Deuteronomy 11
The
people of God are now on the verge of
since the march through the wilderness had begun forty years before. They could not
have seen the wonders in
manifestations of the Divine displeasure at the rebellious spirit manifested by the people
during the first years of their course. But there are still some seniors left who had seen all.
To these Moses makes his appeal, ere the discourse in which he exhorts to obedience
is brought to a close. And he urges them anew, from a consideration of the deep
meaning of the events which their own eyes have seen, to learn to be faithful and
obedient. We by no means understand Moses as intending to say that the children
are not before him to hear his words, but rather that the argument he is now using
is specially for the sires rather than the sons. It is in effect this: “You, the seniors
among the people now, have seen all these things. God has spoken in them directly
to you: therefore, it is incumbent upon you to assign to these events their true meaning,
and to give them their rightful power over you.”
Moses here renews his exhortation to obedience, enforced by
regard to their experience
of
God’s dealings with them in
God’s promises and threatenings. (Then, Now and the Future) The
blessing and the curse
are set before them consequent on the keeping or the transgressing of the Law.
In vs. 1-12,
observance of all that He had enjoined upon them.
1 “Therefore thou shalt love the LORD thy God,
and keep His charge,”
what He has appointed to be observed and done (Leviticus 8:35; Numbers
1:53);
more fully explained by - “and
His statutes, and His judgments, and His
commandments, alway.”
2 “And
know ye this day:” - take note of, ponder,
lay to heart. The words that
follow, “for I
speak not with your children (those born during
the wandering in the
wilderness) which have
not known, and which have not seen” are a
parenthesis
thrown in by the speaker to attract the attention
especially of the older generation,
who
had witnessed the acts of the Lord – “the
chastisement of the LORD your God,”
chastisement; not punishment, but discipline, education, training
(Septuagint - παιδεία
– paideia – correction, instruction, education, nurture (of. the use of the Hebrew word
מוּסָר
in Proverbs 1:2; 5:12; 6:23, etc.) – “His
greatness, His mighty hand, and
His stretched out arm,” - The words, the
chastisement, His greatness, mighty hand
and stretched out
arm, are to be connected with “know ye”, as the object of the
knowing. (compare ch.3:24; 4:34).
3 “And His
miracles, and His acts, which He did in the midst of
Pharaoh the king of
army of
of the
hath destroyed them unto this day;” (I highly recommend the Red Sea Crossing
on the web site arkdiscovery.com.
– CY – 2012) (Compare ch.4:34; 6:22; Exodus 14.)
5 “And
what He did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came into this place;
6 And what
He did unto Dathan and Abiram,
the sons of Eliab, the son of
Reuben:
how the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their
households, and their tents,” - The doings of God to the people in the wilderness
comprehend the
manifestations of His omnipotence,
both in their guidance and
protection, and in the punishment of those who transgressed. One instance of the
latter is expressly referred to — the destruction of those who joined in the
insurrection
of
Korah (Numbers 16:31-33). Moses does not mention Korah himself here, but
only his accomplices Dathan and Abiram, probably from regard to his sons, who were
not
swallowed up by the earth along with their father, but had lived to perpetuate
the
family of Korah; perhaps also
because, though Korah was at the head of the
insurrection, Dathan and Abiram
were the more determined, audacious, and obdurate
in
their rebellion
(Numbers 16:12-15, 25-26), so that it came to be named from them -
“and all the substance
that was in their possession,” - literally, every living
thing (Genesis 7:4,23) that
was at their feet, i.e. all their followers (compare
“all the people that follow, thee,” Exodus 11:8; “all
the men that appertained
unto Korah,” Numbers 16:32)
-“in the midst of all
Thus from what they themselves had witnessed, now (vs. 7-9)
does Moses
admonish the elder members of the congregation, summoning them to recognize
in that the purpose of God to discipline and train them,
that so they might
keep
His commandments and be strengthened in soul and purpose to go in
and
possess the land, and to live long therein (ch.1:38; 4:25-26; 6:3).
