Deuteronomy 11

Tlie eyes of the Lord thy God.) That is, the providence of God; whose majesty dwelt in tho sanctuary. Are always vpon it. To see what is wanting, and to supply it. From the beginning of the year, even nnto the end of the year.] At all seasons, to give them both the first and latter rain, (as he spoaks ver. 14.) and such weather as might both produco and kindly ripen the fruits of the earth. This he mentions as an argument to obedience; in which, if they failed, he plainly tells them, the land should not yield her fruit, (ver. 17.) For this country was not so fertile of itself, as by the peculiar blessing of God upon it, whilst they kept his laws. in the tender hearts of their children, and be propagated from one generation to another. [chap. XII. said, that the mountains were over against Gilgal, but the dwelling of the Canaanites (in whose country these mountains were) was over against it. Beside the plain of Moreh?] Of which mention is made Gen. xii. G. where the Canaanites arc also mentioned as in that land, when Abraham came into it. Which suggests to us, that these blessings were pronounced in that very place where Abraham anciently dwelt, and where he worshipped God, who there appeared to him.

Deuteronomy 11:13

And it shall come to pass, if ye willhearken diligently unto my commandments, which I command you this day. To hearken diligently here signifies, to consider them seriously, and lay them to, heart. To love the Lord i yonr God, and to serve him with all your heart, and all your soid.] He repeats this so often, because it is the great commandment (as our Saviour speaks), and because nothing is more natural than to love our benefactors, God especially (our greatest benefactor, who gave us our being), with all our heart, and with all our soul. (See x. 12.) And being the first and great commandment, it draws along with it obedience to all the rest, and is, in effect, the whole duty of man to God. For constant experience shews us, that whosoever gets the firm hold of this affection, governs a man as he pleaseth.

Deuteronomy 11:14

That J will give you the rain of your land. As much as is sufficient for such a hilly country. In his due season.] At the proper times, which here follow. • The first rain.] Before the sowing of their seed, to prepare the ground; and after it was sown, that it might take root in the earth, and spring up. And the latter rain.] When the corn was grown up towards earing-time; and after it was eared, to make the ears full and plump. This appears from Amos iv. 7. where he speaks of withholding the rain from them, while there were yet three months to the harvest. Which is meant of this latter rain, whereby their corn was brought forward, when it was but in the blade to caring, and so on to harvest. That thou mayest. gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.] Till the corn, and all tho fruits of the earth, be brought to maturity.

Deuteronomy 11:15

And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle. To make them fat; or to give plenty of milk. That thou mayest eat, and be full.] Eat flesh if they pleased, as well as the fruits of the earth, in great plenty.

Deuteronomy 11:16

Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived. By the specious colours that other nations put upon their idolatry, (as, the antiquity of it, universal consent, &c. there being no part of the world at that time, as Maimonides observes, where all were not accustomed to. worship images, &c.) whereby the Israelites were in danger to be seduced into an imitation of their neighbours.. And ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them.] By this it is evident that Moses is still pressing them. to care in observing the first and second commandments.

Deuteronomy 11:17

And then the Lord’s wrath be kindled against you. For their being deceived into idolatry by false reasonings, which persuaded them what they did was lawful, did not excuse them before God; who expected they should have used greater caution, and governed themselves by his plain and express commands. And he shut up the heavens, that there be no rain.] The contrary to this is called opening his good treasure, Deut. xxviii. 12. signifying that they lived upon the royal bounty of the King of heaven, which their sins would hinder from flowing to them. That the land yield not her fruit, and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you.] To withhold rain from them was a sore judgment, which quickly brought a famine; which was very grievous to those who used to live so plentifully. And it was frequently attended with various diseases, whereby they were wasted and consumed.

