{"id":5243,"date":"2022-09-24T01:03:17","date_gmt":"2022-09-24T06:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/exegetical-and-hermeneutical-commentary-of-deuteronomy-1126\/"},"modified":"2022-09-24T01:03:17","modified_gmt":"2022-09-24T06:03:17","slug":"exegetical-and-hermeneutical-commentary-of-deuteronomy-1126","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/exegetical-and-hermeneutical-commentary-of-deuteronomy-1126\/","title":{"rendered":"Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 11:26"},"content":{"rendered":"

Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; <\/i><\/b><\/h3>\n

26 28<\/strong>. The summing up and clinching of the whole discourse, Deu 11:5-11<\/span>: a blessing to Israel if they obey the commandments of God, a curse if they do not obey but turn after other gods. Cp. Deu 30:1<\/span>, as here, blessing and curse<\/em>; Deu 11:15<\/span>; Deu 11:19<\/span>, life and death, good and evil<\/em>.<\/p>\n

27<\/strong>. if ye shall hearken<\/em>, etc.] See Deu 7:12<\/span>, Pl.; Deu 15:5<\/span>, Deu 28:13<\/span>, Sg.<\/p>\n

28<\/strong>. turn aside<\/em> ] See Deu 11:16<\/em><\/span>, Deu 9:12<\/span>; Deu 9:16<\/span>, Deu 13:5<\/span>, Deu 31:29<\/span>.<\/p>\n

to go after other gods<\/em> ] Deu 6:14<\/span>.<\/p>\n

which ye have not known<\/em> ] See above on Deu 7:9<\/span>, Deu 8:3<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Deu 11:26-29<\/span><\/p>\n

A blessing and a curse.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Two mountains<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mount Ebal, we are told, is a barren, stony, and arid crag; so would God smite the apostates with barrenness, hunger, and misery. Gerizim was covered with luxuriant verdure, streams of running water and cool and shady groves; so would God bless the faithful Israelites with abundance, beauty and peace. It is a grand prophecy in landscape of the judgments of Gods eternal providence. Henceforth their future, in the country they conquer and colonise, is in their own hands. The two ways of national and individual life, to ruin or to glory, part plainly before their eyes. The things shown in that early age of symbols were only outward patterns of what goes on in facts and decisions within us. Gerizim and Ebal raise their significant and speaking summits before every life.<\/p>\n


I. <\/strong>For, in other words, life is overspread, permeated, and bound in, by Gods law. That law occupies every inch of its extent and every fibre of its organisation. Obey and be blessed, disobey and be accursed; here is the sharp alternative imprinted on every department of our being. Your body, your business, your appetites, your affections, your intellect, your memory, your judgment, your imagination, your household manners, your talk at the table and in the street, your practice of your profession or performance at your trade, your levity or sobriety, your temper and your tongue, your bargains and your salutations, your correspondence and your meditation, your action and your reveries, your hands, heart, and brain, all are penetrated and encircled by this law.<\/p>\n


II. <\/strong>This law is permanent and unchangeable, as its Author is, being the uniform will of an unchangeable mind; not one thing for preachers and communicants, but for persons who never chose to confess themselves Christians another and easier thing; not strict for one seventh of your time and lax for six sevenths; not varying with situations and fluctuating with opportunities for concealment or degrees of temptation; not satisfied to be respected in the dwellings at one end of a city while it is despised in the warehouses and offices at the other end.<\/p>\n


III. <\/strong>Again, the consequences of this law which we are born and live under, in its two-fold working, whether as visiting penalties upon its violators or peace and strength upon its servants–are not to be prevented though they should be apparently obscured or postponed. This truth requires something more than a theoretic admission. How many of us realise it–that every offence against the Divine Will is certain to bring on, at last, its penal pain ant: sorrow–even its delay aggravating its torment; that every faithful or religious act or feeling must yield its infallible return of joy–the very hindrance enhancing its richness and depth; that Gerizim is sure of the fulfilment of its promise, and Ebal sure of the execution of its warning?<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>Helps enough are given to enable us to realise it. Can we pretend the law is not made plain?<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>We let our short-sightedness be deceived by the slowness of its operation; and, because sentence against our evil works is not executed speedily, suffer our hearts to get set in us to do evil. But the majestic order of nature is not really so stable as the moral results of moral choice, from greatest to least.<\/p>\n


IV. <\/strong>With every right-minded Christian it must be a very earnest and very constant prayer, that he may gain larger and larger apprehensions of the extent and the sanctity of this law–the law that puts him on a perpetual choosing between holiness and worldliness, at between blessing and cursing.<\/p>\n


V. <\/strong>Another step in the doctrine is to trace up this commandment to its conscious and personal infinite source. The law has its seat in the heart of God. No rigid, unfeeling abstraction is it, but the living Will of a living Father. Choose the right and scorn the wrong; and there will be growing within you a sense of His Almighty Presence, without whom no right could be, and all would be wrong. But remember that moral obedience can never be religious till it has God for its object, Gods Will for its guide, and communion with God for its daily inspiration.<\/p>\n


VI. <\/strong>And thus we are led up by this order of our subject to discover, finally, the positive grandeur of allegiance to the Divine law. That grandeur is witnessed both by its nature and its effects.<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>In its nature. For obedience to the commandment is of itself a noble and valiant element in character. It is no paradox to affirm that the obedient mind is a commanding mind. The law that carries blessings in its right hand and curses in its left appeals to a deeper principle than selfishness. The blessings are not earthly advantages, but those spiritual gifts and honours, like confidence and holiness, love and faith, power and peace, which exclude all thought of self, and are kindred with the glory and purity of heaven. The curses are those elements of spiritual ruin–fear, hatred, passion, jealousy, despair, which impoverish the whole moral creation. The law does not reveal its encouragements and threatenings from Gerizim and Ebal, to make a rich or famous people, but a holy people.<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>So the effect is holiness of life. The commandment is holy, just, and good; and so must its fruit be. (Bp. F. D. Huntington.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Practical alternatives<\/strong><\/p>\n

Moses does not divide the people into two classes: he sets before them alternative courses:–proceed upon the line of obedience, and you come to blessing; proceed along the line of disobedience, and a curse is the inevitable necessity–not a threatening, not an exhibition of fretful vengeance, but a spiritual necessity; a curse follows evil-doing, not as an arbitrary punishment, but as the effect, which can never be changed, of a certain, positive, operating cause. What if everything round about us be confirming the testimony of Moses? What if the Decalogue be written every day of the week? What if in the operation of moral influence it can be distinctly proved that the Bible is true, that the Word of the Lord abideth forever, and that, whatever changes may have occurred, obedience still leads to blessing, disobedience still leads to cursing, and it is not within the wit or the strength of man to change that outgoing of law and consequence? A very precious thing it is that we have only to obey. At first it looks as if we were humbled by this course of service, but further inquest into the spiritual meaning of the matter shows us that in the definition of right and wrong, law and righteousness, God has been most tenderly pitiful towards us, and law is but the practical and more visible and measurable aspect of love. One who knows the universe, because He made it, and all eternity, because He inhabits it, has condescended to tell us what is good, what is true, what is pure, what is right. If we were inspired by the right spirit we would instantly stand up in thankfulness and bless the Givers name, and ask but one other favour–that we might have eyes to see the innermost meaning of the law, and hearts trained, disciplined, and sanctified to accept and obey it, and express it in noble behaviour. Is it true, within limits that we know, that obedience leads to blessing and disobedience to cursing? Sometimes we have to interrupt the Divine reasoning that we may assist ourselves in its comprehension by the study of analogy upon lower ground. Is it true that there is a seed time, which, if neglected, will be followed by desolation and death?. . .If all these little outside Bibles are true and can challenge facts to prove their truth, it is not difficult to rise to the higher level, and to say, There may be a Bible meant for the soul; there may be a revelation addressed to the reason, and to the higher reason called faith, and to the higher self called the spirit. This higher revelation has not the immediate advantage of the lower Bibles, because they deal with earth, body, space, time, measurable quantities; but the higher Bible deals with soul, spirit, thought, will, eternity. He who operates within a radius of a few inches can be, apparently, quicker in his movements, more precise and determined in his decisions, than the man who claims the globe as the theatre of his actions. So the Bible, having the disadvantage of dealing with spiritual quantities, must be judged, so far as we can approach it, by the spirit of the lower laws, or the laws applying to the lower economy The argument is this: seeing that in the field, in the body, in the social economy, there is a law of blessing and a law of cursing, who shall say that this same reasoning does not culminate in a great revelation of heaven, hell; the right hand, the left hand; eternal life, everlasting penalty? If the analogies had been dead against that construction, we might by so much have stood in doubt and excused ourselves from completeness of service; but every analogy becomes a preacher: all nature take up her parable and speaks the revelations of her God: all life beats with a pulse below a pulse, the physical throb being but an indication of a growing immortality. We stand in a solemn sanctuary. We cannot get rid of law. The spiritual is a present blessing or a present curse. We cannot be happy with a bad conscience: it hardens the pillow when we need sleep most, it upsets all our arrangements, or makes our hand so tremble that we cannot clutch our own property; and we cannot be unhappy with a good conscience: without bread we are still in fulness, without employment we are still inspired by hope, without much earthly charity or largeness of construction of our motive and force we still retire within the sanctuary of an approved judgment and conscience. Blessing is not a question of posthumous realisation, nor is cursing. Heaven is here, and hell in germ, in outline, in hint, in quick, burning suggestion. Even now sometimes men know not whether they are in the body or out of the body by reason of religious entrancement and ecstasy; and there are men who, if they dare put their feeling into words, would say, The pains of hell gat hold upon me. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked; Though hand join in band, the wicked shall not be unpunished; Be sure your sin will find you out. Who can fight God and win the battle? (J. Parker, D. D.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The blessing and the curse<\/strong><\/p>\n

