A LAND OF MILK AND HONEY
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Opening Prayer
Lord, I thank you for everything you have in store for me—far beyond my deserving and often my desiring. Help me not to miss the way to these wonders.
Read DEUTERONOMY 11
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Love and Obey the Lord
11 Love the Lord your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always. 2 Remember today that your children were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of the Lord your God: his majesty, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm; 3 the signs he performed and the things he did in the heart of Egypt, both to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his whole country; 4 what he did to the Egyptian army, to its horses and chariots, how he overwhelmed them with the waters of the Red Sea[a] as they were pursuing you, and how the Lord brought lasting ruin on them. 5 It was not your children who saw what he did for you in the wilderness until you arrived at this place, 6 and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when the earth opened its mouth right in the middle of all Israel and swallowed them up with their households, their tents and every living thing that belonged to them. 7 But it was your own eyes that saw all these great things the Lord has done.
8 Observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 9 and so that you may live long in the land the Lord swore to your ancestors to give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden. 11 But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven. 12 It is a land the Lord your God cares for; the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end.
13 So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul— 14 then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. 15 I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.
16 Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. 17 Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and he will shut up the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the Lord is giving you. 18 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.
22 If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow—to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him and to hold fast to him— 23 then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you. 24 Every place where you set your foot will be yours: Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea. 25 No one will be able to stand against you. The Lord your God, as he promised you, will put the terror and fear of you on the whole land, wherever you go.
26 See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse— 27 the blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today; 28 the curse if you disobey the commands of the Lord your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known. 29 When the Lord your God has brought you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim on Mount Gerizim the blessings, and on Mount Ebal the curses. 30 As you know, these mountains are across the Jordan, westward, toward the setting sun, near the great trees of Moreh, in the territory of those Canaanites living in the Arabah in the vicinity of Gilgal. 31 You are about to cross the Jordan to enter and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you. When you have taken it over and are living there, 32 be sure that you obey all the decrees and laws I am setting before you today.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
In what ways does your life reflect your gratitude and love for God?
At the center of this chapter is another mouth-watering description of the Promised Land; there may even be a touch of humor in the description of it being watered directly from heaven, unlike the elaborate, man-made kitchen garden of Egypt. In the days before modern irrigation, the autumn rains (before ploughing) and the spring rains (for fruition) were absolutely essential for every Israelite farmer. Depending on where you are, reading these notes, thank God for rain—or pray earnestly for it.
This bright and sparkling picture of the land is framed in somber colors. Whose blood wouldn’t run cold at the sight of the entire Egyptian army lying dead on the seashore (vv. 3, 4)?1 When the ground opened up and swallowed Dathan, Abiram, their wives, children, and little ones (v. 6), all the Israelites fled.2 The warning against idolatry is repeated in verse 16. The very geography of the land, with the two peaks north and south of Samaria (vv. 29, 30; it seems clear that Moses’ standpoint is east of the Jordan), symbolizes the message of the chapter: the Israelites are faced with a choice— they should choose the blessing, not the curse. This momentous command to choose is repeated later: ‘Now choose life’.3
Read through the chapter again noticing, as so many times before, the verbs that depict the dimensions of this freedom. Ponder your freedom and choices. If things are not ideal, it is common to simply look for someone, something to blame. Are you using to the full the freedom that God has given you to inherit his promises and do some good in the world?
Apply
Are there choices God is calling you to make—for life and blessing?
Closing prayer
Lord God, help me to obey all the decrees and laws that you are setting before me today (v. 32). Fill me with your Word and help me submit to its direction.
1 See also Exod 14:30 2 Num 16:25–34 3 Deut 30:15, 19
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