Deut 11.1-29 begins to tell us about the rewards of obedience. We learned in Deut 6.4 that “Shema” means “to hear.” This chapter begins what is called “The lesson of the Two Ways” beginning in Deut 11.26, or in other words, “Choices.” This teaches us that there is a difference between the way we learn with our ears (Shema) and the way we learn with our eyes in v 26 (Re’eh or “see” ). Re’eh is related to the word “Ro’eh” meaning “shepherd” because a shepherd “sees” the flock. We have physical needs but we also have spiritual needs. Israel without the Torah is like a fish out of water.
In Deut 11.27 the word “blessing” in Hebrew is preceded by the Aleph and the Tav, the first and last letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It means “Head of the covenant” and this word is symbolic of the Messiah and is found 2,622 times in the Torah alone. The word “curse” does not have it, but it begins with a Vav and a Hey in verse 28, which are the last two letters in God’s name. The concept of “Choices” goes back to the Garden of Eden (Gen 2.9, 16-17). The possibility of evil is essential in creation (Isa 45.5-7).
In Deut 11.29 Yehovah tells them that when they enter the land, the blessings will be placed on Mount Gerizim and the curses on Mount Ebal. These mountains are on either side of Shechem, which means “shoulder.” These mountains are like “choices” on our shoulder. The blessings are on one side and the curses are on the other side of Shechem. This teaches that there is a big gulf existing between where life is a blessing and the one where life is a curse. These two cannot stand in the same place. In the spiritual realm “movement” means carrying out the will of God or not. This is why we are going to talk about choices away from the Lord or towards the Lord (Jer 7.24).
The choice is on our shoulders. We will be tugged at all the time. Ever see the cartoons where a character has to make a decision and there is an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other shoulder? That is the picture here. In Deut 11.30 the question is asked about the two mountains, “Are they not across the Jordan, west of the way toward the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh?” The word “Moreh” means “teacher” and he was encouraging them. They were close to taking possession of the land but they were going to have to make choices. The concept of choices goes all the way back to Eden in Gen 2.9, 16-17).
v 1…You are therefore to love the Lord your God (you show God you love him by keeping his commandments), and always keep his charge (mishpati), his statutes (chukim), his ordinances (mishpatim) and his commandments (mitzvot).
v 2…And know that I am not speaking with your sons who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of the Lord your God (it’s not like they didn’t know already)-his greatness, his mighty hand, and his outstretched arm,
v 3…and his signs and his works which he did in the midst of Egypt, to Pharoah the king of Egypt and to all his land;
v 4…and what he did to Egypt’s army, to its horses and its chariots when he made the water of the Red Sea engulf them (to flow over their faces) while they were pursuing you, and the Lord completely destroyed them;
v 5…and what he did to you in the wilderness until you came to this place (his corrections and judgments);
v 6…and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab the son of Reuben, when the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them (was at their feet-Acts 7.58) among Israel;
v 7…but your own eyes have seen the great work of the Lord which he did.
v 8…You shall therefore keep every commandment (that applies to you) which I am commanding you today, so that you may be strong (morally in the Torah-Josh 1.7-8) and go in to possess the land into which you are about to cross to possess it;
v 9…so that you may prolong your days on the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them and to their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey (means an uncultivated land or a land devastated by war-Isa 7.21-25).
v 10…For the land, into which you are entering to possess it, is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you used to sow your seed and water it with your foot like a vegetable garden (refers to water-wheels and pumps operated with the foot that moved water along irrigation canals).
v 11…But the land into which you are about to cross to possess it, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven (depends on rain not a river);
v 12…a land for which the Lord your God cares (in particular, a place where he chose to build his house, etc), the eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the beginning even to the end of the year (the early rain in the fall and latter rain in the spring-see v 14; Joel 2.23; Jam 5.7).
v 13…And it shall come about if you listen obediently to my commandments which I am commanding you today, to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and all your soul,
v 14…that I (not Baal) will give the rain for your land in its season (you don’t want rain out of season), the early (in the fall) and the late (in the spring) that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your oil.
v 15…And I will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you shall eat and be satisfied.
v 16…Beware, lest your hearts be deceived and you turn away and serve other gods and worship them.
v 17…Or the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you (if the rains failed it was not because “Mowt” defeated “Baal” the storm god, but it was Yehovah who is meting out punishment to a faithless and sinful people; rain was the barometer of Israel’s faithfulness and a vehicle of judgment) and he will shut up the heavens so that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its fruit; and you will perish quickly from the good land which the Lord is giving you.
v 18…You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul (a parallelism for the thoughts and desires); and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand (action), and they they shall be as frontals on your forehead (thoughts; this is a metaphor and not to be taken as literal-see Deut 6.4-9 notes).
v 19…And you shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when yo walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up.
v 20…And you shall write them on the doorposts (mezuzot) of your house and on your gates,
v 21…so that your days and the days of your sons may be multiplied on the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens (the visible universe where the sky where the birds fly, and the where the sun, moon, and stars are) remain above the earth.
v 22…For if you are careful to keep all this commandment which I am commanding you, to do it, to love the LOrd your God, to walk in all his ways and hold fast to him;
v 23…then the Lord will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you.
v 24…Every place on which the sole of your foot shall tread shall be yours (the land had a kedusha); your border shall be from the wilderness (south of Canaan) to Lebanon (in the north), and from the river, the river Euphrates (in the east) as far as the Western Sea (Mediterranean).
v 25…There shall no man be able to stand before you; the Lord your God shall lay the dread of you and the fear of you on all the land on which you set foot, as he has spoken to you.
v 26… See (“re’eh”), I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse (the two ways; choices);
v 27…the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today (the aleph and tav precede the word for “blessing” in Hebrew and means “the head of the covenant”),
v 28…and the curse (this verse begins with a vav and hey, the last two letters in God’s name) if you do not listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by following other gods which you have not known.
v 29…And it shall come about, when the Lord your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, that you shall place the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal (These mountains are on either side of Shechem, which means “shoulder.” These mountains are like “choices” on our shoulder. The blessings are on one side, and the curses are on the other of Shechem. This teaches that there is a vast gulf between those whose life is a blessing and one whose life is a curse. These two cannot stand in the same place).
v 30…Are they not across the Jordan, west of the way toward sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal (wheel, roll away; the root is “galal” where we get “Golgotha”), beside the oaks of Moreh (teacher; he is encouraging them, they were close to taking possession of the land, but they were going to have to make choices).
v 31…For you are about to cross the Jordan and go to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall possess it and live in it,
v 32…and you shall be careful to do all the statute and the judgments which I am setting before you today.”
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