Deuteronomy 11:3

I speak not with your children which have not known . . . But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the Lord which he did--Moses is here giving a brief summary of the marvels and miracles of awful judgment which God had wrought in effecting their release from the tyranny of Pharaoh, as well as those which had taken place in the wilderness. He knew that he might dwell upon these, for he was addressing many who had been witnesses of those appalling incidents. For it will be remembered that the divine threatening that they should die in the wilderness, and its execution, extended only to males from twenty years and upward, who were able to go forth to war. No males under twenty years of age, no females, and none of the tribe of Levi, were objects of the denunciation (see Num 14:28-30; Num 16:49). There might, therefore, have been many thousands of the Israelites at that time of whom Moses could say, "Your eyes have seen all the great acts which He did"; and with regard to those the historic review of Moses was well calculated to stir up their minds to the duty and advantages of obedience.

Because God has made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude (so the preceding chapter concludes), therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God (so this begins). Those whom God has built up into families, whose beginning was small, but whose latter end greatly increases, should use that as an argument with themselves why they should serve God. Thou shalt keep his charge, that is, the oracles of his word and ordinances of his worship, with which they were entrusted and for which they were accountable. It is a phrase often used concerning the office of the priests and Levites, for all Israel was a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. Observe the connection of these two: Thou shalt love the Lord and keep his charge, since love will work in obedience, and that only is acceptable obedience which flows from a principle of love. Jo1 5:3.
Mention is made of the great and terrible works of God which their eyes had seen, Deu 11:7. This part of his discourse Moses addresses to the seniors among the people, the elders in age; and probably the elders in office were so, and were now his immediate auditors: there were some among them that could remember their deliverance out of Egypt, all above fifty, and to them he speaks this, not to the children, who knew it by hearsay only, Deu 11:2. Note, God's mercies to us when we were young we should remember and retain the impressions of when we are old; what our eyes have seen, especially in our early days, has affected us, and should be improved by us long after. They had seen what terrible judgments God had executed upon the enemies of Israel's peace, 1. Upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians that enslaved them. What a fine country was ruined and laid waste by one plague after another, to force Israel's enlargement! Deu 11:3. What a fine army was entirely drowned in the Red Sea, to prevent Israel's being re-enslaved! Deu 11:4. Thus did he give Egypt for their ransom, Isa 43:3. Rather shall that famous kingdom be destroyed than that Israel shall not be delivered. 2. Upon Dathan and Abiram that embroiled them. Remember what he did in the wilderness (Deu 11:5), by how many necessary chastisements (as they are called, Deu 11:2) they were kept from ruining themselves, particularly when those daring Reubenites defied the authority of Moses and headed a dangerous rebellion against God himself, which threatened the ruin of a whole nation, and might have ended in that if the divine power had not immediately crushed the rebellion by burying the rebels alive, them and all that was in their possession, Deu 11:6. What was done against them, though misinterpreted by the disaffected party (Num 16:41), was really done in mercy to Israel. To be saved from the mischiefs of insurrections at home is as great a kindness to a people, and therefore lays them under as strong obligations, as protection from the invasion of enemies abroad.

Deuteronomy 11:1-7

1. Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God-- and keep his charge-- and his statutes-- and his judgments-- and his commandments-- alway.

1. Dilige igitur Jehovam Deum tuum-- et custodi custodiam ejus-- et statuta ejus-- et judicia ejus-- et praecepta ejus omnibus diebus.

2. And know ye this day: for I speak not with your children which have not known-- and which have not seen the chastisement of the Lord your God-- his greatness-- his mighty hand-- and his stretched-out arm--

2. Et scitote hodie-- non enim cure filiis vestris loquor-- qui non noverunt-- neque viderunt eruditionem Jehovae Dei vestri-- magnitudinem ejus-- manum ejus validam-- et brachium ejus extentum--

3. And his miracles-- and his acts-- which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt-- and unto all his land;

3. Et signa ejus-- et opera ejus quae fecit in medio Aegypti-- ipsi Pharaoni regi Aegypti-- et universae terrae ejus.

4. And what he did unto the army of Egypt-- unto their horses-- and to their chariots: how he made the water of the Red sea to overflow them-- as they pursued after you-- and how the Lord hath destroyed them unto this day;

4. Et quae fecit exercitui Aegyptiorum-- equis ejus et curribus ejus: qui inundare fecit aquas maris rubri super fades eorum-- dum vos persequerentur: et perdidit eos Jehova usque in hanc diem.

