Deuteronomy 11:2-25

(3) BY A CONSTANT REFRESHING OF MEMORY (Deuteronomy 11:2-25)

2 And know ye this day: for I speak not with your children that have not known, and that have not seen the chastisement of Jehovah your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his outstretched arm, 3 and his signs, and his works, which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land; 4 and what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red Sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and how Jehovah hath destroyed them unto this day; 5 and what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came unto this place; 6 and what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben; how the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the midst of all Israel: 7 but your eyes have seen all the great work of Jehovah which he did.

8 Therefore shall ye keep all the commandment which I command thee this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go over to possess it; 9 and that ye may prolong your days in the land, which Jehovah sware unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs; 11 but the land, whither ye go over to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven. 12 a land which Jehovah thy God careth for: the eyes of Jehovah thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.

13 And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love Jehovah your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14 that I will give the rain of your land in its season, the former rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy grain, and thy new wine, and thine oil. 15 And I will give grass in thy fields for thy cattle, and thou shalt eat and be full. 16 Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; 17 and the anger of Jehovah be kindled against you, and he shut up the heavens, so that there shall be no rain, and the land shall not yield its fruit; and ye perish quickly from off the good land which Jehovah giveth you.
18 Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul; and ye shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. 19 And ye shall teach them your children, talking of them, when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 20 And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates; 21 that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which Jehovah sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth. 22 or if ye shall diligently keep all this commandment which I command you, to do it, to love Jehovah your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him; 23 then will Jehovah drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves, 24 Every place whereon the sole of your foot shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness, and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the hinder sea shall be your border. 25 There shall no man be able to stand before you: Jehovah your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath spoken unto you.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 11:2-25

216.

Why was Israel to consider the discipline or chastisement of the Lord?

217.

Define in your own words the following qualities of Jehovah: (1) greatness, (2) mighty hand, (3) outstretched arm, (4) signs, (5) deeds, (6) destroyed, (7) great work.

218.

What was one of the basic differences and advantages of Canaan as compared to Egypt?

219.

Did God promise material prosperity as a result of obedience to His laws? Is this true today? Discuss.

220.

Read the comments again on Deuteronomy 6:6-9.

221.

Please consider Deuteronomy 11:21 and answer the question as to whether Palestine still belongs to the Jews?

222.

Were the conditions and promises of Jehovah ever met for the conquering of the promised land? When? By whom?

AMPLIFIED TRANSLATION 11:2-25

2 And know this day (for I am not speaking to your children who have not [personally] known and seen it), the instruction and discipline of the Lord your God, His greatness, His mighty hand, and His outstretched arm,
3 His signs and His deeds which He did in Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land;
4 And what He did to the army of Egypt, to their horses and chariots; how He made the water of the Red Sea overflow them as they pursued after you, and how the Lord has destroyed them to this day;
5 And what He did to you in the wilderness, until you came to this place;

6 And what He did to Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab, son of Reuben; how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up them, their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the midst of all Israel; [Numbers 26:9-10.]

7 For your eyes have seen all the great work of the Lord which He did.
8 Therefore you shall keep all the commandments which I command you today, that you may be strong, and go in and possess the land which you go across [Jordan] to possess;
9 And that you may live long in the land, which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them and to their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.
10 For the land which you go in to possess is not like the land of Egypt, from which you came out, where you sowed your seed and watered it with your foot laboriously, as a garden of vegetables;
11 But the land, which you enter to possess, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinks water of the rain of the heavens;
12 A land for which the Lord your God cares; the eyes of the Lord your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.
13 And if you will diligently heed My commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve Him with all your [mind and] heart and with your entire being,
14 I will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil.
15 And I will give grass in your fields for your cattle, that you may eat and be full.
16 Take heed to yourselves, lest your [mind and] heart be deceived and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them,
17 And the Lord's anger be kindled against you, and He shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land yield not its fruit, and you perish quickly off the good land which the Lord gives you.
18 Therefore you shall lay up these My words in your [mind and] heart and in your [entire] being, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, and as forehead bands between your eyes.
19 And you shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you rise up.
20 And you shall write them upon the doorposts of your house, and on your gates,
21 That your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth.
22 For if you diligently keep all this commandment which I command you to do, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, and to cleave to Him,
23 Then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you shall dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves.
24 Every place upon which the sole of your foot shall tread shall be yours; from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the River, the river Euphrates, to the western [Mediterranean] sea your territory shall be,
25 There shall no man be able to stand before you; the Lord your God shall lay the fear and the dread of you upon all the land that you shall tread, as He has said to you.

