pronoun is there ‘ye’, which warns us about making too much of a distinction between ‘ye children of Israel’ and ‘thou nation of Israel’, while noting the distinction.
Deu 11:2-3
‘ And know you (ye mature Israelites) this day, for I speak not with your children who have not known, and who have not seen the chastisement of Yahweh your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his outstretched arm, and his signs, and his works, which he did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and to all his land,’
He calls on the mature among them to recall on this day what wondrous things Yahweh has done for them in the past. For they are not like their children who have not seen His ‘chastening’ as in Deu 8:5 (chastening is suffering which was intended to bring about a change of heart by a combination of love and punishment), or known in experience His greatness, His mighty hand and His outstretched arm (a sign of His personal involvement), and His signs and His works which He did in the midst of Egypt to the mighty Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and to the whole of Egypt. No, they have seen it for themselves, as young men in their teens and as children.
There is a roughness of grammar in the reference to their children which springs out of the oratorical nature of the words, another evidence that we have here a genuine speech of Moses.
Deu 11:4
‘ And what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Reed Sea to overflow them as they pursued after you (ye), and how Yahweh has destroyed them to this day.’
(The pronouns are ‘ye, your’ up to Deu 11:9)
They know too how He humiliated and destroyed the army of Egypt, their horses and their chariots (compare Exo 15:1; Exo 15:4; Exo 15:21). How He had made the Reed Sea overflow them when they were in pursuit of Israel, and how He had totally destroyed them. Thus can they be confident that He can deal so with all their enemies.
This is the only mention of this great incident in Deuteronomy, for Moses has concentrated more on the whole panorama of the mighty acts of God in Egypt as in Deu 11:3, but it comes out here as an outstanding individual example. The general is followed by the particular. In the same way He will now speak of God’s general activities in the wilderness, followed by a particular example. In both examples their enemies were destroyed.
Deu 11:5-6
‘ And what he did to you in the wilderness, until you came to this place, and what he did to 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,’
And they know too all that happened in general in the wilderness up to this time, both good and bad, and especially what happened in particular to Dathan and Abiram when the earth opened up its mouth and swallowed them up, together with their households and all their possessions (Num 16:30-32), and that it was done in the midst of all Israel. And they would remember that this had happened because they had challenged Yahweh’s ordinances. The result had been immediate and catastrophic death. So they have seen both the positive and the negative. They have seen what happens when they obey Him, and they have seen what happens when men disobey Him.
The non-mention of Korah, the co-conspirator with Dathan and Abiram, may be due to his not having been specifically mentioned as coming out to the door of the tent, a picture rooted in Moses’ memory, and thus not being seen as openly consumed (Num 16:27), or may be out of delicacy for the feelings of descendants of Korah who were present, or may be because his name was not to be mentioned (note how his death is not even mentioned in Numbers 16, possibly because his name was seen as blotted out).
Deu 11:7
‘ And your eyes have seen all the great work of Yahweh which he did.’
For their eyes have seen all the great work of Yahweh which He had done in defence of His covenant, destroying those in the wrong, whether outside oppressors or internal troublemakers, and in supporting His people. They are eyewitnesses! And the point he is making is that Yahweh does not change. He can and will do it again.
Deu 11:8-9
‘ Therefore shall you keep all the commandment which I command you this day, that you may be strong, and go in and possess the land, to which you go over to possess it, and that you may prolong your days in the land, which Yahweh swore to your fathers to give to them and to their seed, a land flowing with milk and honey.’
So knowing that His hand is so with them, they must observe all that He commands this day, so that they may be strong and go in and possess the land, and so that they may prolong their days in the land. Both their victory and their continual presence in the land will be dependent on willingness to be obedient to His requirements. They cannot remain in His land and under His rule, if they are disobedient.
And this land is the land which Yahweh swore to give to their fathers and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. For Yahweh’s gifts are subject to true response. But they may be assured that if they do respond Yahweh will fulfil His promises and give them the land, a land which is a good land, a land flowing with milk and honey (compare Deu 6:3; Deu 26:9; Deu 26:15; Deu 27:3; Deu 31:20; Jos 5:6; Exo 3:8; Exo 3:17 etc.), God’s adequate provision for man’s need. Milk was man’s staple requirement, honey pleasant to man’s taste. Such a land promised all that was good.
And we too should look back on all that God has done, the death of His Son and His glorious resurrection and work amongst men, and should rejoice in it, and as a result of it commit ourselves fully to him revealing our confidence in Him (Rom 12:1-2).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Deu 11:29 And it shall come to pass, when the LORD thy God hath brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal.
Deu 11:29
Deu 11:29 Word Study on “Ebal” BDB says the Hebrew word “eybal” ( ) (H5858) means, “a stone” or “a bare mountain.” Strong says it comes from an unused root meaning, “to be bald.” It is used 8 times in the Old Testament, referring to mount Ebal on five occasions and used as a proper name on three occasions.
Comments – The ISBE tells us Mountain Ebal rises 1,402 feet above the valley and stands alongside mount Gerizim, and together they overlook the pass through the mountain that divides eastern Israel from western Israel. [28]
[28] W. Ewing, “Ebal,” in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, ed. James Orr (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., c1915, 1939), in The Sword Project, v. 1.5.11 [CD-ROM] (Temple, AZ: CrossWire Bible Society, 1990-2008).
Deu 11:29 Comments – The commandment to pronounce blessings and curses upon Mounts Gerizim and Ebal is further explained in Deu 27:11-26. We read the account of Israel fulfilling this command in Jos 8:30-35.
Deu 11:30 Are they not on the other side Jordan, by the way where the sun goeth down, in the land of the Canaanites, which dwell in the champaign over against Gilgal, beside the plains of Moreh?
Deu 11:30
[29] James Strong, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible : Showing Every Word of the Text of the Common English Version of the Canonical Books, and Every Occurrence of Each Word in Regular Order, electronic edition (Ontario: Woodside Bible Fellowship, 1996), H6160.
Deu 11:30 “beside the plains of Moreh” Comments – The plains of Moreh is first mentioned in Gen 12:6, “And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
An Inducement to Keep his Laws
v. 1. Therefore thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, and keep His charge, v. 2. And know ye this day, v. 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, v. 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, v. 5. and what He did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came in to this place, v. 6. and what He did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, v. 7. but your eyes have seen all the great acts of the Lord which He did, v. 8. Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I, v. 9. and that ye may prolong your days in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Moses here renews his exhortation to obedience, enforced by regard to their experience of God’s dealings with them in Egypt and in the wilderness, and by consideration of God’s promises and threatenings. The blessing and the curse are set before them consequent on the keeping or the transgressing of the Law.
Deu 11:1-12
Israel was to love the Lord, and manifest this by the steadfast observance of all that he had enjoined upon them.
Deu 11:1
His charge; what he has appointed to be observed and done (cf. Le 8:35; Num 1:53); more fully explained by his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments.
Deu 11:2
Knew ye; take note of, ponder, lay to heart. The words that follow, for seen, are a parenthesis thrown in by the speaker to attract the attention especially of the older generation, who had witnessed the acts of the Lord. The words, the chastisement, etc; are to be connected with know ye, as the object of the knowing, And know ye this day the chastisement, etc. Which have not known, and which have not seen; supp. “what ye have known and seen.” Your children; those born during the wandering in the wilderness. Chastisement; not punishment, but discipline, education, training (LXX; ), including both correction and instruction (of. the use of the Hebrew word in Pro 1:2; Pro 5:12; Pro 6:23, etc.). His greatness stretched out arm (cf. Deu 3:24; Deu 4:34).
Deu 11:3, Deu 11:4
(Cf. Deu 4:34; Deu 6:22; Exo 14:1-31.)
Deu 11:5
What he did unto yon in the wilderness. The doings of God to the people in the wilderness comprehend the manifestations of his omnipotence, both in their guidance and protection, and in the punishment of those who transgressed. One instance of the latter is expressly referred tothe destruction of those who joined in the insurrection of Korah (cf. Num 16:31-33). Moses does not mention Korah himself here, but only his accomplices Dathan and Abiram, probably, as Keil suggests, “from regard to his sons, who were not swallowed up by the earth along with their father, but had lived to perpetuate the family of Korah;” perhaps also because, though Korah was at the head of the insurrection, Dathan and Abiram were the more determined, audacious, and obdurate in their rebellion (cf. Num 16:12-15, Num 16:25, Num 16:26), so that it came to be named from them.
Deu 11:6
All the substance that was in their possession; literally, every living thing (Gen 7:4, Gen 7:23) that was at their feet, i.e. all their followers (cf. “all the people that follow, thee,” Exo 11:8; “all the men that appertained unto Korah,” Num 16:32).
Deu 11:7-9
Thus from what they themselves had witnessed does Moses admonish the elder members of the congregation, summoning them to recognize in that the purpose of God to discipline and train them, that so they might keep his commandments and be strengthened in soul and purpose to go in and possess the land, and to live long therein (Deu 1:38; Deu 4:26; Deu 6:3).
Deu 11:7
For but, read yea: Yea, your eyes have seen, etc.
Deu 11:10, Deu 11:11
An additional motive to fidelity and obedience is here adduced, drawn from the peculiar excellence and advantages of the land. Canaan was not like Egypt, a country that depended for its fertility on being irrigated by man’s labor or by artificial processes, but was a land where the supply and distribution of water was provided for in natural reservoirs and channels, by means of which the rain which God, who cared for the land, sent plentifully on it, was made available for useful purposes. In Egypt there is little or no rain, and the people are dependent on the annual overflowing of the Nile for the proper irrigation of their fields; and as this lasts only for a short period, the water has to be stored and redistributed by artificial means, often of a very laborious kind. Wateredst it with thy foot. “The reference, perhaps, is to the manner of conducting the water about from plant to plant and from furrow to furrow. I have often watched the gardener at this fatiguing and unhealthy work. When one place is sufficiently saturated, he pushes aside the sandy soil between it and the next furrow with his foot, and thus continues to do until all are watered. He is thus knee-deep in mud, and many are the diseases generated by this slavish work. Or the reference may be to certain kinds of hydraulic machines which were turned by the feet. I have seen small water-wheels, on the plain of Acre and elsewhere, which were thus worked; and it appeared to me to be very tedious and toilsome, and, if the whole country had to be irrigated by such a process, it would require a nation of slaves like the Hebrews, and taskmasters like the Egyptians, to make it succeed. Whatever may have been the meaning of Moses, the Hebrews no doubt had learned by bitter experience what it was to water with the foot; and this would add great force to the allusion, and render doubly precious the goodly land which drank of the rain of heaven, and required no such drudgery to make it fruitful”. Philo describes a machine cf. this sort as in use in Egypt; and in that country, “a garden of herbs” is still generally watered by means of a machine of simple construction, consisting of a wheel, round which revolves an endless rope to which buckets are attached; this is worked by the feet of a man seated on a piece of wood fastened by the side of the machine, labor at once monotonous and severe.
Deu 11:12
Careth for; literally, searcheth or inquireth after, i.e. thinks about and cares for (LXX; , oversees; cf. Job 3:4; Psa 142:4; Jer 30:17; Eze 34:8; Isa 62:12). The eyes of the Lord thy God; i.e. his special watchful providence (cf. Psa 33:18; Psa 34:15; Eze 4:5). It was a land on which Jehovah’s regard was continually fixed, over which he watched with unceasing care, and which was sustained by his bounty; a land, therefore, wholly dependent on him, and so a fitting place for a people also wholly dependent on him, who owed to his grace all that they were and had.
Deu 11:13
Being thus wholly dependent on God, it behooved them to be careful to attend to his commandments and to obey them, that so his blessing might be continued to them and to the laud. If they would love and serve the Lord as they were bound to do, he would give them the rain of their land, i.e. rain for their land, such as it required (cf. “rain of thy seed,” Psa 30:2, Psa 30:3), in the proper season, the early and the latter rain, so that they should fully enjoy the benefits of the land.
Deu 11:14
The first rain; the rain which falls from the middle of October to the end of December, which prepares the soil for the seed, and keeps it moist after the seed is sown. The latter rain; that which falls in March and April, about the time when the grain is ripening for harvest; during the time of harvest no rain falls in Palestine. But if they allowed themselves to be deceived and misled, so as to apostatize from the Lord and serve other gods and worship them, the Divine displeasure would be shown in the withholding from them of the blessing, so that they should miserably perish.
Deu 11:16
That your heart be not deceived; literally, lest your heart be enticed or seduced (). The verb means primarily to be open, and as a mind open to impressions from without is easily persuaded, moved either to good or evil, the word came to signify to induce in a good sense, or to seduce in a bad sense. Here the people are cautioned against allowing themselves to be enticed so as to be led astray by seductive representations (cf. Job 31:27; Pro 20:19 [“flattereth”]; Job 5:2 [“silly one”]; Hos 7:11).
Deu 11:17
He shut up the heaven. “The heaven conceived as a womb” (Schulz); cf. Gen 16:2. The want of rain was regarded as a sign of the Divine displeasure and as a curse (1Ki 8:35; Zec 14:17; Rev 11:6).
Deu 11:18-20
(Cf. Deu 6:7-9.)
Deu 11:21
(Cf. Deu 4:40; Deu 6:2.) As the days of heaven upon the earth; as long as the heavens continue stretched over the earth, i.e. to the end of time, forever (of. Job 14:12; Psa 89:29; Gen 8:22).
Deu 11:22-25
If they were sedulous to keep God’s commandments, and faithfully adhered to him, loving him and walking in all his ways, he would drive out before them the nations of the Canaanites, and cause them to possess the territory of nations greater and mightier than themselves. Every place on which the soles of their feet should tread should be theirs, i.e. they had but to enter the land to become possessors of it. This is more exactly defined as restricted to the land the boundaries of which are givenfrom the Arabian desert on the south to Lebanon on the north, and from the river Euphrates on the east to the Mediterranean on the west (Deu 1:7). From the wilderness and Lebanon; read, even unto Lebanon; is for (cf. in the end of the verse). The uttermost sea; rather, the hinder sea (Num 34:6), the sea that lay behind one looking to the east (Deu 11:26; cf. Deu 7:24; Deu 2:25; Exo 23:27).
Deu 11:26-32
Moses, in conclusion, refers to the blessing and the curse consequent on the observance or the transgression of the Law, and prescribes that when they had entered on possession of the land the blessing should be proclaimed from Mount Gerizim, and the curse from Mount Ebal.
Deu 11:26
Behold, I set before you; place for your consideration (Deu 4:8; Deu 30:15), so that you may see whither tends obedience on the one hand, and disobedience on the other.
Deu 11:28
Other gods, which ye have not known; in contradistinction to Jehovah, the revealed God, made known to them by word and deed.
Deu 11:29, Deu 11:30
(Cf. Deu 27:11.) Thou shalt put the blessing; thou shalt give (), i.e. give forth, utter, announce, proclaim (cf. Gen 49:21; Job 1:22 [gave, i.e. uttered impiety to God]; Psa 1:1-6 :20, gavest, didst utter, slandered. The two mountains named stand opposite to each other, with a valley between, about two hundred yards broad at the widest part, in which stood the town of Shechem, now Nablus. They were selected for the purpose mentioned, doubtless, because of their relative position, and probably also because they stand in the center of the land both from north to south, and from east to west. It has been suggested that Ebal was appointed for the uttering of the curse, and Gerizim for the uttering of the blessing, because the former was barren and rugged, the latter fertile and smooth; but this is not borne out by the actual appearance of the two bills, both being equally barren-looking, though neither is wholly destitute of culture and vegetation. That Gerizim was selected for the blessing because of its position on the south side of the valley “towards the region of light,” while Ebal was appointed for the curse because it was on the north side, can be regarded only as an ingenious fancy. In verse 30, the position of the two mountains is defined as on the other side of Jordan, i.e. on the side opposite to where the Israelites then were, the western side; and as by the wayrather, behind the waywhere the sun goeth down; i.e. the road of the west, the great road which passed through the west-Jordan country, and which is still the main route from south to north in Palestine (Ritter, 4.293, etc.; Robinson, 3:127), passing Nablus and the two menu-rains on the east, so that they are behind it. Which dwell in the Champaign; in the ‘Arabah (see Deu 1:1), “mentioned here as that portion of the land on the west of the Jordan which lay stretched out before the eyes of the Israelites, who were encamped in the steppes of Moab” (Keil). Over against Gilgal; i.e. not the Gilgal mentioned in Jos 4:19, which was east of Jericho (hod. Jiljulia), nor the Gilgal of Jos 12:23 (probably the modern Jiljulieh, in the plain of Sharon), but the Gilgal of Jos 9:6; Jos 10:6; and 2Ki 2:1 (hod. Jiljilia), to the north of Bethel, from which there is “a very extensive prospect over the great lower plain, and also over the sea” (Robinson, ‘Bib. Res,’ 3:138); so that the mountains by Nablus may be very well described as “over against it.” Beside the plains of Moreh; for “plains” read oaks (cf. Gen 12:6; Gen 35:4).
Deu 11:31, Deu 11:32
The assurance that they should pass over Jordan and possess the land of Canaan, is assigned as a reason and motive why they should observe to do all that God had commanded them.
HOMILETICS
Deu 11:2-9
The voice of God in passing events to be heeded, interpreted, and obeyed.
As in former paragraphs, we have here much repetition of the same teachings which had been already given. We therefore select for homiletic treatment the one distinctive feature which marks it. The people of God are now on the verge of Canaan, Multitudes of them had been born since the march through the wilderness had begun forty years before. They could not have seen the wonders in Egypt, nor could they know, except by report, of the manifestations of the Divine displeasure at the rebellious spirit manifested by the people during the first years of their course. But there are still some seniors left who had seen all. To these Moses makes his appeal, ere the discourse in which he exhorts to obedience is brought to a close. And he urges them anew, from a consideration of the deep meaning of the events which their own eyes have seen, to learn to be faithful and obedient. We by no means understand Moses as intending to say that the children are not before him to hear his words, but rather that the argument he is now using is specially for the sires rather than the sons. It is in effect this: “You, the seniors among the people now, have seen all these things. God has spoken in them directly to yon: therefore, it is incumbent upon you to assign to these events their true meaning, and to give them their rightful power over yon.” Whence we get the topic named above for our Homily: “The voice of God in passing events to be heeded, understood, and obeyed.”
I. HERE ARE STIRRING EVENTS WHICH HAD OCCURRED UNDER ISRAEL‘S OWN EYES. Three of them are specially named.
1. The plagues brought on Pharaoh and the land of Egypt.
2. The overthrow of the Egyptians in the Red Sea.
3. The overthrow of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.
(For remarks on these, see Exposition, and Homilies in loc. For much light on the second, see Brugsch’s ‘Egypt.’)
II. HERE IS A SPECIFIC MEANING GIVEN TO THESE EVENTS. They are all called “chastisement” (Deu 11:2). They are not only referred to as works of greatness, deeds of power and of terror, but their moral meaning is given in the word “chastisement.” It is of very much more consequence to understand the meaning of an event, than to merely have the event stored up in memory as a piece of history. In fact, it may fairly be questioned whether the latter is of any value at all. Of what value is it to a student to know that King John signed Magus Charts, unless he knows the meaning thereof, as related to the rise anti growth of the British Constitution? Even so it is not of the slightest service to know of Red Sea wonders, nor of the plagues in Egypt, unless their place and meaning in history are known. This is the case likewise with events of much greater moment. Not even the wonders of Gethsemane and Calvary are exempted. If regarded only as incidents in history, apart from their spiritual, redemptive meaning, they will serve us nothing. “As the body without the spirit is dead,” so facts without their significance are dead also. Hence it is that the attention of Israel is recalled to these olden wonders as “chastisements“ from the Lord their God.
III. THESE EVENTS MAT BE DIVIDED INTO TWO CLASSES; in each class a like principle is illustrated, though in a different form.
1. The first two were the chastisement of Egypt on behalf of God’s oppressed people, showing them the strength of his arm and the value of his covenant love.
2. The third was the chastisement of the chosen people themselves, when they rebelled against the divinely appointed order with reference to the priesthood. In the former cases, God’s jealous love on behalf of his people was proven; in the latter case, God’s jealousy for his own honor, in maintaining his appointed order and ordinances unimpaired. In the former, that jealousy chastised Egypt for Israel’s sake; in the latter, Israel for Jehovah’s sake. Thus Israel would have before them the lesson that, as God in his love would snap the fetters that bound them, so in his purity he would remove the stains that disfigured them; that as they rejoiced in the love of God which was round them as a mighty guard, so they might also cherish a holy fear of that purity which would mark its displeasure at their waywardness and sins.
IV. SUCH EVENTS, SO FULL OF MEANING, SHOULD HAVE A CONSTANT EFFECT IN IMPELLING TO OBEDIENCE, AND IN QUICKENING AND SUSTAINING A REVERENT FEAR AND LOVE. God meant much in bringing them to pass, and they should mean much in the use they made of them (verses 8, 9). If they laid them to heart, and acted out the lessons they were designed to teach, they would continue in the land which God had assigned to them. The reference in the phrase, “that ye may prolong your days in the land,” is rather to Israel’s continuance as a nation, than to the long life of the individual. National continuance dependent on national obedience, is the one truth most frequently named in the exhortations of Israel’s lawgiverse
V. ALL THIS HAS A PRESENT–DAY APPLICATION TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD NOW. Forms change; but principles neverse There are few passages, even in the grand old Book, that open up a wider scope or a sublimer field for the preacher’s efforts than the one before us. The following enumeration of the successive links of thought may be helpful. Our pages give no space for more.
1. At the background of the Christian dispensation there are solid and substantial historical facts on which we can ever fall back.
2. Though the facts, comprised in the birth, cross-bearing, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, did not occur in our times, yet the evidence thereof has come down to us in unbroken line, and with unimpaired force.
3. The meaning of these facts is even better known now than it was at the moment of their occurrence; for their significance has been recorded for us in books which have survived fire and flood, and have reached us in all their integrity.
4. There are other sets of facts connected therewith of which we are witnesses, viz. that the gospel of Christ has been the power of God unto salvation to those who believe it, and that believers therein are the guardians of it, holding it in trust for others.
5. Those thus guarding the faith of Christ are the present “commonwealth of Israel;” taking the place in this economy of the Israel of old. They are not indeed visibly one now as in ancient days. But they form a host a hundredfold more numerous, ranged under differing names, yet guarding the ancient faith.
6. Those Churches which are faithful to their acknowledged mission, prolong their days in the land; while those which, either in faith or life, are less loyal and true to their God, die out, and “the candlestick is removed out of its place.”
7. This law of Church life is a perpetual declaration of God’s jealousy for his honor. “In proportion to their faithfulness or unfaithfulness,” says a modern writer, “particular Churches overcome the world, or are overcome by the world.” Thus God shows his care for these supreme facts of our faith, by saying to Churches, “If you guard them, you live; if you guard them not, you die.” In the great redemption which is in Christ Jesus, God has broken the fetters which bound man. In his watchful jealousy, he will bring honor to the Church which holds forth and acts out his redemption, and will bring shame to one which represses it, weakens it, or turns the grace of God into lasciviousness. Just as our God cared not for Israel to remain a nation unless they preserved his honor unimpaired, so he cares not for the continued existence of any Church, unless it is “earnestly contending for the faith once delivered to the saints.”
8. While, however, the claim and demand of God upon the fidelity of his Israel now is as strong as ever, yea stronger, the mode in which that claim is presented is vastly more tender than in ancient days. In the Epistles to the seven Churches we have a kind of appeal to the Christian Israel, analogous to this of Moses to the Hebrew Israel. But, in lieu of the thunder, trembling, and flame of Sinai, we have the pathos and love of Gethsemane and Calvary. Can we resist such appeals as those which Christ presents? Can we consent to keep back from man the cross, with all its fullness of meaning; or fail to respond to it by intensest love and closest obedience? May our once suffering and now glorified Lord make us faithful, and keep us so till death!
Deu 11:10-17
The order of nature subservient to moral purposes.
(For information concerning methods of irrigation in Egypt, see the Exposition, and works on the subject.) Moses here reminds the people:
1. That the land of Canaan would not require artificial irrigation, as that of Egypt had done; that it was a land specially cared for by God, who gave it the early rain after the sowing, and the latter rain before the harvest; so that there would be no occasion for them to put forth the same kind of labor that had been performed in the land of their bondage.
2. That if they were obedient and true to their vows, the fruitfulness of Canaan would be ensured through the continuance of the early and the latter rain.
3. But that if they allowed themselves to be seduced to the service of other gods, the Lord’s wrath would be kindled, the heaven would be shut up, the rain would be withheld, and so from want of sustenance the people would perish. Now, it is evident that this is one of those passages with which what is called “modern thought” ventures specially to come in conflict. We do not now concern ourselves with any physical theory of the working of nature which the Hebrews may have had. Moses did not give them any. It was not his province, which was simply to teach them the moral and spiritual laws under which they were placed; to show them that these were such as to subserve their training in righteousness, and that nature itself was so regulated by Jehovah, as to be a most important factor in the educational forces which were at work on their behalf. The series of thoughts here given opens up a most important theme for pulpit teaching; viz. The order of nature subservient to moral purposes.
I. LET US INDICATE THE MAIN THOUGHTS WHICH ARE CONTAINED IN THIS PASSAGE.
1. The sending of rain from heaven is an act of God (Jer 14:22). This is a truth taught by natural religion, and recognized in the whole of Scripture.
2. The sending of the rain from heaven is an act of, and to us a proof of, the Divine benevolence (Mat 5:45).
3. There was manifest kindness to Israel, in leading them to a land so spontaneously and richly fruitful as Palestine. In Egypt, where rain falls so seldom, God had taught man to water it by artificial means, anti compensated for the want of rain by the periodical rise of the Nile. But whereas in Palestine there was no such phenomenon, and as the people would have perished therein from want, had artificial means of watering it been required ere these irrigating measures could have been carried out, it was no mean mercy that they were led to a land which did not need them. They lose very much who do not see proofs of Divine care in these natural counterpoises and compensations. Moreover, had the fruitfulness of Canaan been dependent on Israel’s “watering it with the foot” they might, in their ignorance, have attributed its fertility to their own wit or wisdom; but no such self-laudation could well arise where all had been secured for them by a Power not their own.
4. Nevertheless, however richly Canaan might be blessed with the rain of heaven, that gift of God was by no means absolute or irrevocable, but would be so bestowed as to serve the purpose of a moral training. In ‘Footnotes from the Page of Nature,’ Dr. Macmillan clearly shows that there is a law of nature, by virtue of which each order of life exists for the sake of that which is above it. We have but to widen and generalize this principle, and we get exactly the same truth in the Word which is revealed in the world, viz. that the physical exists for the moral, and is so regulated as to be subservient thereto. All things are for man. “He giveth us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” And if thus God cares for the bodily wants, how should he but care the more for the moral growth of the creatureman?
5. From this general principle, two details naturally follow.
(1) That rain will be continued if the people are obedient.
