Reflections on Deuteronomy 11

Deuteronomy 11 (Contemporary English Version)

1. The LORD is your God, so you must always love him and obey his laws and teachings.
   
2. Remember, he corrected you and not your children. You are the ones who saw the LORD use his great power
   
3. when he worked miracles in Egypt, making terrible things happen to the king and all his people.
   
4. And when the Egyptian army chased you in their chariots, you saw the LORD drown them and their horses in the Red Sea. Egypt still suffers from that defeat!
   
5. You saw what the LORD did for you while you were in the desert, right up to the time you arrived here.
   
6. And you saw how the LORD made the ground open up in the middle of our camp underneath the tents of Dathan and Abiram, who were swallowed up along with their families, their animals, and their tents.
   
7. With your own eyes, you saw the LORD's mighty power do all these things.
   
8. Soon you will cross the Jordan River, and if you obey the laws and teachings I'm giving you today, you will be strong enough to conquer the land
   
9. that the LORD promised your ancestors and their descendants. It's rich with milk and honey, and you will live there and enjoy it for a long time.
   
10. It's better land than you had in Egypt, where you had to struggle just to water your crops.
    
11. But the hills and valleys in the promised land are watered by rain from heaven,
    
12. because the LORD your God keeps his eye on this land and takes care of it all year long.
    
13. The LORD your God commands you to love him and to serve him with all your heart and soul. If you obey him,
    
14. he will send rain at the right seasons, so you will have more than enough food, wine, and olive oil, and there will be plenty of grass for your cattle.
    
15. (SEE 11:14)
    
16. But watch out! You will be tempted to turn your backs on the LORD. And if you worship other gods,
    
17. the LORD will become angry and keep the rain from falling. Nothing will grow in your fields, and you will die and disappear from the good land that the LORD is giving you.
    
18. Memorize these laws and think about them. Write down copies and tie them to your wrists and your foreheads to help you obey them.
    
19. Teach them to your children. Talk about them all the time--whether you're at home or walking along the road or going to bed at night, or getting up in the morning.
    
20. Write them on the door frames of your homes and on your town gates.
    
21. Then you and your descendants will live a long time in the land that the LORD promised your ancestors. Your families will live there as long as the sky is above the earth.
    
22. Love the LORD your God and obey all the laws and teachings that I'm giving you today. If you live the way the LORD wants,
    
23. he will help you take the land. And even though the nations there are more powerful than you, the LORD will force them to leave when you attack.
    
24. You will capture the land everywhere you go, from the Southern Desert to the Lebanon Mountains, and from the Euphrates River west to the Mediterranean Sea.
    
25. No one will be able to stand up to you. The LORD will make everyone terrified of you, just as he promised.
    
26. You have a choice--do you want the LORD to bless you, or do you want him to put a curse on you?
    
27. Today I am giving you his laws, and if you obey him, he will bless you.
    
28. But if you disobey him and worship those gods that have never done anything for you, the LORD will put a curse on you.
    
29. After the LORD your God helps you take the land, you must have a ceremony where you announce his blessings from Mount Gerizim and his curses from Mount Ebal.
    
30. You know that these two mountains are west of the Jordan River in land now controlled by the Canaanites living in the Jordan River valley. The mountains are west of the road near the sacred trees of Moreh on the other side of Gilgal.
    
31. Soon you will cross the Jordan River to conquer the land that the LORD your God is giving you. And when you have settled there,
    
32. be careful to obey his laws and teachings that I am giving you today.
    

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    The Israelites had abundant evidence of God's mighty works on their behalf. Although the soldiers ages 20 and older when they made the wilderness journey had died before arriving at the point where Israel was at the time of these messages by Moses, there were still many older adults who had witnessed God's work for them in Egypt and through the wilderness journey. These works, and the events that precipitated them, were designed by God as lessons to teach the Israelites and prepare them for taking possession of Canaan.
    
    Once they crossed the Jordan to begin the conquest, they would encounter nations that were "greater and stronger than you are." (11:23) But the Lord would put a fear of Israel in these nations so they would be hindered in battle and Israel would defeat them. This was conditional, however, on Israel's careful observance to  "to love the LORD your God, walk in all His ways, and remain faithful to Him." (11:22) If they were observant of loving the Lord, victory over these nations would be theirs and "Every place the sole of your foot treads will be yours." (11:24) Seldom does Moses mention love for the Lord without connecting it to faithful observance of the Lord's commands. Love and obedience are inseparable. Love of God is never merely a mental acknowledgement that God exists and He is good and we owe Him our allegiance. It includes the reordering of our lives around those acknowledgements.
    
    Again Moses cautioned them against turning to other gods. Even after experiencing God's provision of victory over the nations living in Canaan, once they settled into the land and enjoyed its rich benefits they would still be tempted to turn away from God. Their temptation would be to do as they had observed the Egyptians and other nations - that was to turn to fertility gods for the provision of good crops. The irony of this would be that God promised the rain they would need throughout the growing season so they would have good harvests of grain and wine and oil, as well as grass for their livestock. But this was contingent on them not turning to other gods. If they turned to the fertility gods to assure good crops they would find the opposite result.
    
    What was the safeguard against forgetting the Lord and turning to other gods? It was to embed God's word - His instructions - into their lives: "Impress these words of Mine on your hearts and souls, bind them as a sign on your hands, and let them be a symbol on your foreheads.  Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. " (11:18-20)  As pointed out in other reflections, Moses laid the responsibility for religious education at the feet of parents - not with religious leaders or institutions. If it were to be done faithfully and effectively it must be done by the parents. The children must not only hear from their parents the importance of loving and obeying the Lord, but they must see the importance in the lives of their parents.