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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Deuteronomy 11:26 - 11:32
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The Blessing and the Curse
v. 26. Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse, having told them what the result of obedience and of disobedience would be, he gives them their own choice, he wants them to make their own decision;
v. 27. a blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord, your God, which I command you this day, Deu_4:1;
v. 28. and a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord, your God, but turn aside out of (deliberately leave) the way which I command you this day to go after other gods which ye have not known. Disobedience of God is a species of idolatry and invariably leads to other sins of idolatry, other transgressions of the First Commandment.
v. 29. And it shall come to pass, when the Lord, thy God, hath brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt put the blessing upon Mount Gerizim and the curse upon Mount Ebal. By pronouncing the Lord's blessing and curse while standing on these two mountains, the children of Israel would charge the very land with carrying out the blessing and the curse of the Lord. The land would thereby be placed under the solemn obligation of carrying out Jehovah's decrees.
v. 30. Are they, the two mountains, not on the other side, the west side, Jordan, by the way where the sun goeth down, in the land of the Canaanites, which dwell in the champaign, in the great steppes, over against Gilgal, from which the mountains, the plains, and the sea were visible, beside the Plains of Moreh? near the groves of terebinths where the patriarchs had lived, Gen_12:6; Gen_35:4. The two mountains are almost in the center of what was later Samaria, Ebal being on the north, and Gerizim on the south, of a fertile valley, where the city of Shechem was situated.
v. 31. For ye shall pass over Jordan to go in to possess the land which the Lord, your God, giveth you, and ye shall possess it and dwell therein. This definite assurance was to encourage them in the struggles which were before them.
v. 32. And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments which I set before you this day. The remembrance of all the mercies of the Lord in the past and the certainty of receiving still more evidences of His loving-kindness in the future should serve as a steady inducement to all Christians to continue in sanctification according to His will.