7 “But
your eyes have seen all the great acts of the LORD which He
did. 8
Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command
you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in
and possess the land,
whither ye go to possess it; 9 And that
ye may prolong your days in the land,
which the LORD swear unto your fathers to give
unto them and to their seed,
a land that floweth
with milk and honey.”
10 For the land, whither thou goest
in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt,
from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst
it with
thy foot, as a garden of herbs: 11 But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is
a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of
the rain of heaven:”
An additional motive to fidelity and obedience is here
adduced, drawn from the peculiar
excellence and advantages of the land. Canaan was not like
depended for its fertility on being irrigated by man’s labor or by
artificial processes,
but
was a land where the supply and distribution of water was provided for in
natural
reservoirs and channels, by means of which the rain which GOD, who cared for the land,
sent plentifully on it, was made available
for useful purposes. In
no
rain, and the people are dependent on the annual overflowing of the
proper irrigation of their fields; and as this lasts only for a
short period, the water has to
be
stored and redistributed by artificial means, often of a very laborious kind. Wateredst
it with thy foot. (v.10) “The
reference, perhaps, is to the manner of conducting
the
water about from plant to plant and from furrow to furrow. I have often watched
the
gardener at this fatiguing and unhealthy work. When one place is sufficiently
saturated, he pushes aside the sandy soil between it and the next
furrow with his foot,
and
thus continues to do until all are watered. He is thus knee-deep in mud, and
many
are
the diseases generated by this slavish work. Or the reference may be to certain
kinds
of
hydraulic machines which were turned by the feet. I have seen small
water-wheels,
on
the plain of Acre and elsewhere, which were thus worked; and it appeared to me
to
be
very tedious and toilsome, and, if the whole country had to be irrigated by
such a
process, it would require a nation of slaves like the Hebrews, and
taskmasters like the
Egyptians, to make it succeed. (Think how blessed
we are in
rains from heaven blessings upon us, year-in and year-out!
blessed as we have more natural waterways than any state except
2012) Whatever may have been the meaning of Moses, the Hebrews no
doubt
had
learned by bitter experience what it was to water with the foot; and this
would add great force to
the allusion, and render doubly precious the
goodly land which drank
of the rain of heaven, and required no such
drudgery to make it
fruitful” (Thomson, ‘ The Land and the
Book,’ 2:279;
edit. Lend. 1859). Philo describes a machine cf. this sort as in use in
(‘De Confus. Linguar.,’ Opp. 1:410, edit.
Mangey); and in that country, “a
garden of herbs” is still generally watered by means of a machine
of simple
construction, consisting of a wheel, round which revolves an endless
rope
to
which buckets are attached; this is worked by the feet of a man seated
on
a piece of wood fastened by the side of the machine, labor at once
monotonous and severe (Niebuhr, ‘Voyage en Arabic,’ 1:121, 4to, Amst.
1776; ‘Description de l’Arabic,’
1:219, 4to,
lies.,’ 1:542; 2:21).
12 “A land
which the LORD thy God careth for:” - literally, searcheth or
inquireth after, i.e.
thinks about and cares for (Septuagint, ἐπισκοπεῖται –
episkopeitai - oversees; compare Job 3:4; Psalm 142:4;
Jeremiah 30:17;
Ezekiel 34:8; Isaiah 62:12) -“the eyes of the LORD thy God” - i.e. His special
watchful providence (compare Psalm 33:18; 34:15). It was a land on which
Jehovah’s regard was continually fixed, over which He
watched with
unceasing
care, and which was sustained by His
bounty; a land, therefore,
wholly dependent on Him, and so a fitting place for a people also wholly
dependent on Him, who owed to His grace all that they were and had - “are
always upon it, from the beginning of the year
even unto
the end of the year.”
13 “And it
shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my
commandments which I command you this day, to love the
LORD
your God, and to serve Him with all your heart
and with all your
soul,” - Being
thus wholly dependent on God, it behooved them to be
careful to attend to His commandments and to obey them, that so
His
blessing might be continued to them and to the land. If they would
love and
serve the Lord as they were bound to do, He would give them the
rain of
their land, i.e. rain for their land, such as it
required, in the proper season,
the
early and the latter rain, so that they should fully enjoy the benefits of the
land.
