Deuteronomy 11

THerefore thou shalt love the LORD thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments alway.

And know (i. e.) Acknowledge and consider it with diligence and thankfulness. ye this day: for I speak not with your children, which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the LORD your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched-out arm:

And his miracles, and his acts, which he did in the midst of Egypt, unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land.

And what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and to their chariots, how he made the water of the Red-sea to overflow them, as they pursued after you, and how the LORD has destroyed them unto this day The effect of which destruction continueth to this day, in their weakness and fear, and our safety from all their further attempts against us..

And what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came unto this place:

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 housholds, and their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession Heb. At their feet, i. e. under their power, Psal. 8. 6. which followed them or belonged to them., in the midst of all Israel:

But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the LORD 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., which he did.

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:

And that ye may prolong your days in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give unto them, and to their seed, a land that floweth with milk and honey.

For the land whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye come out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and water... it with thy foot (i. e) 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 though the River Nilus did once in a year overflow the grounds and made them fruitful, yet oft times it failed or s... anted them, 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 hardned, and needed another watering and much digging and labour both of the hand and feet, especially in places something higher or more remote from that river. Which inconvenience Canaan was free from. as a garden of herbs:

But the land whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and vallies And therefore much more healthful than Egypt was, which it was inriched, so it was annoyed, with Nilus, which overflowed the land in summer time, and thereby made the country both unpleasant, and, which is much worse, unhealthful. And health being the greatest of all outward blessings, Canaan must therefore needs be a more desirable habitation than Egypt, which is the thing here implyed., and drinketh water of the rain of heaven Which is more honourable, because this comes not from mans art or industry; but immediately from Gods power and goodness; more easie, being given thee without thy charge or pains; more sweet and pleasant, not hindering thy going abroad upon thy occasions, as the overflow of Nilus did, whereby the Egyptians were confined in a great measure to their several houses; more safe and healthful, being free from that Mud which attends upon the waters of Nilus; and more certain too, the former and the latter rain being promised and to be given to them in their several seasons, upon condition of their obedience, which condition, though it may seem a clog and inconvenience, yet indeed was a great benefit, that by their own necessities and worldly interest they should be obliged to that obedience, upon which their happiness depended both for this life and for the next.:

A land which the LORD thy God careth for To wit, in a special manner, watering it immediately as it were by his own hand without mans help, and giving peculiar blessings to it, which Egypt enjoys not.: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it from the beginning of the year, even unto the end of the year To give it the ra... 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 as it here follows. And therefore it is not at all strange that some later writers de... ry the land of Canaan as in great part a barren soyl, which is so far from affording any ground to question the divine authority of the holy Scriptures in which its fruitfulness is declared, that it does much more confirm it, this being but an effect of that threatning that God would turn a fruitful land into barrenness for the wickedness of those that dwell in it, Psal. 107. 34. and elsewhere and the wickedness of the Israelites in succeeding ages being notorious, it is but just and fit that the barrenness of their land should be as evident and infamous..

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;

That I will give you the rain of your land (i. e.) Which is needful and sufficient for your land; or which is proper to your land, not common to Egypt, where, as all authors agree, there is little or no rain. in his due season, the first rain, and the latter rain The first fell in seed time to make the corn spring, the other a little before harvest to ripen it. See Ier. 5. 24. Ioel 2. 23. Amos 4. 7. Iam. 5. 7., that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.

And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattel, that thou mayest eat and be full.

Take heed to your selves, that your heart be not deceived By the specious pretences of Idolaters, who will plead the general consent of all nations except yours in the worship of creatures, and that they worship the creatures only for Gods sake and as they are glorious works of God, whom they worship in and by them. Which and the like arguments being commonly alledged by Heathens for their Idolatries, as their own writers declare, might possibly seduce an unwary: and therefore they are here cautioned against such deceit, and withall it is implyed, that if a mans mind be corrupted and deceived, so as he believes Idolatry to be lawful, th... will not excuse him in the sight of God., and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them:

And then the LORDS wrath be kindled against you, and he s... ut up the heaven Which is compared sometimes to a bo... tle, Ioh... 8.. which may be either or opened sometimes to a great store-house wherein God up hi... of rain I... 48. 22....... the whereof God is said to when he giv... rain, and to when he with-hold it. See 1 King. 8. 35. 2. 6. 26. and 7. 1...., 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.

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.

And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou fittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

And thou shalt write them upon the doorposts of thine house, and upon thy gates:

That you days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth (i. e.) As long as this visible world lasts, whilest the heaven keeps its place and continue its influences upon earth, untill all these things be dissolved. Compare Psal. 72. 5. and 81. 5. and 89. 29. Ier. 33. 25..

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 wayes, and to cleave unto him:

Then will the LORD drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations, and mightier than your selves,

Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread Not absolutely, as if the Iewes should be Lords of all the world, as the Rabbi... fondly conceit, but in the promised land as it is restrained in the following words., shall be yours Either by possession, or by dominion, to wit upon condition of your obedience.: from the wilderness To wit, of Sin, on the south-side., and Lebanon And from Lebanon: or, and to Lebanon, which was the Northern border., from the river, the river Euphrates On the east. So far their right of dominion extended, but that their sins cut them short: and so far Solom... extended his dominion., even unto the uttermost sea The western or midland sea: Heb. the: for the Eastern part of the World being generally esteemed the foremost, and the southern on the right hand, Psal. 89. 12. and consequently the Northern on the left hand, the Western part must needs be behind. Of these bounds of the land see Gen. 10. 19. and 15. 18. Exod. 23. 31. Ios. 1. 3, 4., shall your coast be.

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 has said unto you.

Behold, I set before you I propose them to your minds and to your choice. this day a blessing and a curse:

A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day:

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 Which you have no acquaintance with nor experience of their power or w... ome or goodness, as you have had of mine..

And it shall come to pass, when the LORD thy God has brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt Heb. gi..., i. e. speak or pronounce or cause to be pronounced. So the word i... u... d 1........... 3.... 3 Pr... v..... 9. This is more D... t. 27. 12, 13, and. 8. 33. whither I refer the reader. put the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal.

Are they not on the other side Jordan by the way where the sun goeth down, in the land of the Canaanites, which dwell in the champian over against Gilgal, beside the plains of Moreh?

For ye shall pass over Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God... eth you, and ye shall possess it, and dwell therein.

And ye shall observe to do all the statn... and judgments which I set before you this day.