1<\/strong>. <\/em><\/strong>What is the blessing set before us? The blessing of him whose sins are forgiven, who lives in Gods favour and dies in peace.<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>What is the curse? Just this, The soul that sins shall die. Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things written, etc.<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>What is the way to escape the curse? By the death of Christ we are delivered from sin, redeemed from the curse, and by His obedience entitled to a blessing.<\/p>\n

4. <\/strong>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. You must take the sunshine or the shadow–the evil or the good–the Come, ye blessed, inherit the kingdom; or the withering sentence, Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire. (J. C. Cumming, D. D.<\/em>)<\/p>\n

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Verse 26<\/span>. Behold, I set before you – a blessing and a curse<\/B><\/I>] If God had not put it in the power<\/I> of this people either to obey or<\/I> disobey<\/I>; if they had not had a free will<\/I>, over which they had complete authority, to use it either in the way of willing<\/I> or nilling<\/I>; could God, with any propriety, have given such precepts as these, sanctioned with such promises and threatenings? If they were not free agents<\/I>, they could not be punished<\/I> for disobedience<\/I>, nor could they, in any sense of the word, have been rewardable<\/I> for obedience<\/I>. A STONE is not rewardable<\/I> because, in obedience to the laws of gravitation<\/I>, it always tends to the<\/I> centre<\/I>; nor is it punishable be cause, in being removed from that centre, in its tending or falling towards it again it takes away the life of a man.<\/P>

<\/P>

That God has given man a free, self – determining<\/I> WILL, which cannot be forced<\/I> by any power but that which is omnipotent, and which God himself never will force<\/I>, is declared in the most formal manner through the whole of the sacred writings. No argument<\/I> can affect this, while the Bible is considered as a Divine revelation; no sophistry<\/I> can explain away its evidence, as long as the accountableness<\/I> of man for his conduct is admitted, and as long as the eternal bounds of moral good<\/I> and evil<\/I> remain, and the essential distinctions<\/I> between vice<\/I> and virtue<\/I> exist. If ye will<\/I> obey, (for God is ever ready to assist,) ye shall live; if ye will<\/I> disobey and refuse that help, ye shall die. So hath Jehovah<\/I> spoken, and man cannot reverse it.<\/P> <\/p>\n

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

I propose them to your minds and to your choice. <\/P> <\/p>\n

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

26-32. Behold, I set before you thisday a blessing and a curse<\/B>(See on De27:11<\/span>).<\/P><\/p>\n

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse<\/strong>,…. Meaning the law of God, and the statutes, judgments, and commandments of it; which, if obeyed, blessings would be bestowed upon them; but if disobeyed, they would be liable to the curses of it, as the following words explain it; see De 30:15<\/span> everyone of the Israelites were called upon to see and consider this matter, it being an interesting one to them all.<\/p>\n

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

The Blessing and the Curse.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/I><\/span><\/P> <\/TD>

B. C.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN> 1451.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/P> <\/TD> <\/TR> <\/TABLE>

      26 Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;   27 A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD<\/B> your God, which I command you this day:   28 And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD<\/B> 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.   29 And it shall come to pass, when the LORD<\/B> 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.   30 Are<\/I> 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?   31 For ye shall pass over Jordan to go in to possess the land which the LORD<\/B> your God giveth you, and ye shall possess it, and dwell therein.   32 And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments which I set before you this day.<\/P>

      Here Moses concludes his general exhortations to obedience; and his management is very affecting, and such as, one would think, should have engaged them for ever to God, and should have left impressions upon them never to be worn out.<\/P>

      I. He sums up all his arguments for obedience in two words, the blessing and the curse<\/I> (v.<\/I><\/span> 26<\/span>), that is, the rewards and the punishments, as they stand in the promises and the threatenings, which are the great sanctions of the law, taking hold of hope and fear, those two handles of the soul, by which it is caught, held, and managed. These two, the blessing and the curse, he set before them, that is, 1. He explained them, that they might know them; he enumerated the particulars contained both in the blessing and in the curse, that they might see the more fully how desirable the blessing was, and how dreadful the curse. 2. He confirmed them, that they might believe them, made it evident to them, by the proofs he produced of his own commission, that the blessing was not a fool’s paradise, nor the curse a bugbear, but that both were real declarations of the purpose of God concerning them. 3. He charged them to choose which of these they would have, so fairly does he deal with them, and so far is he from putting out the eyes of these men,<\/I> as he was charged, Num. xvi. 14<\/span>. They and we are plainly told on what terms we stand with Almighty God. (1.) If we be obedient to his laws, we may be sure of a blessing, v.<\/I><\/span> 27<\/span>. But, (2.) If we be disobedient, we may be as sure of a curse, v.<\/I><\/span> 28<\/span>. Say you to the righteous<\/I> (for God has said it, and all the world cannot unsay it) that it shall be well with them: but woe to the wicked, it shall be ill with them.<\/I><\/P>

      II. He appoints a public and solemn proclamation to be made of the blessing and curse which he had set before them, upon the two mountains of Gerizim and Ebal, Deu 11:29<\/span>; Deu 11:30<\/span>. We have more particular directions for this solemnity in ch.<\/I><\/span> xxvii. 11<\/span>, c., and an account of the performance of it, Josh. viii. 33<\/span>, &c. It was to be done, and was done, immediately upon their coming into Canaan, that when they first took possession of that land they might know upon what terms they stood. The place where this was to be done is particularly described by Moses, though he never saw it, which is one circumstance among many that evidences his divine instructions. It is said be near the plain,<\/I> or oaks,<\/I> or meadows,<\/I> of Moreh,<\/I> which was one of the first places that Abraham came to in Canaan so that in sending them thither, to hear the blessing and the curse, God reminded them of the promise he made to Abraham in that very place, Gen 12:6<\/span>; Gen 12:7<\/span>. The mention of this appointment here serves, 1. For the encouragement of their faith in the promise of God, that they should be masters of Canaan quickly. Do it (says Moses) on the other side Jordan (v.<\/I><\/span> 30<\/span>), for you may be confident you shall pass over Jordan,<\/I> v.<\/span> 31<\/span><\/U><\/I><\/span>. The institution of this service to be done in Canaan was an assurance to them that they should be brought into possession of it, and a token like that which God gave to Moses (Exod. iii. 12<\/span>): You shall serve God upon this mountain.<\/I> And, 2. It serves for an engagement upon them to be obedient, that they might escape that curse, and obtain that blessing, which, besides what they had already heard, they must shortly be witnesses to the solemn publication of (v.<\/I><\/span> 32<\/span>): “You shall observe to do the statutes and judgements,<\/I> that you may not in that solemnity be witnesses against yourselves.”<\/P><\/p>\n

