So I'll just pick up reading in chapter 11 at verse 1. Therefore, you shall love the Lord your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his judgments, and his commandments always. Know today that I do not speak with your children who have not known and who have not seen the chasing of the Lord your God, his greatness and his mighty hand and his outstretched arm, his signs and his acts which he did in the midst of Egypt, to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and to all his land. 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.
What he did for you in the wilderness until you came to this place, and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliah, 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. But your eyes have seen every great act of the Lord which he did. 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, and that you may prolong your days in the land which the Lord swore to give to your fathers, to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. 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.
But the land which you cross over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of heaven, a land for which the Lord your God cares. The eyes of the Lord your God are always on it. from the beginning of the year to the very end of the year. And it shall be that if you earnestly obey my commandments, which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will give you 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. And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock, that you may eat and be filled.
Warning Against Idolatry
Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them. Lest the Lord's anger be aroused against you, and he shut up the heavens so that there be no rain, and the land yield no produce, and you perish quickly from the good land which the Lord is giving you. Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. and you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, like the days of the heavens above the earth.
For if you carefully keep all these commandments which I command you to do, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, and to hold fast to Him, then the Lord will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess greater and mightier nations than yourselves. 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. No man shall be able to stand against you. The Lord 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.
Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse. The blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known. Now it shall be, when the Lord 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. 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?
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, and you shall be careful to observe all the statutes and judgments which I set before you today. Amen.
Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 11
So
Introduction
as I said, many things are repeated here that we've already seen in chapters, primarily chapters 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. I do want to look at specifically the requirements in this chapter. There are three requirements given, or three things stated, and then an illustration or a reason as to why they ought to do this. The first is found in verse 1.
It's a call to obey. And then he highlights God's dealings with them in the past as the reason why they ought to do that in verses 2 to 7. The second requirement is found in verse 8. Again, it's a call to obey.
And this time he sets before them a consideration of the land that they will inherit when they go into Canaan. And then the third deals specifically with, again, a command to obey the Lord. And then he illustrates by saying that there will be promises of blessing in the land. And then there is a specific caution given, a warning. against idolatry.
In some senses that's the underlying current throughout all of these chapters. Notice in chapter 12, it's going to deal with worship. It's going to deal with a specific centralized place where Israel will go to worship. We might say it deals with the second commandment.
What we have been saying thus far is God's insistence upon the first commandment. You shall have no other gods before me. Remember that central confession of Deuteronomy 6.4. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And the recurring theme throughout these several chapters is that they guard against the tendency or temptation to go after idols. If they go after idols, they have broken the Decalogue, they've broken that First Commandment, and God will most certainly be angry with them. and expel them from the land. So that's the undercurrent here.
All of these chapters, all of these calls to obedience are to highlight the importance of faithfulness, of fidelity to the living and true God, their covenant Lord. So the first, there's three requirements, and then there's a summary of the entire section in verses 18 to 25, and then the chapter ends with a crucial choice. It's essentially God saying through Moses, choose you this day who you will serve. Choose either blessing or curse.
And it's interesting because it ends in chapter 11 with these two mountains, Gerizim and Ebal. Mount Gerizim is the mount of blessing. Mount Ebal is the mount of cursing. Then the detailed laws, chapters 12 to 26, And then in chapter 27 are those two mountains again, Gerizim and Ebal.
It's like we have bookends. These two mountains are the argument, or these two mountains are the impetus for the obedience to the law that is given here in chapters 12 to 26. Well, let's look at this first requirement again. As I said, it's review, it's repetition.
We won't spend a great deal of time, but we do want to get the main ideas here.
First Requirement: Love and Obey God
Notice the first requirement and illustration in verse 1. his statutes, his judgments, and his commandments always. So there is to be external compliance with the Decalogue. There is to be external compliance with the laws that will be detailed in chapters 12 to 26. But it must also have an internal dimension.
You shall love the Lord your God." They weren't related to God in simply a mechanistic way. They were related to God as their covenant Lord, as their covenant head, as their king, who redeemed them from the house of bondage. Therefore, as subjects to Him, yes, there was to be loyalty and fidelity and obedience, but it wasn't to be given apart from this context of love. Again, that central confession of 6.4 has as its proper response, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength.
When Jesus is asked which is the first commandment, he cites that, Deuteronomy 6.5. The most important thing in all of the world is that we love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, and strength. We are to love Him, we're to keep His charge, we're to keep His statutes, His judgments, and His commandments always. And again, the insistence given in each one of these commands, it is to be perpetual, it is to be constant, it is to be complete obedience, which underscores for us just how great our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, really is.
