10:12-22

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What God demands of Israel

(Deut 10:12-11:32)

In summary, Moses’ instruction to Israel as a people was that they were to fear, obey, love and serve God, in the assurance that he desired only their good (Deut 10:12-13).

He had chosen them in mercy, and he wanted them likewise to show mercy to others. They were to have humble purity of heart and genuine love, both in their relations with him and in their relations with others (Deut 10:14-20).

They were not to be arrogant or boastful, but were to remember their humble beginnings as a group of aliens in Egypt (Deut 10:21-22).

God’s activity in the past, whether in saving his people from their enemies or in punishing them for their rebellion, should have meant something to them. At least it should have prompted them to love God and keep his commandments (Deut 11:1-7).

The land the people were going to was not like the land they had come from. Egypt was a flat country. The climate did not favour agriculture and the farmer had to pedal a waterwheel pump to irrigate his crops. But Canaan was a land of hills and valleys with a good rainfall (Deut 10:8-12).

This natural blessing, however, could turn into a curse if the people were rebellious. The God who blessed his people with good crops could also punish them with famine (Deut 10:13-17).

In view of all that lay before them in Canaan, the people were to be the more diligent in obeying God’s law and teaching it to their children (Deut 10:18-25; see notes on Exod 13:9,16).

If they were obedient they would enjoy God’s blessing, but if they were disobedient they would fall under his curse. This would be impressed upon them when they entered Canaan and gathered at the mountains Gerizim and Ebal on either side of the town of Shechem.

There, as they heard the blessings announced from one side and the curses from the other, they would realize what was involved in pledging themselves to keep the covenant (Deut 10:26-32; see Deut 27:1-26).