(2) That if they disobey, and serve other gods, rainlessness and dearth will be the sad reminders of their sin (see Deu 28:23, Deu 28:24; 1Ki 8:35; 1Ki 17:1; 2Ch 6:26, 2Ch 6:27; 2Ch 7:12-14; Jer 14:1-7, Jer 14:17-22; Amo 4:6-8; Hag 1:7-11; Hos 1:8, Hos 1:9). It is no valid objection to say that there is no nexus between the obedience or disobedience of a man, and the fall of rain. For, first of all, in such a statement there is a gross petitio principii. The whole thing in question is assumed; and secondly, according to the fourth principle named above, the Scripture theory is, not only that there is a nexus, but that it is a known and intelligible and a reasonable one: viz. God gives or withholds rain. He values his people’s comfort, but their virtue more. He varies the course of nature so as to subserve the latter end. Hence there is a connection between human obedience to God, and a shower of rain. The obedience is to God, the rain is from him. But let us now pass on
II. TO SHOW HOW THESE THINKINGS SHOULD GUIDE US IN REFERENCE TO SOME OF THE PRESENT PERPLEXITIES OF HUMAN THOUGHT. And perhaps we may meet these, and clear up the passage before us, most effectually, by at once putting the question, “Is it right to pray for rain?“ We must again divide this question into two; and must first ask, “What do we mean by praying for rain?” or “What is that praying for rain for which alone any devout and intelligent believer would argue?”
1. It is not meant that those who never pray at all should pray but for rain, and selfishly beg a gift from a Being to whom, except when they are in trouble, they do not care to speak.
2. It is not meant that men should ask distrustfully, as if they thought their words would move the Most High to pity.
3. It is not meant that any request for rain should be absolute, or sent up in a spirit of querulousness or dictation.
4. It is not thought that any law of nature needs to be interfered with, or altered, or modified, in order to bring an answer to such a request. But:
(1) It is known and believed that all nature is perfectly plastic in the Creator’s hands.
(2) It is contended that God can modify the course of nature without varying a law. Why, even man can do this: he can drain a morass, or carry off a lake, and change the climate and vegetation of a district forever afterwards; and if man can do this in part, surely God can do it infinitely.
(3) It is urged that those who in every thing by prayer and supplication make their requests known unto God, need not alter their course because the present trouble is a want of rain; but that they may lay this, in common with all other things, before God in prayer: reverently acknowledging his greatness, humbly acknowledging that their sins deserve his rebuke, and submitting thereto with lowliness and contrition of heart.
(4) It is asserted that any such devout souls, in any distress whatever, can, may, ought to entreat the Lord their God that he would have mercy upon them, remove his stroke, and grant them their request. This is that for which alone we contend.
Now, there are reasons for taking up such a position, which cannot be set aside, and when put together in cumulative force, they seem to us to leave no special difficulty on this point remaining.
(1) There is a God and Father of all.
(2) He loves to be approached in prayer (Psa 50:15).
(3) Whatever is a care on his children’s heart is a care on his (Isa 63:9; 1Pe 5:7).
(4) God’s great concern for the people is their moral training (Deu 8:2-5). He so distributes physical good that the higher end may be subserved.
(5) We are taught by our Lord himself to pray, “Give us day by day our daily bread;” and if so, it follows that we may pray for the continuance of the means on which the supply of daily bread depends. As rain is one of the very chief of these means, it follows that the children of God may pray for rain.
But it may be objected, 1: The laws of nature are fixed. Be it so. The course of nature is not (see remarks above). God may modify an order without altering a law. What man can do in limited measure, God can do in unlimited degree.
Objection 2: Prayer cannot change the mind of God. True. We neither seek nor desire to do this. We do not know what is the mind of God until he tells us. He has said, “Ask, and ye shall receive.” If then it is the mind of God that his creatures should ask before receiving, it is of no use to think that the mind of God will change, and that they will receive without asking.
Objection 3: If, as is affirmed, sin is the reason for drought, then the only thing which meets such a case is putting away the sin, and not prayer! We reply, the Scriptural teaching is that there must be confession, repentance, and prayer (see 1Ki 8:35). Not one alone, but all combined. Thus all the objections fail Finally, we would conclude with one earnest inquiry, the working out of which would demand a long discourse. We can but put it, and let it drop as a seed into some hearts. Given, man as a moral being, with indefinite possibilities of development for holiness or sin, which theory of the constitution of nature most accords with the constitution of man? That which represents physical force as controlled for the purposes of his moral culture, or that which represents the nobler aspirations as hopelessly baffled by a non-moral, bare physical force? Reader, “Consider what we say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.”
Deu 11:18-21
(See Homily on Deu 6:4-9.)
Deu 11:22-25
The moral power of national righteousness.
There was a definite territory assigned by God to Israel. They were promised it, but the prohibition against going beyond what God had allotted them, was as remarkable and strong as the assurance of their possessing such allotment. The bounds here specified are stated afresh in Jos 1:3, Jos 1:4. In the days of Solomon these boundaries were actually theirs. But, as is welt known, they were a people untrained for war; in regard to military skill and warlike appliances, other nations were vastly more than a match for them, leaving out of the question Israel’s paucity in numbers. But (and it is not the least striking feature in the Mosaic legislation) they were to have power of another kind, even that which was moral, a power arising from their righteousness, and also dependent upon it. And in this passage:
1. Moses afresh reminds the people of their dutyto keep the commandments of the Lord their God.
2. He points out that their loyalty to God and assurance of his protection would give them irresistible strength.
3. The knowledge of this higher order of moral life, and of the promised guard of their covenant God, would so influence the other nations that they would be inspired with dread (see Jos 2:9, Jos 2:10, Jos 2:11).
4. This dread of Israel which the nations round about would feel would clear their way, would ensure their conquest, and would be a security for them in retaining their possessions. From all this we get one of the most important lessons suggested which can possibly be taught on national affairs, viz. That the kind of power over other nations, which a people may well desire the most, is that which comes from the influence of its own righteousness.
I. NATIONAL POWER IS UNIVERSALLY COVETED. Nor, provided sundry conditions are fulfilled which will be presently named, is this wrong. No nation ought to consent to be a cipher among nations. Just as really as a man may well wish to be something amongst his fellows, so should a people wish to be something in the regard of neighboring states.
II. IT IS MOST IMPORTANT THAT THE POWER OF A NATION OVER OTHERS SHOULD BE THAT OF THE HIGHEST KIND. One nation may be chiefly great in its commercial enterprise, another in its culture of art, a third in the renown of its orators or poets, a fourth in its philosophic wisdom, a fifth in its military or naval fame; but there is a power, unlike all these, after which Israel was hidden to aspire.
III. THAT IS THE POWER MOST TO BE DESIRED WHICH WOULD MAKE IT WORTH WHILE TO PERPETUATE THE NATION POSSESSING IT, FOR THE SAKE OF THE WORLD‘S GOOD. Moses, under Divine direction, is continually recognizing this, by putting Israel’s continuance in the land as conditioned on their loyalty to Jehovah and his laws.
IV. THE ONLY POWER WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY TO THE WORLD‘S GOOD IS THAT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. This unites a people. This gives clear heads, strong frames, valiant hearts. A nation whose heart is soundly righteous will not fight unless it must; but if it must, it will fight grandly and for a righteous aim.
V. THIS POWER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS WILL HAVE A MANIFOLD EFFECT WITH REGARD TO OTHER NATIONS.
1. As a rule, it will ensure their good-will.
2. Appealing as it does to man’s sense of justice, it will help to ward off attacks from without.
3. Where it fails to do this, and where an attack has to be resisted, if in the hour of their need they cry unto God, they will find that he shields them in the day of battle (see 2Ch 20:1-29).
VI. THIS POWER MAY EVEN BE DEVELOPED AND STRENGTHENED BY REPEATED AND ARDUOUS CONFLICT. (See 2Ch 20:29.) When a people are with one heart loyal to God, and do with one voice cry unto him, they will find out that Jehovah hears, and that God speeds the right. And may we not appeal fearlessly to every one of our readers, and say, Is not this power of righteousness pre-eminently that which the world wants? This being so, we may bring this series of remarks to a close by observing
VII. THAT THE GREAT GOD OF NATIONS WILL SET HIS SEAL OF APPROVAL ON PEOPLES THAT SO CLEAVE TO THE RIGHT, BY GIVING AGAIN AND AGAIN THE VICTORY TO THAT WHICH, HUMANLY SPEAKING, IS THE WEAKER SIDE. Scripture cases of this abound: Israel and Pharaoh; Gideon and the Midianites; Hezekiah and Sennacherib; Jehoshaphat and the Ammonites; and (in another sense) Elijah and the priests and prophets of Baal. The Word of God is continually showing us that power is not always where it seems to be, but very often where it seems not to be: Joseph, Daniel, Peter, etc. From all these considerations, there may be drawn out an earnest appeal to men, even if they aim at naught higher than to be the true lovers and guardians of their country and nation, to seek for the sake of their own dear land, to love and to practice righteousness. Nor let it be supposed that this statement is at all affected by the fact that we are “not under the Law but under grace.” Grace reigns through righteousness, and only through righteousness. Infinite grace has offered a Sacrifice which has done away with the need of continuing the sacrifices of the ceremonial law. But grace never has and never will abate one jot or tittle of the demands for righteousness which mark the moral law. Never! And if we are rescued from condemnation, if we are made sons of God, it is not that we may be absolved from the obligation to righteousness; but that “the righteousness of the Law may be fulfilled in us” from the spontaneity of personal choice, without the need of any command to enforce or pressure to constrain. And inasmuch as only in a perfectly righteous people can there be an absolute guarantee of permanence, it follows that only the people in the commonwealth of Israel will constitute “the eternal city.” For there” the people shall be all righteous,” and then “they shall inherit the land forever.” Righteousness and permanence are thus linked together in the prophetic outlook of Isaiah, as really as in the legislation of Moses (see Isa 61:1-11 :21). In this new and nobler world, righteousness will come into being, not as a response to a Divine command, but as the product of a Divine creation. And then around it there shall be an eternal guard. No enemy from without shall dare to attack; no foe from within shall weaken. “Salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.”
Deu 11:26-28
The dread alternative before every man.
Perhaps, strictly speaking, the final paragraph of this chapter includes Deu 11:26-32. The reader thereof will, however, observe that, while in its entirety it deals with the blessing and curse, yet the first three verses deal with them as resting on the people, the remaining verses regard them as pronounced by the people. The theme indicated by the latter half is treated on at Deu 27:1-26. We therefore confine our remarks to the former section of these words. They present to us the dread alternative which is before every man, as our theme for consideration. Lest any should seek to blunt the edge of our words by saying, “We don’t like the word ‘curse;’ it belongs to an older dispensation,” we would observe at the outset that the same alternative is presented to us, though it may be in other words, by the Lord Jesus Christ, in Joh 3:18-21. We do not say that there is no difference in meaning beyond the varied phraseology, but simply point out just now, that, under Christ, as under Moses, there is set forth the sharp contrast, in one case of blessing and curse, in the other case of acceptance and condemnation. One or other of these belongs to every man. Here is a mighty theme, in which the preacher has “by manifestation of the truth to commend himself to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.”
I. MAN HAS A MORAL NATURE. The denial of this by some, and the baseness of the lives of others, no more interfere with the general truth of this, than cases which are abnormal in the physical world do with well-ascertained truth in the physical departments. Man has a , a power of discerning moral distinctions. If he fails to give proof of that, he is a perishing man.
II. THE POSSESSION OF A MORAL NATURE INDICATES THE EXISTENCE OF MORAL LAW. This is, in fact, the objectivity which is before the moral sense, and perceived by it.
III. THE EXISTENCE OF A LAW IMPLIES THAT OF A LAWGIVER; the existence of a moral law, that of a moral Lawgiver, who is himself the Lord of right, the God, “with whom is our account.” The moral sense of man postulates this; the all but universal conviction of mankind affirms it; the sense of sin is its constant demonstration. The experience of men like Enoch, who in the olden time “walked with God,” is proof that at any rate some human spirits lean on the Eternal One, as really as the body depends on air and food.
IV. THE MORAL LAWGIVER REVEALS HIMSELF. Not only do previously mentioned facts show that he is, but we know also what he is. The Law given by Moses, and the proclamation of Jehovah’s Name to him, disclose the greatness of the Divine being; the fuller word of prophet and psalmist likewise. The Incarnate Son revealed him. The Holy Ghost unveils him to the watchful eye and yearning heart. “The Lord your God.”
V. THE GREAT LAWGIVER HAS GIVEN DEFINITE COMMANDS. Chiefly, as Lawgiver, in the Law. Chiefly, as also a great Benefactor, in the gospel. In the one aspect his Law is “do;” in the other his Law is “receive.” In the former a course of life is marked out in detail; in the latter, a redemption by infinite grace is made known for “the obedience of faith” So that, as it speaks to us, Law says (for we are under Law to Christ), “Receive in loving faith the redemption, even the forgiveness of sins, and then, by the renewed energies of a God-inspired life, walk not after the flesh but after the spirit.’
VI. THE DIVINE LAWGIVER REGARDS MEN ACCORDING TO THEIR MEASURE OF LOYALTY TO THE RIGHT AND THE TRUE, i.e. as far as they have the opportunity of knowing what is right and true; for some nations may even as yet not have any written law. In such case Peter’s words apply (Act 10:34, Act 10:35). We can suppose others who have the Law only. We have the revelation of God both in Law and in gospel; to us is the word of salvation sent (cf. Joh 6:29). According as we receive it or no, God approves or disapproves, accepts or disowns. Is it possible to suppose it otherwise? Can any one think that a holy Lawgiver should give forth a perfect Law, and then be unconcerned as to whether men obey it? Can it be imagined that he should send his only begotten Son into the world, and then leave it optional with men as to how they should treat him to whom is given all power in heaven and on earth? There is indeed (see Homily on De 10:17-11:1) no respect of persons as to rank, or caste, or color, or clime. The wide world over, right and equity are the Divine delight; but since right is right, and God is God, there must eternally remain the great gulf fixed between the loyalty of heart which he approves, and the disloyalty of soul which the Most High cannot but condemn. The throne of the Eternal is established in righteousness.
VII. THIS APPROVAL OR DISAPPROVAL OF GOD IS THE BLESSING OR CURSE. (cf. Psa 1:6.) And it would be well could it be impressed on every conscience that, even if there were no certainty of any visitation or punishment from God in token of his displeasure, yet that displeasure itself is so awful a curse, that to be conscious of it is the germ of hell; while, quite apart from aught that he may send to us, the consciousness of having his approval is a sufficient, a heavenly, an “exceeding great” reward! The light in which God views us is of infinitely more moment than the gifts he sends or the chastisements he inflicts. Take an illustration from a lower sphere. Let it be supposed that a man whose life and writings are corrupting the morals and helping to blight the faith of his countrymen, is admitted, in course of events, to the assembly of British senators. He is there as one of its members. But he knows that the grandest, purest, most philanthropic and self-sacrificing of human-kind regard him and his views with unutterable loathing, not because of any vindictive feeling against him, but because of the solemn interests which in his hands are imperiled and shamed. Nothing is done to him; but he knows that this is how he and his views are regarded by those whose esteem is most worth having. Would not such a state of things be intolerable torture to him? Or supposing him “past feeling,” would his case be the less pitiable? Or supposing him so puffed up with pride and conceit as to regard the rest of his fellows as kept virtuous by a superstition whose elevating power he does not desire to know, would not the disapproval of the mass of the peopletoo deep for any words to expressbe as a blighting curse upon him, even though no other penalty were imposed; and would not that disownment be a heavier penalty than any outward punishment could be? But oh! what, what is the disapproval of man, or of men, compared with the frown of God?
VIII. THIS APPROVAL OR DISAPPROVAL WILL, SOONER OR LATER, BE MANIFEST. It is true, in more senses than one, “Thou art a God that hidest thyself” (cf. Psa 50:21). But “though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished.” The curse will show itself in nations, by their humiliation and destruction. So Egypt, Tyre, Chaldea, Jerusalem, etc. It will reveal itself in families by a “sword in the house” for many a long year (1Sa 3:13, 1Sa 3:14; 2Sa 7:14). It will be manifest in the individual. This yea, of God has three stages.
1. A present, though it may be a comparatively silent one, either in a stinging conscience, or one “seared as with a hot iron.”
2. A further one, on the exchange of worlds, when earth and sense are thrown off, and the Great Invisible is near. “Now, Mr. T,” said a departing sinner to the missionary who was by his bedside, “my judgment has just begun!”
3. A future one, at the day of judgment, when God shall judge the secrets of men (cf. Mat 25:31-46). Disobedient hearts are but treasuring up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, to be disapproved, finally, by him from whose sentence there can be no appeal. Is not a heavy curse, indeed, involved in all that?
IX. HERE IS GROUND ENOUGH FOR SOLEMN APPEAL TO MEN. “I set before you this day a blessing and a curse.” Oh! if men would but take the pains to quit a while in thought this busy scene in which they live and move almost in perpetual whirl; if they would but anticipate by earnest reflection that usherment into the presence of God which their departure hence must bring; if they would but set the judgment scene, as sketched by Christ, before their view, methinks they would see the deep and solemn reason why the preacher noweven nowsays, “Flee from the wrath to come.” For the wrath will come, i.e. it will manifest itself. It exists now. The eternal antagonism of a holy God to ill of every kind necessitates it. And as surely as God is ever on the side of right, so surely will he have it shown, ere long, that such is the case. Then let the sinner, condemned even now by his own consciencehow much more by God!flee for refuge from the coming storm. There is a refuge; it is ours the moment that we flee to it. But if when the storm comes we are not found there, we must perishperish with the double disapproval of Heaven on our heads: disapproved as breakers of law; disapproved as neglecters of grace.
HOMILIES BY J. ORR
Deu 11:2-10, Deu 11:18-22
Obligations arising from personal experience.
“Chastisement” (Deu 11:2) in its wide sense of discipline. The educative process by which God converted, or aimed at converting, the hordes who left Egypt into a nation of brave, free, God-fearing, self-respecting, obedient men and women. This education blended deliverance with judgment on their enemies; loving-kindness in the bestowal of mercies, with severe chastisements in cases of rebellion; attention to their necessities, with frequent exposure to adversity, and consequent trial of their faith and patience. They had been put to school with the Almighty as their Teacher; their lesson-book was the whole extraordinary series of occurrences in Egypt and the desert; the end of the training was to form them to obedience.
I. THREE PHASES OF GOD‘S INSTRUCTION OF HIS CHURCH.
1. The shattering of worldly power hostile to the Church (Deu 11:3, Deu 11:4). Pharaoh, in his pride and obstinacy, is a type of world-power universally, in its opposition to God’s kingdom (Rom 9:17). But though again and again the waves have thus roared, and the floods have lifted up their voice (Psa 93:3, Psa 93:4), the Lord on high has shown himself mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea (cf. Psa 83:1-18.; Isa 37:1-38.; 1 Macc. 4.; Act 4:23-34; Revelations Act 19:19; Act 20:8, Act 20:9).
2. The preservation and guidance of the Church itself (Deu 11:5). In securing the perpetuation of a godly remnant in times of greatest apostasy (1Ki 19:18; Rom 11:5; Revelations Rom 3:5; Rom 11:3; Rom 12:17); in providing her with a succession of godly teachers (Mat 28:20; Eph 4:11-14); in supplying her necessities, spiritual (Joh 6:32, Joh 6:33; 1Co 10:4; 1Co 12:13; Eph 3:16; Php 4:19) and temporal (Mat 10:9, Mat 10:10; Act 4:34; 1Co 9:14; Php 4:15, Php 4:16); in opening up the path of duty (Act 16:10; Rom 15:30, Rom 15:31; 2Co 10:13-17), in conducting her from one stage of attainment to another (Eph 4:12, Eph 4:13).
3. The overthrow of antichristian rebellion within the Church (Deu 11:6). The insurrection of Korah and his company may be taken as representative of antichristian movements generally. These are bound to arise, but will infallibly be crushed (2Th 2:3-13; 1Jn 2:18; Rev 17:1-18.).
II. OBLIGATIONS ARISING FROM EXPERIENCE OF GOD‘S WONDERFUL WORKS. The older portion of that generation had personally witnessed the wonderful works referred to. This gave them a certain advantage, and made disobedience doubly culpable. These works of God had been:
(1) in origin, supernatural;
(2) in kind, of stupendous magnitude; and
(3) had extended over a long period of time.
Those who have lived through any period signalized by remarkable workings of God on behalf of his Church, or whose individual experiences have been remarkable, may learn a lesson. Apply to reformation times, times of religious revival, of deliverance from persecutions, of the forth-putting of God’s power in missions, etc. (2Ch 31:1-21 :25, 26; Ezr 3:10-13; Ezr 6:22; Est 9:27; Psa 40:10; Psa 116:6-9; Act 15:12). Such experiences:
1. Furnish peculiar evidences of God‘s grace and power, of the reality of his working in salvation and judgment. These evidences, while not losing their value to later generations, are necessarily of greatest force to those who witness the events.
2. Create impressions of God‘s character and attributes not so readily created by report. It is much to hear of the wonderful works of God from credible witnesses, but hearing with the ear cannot equal, in impressiveness and force, seeing with the eye (Job 42:5).
3. Imply a personal discipline which others have not had the benefit of. The lessons of our experiences may be conveyed to posterity, but the results of them in personal character remain with ourselves. All this lays on those who have had such experiences very special responsibilities. These relate
(1) to personal obedience (Deu 11:8); and
(2) to the education of children (Deu 11:18-21).
How are our children to know of God’s mighty works in former days, or get the benefit of our own experiences; how are they to be convinced, moved, or instructed by these things, save as the result of diligent parental teaching?J.O.
Deu 11:10-18
Canaan and Egypt.
I. ITS CONTRAST WITH EGYPT. (Deu 11:10, Deu 11:11.) Not, like Egypt, a land rainless and artificially watered. It had no Nile. It drank in water from the rains of heaven. It was thus in a peculiar way a land dependent upon God. Egypt’s fertility depended on God also, but less directly. Its contrivances for irrigation gave it, or might seem to give it, a semi-independence. Palestine was a land, on the contrary, whose peculiar conditions made it dependent for fruitfulness on the direct gift to it of rains from heaven. It was a land requiring a providential adjustment of conditionsa daily careto make it yield the utmost it was capable of (Deu 11:12). The truth here figured is that God wills the believer to put his life day by day under his immediate care. The worldly man may desire, and in a measure may be allowed to attain, a position of relative independence of God: he may get (within limits) the ordering of his own plans and ways, and by ingenious contrivances and manipulations of laws of nature, he may think to put himself beyond the power of God’s interference with him. But the godly man will neither desire this nor be content with it. He wishes God’s eyes to be upon his lot day by day, “from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.” There is, within the ordinary providence of God, a special providence to be recognized over God’s people, over Christ’s Church, and over nations that adhere to God’s ways.
II. THE RESULTS OF THIS CONTRAST TO THE INHABITANTS. (Deu 11:13-18.) The directness of the dependence of Canaan on God’s care made it, to a greater degree than Egypt could have been, suitable for the operation of a system so intimately bound up with temporal rewards and punishments. Should the people prove obedient, God engages to bless them with rains, and make the land fruitful (Deu 11:13-16). [But should they disobey, the peculiar conditions of the land put it in his power to scourge them, as he so often did, with drought and famine (1Ki 17:1; Joe 1:1-20.; Hag 1:10, Hag 1:11). So he threatens (Deu 11:16, Deu 11:17). It is a blessed but a perilous position which God’s people are called to occupy. It secures to them unwonted favors, but it exposes them also, if disobedient, to chastisements and punishments of a peculiarly direct and severe kind. The higher the position of nearness to God, the greater the responsibility which that position entails upon who enjoy it.J.O.
Deu 11:26-29
The great alternative.
I. GOD SUMMONS US TO DECISION.
1. His revelations lay the ground for it. “Light is come into the world” (Joh 3:19).
2. They demand it. Men would trifle, but God says, “Now” (2Co 6:2). Men would put off, but God urges to decision (Jos 24:15).
3. They shut men up to it. When light comes, decision is inevitable. We must settle what our attitude towards it will be. In decreeing not to choose, we in reality do choose.
II. THE DECISION TO WHICH GOD SUMMONS US TURNS ON A SINGLE POINT. The point is obedience. Will we obey or will we not (Deu 11:27)? It was so under the Law, and it is so under the gospel. What the gospel asks from us is” the obedience of faith” (Rom 16:26). This tests our disposition thoroughly. True faith carries with it the surrender of the will to God and Christ. It is the root and principle of all holy obedience. Men will not come to Christ; why? The reason is that they cannot bring themselves to yield up their wills to him as he requires. They “love the darkness rather than the light” (Joh 3:19-22). Refusal to decide for Christ is equivalent, for the time being, to deciding against him (Mat 12:30).
III. THE DECISION TO WHICH GOD SUMMONS US INVOLVES THE ALTERNATIVE OF A BLESSING AND A CURSE. That was what it came to then, and it is the same still. Blessing or curse; life or death. Whether God is to be our God, blessing us, renewing our inward life, enriching us with his Spirit, bestowing on us grace here and glory hereafter; or whether we are to live beneath his frown, withering up under it in body and soul, and vanishing at last into outer darkness. It is an old question whether a man can voluntarily choose what is for his hurt. Possibly he cannot without first listening to the tempter who bids him believe that the course he pursues will not be for his hurt. But none the less is every sinner taking the path which ends in destruction (Mat 7:13). His interest, did he but see it, or would he but believe it, is entirely in the line which God wishes him to follow. The terminus of the one road is death (Rom 6:21), of the other life everlasting (Rom 11:22).J.O.
Deu 11:22-26
Vastness of promise.
An inspiring statement of what God would do for the obedient nation. Shining through it we see the promise to the Church. God promises
I. VICTORY OVER ALL ENEMIES. (Deu 11:23.) The strongest spiritual foes will go down if we cleave to God. Though greater and mightier than we, they shall be overthrown.
II. ENLARGEMENT OF BOUNDS. (Deu 11:23.) They would grow numerous, fill the land, and spread beyond it. A wider prospect is held out to the Church. Her possession is the earth. If faithful, she has the means within herself to spread abroad her conquests, and occupy from sea to sea.
III. MORAL SUPREMACY. (Deu 11:25.) Israel’s power would be acknowledgedher influence felt. Men would dread her hostility. The felt presence of God in a man, or in a Church, has a power to inspire fear. Its awing effect is felt often where it is not acknowledged.J.O.
Deu 11:29, Deu 11:30
Gerizim and Ebal
(cf. Deu 27:1-26.). This putting of the blessing and the curse on Gerizim and Ebal had significance
I. AS A SOLEMN TRANSFERENCE OF THE BLESSING AND THE CURSE TO THE LAND OF POSSESSION. Blessing and curse, representing the award of eternal righteousness, must follow us so long as disobedience is possible. “If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die” (Rom 8:13). “That which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned” (Heb 6:8). In heaven there is “no more curse” (Rev 22:3), but only because, confirmed in holiness, God’s servants can no more fall away.
