1 Therefore thou shalt loue the Lord thy God, and keepe his charge, and his Statutes, and his Iudgements, and his Commandements alway.
2 And know you this day: for I speake not with your children which haue not knowen, and which haue not seene the chastisement of the Lord your God, his greatnesse, his mighty hand, and his stretched out arme,
3 And his miracles, and his actes, which he did in the midst of Egypt, vnto Pharaoh the King of Egypt, and vnto all his land,
4 And what hee did vnto the army of Egypt, vnto their horses, and to their charets, how he made the water of the Red sea to ouerflow them as they pursued after you, and how the Lord hath destroyed them vnto this day,
5 And what hee did vnto you in the wildernesse, vntill yee came into this place,
6 And what he did vnto Dathan, and Abiram, the sonnes of Eliab the sonne of Reuben: how the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them vp, and their housholds, and their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession in the middest of all Israel.
7 But your eyes haue seene all the great acts of the Lord, which he did.
8 Therefore shall yee keepe all the Commandements which I command you this day, that ye may be strong and goe in, and possesse the land whither ye goe to possesse it:
9 And that yee may prolong your dayes in the lande which the Lord sware vnto your fathers to giue vnto them, and to their seed, a land that floweth with milke and hony.
10 ¶ For the land whither thou goest in to possesse it, is not as the lande of Egypt from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbes:
11 But the lande whither ye goe to possesse it, is a lande of hilles and valleys, and drinketh water of the raine of heauen:
12 A lande, which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord thy God are alwayes vpon it, from the beginning of the yeere, euen vnto the end of the yeere.
13 ¶ And it shall come to passe, if you shall hearken diligently vnto my Commandements which I command you this day, to loue the Lord your God, and to serue him with all your heart, and with all your soule;
14 That I will giue you the raine of your land in his due season, the first raine and the latter raine, that thou mayest gather in thy corne, and thy wine, and thine oyle.
15 And I will send grasse in thy fields for thy cattell, that thou mayest eate and be full.
16 Take heede to your selues, that your heart be not deceiued, and ye turne aside, and serue other gods, and worship them:
17 And then the Lords wrath be kindled against you, and hee shut vp the heauen, that there be no raine, and that the land yeeld not her fruit, and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giueth you.
18 ¶ Therefore shall ye lay vp these my words in your heart, and in your soule, and bind them for a signe vpon your hand, that they may bee as frontlets betweene your eyes.
19 And ye shal teach them your children, speaking of them, when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest downe, and when thou risest vp.
20 And thou shalt write them vpon the doore posts of thine house, and vpon thy gates:
21 That your dayes may bee multiplied, and the dayes of your children, in the land which the Lord sware vnto your fathers to giue them, as the dayes of heauen vpon the earth.
22 ¶ For if ye shall diligently keepe all these Commaundements which I command you, to doe them, to loue the Lord your God, to walke in all his wayes, and to cleaue vnto him:
23 Then will the Lord driue out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possesse greater nations, and mightier then your selues.
24 Euery place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread, shall be yours: from the wildernesse, and Lebanon, from the riuer, the riuer Euphrates, euen vnto the vttermost sea, shall your coast be.
25 There shall no man bee able to stand before you: for the Lord your God shall lay the feare of you, and the dread of you vpon all the land that yee shall tread vpon, as hee hath said vnto you.
26 ¶ Behold, I set before you this day, a blessing and a curse:
27 A blessing, if ye obey the Commandements of the Lord your God which I command you this day:
28 And a curse, if ye will not obey the Commandements of the Lord your God, but turne aside out of the way, which I command you this day, to goe after other gods which yee haue not knowen.
29 And it shall come to passe when the Lord thy God hath brought thee in, vnto the land whither thou goest to possesse it, that thou shalt put the blessing vpon mount Gerizim, and the curse vpon mount Ebal.
30 Are they not on the other side Iordan, by the way where the Sunne goeth downe, in the land of the Canaanites, which dwell in the champion ouer against Gilgal, beside the plaines of Moreh?
31 For ye shall passe ouer Iordan, to goe in to possesse the land which the Lord your God giueth you, and ye shall possesse it, and dwell therein.
32 And yee shall obserue to doe all the Statutes, and Iudgements, which I set before you this day.
The great work God wrought for Israel. (1-7) Promises and threatenings. (8-17) Careful study of God's word requisite. (18-25) The blessings and the curse set forth. (26-32)1-7 Observe the connexion of these two; Thou shalt love the Lord, and keep his charge. Love will work in obedience, and that only is acceptable obedience which flows from a principle of love, #1Jo 5:3|. Moses recounts some of the great and terrible works of God which their eyes had seen. What our eyes have seen, especially in our early days, should affect us, and make us better long afterwards.
8-17 Moses sets before them, for the future, life and death, the blessing and the curse, according as they did or did not keep God's commandment. Sin tends to shorten the days of all men, and to shorten the days of a people's prosperity. God will bless them with an abundance of all good things, if they would love him and serve him. Godliness has the promise of the life that now is; but the favour of God shall put gladness into the heart, more than the increase of corn, and wine, and oil. Revolt from God to idols would certainly be their ruin. Take heed that your hearts be not deceived. All who forsake God to set their affection upon any creature, will find themselves wretchedly deceived, to their own destruction; and this will make it worse, that it was for want of taking heed.
18-25 Let all be directed by the three rules here given. 1. Let our hearts be filled with the word of God. There will not be good practices in the life, unless there be good thoughts, good affections, and good principles in the heart. 2. Let our eyes be fixed upon the word of God, having constant regard to it as the guide of our way, as the rule of our work, #Ps 119:30|. 3. Let our tongues be employed about the word of God. Nor will any thing do more to cause prosperity, and keeping up religion in a nation, than the good education of children.
26-32 Moses sums up all the arguments for obedience in two words, the blessing and the curse. He charged the people to choose which they would have. Moses then appointed a public and solemn proclamation of the blessing and curse, to be made upon the two mountains of Gerizim and Ebal. We have broken the law, and are under its curse, without remedy from ourselves. In mercy, the gospel again sets before us a blessing and a curse. A blessing, if we obey the call to repentance, to faith in Christ, and newness of heart and life through him; an awful curse, if we neglect so great salvation. Let us thankfully welcome these glad tidings of great joy; and let us not harden our hearts, but hear this voice of God while it is called to-day, and while he invites us to come to him upon a mercy-seat. Let us be diligent to make our calling and election sure.
Commentary by Matthew Henry, 1710.