In Deuteronomy 11:1-25, Moses continues to exhort the people to obedience, based on the evidence of what God has done for them in the past. The deliverance from Egypt described in Deuteronomy 11:2-4 is narrated in Exodus chapters 13-14. The story of Dathan and Abiram (Deuteronomy 11:6) is told also in Numbers 16. In Deuteronomy 11:10-12, Moses makes a distinction between Egypt and Canaan, the Promised Land. The main difference is that Canaan is not irrigated as Egypt is (Nile River). But God will water the new land, nevertheless. According to Deuteronomy 11:14, God will provide early rain (in October, since the new year began in September), and later rain (in April). Because life will be so good in the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 11:16), the people will be tempted to worship other gods out of complacence. If that happens, Moses warns that there will be no water at all. Deuteronomy 11:18-25 summarizes this entire section. The people are to pass on these words from generation to generation. Deuteronomy 11:24 gives the boundaries of the Promised Land (the western sea refers to the Mediterranean Sea, to the west of Canaan).
In Deuteronomy 11:26-32, there are two possibilities offered to the Israelites. The decision rests on obedience to the covenant. Two mountains are mentioned, one for the blessing and one for the curse. Both mountains are located near Shechem in the central hill country, on the west side of the Jordan River. The people of Israel constantly have a choice before them. They can choose either blessing or curse. I find it interesting that God gives us a choice and we think it is a right. We make a good choice and all is well. We make a bad choice and experience some negative consequences and we blame God for giving us a choice or the severity of the consequence. Which is it going to be? Have we reached a point in life that it is so good that we have fallen prey to complacency to think there is no God and there are no consequences? Of all the things that should make us anxious or scared is the idea that God would remove His grace of blessings and curses. Think about what life would be without them. Can there even be a blessing without a curse or vice versa?
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