II. AS A SOLEMN REMINDER OF TEE TENURE ON WHICH THE LAND WAS HELD. We cannot render perfect obedience, but our duty is to aim at it. The condition of inheritance is that we are doers of the Father’s will (Mat 7:21).
III. As CONNECTED WITH A SOLEMN RENEWAL OF VOWS. Fitting on such occasions that both blessing and curse should be remembered.J.O.
HOMILIES BY D. DAVIES
Deu 11:1-7
Ocular demonstrations of God’s nearness increase human responsibility.
Men disposed to skepticism often ask for clearer proof of the existence of God. But they deceive themselves. If they used well such evidence as they have, they would find it ample. We should not overlook the fact that the Hebrews, under Moses, and that the Jews in the days of Christ, had clearest demonstrations of God’s presence. Yet they believed not; they were conspicuous examples of unbelief.
I. EXTERNAL EVIDENCES OF RELIGION HAVE BEEN SUPPLIED TO SOME PERSONS ABUNDANTLY.
1. The Hebrews had every possible demonstration of God‘s existence. The Most High deigned to reveal himself to the eye and to the ear, in forms adapted to produce complete conviction, and to overthrow all doubt. The people were more than content. They asked that such overpowering displays of the Godhead might be withdrawn.
2. They were convinced of the regal power of Jehovah. To resist him they plainly saw was an impossibility. Pharaoh was the personation of worldly power; yet Pharaoh and his captains and astrologers and host had been completely swept away by the breath of Jehovah’s power. The irresistible might of Jehovah was as evident as their own existence.
3. They saw that the Omnipotent God was the Friend of men. That all the resources of Jehovah were employed on behalf of his friends, not one in the Hebrew camp could question. God had used every plan to persuade Pharaoh to yield compliance, and it was only after long waiting and repeated warning that vengeance was decreed.
4. They had plainest proof of the judicial faithfulness of God. For they had themselves suffered his chastisements. Resistance of Divine authority had been followed by judgment among the Hebrews, as among the Egyptians. Favoritism, exceptional treatment, escape from magisterial detection,these things were out of question. The inviolable rectitude of God’s administration was clear as noon-day.
II. EXTERNAL EVIDENCES SERVE AS A MEASURE OF RESPONSIBILITY.
1. They satisfy all the requirements of intellect. Responsibility depends on two things, viz.
(1) sufficient information;
(2) ability to obey.
If between opposing probabilities there is the smallest preponderance in favor of belief in God, such balance of probability must determine our conduct. Hereafter, hesitation is criminal. Every piece of additional evidence is additional responsibility. It relieves us from the weakness of recurring doubt. God makes due allowance for deficient knowledge. “The times of human ignorance God winked at,” i.e. overlooked.
2. External demonstration does not ensure spiritual impression. The diligent inquirer will find a thousand evidences of duty where an indolent man will see none. So where within a man feeling is susceptible, a tithe of existing knowledge will suffice to produce glad obedience. It is incumbent on men to weigh well all the evidence of religion they possess, and to respond, in feeling and affection and active effort, to every claim which conscience recognizes.
3. It is a duty to ascertain our personal responsibility. We may find benefit in comparing our privileged position with the position of others. If, with the measure of knowledge we possess, we are still rebellious, what is likely to be the conduct of those less privileged? If we, to whom special revelation has been made, waste the possession, will not our own children pronounce our condemnation, because we have denied to them the help of our testimony?
III. EXTERNAL EVIDENCES MAY ONLY INJURE OUR SOULS.
1. Misuse of superior knowledge is a crime. If God has condescended to give us instruction respecting himself and his purposes of mercy, it is sheer ingratitude on our part to neglect it. Blindness has deprived us of the highest good.
2. Resistance of conscience does permanent injury to the soul. The abuse of any material instrument is an injury. The conscience is an instrument of the soul’s life. To neglect its magisterial voice is to make ourselves deaf. To resist its instincts is to strangle them. Not to act according to our enlightened reason, is to injure reason as an instrument. If we recklessly nip the first buds of affection, we necessarily destroy its proper fruit. In thoughtless resistance of truth, men are preparing the elements of a direful doom. While obedience to God makes a man strong, rebellion effeminates all the nobler powers of the soul. It enervates, corrupts, destroys.
3. Unfaithfulness to convictions will necessitate severest retributions. It is an ascertained fact that punishment will be in proportion to desert. The servant ignorant of his Lord’s special requirements is counted worthy of some stripes; but he who knew his Lord’s will, and flagrantly neglected it, is awarded “many stripes.” The mere possibility of Israel’s unfaithfulness kindled the earnest anxiety of Moses.D.
Deu 11:8, Deu 11:9
Obedience leads to prolonged possession.
We may learn here
I. THAT COMMANDS MAY CARRY A SUPREME OBLIGATION, THOUGH SPOKEN BY MAN.
II. THAT OBEDIENCE IS VAIN, UNLESS IT COVERS THE WHOLE AREA OF DUTY.
III. THAT COMPLETE OBEDIENCE IMPARTS STRENGTH TO THE WHOLE MAN.
IV. THAT SUCH STRENGTH PRESSES INTO THE POSSESSION OF NEW KINGDOMS.
V. THAT THE OATH OF GOD, AND THE DEVOUT ACTIVITY OF MAN, CO–OPERATE FOR THE HIGHEST ACQUISITIONS.D.
Deu 11:10-17
Valuable possessions reserved for the righteous.
The land of Palestine has always been a coveted prize by the surrounding nations. Compared with the territory south and east, it possesses qualities of excellence and beauty. But its fertility depends upon the rain supply, and rain supply was suspended on righteous loyalty.
I. A MORAL PURPOSE UNDERLIES THE GEOLOGICAL CONFIGURATION OF OUR GLOBE. God can never experience surprise in the beneficial coincidences of events. “Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.” If heaven has been undergoing a process of preparation from a period anterior to the formation of our globe, we need feel no surprise that, in arranging the strata of the earth, God should have been animated with motives of righteous benevolence towards men. And if the structure of hill and valley is the visible projection of a generous moral purposea part of the plan for the religions education of menwe may conclude that all the forces and phenomena of nature have vital connection with the religious development of our race. Israel was sent into Canaan because amongst its hills and valleys its history and fortunes could best be unfolded.
II. GOD‘S PATERNAL CARE OF MEN EXTENDS TO THE WHOLE OF THEIR ENVIRONMENT. The sagacious love of God condescends to every minutiae of human life. Our God has infinite leisure for everything. His eyes are daily upon our farms and shops. He is our Bulwark and defends our coasts. He knoweth what we have need of.
III. THE RICHEST EARTHLY POSSESSION LEAVES MEN WHOLLY DEPENDENT ON GOD. Instead of our possessions liberating us from dependence on God, they increase our dependence; for now we need his protection for our property as well as for ourselves. Possessions (so called) are only channels through which true blessing flows, and our great business is to keep the channel clear. The hills of Canaan obtained their irrigation from the springs of heaven, and only obedient faith can unlock these springs.
IV. FILIAL OBEDIENCE SECURES MATERIAL PROSPERITY. Such prosperity is the picture and symbol of spiritual good. But material benefits were the only rewards which these Hebrews could appreciate. “Godliness is” still “profitable for al things.” The source of all real prosperity is in heaven.
V. EVEN SECRET SIN SETS IN MOTION A SERIES OF GIGANTIC EVILS. The heart is easily taken by semblances and promises of good. The falsehoods of Satan are very plausible. A sentinel needs to be placed at every portal of the soul. Self-deception ends in total destruction. We do not sin alone, nor suffer alone.D.
Deu 11:18-21
God’s Word potent to dominate the whole life.
The Word of God, like light, is diffusive. It propagates itself. So long as its proper field of activity is unoccupied, it must spread. It radiates its magnetic influence on every side.
I. TRUTH, POSSESSING THE HEART, BECOMES THE FOUNT OF ALL RIGHTEOUS PRINCIPLE. As the pulverized soil is the proper home of seed; as the housewife’s dough is the proper home of leaven; so the heart of man is the proper abode of truth. On stony tablets, in books, or in speech, it is only in transit towards its proper destination. Received and welcomed into the soul, it begins a process of blessed activity; it vitalizes, ennobles, beautifies every part of human nature. It is the seed of all virtue and goodnessthe root of immortal blessedness.
II. RIGHTEOUS PRINCIPLE DOMINATES ALL OUR ACTIVE POWERS. The hand is the servant of the heart. What the mind plans, the hand executes. To bind God’s precepts upon our hands is to remind ourselves that the hand, as the representative of active faculty, belongs to God. Embargo is laid upon it to do no violence to others’ persons or to others’ property. It must not strike nor steal, for it has become an instrument sacred to God. Nor must it be defiled with idleness, for it is the property of him who incessantly works, nor may the eye wantonly wander after forbidden objects. The eye led Eve into transgression. “Let thine eye look straight before thee.” “Look not upon the wine when it sparkles in the cup.” The eye is a potent instrument for evil or for good.
III. RIGHTEOUS PRINCIPLE, SPRINGING OUT OF LOVE OF TRUTH, MAKES US WITNESSES FOR GOD. As on the high priest’s forehead there was inscribed the motto, “Holiness unto the Lord;” so, in substance, the same truth is written on every servant of God. He is a consecrated man. His finely arched brow is his glory, and his glory is devoted to God. In every circumstance he desires to magnify his God. His house is God’s house; hence on gate and lintel the precepts of God are conspicuous. Hospitality and contentment, peace and kindness, dwell there, for it is the home of God.
IV. RIGHTEOUS PRINCIPLE MOLDS POSTERITY. What we are, in great measure our children will be. Moral qualities are entailed. In their tender years, their young nature is plastic and impressible. If our hearts are full of God’s truth, it will rise and overflow our lips as water from a well. Far from being an irksome task to speak God’s truth, it will be a pleasurable instinct. All time, from early morn till evening repose, will be too short to utter all God’s truth. “Living epistles” describe the office of the godly.
V. RIGHTEOUS PRINCIPLE SECURES PERMANENT ENJOYMENT. Truth in the heart is translated into righteousness in the life, and righteousness makes heaven. No enjoyment can be perfect in which our children do not share; and in sharing our joys with our children, we multiply our joys beyond all arithmetical measure. Such days of consecrated service will be “days of heaven upon earth.”D.
Deu 11:22-25
He who best serves is most fit to rule.
Golden links of life unite our pious love with universal conquest. “All things become ours, if we are Christ’s.”
I. LOYAL OBEDIENCE GENERATES LOVE. It is quite true that love is the mother of obedience; it is also true that obedience fosters and intensifies love. The earth receives heat from the sun, but it gives out heat likewise. The sentiment of love in the breast will dwindle and die unless it have practical exercise. Diligent and thoughtful service will bring us nearer God, make God more precious to us, and bind us to him in tenderer bonds. There is an interlacement of affection. Our desires send deep their roots in God, and an indissoluble alliance is the result.
II. UNION WITH GOD SECURES HIS PRACTICAL AID. We are required” to cleave to him.” The effect is that he will cleave to us, and prove a real Ally, an almighty Helper. He will drive out all our foes for us, however great and mighty they be. Our foes become his foes. He identifies himself with our cause; or, what is the same thing, we identify ourselves with his.
III. DIVINE ASSISTANCE MAKES US ALL–CONQUERING. “No man shall be able to stand before us.” Good men will be drawn to us in sacred friendship; bad men will be held fast in the mysterious spell of awe. We shall be known as the friends and allies of God; and, in proportion as we are like him, men will feel for us the dread they feel for God.
IV. SUCH VALIANT STRENGTH WILL INTRODUCE US TO UNIVERSAL INHERITANCE. “Every place whereon the soles of our feet shall tread shall be ours.” In such covenant alliance with God, we shall walk through his universe as “his heirs.” Every element of material substance, every event in time, every circumstance and experience, shall conduce to our profit. The world shall be laid under tribute to our best life. We shall extract advantage and joy from adversity itself.D.
Deu 11:26-32
Startling alternatives.
Our life is hourly a choice of alternatives. We can go to the right or to the left. Choice is incessantly demanded, and the issues of our choice are momentous.
I. THE REVELATION OF GOD‘S WILL MAY BE A SOURCE OF ABSOLUTE BLESSING. Such revelation is the disclosure of man’s true paradise. It is the opening of the door of God’s own palace; and, unworthy though we are, we may enter and find rest. To do God’s will is to be Christ-likeis to be a true son, and to possess a son’s joy. Every step we take along that way of obedience is a step nearer God, from whose smile we obtain exquisite pleasure, and in whose society we find our heaven.
II. WE CANNOT REMAIN THE SAME, AFTER OBTAINING THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD‘S WILL, AS WE WERE BEFORE. Necessity requires that we should be either better or worse. You cannot dwell for an hour in the society of a good man, and continue in the former state of feeling. The fire that does not melt, hardens. To know God’s will, and not to do it, inflicts unspeakable mischief upon the soul. Resistance of inward convictions begets callosity of heart, and blasts the budding life of conscience. Wanton treason against God is incipient hell. It is the darkening of the understanding, and the enslavement of the will. No blacker curse can enwrap a man than this.
III. MATERIAL NATURE FORECASTS THE ALTERNATIVES OF BLESSING OR WOE. The visible universe is a projection of God’s thought, and all the forces of nature are the agents of God. We find upon this globe elements that minister to our development and strength and joy. We find also elements that are repulsive, menacing, and destructive. The cloud-capped peaks may draw around us the lightnings of vengeance, or may melt the laden cloud and distil showers of blessing. The twin mountains of Ebal and Gerizim were baptized as perpetual preachers of life and death. We may find “sermons in stones,” lessons in leaves, counsels in running brooks.
IV. MATERIAL POSSESSIONS ARE NOT ABSOLUTE BLESSINGS. God here distinctly assures the Hebrews that they shall enter Canaan; but whether they should dwell under the frowning peaks of Ebal, or on the sunny slopes of Gerizim, was suspended on their loyal obedience. Even to the possessors of the Promised Land, there stood the dark possibility of the curse. Neither money nor learning makes a man; it is the power to use it.D.
HOMILIES BY R.M. EDGAR
Deu 11:1-9
Divine judgments upon others, to ensure obedience in us.
Moses wishes to bring all possible motive to bear upon the people to secure their obedience in Canaan. He has just been speaking of their national development from a family of seventy to a multitude as numerous as the stars. Such a blessing should encourage them to love the Lord their God, and to “keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments; and his commandments, always.” Obedience is thus founded upon gratitude, which is God’s invariable plan. But in these verses before us, Moses takes what we may call the converse method. He calls up in succession the judgments with which God visited both the Egyptians and their own forefathers on account of disobedience. He calls upon them to recognize () the “chastisement” () with which God had signalized the disobedience of the Egyptians and of the Israelites. The following lessons are in these verses suggested.
I. GRATITUDE IS THE FOUNDATION OF NEW OBEDIENCE. This is God’s plan. He does not say, “Obey, and I will save you for your obedience,” but “Take salvation as a free gift, and then obey me as a matter of gratitude.” “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” He secures the love by sovereign mercy, and receives obedience as his return upon his investment. Obedience is God’s dividend upon his investment of love. Those who would make “good works” the root of salvation instead of the fruit of salvation, are reversing the whole procedure of God.
II. GRATITUDE MAY BE REINFORCED BY A STUDY OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF INGRATITUDE IN OTHERS. For what God strikes at is ingratitude. The Egyptians were ungrateful. They should have recognized God’s mercy in their fertile land, in their civilization and advancement, in the mission of Moses, and in the character of the earlier plagues. God had visited Egypt with his lovelove which was undeserved, love which remained unrequited. When he revealed “his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm,” it was against Egypt’s ingratitude and consequent disobedience. The denouement at the Red Sea was judgment upon ingratitude and persevering impiety.
Now, the study of all this, here recommended by Moses, was well fitted to foster gratitude in the hearts of the Israelites. Here was unrequited love receiving its vindication in the series of disasters which culminated in the Red Sea. “We must be thankful,” they might well say, “that our ingratitude in past years has not been similarly treated, and for the coming time we must cultivate gratitude and the obedience it secures.”
III. GRATITUDE MAY ALSO BE REINFORCED BY A STUDY OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF SELF–CONFIDENCE. For this seems to be the idea of Moses in bringing forward the case of Dathan and Abiram. As descendants of Reuben, the firstborn of Jacob, they imagined that they had the right to the primacy in Israel. Hence they disputed the rights of Moses and of the priestly line of Aaron. They insisted on their right of primogeniture as valid in the government of God.
But God recognizes no such personal claims, and he visited the presumption with swift destruction. The study of this “chastisement” would deliver Israel from all confidence in themselves. They would recognize that personal claims are not accepted by a sovereign God; that in consequence they must in humility approach him, thankful for spared lives and continued mercy, and anxious to testify by obedience to their genuine thankfulness.
IV. OBEDIENCE WILL BE FOUND TO BE THE SECRET OF STRENGTH AND SUCCESS IN THE INVASION. For while obedience rests on gratitude, it elicits gratitude from God. If God expects us to be grateful for his love, he shows us the example in being grateful for ours. “I love them that love me,” he says (Pro 8:17); and again, “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him” (Joh 14:21; see also Joh 14:23). Now, this is what we do not hesitate to call Divine gratitude.
Hence Israel found that obedience rendered thankfully to God received a grateful reward from him in strength to invade and conquer the land of Canaan, and, secondly, in strength to prolong their days in it. A similar experience is realized by God’s servants still. Obedience is rewarded graciously and gratefully. Strength is found equal to our day, as we make our pilgrimage to God. How important, then, to obey from a proper motive, and at the same time to receive with proper delight the gracious return which a grateful God bestows!R.M.E.
Deu 11:10-17
The land of promise.
Moses now proceeds to indicate the characteristics of Canaan, and to contrast it with Egypt, which they had left. Egypt is not dependent upon the rains of heaven as Canaan is. The overflowing Nile has only to be guided along the water-courses in the proper season, and the fertility of the Nile valley is secured. The work of irrigation, the watering with the foot (Deu 11:10), is the one thing needful in Egypt. But Canaan depends upon the continual care of God, his eyes being on it from the beginning to the end of the year, dispensing “the first rain and the latter rain,” in order to the harvest. In Egypt, the blessing is given “wholesale”the Nile brings down from the interior the water the valley needs. In Canaan, the mountain ridge between the Nile valley and the valley of the Euphrates, there is constant dependence experienced upon the bounties of heaven. This suggests
I. THAT CANAAN WAS A SPLENDID LAND IN WHICH TO TRAIN UP A SPIRITUAL PEOPLE. It was not naturally so fertile as either the valley of the Nile or the valley of the Euphrates. Hence famine touched it more quickly than either Egypt or Assyria. But it was fitted to foster dependence upon God and hope in him. If the inhabitants were obedient, then the land might flow with milk and honey; if disobedient, it might become brown and bare through the withholding of the rain.
Hence we find, in Egypt and in Assyria, a turning of the people to the worship of the inorganic and the organic forces of nature respectively. The valleys, being in some measure more independent of the changing seasons, seem to have nurtured independence of God; while the hills of Syria, like the Highlands of Scotland and of Switzerland, fostered more faith in the Supreme. “Those Syrian hills,” says a living writer, “are the Spirit’s throne, where, lifted above the deserts of earth, it sits nearest to heaven, while spread beneath it on either hand, resting on the desert’s level as their home, are nature’s twin provinces of matter and life, rich and green with the beauty and greenness of time, always imposing and often victorious in the region of sense; but doomed, like all things visible and temporal, to fall before the power which shall yet clothe itself with their glory, and which is itself unseen and eternal.”
II. THE BLESSINGS WERE GUARANTEED ON CONDITION OF MAN LOYALLY CO–OPERATING WITH GOD. Canaan was no land for indolent lotus-eaters; it was not
“A land where all things always seem’d the same!”
It was a land where man must co-operate with God in order to the blessings land where man realized the dignity of being a “fellow-worker with God.” It would be a land of promise and of real blessing on no other condition.
If man were asked for no effort, if everything grew to please his taste and palate spontaneously, if daily bread came without even the trouble of asking, it would be a land of danger and of moral death. Better was it for Israel to have themselves bound by a wholesome destiny to dependence on God and co-operation with him, than if the land bore spontaneously all man’s needs.
III. WE NEED LOOK FOR NO OTHER LAND OF PROMISE IN THIS WORLD OR THE NEXT. The idea of “independence” is the great danger of the human heart. We would be indebted to nobody, not even God, if we could. Alas, for our pride! Now, it so happens that we cannot become independent of God’s bounty, no matter how hard we try. And it is best so. The land of promise is the land where we depend humbly upon God, and are thus most independent of persons and things around us) The land of promise is where we do our honest share of public work, and get our share of the fruits of industry.
And in the life beyond death we need not desire an inglorious idleness, which is some folk’s notion of “everlasting rest,” but we shall have there the privilege of serving God “day and night in his temple.” A life of consecration is the true” land of promise.” It is the only deep enjoyment, it is the only worthy inheritance.
Let us then resolve
(1) to trust God so lovingly as never to harbor even in thought the hope of independence of him; and
(2) to co-operate with him as life’s highest privilege and honor. We have entered “the land of promise” when we have learned to trust God; and we are enjoying it when we have learned to be “fellow-workers with him.”R.M.E.
Deu 11:18-25
Family training an dement of success.
As in Deu 6:6-25, Moses again insists on the words of God being preserved among the people by faithful family instruction. The “home school” is, in fact, the great factor in national success. Education must give due prominence to the family institution, as the providential unit of mankind. And here let us notice
I. GOD‘S WORDS ARE TO BE RECEIVED FIRST OF ALL INTO THE HEART. It is when individuals, and especially parents, receive God’s testimony into the heart, as Lydia did Cf. Sir Henry Taylor’s ‘Notes from Life,’ Essay 2; ‘Humility and Independence.’ (Act 16:14), that it is likely to bloom out in a fitting public profession. It is “with the heart man believeth unto righteousness,” and then “with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Rom 10:10). As the ark received the tables of the Law, so the heart of man is to be the depository of the Divine commandments.
II. GOD‘S WORDS ARE TO BE KEPT BEFORE OUR OWN EYES AND THE EYES OF OTHERS. This seems to be the idea about the frontiers between the eyesin this way others had the words displayed for their benefit; whereas the placing them upon the hand was for the individual’s own memorial (cf. Isa 49:16). So the person heartily interested in God’s Word will make arrangements to remind himself continually of it, and also to keep it before the minds of others. Religion thus becomes not only a constant personal experience, but a constant public profession.
III. GOD‘S WORDS ARE TO BE THE STAPLE OF HOME TRAINING. The children are to be taught them at home, when the “home school” is gathered together. God’s words are also to be the staple of conversation when parents and children are enjoying their saunters together. And the first thought of the morning and the last at night should be of God’s commandments. In this way the indoctrination of the rising generation is to be secured. Well would it be for us still if these old Jewish rules were practiced.
IV. THE HOUSEHOLD IS TO MAKE PUBLIC PROFESSION OF RELIGION AS WELL AS THE INDIVIDUAL. Some individuals content themselves with a personal concern in religion, and are willing to be members of a household which does not collectively identify itself with God. But the Jew was to write God’s commandments on the doorposts and on the gates of his house. The household was thus to be God’s. The fact is that households need conversion just as individuals do. There is as much difference between a religious household and a worldly one as there is between a converted and an unconverted individual. The direction given consequently to the Jews covered the household as well as the person, and was thus perfect.
V. THE RESULT OF SUCH FAITHFULNESS WILL BE COMPLETE SUCCESS, The Lord engages to drive out the nations from before them, even though they be greater and mightier than Israel. He will make the obedient ones resistless. He will make the fear of them to fall like a nightmare on their enemies, and not one of them will be able to stand before them.
And surely all this is but a type of the success which still waits upon God’s obedient people. Not, of course, that temporal success is the form of success desired or granted now. Many of God’s people continue poor, but they succeed in life nevertheless. When they have grace to show a contented spirit amid their limited resources, they succeed in demonstrating that God is all-sufficient, and are the best testimony to the reality of religion before men. When the saints can sing with Habakkuk, “Although the fig tree shall not blossom,” etc; “yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation” (Heb 3:17, Heb 3:18), they have really prospered in all life’s essentials. It is thus in various ways the Lord fulfils his covenant engagements, and. makes all that his people do to prosper (Psa 1:3).
Obedience is consequently the charter of success. But we leave to our loving Father to determine what our success will be. We do not insist on its assuming the form of gold and silver, venison and champagne. The success of self-conquest, the success of being public benefactors, the success of serving our generation by the will of God ere we fall on sleep,this is better far than the success of invading hosts with the laurels dipped in gore.
“Not fruitless is thy toil
If thou my cross wouldst bear;
I do but ask thy willing heart,
To grave my image there.
“For each net vainly cast,
Stronger thine arm will prove;
The trial of thy patient hope
Is witness of thy love.
“The time, the place, the way,
Are open to mine eye;
I sent themnot to gather spoil
To labor patiently.”
R.M.E.
Deu 11:26-32
Life’s solemn alternative.
Moses here sums up his exhortation with the alternative of a blessing or a curse. Obedience secures the blessing; disobedience the curse. He also directs them to go through a solemn service when they reach Mounts Gerizim and Ebal, by pronouncing the blessings and the curses from these mountains respectively. By the law of association, the very landscape was to witness to the truth of God. We are here reminded of such lessons as these
I. GOD‘S MINISTERS, LIKE MOSES, ARE CONSTANTLY TO SET BEFORE THE PEOPLE THE SOLEMN ALTERNATIVE OF A BLESSING OR A CURSE. The gospel is the offer of a blessing to those who are willing to trust God as he asks them to do; while, on the other hand, it is of necessity backed up by a threatened curse, if men refuse to trust him, and will not humble themselves before him. Each one chooses for himself either the blessing or the curse, and there is no use in laying the blame on others.
II. THE REJECTION OF THE GOSPEL IS AFTER ALL A PREFERENCE OF OTHER GODS TO THE ONLY LIVING AND TRUE GOD. The idolatry which was the danger and temptation of Israel is reproduced in all who reject the mercy manifested in Christ. Some other object of worship has really been selected; the ‘world, or wealth, or self, or power is expected to do for the unbelieving soul what God alone can. His attributes are made over to these creatures, and a false confidence takes the place which the true should occupy. Unbelief is really idolatry at bottom.