Because not a one of us does what God says. Not one of us loves Him the way that He stipulates in His Word. We don't keep His charge, we don't keep His statutes, we don't keep His judgments, and we don't keep His commandments always. That's where Jesus answers for man.
Jesus comes into this world. He keeps the charge of God. He keeps the statutes, the judgments, and his commandments always. He does that as our mediator.
He does that as our head. He does that as our surety. And by virtue of that, we have the righteousness of Christ imputed to us. And it's on that basis that we then proceed, seeking by the grace of God to obey all that the Lord has called us to." You see that tension throughout the book of Deuteronomy.
This continual refrain about the need to obey when they get into the land. When we get to Deuteronomy 30, it is very specific and very conspicuous. God, through Moses, says you're not going to obey. God, through Moses, says you're going to go into the land.
You're going to sin in the land. You're going to be expelled from the land. But nevertheless, God says in Deuteronomy 30, He already issues the promise, what we'll later call the New Covenant. Already it is being foreshadowed here.
All of these commands to obey and all of this emphasis upon keeping the Lord's commandment God knew good and well that they wouldn't do it. This is setting the stage for the eventual coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to save his people from their sins. So he makes this statement, you shall love him, you shall keep his charge, and then he gives these verses, verses 2 to 7, highlights their past, where they have been. You ought to obey God, you ought to love the Lord, you ought to keep his commandments based on what he has done for you in the past.
God's Past Acts as Ground for Obedience
Notice that he says in verse 2, know today that I do not speak with your children who have not known and who have not seen the chastening of the Lord your God. He's not saying I don't care about your children. He is appealing, verse 7, directly to those who have witnessed with their own eyes the majestic powerful, sovereign operation of God Almighty. He says that very conspicuously.
No, today I do not speak with your children who have not known, but rather, verse seven, but your eyes have seen every great act of the Lord which He did. It's as if He's appealing to them. I want you to love, I want you to obey, I want you to keep, I want you to do because of what God has done in your life. What a great argument for us as Christians to obey the Lord.
What has He done in our lives? He has redeemed us. He has sustained us. He has brought judgment to bear upon those who hate us.
We saw that in Genesis 12 on Sunday night. Part of God's program of blessing His people is cursing those who curse them." In other words, the Lord has promised to protect those whom he loves. And so as an argument for obedience, God through Moses says, look at what I've done in the past. And
Three Reasons to Obey: Exodus, Wilderness, Judgment
he highlights three particular events, the Exodus, and then the wilderness, and then the judgment upon the rebels, Dathan and Abiram. It is those three things that serve as an argument or as reasons why they ought to do what they're called to do in verse 1. Notice in verse 2, know today that I do not speak with your children who have not known and who have not seen the chastening of the Lord your God, His greatness and His mighty hand and His outstretched arm. The implication is You have seen these things.
You've witnessed this firsthand. As Christians, we have witnessed firsthand God's dealings with our sins. We have witnessed firsthand God's sustaining us, God's preservation of us. It is a wonderful appeal.
As Christians living, seeking, striving to be obedient to the Father, We ought to look to the past. We ought to look to see how God has indeed manifested His greatness in His mighty hand and His outstretched arm. And you might say, well, I've never seen the parting of the Red Sea. I've never seen, you know, judgment upon Pharaoh and his armies.
If you are not currently in hell, you are experiencing the greatness and the majesty of God's outstretched arm. of his mighty hand because we most certainly deserve his wrath and his curse. But we have experienced benefit and blessing from his hand. So he says, verse 3, his signs and his acts which he did in the midst of Egypt, note specifically, to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to all his land. This is a reference to.
Remember the 10 plagues. That was to all his land. Remember that 10th plague, the death of the firstborn. Everyone experienced that judgment from God Almighty.
The children of Israel were protected. The children of Israel were watched over. And the Lord brought judgment against Egypt and its false gods. And so he says what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses and their chariots.
Remember that particular scene? God parts the Red Sea. His people cross through. Their feet don't even get wet.
They have no problems, no difficulties whatsoever. Pharaoh and his armies give chase, and they get in there, and what happens initially? It's not the water collapsing. The first initial thing is the chariot wheels fell off.
If I was those men, I would have been freaked out like no one's business. This does not bode well. Maybe we should turn back. Maybe we should run back.