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Verses 26-32:<\/strong><\/p>\n

God promised blessings for obedience, and curses for disobedience.<\/p>\n

The text looks forward to the time when Israel would occupy the Land. At that time, they were to assemble in the valley between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. There the blessings for obedience were to be pronounced from Mount Gerizim, and the curses for disobedience from Mount Ebal, Jos 8:30-35<\/span>.<\/p>\n

These two mountains are opposite each other, and a valley lies between them, which is about 600 feet broad at the widest point. The city of Shechem (Nablus) is situated between them.<\/p>\n

A reason for the selection of Gerizim and Ebal may be that they are situated in the center of the Land, both from north to south, and east to west.<\/p>\n

“The other side Jordan,” that is, across Jordan from where Israel was at the time of this text.<\/p>\n

“Champaign,” arabah, <\/strong>“plain, waste, desert.” The term is most commonly translated “plain” (42 times), “desert” (9 times), “wilderness” (5 times).<\/p>\n

Gilgal, <\/strong>not the site mentioned in Jos 4:19<\/span>; Jos 12:23<\/span>; but the Gilgal of Jos 9:6<\/span>; Jos 10:6<\/span>; 2Ki 2:1<\/span>. This site was north of Bethel, a location affording a broad view of the lower plains and the sea.<\/p>\n

Plains of Moreh, <\/strong>a place near Gilgal and Mount Gerizim, Gen 12:6<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Verses 31, 32: Israel’s assurance that they would cross Jordan and possess the Land of Canaan. This was another motivating factor for obedience to Jehovah and service to Him.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

26. Behold, I set before you this day. He now embraces the two points at once, viz., that they would be blessed if they earnestly apply themselves to the keeping of the Law, and cursed, if they shake off its yoke and revel in their lusts. But, when he says that he here sets before them a blessing and a curse, it is as much as to declare, that he does not merely tell them what is right, but that the reward is prepared if they obey; and if not, that the punishment is also at hand. Thus we see, that the doctrine which he had hitherto delivered is sealed by hope and fear, since they would not lose their labor if they obeyed it, nor be unpunished if they rejected it. But, that they may learn surely to embrace the promises and to fear the threatenings, he repeats what we have met with before, (203) that God, who is both a faithful rewarder, and a severe judge, is the Author of the Law; yet at the same time he magnifies his own ministry, (204) since it behooved them to depend upon God, and to acquiesce in His commandments, in such a manner as still to submit themselves to His Prophet. For such is men’s pride, that they desire to fly above the clouds to listen to God; whilst He would be heard in His servants, by whose mouth He speaks. Moses, therefore, would again enforce upon them this humility, when he states that he enjoins what God has commanded, as if to call himself the organ of the Holy Spirit. <\/p>\n

(203) Added in Fr. , “Plusieurs fois.” <\/p>\n

(204) Added in Fr. , “Disant que c’est luy qui commande apres Dieu;” saying that it is he who commands after God. <\/p>\n

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

8. THE BLESSING AND THE CURSE (Deu. 11:26-32<\/span>)<\/p>\n

26 Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing, if ye shall hearken unto the commandments of Jehovah your God, which I command you this day; 28 and the curse, if ye shall not hearken unto the commandments of Jehovah your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known. 29 And it shall come to pass, when Jehovah thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt set the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal. 30 Are they not beyond the Jordan, behind the way of the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites that dwell in the Arabah, over against Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh? 31 For ye are to pass over the Jordan to go in to possess the land which Jehovah your God giveth you, and yet shall possess it, and dwell therein. 32 And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and the ordinances which I set before you this day.<\/p>\n

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 11:2632<\/p>\n

223.<\/p>\n

Just what blessing had Jehovah promised to Israel? What curse?<\/p>\n

224.<\/p>\n

It would seem the whole of Gods desire for us can be summarized in one word, obedience. Do you agree?<\/p>\n

225.<\/p>\n

What is meant by set the blessings on Mount Gerizim?<\/p>\n

AMPLIFIED TRANSLATION 11:2632<\/p>\n

26 Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;
27 The blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day;
28 And the curse, if you will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods which you have not known.<\/p>\n

29 And when the Lord your God has brought you into the land which you go to possess, you shall set the blessings on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. [Jos. 8:33<\/span>.]<\/p>\n

30 Are they not beyond the Jordan, west of the road where the sun goes down, in the land of the Canaanites, living in the Arabah opposite Gilgal, beside the oaks or terebiths of Moreh?
31 For you are to cross over the Jordan to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God gives you, and you shall possess it, and live in it.
32 And you shall be watchful to do all the statutes and ordinances which I set before you this day.<\/p>\n

COMMENT 11:2632<\/p>\n

We will have more to say of Gods instructions upon Israels arrival at Ebal and Gerizim in chapters 27 and 28. These mountains were directly opposite one another in the area allotted to the tribe of Ephriam. Ebal, 3,075 feet high, was on the north, and Gerezim, elevation 2,850, on the south; with the town of Shechem lying in the valley between.<\/p>\n

THIS DAY (Deu. 11:26<\/span>; Deu. 11:32<\/span>)It appears that this section chronologically belongs to the same time as chap. 27 ff. because the same event is described. In fact, all the intervening scriptures may be a record of Moses words on the same day. However, it is not mandatory that we compress this day into so literal a meaning. See Deu. 9:1<\/span>, notes.<\/p>\n

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

(26) Behold.<\/strong>Another of the Jewish divisions of Deuteronomy begins here.<\/p>\n

A blessing and a curse.<\/strong>Literally, blessing and cursing<\/em>the blessing if ye obey, and the curse if ye do not.
<\/em><\/p>\n

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

26<\/strong>. <\/strong> Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse <\/strong> A blessing<\/strong>, if they obey and have Jehovah for their God; a curse<\/strong>, if they are disobedient and go after other gods.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Blessing and Cursing ( Deu 11:26-32<\/strong><\/span><\/strong> ).<\/strong> <\/p>\n

Most suzerainty treaties and some law codes had cursings against those who disobeyed their requirements, and many had both blessings and cursings. This was especially true of second millennium BC Hittite treaties and the great law codes (1st century BC treaties stress the cursing). In the same way therefore, having laid out the general principles of their response to their Overlord, Moses introduces blessing and cursing here depending on how they carry them out. <\/p>\n

Analysis in the words of Moses: <\/p>\n

a <\/strong> I set before you this day a blessing and a curse, the blessing, if you will listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God, which I command you this day, and the curse, if you will not listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which you have not known (Deu 11:26-28<\/span>). <\/p>\n

b <\/strong> And it will come about that when Yahweh your God shall bring you into the land to which you are going to possess it (Deu 11:29<\/span> a). <\/p>\n

c <\/strong> You will set the blessing on mount Gerizim, and the curse on mount Ebal (Deu 11:29<\/span> b). <\/p>\n

c <\/strong> Are they not in Beyond Jordan, behind the way of the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites that dwell in the Arabah, over against Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh? (Deu 11:30<\/span>). <\/p>\n

b <\/strong> For you are to pass over the Jordan to go in to possess the land which Yahweh your God gives you, and you shall possess it, and dwell in it (Deu 11:31<\/span>). <\/p>\n

a <\/strong> And you shall observe to do all the statutes and the ordinances which I set before you this day (Deu 11:32<\/span>). <\/p>\n

Note than in ‘a’ the blessing is to be given if they obey His commandments, and the curse if they do not as a result of going after other gods. In the parallel they are to obey all His statutes and ordinances which Moses has at that time set before them. In ‘b’ there is reference to their going into the land to possess it and in the parallel they are going over Jordan in order to possess the land and dwell in it. In ‘c’ the blessing is on Mount Gerizim and the cursing on Mount Ebal, and in the parallel the siting of these mountains is described. <\/p>\n

Deu 11:26-27<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

‘<\/strong> Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse, the blessing, if you will listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God, which I command you this day.’ <\/p>\n

In true covenant fashion and in the same way as some law codes, including that of Hammurabi (2nd millennium BC), the choice is laid by Moses before those to whom the covenant is directed as to whether they will be blessed or cursed. To listen to the commandments of Yahweh their God and to obey will bring abundance of blessing. <\/p>\n

Deu 11:28<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

‘<\/strong> And the curse, if you will not listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which you have not known.’ <\/p>\n

