Deuteronomy 11: Spiritual Eyes
1 “Therefore you shall love Yahweh your God, and keep His charge, His statutes, His judgments, and His commandments always. 2 Know today that I do not speak with your children, who have not known and who have not seen the chastening of Yahweh your God, His greatness and His mighty hand and His outstretched arm— 3 His signs and His acts which He did in the midst of Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to all his land; 4 what He did to the army of Egypt, to their horses and their chariots: how He made the waters of the Red Sea overflow them as they pursued you, and how the Lord has destroyed them to this day; 5 what He did for you in the wilderness until you came to this place; 6 and what He did to Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben: how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, their households, their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel—
7 but your eyes have seen every great act of Yahweh which He did.
“Because ‘God has made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude (so the preceding chapter concludes),”— perhaps, he was speaking to the few faithful of the masses — “therefore thou shalt”— being enabled by faith— “love the LORD thy God (so this begins).’” (Matthew Henry)— having cast lots with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
“Love must come first. But then it must be followed by responsive action” (Peter Pett)— “and [you shall] keep His charge, His statutes, His judgments, and His commandments always.” We have discussed the others, but this is the first time that “charge” is used in Deuteronomy. This charge was Israel’s part in the deposing of the Canaanites.
“‘Know today that I do not speak with your children, who have not known and who have not seen the chastening of Yahweh your God,” etc. Knowledge of God's character— what we see with my eyes, affects the hearts of His people (Lamentations 3:51)
But the natural man. even children, cannot know the things of the spirit and therefore they knew nothing of such chastening.
Further, they cannot know and see: Firstly, what Yahweh “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] the LORD hath destroyed them unto this day.” They just know that something happen but cannot assign a cause. And secondly, they cannot see what Yahweh did for them in the wilderness until they came to the place that they currently occupied on the border about to cross over. Though He had fed and sustained them with bread, meat and water, all they see is their own sufferings. Some could remember Egypt very fondly, dreaming of the delicacies and ease that they once enjoyed. And thirdly, they cannot see “‘what He did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben’ who the rabbis say were discontented “because the birthright was taken from Reuben, for his incest, and given to Judah and Joseph… Thus they rebelled and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel.” (Trapp) I suppose they remember the great earthquake, but they know nothing of “the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality.”
“but your eyes” that of the remnant of the next generation, that spiritual seed— “have seen every great act of Yahweh which He did.” Depending on age: “All of them had seen some, and some of them had seen all the great things done in Egypt, and at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness.” (Matthew Poole) “What our eyes have seen, especially in our early days [of the effect of sin on our fathers], should be improved by us long after.” (John Wesley) “What an argument [is history] for the truth of revealed religion,” (Sutcliffe) particularly as explained by Moses— the prophet.
8 “Therefore you shall keep every commandment which I command you today, that you may be strong, and go in and possess the land which you cross over to possess, 9 and that you may prolong your days in the land which Yahweh swore to give your fathers, to them and their descendants, ‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’ 10 For the land which you go to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot, as a vegetable garden; 11 but the land which you cross over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of heaven, 12 a land for which Yahweh your God cares; the eyes of Yahweh your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the very end of the year.
22 “For if you carefully keep all these commandments which I command you to do—to love Yahweh your God, to walk in all His ways, and to hold fast to Him— 23 then Yahweh will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess greater and mightier nations than yourselves. 24 Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the River Euphrates, even to the Western Sea, shall be your territory. 25 No man shall be able to stand against you; Yahweh your God will put the dread of you and the fear of you upon all the land where you tread, just as He has said to you.
Deuteronomy 11: A Blessing and A Curse
26 “Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing, if you obey the commandments of Yahweh your God which I command you today; 28 and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of Yahweh your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known. 29 Now it shall be, when Yahweh your God has brought you into the land which you go to possess, that you shall put the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. 30 Are they not on the other side of the Jordan, toward the setting sun, in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the plain opposite Gilgal, beside the terebinth trees of Moreh? 31 For you will cross over the Jordan and go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and you will possess it and dwell in it.
“‘I set before you a blessing and a curse’ — 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 the law (Ten Commandments).” (Joseph Benson)
“‘Now it shall be, when Yahweh your God has brought you into the land which you go to possess, that you shall put the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.’ That is, pronounce it there. See Joshua 8:33. Hence the Samaritans built their temple on this mount as a blessed place, and there worshipped they knew not what [John 4:20; John 4:22] calling themselves, ‘Those that belong to the blessed mount.’” (John Trapp) The place was “‘over and against Gilgal"—“This 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, they were reminded of the promise made to Abram in that very place, Genesis 12:6-7.” (Wesley)
32 And you shall be careful to observe all the statutes and judgments which I set before you today.
Obstinate man has eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and, according to the word of God, they will “surely die” (Genesis 2:17). Therefore Moses finishes, “And you shall be careful to observe all the statutes and judgments which I set before you today.” They must deal with transgressions of the Ten Commandments, according to the ceremonial laws of the Word of God. For that reason, at Gilgal “they kept their first Passover in the land of Canaan (Josh 5:10) and renewed the rite of circumcision, and so ‘rolled away the reproach’ of their Egyptian slavery. Here the twelve memorial stones, taken from the bed of the Jordan, were set up; and here also the tabernacle remained till it was removed to Shiloh (Josh 5:10).” (Tyndale Bible Dictionary) “Gerizim and Ebal stand in every human life. Cramer: ‘Yea and nay should every true Christian answer, what is more than this is of evil, Matthew 5:37.’ Starke: ‘Dearest Lord Jesus! Thou wilt declare the blessing and the curse when Thou comest to judgment, Matthew 25.’ (Lange Commentary)
Jesus, help me to obey by your Spirit; but when I sin, enable me to see the only remedy— Your sacrifice on Mount Calvary— and flee to You.
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