Deuteronomy 11 Summary - 5 Minute Bible Study

Deuteronomy 11 Summary - A Quick Overview

WHEN:

• Moses’ speech, recorded in the opening chapters of Deuteronomy, occurred immediately following the Israelites’ 40 years of wandering in the wilderness.  

• The Israelites were in the wilderness from approximately 1490-1450 B.C.

• The Book of Deuteronomy opens on the 1st day of the 11th month in the 40th year (Deu 1:3) following the Israelites departure from Egypt (approximately 1450 B.C.).

CHARACTERS:

• Israelites (Hebrews) – The descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God granted them freedom after several hundred years in slavery in Egypt. Leading up to the book of Deuteronomy, the Israelites had spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness as they made their way to Canaan, the land God promised to give them as a home.

• Moses – Moses was selected by God to lead the Israelites to Canaan. God spoke directly to Moses and Moses communicated God’s words and laws to the people.    

• Aaron – Moses’ brother. He was the first High Priest of Israel. He made the golden calf when Moses was on Mount Sinai (Exodus 32).

• Eleazar – Aaron’s son and the second High Priest over Israel.

WHERE:

• Deuteronomy 1:5 tells us Moses spoke the words recorded in Deuteronomy while in Moab, probably on the plains of Moab near Pisgah (Numbers 22:1).

• Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal are highlighted in this chapter. They are mountains on the west side of the Jordan River.

OUTLINE:

• REMEMBERING THE MIRACLES OF THE LORD (11:1-9):

  • Moses wanted the Israelites to meditate on the greatness of God and His mighty works which they had been privileged to observe.

  • He wanted them to remember the 10 plagues on Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea, and how He caused the earth to break open and swallow Dathan and Abiram when they rebelled against Him in the wilderness (Numbers 16). 

  • Meditating on these things would ensure the Israelites remained faithful to God’s commands and had confidence in God’s power to help them conquer Canaan.

• CANAAN, A LAND CULTIVATED BY GOD (11:10-17):

  • Canaan was not a land like Egypt.

  • In Egypt, the Israelites had to irrigate their crops (probably from the Nile River).

  • In Canaan, God sent rain to water the hills and valleys.

  • They were told that Canaan was “a land that the Lord your God cares for.”

  • So long as the Israelites were faithful to God, He would continue to make Canaan a place where it was easy for crops and livestock to flourish.

  • If they disobeyed God, He would stop up the rain clouds and withdraw His blessing form the land.  

• A BLESSING AND A CURSE (11:18-32):

  • Moses repeated his instruction for the Israelites to keep God’s covenant with them in the forefront of their minds.

  • “You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates…” (11:18-20).

  • A blessing and a curse were put before Israel.

  • A blessing if they obeyed God and a curse if they rejected His guidance.

  • This blessing and curse were to be formally pronounced over Israel when they entered the Promised Land. The blessing was to be announced from Mount Gerizim and the curse from Mount Ebal.

APPLICATION:

• This chapter makes it clear God can work through things like weather and agriculture to lift nations or humble nations.

• There is a supernatural guidance to these processes which appear purely natural to us.

• There is an unseen and often unrecognizable divine hand manipulating nature.