Deuteronomy 11:32
be careful to follow all the statutes and ordinances that I am setting before you today.
be careful
The Hebrew root for "be careful" is "שָׁמַר" (shamar), which means to guard, keep, or observe. This word conveys a sense of vigilance and attentiveness. In the context of Deuteronomy, it emphasizes the importance of being diligent and intentional in one's obedience to God's commands. Historically, this reflects the covenant relationship between God and Israel, where careful observance of the law was a sign of faithfulness and devotion.

to follow
The phrase "to follow" comes from the Hebrew "עָשָׂה" (asah), meaning to do, make, or accomplish. This implies active participation and commitment. In the biblical context, following God's statutes is not a passive act but requires deliberate action and dedication. It underscores the idea that faith is demonstrated through works, aligning with the broader biblical narrative that true belief is evidenced by obedience.

all the statutes and ordinances
The terms "statutes" (חֻקִּים, chukkim) and "ordinances" (מִשְׁפָּטִים, mishpatim) refer to different aspects of the law. "Statutes" often denote decrees or commands that may not have an obvious rationale but are to be followed out of trust in God's wisdom. "Ordinances" are judgments or decisions that often relate to justice and social order. Together, they encompass the comprehensive nature of God's law, covering both religious and civil life. This reflects the holistic approach of the Torah, where every aspect of life is under God's authority.

that I am setting before you today
The phrase "that I am setting before you today" highlights the immediacy and relevance of God's commands. The use of "today" (הַיּוֹם, hayom) emphasizes the present moment, urging the Israelites to recognize the urgency and importance of their commitment. Historically, this was a pivotal moment as the Israelites prepared to enter the Promised Land, and their success depended on their adherence to God's law. It serves as a reminder that God's word is always timely and applicable, calling for a response in the present.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Moses
The leader of the Israelites who is delivering God's commandments to the people. He is the central figure in the book of Deuteronomy, acting as a mediator between God and Israel.

2. Israelites
The 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 Land
The land of Canaan, which God promised to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It represents a place of blessing and fulfillment of God's promises.

4. Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim
These are the locations where the blessings and curses are to be pronounced, as part of the covenant renewal ceremony.

5. Covenant
The agreement between God and the Israelites, which includes the laws and commandments they are to follow in the Promised Land.
Teaching Points
Obedience to God's Commandments
The verse emphasizes the importance of obedience to God's laws as a condition for receiving His blessings. This obedience is not just a legalistic adherence but a heartfelt commitment to God's will.

Covenant Relationship
The Israelites' relationship with God is based on a covenant that requires their active participation. This relationship is a model for Christians, who are also called to live in covenant with God through Christ.

Blessings and Curses
The concept of blessings and curses serves as a reminder of the consequences of our choices. Obedience leads to life and blessing, while disobedience leads to curses and separation from God.

Faithfulness in the Promised Land
As the Israelites prepare to enter the Promised Land, they are reminded that their success depends on their faithfulness to God's commandments. This principle applies to Christians as they navigate their spiritual journey.

Holistic Commitment
The call to obey all the statutes and ordinances highlights the need for a holistic commitment to God's word, not picking and choosing which parts to follow.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the concept of a covenant in Deuteronomy 11:32 relate to the New Covenant established through Jesus Christ?

2. In what ways can we ensure that we are not just hearers of the word, but doers, as emphasized in both Deuteronomy and the book of James?

3. What are some modern-day "Promised Lands" that God is calling us to enter, and how can obedience to His commandments help us succeed in these areas?

4. How do the blessings and curses outlined in Deuteronomy 27-28 serve as a warning and encouragement for our spiritual lives today?

5. Reflect on a time when obedience to God's commandments led to a tangible blessing in your life. How can this experience encourage you to remain faithful in challenging times?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Deuteronomy 27-28
These chapters detail the blessings and curses associated with obedience and disobedience to God's commandments, which are to be proclaimed on Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim.

Joshua 8:30-35
This passage describes the fulfillment of the command to pronounce blessings and curses on Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, showing the Israelites' commitment to the covenant.

James 1:22-25
This New Testament passage emphasizes the importance of not only hearing the word but also doing it, which aligns with the call to obey God's commandments in Deuteronomy.
Obedience to the Divine CommandsAlex. Grant, D. D.Deuteronomy 11:32
Life's Solemn AlternativeR.M. Edgar Deuteronomy 11:26-32
Startling AlternativesD. Davies Deuteronomy 11:26-32
People
Abiram, Canaanites, Dathan, Eliab, Moses, Pharaoh, Reuben
Places
Arabah, Beth-baal-peor, Egypt, Euphrates River, Gilgal, Jordan River, Lebanon, Moreh, Mount Ebal, Mount Gerizim, Red Sea
Topics
Care, Careful, Decisions, Decrees, Heed, Judgments, Laws, Obey, Observe, Observed, Ordinances, Setting, Statutes
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Deuteronomy 11:30

     4284   sun
     4528   trees
     4857   west

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: 1856

The 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 11:32 NIV
Deuteronomy 11:32 NLT
Deuteronomy 11:32 ESV
Deuteronomy 11:32 NASB
Deuteronomy 11:32 KJV

Deuteronomy 11:32 Commentaries

Bible Hub
Deuteronomy 11:31
Top of Page
Top of Page