But if they refuse to obey they will receive only cursing. For if they will not listen to the commandments of Yahweh their God, but turn aside from the way that Moses commands them that day, to go after other gods which they have not known, then they will surely be cursed. <\/p>\n

The Sealing Of The Covenant At Mounts Gerizim and Ebal.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

That is why when they enter into the land successfully they must gather at the place appointed and chosen by Yahweh, and call on themselves both the blessing and the cursing, an acknowledgement by them that they subscribe to the covenant, seeking the blessing that it offers and confirming that if they fail to keep it they will only deserve cursing. <\/p>\n

Deu 11:29-30<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

‘<\/strong> And it shall come about that when Yahweh your God shall bring you into the land to which you are going to possess it, you will set the blessing on mount Gerizim, and the curse on mount Ebal. Are they not in Beyond Jordan, behind the way of the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites that dwell in the Arabah, over against Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh?’ <\/p>\n

Confirmation is now given of the certainty of success in the invasion by announcing that once they are established in the land they are to perform a covenant ceremony in the very land in a place connected with the two large mountains between which lies the valley in which is Shechem, the mountains of Gerizim and Ebal. Some will stand on one mountain, and some on the other (Deu 27:11-14<\/span>), with the Ark of the Covenant of Yahweh in the valley in between (Jos 8:30-35<\/span>). This is the place that Yahweh their God has chosen for such a ceremony. The blessing will be declared from Mount Gerizim, and the cursing from Mount Ebal. <\/p>\n

The very general geographical position of the mountains is then described. They are in Beyond Jordan, behind ‘the way of the going down of the sun’, (the road to the west?), in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the Jordan rift valley on the western side of Jordan, over against Gilgal, by the oaks of Moreh (Gen 12:6<\/span>; Gen 35:4<\/span>). The situation of this ‘Gilgal’ is disputed. There were a number of Gilgals (Jos 12:23<\/span>; Jos 15:7<\/span>), for the name refers to stone circles, and there were many of them, and there was quite possibly one near Shechem. Or it may simply mean ‘beyond Gilgal’ (referring to the well known Gilgal of Jos 4:19<\/span>), i.e. in that direction. (We must remember in this regard that our understanding of the ancient technical terms used in describing geographical position is limited, for we do not have enough examples from the most ancient times by which to work them out). The description is, in the final analysis, for those who are listening. He may simply be saying in a grand manner ‘over there beyond the river on the other side of Jordan’. <\/p>\n

The mention of the oaks of Moreh, (known to them from their traditions), which were at Shechem, is partly in order to recall God’s dealings with Abraham and Jacob, for this was the first place that Abraham built an altar to Yahweh when he received his first theophany in the land (Gen 12:6<\/span>), and was later where Jacob bought land (Gen 33:18-20<\/span>). This probably largely explains why the area of Shechem was chosen for the purpose of establishing the covenant in the land. <\/p>\n

It appears to have been a regular practise for godly men to copy past events. Thus when Samuel\/Saul was re-establishing the Tabernacle worship he did so at Gilgal (1 Samuel 13, 4<\/span>, 7-14<\/span>) where the Tabernacle was first sited when Joshua entered the land over the Jordan. And both Elijah and Elisha follow the invasion trail, crossing the Jordan, Jericho, Bethel (Elijah in reverse order – 2Ki 2:2-8<\/span>; 2Ki 2:13-23<\/span>). <\/p>\n

The statement here is only a pause in the detailing of the covenant, for this reference to a covenant ceremony incorporating blessing and cursing will be expanded on in Deuteronomy 27<\/span>. Meanwhile the detailed stipulations of the covenant are to be declared in 12-26 (this Deuteronomy 27<\/span> is a necessary follow-up to this). <\/p>\n

Deu 11:31<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

‘<\/strong> For you are to pass over the Jordan to go in to possess the land which Yahweh your God gives you, and you shall possess it, and dwell in it.’ <\/p>\n

For the truth is that they are to pass over Jordan in order to go in and possess the land which Yahweh their God is giving them. And they can be sure that they will possess it, and dwell in it. They have Yahweh’s assurance of that. <\/p>\n

Deu 11:32<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

‘<\/strong> And you shall observe to do all the statutes and the ordinances which I set before you this day.’ <\/p>\n

And when they do they must ‘observe to do’ all the statutes and ordinance set before them that day. They must fully obey Yahweh’s commands. For that is what is required if they would possess this land which belongs to Yahweh. <\/p>\n

Summary.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

Having laid out the basic principles of their position before their Overlord, the more general part of Moses’s speech is now ended and he is about to enter into the more detailed regulations of the covenant. At this point therefore let us reconsider what lessons he has stressed. <\/p>\n

Central to all the chapters from 5-11 have been the ideas of how they must obey His commandment, His statutes and His ordinances that He might bless them in all they do (Deu 5:1<\/span>; Deu 5:29<\/span>; Deu 5:31-33<\/span>; Deu 6:1-3<\/span>; Deu 6:6-8<\/span>; Deu 6:17-18<\/span>; Deu 6:24-25<\/span>; Deu 7:11-12<\/span>; Deu 8:1<\/span>; Deu 8:6<\/span>; Deu 8:11<\/span>; Deu 10:13<\/span>; Deu 11:1<\/span>; Deu 11:8<\/span>; Deu 11:13<\/span>; Deu 11:22<\/span>; Deu 11:27<\/span>; Deu 11:32<\/span>); of how they are being blessed because of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Deu 6:10<\/span>; Deu 6:18<\/span>; Deu 7:8<\/span>; Deu 7:13<\/span>; Deu 8:1<\/span>; Deu 8:18<\/span>; Deu 9:5<\/span>; Deu 9:27<\/span>; Deu 10:15<\/span>; Deu 11:9<\/span>); of how they must remember their God Who delivered them from Egypt (Deu 5:6<\/span>; Deu 5:15<\/span>; Deu 6:12<\/span>; Deu 6:21-23<\/span>; Deu 7:8<\/span>; Deu 7:15<\/span>; Deu 7:18<\/span>; Deu 8:14<\/span>; Deu 9:26<\/span>); of how He is bringing them into a good and blessed land (Deu 6:10-11<\/span>; Deu 6:18<\/span>; Deu 7:13-16<\/span>; Deu 8:7-10<\/span>; Deu 8:12-13<\/span>; Deu 11:10-12<\/span>; Deu 11:14-15<\/span>), and of how they must beware of turning to false gods and false religion once they enter the land and must totally destroy them (Deu 5:8-9<\/span>; Deu 6:14-15<\/span>; Deu 7:4-5<\/span>; Deu 7:25-26<\/span>; Deu 8:19<\/span>; Deu 9:12<\/span>; Deu 9:16<\/span>; Deu 11:16<\/span>; Deu 11:28<\/span>). They must remember what their Overlord has done for them, must remember the promises that He has made to bless them for their forefathers’ sakes, must recognise the goodness of the land that He is providing for them, and recognise that they must not enter into association with His enemies. <\/p>\n

However each chapter has developed a different theme around the central thesis. <\/p>\n

Deuteronomy 5<\/span> was a detailed declaration of the covenant as given at Mount Sinai (‘the Mount’) and the glory of how it was given. <\/p>\n

Deuteronomy 6<\/span> has stressed their need to love Yahweh their covenant Overlord with all their beings (Deu 6:5<\/span>) and to fear Him (Deu 6:2<\/span>; Deu 6:13<\/span>; Deu 6:24<\/span>), and that they are to teach their children His instruction. And it reminds them that they must not forget when they are prospering in the land what He has done for them. <\/p>\n

Deuteronomy 7<\/span> has confirmed His elective love for them (Deu 7:7-8<\/span>; Deu 7:13<\/span>) as His holy people, chosen and treasured (Deu 7:6<\/span>), and promised them that He will bless them wonderfully, delivering the land into their hands, as long as they behave rightly towards His enemies. <\/p>\n

Deuteronomy 8<\/span> has reminded them of how they must remember and not forget the past (Deu 8:2<\/span>; Deu 8:5<\/span>; Deu 8:11<\/span>; Deu 8:14<\/span>; Deu 8:18<\/span>), and especially how He had looked after them in the wilderness, with the promise that He was bringing them to a good and prosperous land, and that once He has done so they must beware of self-glorification. <\/p>\n

