Deuteronomy 11

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TALKS FOR GROWING CHRISTIANS

Love and Obey the Lord

BACKGROUND NOTES



DOCTRINAL POINT(S)

  1. Believers should know that the consequence of obedience is blessing.

  2. Believers should know that the consequence of disobedience is discipline.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

  1. Don’t make literal what should be taken figuratively!

  2. Don’t make figurative what should be taken literally!

QUESTIONS

  1. Who was the specific audience of Moses’ address in Deuteronomy 11?

  2. Is Deuteronomy 11:12 still true today?

  3. Where and how do we see verses 26-30 fulfilled?

  4. Mention some of the blessings Israel would receive if they obeyed the Lord.

  5. How did God discipline His people?

ANSWERS

  1. In this section he is speaking to the generation that was under 20 years old at the time of the Exodus. In view of all they had seen in the Exodus and Wilderness Wanderings, they should love the Lord and obey the Lord.

  2. Yes! Israel is a land for which the Lord cares in a special way.

  3. When the Children of Israel crossed the Jordan River and entered the land, they would ratify the covenant by literally going to the center of the Land where Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim were located. There the covenant would be ratified by half of Israel standing on the slopes of Mount Gerizim to represent the blessings of the Law and half of Israel standing on the slopes of Mount Ebal to represent the curses of the Law. The Levites stood in the middle between the tribes for the reading of the stipulations of the covenant. These directions are given again in Deuteronomy 27 and carried out in Joshua 8.

  4. The Lord would send rain on the Land, their harvests would be bountiful, their flocks and herds would be abundant, and no enemy would be able to defeat them.

  5. He withheld the rains and made the land unproductive. Later God disciplined His people with captivity and scattering among the nations.

DISCUSS/CONSIDER

  1. Christians are not promised the blessing of productive crops and large flocks and herds, but we are promised every spiritual blessing that heaven has to offer. See Ephesians 1. Discuss: “The consequence of obedience is blessing.”

  2. God must discipline His disobedient children. What kind of heavenly Father would He be if He did not discipline us when we disobey? See Hebrews 12:6 and Proverbs 3:12. When has the Lord’s discipline had a positive result in your life?

CHALLENGE

  1. Do you let God’s Word speak as it is written? Do you let the literal sections be literal and the figurative be figurative?

KEY VERSES

  • “Therefore you shall keep every commandment which I command you today, that you may be strong, and go in and possess the land which you cross over to possess.” Deuteronomy 11:8

  • “…a land for which the Lord your God cares; the eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the very end of the year.” Deuteronomy 11:12

  • “Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known.” Deuteronomy 11:26-28

Deuteronomy, Old Testament, TalksRon ReidDEUTERONOMY 11