14 “That I
will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first
rain” - the rain which falls from the middle of October to the end of
December,
which prepares the soil for the seed, and keeps it moist after
the seed is sown –
“and the latter
rain,” - that
which falls in March and April, about the time when
the
grain is ripening for harvest; during the time of harvest no rain falls in
But if they allowed themselves to be deceived and misled,
so
as to apostatize from
the Lord and serve other gods and worship them, the Divine
displeasure
would be shown
in the withholding from them of the blessing, so that they
should miserably perish - “that thou mayest
gather in thy corn, and thy
wine, and thine
oil. 15
And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle,
that thou mayest eat
and be full.”
16 “Take
heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived,” – literally,
lest your heart be enticed or
seduced (ht;p]yi). The verb means
primarily to be
open, and as a mind
open to impressions from without is easily persuaded,
moved either to good or evil, the word came to signify to induce in a good sense,
or to seduce in a bad sense. (I find it interesting, that in my life, many liberal
thinkers want you to have an open mind and brag about theirs – this
verse
tells us to keep on the right track and not to be misled – CY –
2012) Here
the
people are cautioned against allowing themselves to be enticed so as to be led
astray by seductive representations (compare Job 5:2 [“silly one”]; 31:27;
Proverbs 20:19 [“flattereth”]; Hosea
7:11) -“and ye turn aside,
and serve other gods, and worship them;”
17 “And
then the LORD’s wrath be kindled against you, and He
shut up
the heaven,” The
want of rain was regarded as a sign of the Divine displeasure
and
as a curse (I Kings 8:35; Zechariah 14:17; Revelation 11:6) - “that there be
no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest
ye perish quickly
from off the good land which the LORD giveth you.”
Valuable Possessions Reserved for the
Righteous (vs. 10-17)
The
Compared with the territory south and east, it possesses
qualities of excellence and
beauty. But its fertility depends upon the rain supply, and rain
supply was suspended
on
righteous loyalty. (ch.
28:23-24)
CONFIGURATION OF OUR GLOBE. God can never experience
surprise in the beneficial coincidences of events. “Known unto God
are all His works
from the beginning of the world” (Acts
15:18).
If heaven has been undergoing a process of
preparation from a period
anterior to the formation of our globe, we need feel no surprise that,
in arranging the strata of the earth, God should have
been animated with
motives of righteous benevolence towards men. And if the structure of
hill and valley is the visible projection of a generous
moral purpose —
a part of the PLAN FOR THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION OF
MEN— we may conclude that all the forces and phenomena of
nature have vital connection with the religious development of
our race.
and fortunes could best be unfolded.
OF THEIR ENVIRONMENT. The sagacious love of God condescends to
every minutiae of human
life. (Mr. Spurgeon said “There is
nothing in your
life too small for our Heavenly Father to think upon!: -
CY - 2012) Our God
has infinite leisure for everything. His eyes are daily upon
our farms and shops.
He is our Bulwark and defends
our coasts. He knoweth what we have need of.
(ch. 2:7)
WHOLLY DEPENDENT ON GOD. Instead of our possessions
liberating us from dependence on God, they increase our dependence;
for
now we need His
protection for our property as well as for ourselves.
Possessions (so called) are only
channels through which true blessing flows,
and our great business is to
keep the channel clear. The hills of
obtained their irrigation from the springs of heaven, and only
obedient faith
can unlock these springs.
(
knoweth right well!” (Psalm 139:14)
prosperity is the picture and symbol of spiritual good. But material
benefits
were the only rewards which these Hebrews could appreciate. The source
of all real prosperity is from heaven. (As
the 21st century! – CY – 2012)
The heart is easily taken
by semblances and promises of good. The
falsehoods of Satan are very plausible. A sentinel needs to be placed
at
every portal of the soul. Self-deception ends in total
destruction. We do
not sin alone, nor suffer alone.