And then after those chariot wheels and then the water collapses upon them and God brings judgment upon Pharaoh and upon his armies. 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." So obey God based on his redemptive work in the Exodus. But obey God based on His providential work in sustaining you in the wilderness. Verse 5. What He did for you in the wilderness until you came to this place.
Remember the children of Israel interpreted the wilderness as if God was out to get them. as if God had brought them out there to destroy them. But God interprets the wilderness as His taking care of them. Again, if we jump into the New Covenant, if we jump into Christian experience, We often look at the various wilderness eras in our own lives as if God somehow abandoned us when nothing can be further from the truth. It is in the midst of the fire, it is in the midst of the trial, it is in the midst of the difficulty that God is most conspicuously present.
I mean, I don't think it would be difficult for us to think, when did we grow the most in our Christian life? As hard as it may be, it's times of trial. We dare not say that because we're afraid that God will really throw some trial on us to make us grow some more. But it's true adversity.
Adversity brings about growth in the child of God. Remember how the Lord describes the wilderness. Deuteronomy chapter 1 verse 29. Then I said to you do not be terrified or afraid of them. the Lord your God who goes before you, he will fight for you according to all he did for you in Egypt before your eyes.
Notice verse 31, and in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried you. as a man carries his son in all the way that you went until you came to this place. Now notice in chapter two in verse seven, for the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand. He knows you are trudging through this great wilderness. These 40 years the Lord your God has been with you, you have lacked nothing.
So they interpret it as if God had abandoned them. God says, I've been with you for those 40 years. I've carried you as a father carries his son. I have been with you in the midst of these trials.
So back in chapter 11, obey the Lord, keep his charge, do his commandments because he's redeemed you from Egypt and he has sustained you in the wilderness wandering. But not only that, he does curse those who curse you. He does bring judgment to bear upon the enemies of the gospel. Remember that rebellion, they rose up against Moses.
Moses was a godly man. He was a most excellent leader. He was not perfect. He was not without blemish.
He was not without spot. In fact, Moses himself is not going to enter into the promised land. It's a very emotional time when we get to the end of the book of Deuteronomy. God says, you can look.
But you're not going into that land. I mean, there's part of us that says, please, Lord, let him go. He did a lot of things, but that's not God's way. God says you're not supposed to do certain things, Moses, and he did it.
But all that to say that Moses was a faithful servant, a faithful leader, again, not a perfect man, not a blemish-free man, but there was a rebellion against his authority. God opens up the earth, and he swallows the rebels. I will curse those who curse you. That program of blessing, that world-changing program instituted in Genesis chapter 12 is a reality.
What does Paul say in Romans chapter 8? If God is for us, who can be against us? If God is in our corner, if God is on our side, what possible things can man do? Paul says, for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.
What do you do with a man like Paul who when he says, I don't care about dying because I gain more Christ? that's what we have in our God verse 5 what he did for you in the wilderness until you came to this place 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 but your eyes have seen every great act of the Lord which he did so you see this first requirement Obey God, look to the past. The first requirement, love God and honor God, and remember the Exodus, which is redemption, remember the wilderness, which is God's providential care, and remember Dathan and Abiram, which is God's vengeance upon the enemies of the Lord. Three great reasons why we ought to obey.
Second Requirement: Obey to Possess the Land
Notice the second requirement, verse 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. That's a beautiful statement. You shall keep every commandment which I command you today.
Notice that you may be strong. That you may go in and possess the land which you cross over to possess. So what is Israel's success dependent upon? A superior military capability?
No, it's obedience to the living God. They are to operate in a theological fashion. That doesn't mean they shouldn't have a military. You know, Cromwell said, pray and keep your powder dry.
We must certainly use the means to be sure the horse is prepared for the day of battle, Solomon says, but victory is of the Lord. So he calls on them to obey every command that I command you today, that you may be strong and go in and possess the land which you cross over to possess. Meredith Klein says, success in the stipulated program of conquest would depend first and last not on military prowess but on religious commitment. This is what is put forth with Joshua.
Joshua chapter 1 verse 8 this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth But you shall meditate in it day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it For then you will make your way prosperous and and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
You see the key to success there. Joshua, meditate upon the law. Do what God says. Later on in Deuteronomy chapter 17, when it starts dealing with what happens when we have a king in Israel.
You know what the first order of business was for the king? Take his own pen, take his own paper, and write the law out. You know how many heartbreaks and how much grief it would have saved Israel if the kings actually obeyed that? I mean, the book of the law was missing for generations until Josiah, or it was found under Josiah.