III. THE SOCIAL STUDY OF GOD‘S PROMISES AND THREATENINGS IS MOST IMPORTANT. Moses, to impress the people more, directs them to assemble at Gerizim and Ebal, and there, dividing into two congregations, to go through the blessings and the curses publicly. The solemnities of that occasion would doubtless be greatly sanctified. In the very same way, the private study of God’s Word is not sufficient. “The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob” (Psa 87:2). The solemn and leisurely study of God’s Word in public is owned more than any private study of the Word can be. Both are needful, but our expectation should be highest in connection with the public preaching of God’s Word. When a minister takes the people in an interesting manner through the truth contained in a paragraph, or even in a verse, there is much more realized than in the more hurried private reading. The sanctions of social worship are most important, and he is not in a safe way who despises them.
IV. NATURAL ASSOCIATIONS MAY OFTEN BE HELPFUL TO THE CAUSE OF TRUTH. Scenes of great historic deeds become in a measure sanctified. They are “holy places’ to the human race. Battle-fields, birthplaces, senates, forums, as well as churches, become hallowed to the historic mind. The laws of association secure a perennial influence. The soul must be dead indeed who can visit such scenes unmoved.
It was this law of association which Moss brought, into play in connection with Gerizim and Ebal. Never afterwards would they be visited by the descendants of these Israelites without a solemn feeling, and a recall of some at least of the blessings and the curses uttered there. Without any sympathy, therefore, with the “consecration“ of places as generally understood, which may savor largely of superstition, we cannot but admit that natural associations should not be disregarded. Indeed, it is in this way the world is becoming richer with the years. Places are becoming every year associated with noble deedsGerizims are being multiplied as scenes of blessing; on the other hand, Ebals are also increasing, like beacons, on the dangerous places of human experience; but both undoubtedly meant by Providence to influence for good, and, through the law of association, our race. And some souls have “the place of mercy” marked clearly in their experience, and can sing
“Oh, sacred hour I oh, hallowed spot,
Where love Divine first found me!
Wherever falls my distant lot,
My heart will linger round thee.
And when from earth I rise to soar
Up to my home in heaven,
Down will I cast my eyes once morn
Where I was first forgiven.”
R.M.E.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Deu 11:1-32
1Therefore thou shalt love [And love, so love then] the Lord thy God, and keep his charge,1 and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments [commandment], always. 2And know ye this day: for I speak [om. I speak] not with your children [have I to do]2 which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the Lord your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched-out arm, 3And his miracles, [signs] and his acts, which he did in the midst of Egypt, unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land; 4And 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 hath destroyed them unto this day; 5And what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came into this place; 6And what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben: how [as to whom] the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up,3 and their households, and their tents, and all the substance4 that was in their possession [at their feet, close to, followed them] in the midst of 7all Israel: But [For] your eyes have seen all the great acts of the Lord which he did. 8Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments [commandment] which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go to possess it; 9And that ye may prolong your days [may live long] in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give unto them, and to their seed, a land that floweth with milk and honey. 10For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst [which thou sowedst with] thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs: 11But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven: 12A land which the Lord thy God careth for [considereth]Deuteronomy 5 : the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year. 13And it shall come to pass [comes to pass] if ye shall hearken diligently6 unto my commandments [commandment] which I command you this day, to love [so that ye love] the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. 15And I will send [give, so margin], grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full. 16Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived [become not foolish]7 and ye turn aside 17[fall away] and serve other gods, and worship them; And then the Lords wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that [and] there be no rain, and that the land yield, [give] not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the 18good land which the Lord giveth you. Therefore [And ye shall lay] shall ye lay up these my words in [upon] your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be [and they shall be] as frontlets between your eyes. 19And ye shall teach them your children, speaking [to speak, so that ye speak] of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 20And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates: 21That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth. 22For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments [this whole commandment] which I command you, to do them, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him: 23Then will the Lord drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves. 24Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness, and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be. 25There shall no man be able to stand before you: for [om. for] the Lord your God shall lay the fear of you, and the dread of you upon [the face of] all the land 26that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you. Behold I set [give] before you this day a blessing and a curse: 27A blessing, if ye obey the commandments [commandment] of the Lord your God which I command you this day; 28And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go [that ye may walk] after other gods which ye have not known. 29And it shall come to pass when the Lord thy God hath brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt put [give] the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal. 30Are they not on the other side Jordan, by the way where the sun goeth down8 in the land of the Canaanites, which dwell in the champaign [Arabah] over against Gilgal, beside the plains [the oaks] of Moreh? 31For ye shall pass over Jordan to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God giveth you, and ye shall possess it, and dwell therein. 32And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments which I set [am giving] before you this day.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. Deu 11:1-25. Deu 11:1. A consequence of the foregoing, and parallel with Deu 10:19. The exhortation marks itself as self-evident (Deu 6:5). (comp. upon Deu 4:2; Deu 4:6; Deu 4:40; Deuteronomy 2, etc.), to hold fast, keep; hence keep his charge, what in reference to Him is to be kept, what He will have kept or held fast. The particulars of this general term, follow nearly as in Gen 26:5. Comp. Deu 4:1; Deu 4:10. Perhaps, as already Deu 10:20 was inserted in order that the kindness to strangers should not be shown at the cost of the observance of the law, of faithfulness towards Jehovah. Deu 11:2. And knowthrough which love and the observance of the law were at the same time sanctioned and urged. With a retrospect also to Deu 10:21 sq. The chastisement [instruction] of the Lord your God fits alike well with the parenthesis (not with your, sq.) and as the subject of the knowledge. For comp. upon Deu 4:36; Deu 8:5. It is the instruction to praise and love, as it with the redemptive works, Deu 10:21, was already sketched in a general way, and in the following Deu 10:22 the enlargement is given more in detail. What Jehovah had thus actually taught Israel, it, i.e. the present Israel, exclusive of the children, as Deu 5:3 of the fathers, should know. The children are to be taught by the present fathers (Deu 11:19). The subject in regard to which Jehovah had instructed Israel: His greatness, Deu 3:24; Deu 4:34. Upon Deu 11:3, comp. Deu 4:34; Deu 6:22; Deu 7:18 sq. Upon Deu 11:4, Exo 14:26 sq.Unto this day, so that the Egyptian has not oppressed thee any more to this day; perfect redemption. Upon Deu 11:5; Deu 8:2 sq., 15 sq.; Deu 9:7. Upon Deu 11:6, Numbers 16. If on account of the sons (Num 26:11) who separated themselves from their fathers, true Levites (Deu 33:10), and therefore did not perish, Korah was not named, so also the Reubenite On was not named, who truly does not appear further (Numbers 16), because he probably drew back from the rebellion in time. Moreover Moses in Deuteronomy (comp. upon Deu 10:8) uses the name Levi in a comprehensive way, and has therefore no interest in bringing out the violent dispute between the Levite Korah and the Aaronic priesthood, which burst out in that event, and was forever settled. What was necessary was intimated in the bare naming of Dathan and Abiram, especially the Reubenites, who could not bear to see their lost primogeniture transferred not only to Aaron, but still further to Moses. But Aarons priesthood, as we have seen (chap. 10) is merely the official institution and limitation of the Mosaic mediation with God. Thus the naming of Dathan and Abiram only, coincides readily with the connection between chap. 11 and chap. 10 [Bib. Com.: The rebellion of Korah evidently included an attack upon the ecclesiastical and civil arrangements of Moses. The latter was the only portion of the sedition which it was relevant to Moses purpose to name, and therefore he omits to name Korah. Korahs mutiny was against the Levites, and it did not concern the people generally, whereas that of Dathan and Abiram was against the rulers of the people, and so concerned the people.A. G.] Deu 11:7. The basis of Deu 11:2 (Deu 4:3; Deu 3:21). The keeping of the law of God makes sure also what follows Deu 11:8. (Deu 1:38) gives courage and strength. Deu 11:9. Comp. Deu 4:26 (Deu 5:16); Deu 6:3. Deu 11:10 occurs similarly here with the second description of Canaan, as Deu 8:7 sq. at the close of the exposition of the first commandment. For lays the ground for the long life (Deu 11:9) in this land flowing with milk, sq., as however entirely depending upon the blessing of God. The reference to the closing reason of the second command already appears (Deu 5:9 sq.).Not as the land of Egypt. Here the contrast is Egypt; in Deu 8:7 sq. it was the wilderness. There the passage, here the point of departure. With this latter allusion, it was already intimated that Israel redeemed indeed, still needed the continuing divine keeping, that it may remain in life. It is not the fruitfulness, but the method of producing it, which makes the distinction between Canaan and Egypt. In Egypt this appears in some measure dependent upon the hand and foot of men.And wateredst with thy foot.The irrigation in Egypt, of which Herodotus says even that it does not rain there, is by means of numerous canals and channels, in which the water of the overflowing Nile is retained, and from which it is brought upon the fields and gardens repeatedly and with great hardship, and this was especially true of the grazing region of Israel bordering upon the desert. We are not constrained to think of any mechanical labor with the feet, which is described by Philo, or the like, since the usual movement of the feet is significant for mans exertion in a general way (Deu 11:6), but especially for his diligence and toil (Gen 30:30), and draw wells out of which the water is brought, but not irrigating machines, are customary in Hebraic and in Egyptian monuments. Hence as already Piscator: Thou must go here and there upon the land in order to water it. Schultz well calls attention to both the standing water in the trenches and to the smaller tanks in the gardens, in both which the feet must be employed. [The Egyptians probably used tread-wheels, working pumps, and the artificial channels referred to above. But the expression is probably idiomatic for the toil and diligence requisite in the irrigation of the soil, including all the methods rather than referring to any one.A. G.] For the sense of the passage the remark of Herodotus ii. 13 is significant (Hengst. Books of Moses), that the Egyptians say of the Greeks, who have no Nile to water their land, as they have, they would one day suffer grievous famine, since water could never come to them otherwise than from the gods. As if the Lord had especially arranged that the Egyptians should live in their self-confidence, and by their own efforts, wherein they live as heathen; as if Egypt in this regard had been so truly placed as a land of heathenism. Schultz.As a garden of herbs, i.e. from whence one could pluck vegetables and herbs, and which could be made fruitful by watering, even without the rain. Deu 11:11. No low land as Egypt. Comp. Deu 3:25; Deu 8:7.Of the rain, the denoting the outward cause. Deu 11:12. , to seek, ask after (Job 3:4), to take care for (Sept.: ). The continual dependence upon God places it as a geographical foil to the true religion. The expression seems at first rich with promise; the threatening in such relations comes later (Deu 11:17). Deu 11:13. Comp. Deu 7:12; Deu 6:5; Deu 10:12. Moses words pass into the words of God. So distinctly does the speaker know himself as Moses. Deu 11:14. Rain of your land, as your land needs it; in its season, viz. the first [early] rain, after the seeding, from October until December, and the latter rain before the harvest (at the last ripe, Baumgarten) in March and April. Comp. further Deu 8:8. Deu 11:15. Comp. Deu 6:11. Deu 11:16. The contrast. Comp. Deu 4:23, where it occurs in reference to the making of images, and thus here with an altogether fitting retrospect (Deu 9:12). , will open, stands open to enticement, foolishly opens itself. Comp. Deu 5:29; Deu 7:4; Deu 4:19; Deu 5:9; Deu 6:14. Deu 11:17. Comp. Deu 4:25; Deu 6:15; Deu 4:26; Deu 8:19. The heavens are thought of as a mothers breasts. Schultz. Deu 11:18. Comp. Deu 6:6; Deu 6:8. Deu 11:19. Comp. Deu 6:7. Deu 11:20. Comp. Deu 6:9. In the connection of the second with the first command, these repetitions are not strange. It forms a parallel completion for the memory. Deu 11:21. Comp. Deu 4:40; Deu 5:16.As the days of heaven, sq. (Psa 89:29), i.e. as long as the heaven (with its blessing power, Baumgarten) stands over the earth, so long shall Israel, if faithful, as the fathers, so the children, dwell in Canaan. Deu 11:22. For lays the ground for this supposition. Comp. Deu 10:12; Deu 10:20; Deu 8:6. Deu 11:23. Comp. Deu 7:1 sq.; Deu 9:1 sq. Deu 11:24. Comp. Deu 2:5. For the borders, southerly and northerly, easterly and till the westward (the posterior, i.e. Mediterranean) sea, comp. Deu 1:7. Deu 11:25. Comp. Deu 7:24; Deu 2:25.
2. Deu 11:26-32. After such a preparatory, comprehensive exhibition of the blessing and the curse, corresponding to the closing motive of the second commandment, follows now an appeal. Deu 11:26 (Deu 4:8). , so that you may see, to what obedience, and to what disobedience will lead, and be sure that it is a given [established] result, Deu 1:8. Faith possesses the one, unbelief the other. Deu 11:27. Comp. Deu 4:1. Deu 11:28. Comp. Deu 11:16; Deu 9:12; Deu 6:14.Which ye have not known. Comp. Deu 4:15. In opposition to the God of Israel, who had made Himself known in word and law, and not otherwise. We see how exactly the tone of the second command is preserved, the image service, how it truly leads to idolatry. Since the possession (Deu 8:1; Deu 8:7 sq.) and the enjoyment (Deu 11:9 sq.) of Canaan are, according to this, dependent upon the blessing and curse of God (comp. also Deu 4:5), so should this relation as one established by God, symbolically by Israel, as a self-judgment in the case, be put upon the land from two mountains, i.e. be uttered, proclaimed (Lev 16:21. For the details see Deu 27:11 sq.). Do the natural features of these mountains distinguish them as fitted for the purpose? Schultz, Keil, question it. The brothers Strauss (Lands and Cities of the S. S.) assert: On the whole the mountains are little cultivated; still Gerizim shows beautiful valleys and numerous terraces, which, as the whole valley, shine with gardens, citron, pomegranate, orange trees, mulberry groves, apricots, figs, almonds, in the most luxurious fruitfulness, while at the warmer foot of Ebal olive trees are planted. V. Raumer describes Ebal as bare and steep, Gerizim as covered and adorned with gardens. Voelter: The side of Ebal is more barren than that of Gerizim, because exposed to the sun, and scorched by it, while that of Gerizim is covered with a beautiful growth, as it forms the shaded side toward the north. [Yet Robinson describes Gerizim as being barren as Ebal. The attempt to identify this mountain with that upon which Abraham was to offer Isaac fails completely. See Smith, Dict., Art. Gerizim, Am. Ed.A. G.]The oriental-like, and at the same time, motive-giving question, Deu 11:30 (Deu 3:11) refers to both mountains, and proceeds from the stand-point of Israel encamped in the plains of Moab. On the other [that] side, i.e. in Canaan literally. , according to the accents, separated from , but (Deu 11:24) pointing to the westward. The valley within which Sichem lies extends from south-east to north-west. The fuller definition: of the way (via) where the sun goeth down, appears at the same time to point to the way taken by Abraham (Gen 12:6), by Jacob (Gen 33:17 sq.), in any case to a well-known highway of commerce.[Bib. Com.: Called probably the way of the West, in contrast to the other main route from Damascus to the South, which passed through the district east of Jordan. A. G.]In the land of, sq.; so much as lies therein, viz. from the west to the east, as from the south to the north; for the clause: dwelling in the champaign [Arabah], according to the sense of this last name (comp. upon Deu 1:1) points to both sides of the Jordan, thus even to the easterly, although from the stand-point of the Israelites only the westerly can be intended here, which in distinction from the westerly Canaanites upon the sea, is still again the easterly designation of their abode (Deu 7:1). Over against Gilgal, not the southerly, Jos 4:20; Jos 5:9, nor the Jiljulah (Galgula) lying upon the sea-coast, Jos 12:23, but as Keil and Baumgarten think, the frequently mentioned (Jos 9:6; Jos 10:6), still-existing village Jiljulia, south-westerly from Sinjal.[Wordsworth has a curious note here suggesting that Gilgal should not be taken as a proper name, but in the sense of wheel or circuit; a sacred enclosure near Gerizim.A. G.], at the side of, near by.Elone Moreh, Gen 12:6; Gen 35:4. Oak or Terebinth (see Winer, Real.). A still more definite reminiscence of the patriarchal time, as before in the way. The two named mountains, two thousand feet in height, lying over against each other, correspond, according to all this description, to the purpose in view, as on all sides centrally located, availing to all the people, under the impression of the sacred reminiscences connected with the chief patriarchs [especially as Sichem lay between them.A. G.] Deu 11:31. The reason for this direction in the coming entrance into Canaan, and the certain conquest of the land. For Deu 11:32, comp. Deu 4:1; Deu 6:5; Deu 6:8.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. If , Deu 10:21, marks the help of Jehovah, so also the deeds to which Moses refers, chap, 11, although they do not come into view as the revelations of His anger, and of His power against the obstinate. Baumgarten. Moses will not alarm, but awaken and induce to a counter-love. As the love of Jehovah, who helps, came out energetically in what occurred in Egypt in the redemption of Israel, so also it is not the end first (Baumgarten), but equally the means and the beginning, even in the destruction of Dathan and Abiram, especially with reference to the Mosaic and priestly representation and mediation of Israel before God, and also as preserving grace, saving Israel from itself. The deeds in the wilderness, Deu 11:5, form the transition to this; the love of Jehovah, in the leading, educating and sanctifying grace.
2. Through the distinction between the older class in Israel (Num 14:29), who in the exodus were not yet twenty years old, and the children born first in the wilderness (Deu 11:2), Moses designs to bring into clear consciousness the importance of ocular testimony, Deu 11:7 (Baumgarten) of the historic facts, in order to meet the doubt as to the objectiveness of God. His design is more obvious both in regard to the obedience of those addressed, which should arise for them out of their own experience (Deu 11:8 sq.), and in regard to a credible, well-founded, exemplified tradition to the children (Deu 11:19). But at the same time it respects the externality of the present revelation, which remained still bound by the limits of space and time. In the revelation of the Spirit, those seeing were only blessed in comparison with those who went before them (Luk 10:23-24); but then there is here a blessedness of those who have not seen and have believed (Joh 20:29), and of those who have not seen, and have loved (1Pe 1:8). Baumgarten.
3. While Palestine (see Kurtz, Gesh. I., 43), with respect to those without, was both negatively and positively fitted in some measure to its destination, it offers great resources and vehicles for the inward development of the people of the covenant. Scarcely a land upon the earth is endowed with such a sensitiveness for blessing and the curse. Nowhere do fruitfulness and sterility follow each other in such quick succession, or pass so easily from one to the other. Out of the paradisaic vale of Siddim, with a single night between, e.g. comes the Dead Sea, and over against it again lies its counterpart the Sea of Genessareth.
4. The view of faith, which even in second causes, as here the rain, heart, eye (Deu 11:12), hand (Deu 11:14), holds fast to the living God, lies at the basis of the whole representation of nature Dogmatically the doctrine of divine providence, that everything as it is, answers the divine purpose of its existence through God, has thus to prove itself in the glorifying of God as this wise, holy, blessed majesty, connects itself with this view. As the individual thing is for the sake of the whole, so this whole here, a land, Palestine, is not for itself, but for the subject, here Israel, in reference to humanity. There is left open therewith a sphere of free self-determination for blessing and curse. The efficiency of natural laws (Rothe, Ethik., 42) is ruled by God, they are so elastic that He, at any moment, even by their means, can take up, and so preserve or abolish the existence of every material thing. (Conservatio, concursus, gubernatio).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Deu 11:1. Calvin. Love to God is before all. Instead of requiring he will rather allure the people to obedience through the sweetness of His grace. True love holds fast, Richter: According to Rom 2:3 Israel was entrusted with the oracles of God. The anxious faithfulness with which the Jews guarded the books of the O. T., proved in the history of the Masora, is a wonderful example of the providence of God over this people and the book of books. Deu 11:2. Keep, a word always appropriate to the elders, for the young. How God instructs: who would not be teachable and wise, even wiser than others. The power of the Lord: to save (Deu 11:3-4), to bear (Deu 11:5), to keep (Deu 11:6). Schultz: Even the discipline in the wilderness. Strict parents will be loved most, and most truly. Deu 11:7. The importance of experience: 1) For faith against doubt; 2) for the life, our own and others, in temptation; 3) for the Church against the science so-called. Deu 11:8. No selection. The whole commandWhat is past, and what is before us and needful for us, our need of help, and our gratitude, bind us to faithfulness, to obedienceCourage, success, possession (Deu 11:9) all depend upon the obedience of faith. Deu 11:10 sq., Luther: Thus because he would attach them to God through faith, and because they knew that the rain was given to the believer through the mercy of God, and was denied to the unbelievers. God indeed gives all to all men, but to this special people He gives in addition a word of promise, that it should not live by bread alone, but by the word also. The physiognomy of the land in its importance for the kingdom of God. Richter: Deu 11:13. Israel also says: Seek first the kingdom of God; so 1Ti 4:8. Deu 11:16. Calvin: The more frequently He impresses this, because man is inclined to superstition, the more inexcusable are the Papists in their shameless security on this point. Whoever will not remain in the simplicity of the law, is an apostate with him. Shun the crooked way, Psa 125:5. Human wickedness, and the wrath of God, close the heavens. Deu 11:21. Osiander: No better medicine against death than the keeping of the commandments of God. Berl. Bib.: Deu 11:22 puts love after obedience as Deu 11:13, to show that as it is the source of obedience (Deu 11:1) so also it is itself the comprehensive command out of which all special duties flow. Here also all the commands are viewed as one only, which we must keep entirely and perfectly, Jam 2:10. Faith and love, or love and faith, in either sequence, unites to God, 1Co 6:17. Deu 11:26. Berl. Bib.: The will is dead to good through sin, and inclined to evil. Through grace man can choose and actually attain. Is he faithful in the first beginning, God will give more grace. Blessing and curse: 1) In their statement, Deu 11:26-28; Deuteronomy 2) in their explanation. Gerizim and Ebal stand in every human life. Cramer: Yea and nay should every true Christian answer, what is more than this is of evil, Mat 5:37. Starke: Dearest Lord Jesus! Thou wilt declare the blessing and the curse when Thou comest to judgment, Matthew 25.
Footnotes:
[1][Deu 11:1. His keeping what he has laid upon you to keepcharge, not here in the sense of observance, rites, but as including all enjoined.A. G.]
[2][Deu 11:2. Wordsworth, Bib. Com., Keil and Del., make the clause for not with your children which have not known and have not seen, a parenthesis, and drop the colon after day. Schroeder carries the parenthesis on, including the Lord your God. Our version seems to make the whole passage, to Deu 11:7, one sentence, which would be very unusual in Hebrew. The rendering suggested by Keil is preferable.A. G.].
[3][Deu 11:6. Lit., which the earth opened her mouth and swallowed.A. G.].
[4][Deu 11:6. Lit., the living thing which is at their feet.A. G.].
[5][Deu 11:12. Margin, lit., seeketh or seeking.A. G.].
[6][Deu 11:13. The common idiom hearkening ye shall hearken.A. G.].
[7][Deu 11:16. Lit, be openedand so to be enticed, seduced.A. G.].
[8][Deu 11:30. After the road, where the sun goeth down, i.e., the West.A. G.].
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
We may consider the contents of this Chapter to be the conclusion of one branch of Moses’ Sermon, in the arguments he had been bringing forward to enforce Israel’s love and obedience to the LORD. Blessings and cursings are held forth in order to accomplish this great end. The man of GOD is very particular in reminding Israel of the many signal instances of favor the LORD had shown the people, and he carries this subject to a most extensive view.
Deu 11:1
The charge to Israel was special and distinguishing. Israel was set apart, and distinguished, from all other nations of the earth. No people knew the LORD by signs and wonders, by holy worship and ordinances, as Israel did. What nation (as Moses told them) had the LORD so nigh as Israel? Deu 4:7 . Reader! I charge it upon your mind, in the view of this subject, to consider how infinitely this argument is heightened since the SON of GOD, in substance of our flesh, came and tabernacled among us. Oh! what nearness are believers now brought to, in the blood and righteousness of JESUS! How beautifully the apostle dwells upon this, 1Pe 2:9-10 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Educated Towards Spirituality
Deuteronomy 10-11
How to introduce the spiritual element into all this instruction of an external and formal kind was the difficulty even of inspiration. We have felt all along that the speeches and instructions delivered to Israel meant, as to their purpose and issue, something that was not expressed. We now come to find an indication of that which is intensely spiritual. The method of its introduction is so it may be said, with reverence infinitely skilled. Great prizes of land were offered, wonderful donations of milk and honey and harvest, and as for springs and fountains of water, they were to rise in perennial fulness and beauty. What wonder if considerable eagerness should mark the spirit of the men to whom such promises were delivered? Who would not be eager for land flowing with milk and honey, green all the year round because of the abounding waters, smiling with fruitfulness because of the blessing of God? But this could never be enough: the promises cannot end in themselves; when they have been uttered they quiver with an unexpressed meaning. To bring that meaning under the attention so as to secure the confidence of the people God will set aside a tribe that is to have no land. That was a subtle revelation of ulterior design. Out of that arrangement was to come the inspiration that foretold the passing away of the heavens and the dissolution of the earth and the destruction of all things material as no longer worth holding. All things have beginnings. The greatest literature traces itself back to its alphabet. Levi is set forth as a spiritual symbol. “Levi hath no part nor inheritance with his brethren.” Is he then poor? Read the answer in chapter Deu 10:9 “The Lord is his inheritance, according as the Lord thy God promised him.” That was the lot of Levi. Is not that an anticipation of the words which make all other instruction mean “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you”? It was well to have some men who had no land, no golden harvest, no storehouses rich with grain. They were the schoolmasters of the time the great spiritual philosophers and teachers, not knowing themselves what they typified, still being there, the mystery of life, a symbol of the sublime doctrine that men shall not live by bread alone. Out of these incidental lines of history gathers a great apocalypse of progress. The one tribe will presently absorb the other tribe, and at the last we shall all be kings and priests unto God; and if globes were offered to us, constellations and whole firmaments of glory, instead of nearness to the divine presence, we should scorn the mean donation. To that height we have to grow; to that issue all things will come that yield themselves to the movement of the divine purpose.
We have read all the arrangements made for the ceremonial worship of Israel: what was the meaning of it? Here we come again upon the same thought of ultimate spirituality. Moses now, in the latter time, begins to reveal secrets. He gave Israel long space in which to kill animals and offer them by fire: he utterly wearied out the people by such impotent ritual, and when they themselves began to turn their very weariness into a kind of religious hope that surely something brighter would presently be revealed, Moses spake these words: “And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee?” That is the question. What does it all mean? Thou hast slain thousands of bullocks and rams and sheep and goats, “what doth the Lord thy God require of thee” what has he been meaning all this time, “but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?” ( Deu 10:12-13 ). That was the divine intention from the very beginning. God does not disclose his purpose all at once, but out of consideration for our capacities and our opportunities and our necessities he leads us one step at a time, as the wise teacher leads the young scholar. What wise teacher thrusts a whole library upon the dawning mind of childhood? A picture, a toy, a tempting prize, a handful to be going on with, and all the rest covered by a genial smile: so the young scholar passes from page to page until the genius of the revelation seizes him, and life becomes a sacred Pentecost. Such words spoken to Israel at first would have been lost. There is a time for revelation; as certainly as for man, so certainly for God, there is a time to speak, there is a time to be silent. It is a sublime addition to our knowledge to realise the divine purpose, that all letters, words, buildings, books, mean life, union with God, absorption into God. Preachers and books and pulpits and altars and buildings are of use at the time, for the time most useful, in many cases indispensable; but the issue of it all is perfect union with the Father of our spirits, knowing him from within, a perfect correspondence of our nature with his nature and his purpose; not a word spoken, a look exchanged, nor an attitude but becomes a sacrifice. This thought supplies a standard by which to measure progress. Where are we? To what have we attained? What is our stature today? Are we still among the beggarly elements? Do we still cry out for a kind of teaching that is infantile and that ought to be from our age altogether profitless? Or do we sigh to see the finer lines and hear the lower tones and enter into the mystery of silent worship so highly strung in all holy sensibilities that even a word jars upon us and is out of place under circumstances so charged with the divine presence?