18 “Therefore
shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your
soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand,
that they may be as
frontlets between your eyes. 19 And ye
shall teach them your children,
speaking of them when thou sittest
in thine house, and when thou walkest
by the way, when thou liest
down, and when thou risest up. 20 And thou
shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:”
(see ch.
6:7-9.)
21 “That
your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in
the land which the LORD swear unto your
fathers to give them, as
the days of heaven upon the earth.” (ch. 4:40; 6:2.) - as long as the heavens
continue stretched over the earth, i.e. to the end of
time, forever (Job 14:12;
Psalm 89:29).
Family Training (vs. 18-21)
As in ch. 6:6-25, Moses again
insists on the words of God
being preserved among
the
people by faithful family instruction. The “home school” is, in fact, the great
factor in national success. (This was written at least 200 years
ago. Apparently, it
will be the only solution for education in
become totally secular. I would prefer my grandchildren going to
public schools,
however I have three that are homeschooled and I support them 100
% - modern
education goes against the grain of all that God through Moses is teaching! – CY –
2012) Education must
give due
prominence to the family institution, as the providential
unit of mankind.
And here let us notice:
THE HEART. It
is when individuals, and especially parents, receive God’s
testimony into the heart, as
out in a fitting public profession. It is “with the
heart man believeth unto
righteousness,” and then “with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation” (Romans 10:10). As the ark received the tables of the Law,
so THE HEART OF MAN
IS TO BE THE DEPOSITORY OF THE
DIVINE
COMMANDMENTS!
AND THE EYES OF OTHERS. This seems to be the idea about the
frontlets between the eyes — in this way others had the words
displayed
for their benefit; whereas the placing them upon the hand was
for the
individual’s own memorial (Isaiah 49:16). So the person heartily
interested in God’s Word will make arrangements to remind himself
continually of it, and also to keep it before the minds of others. Religion
thus becomes NOT ONLY A CONSTANT PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
but A CONSTANT PROFESSION.
TRAINING. The
children are to be taught them at home, when the “home
school” is gathered
together. God’s words are also to be the staple of
conversation when parents and children are enjoying their saunters
together. And the first thought of the morning and the last at
night should
be of God’s commandments. In
this way the indoctrination of the rising
generation is to be secured.
Well would it be for us still if these old Jewish
rules were practiced.
RELIGION AS WELL AS THE INDIVIDUAL. Some individuals
Content themselves
with a personal concern in religion, and are willing to be
members of a household which does not collectively identify itself
with
God. But the Jew was to write God’s commandments on the doorposts
and on the gates of his house. THE HOUSEHOLD WAS THUS TO
BE GOD’S! The fact is that
households need conversion just as individuals
do. There is as much difference between a religious household
and a worldly
one as there is between a converted and an unconverted
individual. The
direction given consequently to the Jews covered
the household as well as
the person, and was
thus perfect.
SUCCESS, The Lord
engages to drive out the nations from before them,
even though they be greater and mightier than
obedient ones resistless. He will make the fear of them to fall
like a
nightmare on their enemies, and not one of them will be able to
stand
before them.
And surely all this is but a type of the success which
still waits upon God’s
obedient people. Not, of course, that temporal success is the form
of
success desired or granted now. Many
of God’s people continue poor, but
they succeed in life nevertheless. When they have grace to show a
contented spirit amid their limited resources, they succeed in demonstrating
that GOD IS ALL SUFFICIENT, and
are the best testimony to the reality of
religion before men. When the saints can sing with Habakkuk, “Although
the fig tree
shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the
labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no
meat; the
flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd
in the
stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I
will joy in the God of my salvation”
(Habakkuk 3:17-18), they have really prospered in all life’s
essentials. It is thus
in
various ways the Lord fulfils His covenant engagements, and.
makes all that His
people do to prosper (Psalm 1:3).
