Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 11:16
Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;
16, 17. The enjoyment of so much blessing in the land suggests, as usual (cp. Deu 6:14 f., Deu 8:19 f.), a warning against being deceived into attributing it to other gods, i.e. the Baalim, already regarded in the land as the authors of its fertility, and worshipping them. Whether this warning is from the same hand as the preceding vv. is difficult to determine. The fact that it is in the Pl. while they are in the Sg., and that it is not so necessary to their argument as it is to the context in Deu 6:14 f. and Deu 8:19 f., suggests here another hand. At the same time it is relevant to what precedes, and in Deu 11:17 directly attaches itself to that. Nor is it all compiled of formulas.
16. Take heed to yourselves ] See on Deu 4:9; only here and Deu 4:23 with Pl.
lest your heart be deceived ] So Job 31:27.
and ye turn aside ] With both Sg. and Pl., see on Deu 13:5.
17. the anger of the Lord, etc.] See Deu 6:14 f., Deu 7:4.
and he shut up the heaven fruit ] These clauses found in D only here (but cp. Deu 28:23 f. and the deuteronomic 1Ki 8:35). Fruit, rather produce, y e bl, found, save for Jdg 6:4, only in the later O.T. writings from Ezekiel (Eze 34:27) and D onwards, cp. Deu 32:22. Thus not only in the climate of Palestine, blessed directly from heaven, but in its interruptions also Israel are to see the personal Providence of their God.
and ye perish quickly, etc.] So, with slight variations, Deu 4:26.
the good land ] Deu 1:35.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Deu 11:16-17
Take heed . . . that your heart be not deceived.
Religion no humbug
I. Let us not be deceived in our ideas about God.
1. Let us not be deceived in thinking that our heavenly Father is partly good and partly bad.
2. Let not your heart be deceived in thinking that God cannot pardon the one who supposes himself or herself to be the worst. We all do wrong, in some sense or another; and when the thought of our sin weighs down our hearts, let us feel persuaded that God can forgive us. But do not mistake His pardon by thinking that when He forgives us, there is an end of it. Here is a careless weaver at work, throwing the shuttle containing the weft. When she has got half through the warp, she finds she has made an error in the pattern, and when the overlooker unwinds the piece he discovers the flaw running through the whole. Well, what is to be done? She says, O, do forgive me! He replies, Certainly I will; but you know it must be undone. It is weary work undoing a web of long threads; but nobody would buy that piece as it is. So the weaver begins with the last thread and pulls it out from side to side and begins again. Likewise, though the Lord forgives us, we must undo the bad life. As the kindly overlooker stands beside the weaver, saying, Let me help you, so the Lord stands by us to help us to amend the tangled web of our life. While God forgives us and inspires our heart, the rectification of what is wrong must, however, be our own act. We must undo our bad life by beginning afresh.
II. Do not be deceived in your views concerning religion. Religion is not a theory; it is the living spirit of usefulness. Religion that does not inspire us to be pure ourselves and useful to others is not the true Christian religion; it is a humbug. Religion will comfort your own heart and make you a blessing wherever you go. While it teaches you to fight against your evil propensities, it trains you to be kind-hearted at home and peaceable-minded abroad. In leading you down the steps of true humility, it exalts you to the noblest manhood; and while constraining you to surrender your will to the Christ-spirit, it gives you the glorious power of God-likeness. A minister was on one occasion preaching on peaceableness, having special reference to Messrs. Pincher and Stiggins, two of his deacons who had long been at daggers point. Such was his faithful earnestness that the whole congregation was moved, and when the benediction was pronounced, Mr. Pincher went across the chapel to the other, and with tears in his eyes, remarked, Brother Stiggins, after such a sermon there must be peace between us. Now, I cant give in, so you must! The other replied, Well, Brother Pincher, if you wont give in, Im blessed if I will! You see, they were religious in theory but not in practical life.
III. We should not be deceived in our thoughts about the invisible world called heaven and hell. If you have good things in this world, and do not care for the destitute, you cannot have good things in the other world. (W. Birch.)
A caution against deception
I. An evil anticipated. That of having the heart deceived.
1. The scantiness and imperfection of human knowledge.
2. The deceitfulness of the heart.
3. The deceitfulness of sin.
4. The deceitfulness of the world.
5. The deceitfulness of the devil.
Such are the reasons we have for believing that our hearts may be deceived. But the text assumes that this deception is an evil pregnant with very pernicious consequences. And this appears from the consideration, that those whose hearts are deceived are involved in a state of the most palpable error. What tradesman would wish to make errors in his accounts? What scholar would not guard against error in his sums? But these errors are trivial, when compared to the grievous error in which those are involved whose hearts are deceived concerning their salvation and their God. Nor is this all; those whose hearts are deceived, are exposed to extreme danger.
II. The caution urged against this deception. Take heed to yourselves, etc.
1. Be alive to a sense of your extreme danger. Let us consider what we are–how deeply fallen! Let us weigh well our circumstances, dangers, and enemies; this will lay the foundation for caution and circumspection.
2. Seek for the illuminating and sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit; O, seek His influence by fervent, importunate prayer. Take heed to yourselves.