Deuteronomy 11:18

Tlterefore shall ye lay vp these my tvords in your heart, and in your soul. See chap. vi. 6. And bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.] Always in sight;. as the rule whereby they should order their steps, lest they trod amiss. This is one of the portions of Scripture, (from ver; 13. to the end of ver. 21.) which the Jews write in their tephilim, as they call them, -which they use when they say their prayers, which they fancy are thereby made more ac* ceptable unto God. This conceit began, not long before our Saviour’s time, in the school of Hillel and Shammai, and took such root in the minds of the most religious, that it hath grown to a great superstition ever since. See upon chap. vi. ver. 8, 9. which is another portion of Scripture; that they wrote in these parchments; though at the first (St. Jerome saith, upon Matt, xxiii. 5.) they wrote only’ the ten commandments.

Deuteronomy 11:19

And ye shall teach them your children. This is repeated very often, (iv. 10. vi. 7.) And out of this place, and v. 1. the Jews have framed this as one of the affirma^ tive precepts, that they ought themselves to learn the law of God, and teach it unto others. And this they do so ( dilir gently, that, as soon as their children are capable to understand any thing, they make them carefully read the holy books; and instruct them so, that, before they can be called youths, they are acquainted with the whole law of God. In which, we must confess, they shame a great many Christians, who scarce understand so much of our religion when they are men and women, as the Jews do of theirs when they are mere children. From the Hebrew word limmalethtem, in this verse, ye shall teach them, the Jews have framed a conceit that their Talmud hath its name; signifying teaching and instruction, as R. Jechiel saith, in his disputation with Nicolaus, p. 9. Speaking of them when4hou sittest in thine house, and when thou ivalkest by the way, &c] Taking all occasions to inculcate these precepts upon them, (see chap. vi. 7.) and upon their daughters. as well as their sons; though the Jewish doctors commonly fancy there is no command to instruct their daughters in the law. (See Mischna Sota, cap. 3. sect. 3. with Wagenseil’s Annotations, and the Gemara there, p. 471. 501.)

Deuteronomy 11:20

And thou shall write them upon the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates. See chap. vi. 9. By this means God’s word being,so rooted in the hearts of the parents (to use the words of Dr. Jackson), as to bring forth this good fruit in their practice, the seed of it might be sown

Deuteronomy 11:21

That your clays may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them. Nothing is wont to move men more than love to themselves, and love to their children, whom they love next to themselves. As the days of heaven upon the earth.] As long as this world shall last Which the Psalmist, speaking of David, expresses in thfet manner, “His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven,” (Psal. lxxxix. 29.) which doth not signify absolutely for ever, but a longtime. For thus Baruch says, the Jews in Babylon were commanded to pray for the life of Nebuchadnezzar, and the life of Baltasar his son,?va wmv at nfxigat aiirwv wg at nuioai rov ovpavov iTTt r?)c jvq, that their days might be as the days of heaven upon earth. Which is the very phrase of Moses here in this place, importing a very long life. And such hyperbolical expressions, every one knows, arc used by the heathen, particularly by Virgil, (iEneid. I.) " Convexa polus dum sidera pascet."

Deuteronomy 11:22

For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments, &c. To love the Lord your God. This is still made the condition of all their happiness, (See ver. 13. and x. 20.). To walk in all his ways.] In observance of his laws, which was the fruit of true love to him. And to cleave unto him.] So as to serve no other God, but to persevere in the worship of the Lord their God alone. The Jews make this one of the six hundred and thirteen precepts of the law (as they count them) distinct by itself; but they interpret it foolishly; of sticking to the cabala of their wise men, whereby they fancy themselves united unto God…

Deuteronomy 11:23

Then will the Lord drive out all these nations frombefore you. Ashe had often promised, (vii. 23. Exod. xxiii.27.) * And ye shall possess nations greater and mightier than yourselves.] See chap. vii. 1. -

Deuteronomy 11:24

Every place wherein the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours. That is, every place of the promised land; as it is explained in the next words. From the wilderness.] viz. Of Sin, which was on the south of Canaan. And Lebanon.] Which was its bounds on the north. From the river, the river Euphrates.] Which was the eastern limits; when in tho days of Solomon their empire reached hither; according to the promise unto Abraham in Gen. xv. 18. Even nnto the uttermost sea shall your coast be.] Which is called the Mediterranean, or the Midland Sea, which bounded it on the west. See Numb, xxxiv. 6. where it is called the Great Sea; and in that chapter the bounds of their country round about are described.

