Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Deuteronomy 11:13-21
Their Blessing And Fruitfulness Will Depend On Whom They Serve (Deuteronomy 11:13 a).
Analysis in the words of Moses:
a If you will listen diligently to my commandments which I command you this day, to love Yahweh your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul (Deuteronomy 11:13).
b I will give the rain of your land in its season, the former rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, and your new wine, and your oil, and I will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you shall eat and be full (Deuteronomy 11:15).
b Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them, and the anger of Yahweh be kindled against you, and He shut up the heavens, so that there shall be no rain, and the land shall not yield its fruit, and you perish quickly from off the good land which Yahweh gives you (Deuteronomy 11:16).
a Therefore shall you lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul (Deuteronomy 11:18 a).
Note that in ‘a' they are to listen carefully to Yahweh's commandments and to love and serve Him with all their heart and soul, and in the parallel they are to lay up His words in their heart and soul. In ‘b' if they do so they will receive abundant rain from heaven and the earth will be fruitful, but in the parallel if they seek to other gods the heavens will be closed and there will be no rain, and their land will not be fruitful.
‘ And it shall come about, that if you (ye) shall listen diligently to my commandments which I command you (ye) this day, to love Yahweh your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, that I will give the rain of your land in its season, the former rain and the latter rain, that you (thou) may gather in your (thy) grain, and your new wine, and your oil. And I will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you (thou) shall eat and be full.'
Note that the words now suddenly become a citation of Yahweh's. Moses continues the revelation as though it was spoken by Him. Here Yahweh Himself is seen as speaking. The promises are personalised.
And what does the future hold when they have possessed the land? That if they diligently obey God's command which He is giving through Moses this day, the command to love Him and serve Him with all their heart and soul, He will give the rain for the land, as it is required, in its season, both the early, pre-ploughing and pre-sowing rain, coming in October or sometimes a little later, the continuing rain showers necessary for the fruitfulness of the land, and the late rain in around April which consisted of the final showers of the rainy season, all of which watered the land and made it productive.
The result will be that they will be able to gather in their grain, and their new wine, and their olive oil, and their fields will be full of grass for the cattle, and they will themselves eat and be full.
For this stress on loving God we can compare Deuteronomy 6:5. So after the repeat of the covenant word for word in Deuteronomy 5 this whole section from Chapter s 6-11 is seen as beginning and ending with the same emphasis, the requirement to love God totally, and the need to bind His words in their hearts and minds and lives (see Deuteronomy 11:18 below and compare Deuteronomy 6:6).
So the lesson is clear. To live in that land, which was God's land, was to be dependent on God, and the provision of all they needed would depend on His supply. But they need not fear, for it was His land for which He cared. And if they loved and feared Him, and lived rightly before Him, they could then be sure of His full provision.
This idea of who provided the rain was all important. For Baal, a main god of the Canaanites, whose worship was widespread in Canaan and even beyond, was seen by the present inhabitants of Canaan as the means by which the rain was provided in its season. According to them it was Baal, the god of storm and rain, who had to be stirred into action by their religious rites, which included sexual activities of a gross and immoral kind. Moses makes quite clear that this was not so. Baal had nothing to do with it. There was in fact only One provider of rain (as Elijah will reveal after him - 1 Kings 17:1; 1 Kings 18:41), and that was Yahweh.
‘ Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you (ye) turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them, and the anger of Yahweh be kindled against you, and he shut up the heavens, so that there shall be no rain, and the land shall not yield its fruit, and you (ye) perish quickly from off the good land which Yahweh gives you.'
Thus when they entered the land they must not allow themselves to be deceived. Let them not turn aside to worshipping and serving the gods of the land, thinking that such gods could help them. For if they did God's anger would be ‘set alight' against them, and He would shut up the heavens so that there was no rain, and so that the land would not yield its fruit. And they would soon perish from the land which He had given them. Trusting Canaan's rain gods might seem attractive for a while, but they could be sure that it would end disastrously.
So the stress here is on the fact that their continual presence in the land, and their continual provision, will be dependent on true obedience to the covenant. This is all part of His covenant. For the land was for the righteous, with full provision made, as long as they served Him faithfully, and repented when they slipped up.
‘ Therefore shall you (ye) lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul.'
So with these promises and warnings in mind they must lay His words up in their hearts. Thus will they take heed to them and respond to them, being faithful to the covenant with Yahweh.