Obedience is consequently the charter of success. But we
leave to our loving Father
to
determine what our success will be. We do not insist on
its assuming the form
of gold and silver, venison and
champagne. The success of self-conquest,
the
success of being public benefactors, the success of serving our generation by
the
will of God ere we fall on sleep, — (Remember that David served his generation
well (Acts 13:36) - this is better far than the success of invading hosts with the
laurels
dipped in gore.
“Not
fruitless is thy toil
If thou my cross wouldst bear;
I do
but ask thy willing heart,
To grave my image there.
“For
each net vainly cast,
Stronger thine
arm will prove;
The
trial of thy patient hope
Is witness of thy love.
“The time,
the place, the way,
Are open to mine eye;
I
sent them — not to gather spoil —
To labor patiently.”
God’s Word Potent to Dominate the Whole Life
(vs. 18-21)
The Word of God, like
light, is diffusive. It propagates itself. So long as its
proper
field of activity is unoccupied, it
must spread. It radiates its magnetic
influence on
every side.
ALL RIGHTEOUS PRINCIPLE. As the pulverized soil is the proper
home of seed; as the housewife’s dough is the proper home of
leaven; so
the heart of man is the proper abode of truth. On stony tablets, in books,
or in speech, it is only in transit towards its proper
destination. Received and
welcomed into the soul, it begins a process of blessed activity;
it
vitalizes, ennobles, beautifies every part of human nature. It is the
seed of all virtue and goodness — the root of immortal
blessedness.
POWERS. The hand
is the servant of the heart. What the mind plans, the
hand executes. To bind God’s precepts upon our hands is to
remind
ourselves that the hand, as the
representative of active faculty, belongs to
God. Embargo is laid upon it to do no violence to others’
persons or to
others’ property. It must not strike nor steal, for it has become
an
instrument sacred to God. Nor must it be
defiled with idleness, for it is
the property of him who incessantly works, nor may the eye
wantonly wander
after forbidden objects. The eye led Eve into transgression. “Let thine eye
look straight before thee” (Proverbs
4:25). “Look
not upon the wine
when it sparkles in
the cup” (Ibid. ch.23:31). The eye is a potent
instrument for evil or for good.
TRUTH, MAKES US WITNESSES FOR GOD. As on the high
priest’s forehead there was inscribed the motto, “Holiness unto the Lord”
(Exodus 28:36); so, in
substance, the same truth is written on every
servant of God. He is a consecrated man. His finely arched brow is
his
glory, and his glory is
devoted to God. In every circumstance
he
desires to magnify his God. His house is God’s house; hence on
gate
and lintel the precepts of God are conspicuous. Hospitality
and
contentment, peace and kindness, dwell there, for it is the home of
God.
great measure our children will be. Moral qualities are
entailed. In their
tender years, their young nature is plastic and impressible. If our
hearts are
full of God’s truth, it will rise and overflow our lips as
water from a well.
Far from being an irksome task
to speak God’s truth, it will be a
pleasurable instinct. All
time, from early morn till evening repose, will be
too short to utter all God’s truth. “Living epistles”
describe the office of
the godly.
Truth in the heart is translated
into righteousness in the life, and
righteousness makes heaven. No enjoyment can
be perfect in which our
children do not share; and in sharing our joys with our children, we
multiply our joys beyond all arithmetical measure. Such days of
consecrated service will be “days of
heaven upon earth.”
22 “For if
ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I
command you, to do them, to love the LORD your
God, to walk in
all His ways, and to cleave unto Him; 23 Then will the LORD drive out
all these nations from before you, and ye
shall possess greater nations
and mightier than yourselves.” If they were sedulous
to keep God’s
commandments, and faithfully adhered to Him, loving Him and walking
in
all His ways, He would drive out before them the nations of the Canaanites, and
cause them to possess the territory of nations greater and mightier than
themselves.
Every place on which the soles of their feet should tread should
be theirs, i.e. they
had but to enter the land to become possessors of it. This is more exactly
defined as restricted to the land the boundaries of which are
given — from
the
Arabian desert on the south to
Euphrates on the east to the
whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall
be yours: from the wilderness
and
עדהַיָּם
in the end of the verse) - “from the
river, the river
even unto the uttermost sea” - rather, the
hinder sea (Numbers 34:6), the
sea
that lay behind one looking to the east (ch. 7:24;
2:25; Exodus 23. 27).
