PROLOGUE — The Conclusion of the Second Sermon
Deuteronomy 11 closes Moses’s second sermon (chapters 5–11, the heart of the covenant). Having journeyed through the reproclamation of the Ten Commandments, the Shema, the reason for Israel’s election, the wilderness testing, and circumcision of the heart, this sermon now reaches its climax by presenting, for the first time, a clear fork between obedience and disobedience.
ACT ONE — Things Your Own Eyes Have Seen (verses 1–7)
“Therefore thou shalt love the LORD thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway… And know ye this day: for I speak not with your children which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the LORD your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm… and what he did unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land.”
I speak not with your children which have not known and have not seen. Moses draws an important distinction here — while the audience of Deuteronomy 5 was the generation born in the wilderness, the audience of this specific passage were those who had actually witnessed the miracles of the exodus with their own eyes. They possessed direct evidence the next generation did not have — they themselves had seen the earth open its mouth and swallow the rebels during Korah’s rebellion.
ACT TWO — A Land Watered by Rain from Heaven (verses 8–17)
Moses contrasts Egypt and Canaan, explaining the distinctive character of the promised land.
“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: But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven: A land which the LORD thy God careth for.”
A land which drinketh water of the rain of heaven. Egypt depended on the stable, predictable water source of the Nile, but Canaan had to depend entirely on rain falling from heaven. This geographical difference carried theological meaning — life in Canaan would inevitably require dependence on God, year after year, season after season.
And the condition of that dependence is clearly stated.
“And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season… Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; And then the LORD’s wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit.”
ACT THREE — Blessing and Curse, Two Roads Presented for the First Time (verses 18–32)
This chapter closes by clearly presenting, for the first time, the core structure that runs through the entire book of Deuteronomy.
“Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand… 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, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods.”
Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse. This verse foreshadows, for the first time, the choice between “life and death, blessing and cursing” that will be developed in far greater detail in chapter 30. And this blessing and curse would actually be pronounced at a specific geographic location — Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal.
“And thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal… Are 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?”
REFLECTION — A Choice Renewed Every Day
The message Deuteronomy 11 gives us is that faith is never a single decision made once and finished — it is a choice renewed daily, season by season. Just as the land of Canaan depended on rain from heaven, our lives too require continual obedience and dependence.
Rather than resting in a past spiritual decision, are you choosing obedience and love once again, today?
NEXT EPISODE PREVIEW
Deuteronomy Chapter 12 — the detailed law code of Deuteronomy (chapters 12–26) begins, unfolding regulations concerning the centralization of worship.
Tags: #Deuteronomy11 #TheGreatActsOfTheLordYourEyesHaveSeen #ALandWateredByRainFromHeaven #ISetBeforeYouThisDayABlessingAndACurse #MountGerizimAndMountEbal #Deuteronomy #BibleDevotional #ChristianBlog #BibleStudy #OldTestament #Bible #Church #Devotion #Christianity #AChoiceRenewedDaily #ContinualDependence #DailyDevotional