Still keeping by this same line of thought, notice how the promises were adapted to the mental condition of Israel. What promises could Israel understand? Only promises of the most substantial kind. Moses addresses himself to this necessity with infinite skill: “Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now the Lord thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude” ( Deu 10:22 ). Israel cared nothing for thoughts: Israel cared for children: Israel knew not the poetry and the divinity of things: Israel understood acres, land upon land far-stretching, and harvests larger than any garners ever built. This being the mental condition of Israel, give Israel troops of children, thousands upon thousands outnumbering the stars, a tumultuous throng, too vast for the space of the wilderness; as for harvests, let them grow upon the rocks, let the very stones burst into golden grain, for Israel is a great child and can understand only things that can be handled: let him have such things, more and more; God means them to be altar-steps leading upward, onward, into the place where there is no need of the sun or of the moon, no death, no night; Israel has a long journey to go, and he must be well housed and harvested on the road, or he will give way and fail before the time set for the fulness of the divine revelation. The same thought is expressed in many ways. It is given in chapter Deu 11:11-12 “But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven: a land which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.” What a child was Israel; what an infant of days; keep speaking to him much about prosperity and wealth and harvests and the rain of heaven, and you can lead Israel as you please, like a hungry beast following an offered bait which is withdrawn that he may be led and be caused to submit to a higher will. This also supplies a standard of progress. Do we care for the sanctuary because of its God or because of its conventional respectability? To what end besiege we the altar of Heaven, to pray or to profit?
Still preserving the marvellous consistency of the whole economy, we cannot fail to notice how beautifully the sacrifices were adapted to the religious condition of the people. This explains the sacrifices indeed. What was the religious condition of the people? Hardly religious at all. It was an infantile condition; it was a condition in which appeal could only lie with effect along the line of vision. So God will institute a worship accordingly: he will say to Israel, Bring beasts in great numbers, and kill them upon the altar; take censers, put fire thereon; spare nothing of your herds and flocks and corn and wine; have a continual burnt offering, and add to the continual burnt offering other offerings great in number and in value. Israel must be kept busy; leisure will be destruction. There must be seven Sabbaths in the week, and seven of those seven must be specialised by fast or festival or sacred observance. Give Israel no time to rest. When he has brought one bullock, send him for another; when he has killed a ram, call for a thousand more; this will be instructive to him. We must weary him to a higher aspiration; to begin this aspiration would be to beat the air, or to speak an unknown language, or to propound a series of spiritual impossibilities. Men must be trained according to their capacity and their quality. The whole ceremonial system of Moses constitutes in itself in its wisdom so rich, its marvellous adaptation to the character and temper of the times, an unanswerable argument for the inspiration of the Bible. It was the economy for the times. It could not be replaced, even imaginatively, to advantage, by the keenest wit of the brightest reader. It might be a profitable engagement now and then to try to amend the masonry of the Bible. Take out whole blocks of institutions, observances, and ceremonies, and put into the vacancies something better; let it be confessedly better in quality, but taken out of a further time and brought back to the early age. At once there is a sense of incoherence, unfitness, dissonance; the right thing is not in the right place; history is outraged; the genius of progress is misinterpreted. So with the Christian Scriptures. Take out, for example, the sermon upon the mount, and put into its place instructions regarding the building of the tabernacle. Men could not tolerate the alteration. The soul cannot thus go back. We have seen how wonderful a thing it was to write a New Testament: when the resources of language had been exhausted, when the sublimest poetry had been uttered, when the grandest altar had been built, it required a Son of God at once to begin the New Testament: begun by a feebler hand, the ages would have cast out the violence and the insult. The distributions of matter in the Bible are made by a divine hand; the very placing of the materials is itself an argument not, indeed, to the man who comes upon the Bible with effrontery and self-idolatry, beginning where he pleases, and moving up and down the sacred record with erratic will and taste, but to the man who makes the law his study, night and day, seeing how it looks in star-light, then how it bears the blaze of noonday, how it takes upon itself the fevers of the summer, and how amid the chills of winter it still thrills with forecasts of mercy. Only they ought to pronounce upon the Bible who have read it, and only they have read the Bible who have read it all, until it has swallowed up all manner of books and has become transformed into the very life of the soul.
So far the line has been consistent from its beginning, what wonder, then, if it culminate in one splendid word? That word is introduced here and there. For example, in chapter Deu 10:12 , the word occurs; in chapter Deu 11:1 , it is repeated. What is that culminating word? How long it has been kept back! Now that it is set down we see it and acknowledge it; it comes at the right time, and is put in the right place: “To love him.” Then again in chapter Deu 11:1 “Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God.” Moses is almost a Christian, even in the historical sense of the term, and it is well that his name should be linked for ever with the name of the Lamb. Jesus uses no higher word than “love.” Paul thought he would pronounce it aright by repeating it often, and repetition is sometimes the only proper pronunciation: the word must be spoken so frequently as to fall into a refrain and attach itself to all the noblest speech of life. “Master, which is the great commandment?” And Jesus answered, “Thou shalt love.” Here we have Moses and the Lamb. It ought to be easy to love God: we are akin to him; damn ourselves as we may, we are still his workmanship, his lost ones. We wrong our own souls in turning away from God: we commit suicide in renouncing worship; we are not surrendering something outside of us, we are putting the knife of destruction into our own soul. We have once more a standard of progress. We are in relation to this word love! Love means passion, fire, sacrifice, self-oblivion, daily, eternal worship. Who then can be saved? The word love does not destroy other elements which enter into the mystery of true worship. Moses says, “What doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways… and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord?” The word love is found in this company. Recite the names that you may the more clearly understand the society of love. “Fear,” “walk,” “serve,” “keep,” it is in that society that love shines like the queenliest of the stars. Love is not a mere sentiment, a quality that evaporates in sighing or that fades into invisibleness by mystic contemplation; love calls fear, walking, serving, keeping, to its side, and they all together, in happy harmonic co-operation, constitute the divine life and the divine sonship of the soul. We, too, have mystery; we have miracles; we have ceremonies; we have tabernacles and temples; what is the meaning of them all? They cannot end in themselves; read the riddle; tell us in some short word which may be kept in a child’s memory the meaning of all the cumbrous machinery the gorgeous ritual of the olden time, and even the simpler worship of the passing day. What is the meaning of prayer, and faith, and gift, and service, and outward profession? Would we learn the word? We find it in the Old Testament and in the New Moses speaks it, Christ speaks it, Paul speaks it, John speaks it, they are all trying to say it “Love.” Love keeps nothing back; love is cruel as fire in the testing of qualities; love is genial as Heaven in the blessing of goodness. Though we have all knowledge, all prophecy, and are marvels in gifts of eloquence, and though we give our goods to feed the poor and our body to be burned, and outrun ancient Israel in costly and continuous ceremony, if we have not love pure, simple, childlike, beautiful love our music is noise, and our sacrifice is vanity.
Prayer
Thou wilt not show us thy glory now. Thou hast promised to show us thy goodness, and to make it pass before us: this thou art doing day by day; all things show the mercy of God. As for ourselves, goodness and mercy have followed us all the days of our life. We know this: our life speaks to this truth strongly and lovingly; therefore, we fear no evil: we smile upon the threatened darkness: the valley of the shadow of death is part of the way home. We have no real fear, no intense terror of heart; we are subject to passing dreads and alarms and foolish excitements, but all these do not touch the soul seated in the solemnity of an eternal covenant. Thou wilt accomplish all things; thou wilt not fail to bring on the topstone; having spent the ages in building the temple, the pinnacle shall not be wanting. Thou didst see the end from the beginning, and almightiness cannot fail. We stand in this security as within the munition of rocks; the wind cannot overturn our retreat; the tempest wastes its fury upon that stone; we are shut in by the hand of God. Help us to see the great beyond, not to be too curious about it, but to use it as an allurement, a silent persuasion, a mighty compulsion towards stronger work, nobler purpose, larger prayer; thus the heavens shall help the earth; the sun shall be our light all day, and above it shall there be a brightness which the soul can understand. We bless thee for a sense of sin forgiven. Continue thy daily pardon. We feel as if we must be pardoned every moment, for since we have been pardoned and our eyes have been enlightened, we see more clearly, and we discern more critically: the things which once wore no face of offence now burn before us as if filled with all horribleness and as if carrying all shame. We would be pure as God is pure, perfect with the perfectness of God; but this end who can attain except through long ages, by the way of the Cross, by the ministry of blood, by the mighty power of the Holy Ghost? But our hope is in God: we shall yet be perfected; we shall stand before him without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, without a tear of shame in the eyes, without a flutter of misgiving or fear in the uplifted hands. The Lord have us in his holy keeping; the Lord build for us a pavilion in which our souls may daily trust; and when the end comes may we find it but a beginning; when the shadow falls may it be the background of many an unsuspected star; and when we stand before thee may we have on the robe of Christ be clothed with him, not having on our own righteousness, which is of the law, but the righteousness of Christ, the purity of the Cross.
If this prayer may be answered now we shall not know but that we are already in heaven. Amen.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
(See the Deuteronomy Book Comments for Introductory content and Homiletic suggestions).
XII
FIRST AND SECOND ORATION, PART I
Deu 1:6-11:32
FIRST ORATION
The occasion is great and awe inspiring. Death is just ahead of the speaker, about one month off, and yet the old man stands before us in the vigor of youth. He does not die from decay of either mental or physical power but simply because God is going to take him. He has carried these people in his heart eighty years and has borne them in fact for forty marvelous years of eventful history; has suffered unspeakably in their behalf, and now is burdened with the spirit of prophecy which unfolds to his eagle eye their disastrous future for thousands of years, brightened for a time by the coming of the Prophet, like himself but infinitely greater, and the prospect of their final restoration. He starts out with a reference to Horeb where they entered into covenant relations with God, and where he himself sat, with the chiefs of the tribes, of thousands, of hundreds, of tens, to hear all minor causes, appealing to him only in great matters. The qualifications of these judges are set forth in Exo 18:21 , and “they were able men such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness,” and here, as “wise men, well-known chiefs of the tribes, full of understanding.” He rehearses his original charge to these judges: they must fairly hear all cases, must judge righteously, must be impartial, must fear no face of man, must remember that the judgment is Jehovah’s. The object of the reference is to show that they left Sinai thoroughly organized and equipped; left there in numbers more than the stars shown to Abraham and with their leader praying, “The Lord of your fathers make you a thousand times as many more as ye are, and bless you as he hath promised you.”
They left there at God’s command to go at once to take possession of their long promised country. But alas, on account of their sins they lost thirty-seven days in getting to Kadesh-barnea and then with the imperative command ringing in their ears, the Lord said as before, “Come and take possession”; they again are delayed forty days in order to get a report from spies, and after that report and an awful breach of the covenant they lost thirty-eight years more of weary wandering, then when again assembled at Kadesh-barnea sinned again and caused Moses himself to sin, and so debarred him from the Promised Land. Then, through unbelief in God, through fear of man, through presumption toward God, through fleshly lusts, they had utterly failed to enter in.
Moreover, they had lied in attributing their attitude of rebellion to parental concern for their children, which God rebuked by showing that he could lead those helpless children into the Promised Land without the loss of one, while the bones of the parents whitened in the wilderness. And now, though at Kadesh-barnea again, when entrance was no more than stepping over a line drawn in the sand, they must turn down toward the Red Sea, and by a long, weary and circuitous march approach the country on the other side; a path must compass Mountain Seir, skirt Edom, Moab, and Ammon and bring them into deadly conflict with Sihon, king of the Amorites, Og, king of Bashan, and all the hosts of Midian. That circuitous march was marked by some great sins and made memorable by some great deliverances. Aaron died at Mountain Hor. Moses is about to die, without passing over into the Promised Land.
Now, this oration, having thus briefly reviewed the legislation, makes that survey the basis of his exhortation by way of application. Learn from this model, O preachers, how to revive the lost art of exhortation. That used to be the custom for men that were called to exhort who could not preach. They could not preach a sermon but they could sit down and listen to a preacher preach and then move people mightily by exhortation. I have heard men, ignorant as they were in books, give exhortations that would make the stars sparkle.
Dr. Burleson preached a sermon at Huntsville and at the close of the sermon J. W. D. Creath got up and commenced by slapping his thigh and you could have heard him a hundred yards. He said, “The spirit of God is here, and the devil is fighting hard.” The people were converted by the hundreds and the biggest man was Sam Houston. A Negro boy on the outside was convicted of sin and came to the front, not understanding but feeling the power of God, he knelt at Sam Houston’s feet saying, “Massa Houston, save me.” Sam Houston said to the boy, “Ask the clergy, I am just a poor lost sinner myself.” We bad Deacon Pruitt; he never preached but Judge Baylor never held a meeting but he got Brother Pruitt to help him. He always wanted him to exhort after he preached. Moses determined to exhort these people, and in order to exhort them, he takes up the survery. They keep forgetting the times of his exhortation. The points are stated thus:
(1) Hearken unto God’s word and do it.
(2) Do not add to his law nor diminish it. “Heaven and earth,” says our Lord, “must pass away, but my word shall not pass away.”
(3) Be warned by your own history. History teaches lessons and imposes obligations. Preachers especially should be students of history in order to understand God’s government over nations and the way of his providence.
(4) In view of its impression on other nations obedience will be your highest wisdom. They will thereby recognize your relations with Jehovah and marvel at your prosperity and fear your power.
(5) Do not forget. Teach this law diligently to your children.
(6) Remember that you yourselves and your nation alone heard God’s own awful voice pronounce your Decalogue and that you have his autograph copy preserved as a witness.
(7) Remember that when you heard his voice you saw no likeness of him and beware that you make no graven image of anything that is in heaven above, nor earth below; do not fall down and worship it. We should all become iconoclasts, breakers of images. “Icon,” the image; “Iconoclast,” the breaker of images.
(8) Remember that Jehovah is a jealous God and will look upon sin with no degree of allowance, and be sure that he will find out your sins and be sure that he will punish your sins. Don’t you become so sweetly sentimental that you will think it impolite to say the word “hell.” Let us remember the awful words of our Lord, greater than Moses, who said, “Fear him that is able to destroy both soul and body in hell,” who said, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” So this is the first exhortation of Moses.
SECOND ORATION, PART I
The scripture of this part is Deu 4:44 , to the end of the eleventh chapter. Like the first oration, the second has an introduction giving the time, place, and circumstances of delivery. The closing: paragraph of Deu 4 gives this introduction in verses Deu 4:44-49 . There is nothing in it calling for additional comment beyond the fact that it marks an interval of undetermined time between the two Orations.
This part of the oration consists of a rehearsal of the whole Decalogue, stated in an offhand, oratorical form, without attempting the exact verbal quotations, and of an exposition of the first table, that is, the four commandments embodying our relation to God) and then an earnest exhortation by way of application. Note the verbal differences between this offhand rehearsal of the Decalogue by Moses and the Exodus record of it as spoken in the very words of Jehovah himself, and written by him on tablets of stone. From Revised Version, read Exo 20:2-17 , and then read the corresponding Commandments in the same version from Deu 5:6-21 . You must consider the Exodus form as the true original, and the Deuteronomy form as a substantial restatement by a public speaker, and note that Deu 5:15 , is not an attempt to quote the Fourth Commandment as originally given, but merely a passing exhortation, assigning an additional motive for remembering the sabbath day. The reader will also note that Romanists combine the first and the second according to our division, to make their first, and then divide our tenth to make their ninth and tenth. This does not affect the matter, only the numbering of the parts.
I asked you to read the Decalogue in Exodus and Deuteronomy alternately because enemies of the Bible have made so much of the fact that there is not an exact verbal agreement, and hence they have denied the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures. The reply to it is that the divine original in God’s own handwriting is the Commandments as they were delivered; second, in this case there is an inspired substantial restatement of the original in oratorical form and this restatement is just as much inspired as the original. Remember the sabbath because God rested on that day and it is prophetic, in an indirect way, of the New Testament sabbath. As God rested from creation when he had finished the work and the day commemorated an historical fact, so Jesus, having accomplished the great redemption (so that the Jewish sabbath is nailed to the cross of Christ), rested from his work and there remaineth a sabbath-keeping to the people of God. Jesus entered into this rest, as God did his.
Here I pause to commend, first, the exposition of the Decalogue in the Catechism of the Presbyterian Confession of Faith. This catechetical exposition has been taught to more children than perhaps any other in the world. Let us always commend the Presbyterians for their fidelity in family instruction, and always confess and lament Baptist delinquency on this line until we repent and do better. Second, it now gratifies me to be able to commend a Baptist exposition of the Decalogue, which, in my judgment, is the best in all literature. Not very long ago, a venerable man, soon to pass away, was helped upon the platform and introduced at the Southern Baptist Convention, and he received the Chautauqua salute. It was George Dana Boardman of missionary fame. He is the author of University Lectures on the Ten Commandments. The lectures were delivered before the students of Pennsylvania University, and the book was issued by the American Baptist Publication Society. Study it carefully and assimilate it into your very life. On the Fourth Commandment, perhaps without immodesty, I may ask you to read the three sermons on the sabbath in my first published volume of sermons.
My reason for speaking of these books is that Moses himself is now to devote eight chapters to an exposition of the Decalogue in the oration under consideration. You will make special note that Moses emphasizes the fact that the Decalogue was the only part of the covenant actually voiced by Jehovah, and that this divine autograph was then filed away in the ark as an eternal witness. The fact is also emphasized that no other people had even heard God’s voice or possessed his autograph. Thousands of the younger generation now addressed by Moses were present that awful day when Sinai smoked and trembled and was crested with fire, and the loud and ever louder trumpet smote their ears as no other trumpet will smite the ears of men until the great judgment day. They might well recall their terror when from the fires of Sinai this awful penetrating voice solemnly pronounced in thunder tones those Commandments one after another. They themselves could recall how they begged not to hear that voice any more and implored Moses to hear for them as mediator and to repeat to them in human voice any other words of God. I have already sought to impress you that Deuteronomy is an exposition of the law rather than a giving of the law. The orator and expositor not only shows that these Commandments of God are exceedingly broad, but he attempts to show their depths and reveal their heights, yea, to lay bare their very heart and spirit.
This heart and spirit he finds in the word “love.” “Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah, and thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy soul, with all thy might.” He compresses the first four Commandments into “Thou shalt love Jehovah,” as later in this book he compresses the last six into “Love thy neighbour as thyself.” When our Lord answers the question, “Which is the first commandment of the law?” He quotes Deuteronomy in his answer: “This is the first and great commandment, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and all thy mind, and all thy strength, and the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
And as the second is impossible without the first, a New Testament writer may well say, “All the law is fulfilled in this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” And another says, “Love is the fulfilling of the law.” Or as Paul to Timothy declares its widest scope, “Now the end of the commandment is love, out of a pure heart, out of a good conscience, out of faith unfeigned.” In one word then, that grandest thing in the world, LOVE, Moses expounds the Decalogue. On this matter he founds his exhortation thus:
(1) “Thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children and shalt talk 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, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes, and thou shalt write them on the posts of thine house, and on thy gates.” What a course of family instruction! What a theme of family conversation! What a safeguard at home, at the gate, at the door, at the hearth, at the bed! As the Jew awoke in the morning, the Law greeted him; as he passed the door, it saluted him; as he passed through the gate, it hailed him; in all his walking beyond the gate it accompanied him. It governed the words of his tongue; it remained between his eyes to regulate sight; it dwelt in his heart to regulate emotion; and remained in his mind to prescribe and proscribe thought, purpose and scheme. Its hand of authority touched the scales and yardstick and restrained within its bounds all his business. His fruit, his grain, his flock, and all other treasures acknowledged its supremacy. It provoked the questions of children by its object lessons and supplied the answers to the questions.
(2) When prosperity comes with its fulness of blessings) do not forget God, (Deu 6:10-15 ).
(3) When adversity and trial overtake you do not tempt God as you tempted him at Massah, saying, “Is God among us?” (Deu 6:16 ). Just here the psalmist says, “My feet had well nigh slipped, for I was envious of the prosperity of the wicked and said, In vain have I washed my hands in innocency and compassed thine altars, O Lord of Hosts.” How often have we been bitter in heart and counted God our adversary and ourselves the target of his arrows and lightning.
(4) “Remember that the destruction of the Canaanites is essential to your fidelity to this law. They will corrupt you if you spare them. You shall not pity them, for the measure of their iniquity is full.” You are God’s sheriff executing his will, not yours, mercilessly as a pestilence, a cyclone, an earthquake, or a flood, indiscriminatingly obey his will. Make no covenant with these doomed and incorrigible nations. Do not intermarry with them. Covet none of their possessions devoted to God’s curse. Ah, if only Achan later had remembered this and had not brought defeat upon his people and ruin to himself and house!
(5) Remember the bearing of this law on Self:
(a) When walls crumble before you and the sun and moon stand still to complete your victory, beware lest you attribute your victories to your own strength.
(b) Or to your numbers.
(c) And especially beware of self-righteousness. All your history avouches you to be a stiff-necked and rebellious people. There was no good in your origin. “A Syrian ready to perish was your father.” At the Red Sea, at the waters of Marah, when you thirsted, when you hungered, in all the wilderness, and at Kadesh-barnea, through the cunning of Balaam even until now you have sinned and kept sinning, and will continue to sin, existing as monuments of grace and mercy. Who are you, to be puffed up with conceit and pride of selfrighteousness?
(6) Consider how reasonable all of Jehovah’s commandments are: “And now, Israel, what doth Jehovah thy God require of thee but to fear Jehovah thy God, to walk in all his ways and to love him, and to serve Jehovah thy God with all thy soul, with all thy heart, to keep the commandments of Jehovah and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?” (Deu 10:12 ).
A later prophet shall re-echo the thought: “He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth Jehovah require of thee but to do justly and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God.”
(7) Finally, blessings crown your obedience and curses follow your disobedience. The inexorable alternative is set forth before you. Obey and live; disobey and die. And ye yourselves, over yonder, shall stand on opposing mountains while this law is read in a valley between, and those on Gerizirn shall call out the blessings, and those on Ebal shall pronounce the curses. And you will in one loud Bounding voice say, “Amen, so let it be.”
QUESTIONS
1. What briefly the occasion of the first oration?
2. What the substance, appeal and application of the first oration?
3. What lost art here referred to, and what examples of this art cited?
4. What the several points of his exhortation?
5. Where do you find introduction to the second oration and what the time, place and circumstances of its delivery?
6. Of what does Part 2 of the second oration consist?
7. What are the verbal differences between the Exodus form and the Deuteronomy form of the Decalogue and how account for them?
8. Which is the true, original form?
9. What of Moses’ statement here of the Fourth Commandment?
10. How do the Romanists number the commandments?
11. What charge is sometimes brought against the Bible because of these verbal differences and the reply thereto?
12. What books on the Ten Commandments commended?
13. What facts in connection with the giving of the Ten Commandments especially emphasized by Moses?
14. What was Moses’ summary of the Ten Commandments and what Christ’s use of it?
15. Kame the points of his exhortation.
16. How was the importance of teaching the law emphasized?
17. What exhortation relating to prosperity?
18. What one relating to adversity?
19. What charge concerning the Canaanites, and why?
20. What the bearing of this Law on self?
21. How does he show the reasonableness of God’s law?
22. What alternative set before them, and what prophecy concerning blessings and curses here given by Moses?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Deu 11:1 Therefore thou shalt love the LORD thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway.
Ver. 1. Therefore thou shalt love the Lord. ] Cos amoris amor. Ara amorem illius, saith Bernard. Not to love them that so loved us, is to be worse than a publican, more hard-hearted than a Jew. Mat 5:46 That the three children burned not in the furnace was a miracle, Dan 3:25 so it is that men so favoured love not God.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Deu 11:1-7
1You shall therefore love the LORD your God, and always keep His charge, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments. 2Know this day that I am not speaking with your sons who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of the LORD your God – His greatness, His mighty hand and His outstretched arm, 3and His signs and His works which He did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land; 4and what He did to Egypt’s army, to its horses and its chariots, when He made the water of the Red Sea to engulf them while they were pursuing you, and the LORD completely destroyed them; 5and what He did to you in the wilderness until you came to this place; 6and what He did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, when the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them, among all Israel – 7but your own eyes have seen all the great work of the LORD which He did.
Deu 11:1 Notice how the two VERBS of this verse are related. They are theologically parallel. One should result in the other!
1. love the LORD – BDB 12, KB 17, Qal PERFECT, cf. Deu 11:13; Deu 11:22. See full note at Deu 5:10.
2. keep His charge – BDB 1036, KB 1581, Qal PERFECT
This is a repeat of Deu 6:2; Deu 6:4-5; Deu 10:12. Love is both an action (obedience) and a feeling (with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might, cf. Deu 13:3)
His charge, His statutes, His ordinances and His commandments See Special Topic at Deu 4:1.
Deu 11:2 And know this day that I am not speaking with your sons who have not known and who have not seen Moses is appealing to those who were eye witnesses ( as Levites and children under the age of military service, below 20 years old, cf. Deu 1:6; Deu 1:9; Deu 1:14; Deu 5:2; Deu 5:5; Deu 11:2; Deu 11:7) to the events of the Exodus and wilderness wanderings (cf. Deu 4:34; Deu 7:19).
Know See full note at Deu 4:35.
the discipline of the Lord God’s discipline (BDB 416) is positive, Deu 11:3; and negative, Deu 11:6. Child training is a characteristic of our father God (cf. Heb 12:5-13). This is another wisdom term used so often in Proverbs.
His greatness See notes at Deu 10:17; Deu 4:31.
His mighty hand, and His outstretched arm This is an anthropomorphic phrase used for God’s power (cf. Deu 4:34; Deu 5:15; Deu 6:21; Deu 9:29). See note at Deu 4:34.
Deu 11:4 Red Sea to engulf them The Hebrew word here is Reed Sea (BDB 410 CONSTRUCT 693 I). See Special Topic: The Red Sea . Engulf is literally flow over their faces (BDB 847, KB 1012, Hiphil PERFECT, cf. Exo 14:23-31), which is an idiom for drowning.
