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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.

Every place wherein the soles of your feet shall tread,.... Meaning in the land of Canaan; though the Jews vainly apply this to every land, and country, and place therein, where any of them come; pleasing themselves with this foolish fancy, that all shall be theirs that the foot of any of them have trod upon, or they have dwelt in; but that it respects only the land of Canaan appears by the following description of it and its boundaries: from the wilderness; the wilderness of Paran, which lay to the south of it, where Kadesh was, from whence the spies were sent, and was the southern border of it: and Lebanon; which was a range of mountains to the north of it; and was the northern border of the land: from the river, the river Euphrates; which was the eastern border of it, when it was carried to its utmost extent, as in the days of Solomon, Kg1 4:21. even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be: the Mediterranean sea, which was the western border of the land of Canaan, or "the hinder sea", and so it is called Zac 14:8, it lay at the back of them; for if a man stands with his face to the east, the south will be on his right hand, and the north on his left, and the west will be behind him, or at the back of him.

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.

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.