“shall your coast be. 25 There shall no man be able to stand before you:
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 He hath said
unto you.”
The Moral Power of National Righteousness
(vs. 22-25)
There was a definite territory assigned by God to
the
prohibition against going beyond what God had allotted them, was as remarkable
and
strong as the assurance of their possessing such allotment. The bounds here
specified are stated afresh in Joshua 1:3-4. In the days of Solomon
these boundaries
were actually theirs. But, as is welt known, they were a people untrained
for war; in
regard to military skill and warlike appliances, other nations
were vastly more than a
match for them, leaving out of the question
not
the least striking feature in the Mosaic legislation) they were to have power of
another kind, a MORAL POWER arising from their righteousness, and also
dependent upon it. And in
this passage:
commandments of the Lord their God.
would give them irresistible strength.
guard of their covenant God, would so influence the other
nations that they
would be inspired with dread (see Joshua 2:9-11).
clear their way, would ensure their conquest, and would be a
security for
them in retaining their possessions. From all this we get one of
the most
important lessons suggested which can possibly be taught on national
affairs, viz. That the kind of
power over other nations, which a
people
may well desire the most,
is that which comes from the
influence of its
OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS. (Let us not forget that “When
a man’s
ways please the Lord, He maketh
even his enemies to be at peace
with him.” – Proverbs 16:7 – CY – 2012)
In the last seven verses, Moses, in conclusion, refers to the blessing and the curse
consequent on the
observance or the transgression of
the Law, and
prescribes that when they had entered on possession of the land the
blessing should
be
proclaimed from
26 “Behold,
I set before you” – place for your consideration
(ch.4:8; 30:15),
so
that you may see whither obedience on the one hand, and disobedience
on
the other, leads you - “this day
a blessing and a curse;”
A SOLEMN
APPEAL TO MEN (v. 26)
“I set before you this day a blessing and a curse.” Oh! if men would but
take the pains to quit a while in thought this busy scene in which they live and move
almost in perpetual whirl; if they would but anticipate by
earnest reflection that
ushering into the presence of God which their
departure hence must bring;
if they would but set the judgment scene, as sketched by Christ, before their view,
they would see the deep and solemn reason why the preacher now — even now —
says, “Flee from the wrath
to come” (Matthew 3:7; Luke 3:7). For THE
WRATH WILL COME! - i.e. it will manifest itself. It exists now. (I
recommend – The Wrath of God by Arthur Pink - # 4 – this web site – CY –
2012)
The eternal antagonism of a holy God to ill of every
kind necessitates it.
And as surely as God is ever on the side of right, so surely will He have it
shown, ere long, that such is the case. Then let the sinner, condemned even
now by his own conscience — how much more by God! — flee for refuge
from the coming storm. There is a refuge; it is ours the moment that we
flee to it. (That Refuge is JESUS CHRIST – see How to Be Saved – #5 - this
web site - CY – 2010). But if when the storm comes we are not found there, we
must perish — perish with the double disapproval of Heaven on our heads:
disapproved as breakers of law; disapproved as neglecters of
grace. “For
God
so loved
the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
27
A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God,
which I command you this day:” 28 “And a curse, if ye will not obey the
commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out
of the way which
I command you this day, to go after other
gods, which ye have not known.” –
in
contradistinction to Jehovah, the revealed God, made known to them by word
and
deed.
