Introduction
‘Love the LORD your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always. Remember today that your children were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of the LORD your God: his majesty, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm; the signs he performed and the things he did in the heart of Egypt, both to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his whole country; what he did to the Egyptian army, to its horses and chariots, how he overwhelmed them with the waters of the Red Sea as they were pursuing you, and how the LORD brought lasting ruin on them. It was not your children who saw what he did for you in the wilderness until you arrived at this place, and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when the earth opened its mouth right in the middle of all Israel and swallowed them up with their households, their tents and every living thing that belonged to them. But it was your own eyes that saw all these great things the LORD has done.’ Deuteronomy 11:1-7
Love And Obey The LORD
Moses begins by reminding Israel that they must love and obey God because out of love for them, God had performed great miracles in their sight and He has promised them a productive land in Canaan, Deuteronomy 11:1-12.
They are reminded again, that love and obedience must go together, 1 John 2:3-6 / 1 John 4:7-11 / 1 John 4:19 / 1 John 5:3 / Revelation 2:4.
Though God had done so much for Israel, they were rebellious against His will, Deuteronomy 9:24. God chose Israel because He loved them and had made a promise to them through Abraham, Deuteronomy 7:6-8, and because God redeemed Israel out of the bondage of Egypt, Deuteronomy 7:8 / Deuteronomy 9:26.
He expects them to fear, obey, love, and serve Him with all their heart, Deuteronomy 10:12-13 / Deuteronomy 10:20.
Many heard what Moses had said and many had seen the mighty works of the Lord God in Egypt and beyond. They knew of the promise to make Abraham a great nation and that God had fulfilled that promise, Deuteronomy 10:22.
There were still some in Israel who were old enough to remember and saw what God had done, and so, Moses encourages them to ‘love the Lord your God’. Israel’s love for God would be demonstrated in them keeping God’s laws always, John 14:15.
Israel witnessed the miraculous consequences of rebellion against the Lord’s sovereign will, when Korah and Dathan and Abiram, desired the priesthood, Numbers 16:1-50. It was then that the Lord opened up the earth and swallowed the rebellious up in the sight of all Israel.
God’s judgments on the parents with such great events, therefore, should motivate obedience in the lives of the children who were present at the time Moses spoke these words east of the Jordan.
‘Observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, and so that you may live long in the land the LORD swore to your ancestors to give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden. But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven. It is a land the LORD your God cares for; the eyes of the LORD your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end.’ Deuteronomy 11:8-12
God had performed many miraculous and fearful miracles before the eyes of Israel and so they must ‘observe all the commandments’ that God is giving them. Those who keep the commandments of God will have the Promised Land to look forward to. A land ‘flowing with milk and honey,’ a land that’s totally different from Egypt.
In Egypt, which was basically a desert land, they had to continually build irrigation systems from the Nile River in order to produce crops.
But in Canaan, there would be sufficient natural rain where they wouldn’t have to work additionally to grow crops through the construction of irrigation systems. Canaan is a place that God cares for and sends rain upon it, that it may produce much fruit for its inhabitants.
‘So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul—then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied. Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. Then the LORD’s anger will burn against you, and he will shut up the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the LORD is giving you.’ Deuteronomy 11:13-17
Moses explains to Israel that if they love, serve, and obey the Lord, then the blessings of rain which produce grain, new wine, and oil will be theirs.
In other words, these are God’s terms and conditions for Israel, if they want to be blessed by Him, Deuteronomy 10:12-13 / Matthew 6:33 / Luke 12:31.
If they were disobedient to the will of God, then God would use the drought to bring about their repentance. Their obedience would bring the continual blessing of the early and latter rains, but God would bring drought upon the land if they ignored His commandments, 1 Kings 17:1 / James 5:17-18.
A good example of this type of blessing is found in the books of Haggai and Zechariah. Haggai explains to the people that the blessing of rain and fruitful earth had been withheld from them because they hadn’t followed God’s command to build the temple, Haggai 1:7-11 / Ezra 1:1-2 / Ezra 6:14.