COMMENT 11:2-25

In Deuteronomy 11:2-7, note that the mighty works of Jehovah, which the adults had all seen, argued for their obedience. In Deuteronomy 11:8-17, the rich, fertile, and productive nature of the promised land is depicted, while in Deuteronomy 11:18-25 Israel is reminded that God's law, when carefully kept, assured them of victory and conquest of the entire area pledged. All this Israel doubtless knew, mentally. But this is a sermon, and Moses would indelibly impress, yea, engrave certain thoughts upon their minds.

FOR I SPEAK NOT WITH YOUR CHILDREN (Deuteronomy 11:2)The youngsters could not be reminded of what the older ones couldthe adults should have learned life-long lessons from their wilderness experiences (Deuteronomy 6:2-3).

DATHAN AND ABIRAM (Deuteronomy 11:6)See Numbers 16. One would think such an event as this would put a stop to all thoughts of rebellion, murmuring, or disobedience for a long while. But on the morrow all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of Jehovah (Numbers 16:41). This was Israel's history. The most severe chastisement often failed to teach the desired lesson! A plague resulted from this murmuring, killing 14,700. Now, Israel, Moses is saying, think about this! Do you want such chastisements to be again upon your head, or will you receive the blessings God has promised with obedience? Your eyes have seen all these things (Deuteronomy 11:7)have you absorbed the lesson God has for you in all this? And have we (1 Corinthians 10:11-12)?

FOR THE LAND. IS NOT AS THE LAND OF EGYPT. WHERE THOU SOWEDST THY SEED, AND WATEREDST IT WITH THY FOOT. etc. (Deuteronomy 11:10-12)Although various methods of irrigation are today absolutely necessary for agriculture in vast portions of Israel, such was not true in ancient times for the greater part of the land promised in Deuteronomy 11:24-25. Furthermore, the former and latter rains (Deuteronomy 11:14. Cf. Job 29:23, Jeremiah 5:24, Joel 2:23, James 5:7) were assured only if Israel was obedient (Deuteronomy 11:17). In contrast, Egypt is absolutely dependent on an extensive irrigation system for her very survival as an agricultural state. (Witness the recent building of the Aswan High Dam in southern Egypt). Rain seldom falls in Egypt. Most of the country has only about one inch a year. Were it not for the Nile, most of the country would simply be a part of the Sahara desert.

On the above phrase, the I.S.B.E. states, To one familiar with the methods of irrigation today practiced in Palestine, Syria, and Egypt, the passage, -where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs-' (Deuteronomy 11:10), is easily explained. The water is brought in channels to the gardens, where it is distributed along the rows of growing vegetables planted on the sides of the trenches. In stony soil the canal leading to a particular plot is opened and closed with a hoe. Any obstruction in the trench is similarly removed, while in the soft, loamy soil of the coastal plain or in the Nile valley these operations can be done with the foot, a practice still commonly seen.

TAKE HEED TO YOURSELVES (Deuteronomy 11:16-17)The thought of these verses being very similar to that of Deuteronomy 8:11 ff., i.e. that the very blessings they received from God would cause them to become soft and lax with regard to his worship and the observance of his laws. The same warning needs to be sounded loud and frequently today!

THEREFORE SHALL YE LAY UP THESE MY WORDS IN YOUR HEART AND IN YOUR SOUL; AND YE SHALL BIND THEM FOR A SIGN. etc. (Deuteronomy 11:18-21)See Deuteronomy 6:6-9 and remarks.

THAT YOUR DAYS MAY BE MULTIPLIED. AS THE DAYS OF THE HEAVENS ABOVE THE EARTH (Deuteronomy 11:21)as long as the heavens are above the earth (Amplified O.T.), as long as there is a heaven over the earth (The Torah). As the phrase stands in the A.S.V., the phrase would indicate no specific length of time, but simply an innumerable number of days. The other renderings would extend this promise to the end of the world (2 Peter 3:9).

AND YE SHALL DISPOSSESS NATIONS GREATER AND MIGHTIER THAN YOURSELVES (Deuteronomy 11:23). THERE SHALL NO MAN BE ABLE TO STAND BEFORE YOU (Deuteronomy 11:25)Christian, why cannot we learn the lesson here that Israel did not? A complete trust, obedience and love of Jehovah (note Deuteronomy 11:22) had this great promise along with it, In essence, the promise was: You will be able to do things that now appear totally impossibleaccomplish things that try even the imaginationvanquish peoples that are unconquerable, overcome difficulties that seem insurmountable, conquer insuperable barriers. When Israel took these exhortations to heart, God literally fulfilled his part of this promise (as shown especially in Joshua, and also under the rulership of David and Solomon).

Unless a foe or difficulty is larger than God, it is not insurmountable. the theme of the Bible is God is able, Yes, it is him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us (Ephesians 3:20). If God be for us, who can be against us? Who can stand up against him who is aligned with and in fellowship with Almighty God? Let us stand with him, and we will soon share of his power! Let us stop asserting ourselves, and assert our confidence in the Omnipotent One.