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In Deut. 11:1, God told the people to “keep His charge.” The word charge in Hebrew is מִשְׁמֶרֶת mishmereth (Strong’s lexicon No. H4931) which means a guard, watch or function. We aren’t to take for granted that we understand God’s word. We are to guard it, watch it and to perform its function so we don’t forget it. We are supposed to be students of God’s word just as we want our children and grandchildren to be students of God’s word. Children learn from their parent’s example much more than they learn from the example of their teachers, pastors, youth pastors and Bible teachers.
There’s no command in God’s word to find teachers smarter than you to teach your children and do your own thing. God commands the parents to be the primary teacher of their children in regards to His word.
Moses is emphasizing “your Elohim” repeatedly. He doesn’t want them to answer to another nation’s Elohim, but only the creator of heaven and earth. He tested them for 40 years and those who are preparing to enter the land have passed the tests that God repeatedly subjected them to over that time.
At this point, the land is not the Holy Land. The current inhabitants are the epitome of evil and God commands the children of Israel to expel the Canaanites from the Land so God can dwell there but God says that He will go before them to accomplish this, even though they are larger in size and number than they were. God will lay fear of the children of Israel upon the inhabitants of the land and drive them out from before the children of Israel.
They are going to enter a land that is unlike Goshen. Goshen was, and still is, a beautiful, agriculturally rich land. He sending them into a mountainous land with valleys and the primary source of water will be the rainfall that God brings down to them, that he will give to them in its “due season.” There are three harvest seasons in the land of Israel.
He also says He will give them grass for their cattle and livestock to eat so they will be full and satisfied. God makes all sorts of pledges and promises.
He tells them to “take heed” and warns them not to open their hearts and minds to the teachings of other gods. We are not to open ourselves to “every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:11–16).
If the people decide they want to open their hearts to idolatrous doctrines of any kind, God will withdraw His blessings from the people and the land by bringing drought and other calamities.
Many people dismiss droughts as “weather patterns” but who controls the weather? Our television channels are filled with programs that try to explain the miracles of the Exodus and other happenings as having been caused by naturalistic processes and they fail to give credit to the God who controls the weather.
In Gen. 44:30, Yehudah (Judah) reminds his brothers that Jacob’s life was “bound up” in the life of Ben-Yamin (Benjamin). This binding was not a literal binding but a heart and soul binding. Yehudah later humbles himself to Ya’akov (Jacob) and promises to bring Ben-Yamin back or forfeit his own life. So when we read in Deut. 11:18-19 that they are to “bind” (קְשַׁרְתֶּם qeshartem, from קָשַׁר qashar, Strong’s H7194, to bind, league together, conspire) the words on their heads and hands, this not simply wrapping a piece of leather around one’s hand and head. We are to “wrap” God’s words around our minds and hearts.
When we “write them on our doorposts” we are to write all of God’s law on the door of our minds and hearts. We are to use the word of God as the basis of what comes in and goes out of our hearts, as we are to “tak[e] every thought captive to the obedience of Messiah” (2nd Cor. 10:5). This is not easy, you have to work at it, and the Creator of Heaven and Earth will show you so you can teach it to your children.
God’s statutes are always to be above our commands. God’s commands are not under mankind’s jurisdiction. God warns the children of Israel that He will drive them out of the land as He will drive out the Canaanites if they desire and follow other gods.
God wants us to observe His laws so He can bless us. He does want us to be under oath to any other gods. There are two parts to sanctification: mind and heart. Once the mind is sanctified, the heart will follow. Once the mind and heart are sanctified, the person will not depart from God.
Reader: Dave. Speaker: Richard. Summary: Tammy.