Commentaria in Deuteronomium
Chapter 11. Synopsis of the chapter
Moses proceeds in his discourse: first, terrifying the Hebrews by the punishments inflicted on Pharao, and on Core, Dathan and Abiron, for their sins; secondly, alluring them by the promised goods of Chanaan, which he prefers to Egypt; thirdly, verse 26, setting before them blessing and curse.
1. Love therefore the Lord thy God, and observe his precepts and ceremonies, his judgments and commandments, at all times. 2. Know ye this day the things that your children know not, who have not seen the chastisement of the Lord your God, his great works, and his strong hand, and stretched out arm, 3. The signs and works which he did in the midst of Egypt to Pharao the king, and to all his land, 4. And to all the army of the Egyptians, and to their horses and chariots: how the waters of the Red Sea covered them when they pursued you, and how the Lord destroyed them until this present day; 5. And what he hath done for you in the wilderness, till you came to this place: 6. And to Dathan and Abiron the sons of Eliab, who was the son of Ruben: whom the earth, opening her mouth, swallowed up, with their households and tents, and all their substance which they had in the midst of Israel. 7. Your eyes have seen all the great works of the Lord which he hath done, 8. That you may keep all his commandments, which I command you this day, and may be able to go in and possess the land, whither you pass over, 9. And may live therein a long time: which land the Lord swore to your fathers, and to their seed, flowing with milk and honey. 10. For the land which thou goest to possess is not like the land of Egypt, from whence thou camest out, where the seed being sown, waters are brought in to water it after the manner of gardens; 11. But it is a land of hills and plains, expecting rain from heaven. 12. And the Lord thy God doth always visit it, and his eyes are upon it from the beginning of the year unto the end thereof. 13. If then you obey my commandments, which I command you this day, that you love the Lord your God, and serve him with all your heart, and with all your soul: 14. He will give to your land the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your corn, and wine, and oil, 15. And hay out of the fields to feed your cattle, and that you may eat and be filled. 16. Beware lest perhaps your heart be deceived, and you depart from the Lord, and serve strange gods, and adore them: 17. And the Lord being angry shut up heaven, and the rains come not down, nor the earth yield her fruit, and you perish quickly from the excellent land which the Lord will give you. 18. Lay up these my words in your hearts and minds, and hang them for a sign on your hands, and place them between your eyes. 19. Teach your children that they meditate on them, when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest on thy journey, and when thou liest down and risest up. 20. Thou shalt write them upon the doorposts and on the doors of thy house: 21. That thy days may be multiplied, and the days of thy children, in the land which the Lord swore to thy fathers that he would give them as long as the heaven covereth the earth. 22. For if you keep the commandments which I command you, and do them, so that you love the Lord your God, and walk in all his ways, cleaving to him, 23. The Lord will destroy all these nations before you, and you shall possess them, being nations that are greater and stronger than you. 24. Every place that your foot shall tread upon, shall be yours. From the desert, and from Libanus, from the great river Euphrates to the western sea shall your borders be. 25. No man shall stand against you: the Lord your God shall lay the dread and fear of you upon all the land that you shall tread upon, as he hath spoken to you. 26. Behold I set forth in your sight this day a blessing and a curse: 27. A blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day: 28. A curse, if you obey not the commandments of the Lord your God, but revolt from the way which I now shew you, and walk after strange gods which you know not. 29. And when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land, whither thou goest to dwell, thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Garizim, the curse upon mount Hebal: 30. Which are beyond the Jordan, behind the way that goeth to the going down of the sun, in the land of the Chanaanite, who dwelleth in the plains over against Galgal, which is near the valley that goeth up and entereth far. 31. For you shall pass over the Jordan, to possess the land which the Lord your God will give you, that you may have and possess it. 32. See therefore that you fulfil the ceremonies and judgments, which I will set forth this day in your sight.
2. KNOW YE,—that is, consider; it is a metalepsis (1).
THE CHASTISEMENT.—In Hebrew musar, that is, correction, by which, namely, God by various punishments and modes taught and formed you, as children, both in Egypt and after the going out of Egypt. So Vatablus.
4. HOW, etc., THE LORD DESTROYED THEM (the Egyptians) UNTIL THIS PRESENT DAY,—that is, destroyed them utterly, so that now no one survives who might harm you.
6. ELIAB, WHO WAS THE SON OF RUBEN,—not immediately, but mediately, namely a grandson or great-grandson.
6. WITH THEIR HOUSEHOLDS,—with sons and family. See the six significations of house in Abulensis here.
10. THE LAND OF EGYPT, etc., WHERE WATERS ARE BROUGHT IN TO WATER IT.—The Hebrew is, which thou wateredst with the foot, as a garden: to water with the foot is to water by one’s labour and digging, namely by drawing water from the river Nile through furrows and ditches; as if to say: In Egypt you had no water except in the fields, and not except by your labour, namely by leading furrows from the Nile into the fields, as is wont to be done in gardens; for in Egypt rains are rare or none. But in Chanaan the land, both in fields and mountains, is abundantly watered without labour from heaven and the heavenly rain; as if to say: Therefore the land of Chanaan to which you go is much better than Egypt, from which you came out (2).