Deuteronomy 9<\/span> has exhorted them to go forward and cross the Jordan because Yahweh goes before them, while reminding them that this is not because of their righteousness. This last fact he has then demonstrated to them from their history, including reference to their first breaking of the covenant. <\/p>\n

Deuteronomy 10<\/span> has stressed the gracious renewal of that covenant which they had broken so quickly, reversing the damage described in Deuteronomy 9<\/span>, and has described the greatness and uniqueness of Yahweh their covenant God. <\/p>\n

Deuteronomy 11<\/span> has urged them to learn from the past and go forward on the basis of it, repeated the promises and warnings of the previous chapters, constrained them to remember His words, bear them about with them and teach them to their children, and has promised the good things to come. And it has finally finished with the reminder of the blessings and cursings which will come on them depending on whether they faithfully respond to the covenant or not. <\/p>\n

Thus the foundations having been laid for the covenant, he next turns to the detailed regulations which are required under the covenant. <\/p>\n

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/strong> The Blessing and the Curse<\/p>\n

v. 26. Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse,<\/strong> having told them what the result of obedience and of disobedience would be, he gives them their own choice, he wants them to make their own decision; <\/p>\n

v. 27. a blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord, your God, which I command you this day,<\/strong> Deu 4:1<\/span>; <\/p>\n

v. 28. and a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord, your God, but turn aside out of<\/strong> (deliberately leave) the way which I command you this day to go after other gods which ye have not known. <\/strong> Disobedience of God is a species of idolatry and invariably leads to other sins of idolatry, other transgressions of the First Commandment. <\/p>\n

v. 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. <\/strong> By pronouncing the Lord’s blessing and curse while standing on these two mountains, the children of Israel would charge the very land with carrying out the blessing and the curse of the Lord. The land would thereby be placed under the solemn obligation of carrying out Jehovah’s decrees. <\/p>\n

v. 30. Are they,<\/strong> the two mountains, not on the other side,<\/strong> the west side, Jordan, by the way where the sun goeth down, in the land of the Canaanites, which dwell in the champaign,<\/strong> in the great steppes, over against Gilgal,<\/strong> from which the mountains, the plains, and the sea were visible, beside the Plains of Moreh?<\/strong> near the groves of terebinths where the patriarchs had lived, Gen 12:6<\/span>; Gen 35:4<\/span>. The two mountains are almost in the center of what was later Samaria, Ebal being on the north, and Gerizim on the south, of a fertile valley, where the city of Shechem was situated. <\/p>\n

v. 31. 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. <\/strong> This definite assurance was to encourage them in the struggles which were before them. <\/p>\n

v. 32. And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments which I set before you this day. <\/strong> The remembrance of all the mercies of the Lord in the past and the certainty of receiving still more evidences of His loving-kindness in the future should serve as a steady inducement to all Christians to continue in sanctification according to His will. <\/p>\n

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Ver. <\/em><\/strong>26. <\/strong>A blessing and a curse<\/em><\/strong><\/strong> Concerning this blessing and curse, and its remarkable completion in the history of the Jews, we shall have occasion to speak more fully when we come to the 28th chapter; as well as concerning Gerizim <\/em>and Ebal, <\/em>when we come to Jos 8:33<\/span>. <\/p>\n

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

DISCOURSE: 204
THE GREAT ALTERNATIVE<\/strong><\/p>\n

Deu 11:26-28<\/span>. Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; 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.<\/em><\/p>\n

ON whatever occasion these words had been spoken, they must have appeared most weighty, and most important: but, as the parting address of Moses to the whole nation of Israel, when he was about to be withdrawn from them, they have a force and emphasis that can scarcely be exceeded. Imagine the aged servant of Jehovah, who, forty years before, had delivered to their fathers the law written with the finger of God, and who had lived to see the utter extinction of that rebellious generation for their transgressions against it; imagine him, I say, now affectionately warning this new generation, with all the solicitude of a father, and all the fidelity of one who was about to give up an immediate account of his stewardship. In this view, the words inspire us with solemn awe, and impress us with a fearful sense of our responsibility to God. May God accompany them with a divine energy to our souls, whilst we consider,<\/p>\n

I.<\/p>\n

The awful alternative proposed to us<\/p>\n

As addressed to the Jews, these words may be understood as containing the terms of their national covenant, in which the blessings promised them depended on their obedience to the divine commands. But if we enter fully into the subject, we shall find it replete with instruction to us also, especially as exhibiting to our view the Christian covenant. Let us consider,<\/p>\n

1.<\/p>\n

The fuller explanation which Moses himself gave of this alternative<\/p>\n

[The blessing and the curse are more fully stated in the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth chapters of this book. But to what is the blessing annexed? to an unreserved obedience to all<\/em> Gods commandments [Note: Deu 28:1<\/span>.]. And against what is the curse denounced? not only against some particular and more flagrant transgressions [Note: Deu 27:15-25<\/span>.], but against any single deviation from the law of God, however small, however inadvertent [Note: Deu 27:26<\/span>.]: and all the people were required to give their consent to these terms, acknowledging the justice of them, and professing their willingness to be dealt with according to them [Note: Deu 27:26<\/span>.]. Now, I ask, who could obtain salvation on such terms as these? who could even venture to indulge a hope of ultimate acceptance with his God? It is obvious, that according to these terms the whole human race must perish. But was this the design of God in publishing such a covenant? Did he intend to mock his creatures with offers of mercy on terms which it was impossible to perform, and then to require of them a public acknowledgment of their approbation of them? No: he intended at this very time to shew them their need of a better covenant, and, in reality, to point out that very covenant for their acceptance. He intended to shew them, that, however in their national capacity they might secure a continuance of his favour by an observance of his commands, they could never attain eternal blessedness in such a way: they must look to their Messiah for the removal of the curses, which, according to their own acknowledgment, they merited; and obtain through him those blessings, which they would in vain attempt to earn by any merits of their own.<\/p>\n

That this is the true scope of those chapters, will appear from the light thrown upon them by St. Paul; who quotes the very words of Moses which we have been considering, and declares, that, according to them, every human being is under a curse, and is therefore necessitated to look to Christ who became a curse for us, and to expect a blessing through him alone [Note: Gal 3:10<\/span>; Gal 3:13-14<\/span>.].]<\/p>\n

But this will receive additional light by considering,<\/p>\n

2.<\/p>\n

The peculiar circumstances attending the publication of it<\/p>\n

[It was particularly commanded by Moses, that as soon as that portion of the promised land on which Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim stood should be subdued, an altar of whole stones should be erected to the Lord; that it should be plastered over; that the law should be written in very large and legible characters upon it; that burnt-offerings and peace-offerings should be offered upon it; that the terms of the covenant should be recited in the hearing of all the people; that the blessings should be pronounced on Mount Gerizim, and the curses on Mount Ebal; and that all the people should give their public assent to the whole and everypart of that covenant [Note: Deu 27:2-8<\/span>.].<\/p>\n

Now, whilst this command was a pledge to the people of their future success, it was an intimation to them, that the work of covenanting with God should take precedence of every other; and that, whatever were their occupations, whatever their difficulties, they must on no account forget to serve and honour God. Accordingly, as soon as Joshua had conquered Jericho and Ai, and had obtained possession of that spot of ground, notwithstanding he was surrounded by enemies on every side, he convoked the people, and complied with the divine command in every respect: there was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel [Note: Jos 8:30-35<\/span>.].<\/p>\n

But wherefore were these burnt-offerings to be offered on the occasion? and how could the people eat their peace-offerings there, and rejoice before the Lord [Note: Deu 27:7<\/span>.]? Methinks, if they were ratifying a covenant by which they could never obtain a blessing, and by which they must perish under a curse, there was little reason to rejoice<\/em>. But these burnt-offerings were to direct their attention to the great sacrifice, by which all their curses should be removed, and all the blessings of salvation be secured to them. In the view of that great sacrifice, they might hear all the curses published, and feel no cause of dread or apprehension: in the view of that sacrifice, they might contemplate the imperfections of their obedience without despondency; yea, they might eat their peace-offerings in token of their acceptance with God, and might rejoice in him with joy unspeakable and glorified. By this sacrifice they were taught, not to confine their views to the Law, but to extend them to the Gospel: and, in the terms to which they assented, they were taught to include obedience to the Gospel<\/em> [Note: 2Th 1:8<\/span>.], even to that great commandment of God, which enjoins us to believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ [Note: Joh 6:29<\/span><\/u> and 1Jn 3:23<\/span>.]. To this we<\/em> also may assent; yea, to this we must<\/em> assent: and we now set before you the blessing and the curse; we now propose to you the great alternative: If ye will obey the commandments of the Lord, believing in his only dear Son as the only ground of your hopes, and, from a sense of love to him, endeavouring unreservedly to fulfil his will, we promise you, in the name of Almighty God, a fulness of all spiritual and eternal blessings: but, if ye will not thus<\/em> obey his commandments, we declare to you, that the curse of God shall rest upon your souls in time and in eternity.]<\/p>\n