Deu 11:5 This is a reminder of God’s supernatural provisions during the wilderness wanderings. See full note at Deu 8:4.
Deu 11:6 Dathan and Abiram See Num 16:1-35; Num 26:9-10; Psa 106:16-18.
among all Israel See Special Topic: Israel (the name) .
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.
statutes, and . . . judgments. See note on Deu 4:1.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 11
In chapter eleven he continues his warnings to them, as they are about to come into the land. And he reminds them again of the miracles that God did for them in bringing them out of Egypt. How He spoiled the Pharaoh and all of his land, how He destroyed the armies of Egypt there in the Red Sea, and how He watched over them, nurtured them, kept them, preserved them all through the wilderness right up to this moment and what He did to those that rebelled against them. Dathan and Abiram, how the earth opened and swallowed them up.
Your eyes have seen all the great acts of the Lord which he did. [You’ve watched God work.] Therefore you’re to keep all his commandments which I command you this day, be strong, go in and possess the land; that you may prolong your days in the land, which the LORD sware to your fathers to give to them, a land that flows with milk and honey. The land, where you go to possess, is not the land of Egypt, from which you came out, where you sowed your seed, and had to water it with your foot, like a garden of herbs: But it’s a land, where you’re gonna get sufficient rain, [Where there will be plenty of streams and rivulets and so forth.] drinking water the rain from heaven. The land that your LORD cares for ( Deu 11:7-12 )
And this I love. This particular spot of land is the land that the Lord cares for.
And the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it ( Deu 11:12 ).
I always like to think of this scripture when I’m over in Israel. Hey, I’m right in the area where God’s always looking. The eyes of the Lord are always upon this particular spot of land. It’s a land that God cares for.
Now, it really isn’t the most beautiful land in the world. I’ve been in a lot of places that I think are more beautiful than Israel as far as physical beauty. Really, the state of California, you get up in the high Sierras up around Yosemite and all and you’ve got beauties that are unparalleled as far as-there’s nothing in Israel to compare with those things. But yet it is a land that God had purposed to fulfill His plan of redemption for mankind, and thus, it was a land that God was interested. It’s a land that He cares for because in this land His son was to be born. In this land His Son was to walk. In this land His Son was to die. And thus, God was interested in this land. His eyes were always upon it.
From the beginning of the year even to the end of the year. Now it will come to pass, if you will hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, Then God will give you the rain in its due season, the first and the latter rain, that you may gather your corn, and your wine, and your oil. And I’ll send the grass in the fields for your cattle, that you may eat and be full ( Deu 11:12-15 ).
So, when you come in, as long you love God and serve God, God’s gonna bless you. The land will be blessed. You’ll have rain in its season, the early and the latter rain. You’ll have green grass in the field for your cattle. You’ll have good crops. One requirement, just love God and serve God with all your heart, with all your soul.
But take heed, that your heart is not deceived, that you turn aside and serve other gods, and worship them; And then the LORD’S wrath will be kindled against you, and he shut up the heavens, that there be no rain, and the land will not yield their fruit; lest you perish quickly from off the good land from which the LORD gives you. Therefore lay up these words in your heart and in your soul, bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they might be as frontlets between your eyes ( Deu 11:16-18 ).
In other words, remember this. Now the interesting thing, again you can get into a ritual but you can in the ritual forget the meanings. And they still go through the ritual of binding their phylacteries. They go through the ritual of binding the little law upon their hand, binding the little box with the law upon their foreheads, the masseuses on their door and kissing of the masseuses. They go through the whole ritual thing but that’s all it is, is a ritual. There is no real serving God and loving God with all their hearts and souls. The ritual has substituted for that. And we must beware lest we allow a ritual to substitute for reality. It’s a deception. They were warned that they should not be deceived and go worshipping other gods. Though the warning came yet they did not heed the warning and thus, even as God pronounced the judgments that should come they did come because God’s word is true.
Teach them to your children, speak to them when you’re sitting down at the table, when you’re lying down in the room at night, when you’re walking with them in the path. Write them upon the door posts of your house, and upon your gates ( Deu 11:19-20 ):
I think that it’s great to have mottoes around the house; scriptures pasted up on the walls. For you ladies on your mirrors you might have the scripture “Favor is deceitful, beauty is vain but the woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised”( Pro 31:30 ). That around the house we have the word of God. God is saying, “Look, put it all over the place. Write it out there”. This is good graffiti.
We have a fellow in our church who designs heartpacers and has designed some of the most sophisticated heartpacers that are in the entire industry. Little computers that are the size of a quarter that can be implanted under the skin and remain operational for twenty years.
And the other night he brought me the big design sheets for this new computerized heartpacer that will be about the size of a quarter and he was laying them out in my office and showing me these big layout sheets. They take photographs of these big layout sheets and put them on these little tiny silicone chips and all. And then, well, they lay the chips one on top of the other and you have just a miniature computer the size of a quarter. It will constantly monitor your heartbeat and as soon as your heartbeat drops down below fifty-seven or fifty-six or wherever the doctor wants to set it, then this little computer when it’s monitoring their heart, when it drops below that it kicks on and starts throwing an electrical charge at your heart to keep the beat up to whatever standard the doctor wants it. Once it’s implanted, he’s got a little system where the doctor can just with a magnet change a computer from the outside. And it’s a very sophisticated little thing.
But he was showing me these layout sheets with all of the little circuitry designs within it. But within all of the circuitry designs he’s got Romans nine and ten. “For if thou shall confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord, believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved. Maranatha doves, fish, Joh 3:16 and all kinds of scriptures. “Jesus is love and God loves you” and all, all of this are all imprinted in these little miniature microchips for the computer. Takes an electron microscope to see them but he says, “I figure, whoever gets one of these heartpacers is gonna have the word of God hidden away in his heart”. Man I just had fits in the office when I was looking at those. I love it. I love that kind of stuff. All of a sudden guy turns good and he doesn’t know why.
So put these words in your heart, he says, and in your soul. Put them around the place that they might be reminders to you and to your children to walk after the Lord. It was the Lord that gave you the land and if you serve Him and love Him you’ll remain and continue in the land. But if you forsake Him you’ll be driven from the land.
For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments [verse twenty-two] that I command you, and to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, to cleave to him; Then will the LORD drive out all the nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves. Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, to the river Euphrates, even to the uttermost sea shall your coast be ( Deu 11:22-24 ).
Actually, they never did conquer all that God had given to them. They never did possess all that was theirs by God’s divine decree. I think that there’s an unfortunate parallel in our life. I don’t think that we ever possess all that God has for us or all that God would do for us. It’s there, all we have to do by faith is go in and claim it and take it and yet all of us come short of the glory of God: that which God would do for us if we would just step in and take. It’s tragic that when the borders were so expanded by God and all you have to do is possess it that they failed to possess all that God had given, even as it’s tragic that we so often fail to possess all that God has given. Now many times that we fail to possess for different reasons: intellectual limitations, restrictions that we have placed upon God by our presuppositions. So many reasons why we fail to enter into the fullness that God has for our lives.
There will be no one that’ll be able to stand before you: because God is gonna be with you. [But he said,] Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; A blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD: A curse, if you will not obey ( Deu 11:25-28 )
That’s always the way it is. God sets before you the blessing and the curse; it’s your choice. You can choose the path of God’s blessing in your life; you can choose the path that’ll lead to God’s curse upon your life. Now, it isn’t that God curses you, it is the curse is already on that manner of life. God is warning you that that manner of life has a curse already upon it.
Now, if you are constantly warning a person that the path that he is taking is leading to a pit of quicksand and as he’s going down the path everyone he meets says, “Oh be careful down the path a ways there’s a pit of quicksand. You can’t go past it” and the guy keeps going. And as he gets there, someone says “Hey be careful, don’t go out there that’s quicksand. You’ll get lost, you know, you’ll suck in”. But he ignores all the warnings, he continues on that path and he gets mired in the quicksand and gets caught in it and goes under. And as he’s going under, he curses all of the people that he met along the path for not stopping him. Is that right? Of course it isn’t. They warned him where the path was leading. Now look, God has warned you where your path is leading. If you disobey Him, if you rebel against Him, God said, “Hey that path is leading to destruction”. And He warns you all the way along the path.
Now if you go to destruction it isn’t that God sent you there. It’s that you deliberately went there against all of God’s endeavors to keep you from there. Actually, Jesus Christ, in a sense, has laid down before the gate of hell and you’ve gotta cross over His body to get there. You’ve gotta trample under foot the Son of God and count the blood of His covenant wherewith He was sanctified an unholy thing to get into hell. He’s done everything to stop you, lying right down in your path, making you tramp over Him to get there. And if you end up there you surely can’t blame God or you can’t blame Jesus. You can only blame your own stubborn rebellion against God. For God did all that He could short of the violation of your will to stop you from going.
I’ve set before you a blessing and a curse; A blessing, if you obey… : A curse, if you don’t obey… When you get in the land, put these blessings the blessings on mount Gerizim, the curse on mount Ebal ( Deu 11:26-29 ).
Now when you come into the land, the middle of the land, the area where Abraham first came, the place where Jacob lived for such a time, dug a well; right there in the area of Shechem, on the south side is Mount Gerizim, on the north side is Mount Ebal. And when they came into the land some of the men were to go up to the top of Mount Gerizim and they were to shout to the people who were in this valley between these two mountains, shout down to them the blessings of the land and the conditions of blessings.
And as these men would shout down, “Blessed be ye in the fields” the people say, “Amen”. “And in your cities” “Amen” and they would shout down these blessings. But on Mount Ebal there’s another bunch of guys that were shouting the curses that would come to them if they disobeyed. So on Gerizim the blessing was placed and they would shout down to the people in the valley, the people would consent “Amen, Amen”. And from Ebal the curses were pronounced and again the consenting “Yes, that’s right. That’s right, amen, amen. So be it”. So that must have been quite an experience.
I’ve been in Yosemite when I was a kid and they used to have the firefalls and, you know, up on top of Glacier Point, the guys would just say, “Are you ready camp Curry”, you know, and the voice you would hear over to Simi Valley and the guy down below would yell “We’re ready Glacier Point. Let the fire fall.” You know, then you’d see the beautiful firefalls. Unfortunately they don’t have those there; they were absolutely spectacular.
But even as those guys were up on the top of Glacier Point and down in the valley you could hear their voices, so was in Israel. It must have been a very remarkable and moving experience to have a million or so people filling this valley and this bunch of guys up on the top of Mount Gerizim calling down upon them the blessings of God if they would walk and obey and keep the commandments of God, the things that God would do for them. And then to hear the warnings of God from the other side. It was meant to be impressed in their minds so that they wouldn’t forget, but unfortunately they forgot.
“
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
As Moses concluded his great call to the people to the pathway of obedience, he reminded them what varied experiences they had had from which they knew the nature of the government and power of God.
He wooed them toward obedience by speaking of the excellencies of the land to which they were going and by contrasting it with the land of Egypt from which they had come. Egypt was the place of forced cultivation. The new land was one watered, and loved, and watched by God.
For all material prosperity in this new land they therefore must depend entirely on God, knowing that His answers of blessing would depend in turn on their obedience to His law. He told them that they would move to possession of the land and all its wealth in unhindered power in proportion as they maintained the position of unquestioning obedience.
Very solemnly he called them to remember that he had set clearly before them the way of blessing and the way of cursing, finally ordaining on Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, a solemn ceremony of blessing and cursing. Concerning these he gave more detailed instructions at a later period.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
the Rewards of Obedience
Deu 11:1-17
In this chapter the introductory portion of this book closes, and two final arguments are brought to bear on the chosen people, to induce them to love God and keep His charge. The one has already been referred to, consisting of those awful judgments with which God had punished the stiff-neckedness of Pharaoh and the rebellions of the Wilderness. We may as well learn sooner than later, that God will have us holy, and if we will not yield to His loving solicitations we must suffer His stern chastisements.
The other argument is derived from the blessings which they would inherit by obedience. In Egypt the irrigation of the land was laboriously effected by the tread-wheels, that raised the water from the Nile-level, but in Canaan there were two annual rainy seasons-the former, September-October; the latter, March-April. The regularity of these seasons depended on Israels loyal obedience. We are reminded of Joh 4:14. May we not ask ourselves, which of these typifies our religious life? See Heb 4:1.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Deu 11:11-12
I. The Jew was to understand from his first entry into the land of Canaan that his prosperity depended utterly on God. The laws of weather, by which the rain comes up off the sea, were unknown to him. They are all but unknown to us now. But they were known to God. Not a drop could fall without His providence and will; therefore they were utterly in His power.
The warning of this text came true. More than once we read of drought, long, severe, and ruinous. In one famous case, there was no rain for three years, and Ahab had to go out to search through the land for a scrap of pasture. These droughts came at times when the Jews had fallen into idolatry and profligacy.
II. It is the intense faith in the living God which can come only by the inspiration of the Spirit of God which proves the Old Testament to be truly inspired. In later times the Jews had these words of Moses written on their foreheads, but not on their hearts. They had lost all faith in God; He had spoken to their fathers, but they could not believe that He was speaking to them, not even when He spoke by His only-begotten Son, the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person. Wrapped up in their narrow, shallow book-divinity, they said, “This people who knoweth not the law is accursed.” Nothing new could be true. It must be put down, persecuted down, lest the Romans should come and take away their place and nation. But they did not succeed. The Romans came after all and took away their place and nation, and so they failed, as all will fail, who will not believe in God. The truth which they think they have stifled will rise again, for Christ, who is the Truth, will raise it again, and it shall conquer, and leaven the hearts of men till all be leavened.
C. Kingsley, Gospel of the Pentateuch, p. 210.
References: Deu 11:12.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xiii., p. 728. Deu 11:18.-H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 2580. Deu 11:18-21.-H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xviii., p. 152.
Deu 11:19
I. This is the simplest notion of education; for undoubtedly he is perfectly educated who is taught all the will of God concerning him, and enabled through life to execute it. And he is not well educated who does not know the will of God, or, knowing it, has received no help in his education towards being inclined and enabled to do it.
II. The special thing meant to be taught to the Israelites was a knowledge of God’s statutes and ordinances, not the Ten Commandments only, nor all the early history of their forefathers contained in the Book of Genesis, but God’s law given to them His people, His will respecting them morally and politically, His will with regard to all the relations of private and public life; all this was laid down in their law; all this was carefully to be taught them in their youth, that so, in whatsoever line of life they might be thrown, or whatever questions might be agitated, they might know what was God’s will, and therefore might know and do their own duty.
III. For the Israelites the Bible contained both the rule and its application; for us it contains only the rule. In order, therefore, to instruct our children fully in God’s will and enable them to execute it, we must bring in some other knowledge and other studies, not to be found in the Bible, in order to make up for that part of the Bible which gave this instruction to the Israelites, but which gives it us no longer.
And hence it is clear that neither is the Bible alone sufficient to give a complete religious education, nor is it possible to teach history and moral and political philosophy with no reference to the Bible without giving an education that should be anti-religious. For in the one case the rule is given without the application; in the other the application is derived from a wrong rule.
T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. iii., p. 131
Deu 11:21
The text shows us a Divine method in providence; a law for individual and national life, and for the larger life of the race; a law borne witness to by the history of the people whose history is a light for all time, and by which we have gleams through experience of bitter times, foretastes and earnests of the inheritance of light, periods filled with special mercy and truth, times of quickening and spiritual growth, days of heaven upon earth.
I. The first days of the Christian revelation were, in the highest and most absolute sense, days of heaven upon earth. And these days still return to us. Times of revival are simply repetitions on a smaller scale of the first days of the Church.
The old doctrines, the old familiar facts of the Gospel, are transfigured as Christ was. They rise, as He rose, from the dead, and again we behold the miracle of a nation being born in a day.
II. The times when the soul is open to the revelations and offers of Divine life are days of heaven upon earth. The dawns and sunsets of these days are in the soul itself. “Be not disobedient to the heavenly vision.” While the light of it is shining walk in the light. It is the light which is the life both of God and man.
III. The coming of Christ into a life is the beginning of days of heaven for that life. That would be a day of heaven to Zaccheus when Christ said to him, “To-day I must abide at thy house.” Suddenly, by Christ’s visit, life changes for him, and the poor lorn, lost, hated Zaccheus has a song in his heart, and a heart resolute to be on God’s side and do God’s will.
IV. Times of service under Christ are days of heaven upon earth. The time spent in Christian service seems to expand, to become more capacious for enterprise, more filled with opportunity, until we come, in our experience of it, to have vivid conceptions of the state concerning which it is written, “There is no night there,” and real gleams of days of heaven upon earth.
V. The beautiful days of earth are types and sometimes actual realisations of such days of heaven.
VI. Christ is the Light which makes days of heaven possible. And such days fail of their purpose if they fail to increase our joy in Him.
A. MACLEOD, Days of Heaven upon Earth, p. 1.
References: Deu 11:21.-G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 326. Deu 11:26-32.-Parker, vol. iv., p. 212.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
Israels Responsibility, the Blessing and the Curse
CHAPTER 11
1. Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God (Deu 11:1-9)
2. If ye hearken unto my commandments (Deu 11:10-21)
3. The blessing and the curse (Deu 11:22-32)
The great characteristic teaching of this book, obedience springing from love to Jehovah, is still further developed in this chapter. It begins with a therefore. The last verse of the previous chapter shows that Jehovah had kept the promise made to the fathers of the nation. Then once more the mighty acts of Jehovah are reviewed. His miracles and acts done in Egypt; what He did at the Red Sea and what He did unto them in the wilderness–therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God. They were also to love Him and keep His words in view of the land they were about to possess. What He had done and what He was going to do for them, called for the love and obedience of His people. May we heed the same call. The result of obedience in loving and serving the Lord would be the first and the latter rain, fruitful fields and abundant harvests. Jehovah would also drive out the enemies and give them the land. Blessing and curse are solemnly set before the people by their leader. Of the mount of blessing, Gerizim, and the mount of curse, Ebal, we shall hear more fully later (chapter 17).
(The foolish theory that latter rain means a spiritual revival and is a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit has no foundation at all in the Word of God. Such spiritualizing leads and has led into confusion.)
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
thou shalt: This verse is the practical improvement of the conclusion of the foregoing chapter; while the next verse begins another view of the subject. Deu 6:5, Deu 10:12, Deu 30:16-20, Psa 116:1
keep: Lev 8:35, Zec 3:7
his statutes: Deu 4:1, Deu 4:5, Deu 4:40, Deu 6:1, Psa 105:45, Luk 1:74, Luk 1:75
Reciprocal: Exo 24:3 – all the judgments Deu 5:29 – keep all Deu 5:31 – General Deu 26:16 – This day Deu 27:10 – General Jos 22:5 – love Psa 106:3 – at all times Eze 18:9 – walked
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Deu 11:10. Water it with thy foot. Egypt was watered periodically by the overflowing of the Nile; and the husbandman, following the retiring waters, sowed his seed. When the droughty season came on, the country being intersected with canals, they watered the corn with machines worked by the foot. The overflowing of rivers is finely improved in the sacred writings. Thou visitest the earth and waterest it, thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God. Psa 65:9. Of the increase of divine wisdom, the author of Ecclesiasticus says, He maketh understanding to abound like the Euphrates, and as Jordan in the time of harvest. Sir 24:26.
Deu 11:14. The first rain. This fell in October, when the sun entered the sign of Aquarius, the waterman, and caused the wheat to germinate. The barley was sown about the winter solstice, and reaped after a hundred days; that is, after Easter. The latter rain fell in March, and fed and nourished the corn while eating.
Deu 11:18. A sign upon your hand. These phylacteries were of use to make the scriptures known: we do not need them now, having bibles almost in every house, which are read daily in christian families.
Deu 11:24. From the wilderness and Lebanon; that is, east of Lebanon, and south-west, as far as the brook Bezor, going to Egypt. This describes the kingdom of Israel as in the days of Solomon. The boundaries of nations once settled, ought to prevent war for aggrandizement and conquest. The whole of the small kingdom of Damascus was included in the grant, because the words are, from the river Euphrates: yet they never possessed it, but were often annoyed by its wars.
Deu 11:30. Beside the plains of Moreh. The readings vary here. The Septuagint reads, Near the tall oak. The Samaritan version after Moreh, adds an expletive, before Sichem, which was necessary, in order that a stranger might identify the spot. See note on Gen 13:18.
REFLECTIONS.
This chapter opens with a charge deduced from the preseding discourse to love the Lord, and to keep his statutes and judgments. The charge is farther enforced by an appeal to a nation of men who were eye-witnesses of the plagues of Egypt, of the overthrow of Pharaoh and his host in the sea, and of the visitations of heaven on their fathers for their sins. What an argument for the truth of revealed religion, what a stroke at infidelity, what conviction must it not have conveyed to the audience, and proofs of a particular providence! Could any consideration more effectually command the obedience of the future age, than such a review of the past? Vain and giddy man, alive to his passions and interest, but forgetful of God and futurity, needs the high imposing hand of revelation, sealed by the visitations of providence, frequently to be set before him, to perpetuate in his heart the fear of the Lord.
Obedience is farther pressed by the consideration, that the promised land exceeded Egypt, in regard to hills and vales; refreshing rains, wholesome fountains, and salubrity of climate; for the country they had left, however fertile, where the Nile overflows, was in other parts nearly a total desert. Its towns during the rainy season were inundated with water, and during the drought the inhabitants were exhausted with the labour of watering the corn. And if this argument was forcible with Israel, how much more should the infinitely glorious rest of heaven induce us to obey the gospel, which calls us to an inheritance which fadeth not away. Revelation affords us an open view, to wean our affections from the world, and join them to the Lord.
The Israelites are next charged, not only to treasure up the divine precepts, but to teach them diligently to their children, long life being promised to obedience. Children, whether Hebrew or Christian, are born with propensities to stray like the wild asss colt. If not early initiated into the knowledge and discipline of the Lord, they would all become as the Indian or Arabian race. This is a subject of the last importance to the cause of God, and it must be admitted that the primitive church far excelled us in the care of children. In the higher walks of life, boys are taught to read the ancient and modern classics, the productions in general of profane and infidel men. Youth readily imbibes sentiments so refined, and glows with emulation to imitate the morals and conduct of a favourite hero. But the morals of that hero may be ruinous to youth, and ruinous to a nation. For instance, neas escaped from Troy with the fragments of a fleet. Dido, queen of Carthage, received him into her port and into her palace, with the most refined hospitality. She loved him, she gave him her hand at the altar, and made him her superior in the throne. Yet he almost instantly abandoned her to shame and grief, to seek a more romantic fortune on the Italian shores. All this ingratitude and crime Virgil paints in the most enchanting language, and without the slightest censure; nay, he sanctifies this foulest of deeds by a mandate from the gods! What effect are systems of this nature, early imbibed by youth, likely to produce on the morals of a court. What can we expect from an age ignorant of the bible, and licentious by principle, but dissipation, seduction, and divorce.
Among the children of the poor, the cause of alarm is scarcely less than among the great. Our flourishing ports and manufacturing towns have attracted a multitude of people, who being known in the narrow circles only of domestic society, scarcely dream that they have a moral character to sustain. Add to this, we see a thousand smiling factories, ornaments indeed to our country, and blessings to the poor; but the proprietors, wholly absorbed in the idea of realizing a fortune and distinguishing their name, seldom deign to consult the morals of the poor. They turn males and females upon the same floor, and daily expose them to all the insolence of language, and power of temptation: and what are the consequences? Surely, except the Lord had left us a remnant, we had been as Sodom, or like unto Gomorrah. Surely, except the Lord had latterly revived religion, and inclined the hearts of his people to establish Sunday schools to preserve a part of the rising age from the mass of corruption, the cause of morality had been overwhelmed by the inundation of vice.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Deuteronomy 11
“Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgements, and his commandments, alway. And know ye this day; for I speak not with your children which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisements of the Lord your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm, 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; 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 hath destroyed them unto this day; and what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came unto this place; 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; but your eyes have seen all the great acts of the Lord which he did.”
Moses felt it to be of the very highest importance that all the mighty acts of Jehovah should be kept prominently before the hearts of the people, and deeply engraved on the tablets of their memory. The poor human mind is vagrant, and the heart volatile; and, notwithstanding all that Israel had seen of the solemn judgements of God upon Egypt and upon Pharaoh, they were in danger of forgetting them, and losing the impression which they were designed and eminently fitted to make upon them.
It may be we feel disposed to wonder how Israel could ever forget the impressive scenes of their history in Egypt from first to last – the descent of their fathers thither as a mere handful, their steady growth and progress, as a people, spite of formidable difficulties and hindrances, so that from the insignificant few they had become, by the good hand of their God upon them, as the stars of heaven for multitude.
And then those ten plagues upon the land of Egypt! How full of awful solemnity! How pre-eminently calculated to impress the heart with a sense of the mighty power of God, the utter impotency and insignificance of man, in all his boasted wisdom, strength and glory, and the egregious folly of his attempting to set himself up against the Almighty God! What was all the power of Pharaoh and of Egypt in the presence of the Lord God of Israel! In one hour all was plunged into hopeless ruin and destruction. All the chariots of Egypt, all the pomp and glory, the valour and might of that ancient and far-famed nation – all was overwhelmed in the depths of the sea.
And why? Because they had presumed to meddle with the Israel of God; they had dared to set themselves in opposition to the eternal purpose and counsel of the Most High. They sought to crush those on whom He had set His love. He had sworn to bless the seed of Abraham, and no power of earth or hell could possibly annul His oath. Pharaoh, in his pride and hardness of heart, attempted to countervail the divine actings, but he only meddled to his own destruction. His land was shaken to its very centre, and himself and his mighty army overthrown in the Red Sea, a solemn example to all who should ever attempt to stand in the way of Jehovah’s purpose to bless the seed of Abraham His friend.
Nor was it merely what Jehovah had done to Egypt and to Pharaoh that the people were called to remember, but also what He had done amongst themselves. How soul-subduing the judgement upon Dathan and Abiram and their households! How awful the thought of the earth opening her mouth and swallowing them up! And for what? For their rebellion against the divine appointment. In the history given in Numbers, Korah, the Levite, is the prominent character; but here he is omitted, and the two Reubenites are named – two members of the congregation, because Moses is seeking to act on the whole body of the people by setting before them the terrible consequence of self-will in two of their number – two ordinary members, as we should say, and not merely a privileged Levite.
In a word, then, whether the attention was called to the divine actings without or within, abroad or at home, it was all for the purpose of impressing their hearts and minds with a deep sense of the moral importance of obedience. This was the one grand aim of all the rehearsals, all the comment, all the exhortations of the faithful servant of God who was so soon to be removed from their midst. For this he ranges over their history for centuries, culling, grouping, commenting, taking up this fact and omitting that, as guided by the Spirit of God. The journey down to Egypt, the sojourn there, the heavy judgements upon the self-willed Pharaoh, the exodus, the passage through the sea, the scenes in the wilderness, and specially, the awful fate of the two rebellious Reubenites – all is brought to bear, with marvellous force and clearness, upon the conscience of the people, in order to strengthen the basis of Jehovah’s claim upon their unqualified obedience to His holy commandments.
“Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go to possess it; and that ye may prolong your days in the land, which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land that floweth with milk and honey.”
Let the reader note the beautiful moral link between those two clauses, “Keep all the commandments” – “That ye may be strong.” There is great strength gained by unreserved obedience to the word of God. It will not do to pick and choose. We are prone to this, prone to take up certain commandments and precepts which suit ourselves; but this is really self-will. What right have we to select such and such precepts from the word, and neglect others! None whatever. To do so is, in principle, simply self-will and rebellion. What business has a servant to decide as to which of his master’s commands he will obey? Surely none whatever; each commandment stands clothed with the masters authority, and therefore claims the servant’s attention; and, we may add, the more implicitly the servant obeys, the more he bends his respectful attention to every one of his master’s commands, be it ever so trivial, the more does he strengthen himself in his position and grow in his master’s confidence and esteem. Every master loves and values an obedient, faithful, devoted servant. We all know what a comfort it is to have a servant whom we can trust, one who finds his delight in carrying out our every wish, and who does not require perpetual looking after, but knows his duty and attends to it.
Now, ought we not to seek to refresh the heart of our blessed Master, by a loving obedience to all His commandments? Only think, reader, what a privilege it is to be allowed to give joy to the heart of that blessed One who loved us and gave Himself for us. It is something wonderful that poor creatures such as we can in any way refresh the heart of Jesus; yet so it is, blessed be His Name! He delights in our keeping His commandments; and assuredly the thought of this should stir our whole moral being, and lead us to study His word, in order to find out, more and more, what His commandments are – so that we may do them.
We are forcibly reminded, by those words of Moses which we have just quoted, of the apostle’s prayer for “the saints and faithful brethren in Christ at Colosse.” “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness; giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love; in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.” (Col. 1: 9-14.)
Making allowance for the difference between the earthly and the heavenly – between Israel and the church, there is a striking similarity between the words of the law-giver and the words of the apostle. Both together are eminently fitted to set forth the beauty and preciousness of a willing-hearted loving obedience. It is precious to the Father, precious to Christ, precious to the Holy Ghost; and this surely ought to be enough to create and strengthen in our hearts the desire to be filled with the knowledge of His will, that so we might walk worthy of Him to all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. It should lead us to a more diligent study of the word of God, so that we might be ever finding out more and more of our Lord’s mind and will, learning what is well-pleasing to Him, and looking to Him for grace to do it. Thus should our hearts be kept near to Him, and we should find an ever-deepening interest in searching the scriptures not merely to grow in the knowledge of truth, but in the knowledge of God, the knowledge of Christ – the deep, personal, experimental knowledge of all that it treasured up in that blessed One who is the fulness of the Godhead bodily. Oh! may the Spirit Of God, by His most precious and powerful ministry, awaken in us a more intense desire to know and to do the will of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, that thus we may refresh His loving heart and be well-pleasing to Him in all things!
We must now turn, for a moment, to the lovely picture of the promised land which Moses holds up before the eyes of the people. “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: but the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven; a land which the Lord thy God careth for; the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.” (Vers. 10-12.)
What a vivid contrast between Egypt and Canaan! Egypt had no rain from heaven. It was all human effort there. Not so in the Lord’s land; the human foot could do nothing there, nor was there any need, for the blessed rain from heaven dropped upon it; Jehovah Himself cared for it and watered it with the early and latter rain. The land of Egypt was dependent upon its own resources; the land of Canaan was wholly dependent upon God – upon what came down from heaven “My river is mine own,” was the language of Egypt. “The river of God” was the hope of Canaan. The habit in Egypt was to water with the foot; the habit in Canaan was to look up to heaven.
We have in the sixty-fifth Psalm a lovely statement of the condition of things in the Lord’s land, as viewed by the eye of faith “Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it; thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God which is full of water; thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it. Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly; thou settlest the furrows thereof; thou makest it soft with showers; thou blessest the springing thereof. Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness. They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness; and the little hills rejoice on every side. The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing.” (Vers. 9-13.)
How perfectly beautiful! Only think of God watering the ridges, and settling the furrows! Think of His stooping down to do the work of a husbandman for His people! Yes, and delighting to do it! It was the joy of His heart to pour His sunbeams and His refreshing showers upon the “hills and valleys” of His beloved people. It was refreshing to His spirit, as it was to the praise of His Name to see the vine, the fig-tree and the olive flourishing, the valleys covered with the golden grain, and the rich pastures covered with flocks of sheep.
Thus it should ever have been, and thus it would have been, had Israel only walked in simple obedience to the holy law of God. “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, that I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full.” (Vers. 13-15)
Thus the matter stood between the God of Israel, and the Israel of God. Nothing could be simpler, nothing more blessed. It was Israel’s high and holy privilege to love and serve Jehovah; it was Jehovah’s prerogative to bless and prosper Israel. Happiness and fruitfulness were to be the sure accompaniments of obedience. The people and their land were wholly dependent upon God; all their supplies were to come down from heaven, and hence so long as they walked in loving obedience the copious showers dropped upon their fields and vineyards; the heavens dropped down the dew, and the earth responded in fruitfulness and blessing.
But, on the other hand, when Israel forgot the Lord, and forsook His precious commandments, the heaven became brass and the earth iron; barrenness, desolation, famine and misery were the melancholy accompaniments of disobedience. How could it be otherwise? “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land; but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth Of the Lord bath spoken it.”
Now, in all this there is deep practical instruction for the church of God. Although we are not under law, we are called to obedience, and as we are enabled through grace to yield a loving hearty obedience, we are blessed in our own spiritual state, our souls are watered, refreshed and strengthened, and we bring forth the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.
The reader may refer with much profit, in connection with this great practical subject, to the opening of John 15 – a most precious scripture, and one demanding the earnest attention of every true-hearted child of God. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without [or apart from] me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you; continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.” (Vers. 1-10.)
This weighty passage of scripture has suffered: immensely through theological controversy and religious strife. It is as plain as it is practical, and only needs to be taken as it stands, in its own divine simplicity. If we seek to import into it what does not belong to it, we mar its integrity and miss its true application. In it we have Christ, the true vine, taking the place of Israel who had become to Jehovah the degenerate plant of a strange vine. The scene of the parable is obviously earth and not heaven; we do not think of a vine and a husbandman (georgos) in heaven. Besides, our Lord says, “I am the true vine.” The figure is very distinct. It is not the Head and the members, but a tree and its branches. Moreover, the subject of the parable is as distinct as the parable itself; it is not eternal life, but fruit-bearing. If this were borne in mind, it would greatly help to an understanding of this much misunderstood passage of scripture.
In a word then, we learn from the figure of the vine and its branches that the true secret of fruit-bearing is to abide in Christ, and the way to abide in Christ is to keep His precious commandments. “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.” This makes it all so simple. The way to bear fruit in season is to abide in the love of Christ, and this abiding is proved by our treasuring up His commandments in our hearts and a loving obedience to every one of them. It is not running hither and thither in the mere energy of nature; it is not the excitement of mere fleshly zeal displaying itself in spasmodic efforts after devotedness. No; it is something quite different from all this; it is the calm and holy obedience of the heart – a loving obedience to our own beloved Lord which refreshes His heart and glorifies His Name.
“How blest are they who still abide
Close sheltered by Thy watchful side;
Who life and strength from Thee receive
And with Thee move and in Thee live.”
Reader, may we apply our hearts diligently to this great subject of fruit-bearing. May we better understand what it is. We are apt to make great mistakes about it. It is to be feared that much – very much of what passes for fruit would not be accredited in the divine presence. God cannot own anything as fruit which is not the direct result of abiding in Christ. We may earn a great name among our fellows for zeal, energy and devotedness; we may be abundant in labours, in every department of the work; we may acquit ourselves as great travellers, great preachers, earnest workers in the vineyard, great philanthropists and moral reformers; we may spend a princely fortune in promoting all the great objects of Christian benevolence, and all the while not produce a single cluster of fruit acceptable to the Father’s heart.
And, on the other hand, it may be our lot to pass the time of our sojourn here in obscurity and retirement from human gaze; we may be little accounted of by the world and the professing church; we may seem to leave but little mark on the sands of time; but if only we abide in Christ, abide in His love, treasure up His precious words in our hearts, and yield ourselves up to a holy and loving obedience to His commandments, then shall our fruit be in season, and our Father will be glorified, and we shall grow in the experimental knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
We shall now look for a moment at the remainder of our chapter in which Moses, in words of intense earnestness, presses upon the congregation the urgent need of watchfulness and diligence in reference to all the statutes and judgments of the Lord their God. The beloved and faithful servant of God, and true lover of the people was unwearied in his efforts to brace them up to that whole-hearted obedience which he knew to be, at once, the spring of their happiness and their fruitfulness; and just as our blessed Lord warns His disciples by setting before them the solemn judgement of the unfruitful branch, so does Moses warn the people as to the sure and terrible consequences of disobedience.
“Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them.” Sad progress downward! The heart deceived. This is the beginning of all declension. “And ye turn aside.” The feet are sure to follow the heart. Hence the deep need of keeping the heart with all diligence; it is the citadel of the whole moral being, and so long as it is kept for the Lord, the enemy can gain no advantage; but when once it is surrendered, all is really gone; there is the turning aside; the secret departure of the heart is proved by the practical ways; “other gods” are served and worshipped. The descent down along the inclined plane is terribly rapid.
“And then” – mark the sure and solemn consequences – “the Lord’s wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you” What barrenness and desolation there must be when heaven is shut up! No refreshing showers coming down, no dewdrops falling, no communication between the heaven and the earth. Alas! how often had Israel tasted the awful reality of this! “He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the water-springs into dry ground; a fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.”
And may we not see in the barren land and the desolate wilderness an apt and striking illustration of a soul out of communion through disobedience to the precious commandments of Christ? Such an one has no refreshing communications with heaven – no showers coming down – no unfoldings of the preciousness of Christ to the heart no sweet ministrations of an ungrieved Spirit to the soul; the Bible seems a sealed book; all is dark, dreary and desolate. Oh! there cannot be anything more miserable in all this world than a soul in this condition. May the writer and the reader never experience it! May we bend our ears to the fervent exhortations addressed by Moses to the congregation of Israel! They are most seasonable, most healthful, most needful in this day of cold indifferentism and positive wilfulness. They set before us the divine antidote against the special evils to which the church of God is exposed at this very hour – an hour critical and solemn beyond all human conception.
“Therefore shall ye 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. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up; and thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thine house, and upon thy gates, that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.”
Blessed days! And oh! how ardently the large, loving heart of Moses longed that the people might enjoy many such days! And how simple the condition! Truly nothing could be simpler, nothing more precious. It was not a heavy yoke laid upon them, but the sweet privilege of treasuring up the precious commandments of the Lord their God, in their hearts, and breathing the very atmosphere of His holy word. All was to hinge upon this. All the blessings of the land of Canaan – that goodly, highly favoured land, a land flowing with milk and honey, a land on which Jehovah’s eyes ever rested in loving interest and tender care – all its precious fruits, all its rare privileges were to be theirs in perpetuity, on the one simple condition of loving obedience to the word of their covenant God.
“For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him; then will the Lord drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves.” In a word, sure and certain victory was before them, a most complete overthrow of all enemies and obstacles, a triumphal march into the promised inheritance – all secured to them on the blessed ground of affectionate and reverential obedience to the most precious statutes and judgments that had ever been addressed to the human heart – statutes and judgements every one of which was but the very voice of their most gracious Deliverer.
“Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours; from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea, shall your coast be. There shall no man 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 hath said unto you.”
Here was the divine side of the question. The whole land, in its length, breadth and fulness, lay before them; they had but to take possession of it, as the free gift of God; it was for them simply to plant the foot, in artless appropriating faith, upon that fair inheritance which sovereign grace had bestowed upon them. All this we see made good in the Book of Joshua, as we read in Joshua 11. “So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord said unto Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel, according to their divisions by their tribes. And the land rested from war.” (Ver. 23.)*
{*No doubt it was in faith that Joshua took – and could take nothing less than – the whole land. But as to actual possession, Joshua 13: 1 shows there was “yet much land to be possessed.”}
But alas! there was the human side of the question as well as the divine. Canaan as promised by Jehovah and made good by the faith of Joshua, was one thing; and Canaan as possessed by Israel, was quite another. Hence the vast difference between Joshua and Judges. In Joshua we see the infallible faithfulness of God to His promise; in Judges, we see Israel’s miserable failure from the very outset. God pledged His immutable word that not a man should be able to stand before them; and the sword of Joshua – type of the great Captain of our salvation – made good this pledge in its every jot and tittle. But the Book of Judges records the melancholy fact that Israel failed to drive out the enemy – failed to take possession of the divine grant in all its royal magnificence.
What then? Is the promise of God made of none effect? Nay, verily, but the utter failure of man is made apparent. At “Gilgal” the banner of victory floated over the twelve tribes, with their invincible captain at their head. At “Bochim” the weepers had to mourn over Israel’s lamentable defeat.
Have we any difficulty in understanding the difference? None whatever; we see the two things running all through the divine Volume. Man fails to rise to the height of the divine revelation – fails to take possession of what grace bestows. This is as true in the history of the church as it was in the history of Israel. In the New Testament, as well as in the Old, we have Judges as well as Joshua.
Yes, reader, and in the history of each individual member of the church we see the same thing. Where is the Christian, beneath the canopy of heaven, that lives up to the height of his spiritual privileges? Where is the child of God who has not to mourn over his humiliating failure in grasping and making good practically the high and holy privileges of his calling of God? But does this make the truth of God of none effect? No; blessed for ever be His Holy Name! His word holds good in all its divine integrity and eternal stability. Just as in Israel’s case, the land of promise lay before them in all its fair proportions and divinely given attractions; and not only so, but they could count on the faithfulness and almighty power of God to bring them in and put them in full possession; so with us, we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ; there is absolutely no limit to the privileges connected with our standing, and as to our actual enjoyment it is only a question of faith taking possession of all that God’s sovereign grace has made ours in Christ.
We must never forget that it is the privilege of the Christian to live at the very height of the divine revelation. There is no excuse for a shallow experience or a low walk. We have no right whatever to say that we cannot realise the fulness of our portion in Christ, that the standard is too high, the privileges are too vast, that we cannot expect to enjoy such marvellous blessings and dignities in our present imperfect state.
All this is downright unbelief, and should be so treated by every true Christian. The question is, Has the grace of God bestowed the privileges upon us? Has the death of Christ made Good our title to them? And has the Holy Ghost declared them to be the proper portion of the very feeblest member of the body of Christ? If so – and scripture declares it is so – why should we not enjoy them? There is no hindrance on the divine side. It is the desire of the heart of God that we should enter into the fulness of our portion in Christ. Hear the earnest breathing of the inspired apostle, on behalf of the saints at Ephesus, and of all saints. “Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenlies, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all” (Eph. 1: 15-23.)
From this marvellous prayer we may learn how earnestly the Spirit of God desires that we should apprehend and enjoy the glorious privileges of the true Christian position. He would ever, by His precious and powerful ministry, keep our hearts up to the mark; but alas! like Israel, we grieve Him by our sinful unbelief, and rob our own souls of incalculable blessing.
But, all praise to the God of all grace, the Father of glory, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, He will yet make good every jot and tittle of His most precious truth, both as to His earthly and heavenly people. Israel shall yet enjoy to the full all the blessings secured to them by the everlasting covenant; and the church shall yet enter upon the perfect fruition of all that which eternal love and divine counsels have laid up for her in Christ; and not only so, but the blessed Comforter is able and willing to lead the individual believer into the present enjoyment of the hope of God’s glorious calling, and the practical power of that hope, in detaching the heart from present things and separating it to God in true holiness and living devotedness.
May our hearts, beloved Christian reader, long more ardently after the full realisation of all this, that thus we may live more as those who are finding their portion and their rest in a risen and glorified Christ! God, in His infinite goodness, grant it, for Jesus Christ’s Name and glory’s sake!
The remaining verses of our chapter close the first division of the Book of Deuteronomy which, as the reader will notice, consists of a series of discourses addressed by Moses to the congregation of Israel – memorable discourses, most surely, in whatever way we view them. The closing sentences are, we need hardly say, in perfect keeping with the whole, and breathe the same deep-toned earnestness in reference to the subject of obedience – a subject which, as we have seen, formed the special burden on the heart of the beloved speaker in his affecting farewell addresses to the people.
“Behold, I set before you this day s blessing and a curse” – How pointed and solemn is this! – “A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day; and a curse, if ye will not obey 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. And it shall come to pass, when the Lord thy God hath brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerazim, and the curse upon mount Ebal. Are they not on the other side Jordan, by the way where the sun goeth down, in the land of the Canaanites, which dwell in the champaign over against Gilgal, beside the plains of Moreh? For ye shall pass over Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God giveth you, and ye shall possess it, and dwell therein. AND YE SHALL OBSERVE TO DO ALL THE STATUTES AND JUDGMENTS WHICH I SET BEFORE YOU THIS DAY.” (Vers. 26-32.)
Here we have the summing up of the whole matter. The blessing is linked on to obedience; the curse, to disobedience. Mount Gerazim stands over against mount Ebal – fruitfulness and barrenness. We shall see, when we come to Deuteronomy 27, that mount Gerazim and its blessings are entirely passed over. The curses of mount Ebal fall, with awful distinctness, on Israel’s ear, while terrible silence reigns on mount Gerazim. “As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse.” The blessing of Abraham can only come on those who are on the ground of faith. But more of this, by-and-by.
Fuente: Mackintosh’s Notes on the Pentateuch
Deuteronomy 11. Continues the exhortation to love and obey Yahweh, giving motives and promises and pointing out the consequence of disobedience.
Deu 11:2-7. Read (adding one Heb. consonant), for ye are not as your children who know not and have not seen . . . midst of all Israel: for your eves, etc.chastisement: Deu 4:36*.
Deu 11:5. See Exodus 15, Numbers 32.
Deu 11:6. See Num 16:25; Num 16:27; Num 16:32 (JE). Dt. using JE is silent about Korah mentioned by P (Num 26:9-11).
Deu 11:8 b. See Deu 4:1.
Deu 11:9. land . . . honey: Exo 3:8*.
Deu 11:10. wateredst . . . foot: probably some irrigation contrivance is meant, by which water sluices communicating with the Nile were opened and closed. Erman affirms, but W. Max Mller denies, that the water-wheel (cf. modern Egypt) was used in ancient Egypt. A plentiful supply of rain, a great necessity in Palestine, is often mentioned in the OT as a proof of Yahwehs loving care; see Lev 26:4, Isa 55:10 f., Eze 34:26, Hos 6:3.
Deu 11:14. former rain: in November and December after seed-sowing.latter rain: in March to April, it matures the grain, vitalised by the autumnal showers.
Deu 11:18-20. Almost verbatim as Deu 6:6-9*, though Deu 11:21 (cf. Deu 11:9) adds a promise. Steuernagel and Bertholet omit Deu 11:18-21.
Deu 11:24. Read, from the wilderness (in the S.) to Lebanon (in the N.) and from the great river (Euphrates in the E.) to the western sea (the Mediterranean). For these ideal boundaries, see Deu 1:7*. The Hebrews commonly named the cardinal points from their direction looking east, hence hinder = west.
Deu 11:30. Read, Are they (Gerizim and Ebal) not on the other side of the Jordan, west of it (adding one consonant) on the western road in the land of the Canaanites, opposite to that Gilgal which is alongside the diviners terebinth? Omit which dwell in the Araban: it is senseless. The Gilgal named is the modern Julejib, 2 miles SE. of Nablous (Shechem).oaks of Moreh: render, the diviners terebinth (Gen 12:6; Gen 13:18; Gen 18:1, Jos 24:26, Jdg 6:11). The oak (including the terebinth) was among the ancient Semites and Kelts a sacred tree; hence oracles were sought from the deity supposed to dwell in it.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
SOWING AND REAPING
(vs.1-32)
This chapter emphasizes the results of obedience in contrast to the consequences of disobedience. It begins with the commandment to love the Lord their God, which of course is the motivating power for keeping God’s statutes (v.1). Yet, though told many times to love the Lord, Israel did not respond to this. For love cannot be legislated, as Israel learned by experience. It must be spontaneous and voluntary. The New Testament makes this clear, “We love Him because He first loved us” (I John
Moses spoke to those who had seen the many manifestations of God’s power and grace to Israel (v.2). These were under 20 years of age when they saw these things, and should certainly have well remembered all the signs God wrought in Egypt, His bringing Israel safely through the Red Sea and destroying the Egyptians in the waters, then of all He had done in the wilderness, including the judgment of Dathan and Abiram in being swallowed up by the earth opening (vs.3-7). They themselves (not a previous generation) had witnessed all this.
With all this in mind Israel should be stirred to keep every commandment God gave them. Such obedience would make them strong to possess all their inheritance (v.8). Also this would cause them to prolong their days in the land, “a land flowing with milk and honey” (v.9). Milk speaks of the Word of God (1Pe 2:2), while honey symbolizes the ministry of the Word of God (Son 4:11), that is, the sweetness believers have gathered from the Word and minister to others.
For the land of their inheritance was not like Egypt, which depended on men’s methods of irrigation, watered by “foot,” but a land of hills and valleys, dependent on rain from heaven (vs.10-11). This pictures the spiritual inheritance of Christians today, blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly place in Christ, in contrast to the earthly, material blessings of the people of the world. Thus, we are dependent, not on our surrounding circumstances, but on the blessing of God from heaven. So, Israel’s land was the object of God’s care all year through (v.12).
On condition of Israel’s earnest obedience to God’s commands, God would give rain to the land in its season, the early and the latter rain, which would be neither too little or too much for their crops of grain, wine and oil. Their livestock would be sustained by sufficient grass in their fields (vs.13-15).
Verse 16 again warns Israel against being deceived in turning to serve and worship other gods, which would arouse the anger of the Lord, so that He might withhold the rain and cause famine in the land, with its resulting decimation of the people (v.17).
Therefore God’s words should be laid up in the hearts of Israelites, bound as a sign on their hands and placed as frontlets before their eyes (v.18). Being in their hearts would imply being the motivating power, while bound on their hand speaks of the control of their actions. As frontlets before their eyes indicates that their eyes were to be kept centered on the truth of God rather than looking in other directions for help or guidance. Israel did not respond to the significance of these things, but such things are written for us today, that we should realize the spiritual blessing of having the truth always delighting our hearts.
The laws given to Israel were to be taught to their children. They were not to be used merely in public gatherings, but applied daily, to be spoken of anywhere and at all times. They were even to write them on their doorposts and on their gates (v.20). Thus it was a matter of being constantly reminded. We today have more vital things than these to keep in remembrance, all the marvelous truths concerning the Lord Jesus, His incarnation, His life on earth, His sacrifice of Calvary, His resurrection, His ascension, His present High Priesthood at God’s right hand for us, His promised coming again, His subduing all creation under His feet, His reign of 1000 years, His Great White Throne judgment and His eternal glory with its infinite blessing for all believers. But the knowledge and enjoyment of Christ in all these things will have wonderful effect in keeping us diligently following Him more fully than Israel could have done.
Obedience would multiply the days of the Israelites and their children in the land, “like the days of the heavens above the earth” (v.21). Thus their hearts would be lifted up in calm, lovely dignity above the level of the their circumstances, to realize their blessings really came from heaven. Today our blessings not only come from heaven; they are secured for us in heaven in the person of the risen Lord of glory.
Again, on condition of obedience, Israel is told that the Lord will drive out the nations of Canaan before them, though they were greater and mightier than Israel (v.23). Wherever their feet trod would become theirs. The bounds mentioned are from the Euphrates River westward to the Mediterranean Sea (v.24). This has never yet been fully possessed by Israel, but will be in the Millennium. God’s power was such that no man could stand against Israel (v.25), though Israel failed to take advantage of this power.
In verse 26 Moses speaks of setting before Israel a blessing and a curse. Which would Israel reap? This depended on what they sowed. If obedient they would reap the blessing (v.27); if disobedient, then the curse (v.28). Two mountains in the land were to symbolize these, the blessing put on Mount Gerazim and the curse on Mount Ebal (v.29). This was carried out by Joshua soon after Israel entered the land (Jos 8:33-34).
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
The consequences of obedience and disobedience ch. 11
The section of Deuteronomy dealing with general stipulations of the covenant ends as it began, with an exhortation to covenant loyalty (Deu 5:1-5; cf. Deu 4:32-40).
"This chapter is to be understood as a re-emphasis of these principles [that were to govern Israel’s life] before the detailed laws of the so-called Deuteronomic Code (Deu 12:1 to Deu 26:19) are presented." [Note: Thompson, p. 151.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
In these verses Moses developed the requirement of love for God more fully. God’s acts toward Israel had been discipline (Deu 11:2), not just punishment.
The force of the comparison of Egypt and Canaan in Deu 11:10-11 is that irrigation was necessary in Egypt. However in Canaan the people would not need it because God sent rain from heaven on Canaan. Most farmers would prefer the rich land of the Nile region to land that depended on rain that might or might not come. Perhaps Moses was ironically comparing Egypt to a small green garden irrigated by dirty water with the extensive farmlands of Canaan that God watered with clean rain. [Note: L. Eslinger, "Watering Egypt (Deuteronomy XI 10-11)," Vetus Testamentum 37:1 (January 1987):85-90.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
ISRAELS ELECTION, AND MOTIVES FOR FAITHFULNESS
Deu 9:1-29; Deu 10:1-22; Deu 11:1-32
THE remaining chapters of this special introduction to the statement of the actual laws beginning with chapter 12 contain also an earnest insistence upon other motives why Israel should remain true to the covenant of Yahweh. They are urged to this, not only because life both spiritual and physical depended upon it, as was shown in the trials of the wilderness, but they are also to lay it to heart that in the conquests which assuredly await them, it will be Yahweh alone to whom they will owe them. The spies had declared, and the people had accepted their report, that these peoples were far mightier than they, and that no one could stand before the children of Anak. But the victory over them would show that Yahweh had been among them like a consuming fire, before which the Canaanite power would wither as brushwood in the flame.