If the kings were obedient to Deuteronomy 17, as soon as they sat down on the throne, they would have written out the law of the Lord. That was the stipulation for the king. But of course, they reject that, and therefore, they have hardship and trial and difficulty and defeat. But God's word, specifically here, is obey every command that you may be strong.
And here the incentive or here the illustration is consider what you're about to get.
The Future Inheritance as Incentive
So obey verse 1, 2 to 7 reflect on the past. Obey verse 8, verses 9 to 12 reflect on what you're about to possess. We might jump into the New Covenant for a moment. We might use this as an argument in terms of obedience.
Look at what God has in store for us. Look at what God has laid up for us. I mean here they're looking at a land, a piece of property, albeit a blessed piece of property, not like Egypt, something that is choice and prime real estate, but we have so much more. We have heaven.
We have Emmanuel's land. We have Jesus Christ himself. So one of the incentives to obedience is to look toward the future and see what God has in store for his people. But back to this situation on the plains of Moab. 9.
OBEY THAT YOU MAY PROLONG YOUR DAYS IN THE LAND WHICH THE LORD SWORE TO GIVE YOUR FATHERS, TO THEM AND THEIR DESCENDANTS, A LAND FLOWING WITH MILK AND HONEY. You're receiving blessing. You're receiving a good land. You're receiving good gifts. long life, strength, all of these things.
Canaan: A Land Cared for by God
Notice in verse 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. What this means, the watering it by foot is either digging trenches or has to do with irrigation. You see, in Egypt you had to heavily irrigate or else you didn't have a crop. Agriculture was dependent upon human technique.
Now, obviously it's under God. Secondary means are under God. But he's making a contrast. The land that you're going to in Canaan God actually cares for it.
God looks upon it favorably. God sends rain. It's not dependence upon human technique and human irrigation, but rather it's dependence upon God when you get into the land. Notice. verse 10, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot as a vegetable garden, but the land which you cross over to possess is a land of hills and valleys which drinks water from the rain of heaven, a land for which the Lord your God cares.
The eyes of the Lord your God are always on it from the beginning of the year to the very end of the year. It's almost as if the children of Israel standing on the plains of Moab, their mouths might have started to water here. They might have been able to taste the good things in this land. They were to think about this, to consider the blessing of coming out of Egypt into Canaan and enjoying milk and honey.
There's already been descriptions up to this point. There'd be barley. There'd be grain. There would be produce aplenty.
There would be grass that God would provide so it would sustain their livestock. They'd always have meat. They'd always have these riches and these benefits and these good things. It wouldn't surprise me if on the plains of Moab, as Moses is rehearsing these things, their mouths are watering.
God says use that as an incentive. Look forward to those blessings as a reason to obey right now. You see, God not only calls us to obey, but he gives us all of these reasons or illustrations or incentives as to why we are to obey. This is what John says.
Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure. As John rehearses the fact that Jesus is coming again, John says that when we have that hope, we purify ourselves in him. We want to be holy. We long for those things.
We desire godliness. Craigie says, in the promised land, therefore, they would be dependent not on human techniques, but on the provision of God. So the first requirement, look to the past. Second requirement, look to the future.
Third Requirement: Obey and Resist Idolatry
Third requirement, more promise a blessing in the land and then a specific warning against idolatry third requirements in verse 13 and it shall be that if you earnestly obey my commandments which I command you today to love the Lord your God and serve him with all your heart and with all your soul and again it's easy for us to remember that they don't do this. We need to remember that. They don't do this. God brings them into this land.
They do not do what he calls them to do. He delivers them time and time again. And if anybody ever says, and we've had cause to refer to this before, that there's no grace in the Old Testament, they've not read the Old Testament. As God is using Moses to communicate, if you obey here, he knows good and well they're not going to obey.
Remember back in chapter 10, he illustrates that it's not because of their righteousness that they're in the land. What was the primary example that he gave? It was Horeb. It was when God gave the Decalogue.
God gave the Ten Commandments. Moses is up on the mountain conversing with God, and what are the children of Israel doing at the foot of the mountain? They're worshiping a gold calf, dancing around, engaging in all manner of evil. God doesn't stop.
God doesn't cut them off. God doesn't destroy them. He threatens it, but God continues to bless. God continues to show mercy.
So we mustn't ever forget that. When we read these statements, when we read these commands, yes, We know that they're going to sin. We know that they're going to reject. But God has built into the program the promise of a Redeemer, the promise of a coming one, even the Lord Jesus Christ.