Such being the alternative proposed to us, we would set before you,<\/p>\n

II.<\/p>\n

Some reflections arising from it<\/p>\n

We cannot but notice from hence,<\/p>\n

1.<\/p>\n

That ministers must faithfully execute their high office<\/p>\n

[It was not from a want of tenderness that Moses thus faithfully declared the whole counsel of God, but because his duly to God, and to the people also, constrained him to declare it: and there is something peculiarly instructive in the directions he gave respecting the delivery of the blessing and the curse from the two contiguous mounts. Six of the tribes were to be stationed on the one mount, and six on the other: those who were born of the free-women, were to be on Mount Gerizim; and those who were of the bond-women, together with Reuben, who had been degraded, and Zebulun, the youngest of Leans children, (to make the numbers equal,) were to be on Mount Ebal, from whence the curses were to proceed. The tribe of Levi then were, where we should expect to find them, on the side from whence the blessings were pronounced [Note: Deu 27:11-13<\/span>.]. This shewed, that, whilst the liberty of the Gospel led to true blessedness, it was the true end and scope of the ministry to make men blessed [Note: Deu 10:8<\/span>.]: that<\/em> is the delightful employment of the sons of Levi: the highest character of a pious minister is, to be a helper of your joy. But it was ordered that some of the Levites should also be stationed on Mount Ebal to pronounce the curses [Note: Deu 27:14-15<\/span>.]; because, however painful it may be to ministers to exhibit the terrors of the law, the necessities of men require it, and the duties of their office demand it. Let us not then be thought harsh, if on proper occasions we make known to you the dangers of disobedience: a necessity is imposed upon us; and woe be to us if we decline executing the commission we have received. We must warn<\/em> every man, as well as teach<\/em> every man, if we would present every man perfect in Christ Jesus [Note: Col 1:28<\/span>.]. It would be a more pleasing task to dwell only on the brighter side, and to speak to you only from Mount Gerizim; but we must occasionally stand also on Mount Ebal, and make you to hear the more awful part of the alternative which we are commissioned to propose. The message which we must deliver to every creature that is under heaven, consists of these two parts, He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; and he that believeth not, shall be damned.]<\/p>\n

2.<\/p>\n

That faith and works are equally necessary to our salvation, though on different grounds<\/p>\n

[God forbid that for one moment we should attempt to lessen the importance and necessity of good works: they are indispensably necessary to our Salvation: they are as necessary under the Gospel, as under the law: the only difference is, that, according to the strict tenor of the law, they were the ground of our hope; whereas, under the Gospel, they are the fruits and evidences of our faith. To found our hopes of salvation on our obedience to the holy law of God, would, as we have before seen, cut off all possibility of salvation; because our obedience must be perfect<\/em>, in order to secure the promised blessing; and every<\/em> act of disobedience has entailed on us an everlasting curse: but, if we comprehend, in our views of obedience, an obedience to the Gospel; if we comprehend in it the trusting in Christ for salvation, and the free endeavours of the soul to serve and honour him; then we may adopt the words of our text, and address them confidently to every living man. But then we must not forget, that it is the atoning sacrifice of Christ that alone enables us to hear even such a proposal with any degree of comfort. We can no more yield a perfect<\/em> obedience to the Gospel, than we could to the Law: our faith is imperfect, as well as our works: but, if we seek reconciliation with God through the death of his Son, we shall have peace with him, and may eat our peace-offering with confidence and joy. In our views of this subject, we need only set before our eyes that solemn transaction, to which we have referred: we shall there see, on what all the hopes of Israel were founded, namely, the sacrifice of Christ: we shall see at the same time, to what all Israel were bound, namely, a life of holy and unreserved obedience. It is precisely thus with ourselves; our obedience does not supersede the necessity of faith; nor does our faith set aside the necessity of obedience: one is the root, and the other is the fruit; one is the foundation, the other is the superstructure; one is the means of acceptance with God, the other is the means of honouring him and of adorning our holy profession.]<\/p>\n

3.<\/p>\n

That happiness or misery is the fruit of our own choice<\/p>\n

[The very proposal of an alternative implies a choice: but this choice is yet intimated in a subsequent passage to the same effect [Note: Deu 30:15<\/span>; Deu 30:19<\/span>.]: nor can there be any doubt but that every man is called to make his election; and that his eternal state is fixed agreeably to the choice he makes. Not that we mean to set aside the election of God; for we know full well, that Gods people are a remnant according to the election of grace [Note: Rom 11:5<\/span>.]; and that it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy [Note: Rom 9:15-16<\/span>.]. Nevertheless, no man is brought to heaven against his own will. He has felt the attractive influences of divine grace, and has been made willing in the day of Gods power [Note: Psa 110:3<\/span>.]. He is drawn indeed, but it is with the cords of a man, and with the bands of love. On the other hand, no man is sentenced to misery, who has not first chosen the ways of sin. He perishes, not because God has ordained him to wrath [Note: 1Th 5:9<\/span>.], but because he will not come to Christ that he may have life [Note: Joh 5:40<\/span>.]. Christ would gladly have gathered him, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but he<\/em> would not.<\/p>\n

It may be said perhaps, that, whilst we thus attempt to vindicate the justice of God, we countenance the workings of pride in man. But we have no fear that any one who has been drawn by the Spirit of God, will ever ascribe his conversion to the operations of his own natural will: he will readily own, that it is God, who of his own good pleasure has given him both to will and to do [Note: Php 2:13<\/span>.]; and that it is by the grace of God he is what he is. On the other hand, all excuse is cut off from the ungodly: they must ever take the whole blame of their condemnation to themselves, and never presume to cast the least atom of it upon God.<\/p>\n

Make ye then your choice, beloved Brethren: we this day set before you life and death, a blessing and a curse: choose ye therefore life, that your souls may live. God has declared that he willeth not the death of any sinner: therefore turn yourselves, and live ye [Note: Eze 18:32<\/span>; Eze 33:11<\/span>.]. In his sacred name I promise to the righteous, that it shall be well with him; but I denounce a woe unto the wicked, for it shall be ill with him, and the reward of his hands shall be given to him [Note: Isa 3:10-11<\/span>.].]<\/p>\n<\/p>\n


<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

It is truly refreshing to attend to the practical exhortation which Moses makes, from what he had before said on this interesting subject, if interpreted upon gospel principles. There is indeed a blessing and a curse set before us in the gospel of JESUS. And if any man like the Jews of old, is at a loss to discover on whom the whole blessing rests, and the curse of rejecting; and would ask as they did of JESUS, What shall we do that we might work the works of GOD: the Redeemer hath himself answered it; “This is the work of GOD that ye believe in him whom he hath sent.” Joh 6:28-29<\/span> .<\/p>\n

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Practical Alternatives<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Deu 11:26-32<\/p>\n