Under these circumstances the thought would obviously lie near that, as they had been defeated and driven back in their first attempt upon Canaan because of their unrighteousness and unbelief, so they would conquer now because of their righteousness and obedience. But this thought is sternly repressed. The fundamental doctrine which is here insisted on is that Israels consciousness of being the people of God must at the same time be a consciousness of complete dependence upon Him. If His gifts were ultimately to be the reward of human righteousness, then obviously that feeling of complete dependence could not be established. They are to move so completely in the shadow of God that they are to see in their successes only the carrying out of the Divine purposes. Instead of feeling fiercely contemptuous of the Canaanites they destroy, because they stand on a moral and spiritual height which gives them a right to triumph, the Israelites are to feel that, while it is for wickedness that the Canaanite people are to be punished, they themselves had not been free from wickedness of an aggravated kind. Their different treatment, therefore, rests upon the fact that they are to be Yahwehs chosen instruments. In the patriarchs he chose them to become the means, the vehicle, by which salvation and blessing were to be brought to all nations. While, therefore, the evil that comes upon the peoples they are to conquer is deserved, the good they themselves are to receive is equally undeserved. That which alone accounts for the difference is the faithfulness of God to the promises He made for the sake of His purposes. He needs an instrument through which to bless mankind. He has chosen Israel for this purpose, partly doubtless because of some qualities, not necessarily spiritual or moral, which they have come to have, and partly because of their historical position in the world. These taken together make them at this precise moment in the history of the worlds development the fittest instruments to carry out the Divine purpose of love to mankind. And they are elected, made to enter into more constant and intimate communion with God than other nations, on that account. In the words of Rothe, “God chooses or elects at each historical moment from the totality of the sinful race of mankind that nation by whose enrollment among the positive forces which are to develop the kingdom of God the greatest possible advance towards the complete realization of it may be attained, under the historical circumstances of that moment.” Whether that completely covers the individual election of St. Paul, as Rothe thinks, or not, it certainly precisely expresses the national election of the Old Testament, and exhausts the meaning of our passage. Israelite particularism had universality of the highest kind as its background, and here the latter comes most insistently to its rights.
It was not only the election of Israel to be a peculiar people which depended upon the wise and loving purpose of God; the providences which befell them also had that as their source. To fit them for their mission, and to give them a place wherein they could develop the germs of higher faith and nobler morality which they had received, Yahweh gave them victory over those greater nations, and planted them in their place. This, and this only, was the reason of their success; and with scathing irony the author of Deuteronomy stamps under his feet {Deu 9:7 ff.} any claim to superior righteousness on their part. He points back to their continuous rebellions during the forty years in the wilderness. From the beginning to the end of their journey towards the Promised Land, they are told, they have been rebellious and stiff-necked and unprofitable. They have broken their covenant with their God. They have caused Moses to break the tables of stone containing the fundamental conditions of the covenant, because their conduct had made it plain that they had not seriously bound themselves to it. But the mercy of God had been with them. Notwithstanding their sin, Yahweh had been turned to mercy by the prayer of Moses (Deu 9:25 ff.), and had repented of His design to destroy them. A new covenant was entered into, with them (chapter 10) by means of the second tables, which contained the same commands as were engraven on the first. The renewal, moreover, was ratified by the separation of the tribe of Levi {Deu 10:8 ff.} to be the specially priestly tribe, “to bear the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister unto Him and to bless in His name.” From beginning to end it was always Yahweh, and again Yahweh, who had chosen and loved and cared for them. It was He who had forgiven and strengthened them; but always for reasons which reached far beyond, or even excluded, any merit on their part.
The grounds of Moses successful, intercession for them {Deu 9:25 ff.} are notable in this connection. They have no reference at all to the needs, or hopes, or expectations of the people. These are all brushed aside, as being of no moment after such unfaithfulness as theirs had been. The great object before his mind is represented to be Yahwehs glory. If this stiff-necked people perish, then the greatness of God will be obscured and His purposes will be misunderstood. Men will certainly think, either that Yahweh, Israels God, attempted to do what He was not able to do, or that He was wroth with His people, and drew them out into the wilderness to slay them there. It is Gods purpose with them, Gods purpose for the world through them, which alone gives them importance. Were it not for that, they would be as little worth saving as they have deserved to be saved. For his people, and, we may be sure, for himself, Moses recognizes no true worth save in so far as he or they were useful in carrying out Divine purposes of good to the world. Nor is the absence of any plea on Israels behalf, that it is miserable or unhappy, due merely to a desire to keep the rebellious people in the background for the moment, and to appeal only to the Divine self-love for a pardon which would, on the merits of the case, be refused. It is the God of the whole earth, before whom “the inhabitants of the earth are as grasshoppers,” who is appealed to; a God removed far above the petty motives of self-interested men, and set upon the one great purpose of establishing a kingdom of God upon the earth into which all nations might come. If His glory is appealed to, that is only because it is the glory of the highest good both for the individual and for the world. If fear lest doubt should be cast upon His power is put forward as a reason for His having mercy, that is because to doubt His power is to doubt the supremacy of goodness. If the Divine promise to the patriarchs is set forth here, it is because that promise was the assurance of the Divine interest in and Divine love of the world.
Under such circumstances it would need a very narrow-hearted literalism, such as only very “liberal” theologians and critics could favor, to reduce this appeal to a mere attempt to flatter Yahweh into good-humor. It really embodies all that can be said in justification of our looking for answers to prayer at all; and rightly understood it limits the field of the answer as strictly as the expressed or implied limitations of the New Testament, viz. that effectual prayer can only be for things according to the will of God. Moreover it expresses an entirely natural attitude towards God. Before Him, the sum of all perfections, the loving and omniscient and omnipresent God, what is man that he should assert himself in any wise? When the height and the depth, the sublimity and the comprehensiveness of the Divine purpose is considered, how can a man do aught save fall upon his face in utter self-forgetfulness, immeasurably better even than self-contempt? The best and holiest of mankind have always felt this most; and the habit of measuring their attainments by the faithfulness and knowledge, the virtue and power which is in God, has impressed some of the greatest minds and purest souls with such humility, that to men without insight it has seemed mere affectation. But the pity, the condescension, the love of Christ has so brought God down into our human life, that we are apt at times to lose our awe of God as seen in Him. Were we children of the spirit we should not fall into that sin. We cannot, consequently, be too frequently or too sharply recalled to the more austere and remote standpoint of the Old Testament. For many even of the most pious it would be well if they could receive and keep a more just impression of their own worthlessness and nullity before God.
In the section from the twelfth verse of chapter 10 {Deu 10:12} to the end of chapter 11 the hortatory introduction is summed up in a final review of all the motives to and the results of obedience and love to God. The fundamental exhortation as to love to God is once more repeated; only here fear is joined with love and precedes it; but the necessity of love to God is expanded and dwelt upon, as at the beginning, with a zeal that never wearies. The Deuteronomist illustrates and enforces it with old reasons and new, always speaking with the same pleading and heartfelt earnestness. He does not fear the tedium of repetition, nor the accusation of moving in a narrow round of ideas. Evidently in the evil time when he wrote this love towards God had come to be his own support and his consolation; and it had been revealed to him as the source of a power, a sweetness, and a righteousness which could alone bring the nation into communion with God. In affecting words resembling very closely the noble exhortation in Mic 6:1-16, “He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth Yahweh require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” he teaches much the same doctrine as his contemporary: “And now, Israel, what doth Yahweh thy God require of thee, but to fear Yahweh thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve Yahweh thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of Yahweh and His statutes which I command thee this day for thy good?” {Deu 10:12}
In spirit these passages seem identical; but it is held by many writers on the Old Testament that they are not so that they represent, in fact, opposite poles of the faith and life of Israel. Micah is supposed by Duhm, for instance, to mean by his threefold demand that justice between man and man, love and kindliness and mercy towards others, and humble intercourse with God are, in distinction from sacrifice, true religion, and undefiled. Robertson Smith also considers that these verses in Micah contain a repudiation of sacrifice. In Deuteronomy, on the contrary, fear and love of God and walking in His ways are placed first, but they are joined with a demand for the heartfelt service of God and the keeping of His statutes as about to be set forth. Now these certainly include ritual and sacrifice. The one passage, written by a prophet, excludes sacrifice as binding and acceptable service of God; the other, written perhaps by a priest, certainly by a man upon whom no prophetic lessons of the past had been lost, includes it. To use the words of Robertson Smith in discussing the requisites of forgiveness in the Old Testament, “According to the prophets Yahweh asks only a penitent heart and desires no sacrifice; according to the ritual law, He desires a penitent heart approaching Him in certain sacrificial sacraments.” The author of Deuteronomy teaches the second view; the author of Micah, chapter 6, who is probably his contemporary, teaches the former. How is such divergence accounted for? The answer generally made is that Deuteronomy was the product of a close alliance between priests and prophets. A common hatred of Manassehs idolatry and a common oppression had brought them together as never perhaps before. With one heart and mind they wrought in secret for the better day which they saw approaching, and Deuteronomy was a reissue of the ancient Mosaic law adapted to the prophetic teaching. It represented a compromise between, or an amalgamation of, two entirely distinct positions.
But even on this view it would follow that from the time of Josiah, when Deuteronomy was accepted as the completest expression of the will of God, the doctrine that ritual and sacrifice as well as penitence were essential things in true religion was known, and not only known but accepted as the orthodox opinion. Putting aside, then, the question whether sacrifice was acknowledged by the prophets before this or not, they must have accepted it from this point onward, unless they denied to Deuteronomy the authority which it claimed and which the nation conceded to it. Jeremiah clearly must have assented to it, for his style and his thought have been so closely molded on this book that some have thought he may have been its author. In any case he did not repudiate its authority; and all the prophets who followed him must have known of this view, and also that it had been sanctioned by that book which was made the first Jewish Bible.
We have here, at all events, the keynote of the supremacy of moral duty over Divine commands concerning ritual which distinguishes the prophetic teaching in Micah and elsewhere, joined with the enforcement of ritual observances. But there are few purely prophetic passages which raise the higher demand so high as it is raised here.
To love and fear God are anew declared to be mans supreme duties, and the author presses these home by arguments of various kinds. Again he returns to the election of Israel by Yahweh, without merit of theirs; and to bring home to them how much this means, the Deuteronomist exhibits the greatness of their God, His might, His justice, and His mercy, which, great as it is to His chosen people, is not confined to them, but extends to the stranger also. This most gracious One they are to serve by deeds, to Him they are to cleave, and they are to swear by Him only, that is, they are solemnly to acknowledge Him to be their God in return for His undeserved favor. For their very existence as a nation is a wonder of His power, since they were only a handful when they went down to Egypt, and now were “as the stars of heaven for multitude.”
Then once more, in chapter 11, he repeats his one haunting thought that love is to be the source of all worthy fulfillment of the law; and he endeavors to shed abroad this love to God in their hearts by reminding them once more of all the marvels of their deliverance from Egypt, and of their wilderness journey. Their God had delivered them first, then chastised them for their sins, and had trained them for the new life that awaited them in the land promised to their fathers.
Even in the security of the land they were to find themselves not less dependent upon God than before. Rather their dependence would be more striking and more impressive than in Egypt. As we have seen repeatedly, this inspired writer belonged in many respects to the childhood of the world, and the people he addressed were primitive in their ideas. Yet his thoughts of God in their highest flight were so essentially true and deep, that even today we can go back upon them for edification and inspiration. But here we have an appeal based upon a distinction which today should have almost entirely lost its meaning. The Deuteronomist yields quite simply and unreservedly to the feeling that the regular, unvarying processes of nature are less Divine, or at least are less immediately significant of the Divine presence, than those which cannot be foreseen, which vary, and which defy human analysis. For he here contrasts Egypt and Canaan, in both of which he represents Israel as having been engaged in agricultural pursuits, and speaks as if in the former all depended upon human industry and ingenuity, and might be counted upon irrespective of moral conduct, while in the latter all would depend upon Divine favor and a right attitude towards God. It is quite true that in preceding chapters he has been teaching that, even for worldly material success, the higher life is necessary, that man nowhere lives by bread alone; and that we may assuredly assume is his deepest, his ultimate thought. But he has a practical end in view at this moment. He wishes to persuade his people, and he appeals to what both he and they felt, though in the last resort it might hardly perhaps be justified. In Egypt, he says, your agricultural success was certain if only you were industrious. The great river, of which the land itself is the gift, came down in flood year after year, and you had only to store and to guide its waters to ensure you a certain return for your labor. You had not to look to uncertain rains, but could by diligence always secure a sufficiency of the life-giving element, In Canaan it will not be so. It “drinketh water only of the rain of heaven.” Gods eye has to be upon it continually to keep it fertile, and the sense of dependence upon Him will force itself upon you more constantly and powerfully in consequence. They could hope to prosper only if they never forgot, never put away His exhortations out of their sight. Otherwise, he says, the life-giving showers will not fall in their due season. Your land will not yield its fruits, and “ye shall perish quickly off the good land which Yahweh giveth you.”
Now what are we to say of this appeal? There can be no doubt that the Divine omnipotence was really, in the Deuteronomists view as well as in ours, as irresistible in Egypt as in Canaan. Fundamentally, no doubt, life or death, prosperity or adversity, were as much in the hand of God in the one case as in the other; and the Deuteronomist, at least, had no doubt that rebellion against God could and would destroy Egypts prosperity as much as Canaans. But he felt that somehow there was a tenderer and more intimate communion of love between Yahweh and His people under the one set of circumstances than under the other. We are not entitled to impute to him a questionable distinction which modern minds are apt to make, viz. that where long experience has taught men to regard the course of providence as fixed, there the sphere of prayer for material benefit ends, and that only in the region where the Divine action in nature seems to us more spontaneous and less capable of being foreseen, can prayer be heartily, because hopefully, made. But the feeling that suggests that was certainly in his mind. He felt the difference between the fixed conditions of life in Egypt and the more variable conditions in Canaan, to be much the same as the difference between the circumstances of a son receiving a fixed yearly allowance from his father, in an independent and perhaps distant home, and those of a son in his fathers house, who receives his portion day by day as the result and evidence of an ever-present affection. Both are equally dependent upon the fathers love, and both should theoretically be equally filled with loving gratitude. But as a fact, the latter would be more likely to be so, and would be held more guilty if he were not so. Upon that actual fact the Deuteronomist takes his stand. As they were now to enter into Yahwehs land, His chosen dwelling-place, he sees in the different material conditions of the new country that which should make the union between Yahweh and His people more intimate and more secure, and He presses home upon them the greater shame of ingratitude, if under such circumstances they should forget God and His laws.
Finally {Deu 11:22-25} he promises them the victorious extension of their dominion if they will love Yahweh and keep His laws. From Lebanon to the southern wilderness, from the Euphrates to the western sea, they should rule, if they would cleave unto their God. At no time was this promise fulfilled save in the days of David and Solomon. For only then had Lebanon and the wilderness, the Euphrates and the sea, been the boundaries of Israel. This must, then, be regarded as the time of Israels greatest faithfulness. But it is striking that it is in Josiahs day, after the adoption of Deuteronomy as the national law, that we meet with a conscious effort to realize this condition of things once more. There would seem to be little doubt that the good king took an equally literal view of what the book commanded and of what it promised. He inaugurated a period of complete external compliance with the law, and like the young and inexperienced man he was, he regarded that as the fulfillment of its requirements, and looked for a similar instantaneous fulfillment of the promises, Bit by bit he had absorbed the ancient territory of the Northern Kingdom; and in the decay of the Assyrian power he saw the opportunity for the enlargement of his dominion to the limit here defined. He consequently went out against Pharaoh Necho in the full confidence that he would be victorious. But if the Divine promise and its conditions were taken up too superficially by him, Divine providence soon and terribly corrected the error. The defeat and death of Josiah revealed that the reformation had not been real and deep enough, and that the nation was not faithful enough to make such triumph possible. Indeed, so far as we can see, the time for any true fulfillment of Israels calling in that fashion had then passed by. The harvest was past, and Israel was not saved, and could not now be saved, for it was in its deepest heart unfaithful.
It may be questioned by some, of course, whether an Israel faithful even in the highest degree could at any time have kept possession of so wide a dominion in the face of the great empires of Assyria and Egypt. These were rich, and had a far larger command both of territory and men: how then could the Israelites ever have maintained themselves in face of them? But the question is how to measure the power of the higher ideas they held. It is not force but truth that rules the world; and absolutely no limit can be set to the possibilities which open out to a free, morally robust, and faithful people, who have become possessed of higher, spiritual ideas than the peoples that surround them. Even in this skeptical modern day the transformation as regards physical strength which takes place when certain classes of Hindus become either Mohammedans or Christians is so startling and so rapid that it appears almost a miracle. As regards courage, too, it is even more rapid and equally remarkable. The great majority of the struggles of nations are fought out on the level of mere physical force and for material ends, and the strongest and richest wins: but whenever a people possessed of higher ideas and absolutely faithful to them does appear, the opposing power, however great it may be in wealth and numbers, is whirled away in fragments as by a tornado, or it dissolves like ice before the sun. What Israel might have been, therefore, had it been penetrated by the principles of the higher religion, and been passionately true to it, can in no way be judged by that which it actually was. Among the untried possibilities which it was too unfaithful to realize, the possession of such an empire as Deuteronomy promises would seem to be one of the least.
Our chapter sums up what precedes with the declaration on the part of Yahweh, “See, I am setting before you this day a blessing and a curse,” according as they might obey or disobey the Divine command. It is stated, in short, that the whole future of the people is to be determined by their attitude to Yahweh and the commands He has given them. In these two words “blessing” and “curse,” as Dillmann observes, He sets before them the greatness of the decision they are called upon to make. Just as at the end of chapter 3 the vision of Yahwehs stretched-out hand, which has strewn the world with the wrecks and fragments of destroyed nations, is relied on to prepare the people for contemplating their own calling, so here the: gain or loss which would follow their decision is solemnly set before them. By Dillmann and others it is supposed that Deu 11:29 and Deu 11:31, which instruct the people to “lay the blessing upon, Mount Gerizim and the curse upon Mount Ebal,” have been transferred by the later editor from chapter 27, where they would come in very fittingly after Deu 27:3. But whether that be so or not, they are evidently so far in place here that they add to the solemnity with which the fate of the nation in the future is insisted upon. Their “choice is brief and yet endless”; it can be made in a moment, but in its consequence it will endure.
But here a difficulty arises. Dr. Driver in his “Introduction” says of this hortatory section of our book that its teaching is that “duties are not to be performed from secondary motives, such as fear or dread of consequences; they are to be the spontaneous outcome of a heart from which every taint of worldliness has been removed, and which is penetrated by an all-absorbing sense of personal devotion to God.” Yet in these later chapters we have had little else but appeals to the gratitude and hopes and fears of Israel. Chapters 8 to 11 are wholly taken up with incitements to love and obey God, because He has been immeasurably good to them, never letting their ingratitude overcome His loving-kindness; because they are wholly dependent upon Him for prosperity and the fertility of their land; and because evil will come upon them if they do not. That would seem to be the opposite of what Driver has declared to be the informing spirit and the fundamental teaching of Deuteronomy.
Yet his view is the true one. Even if the Deuteronomist had added these lower motives to attract and gain over those who were not so open to the higher, that would not deprive him of the glory of having set forth disinterested love as the really impelling power in true religion. We are not required to lower our esteem of that achievement, even if, like the reasonable and wise teacher he is, he boldly uses every motive that actually influences men, whether it should do so or not, to win them to the higher life. But it is not necessary to suppose that he does so. His demand is that men shall love Yahweh their God with all their heart and strength, and to win them to that he sets forth what their God has revealed Himself to be. Men cannot love one whom they do not know: they cannot love one who has not proved himself lovable to them. As his whole effort is to get men to love God, and show their love by obedience to His expressed will, the Deuteronomist brings to mind all His loving thoughts and acts towards them, and so continually keeps his appeal at the highest level. He does not ask men to serve God because it will be profitable to them, but because they love God: and he endeavors to make them love God by reciting all His love and friendliness and patience to His people, and by pointing out the evil which His love is seeking to ward off. The plea is not the ignoble one that they must serve Yahweh for what they can gain by it, but that they should love Yahweh for His love and graciousness, and that out of this love continual obedience should flow as a necessary result. That is his central position; and if he points out the necessary results of a refusal to turn to God in this way he does not thereby set forth slavish fear or calculating prudence as in themselves religious motives. They are only natural and reasonable means of turning men to view the other side. He uses them to bring the people to a pause, during which he may win them by the love of God. That is always the true appeal; and Christianity when it is at its finest can do nothing but follow in this path. Having before his mind the results of evil conduct, he does urge men to escape from the wrath that may rest upon them. But the only means so to escape is to yield to the love of God. No self-restraint dictated by fear of consequences, no turning from evil because of the lions that are seen in the path, satisfies the demand of either Old Testament or New Testament religion. Both raise the truly religious life above that into the region of self-devoting love; and they both deny spiritual validity to all acts, however good they may be in themselves, which do not follow love as its free and uncalculating expression. Yet they both deal with men as rational beings who can estimate the results of their acts, and warn them of the death which must be the end of every other way of supposed salvation. In this manner they keep the path between extremes, ignoring neither the inner heart of religion nor winding themselves too high for sinful men.
How hard it is to keep to this reasonable but spiritual view is seen by popular aberrations both within and without the Church. At times in the history of the Church Christian teachers have allowed their minds to be so dominated by the terror of judgment that judgment has seemed to the world to be the sole burden of their message. As a reaction from that again, other teachers have arisen who put forward the love of God in such a one-sided way as to empty it of all its severe but glorious sublimity; as if, like Mohammed, they believed God was minded mainly “to make religion easy” unto men. Outside the Church the same discord prevails. Some secular writers praise those religions which declare that a mans fate is decided at the judgment by the balance of merit over demerit in his acts; while others mock at any judgment, and commit themselves with a light heart to the half-amused tolerance of the Divine good nature. But the teaching which combines both elements can alone sustain and bear up a worthy spiritual life. To rely upon terror only, is to ignore the very essence of true religion and the better elements in the nature of man; for that will not be dominated by fear alone. To think of the Divine love as a lazy, self-indulgent laxity, is to degrade the Divine nature, and to forget that the possibility of wrath is bound up in all love that is worthy of the name.
One other point is worthy of remark. In these chapters, which deal with the history of Gods chosen people in their relations with Him, there come out the very elements which distinguish the personal religion of St. Paul. The beginning and end of it all is the free grace of God. God elected His people that they might be His instrument for blessing the world, not because of any goodness in them, for they were perverse and rebellious, but because He had so determined and had promised to the fathers. He had delivered them from the bondage of Egypt by His mighty power, and dwelt among them thenceforth as among no other people. He gave them a land to dwell in, and there as in His own house He watched and tended them, and strove to lead them upwards to the height of their calling as the people of God by demanding of them faith and love. It is a very enlightening remark of Robertson Smiths that the deliverance out of Egypt was to Israel in the Old Testament what conversion is to the individual Christian according to the New Testament. Taking that as our starting-point, we see that the thought of Deuteronomy is precisely the thought of Romans. It is said, and truly enough, that the Pauline theology was a direct transcript of Pauls own experience; but we see from this that he did not need to form the moulds for his own fundamental thoughts. Long before him the author of Deuteronomy had formed these, and they must have been familiar to every instructed Jew. But the recognition of this is not a loss but a gain. If St. Paul had founded a theory of the universal action of God upon the soul only on the grounds of his own very peculiar experience, it might be argued that the basis of his teaching had been too personal to permit us to feel sure that his view was really as exhaustive as he thought. We see, however, that what he experienced the Deuteronomist had long before traced in the history of his people; and most probably he would not have traced it with so firm a hand had he not himself had experience of a similar kind in his personal relations with God. This method of conceiving the relation of God to the higher life of man, therefore, is stated by the Scriptures as normal. The free grace of God is the source and the sustainer of all spiritual life, whether in individuals or communities. Ultimately, behind all the successful or unsuccessful efforts of the human heart and will, we are taught to see the great Giver, waiting to be gracious, willing that all men should be saved, but acting with the strangest reserves and limitations, choosing Israel among the nations, and even within Israel choosing the Israel in whom alone the promises can be realized. Made to serve by human sin, He waits upon the caprices of the wills He has created. He does not force them; but with compassionate patience He builds up His Holy Temple of such living stones as offer themselves, and “without haste as without rest” prepares for the consummation of His work in the redemption of a people that shall be all prophets, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation unto whom all nations shall join themselves when they see that God is in them of a truth. That is the Old Testament conception of the source, and guarantee, and goal of all spiritual life in the world, and St. Pauls view is merely a more mature and definite form of the same thing. And wherever spiritual life has manifested itself with unusual power, the same consciousness of utter unworthiness on the part of man, and entire dependence upon the grace and favor of God, has also manifested itself. The intellectual difficulties connected with this view, great as they are, have never suppressed it; the pride of man and his faith in himself have not been able permanently to obscure it. The greater men are, the more entirely do they dread any approach to that self-exaltation which puts away as unnecessary the Divine hand stretched out to them. As Dean Church points out, “not Hebrew prophets only, but the heathen poets of Greece looked with peculiar and profound alarm upon the haughty self-sufficiency of men.” Nothing can, they think, ward off evil from the man who makes the mistake of supposing, even when carrying out the Divine will, that he needs only his own strength of brain and will and arm to succeed, that he is accountable to no one for the character which he permits success to build up within him.
Even the agnostic of today, as represented by Professor Huxley, cannot do without some modicum of “grace” in his conception of mans relation to the powers of nature, though to admit this is to run a rift of inconsistency through his whole system of thought. “Suppose,” he says in his “Lay Sermons,” “it were perfectly certain that the life and future of every one of us would, one day or other, depend on his winning or losing a game at chessThe chessboard is the world, the pieces are the phenomena of the universe, the rules of the game are what we call the laws of nature. The player on the other side is hidden from us. We know that his play is always fair, just, patient. But we know to our cost that he never overlooks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance. To the man who plays well the highest stakes are paid with that overflowing generosity with which the strong shows delight in strength, and one who plays ill is checkmated without haste, but without remorse. My metaphor will remind you of the famous picture in which the Evil One is depicted playing a game of chess with man for his soul. Substitute for the mocking fiend in that picture a calm, strong angel, playing, as we say, for love, and who would rather lose than win, and I should accept it as the image of human life.” Even in a world without God, therefore, the facts of life suggest “justice,” “patience,” “generosity,” and a pity which “would rather lose than win.” With all the inexorable rigor and hardness of mans lot there is mingled something that suggests “grace” in the power that rules the world; and from the Deuteronomist to St. Paul, from Augustine to Calvin and Professor Huxley, the resolutely thorough thinkers have found, in the last analysis, these two elements, the rigor of law and the election of grace, working together in the molding of mankind.
The statement of these facts in Deuteronomy is as thorough as any that succeeded it. The rigor of law could not be more precisely and pathetically declared than in this insistence on the blessing or the curse which must inevitably follow right choice or wrong. But the tenderness of grace could not be more attractively displayed than in this picture of Yahwehs dealings with Israel. Love never faileth here, no more than elsewhere. It persists, notwithstanding stiff-necked rebellion, and in spite of coarse materialism of nature. Even a childish fickleness, more utterly trying than any other-weakness or defect, cannot wear it out. But inexorable blessing or curse is blended with it, and helps to work out the final result for Israel and mankind. That is the manner of the government of God, according to the Scriptures. History in its long course as known to us now confirms the view; and the author of Deuteronomy, in thus blending love and law together in the end of this great exhortation, has rested the obligation to obedience on a foundation which cannot be moved.