29 “And it
shall come to pass, when the LORD thy God hath brought
thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou
shalt put the blessing” - thou shalt give (נָתַתָּה), i.e. give forth, utter, announce,
proclaim (Genesis 49:21; Job 1:22 [gave, i.e. uttered
impiety to God];
Psalm 50:20, [gavest, didst utter,
slandered]) - “upon
the curse upon
each other, with a valley between, about two hundred yards broad
at the widest part,
in
which stood the town of
purpose mentioned, doubtless, because of their relative position, and probably
also because they stand
in the center of the land both from
north to south,
and from east to
west. It has been suggested that Ebal was appointed
for the
uttering of the curse, and Gerizim for the
uttering of the blessing, because the
former was barren and rugged, the latter
fertile and smooth; but this is not
borne out by the actual appearance
of the two hills, both being equally
barren-looking, though neither is wholly
destitute of culture and vegetation.
The Great Alternative (vs. 26-29)
Ø
His revelations lay
the ground for it. “Light is come
into the world”
(John 3:19). When light comes, decision is inevitable. We
must settle
what our attitude towards it will be. In decreeing not to
choose, we in
reality do choose.
Ø
Men would trifle
with it but
God says, “Now” (II Corinthians 6:2).
Men would put off, but God urges to
decision (Joshua 24:15).
SINGLE POINT.
The point is OBEDIENCE! Will we obey or will
we not
(v. 27)? It was so under the
Law, and it is so under the gospel. What the
gospel asks from us is “the obedience of faith” (Romans 16:26). This
tests our disposition thoroughly. True
faith carries with it the
surrender of
the will to GOD and CHRIST! It is the root and principle of all holy
obedience. Men will not come
to Christ; why? The reason is that they
cannot bring themselves to yield up their wills to Him as He
requires. They
“love the darkness rather than the light” (John
3:19-22). Refusal to
decide for Christ is equivalent, for the time being, to deciding against
Him
(Matthew 12:30).
THE ALTERNATIVE
OF A BLESSING AND A CURSE. That was
what it came to then, and it is the same still. Blessing or curse; life or
death. (“I have set before you life and death,
blessing and cursing:
therefore choose life, that both
thou and thy seed may live.” –
ch.
30:19) Whether God is to be our God,
blessing us, renewing our
inward life, enriching us with His Spirit, bestowing on us grace
here and glory
hereafter; or whether we are to live beneath His frown, withering up under
it in body and soul, and vanishing at last into OUTER
DARKNESS!
It is an old question whether a man can
voluntarily choose what is for his hurt.
Possibly he cannot without first
listening to the tempter who bids him
believe that the course he pursues will not be for his
hurt. But none the less
is every sinner taking
the path which ends in destruction
(Matthew
7:13). His interest, did he but see it, or would he but believe it, is ENTIRELY
IN THE LINE
WHICH GOD WISHES HIM TO FOLLOW! The
terminus of the one road is DEATH (Romans 6:21), of the other
LIFE EVERLASTING (Ibid. ch. 2:7).
In v. 30, the position of the two mountains is defined as 30 Are they
not on
the other side Jordan,” - i.e.
on the side opposite to where the Israelites then
were, the western side; and as - “by
the way” - rather,
behind the way —
“where the sun goeth down,” - i.e. the road of the west, the great road which
passed through the west-Jordan country, and which is still the
main route from
south to north in
and
the two mountains on the east, so that they are behind it - “in the land of the
Canaanites, which dwell in the champaign” - in the ‘Arabah (see ch.1:1),
mentioned here as that portion of the land on the west of the
stretched out before the eyes of the Israelites, who were encamped
in the steppes
of
which was east of
the
modern Jiljulieh, in the plain of Sharon), but the Gilgal of (Ibid.
ch.9:6; 10:6;
and
II Kings 2:1 (hod. Jiljilia),
to the north of
extensive prospect over the great lower plain, and also over the
sea” (Robinson,
‘Bib. Res,’ 3:138); so that the mountains by
“over against it” - “beside
the plains of Moreh?” –
for “plains”
read oaks
(compare Genesis 12:6; 35:4). For
the whole passage compare ch. 27:11.
31 “For ye
shall pass over
your God giveth you,
and ye shall possess it, and dwell therein.
32 And ye shall
observe to do all the statutes and judgments which
I set before you this day.”
The assurance that they should pass over
is assigned as a reason and
motive why they should observe to do all that God had
commanded them.
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