View Deuteronomy 11 in the note window.
Moses exhorts them to obedience by rehearsing God's
works, ver. 1 - 7.
By describing the goodness of the land, ver. 8 - 12.
By promises and threats, ver. 13 - 17.
An exhortation to teach their children,
closed with a promise, ver. 18 - 25.
A blessing and a curse, ver. 26 - 32.
2: Know - That is, acknowledge and consider it with diligence and
thankfulness.
4: Unto this day - The effect of which destruction continueth to this
day, in their weakness and fear, and our safety from their farther attempts
against us.
7: Your eyes have seen - 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. What our eyes have seen, especially in our early
days, should be improved by us long after.
10: With thy foot - That is, with great pains and labour of thy feet,
partly by going up and down to fetch water and disperse it, and partly by
digging furrows with thy foot, and using engines for distributing the water,
which engines they thrust with their feet. For tho' the river Nile
did once in a year overflow the grounds, and made them fruitful, yet often
it failed them, at least in part, and then they were put to great pains
about their ground. And when it did overflow sufficiently, and left its
mud upon the earth, yet that mud was in a little time hardened, and needed
another watering, and much digging and labour both of the hand and feet,
especially in places more remote from that river; which inconvenience
Canaan was free from.
11: Of hills and valleys - And therefore much more healthful than
Egypt was, which as it was enriched, so it was annoyed with the
Nile, which overflowed the land in summer time, and thereby made the
country both unpleasant and unhealthful. And health being the greatest of
all outward blessings, Canaan must therefore needs be a more desirable
habitation than Egypt. The rain of heaven - Which is more easy, being
given thee without thy charge or pains; more sweet and pleasant, not
hindering thy going abroad upon thy occasions, as the overflow of the
Nile did, whereby the Egyptians were confined in a great measure to
their houses; more safe and healthful, being free from that mud which
attends upon the waters of the Nile; and more certain too, the former
and the latter rain being promised to be given to them in their several
seasons, upon condition of their obedience, which condition, tho' it may
seem a clog and inconvenience, yet indeed was a great benefit, that by their
own necessities and interest they might be obliged to that obedience, upon
which their happiness depended both for this life and the next.
12: Careth for - In a special manner watering it immediately as it
were by his own hand, without man's help, and giving peculiar blessings to
it, which Egypt enjoys not. To the end of the year - To give it the
rain, and other blessings proper to the several seasons. But all these
mercies, and the fruitfulness of the land consequent upon them, were
suspended upon their disobedience. And therefore it is not at all strange
that some later writers, describe the land of Canaan as a barren soil,
which is, so far from affording ground to question the authority of the
scriptures, that it doth much more confirm it, this, being an effect of
that threatning that God would turn a fruitful land into barrenness for
the wickedness of these that dwell in it, (Ps 107:34).
14: The ruin of your land - Which is, proper to your land, not common
to Egypt, where, as all authors agree, there is little rain. The first
rain fell in seed time, to make the corn spring, the other a little before
harvest, to ripen it.
15: I will send grass in thy fields - So godliness has here the
promise of the life which now is. But the favour of God puts
gladness into the heart, more than the increase of corn, wine and
oil.
17: Shut up the heaven - Which is compared sometimes to a great
store - house wherein God lays up his treasures of rain, (Job 38:22), the
doors whereof God is said to open when he gives rain, and to shut
when he witholds it.
18: Lay up - Let us all observe these three rules,
- Let our hearts be filled with the word of God. Lay up these words
in your hearts, as in a store - house, to be used upon all occasions.
- Let our eyes be fixed upon the word of God: Bind them for a sign
upon your hand, which is always in view, and as frontlets between
your eyes, which you cannot avoid the sight of.
- Let our tongues be employed about the word of God, especially with our
children, who must be taught this, as far more needful than the rules of
decency, or the calling they are to live by.
21: As the days of heaven - As long as the heaven keeps its place and
continues its influences upon earth.
24: Every place - Not absolutely, as the Rabbins fondly conceit, but
in the promised land, as it is restrained in the following words; either by
possession, or by dominion, namely, upon condition of your obedience.
The wilderness - Of Sin, on the south - side. To Lebanon - Which was
on the north border. Euphrates - On the east. So far the right of
dominion extended, but that their sins cut them short: and so far
Solomon extended his dominion. The uttermost sea - The western or
midland sea.
26: I set before you - I propose them to your choice.
28: Which ye have not known - Which you have no acquaintance with,
nor experience of their power, or wisdom, or goodness, as you have had of
mine.
29: Put - Heb. Thou shalt give, that is, speak or pronounce,
or cause to be pronounced.
So the word to give is used, (De 13:1,2,Job 36:3,Pr 9:9).
This is, more particularly expressed, (De 27:12,13).
30: Over against - Looking toward Gilgal, tho' at some
considerable distance from it. Beside the plains of Moreh - This was
one of the first places that Abram came to in Canaan. So that in
sending them thither to hear the blessing and the curse, they were minded
of the promise made to Abram in that very place, (Ge 12:6,7).
