See, today I am setting before you a blessing and a curse-- SeeThe Hebrew word for "see" is "רְאֵה" (re'eh), which is an imperative form, calling for attention and perception. This word invites the listener to actively engage with what is being presented. In the context of Deuteronomy, it is a call to the Israelites to open their eyes to the reality of God's covenant and the choices set before them. This imperative underscores the importance of awareness and discernment in spiritual matters, urging believers to be vigilant and conscious of God's commands and promises. I am setting before you
The phrase "I am setting before you" comes from the Hebrew "אָנֹכִי נֹתֵן לִפְנֵיכֶם" (anokhi noten lifneikhem). This indicates a deliberate action by God, emphasizing His sovereignty and authority. The use of "I" (anokhi) is a personal pronoun, highlighting God's direct involvement and personal relationship with His people. The phrase suggests a divine presentation of choices, reflecting God's desire for His people to exercise free will in obedience to His laws. It is a reminder of the covenant relationship where God provides guidance and expects a response. today
The Hebrew word "הַיּוֹם" (hayom) translates to "today," signifying immediacy and urgency. This word stresses the present moment, urging the Israelites to make a decision without delay. It reflects the timeless nature of God's word, relevant to every generation. The use of "today" serves as a reminder that God's call to obedience and the choice between blessing and curse is ever-present, requiring daily commitment and action from believers. a blessing and a curse
The phrase "a blessing and a curse" in Hebrew is "בְּרָכָה וּקְלָלָה" (berakhah u'kelalah). This juxtaposition presents a clear dichotomy between two paths: one leading to life and prosperity, the other to death and adversity. The "blessing" (berakhah) signifies divine favor and the fulfillment of God's promises to those who obey His commandments. Conversely, the "curse" (kelalah) represents the consequences of disobedience and rebellion against God's will. This choice underscores the moral and spiritual responsibility of the Israelites, and by extension, all believers, to align their lives with God's statutes. It serves as a powerful reminder of the consequences of our choices and the importance of living in accordance with God's will. Persons / Places / Events 1. MosesThe leader of the Israelites who is delivering God's message to the people. He is the central figure in the book of Deuteronomy, acting as a mediator between God and Israel. 2. IsraelitesThe chosen people of God, who are about to enter the Promised Land. They are the recipients of the laws and commandments given by God through Moses. 3. Promised LandThe land of Canaan, which God promised to Abraham and his descendants. The Israelites are on the verge of entering this land as they receive these instructions. 4. Mount Gerizim and Mount EbalThough not mentioned directly in this verse, these mountains are significant in the context of blessings and curses, as they are the locations where the blessings and curses would later be pronounced ( Deuteronomy 11:29). 5. CovenantThe agreement between God and the Israelites, which includes blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. Teaching Points The Power of ChoiceGod gives us the freedom to choose between obedience and disobedience. Our choices have significant consequences, both spiritually and practically. Obedience Brings BlessingFollowing God's commandments leads to blessings. This principle is timeless and applies to our lives today as we seek to live according to God's will. The Seriousness of DisobedienceDisobedience leads to curses, which serve as a warning to take God's commands seriously. Understanding the gravity of sin helps us appreciate the need for repentance and grace. Covenant RelationshipOur relationship with God is based on a covenant, which involves responsibilities and promises. Reflecting on this helps us understand our role in God's plan. Christ as the FulfillmentIn the New Testament, Christ fulfills the law and takes on the curse for us. This highlights the grace available to us and the importance of faith in Jesus. Bible Study Questions 1. How does the choice between blessing and curse in Deuteronomy 11:26 relate to the choices we face in our daily lives? 2. In what ways can we ensure that we are choosing the path of blessing in our relationship with God? 3. How does the concept of blessings and curses in Deuteronomy connect with the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament? 4. What role does obedience play in our covenant relationship with God, and how can we cultivate a heart of obedience? 5. How does understanding Christ's redemption from the curse of the law impact our view of the blessings and curses mentioned in Deuteronomy? Connections to Other Scriptures Deuteronomy 30:19This verse reiterates the choice between life and death, blessing and curse, emphasizing the importance of choosing life by loving and obeying God. Joshua 24:15Joshua challenges the Israelites to choose whom they will serve, echoing the choice between blessing and curse. Galatians 3:10-14Paul discusses the curse of the law and how Christ redeems us from it, providing a New Testament perspective on the blessings and curses. Psalm 1This psalm contrasts the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked, similar to the choice between blessing and curse. People Abiram, Canaanites, Dathan, Eliab, Moses, Pharaoh, ReubenPlaces Arabah, Beth-baal-peor, Egypt, Euphrates River, Gilgal, Jordan River, Lebanon, Moreh, Mount Ebal, Mount Gerizim, Red SeaTopics Behold, Blessing, Curse, Reviling, Setting, To-dayDictionary of Bible Themes Deuteronomy 11:26-28 1335 blessing
4937 fate, fatalism
5020 human nature
5827 curse
6663 freedom, of will
8241 ethics, basis of
8404 commands, in OT
8718 disobedience
8833 threats Library Canaan on Earth
Many of you, my dear hearers, are really come out of Egypt; but you are still wandering about in the wilderness. "We that have believed do enter into rest;" but you, though you have eaten of Jesus, have not so believed on him as to have entered into the Canaan of rest. You are the Lord's people, but you have not come into the Canaan of assured faith, confidence, and hope, where we wrestle no longer with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus--when …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 2: 1856The God of the Rain
(Fifth Sunday after Easter.) DEUT. xi. 11, 12. The land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven. A land which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year, even unto the end of the year. I told you, when I spoke of the earthquakes of the Holy Land, that it seems as if God had meant specially to train that strange people the Jews, by putting them into a country where they …
Charles Kingsley—The Gospel of the Pentateuch Gilgal, in Deuteronomy 11:30 what the Place Was.