He makes the statement, it shall be that if you earnestly obey my commandments, which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will give you the reign for your land and its season. the early rain and the latter rain that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil. And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock that you may eat and be filled. So obey because of this promise of the good land. Now the specific warning.
Verse 16, take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived and you turn aside to serve other gods and worship them. lest the Lord's anger be aroused against you, and he shut up the heavens so that there be no rain, and the land yield no produce, and you perish quickly from the good land which the Lord is giving you." It's an interesting thing because he's talking about rain. See, when they get into Canaan, the Canaanites believe that Baal sends rain. In other words, when they went out, they didn't say, oh, it's raining again, like we might do this in Chilliwack. Do you realize that, and I'll be the first to admit, maybe you guys don't.
We complain about all the rain. Probably in two weeks, I'll at least be complaining about how hot it is. I need to repent. God is sovereign over the weather systems.
But the Canaanites, when they walked outside, they didn't say, oh, it's raining. They said, Baal has sent this rain. What's going to happen when Israel goes into Canaan? They're going to hear this because they don't dispossess the land.
There's only a couple cities that they actually dispossess. They're going to have Canaanite neighbors. They're going to have Canaanite friends. And the Canaanites are going to say, praise Baal that it's raining today because our crops are going to grow.
God says don't fall prey to that. interesting way that he says he's going to chasten them if they do. Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them, lest, verse 17, the Lord's anger be aroused against you and he shut up the heavens so that there be no rain. If you attribute to Baal the rain from heaven, God will stop the rain. See, God is a jealous God, and He will not share His glory with another.
When you ascribe to Baal what is rightfully Yahweh, God will stop the rain, and you will perish, and you will perish quickly from the good land which the Lord is giving to you. You see, it's all connected. Theology or meteorology leads to theology. The weather system, the way of providence, the things that grow, grass for livestock, all of that should lead them to worship and praise and adore the living and true God.
He says if you get sidetracked, if you don't worship and praise and adore the living and true God, then I will stop the rain because I need to teach you. See, God does this to discipline, God does this to chasten, God does this to demonstrate that He alone is the living and true God. So there is a specific call there to avoid the idolatry, the temptation to it, that they would no doubt face when they enter into the land. So those are the three requirements.
Verse 1, verse 8, verse 13.
Summary: The Word and Covenant Succession
Summary of the entire section, verses 18 to 25. We can summarize it quickly in two things. One, the importance of the word of God. If you took chapter 6 and you laid it open right next to this section, you would see a lot of similarity.
Notice in verse 18, therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul and bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, or when you lie down and when you rise up. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."
The Necessity of God's Word
You see, if longevity and blessing and joy and happiness are tied directly to faithful obedience to God, how important is His Word? right that's what's most important joshua chapter one verses eight and nine meditate on this law day and night and then your way will be prosperous and you will know success you see a people covenanted to the living and the true god must value prize and delight in his holy word you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart. Remember they were taught this lesson in the wilderness. Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. God is saying, God is underscoring, God is highlighting here the absolute necessity of theology.
You relate to God, you covenant with God based on the truth of Holy Scripture. If you want meteorology to be in your favor, you want prosperity in the land, you want blessing and joy and goodness, it's riding upon this word and your response to it. And so he tells that you need to internalize that word. Lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul.
It's not enough just to look in the mirror, walk away and forget what you look like, but rather you need to be a doer of the word. Internalize. It needs to be the delight of the heart. and night. As well, you need to instruct your children.
Verse 9, you shall teach them to your children. That is covenant succession. God doesn't want it to just stop with this generation. God wants this generation to teach the next generation.
Catechize them. Instruct them. teach them the Shema, teach them their response to it, teach them this Decalogue, teach them this law, highlight upon them the importance to resist the temptation, to commit idolatry, so it perpetuates this blessed covenant that the Lord God has instituted. So, the importance of the word and the blessings associated with obedience, verses 21 to 25. Long life.
Again, this isn't always formulaic. You do this and you'll have a happy long life. Sometimes people obey. They walk out in the street and they get ran over by cars.
It happens. It is a general principle, a general maxim, an axiom for Christian living. Obey God. And as a general rule, there'll be longevity.
This has already been highlighted in Deuteronomy 4, 5, 6, and in the beginning of chapter 11, verse 21, that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them like the days of the heavens above the earth. there would be dispossession of the land. In other words, God will go before you and drive out these nations. Remember, he's summarizing, he is reviewing, he is highlighting the key elements that have gone up to this point. There will be detailed legislation following chapters 12 to 26.