11. EXPECTING RAIN FROM HEAVEN.—The Hebrew: it drinketh water of the rain of heaven; as if to say: The land of Chanaan is watered not by the water of the Nile but by the heavenly; hence God visits it, and the eyes of the Lord are upon it all the year, because the Lord always has care of it, providing at the appointed time rain, wind, heat, cold, etc., that nothing be wanting to bring forth and ripen fruits and crops.
14. THE EARLY AND THE LATTER RAIN.—The early rain is that which falls in Judea early and seasonably, in the month of October, the seeds having been cast into the earth, and so makes the seeds germinate. The latter is that which falls late, in the month of April or May, and brings the crops and fruits to maturity. This phrase therefore signifies all rain that is seasonable, opportune for the crops. Hence the Prophets, as Osee vi, 3, and Joel ii, 23, compare Christ to the early and latter rain: because the coming of Christ was most welcome and most opportune to the world and to men for salvation. For these rains were most welcome to all, and much looked for, and most necessary.
Allegorically, the early rain was the doctrine of the law given by Moses, by which the seeds cast by the fathers of the law of nature germinated. The doctrine of the new law is the latter rain, by which the fruits ripen and are perfected. “For the law brought nothing to perfection,” as the Apostle says, because perfection and ripeness were reserved for the Gospel. And this is what Zacharias says, chapter x, verse 1: “Ask of the Lord rain in the latter season,” that is, ask of God the doctrine of the Gospel, by which the dry earth of the whole world is watered, as St. Jerome explains.
Hence it is plain that the promised land of itself and by its nature, before the entrance of the Hebrews, when it was inhabited by the Chanaanites, was very fertile. Hence it is called a land flowing with milk and honey, and such was found by the spies, Numbers xiii, 28. Its chief fertility, however, it had from the influence of God, and the religion of the people, as is plain from this place, verse 13, and Isaias i, 19. Hence when the people sinned, God withdrew it, as he threatens here verse 17, and so it happened, as is plain from Aggeus i, 9 and following, Amos iv, 7 and following, Jeremias xiv, 3, and everywhere in the Prophets. So the Pentapolis, which was formerly most fertile, as is plain from Genesis xiii, 10, on account of the sins of the Sodomites, was turned into a most salt sea. Hence that saying
Anagogically, the fertility of the promised land signified the abundance of spiritual goods in the land of the living, promised to the elect in heaven: concerning which see Procopius here.
set before you; it is a catachresis. See what was said on chapter vi, verse 8. Otherwise Abulensis: By the hand, he says, is signified operation, by the eye the consideration of the intellect; as if to say: Let these precepts be bound in your hands, that is, in your operation, which is signified by the hand; and let them be between your eyes, that is, in the consideration of your mind, that you may assiduously consider whether you fail in anything.
21. AS LONG AS THE HEAVEN COVERETH THE EARTH.—In Hebrew, as the days of heaven upon the earth, that is, as long as the heaven shall hang over the earth, namely for ever; it is a hyperbole signifying to the end of the world, or to the day of judgment. And so unless the Jews had sinned, forsaking God and rejecting the Messias, they would have possessed the promised land to the end of the world. For this God here promises them.
22. IN ALL HIS WAYS,—his commandments, which are certain ways directing our acts to the last end, namely to God and to beatitude.
26. BEHOLD I SET FORTH IN YOUR SIGHT THIS DAY A BLESSING AND A CURSE.—Here is a spur to the law of God and to fear. Wouldst thou be blessed by God, fear God, obey God: for if thou be disobedient to him, he will curse, that is, do ill to, thee, and will punish thee most sharply both in this life and in the future. With the same spur Moses urges the Hebrews, chapter xxx, 19, when he says: “I call heaven and earth to witness this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Choose therefore life,”
29. THOU SHALT PUT THE BLESSING UPON MOUNT GARIZIM,—namely, thou shalt cause the blessing to be proclaimed by the Levites from the mountain, or rather toward mount Garizim, upon those who observe the law of God, and the curse from the mountain, or rather toward mount Hebal, upon the transgressors of the law, the people answering Amen. See these more fully explained at the end of chapter xxvii, and Josue viii, near the end.
30. WHICH IS NEAR THE VALLEY THAT GOETH UP AND ENTERETH FAR.—For “valley” the Hebrew has elon, a word which signifies an oak or tree of the oak kind, as the Septuagint and our version commonly translate: but our version here understood by oaks, synecdochically, an oak grove, a valley full of oaks: for St. Jerome, who accurately surveyed the holy places, knew very well that it was a valley. Again, for “valley that goeth up,” the Hebrew is elon moreh, that is, an oak grove, or the valley of the shower (teacher), as Masius teaches on Josue xxiv. Now the valley of the shower is a valley stretched out, notable, great, beautiful, and, as our version translates, Genesis xii, 6, illustrious (2). This valley is near Sichem, to which Abraham first came, coming from Chaldea into Chanaan. For that these mountains Garizim and Hebal are near Sichem Josephus teaches, an eye-witness, who is rather to be believed than Eusebius: for he is the author of the book On Hebrew Places which is falsely attributed to St. Jerome, as Masius rightly proves on Josue viii, 30.