This is the closing portion of a very long discourse delivered by Moses. The discourse begins in the twenty-second verse of the fifth chapter and extends to the end of the eleventh chapter. Within these points Moses rehearses the Decalogue and its leading principles; beyond the range of principles he has hardly yet gone. The next chapter opens with details, and insists upon special and clear applications of the morals which Moses had heretofore inculcated. The preacher winds up this portion of his discourse with a solemn appeal; he brings the great question to a point. He has not conducted himself merely as a lecturer upon moral philosophy, stating various theories with great learning and skill, and leaving his listeners to come to their own conclusions. There are no such lectures in an inspired book; they are in their right place in strictly human literature an ample field within which men may indulge their genius and exhibit the results of their investigations. Moses comes with a law. Rightly or wrongly, that is the position which he assumes. He is not an intellectual reasoner merely an inventor of systems, a critic of extinct ages; he says he has brought two tables written with the finger of God, measurable and intelligible as to letters and applications, but underneath them, and above them, and round about them is the mystery of Eternity. How does this noble preacher conclude his expositions and rehearsals? He does not divide the people into two classes: he sets before them alternative courses: proceed upon the line of obedience, and you come to blessing; proceed along the line of disobedience, and a curse is the inevitable necessity, not a threatening, not an exhibition of fretful vengeance, but a spiritual necessity: a curse follows evil-doing, not as an arbitrary punishment, but as the effect, which can never be changed, of a certain, positive, operating cause. This, therefore, takes out the personal element. We are not divided as on the right hand and on the left. Instead of classifying the hearers, Moses classifies the alternatives; and thus grace follows law, a species of mercy asserts itself in the midst of the severest and most critical of all moral legislation. The dart is not aimed at any particular man, nor is the favour dispensed in any spirit of selection and partiality; but two great courses are indicated, two distinct issues are classified, and it is for us, reasoning upon history and observation, to say whether the prophet of the Lord touched the vital line whether he trifled with the occasion, or whether he spake that which is today confirmed by experience and observation or human development and progress. What if everything round about us be confirming the testimony of Moses? What if the Decalogue be written every day of the week? What if in the operation of moral influence it can be distinctly proved that the Bible is one, that the word of the Lord abideth for ever, and that, whatever changes may have occurred, obedience still leads to blessing, disobedience still leads to cursing, and it is not within the wit or the strength of man to change that outgoing of law and consequence?<\/p>\n

A very precious thing it is that we have only to obey. At first it looks as if we were humbled by this course of service, but further inquest into the spiritual meaning of the matter shows us that in the definition of right and wrong, law and righteousness, God has been most tenderly-pitiful towards us, and law is but the practical and more visible and measurable aspect of love. Again and again we have seen that we are not moral inventors. God has not propounded a writing to us, to find out which is right and which is wrong; nor has he left to us the wild liberty, which would have been so full of disappointment and pain, of discovering for ourselves which way we would take, not knowing the definite issue of either course. There is nothing arbitrary in the revelation of eternal law: by its very nature it is a quantity which lies beyond our vision, and which does not submit itself to the rearrangements of our invention. Things relating to mere convenience, momentary rights, boundaries which are being continually enlarged and contracted as civilisation may require, with regard to these we are legislators, makers of law, having in our right the gift of reward and the infliction of penalty; but even these things are wrong if they are not built upon rocks we never laid, if they do not express the eternal harmoniousness, the infinite righteousness of God. In so far as they approach the divine thought, they will abide, they will daily vindicate their own justice; and in so far as they do not express the decree of Heaven, all time is against them; not a star in the wide heavens is on their side; they must go down by a pressure as irresistible as it is immeasurable and invisible. Happy is the man who has discovered that he is not meant to be a moral inventor a maker of morals, that he has to accept a revealed morality and an offered righteousness: that God has been so kind to him as to arrange the whole way of life, so that the wayfaring man need not lose the path. This down-letting of a moral revelation is an aspect of the grace of God. When we come into fuller grace, clearer apprehension of the divine mind, we call the law an assistant guiding us to school not so much a schoolmaster, as the English has it, as one who takes us by the hand and guides us to the schoolmaster; but, even then we begin to see that the law, if written on stone, was written by a hand of love; if set forth in letters that seem to burn in the intensity of their purity, yet did those very letters light us into inner meanings, into the very hidden sanctuary of God. When will men learn this? When will they at once and for ever confess it, and so save themselves from endless and profitless trouble? The Christian position is that the whole scheme of righteousness is revealed: whatever is right, true, pure, good, lovely, honest, and of heavenly savour has been given by God, so that the disappointing exercise of invention is superseded or is rendered of non-effect. One who knows the universe, because he made it, and all eternity, because he inhabits it, has condescended to tell us what is good, what is true, what is pure, what is right. If we were inspired by the right spirit, we would instantly stand up in thankfulness and bless the Giver’s name, and ask but one other favour that we might have eyes to see the innermost meaning of the law, and hearts trained, disciplined, and sanctified to accept and obey it, and express it in noble behaviour.<\/p>\n

Is it true, within limits that we know, that obedience leads to blessing and disobedience to cursing? Sometimes we have to interrupt the divine reasoning that we may assist ourselves in its comprehension by the study of analogy upon lower ground. Is it true that there is a seed-time, which, if neglected, will be followed by desolation and death? Disprove that, and you will largely enable yourselves to disprove higher and more spiritual propositions. Is there a Bible of agriculture a distinct revelation of the mysterious way of astronomic and agricultural and chemical forces? Is there a Moses of science a man who comes to the ages with two tables of stone, telling us what nature has told him after waiting upon her day and night for many a year? The man abides by facts: he says, I have studied nature, I have been a patient student in her temple, and I have seen that this and that are essential to a harmonic association with her principles and requirements. He must leave the law; if he is wrong, he will soon be disproved; if he is right, then the critics cannot put him down. The appeal must always be to experience, to fact, to known circumstances, and provable assertions. A pity, indeed, some might say, that men cannot form their own opinions as to whether they will avail themselves of the day assigned to seed-sowing. Why should not men make a calendar of their own about these things? The calendars are copies: the writing of man is only what man has heard in the solemnity and silence of some Sinai. The appeal, after he has spoken, lies to earth, time, season, and by the issue not by his pretence or claim let him stand or fall. But may there not be many varieties of methods? Certainly; but the earth abideth for ever. We must study the effect of the central and eternal quantity within which we have no liberty, and then the changeable and adaptable circumstances and forces within which we may for the moment imagine ourselves to be masters and governors. A marvellous, mysterious combination is our life of necessity and freedom, an eternal quantity and a continually-changing atmosphere; within that system we live. Is it true that there are laws of health ten commandments, more or less, about the body? Then there is a Bible of physiology; there is a Moses who speaks with the authority of nature about the human system and its relations to all its environment. Is it true that want of exercise, accompanied by plentifulness of food, leads to the degeneration of muscle? Why were we not left to settle that ourselves? Is there a law upon this? Is it true that children born in the springtime and in the winter are marked by greater vitality than children born at any other period of the year? Why were we not left to say in the family circle itself when children shall be healthy, when vitality shall rise and when it shall fall? Is there a law of sleep and of labour? If so, then, the Bible is a larger book than we supposed. If all these little outside Bibles are true and can challenge facts to prove their truth, it is not difficult to rise to the higher level, and to say, There may be a Bible meant for the soul; there may be a revelation addressed to the reason, and to the higher reason called faith, and to the higher self called the spirit. This higher revelation has not the immediate advantage of the lower Bibles, because they deal with earth, body, space, time, measurable quantities: but the higher Bible deals with soul, spirit, thought, will, eternity; by the very grandeur of its claim it dispossesses itself of that immediateness of proof which lies within the handling of the lower revelations and testimonies. But this must not be considered a disadvantage: this belongs to the glory and the necessity of the case. He who operates within a radius of a few inches can be, apparently, quicker in his movements, more precise and determined in his decisions, than the man who claims the globe as the theatre of his actions. So the Bible, having the disadvantage of dealing with spiritual quantities, must be judged, so far as we can approach it, by the spirit of the lower laws, or the laws applying to the lower economy. Is there any curse upon indolence? Does indolence rise for a moment from its pillow to smile satirically at industry, saying, I shall be to-night as rich as you are: mean to slumber and sleep and doze in many a happy dream, and when you come back at eventide from the field where you have been wearying yourself my hands will be as full as yours; go your unprofitable and vexatious way? When did indolence say so? Or, saying so, when did indolence prove the truthfulness and reality of its doctrine? When was not indolence stabbed by its own satire, and made to tremble under the infliction of its own scorn? Then there is a Bible relating to industry, service, stewardship, faithfulness, who does not uphold that Bible? Is there an employer of labour in the world who would not say, Such a Bible proves its own inspiration? And is there an honest labourer in the world who would hesitate to accept that Bible, being compelled to its acceptance by the very constraint of necessity? So then, we cannot do away with this law of blessing and cursing: we cannot set up a rival system of nature; we are bound to accept the very earth; we are driven account for it as we may to accept the light of the sun; we are so pressed and humbled that we must wait for the former and the latter rain. Yet what liberty man has! What pranks he plays in chemistry! How he amuses himself in the invention of lights! How, having once invented a candle, he cannot rest until he has invented a larger light, and when he has invented his largest light he takes care to put it out before the sun rises, or the sun will put it out for him! God will not allow two creators: he himself reigns. He is still creating, and man is left but to invent, and arrange, and adapt, and borrow: find him where you will you find man a debtor; and the universe asks its brightest genius, “How much owest thou unto my Lord?”<\/p>\n