5. And what he did unto you in the wilderness-- until ye came into this place;

5. Quae praeterea fecit vobis in deserto donec veniretis usque ad locum istum.

6. And what he did unto Dathan and Abiram-- the sons of Eliab-- the son of Reuben: how the earth opened her mouth-- and swallowed them up-- and their households-- and their tents-- and all the substance that was in their possession-- in the midst of all Israel.

6. Et quae fecit Datham et Abiram filiis Eliab filii Ruben-- quando aperuit terra os suum-- deglutivit eos-- domosque eorum ac tabernacula eorum-- atque universam substantiam quae erat in pedibus eorum-- in medio totius Israelis.

7. But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the Lord which he did.

7. Quandoquidem oculi vestri viderunt omnia opera Jehovae magna quae fecit.

1. Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God. The whole address has this scope, that the people should testify their gratitude by their obedience, and thus being allured by God's bounties, should reverently embrace His Law. On this account also, he requires them to love God, before he exhorts them to obey the Law itself. For, although he might have imperiously and menacingly commanded them, he preferred to lead them gently to obedience, by setting before them the sweetness of His grace. In sum, he exhorts them that, being invited by God's love, they should love him in return. Meanwhile, it is well to observe that free affection is the foundation and beginning of duly obeying the Law, for what is drawn forth by constraint, or servile fear, cannot please God. He designates the precepts of the Law by various names, in order that they may zealously and attentively apply themselves to listen to God, who has omitted nothing calculated to regulate their life; for, by this variety of words, he signifies that God had familiarly and perfectly taught whatever was required. As to the three latter words, "his statutes, and judgments, and commandments," what I have observed in Genesis and in the Psalms may be referred to. The word msmvt, [254] meshamroth, or guards, (custodiae,) which here stands first, is spoken in commendation of the Law on this ground, that it fences in our life, as it were, with rails, lest it should be exposed to errors on the right hand and on the left,. At the end of the verse he exhorts them to perseverance, because it was not allowable for the recollection of their deliverance ever to cease.

2. And know ye this day. He again confirms the preceding sentence; because they had been more than sufficiently taught by the illustrious acts of God, how great was His power and how remarkable His mercy toward themselves. Two meanings may be given to the words; for some connect them thus, "Know ye this day the chastisement of the Lord," and include in a parenthesis the clause, "for I speak not with your children, which have not known, and have not seen;" but others read the word of exhortation "know ye" separately, and [255] without any connection. The latter view pleases me best; although it little affects the substance of the matter which exposition we follow. For Moses admonishes them, that, if they only pay attention to the works of God, His glory, which may instruct them to fear Him, may be clearly beheld in them. In order, however, to urge them more vehemently, he adds, that he does not speak to posterity, to which the fame of these miracles would reach, but that he addresses eye-witnesses, who need no proof of them, having been assured of them by certain experience. He celebrates in many expressions of eulogy these miracles, whereby God had testified to them His power and goodness, lest they should lightly pass by what was worthy of their most earnest attention, and constant meditation. I forbear now to speak of other points, which I have elsewhere commented on. The word mvsr [256] musar, which stands first, is general, and extends to all the specific terms that follow; some, therefore, improperly render it "chastisement." Where it is said at the end of verse 4, that the Egyptians were "destroyed unto that day," we must understand that the effects of the slaughter, wherewith God destroyed them, were felt as if still present.

