An exhortation to obedience, 1; by their own experience of God's great works, 2-7; by promise of God's great blessings, 8-15; and by threatenings, 16, 17. A careful study is required in God's words, 18-25. The blessing and curse set before them, 26-32.
1 "Therefore, you shall love the LORD your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his judgments, and his commandments, always. 2 And know this day, for I do not speak with your children who have not known and who have not seen the chastisement of the LORD your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his out-stretched arm; 3 And his miracles and his acts, which he did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land; 4 And what he did to the army of Egypt, to 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 to this day; 5 And what he did to you in the wilderness until you came to this place; 6 And what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, how the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, along with their households, their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel. 7 But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the LORD which he did.
8 "Therefore, you shall keep all the commandments which I command you this day, so that you may be strong and go in and possess the land where you go to possess it, 9 And that you may prolong your days in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give to them and to their posterity, a land that flows with milk and honey. 10 For the land, where you go in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from where you came out, where you sowed your seed and watered it with your foot, as a garden of herbs. 11 But the land, where you go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinks water of the rain of heaven, 12 A land which the LORD your God cares for. The eyes of the LORD your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even to the end of the year.
13 "And it shall come to pass, if you listen diligently to 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, 14 That I will give you the rain of your land in its due season, the former rain and the latter rain, so that you may gather in your grain, your wine, and your oil. 15 And I will give grass in your fields for your cattle, so that you may eat and be full. 16 Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them; 17 And the LORD'S wrath be kindled against you, and he restrain the heavens so that there shall be no rain and the land shall not yield her fruit; and lest you perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD gives you.
18 "Therefore, you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul and bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 19 And you shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 20 And you shall write them upon the door posts of your house and upon your gates, 21 So that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give to them, as the days of heaven upon the earth. 22 For if you 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 to him, 23 Then the LORD will drive out all these nations from before you, and you shall possess greater and mightier nations than yourselves. 24 Every place on which the soles of your feet tread shall be yours. From the wilderness, and Lebanon, from the river, the Euphrates River, even to the uttermost sea shall be your limit. 25 No man shall 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 you shall tread upon, as he has said to you.
26 "Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse: 27 A blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you this day, 28 And a curse, if you will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you this day to go after other gods which you have not known.
29 "And it shall come to pass when the LORD your God has brought you in to the land where you go to possess it, that you shall put the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal. 30 Are they not on the other side of the Jordan, by the way where the sun goes down in the land of the Canaanites, who dwell in the plain over against Gilgal, beside the plains of Moreh? 31 For you shall pass over the Jordan to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God gives you, and you shall possess it and dwell in it. 32 And you shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments which I set before you this day."
Matthew Henry Commentary - Deuteronomy, Chapter 11[➚]
[v.1a] - "you shall love the LORD your God" - Reference, verse 13, 22; Deuteronomy 6:5, 10:12, 30:15-20.
[v.1b] - "keep his charge" - Reference, Zechariah 3:7.
[v.1c] - "his statutes, his judgments, and his commandments, always" - Reference, Leviticus 18:30; Deuteronomy 4:1, 5, 40, 5:29, 6:1-3; Psalm 105:45; Ezekiel 20:19.
[v.10] - "watered it with your foot" - This phrase refers to the laboring with the feet to supply water to the land where seeds were sown. This could be the carrying of water on foot, the working of devices with the foot to collect and supply water, or most likely the carving of channels with the foot to divert water to where it needed to go.
[v.26-28] - See also, Deuteronomy 30:15-20.