Know this day that it is not your children who have known and seen the discipline of the LORD your God: His greatness, His mighty hand, and His outstretched arm; Know this dayThe phrase "know this day" is a call to immediate awareness and understanding. In Hebrew, the word for "know" is "yada," which implies a deep, intimate knowledge. This is not merely intellectual assent but a profound recognition and acknowledgment of God's actions and character. The urgency of "this day" emphasizes the importance of the present moment in the life of faith, urging the Israelites to be conscious of God's ongoing work and presence. I am not speaking with your children
Here, the focus shifts to the direct audience of Moses' message. The phrase underscores the personal experience of the current generation. The Hebrew context suggests a distinction between those who have firsthand experience of God's works and those who have not. This highlights the importance of personal testimony and the responsibility of the current generation to pass on their experiences of God's faithfulness to the next. who have not known and who have not seen
This phrase reiterates the lack of firsthand experience among the children. The repetition of "not known" and "not seen" emphasizes the gap in experiential knowledge. In the Hebrew tradition, seeing and knowing are closely linked to understanding and wisdom. This serves as a reminder of the importance of witnessing God's works and the role of memory in faith. the discipline of the LORD your God
The term "discipline" in Hebrew is "musar," which encompasses correction, instruction, and training. It reflects God's loving guidance and correction, aimed at shaping His people into a holy nation. This discipline is not punitive but redemptive, intended to lead the Israelites into a deeper relationship with God and a fuller understanding of His will. His greatness
The greatness of God is a central theme in the Hebrew Scriptures. The Hebrew word "gadol" conveys the idea of magnitude and majesty. This phrase calls the Israelites to remember the awe-inspiring nature of God, who is above all and worthy of worship. It serves as a reminder of God's supreme power and authority over all creation. mighty hand
The "mighty hand" is a metaphor for God's power and intervention in history. In Hebrew, "yad chazakah" signifies strength and capability. This imagery is often associated with God's deliverance of Israel from Egypt, symbolizing His ability to save and protect His people. It reassures the Israelites of God's continued presence and power in their lives. and outstretched arm
The "outstretched arm" complements the "mighty hand," emphasizing God's active involvement in the world. The Hebrew "zeroa netuyah" suggests an arm extended in action, ready to intervene on behalf of His people. This phrase underscores God's willingness to reach out and deliver His people, highlighting His compassion and commitment to their well-being. Persons / Places / Events 1. MosesThe speaker of this passage, Moses is addressing the Israelites, reminding them of their experiences with God. 2. IsraelitesThe audience of Moses' speech, they are the generation that witnessed God's miracles and discipline in the wilderness. 3. The LORD (Yahweh)The God of Israel, who demonstrated His power and discipline to the Israelites. 4. Wilderness WanderingsThe period when the Israelites traveled through the desert after their exodus from Egypt, experiencing God's provision and discipline. 5. Promised LandThe land of Canaan, which the Israelites are preparing to enter, contingent upon their obedience to God. Teaching Points Remembering God's WorksThe importance of recalling and teaching the mighty acts of God to future generations. The Role of DisciplineUnderstanding God's discipline as an expression of His love and a means to guide His people towards righteousness. Generational ResponsibilityThe responsibility of one generation to pass down the knowledge and experiences of God's faithfulness to the next. Obedience and FaithThe necessity of obedience to God's commands as a demonstration of faith and trust in His promises. God's FaithfulnessTrusting in God's unchanging nature and His commitment to fulfill His promises, as demonstrated throughout history. Bible Study Questions 1. How can we effectively remember and recount God's works in our own lives to others, especially the next generation? 2. In what ways does God's discipline manifest in our lives today, and how should we respond to it? 3. How does the experience of the Israelites in the wilderness serve as a warning and encouragement for our faith journey? 4. What are some practical ways we can ensure that the knowledge of God's faithfulness is passed down to future generations? 5. How can we apply the lessons of obedience and faith from the Israelites' experiences to our current challenges and decisions? Connections to Other Scriptures Exodus 14The crossing of the Red Sea, where God's "mighty hand and outstretched arm" delivered the Israelites from the Egyptians. Numbers 14The rebellion at Kadesh Barnea, illustrating the consequences of disobedience and lack of faith in God's promises. Psalm 78A recounting of Israel's history, emphasizing God's faithfulness and the importance of remembering His works. Hebrews 3-4A New Testament reflection on the Israelites' unbelief and the call for believers to enter God's rest through faith and obedience. 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 Arm, Chastisement, Consider, Discipline, Experience, Experienced, God-his, Greatness, Majesty, Mighty, Minds, Ones, Outstretched, Out-stretched, Power, Powerful, Sons, Speak, Speaking, Stretched, Stretched-out, Strong, To-day, TrainingDictionary of Bible Themes Deuteronomy 11:2 6722 redemption, OT Deuteronomy 11:2-3 1090 God, majesty of Deuteronomy 11:2-7 5854 experience, of God
5887 inexperience
8231 discipline, divine 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 11:2 NIVDeuteronomy 11:2 NLTDeuteronomy 11:2 ESVDeuteronomy 11:2 NASBDeuteronomy 11:2 KJV
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