Deuteronomy 11:25

Tfiere slmll no man be able to stand before you:~\ See vii. 24.. For the Lord your God shall lay the fear of you, and the dread of you, upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as lie said unto you.] For God had promised to terrify the inhabitants of Canaan, and take away their courage, (Exod. xxiii. 27.) And accordingly the spies whom Joshua sent, brought him’ an account of the great consternation wherein the whole country was, when they were about to enter into it. (Josh. ii.9. 24.)

Deuteronomy 11:26

Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse. That is, he proposed them to their choice.

Deuteronomy 11:27

A blessing, if you obey, the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day. Which he more largely explains, xxviii. 2 — 4, &c.

Deuteronomy 11:28

And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God. Which is also more particularly laid before them, xxviii. 15 — 17, &c. The whole historical part of the Old Testament witnesses the truth of this, that God blessed or cursed them, according as they observed or broke his laws. And if the people of Israel had diligently marked, and considered, and laid to heart, that their happiness or misery were always corresponding to their good and bad behaviour towards God, it would have confirmed their belief of their law, as much as if they had seen all the miracles done before their forefathers, and supplied the want or the rarity of them in after-ages; nay, this would have, done more than all the miracles did, which were forgotten in a short time; whereas their own daily experience of the happy fruits of obedience, and the mischief of disobedience, would have sealed these truths unto their conscience. But turn aside out of the way which I command you this" day, to go after other gods tvhich ye have not knoion.] It was not every sin that turned God’s favour from them; but their idolatry and apostacy from him: against which he principally warns them, throughout all these chapters, iv. 3, 4. 15, 16. 23. v. 32. vi. 4.14. vii. 4, 5. 25. viii. 19. ix. 12. x. 20.

Deuteronomy 11:29

And it shall come to pass, when the Lord thy God hath brought thee into the land, whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shall put the blessing upon Mount Gerizim, and the’curse upon Mount Ebah] To quicken them unto a strict care in their obedience, blessings and cursings were to be pronounced with great solemnity at their first entrance into the land of Canaan; as is more fully ordered xxvii.ll, 12, &c. and performed by Joshua, (viii. 33 — 35.) And Moses seems to enjoin them the like solemnity, every seventh year, xxxi. 10 — 13.

Deuteronomy 11:30

Are they not on the other side Jordan^. With respect to the place where Moses now was, the mountains he mentions were on the other side of Jordan,in the land of Canaan. In which they had no sooner got footing, but Joshua took care to execute this command;, that their hearts might be possessed with a sense upon what terms they were to enjoy it. And he describes the places so particularly, that they might be sure to know them. By the way where the sun goeth down.] On that side which inclined to the west. In the land of the Canaanites.] The people particularly so called, who were one of the seven nations; some of which lived here in the east, and others near the Midland Sea. As I have observed upon Gen.xv. 21. Which dwell in the champaigne over against Gilgal.] Some think these mountains were at such a considerable distance from Gilgal, that they cannot be said to be over against Gilgal; because this phrase signifies them not to be far off one from the other. And therefore they translate these words, looking towards Gilgal. But it is not

Deuteronomy 11:31

For ye shall pass over Jordan, to go i?i to possess the land which the Lord your God giv’eth you, and ye shall possess it, and dwell therein. He would have them be as careful in this matter, as it was certain that they should shortly go over Jordan, to take possession of the country which God was about to bestow f on them; which he assures them they should get possession of, and settle themselves therein.

Deuteronomy 11:32

And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments which I set before you this day. But then do not forget what I have so often said to you, which ho thought he could not inculcate enough. (See iv. 40. v. 82. vi. l.« vii. 11. viii. 1, &c.)