5. And what he did unto you. These things will be spoken of in their proper place in the regular course of the history, from which my method of teaching has compelled me to wander a little. For Moses, to heighten the authority of the Law, sets before them compendiously the circumstances which had occurred in the desert, partly in order that God's judgments might alarm them by their severity, and partly that His mercies might draw their minds towards Him by their graciousness. Finally, he concludes by saying that he does not speak of unknown things, but that he merely recalled to their recollection the works of God whereof they had been themselves spectators.

Footnotes:

[254] msmrt. A. V., charge. The LXX. keeps closest to the Hebrew idiom, phulaxe ta phulagmata autou. -- W.

[255] Tellement que tont le reste va son train. -- Fr.

[256] mvsr S.M. has rendered this word castigatio. V., disciplina. The root is ysr; and both the root and noun meaning to correct and correction, will sometimes mean to chastise, etc. -- W

And his miracles, and his acts, which he did in the midst of Egypt,.... The miraculous works done there, the ten plagues inflicted on the Egyptians for refusing to let Israel go:

unto Pharaoh king, of Egypt, and unto all his land; for those plagues not only affected him and his court, and his metropolis, but all parts of the land, the inhabitants of it everywhere.

To awaken this love they were now to know, i.e., to ponder and lay to heart, the discipline of the Lord their God. The words from "for (I speak) not" to "have not seen" are a parenthetical clause, by which Moses would impress his words most strongly upon the hearts of the older generation, which had witnessed the acts of the Lord. The clause is without any verb or predicate, but this can easily be supplied from the sense. The best suggestion is that of Schultz, viz., ההוּא הדּבר, "for it is not with your children that I have to do," not to them that this admonition applies. Moses refers to the children who had been born in the desert, as distinguished from those who, though not twenty years old when the Israelites came out of Egypt, had nevertheless seen with their own eyes the plagues inflicted upon Egypt, and who were now of mature age, viz., between forty and sixty years old, and formed, as the older and more experienced generation, the stock and kernel of the congregation assembled round him now. To the words, "which have not known and have not seen," it is easy to supply from the context, "what ye have known and seen." The accusatives from "the chastisement" onwards belong to the verb of the principal sentence, "know ye this day." The accusatives which follow show what we are to understand by "the chastisement of the Lord," viz., the mighty acts of the Lord to Egypt and to Israel in the desert. The object of them all was to educate Israel in the fear and love of God. In this sense Moses calls them מוּסר (Eng. Ver. chastisement), παιδεία, i.e., not punishment only, but education by the manifestation of love as well as punishment (like יסּר in Deu 4:36; cf. Pro 1:2, Pro 1:8; Pro 4:1, etc.). "His greatness," etc., as in Deu 3:24 and Deu 4:34. On the signs and acts in Egypt, see at Deu 4:34; Deu 6:22; and on those at the Red Sea, at Ex 14. פּניהם - הצּיף אשׁר, "over whose face He made the waters of the Red Sea to flow;" cf. Exo 14:26. - By the acts of God in the desert (Deu 11:5) we are not to understand the chastenings in Num 11-15 either solely or pre-eminently, but all the manifestations of the omnipotence of God in the guidance of Israel, proofs of love as well as the penal wonders. Of the latter, the miraculous destruction of the company of Korah is specially mentioned in Deu 11:6 (cf. Num 16:31-33). Here Moses only mentions Dathan and Abiram, the followers of Korah, and not Korah himself, probably from regard to his sons, who were not swallowed up by the earth along with their father, but had lived to perpetuate the family of Korah. "Everything existing, which was in their following" (see Exo 11:8), does not mean their possessions, but their servants, and corresponds to "all the men who belonged to Korah" in Num 16:32, whereas the possessions mentioned there are included here in the "tents." היקוּם is only applied to living beings, as in Gen 7:4 and Gen 7:23. - In Deu 11:7 the reason is given for the admonition in Deu 11:2 : the elders were to know (discern) the educational purpose of God in those mighty acts of the Lord, because they had seen them with their own eyes.