Deuteronomy 11:1-32
Q.1. What qualified this generation that Moses was addressing to receive the warnings? Why was the Promised Land such a good land? On what terms had God promised to bless the nation? – (Dt.11:1-17)
This new generation being addressed had first-hand information and experience of the miracle working power of God – Know this day that I am not speaking with your sons who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of the Lord your God–His greatness, His mighty hand, and His outstretched arm … but your own eyes have seen all the great work of the Lord which He did (Dt.11:2 & 7 c.f. 3-6). The land of Egypt from which they had come was watered by irrigation from the Nile River. This had required lots of additional manual labour – 11 But the land into which you are about to cross to possess it, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven, 12 a land for which the Lord your God cares; the eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the beginning even to the end of the year (Dt.11:11-12). The contrast could not be greater. However, the abundance was only guaranteed for as long as Israel loved and obeyed the Lord – 13 “It shall come about, if you listen obediently to my commandments which I am commanding you today, to love the Lord your God and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul, 14 that He will give the rain for your land in its season, the early and late rain, that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your oil (Dt.11:13-14 c.f. 17).
Q.2. Why was it crucial to pass on God’s commands to their children? What confidence would God’s promises give to the nation entering the land? – (Dt.11:18-25)
Israel had to diligently pass on the lessons of the past. As long as they obeyed the Lord, they could confidently go out and conquer the new land – No man will be able to stand before you; the Lord your God will lay the dread of you and the fear of you on all the land on which you set foot, as He has spoken to you (Dt.11:25). They, like us, could easily take God’s blessing for granted, and become careless about obeying the commands of the Lord.
Q.3. What were the people to understand by God’s promises? How was this promise to be driven home practically to the nation upon entering the land? (Dt.11:26-32)
God keeps His promises – God is not a man that He should lie … Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? (Num.23:19). We are in the habit of quoting and remembering the good promises and overlooking the curses. Moses here reminded the people that God was making positive and negative promises – all of which He would keep and apply. Statistics show that we remember only five to ten percent of what we hear. Therefore, in order to emphasize the importance of God’s commands, Israel was to act out His message – “It shall come about, when the Lord your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, that you shall place the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal (Dt.11:29). Why? – and you shall be careful to do all the statutes and the judgments which I am setting before you today (Dt.11:32).