Deuteronomy 11:14 Komentář

With this chapter Moses concludes his preface to the repetition of the statutes and judgments which they must observe to do. He repeats the general charge (Deu 11:1), and, having in the close of the foregoing chapter begun to mention the great things God had done among them, in this, I. He specifies several of the great works God had done before their eyes (Deu 11:2-7). II. He sets before them, for the future, life and death, the blessing and the curse, according as they did, or did not, keep God's commandments, that they should certainly prosper if they were obedient, should be blessed with plenty of all good things (Deu 11:8-15), and with victory over their enemies, and the enlargement of their coast thereby (Deu 11:22-25). But their disobedience would undoubtedly be their ruin (Deu 11:16, Deu 11:17). III. He directs them what means to use that they might keep in mind the law of God (Deu 11:18-21). And, IV. Concludes all with solemnly charging them to choose which they would have, the blessing or the curse (Deu 11:26, etc.).

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 11 In this chapter, the exhortation to love the Lord, and keep his commands, is repeated and urged again and again from various considerations; as not only from the chastisement of Pharaoh and the wicked Egyptians, but of such Israelites who offended the Lord, and transgressed his law, Deu 12:1, from the goodness and excellency of the land they were going to inherit, Deu 11:8, from the blessing of rain that would come upon it, and be productive of all good things for man and beast, in case of obedience, and a restraint of it in case of disobedience, Deu 11:12, from the continuance of them and their offspring in the land, should they be careful to observe the commands themselves, and teach them their children, Deu 11:18, and from the extensiveness of their conquests and dominions, Deu 11:22 and from the different issue and effects of their conduct and behaviour, a blessing upon them if obedient, but a curse if disobedient, Deu 11:26 and the chapter is concluded with an exhortation to pronounce the blessing on Mount Gerizim, and the curse on Mount Ebal; the situation of which places is described when they should come into the land of Canaan, of which they are assured, Deu 11:29.

And then the Lord's wrath be kindled against you,.... For their idolatry, nothing being more provoking to him than that, it being contrary to his nature and being, as well as to his will, and to his honour and glory: and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain; the treasures and storehouses of it there, or the windows of it, the clouds, which when opened let it down, but when shut withhold it; the key of rain is one of the keys which the Jews say (k) the Lord keeps in his own hand, and with it he opens and no man shuts, and shuts and no man opens; see Deu 28:12. and that the land yield not her fruit; which is unavoidably the case when rain is withheld: and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you; for if the land does not yield its fruits sufficient to support the inhabitants of it, they must in course perish. (k) Targum Jon. in Deut. xxviii. 12.

What do we understand here by rain, except the words of sacred preaching? We apply this passage to the holy teachers who were preachers in Judea. Of them it is written, “I will command the clouds not to pour down rain upon her.” We are watered by the word of their holy preaching when we acknowledge the aridity of our hearts with true humility. Thus the psalmist says rightly, “My soul is like a land without water before you.” The prophet urges us to be drenched with the flowing words of doctrine when he says, “You who thirst, come to the waters.” We, in the late ages of the world, now receive the words of holy preaching. We are watered, as it were, with late rain. This preaching of the late rain went forth from his sacrifice to us. For he says through the psalmist, “The lifting up of my hands is an evening sacrifice.” Because our Redeemer suffered the attack of his persecutors in the last age of the world, he offered himself as an evening sacrifice for us. Early and late rains are promised as a gift to the people destined to enter the land of promise, and we now see this promise accomplished spiritually. He gave early rain, because he conferred understanding on his elect in the earlier time, the time of the law. He also gave late rain, because he allowed the mystery of his incarnation to be proclaimed in the last days.

AN EXHORTATION TO OBEDIENCE. (Deu. 11:1-32) Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and keep his charge--The reason for the frequent repetition of the same or similar counsels is to be traced to the infantine character and state of the church, which required line upon line and precept upon precept. Besides, the Israelites were a headstrong and perverse people, impatient of control, prone to rebellion, and, from their long stay in Egypt, so violently addicted to idolatry, that they ran imminent risk of being seduced by the religion of the country to which they were going, which, in its characteristic features, bore a strong resemblance to that of the country they had left.

the first rain and the latter rain--The early rain commenced in autumn, that is, chiefly during the months of September and October, while the latter rain fell in the spring of the year, that is, during the months of March and April. It is true that occasional showers fell all the winter; but, at the autumnal and vernal seasons, they were more frequent, copious, and important; for the early rain was necessary, after a hot and protracted summer, to prepare the soil for receiving the seed; and the latter rain, which shortly preceded the harvest, was of the greatest use in invigorating the languishing powers of vegetation (Jer 5:24; Joe 2:23; Amo 4:7; Jam 5:7).

In Deu 11:1-12 the other feature in the divine requirements (Deu 10:12), viz., love to the Lord their God, is still more fully developed. Love was to show itself in the distinct perception of what had to be observed towards Jehovah (to "keep His charge," see at Lev 8:35), i.e., in the perpetual observance of His commandments and rights. The words, "and His statutes," etc., serve to explain the general notion, "His charge." "All days," as in Deu 4:10.