They Must Therefore Keep The Covenant Requirement Before Their Thoughts Always (deu Deuteronomy 11:18).
What follows brings out the care that they must take to constantly remind themselves of these facts. It is almost a repeat of Deuteronomy 6:6, with the ideas in a slightly different order, giving a different emphasis, and stressing the importance of keeping His words ever in their thoughts. For if they were to prosper in the land they and their children must be fully aware of His commandments. So this section of the covenant opens and closes with similar thoughts.
Analysis in the words of Moses:
· ‘And you shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes' (Deuteronomy 11:18 b).
· ‘And you shall teach them to all your children, talking of them, when each of you sits in your house, and when each of you walks by the way, and when each of you lies down, and when each of you rises up' (Deuteronomy 11:19).
· ‘And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house, and on your gates' (Deuteronomy 11:20).
· ‘That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth' (Deuteronomy 11:21).
Note that in ‘a' they are to apply His word to hand and eye, and the result in the parallel is that their days will be long in the land which Yahweh gives them (they will not be thrown out) and their days will be as the days of the heavens above the earth. This suggests that heavenly days are seen as longer than earthly days. It may be that hand and eye relates to earth and heaven, for with the hands man toils (Genesis 5:29), and with his eyes uplifted he beholds the heavens (Psalms 8:3) he beholds the glory and righteousness of God (Psalms 19:1; Psalms 97:6). In ‘b' they are to teach their children constantly and in the parallel they are to proclaim the truth to teach outsiders.
‘And you (ye) shall bind them for a sign on your (of ye) hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.'
Compare and contrast Deuteronomy 6:8 where ‘thou' is used. Each is to do it, every person is to do it, the whole nation must do it. The thought is symbolic and spiritual rather than literal. The word of God is to affect what they do with their hands and what they look at with their eyes.
Here a new phrase comes first in order to emphasise the spiritual nature of the requirement. They must lay up His words deep within them, in their hearts and souls. They must bind them on their hands and between their eyes. That is, they must ensure that His word sinks into their hearts and allow His word to determine what they do and what they look at. They were to be a people active in knowing and understanding and responding to God's word.
It is questionable whether the last part was intended to be taken literally, although it was later so taken by the Pharisees and many others. They would wear small pouches containing Scripture on their persons during the time of morning prayer, on their foreheads and arms, and fasten them to their doors. Such pouches containing small scrolls have been discovered in the Dead Sea area. That was fine when it meant something genuine, but the danger came when it became a formality producing self-righteousness and vanity.
‘ And you (ye) shall teach them to your (of ye) children, talking of them, when you (thou) sit in your house, and when you (thou) walk by the way, and when you (thou) lie down, and when you (thou) rise up.'
Compare and contrast Deuteronomy 6:7 where ‘thou, thee' is used all the way through. There the thought was of one nation doing it, here it is of all of them doing it.
They must also teach them to their children by day and by night. Most of the children would be sleeping in the same place as their parents (compare Luke 11:7). Thus they must talk of such things under all circumstances, whether in the house, on their excursions, at breakfast time and at bed time, and in bed, so that all may know, and continually be reminded of, God's covenant. The atmosphere was to be one where God's covenant was ever seen as important. Today we would see this in terms of good reading matter with spiritual lessons suitable for children. But we should ever be willing to talk about such things with our children, and give them good guidance, and let them see that we talk about such things too.
‘ And you (thou) shall write them on the doorposts of your (thy) house, and on your gates, that your (of ye) days may be multiplied, and the days of your (of ye) children, in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth.'
This may be intended both outwardly, as a testimony that the inhabitants were people of the covenant, and as a witness to all who visited them that they were so, and inwardly as a reminder to them as they went in and out of the requirements of God's covenant. Their presumed response to this would ensure that they lived long lives in the land, and their children after them.
“As the days of the heavens above the earth”, that is, continually all the while that the heavens were still above the earth. This would indicate for them everlastingness. Had they been obedient Israel would have enjoyed the everlasting kingdom on earth (the only promise for the future that they would be able at this stage to understand).
Alternately the idea may be that heavenly days are longer than earthly days, so that their children will enjoy longer lives just as the heavens have longer days.
All these things remind us that we too must make an effort to ensure by the reading of His word that we too ever keep before our thoughts what the Lord requires of us and offers us. If we disobediently neglect such matters we should not be surprised to find our spiritual lives waning.