The blessings of rain and fruitful ground continued to be withheld from Israel, Haggai 2:15-17, as long as their hearts remained hard from sin, Zechariah 7:12.
Zechariah uses Israel’s rebellion to make an illustration regarding the blessings of obedience for future generations, that is, Jesus would one day come into the world, Zechariah 3:6-8 / Zechariah 9:9.
The blessings of obedience through Jesus would be ‘fountains’ of water, Zechariah 13:1, from his ‘pierced’ body, Zechariah 12:10. These ‘living waters’, Zechariah 14:8, would bless the people by cleansing their sins, Zechariah 13:1. The blessings of living waters shall ever be supplied by the ‘King over all the earth’, Zechariah 14:9.
‘Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.’ Deuteronomy 11:18-21
Earlier Moses said that these children hadn’t seen the miraculous things which the adults had seen, Deuteronomy 11:2, but in order to guarantee that this generation of children does not fall away from the commandments of God, the parents were to continually teach their children.
It was the responsibility of the parents, not the Levites, to teach the children. The Israelite children occasionally learned from the Levites when the parents took offerings for fellowship meals to the Levites in the cities, but on the farms, the parents were to be continually educating their children in the word of God.
Children were to see the importance of God’s laws in their parent’s everyday life. At times when they sat at the house, walked along the way somewhere, woke up in the morning, and lay down at night, they were to see and hear of the word of God.
When the children came into their house they were to see and hear of God and when they entered or left the city they lived in they were to hear of God. The blessings of obedience and the curses of disobedience were at stake.
‘If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow—to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him and to hold fast to him—then the LORD will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you. Every place where you set your foot will be yours: Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea. No one will be able to stand against you. The LORD your God, as he promised you, will put the terror and fear of you on the whole land, wherever you go. See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse—the blessing if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey the commands of the LORD your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known. When the LORD your God has brought you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim on Mount Gerizim the blessings, and on Mount Ebal the curses. As you know, these mountains are across the Jordan, westward, toward the setting sun, near the great trees of Moreh, in the territory of those Canaanites living in the Arabah in the vicinity of Gilgal. You are about to cross the Jordan to enter and take possession of the land the LORD your God is giving you. When you have taken it over and are living there, be sure that you obey all the decrees and laws I am setting before you today.’ Deuteronomy 11:22-32
When Israel went into Canaan, a national pledge was to be made, this pledge to be obedient to the commandments of God wasn’t only a national commitment to the will of God for the generation that made it, but also a pledge for all generations that would follow throughout the history of Israel.
Moses again, reminds Israel of God’s terms and conditions, they must keep His commandments, love Him, and hold fast to Him, Deuteronomy 10:12-13 / Deuteronomy 10:20 / Deuteronomy 11:13.
If they do all that God requires then God would drive out other nations that are larger and stronger than Israel, He would extend Israel’s borders and put fear in the hearts of Israel’s enemies.
Notice also, that God says, ‘every place where you set your foot will be yours’, these are the same words God promised to Joshua when Israel were about to cross over the Jordan River into Canaan, Joshua 1:3.
Moses again, repeats what He taught earlier, that is, those who obey God may expect His blessings but those who disobey God’s laws can expect His curse, that is, they won’t be blessed by God.
When Israel crosses the Jordan to possess the land of Canaan, God instructs them to remember these instructions. They are to make a memorial regarding this principle upon Mount Gerizim, where the blessings of the covenant were read, and Mount Ebal where the cursing of God would be read, Deuteronomy 27:11-26.
The blessings and cursings would reemphasize the principle that’s taught throughout these words. If they remained faithful, they would be blessed but if they disobeyed the will of God, they would be cursed, and eventually driven from the land of promise, Joshua 8:30-35.
This is the end of Moses’ second sermon.
