Chapter 11
Moses is still talking, still the same discourse that began in Chapter 5. Looking back at the MSB outline of the book, I note that there are three different speeches from Moses to the people in this book. The first runs from 1:5-4:43, the second from 5:1-28:68, and the last from 29:1-30:20.
This chapter starts with "therefore", and the injunction is to love God and keep his commandments. Moses follows this with reminders of God's power and punishment of those who defy Him. He says he is speaking to the second generation - the ones who have seen God's power first hand, in Egypt, in the desert, and so on, rather than to their children, who have not had first hand experience of God's power.
2021 - 6 and what he did to Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, son of Reuben, how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the midst of all Israel. [Deu 11:6 ESV] I am having trouble resolving the original account of this with the verse that says the sons did not die, and now this verse that says "every living thing that followed". The only way to read this is that Dathan's own sons revolted against him over his attack on Moses and Aaron.
vs 8 has a second therefore, plus two benefits from following God as the covenant requires. The first is that they will be strong, and go in and conquer the land, and the second is that they may live in that land for a long time. So the covenant is not short term by any means. Just because they stay faithful long enough to conquer the land does not insure that it is theirs forever no matter how they or their descendants behave after that. This covenant will only continue if Israel maintains the behavior they've agreed to, and their hearts stay true to God. NOT just the ritual, but the heart that was spoken about in one of the last chapters. It is increasingly clear to me - though I hadn't really understood it this way before - that the whole bargain God made with Israel would be abandoned if either party fails to abide by the stipulations. This covenant was abandoned by God in King Manasseh's time. He was the end. From that King onward Israel was just a nation, unprotected by God, unfavored by God. And in fact, once they crossed this line, they not only lost the blessings, but they also initiated the curses that God said would come if they walked away.
But the land that you are going over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water by the rain from heaven, a land that the Lord your God cares for. The eyes of the Lord your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.
Deuteronomy 11:11-12 ESV
Good Himself looks after the land He has given to Israel. This land is contrasted in vs 10 with Egypt, where land must be irrigated to produce. Canaan is watered by the rain, and produces without irrigation. Because God makes sure the cycles work to the benefit of the crops. In the next few verses, God tells them that should they cease to worship God, this beneficial agricultural cycle will be interrupted and they will go hungry, their cattle with die, and they will quickly be extinguished from the land.
2026 - These are also about physical evil as a result of God's anger. Specifically, HE SENDS IT in anger.:
16 Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them; 17 then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land that the LORD is giving you. [Deu 11:16-17 ESV]
2024 - Here is one we hear a lot these days, only reversed:
24 Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours. Your territory shall be from the wilderness to the Lebanon and from the River, the river Euphrates, to the western sea. [Deu 11:24 ESV].
From the river to the sea. This promise was NOT made to Gaza or Palestina, it was made specifically and exclusively to the Jews. When they say this, they know where it comes from. They are seeking to expel the Jews from every spot the sole of their feet touched, from every square inch of the land that God gave them. This chant is saying to God that they reject his allocation of what is his - all creation - to those for whom he made it. Direct, knowing rejection of God's plan. This will always have terrible consequences.
Can I do a FB post on this?
God gives Israel both a blessing and a curse depending on whether they obey Him or they follow other gods. This verse:
26 "See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, 28 and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known. [Deu 11:26-28 ESV]
Plain as day.
The next verse sets up the scene for Israel's first action when they enter the land:
29 And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, you shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. [Deu 11:29 ESV]
Some go up on one mountain and shout the blessings for right behavior, and others go up the other mountain, and shout back the curses for disobedience. We will see this played out literally a little later.