We're still in that introductory phase and highlighting the importance of the first commandment, having no other gods before him. The Lord will drive out all these nations from before you. you will enjoy victory according to verse 24 every place on which the soul of your foot tread shall be yours from the wilderness and Lebanon from the river the river Euphrates even to the Western Sea shall be your territory what he is saying is north south east East and West. Now this would not be realized until David and Solomon, but it would begin to be realized in the dispossession under Joshua. And so they're being called to consider this at this point.
And then they would possess strength. Notice in verse 25, no man shall be able to stand against you. The Lord 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. You see, God is telling them all these good things as reasons why when they enter into the land, they ought to be obedient to him.
They ought to love him. They ought to respond to him in a manner that is consistent with the covenant that they have entered into. by God's grace.
The Crucial Choice: Blessing or Curse
And then that brings us finally to this crucial choice verses 26 to 32. Behold I set before you today a blessing and a curse. He's saying here fish are cut bait, essentially. Joshua will do the same thing in the same place in Joshua chapter 24.
It's interesting, where are they here? Where is Gerizim and Ebal? It's the city right in between. It's a place called Shechem.
We saw something about that on Sunday night. This is where Abraham was when he went into the promised land. It was there at the terebinth tree, Mora, that Abraham set forth and constructed an altar, and there he worshiped the Lord. It's no accident here between Gerizim and Ebal is Shechem.
This is the place for covenant ratification. Guess where they're going to ratify under General Joshua in chapter 24 of Joshua? They're back at Shechem. Shechem is the covenant ratification spot or site.
So here's what we find. Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse. The blessing, verse 27, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today to go after other gods which you have not known. There is the undercurrent.
There is the central theme. This is why, chapters 6 to 11, there's been repetition, there's been review. It is a constant assault upon this tendency of the heart of man to commit idolatry. Do not go into the land of Canaan and befriend the Canaanites and bow to their gods.
You cannot. You need to resist that. That will bring a curse, it will not bring blessing, it will not bring joy. Verse 29, it shall be when the Lord 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.
We'll see that again in detail. In chapter 27, the book of Joshua refers to it, or they do it again in Joshua chapter 8, verses 30 to 35. Notice in verse 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? we saw on Sunday night, the terebinth trees of Moreh were probably where the Canaanites went. They were teacher trees.
They were where they thought they received instruction from their gods. So this was the religious shrine, if you will, of the Canaanites. So the religious gathering place of the Canaanites. God says, No, as a sign of your dispossessing them of the land and your possession of the land, we're going to go right to Shechem, we're going to go right to those trees, and this is where we're going to establish this covenant of blessing.
Harman says, Israel was to conduct a ceremony of blessings and curses at the very place where the people would come into direct conflict with Canaanite religion and false prophecy. This would be similar to a group of Christians going to a mosque and saying, you know what? This is our spot now. And that's the significance of these cherubim trees in Moriah.
This is God, the God of Israel has called us to take possession here. Harmon says, there would be blessings if there was obedience to the voice of the Lord. If there was obedience to the idols of the Canaanites, there would be curses. These two mountains bracket the entire detailed exposition of the law, as I said here in Chapter 11, and then again in Chapter 27.
What falls in between is how they are to conduct themselves in the land. So choose ye this day what course you will pursue, either blessing through obedience or cursing through disobedience. Verse 31 and 32 concludes the whole section. You will cross over the Jordan and go in and possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you and you will possess it and dwell in it and you shall be careful to observe all the statutes and judgments which I set before you today.
So chapter 11 marshals together all that's gone before, introduces what we will now enter into in terms of detailed application of God's law for life in the land of Canaan.
Closing Prayer
Well, let's pray. Our Father, we thank you for this, your word, and we pray that we would take seriously these commands, these instructions, that we would think in terms of your glory and your majesty in our lives. in redemption and sustaining us in your providence and in dealing with enemies, we pray that we would as well look forward to what you have in store for us and may these be great incentives and encouragements for a life of obedience. Do forgive us, Lord, for falling short. Do forgive us that we oftentimes are hard-hearted and And we need your grace.
We need your spirit. We need your power to go and to do the things that you call us to do. Thank you for Jesus. Thank you for his obedience.
Thank you for his life and his death and his resurrection. And we just pray now that you would go with us. And we ask in his name. Amen.