The argument is this: seeing that in the field, in the body, in the social economy, there is a law of blessing and a law of cursing, who shall say that this same reasoning does not culminate in a great revelation of heaven, hell; “the right-hand,” “the left-hand;” eternal life, everlasting penalty? If the analogies had been dead against that construction, we might by so much have stood in doubt and excused ourselves from completeness of service; but every analogy becomes a preacher: all nature takes up her parable and speaks the revelations of her God: all life beats with a pulse below a pulse, the physical throb being but an indication of a growing immortality. We stand in a solemn sanctuary. We cannot get rid of law. The spiritual is a present blessing or a present curse. We cannot be happy with a bad conscience: it hardens the pillow when we need sleep most, it upsets all our arrangements, or makes our hand so tremble that we cannot clutch our own property; and we cannot be unhappy with a good conscience: without bread we are still in fulness, without employment we are still inspired by hope, without much earthly charity or largeness of construction of our motive and force we still retire within the sanctuary of an approved judgment and conscience. Blessing is not a question of posthumous realisation, nor is cursing. Heaven is here, and hell in germ, in outline, in hint, in quick, burning suggestion. Even now sometimes men know not whether they are in the body or out of the body by reason of religious entrancement and ecstasy; and there are men who, if they dare put their feeling into words, would say, “The pains of hell gat hold upon me.” “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked;” “Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished;” “Be sure your sin will find you out.” Who can fight God and win the battle?<\/p>\n

The last words of Moses in this paragraph show us that new situations do not necessitate new morals. This is proved by Deu 11:31-32<\/span> : “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.” Morals do not change. Methods change, systems vary, theology readjusts its statements and retranslates itself into the growing language of a growing civilisation, all that is true; but the abiding quantity is the law, the revelation of God in Christ, the living Son of the eternal God Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever. We have no right that changes its claims according to the side of the river which it is upon: right is right on this side Jordan and on that side Jordan: there is no cis-Jordan righteousness and trans-Jordan morality. Right is right the universe through, because God is one; evil is evil everywhere, because divine holiness is unchangeable. Look not to time, place, change of circumstance or situation, for the acceptance of a vicious morality: the universe is against it; eternity condemns it. Right is possible here, and only in one way: the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin; there is a fountain opened in the house of David for sin and uncleanness. Availing ourselves of that one way we lose nothing; taking the very lowest view of the whole mystery, we gain much because of an expansion of our own view of human nature and human possibility, and, at the last, when the great leap must be taken, if we leap into nothingness, we have had a wonderful joy all the way we have taken wonderful communion, marvellous blessing in good-doing, intellectual and spiritual enlargement, in growing power cf prayer; but, if the leap be into life, judgment, an eternal state of consciousness and apprehension, who wins: the fool who has no God, or the Christian who has been trusting in the living God and his Saviour Jesus Christ? To that inquiry who will reply In words? To attempt an answer in syllables would be to lower the occasion. That is an inquiry which brings its own ineffable reply.<\/p>\n

Prayer<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Almighty God, thy Son Jesus Christ is our Saviour. He is mighty to save. The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. We were lost: we were as sheep going astray, turning every one to his own way; but we have returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes. We have been brought by a way we knew not and by paths we could not understand. This is the miracle of grace; this is the surprise of Heaven. Once we were blind: now we see; once we had no future: now life and immortality are brought to light. We long for the future; we live in heaven; we are the sons of God. We bless thee for a word of love and hope and joy: it fills the heart; it makes the spirit glad; it is the inspiration of heavenly grace. Meet with us when we gather together around thy Book, and help us to understand its best meaning, to feel its holy influence, and to respond to its gracious appeals. Thou knowest who are carrying heavy burdens, whose eyes are full of tears, whose hands are feeble and can no longer do life’s pressing work; thou knowest also the prodigal children, thankless offspring, difficult to manage in business, in the home, and on the highway; our whole life is spread out before thee in clearest vision, and there is an answer in heaven to all the necessity of earth. Lord, answer thy servants; be gracious unto them who are clothed with the white linen of the saints. Thou wilt not see them put to shame; thou wilt try them with many a chastening sorrow, but in the deliverance of thy people thou wilt magnify thy grace. Wash us in the sacrificial blood; cleanse us from the condemnation of sin; make us pure with thine own purity; and in thine own due time gather us to the hills of heaven. Amen.<\/p>\n

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Deu 11:26 Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;<\/p>\n

Ver. 26. A blessing and a curse.<\/strong> ] With the way to either, that if ye miscarry ye may have none to blame but yourselves. For oft it falls out, that whereas “the foolishness of man perverteth his way, his heart fretteth against the Lord.” Pro 19:3 <\/p>\n

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Deu 11:26-28<\/p>\n

26See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: 27the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, which I am commanding you today; 28and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by following other gods which you have not known.<\/p>\n

Deu 11:26-28 These verses continue the consequences of the conditional covenant between YHWH and His people. They are expanded in Deuteronomy 27-29. These verses explain much of the history of the Jews.<\/p>\n

This paragraph starts out with a common call for attention, See – BDB 906, KB 1157, Qal IMPERATIVE, cf. Deu 1:8; Deu 1:21; Deu 2:24; Deu 4:5; Deu 11:26; Deu 30:15; Deu 32:39. The term today (BDB 398) is a way of urging decisive, immediate action (cf. Deu 4:39).<\/p>\n

1. blessing – BDB 139<\/p>\n

a. if you listen – BDB 1033, KB 1570, Qal IMPERFECT, hear so as to do, cf. commanded in Deu 4:1; Deu 5:1; Deu 6:3-4; Deu 9:1; Deu 20:3; Deu 27:10; Deu 33:7; conditioned in Deu 7:12; Deu 11:13(twice); Deu 15:5(twice); Deu 28:1(twice),13; Deu 30:10; Deu 30:17<\/p>\n

2. curse – BDB 887<\/p>\n

a. if you do not listen, same as above, Qal IMPERFECT<\/p>\n

b. turn aside – BDB 693, KB 747, Qal PERFECT<\/p>\n

c. following other gods – BDB 229, KB 246, literally, walking, cf. Deu 6:14; Deu 8:19; Deu 11:28; Deu 13:2; Deu 28:14; Jdg 2:12; Jer 7:6; Jer 7:9; Jer 11:10; Jer 13:10<\/p>\n

This contrast of destinies is often called the two ways (cf. chapter 28 and Deu 30:1; Deu 30:15-20; Psalms 1; Jer 21:8; Mat 7:13-14).<\/p>\n

Deu 11:28 following This is literally know. See full note at Deu 4:35.<\/p>\n

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Behold. Figure of speech Asterismos. App-6. <\/p>\n

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Deu 30:1, Deu 30:15-20, Gal 3:10, Gal 3:13, Gal 3:14 <\/p>\n

Reciprocal: Deu 27:12 – upon mount Gerizim Deu 28:14 – thou shalt Deu 30:19 – that I have Jer 11:7 – in the Jer 21:8 – I set Jer 42:21 – I have Mar 11:14 – No<\/p>\n

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Deu 11:26. I set before you I propose them to your consideration and your choice. So that if a curse should be your portion, instead of a blessing, and you should be in a calamitous and miserable, and not in a prosperous and happy condition, you must thank yourselves for it. This he explains more at large in the 28th chapter. And the whole historical part of the Old Testament bears witness that God caused a blessing or a curse to attend them, according as they observed or broke his laws.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; 26 28. The summing up and clinching of the whole discourse, Deu 11:5-11: a blessing to Israel if they obey the commandments of God, a curse if they do not obey but turn after other gods. Cp. Deu 30:1, as here, blessing and … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 11:26”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5243\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}