That which is said by Moses, that "Gerizim and Ebal were over-against Gilgal," Deuteronomy 11:30, is so obscure, that it is rendered into contrary significations by interpreters. Some take it in that sense, as if it were near to Gilgal: some far off from Gilgal: the Targumists read, "before Gilgal": while, as I think, they do not touch the difficulty; which lies not so much in the signification of the word Mul, as in the ambiguity of the word Gilgal. These do all seem to understand that Gilgal which …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica Josiah, a Pattern for the Ignorant.
"Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before Me; I also have heard thee, saith the Lord. Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place."--2 Kings …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII The Blessings of Noah Upon Shem and Japheth. (Gen. Ix. 18-27. )
Ver. 20. "And Noah began and became an husbandman, and planted vineyards."--This does not imply that Noah was the first who began to till the ground, and, more especially, to cultivate the vine; for Cain, too, was a tiller of the ground, Gen. iv. 2. The sense rather is, that Noah, after the flood, again took up this calling. Moreover, the remark has not an independent import; it serves only to prepare the way for the communication of the subsequent account of Noah's drunkenness. By this remark, …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament Subjects of Study. Home Education in Israel; Female Education. Elementary Schools, Schoolmasters, and School Arrangements.
If a faithful picture of society in ancient Greece or Rome were to be presented to view, it is not easy to believe that even they who now most oppose the Bible could wish their aims success. For this, at any rate, may be asserted, without fear of gainsaying, that no other religion than that of the Bible has proved competent to control an advanced, or even an advancing, state of civilisation. Every other bound has been successively passed and submerged by the rising tide; how deep only the student …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life In the Fifteenth Year of Tiberius Cæsar and under the Pontificate of Annas and Caiaphas - a Voice in the Wilderness
THERE is something grand, even awful, in the almost absolute silence which lies upon the thirty years between the Birth and the first Messianic Manifestation of Jesus. In a narrative like that of the Gospels, this must have been designed; and, if so, affords presumptive evidence of the authenticity of what follows, and is intended to teach, that what had preceded concerned only the inner History of Jesus, and the preparation of the Christ. At last that solemn silence was broken by an appearance, …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah The Worship of the Synagogue
One of the most difficult questions in Jewish history is that connected with the existence of a synagogue within the Temple. That such a "synagogue" existed, and that its meeting-place was in "the hall of hewn stones," at the south-eastern angle of the court of the priest, cannot be called in question, in face of the clear testimony of contemporary witnesses. Considering that "the hall of hew stones" was also the meeting-place for the great Sanhedrim, and that not only legal decisions, but lectures …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life Among the People, and with the Pharisees
It would have been difficult to proceed far either in Galilee or in Judaea without coming into contact with an altogether peculiar and striking individuality, differing from all around, and which would at once arrest attention. This was the Pharisee. Courted or feared, shunned or flattered, reverently looked up to or laughed at, he was equally a power everywhere, both ecclesiastically and politically, as belonging to the most influential, the most zealous, and the most closely-connected religions …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life Covenanting Confers Obligation.
As it has been shown that all duty, and that alone, ought to be vowed to God in covenant, it is manifest that what is lawfully engaged to in swearing by the name of God is enjoined in the moral law, and, because of the authority of that law, ought to be performed as a duty. But it is now to be proved that what is promised to God by vow or oath, ought to be performed also because of the act of Covenanting. The performance of that exercise is commanded, and the same law which enjoins that the duties …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting The Old Testament Canon from Its Beginning to Its Close.
The first important part of the Old Testament put together as a whole was the Pentateuch, or rather, the five books of Moses and Joshua. This was preceded by smaller documents, which one or more redactors embodied in it. The earliest things committed to writing were probably the ten words proceeding from Moses himself, afterwards enlarged into the ten commandments which exist at present in two recensions (Exod. xx., Deut. v.) It is true that we have the oldest form of the decalogue from the Jehovist …
Samuel Davidson—The Canon of the Bible Deuteronomy
Owing to the comparatively loose nature of the connection between consecutive passages in the legislative section, it is difficult to present an adequate summary of the book of Deuteronomy. In the first section, i.-iv. 40, Moses, after reviewing the recent history of the people, and showing how it reveals Jehovah's love for Israel, earnestly urges upon them the duty of keeping His laws, reminding them of His spirituality and absoluteness. Then follows the appointment, iv. 41-43--here irrelevant (cf. …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Deuteronomy 11:26 NIVDeuteronomy 11:26 NLTDeuteronomy 11:26 ESVDeuteronomy 11:26 NASBDeuteronomy 11:26 KJV
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