3. By the constant practice of self-examination.
4. By watching over yourselves. Watch and pray. Be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. Watch thou in all things. Watchfulness will lead you to keep a strict guard over your thoughts, words, actions. (Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
That your heart be not deceived by the specious pretenses of idolaters, who will plead the general consent of all nations, except yours, in the worship of creatures, and that they worship the creatures only for Gods sake, and as they are glorious works of God, whom they worship in and by them; which, and the like arguments, being commonly alleged by heathens for their idolatries, as their own writers declare, might possibly seduce an unwary Israelite; and therefore they are here cautioned against such deceit, and withal it is implied, that if a mans mind be corrupted and deceived, so as he believes idolatry to be lawful, this will not excuse him in the sight of God.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived,…. By observing the influence of the heavens upon the fruitfulness of the earth, and so be drawn to the worship of the host of them, the sun, moon, and stars; or by the examples of nations round about them; and by the plausible arguments they may make use of, taken from the traditions of ancestors, from antiquity, and the consent of nations, and the great numbers of worshippers, and the like:
and ye turn aside; from the true God, and the worship of him; or from the law, as Jarchi, which directs to the worship of one God, and forbids idolatry, or the worshipping of images:
and serve other gods, and worship them; other gods than the one only living and true God; gods that made not the heavens and the earth, and which cannot give rain, nor any blessing and mercy of life, nor help and deliver their worshippers when in distress.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
16 Take heed to yourselves. By often inculcating the same thing, viz., that they should diligently take heed, he indirectly arraigns man’s proneness to superstition; and this too is again expressed in the words, “that your heart be not deceived;” for by them he signifies, that unless they take diligent heed to themselves, nothing will be more easy than for them to fall into the snares of Satan. Wherefore the impudence of the Papists is the less excusable, who intoxicate their own and others’ minds with security, when God constantly exhorts them to solicitude. Let us learn, then, that since many impostures and deceits besiege us on every side, we shall in the vanity of our nature be liable immediately to fall into them, unless we carefully guard ourselves. By the expression “turn aside,” he implies what has been before said, that whosoever declines to corrupted worship, impiously falls away from the true God. Unbelievers but little think so, for with them it is a light transgression to exceed in this respect; and they would wilfully blind the eyes of God with their inventions ( commentis), nay, there is nothing too silly for them to desire to be approved of, and sanctioned by God. But if it be objected that obedience is better than sacrifice, they shield themselves under the cover of their good intention, as if God were not at liberty to repudiate what they foolishly obtrude upon Him. At any rate, they so pertinaciously indulge themselves in their inconsiderate zeal, that they will hardly acknowledge the slightest fault in it. But, on the other side, God declares that all are apostates who do not confine themselves to the simplicity of the Law. A threat is again added, that God will avenge the violation of His worship, and will curse their land, until He shall destroy them by dearth and famine; and, finally, He pronounces that they shall perish off that land which God had promised them to the end that He might be there purely worshipped.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(16) Take heed to yourselvesi.e., when you are satisfied. (Comp. Deu. 8:10-11.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Ver. 16. That your heart be not deceived They were in danger of being seduced into an imitation of their neighbours, by the specious colours they put upon their idolatry; as, the antiquity of it, universal consent, the pretence of directing their worship to the supreme God, and that they enjoyed fruitful seasons and other temporal blessings, as a reward for their worship.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
GOD’S withholding the influences of his SPIRIT, is here figuratively set forth. See a proof of this: Amo 4:7-8 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Deu 11:16 Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;
Ver. 16. That your heart be not deceived. ] Having first deceived itself; for “the heart is deceitful above all things,” Jer 17:9 and may say to many, as the heart of Apollonius the tyrant seemed to say to him, who dreamed one night, that he was flayed by the Scythians, and boiled in a caldron, and that his heart spake to him out of the kettle and said, E , It is I that have drawn thee to all this. a Those in hell cry so.
a Plut.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Take heed: Deu 4:9, Deu 4:23, Luk 21:8, Luk 21:34, Luk 21:36, Heb 2:1, Heb 3:12, Heb 4:1, Heb 12:15
your heart: Deu 13:3, Deu 29:18, Job 31:27, Isa 44:20, Jam 1:26, 1Jo 5:21, Rev 12:9, Rev 13:14, Rev 20:4
and serve: Deu 8:19, Deu 30:17
Reciprocal: Deu 28:14 – thou shalt 1Sa 12:20 – turn not Job 31:26 – beheld Jer 17:21 – Take
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Deu 11:16-17. That your heart be not deceived By the specious pretence of idolaters, persuading you that they enjoy fruitful seasons, and other temporal blessings, as a reward for their worship. And he shut up the heaven Withhold rain from you, which will be a sore judgment, quickly bringing a famine, whereby you will be wasted and consumed. Here, and elsewhere, heaven is compared to a great store-house, wherein God lays up his treasures of dew and rain, (Job 38:22,) the doors whereof God is said to open when he gives rain, and to shut when he withholds it.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
11:16 Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not {f} deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;
(f) By devising foolish devotions according to your own fantasies.