Deuteronomy 11:1

Here is a renewal of Moses' exhortation to the people, urging them to obedience, enforced by experiences that they had in the wilderness, and in view of God's threatenings and promises. Of particular interest is that, after the pattern of the suzerainty treaties, there is included here a catalogue of curses and blessings contingent upon their keeping the Law or transgressing it, with specific instructions for such a formal re-ratification of the covenant in the days of Joshua within the land of Canaan itself. This element in the chapter (Deuteronomy 11:26-32) is of special importance, because, "In the Hittite suzerainty treaties, it was not unknown for a king, some time before his death, to cause his vassals to swear allegiance to his successor."[1] (For a list of some of the features of those ancient treaties, see the chapter introduction to Deuteronomy 4.) This swearing of allegiance to the God of the covenant to be repeated in the land of Canaan in the days of Moses' successor is another of those features. Still another is the making of two copies of the covenant (seen in the two tables of the Decalogue), and the depositing of these "witnesses" in the holiest shrine of each party. In Israel's case, since God was in their midst, both copies (the two tables) were deposited in the ark of the covenant.

As Dummelow pointed out, there is no break at all here,[2]; Deuteronomy 11:1 being an integral part of Deuteronomy 10:21,22. Moffatt, in fact, included Deuteronomy 11:1 in the same paragraph that began in Deuteronomy 10:20.

"Therefore thou shalt love Jehovah thy God and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his ordinances, and his commandments, alway. And know ye this day: for I speak not with your children that have not known, and that have not seen the chastisement of Jehovah your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his outstretched arm, and his signs, and his works which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land; 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 Jehovah hath destroyed them unto this day; and what he did to you in the wilderness, until ye came unto this place; and what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben; how the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the midst of all Israel: but your eyes have seen all the great work of Jehovah which he did."

Critics are quick to find an anachronism in Deuteronomy 11:2, noting that it was with a PREVIOUS generation that the covenant at Horeb was made, but ALL of the people whom Moses addressed here between the ages of forty and sixty years were present at Sinai where the mountain burned with fire and God spoke to them out of the midst of the fire. Furthermore, Moses also INCLUDED with them the generation that had participated in the long wilderness experience, seeing many wonders such as the one mentioned, that of the death of Dathan and Abiram. So where is any anachronism? Therefore, it is a mistake to read "your children" (Deuteronomy 11:2) as any others than those very small children and infants recently born.

In Deuteronomy 11:6 we have another example of how FALSE interpretation is made the basis of a critical claim of divergent sources for Deuteronomy. As is well known, Korah was a prominent figure in the rebellion that included Dothan and Abiram, and the omission of Korah's name here leads to the bald and unsupported assertion that the author of this part of Deuteronomy "knew nothing" of Korah's part in that rebellion! It is not Moses' ignorance that shines in a remark like that but the ignorance of the critic. Wright used such notions as the basis of assigning this part of Deuteronomy to an imaginary "JE" and much of the rest of it to "P,"[3] another imaginary non-existent "document."

Moses, the author here, certainly knew all about Korah's guilt, along with that of Dathan and Abiram. Why, then, did he not mention Korah here? There are a number of the most excellent reasons why, as discerned by many able and competent scholars. "Although Korah was the head of this rebellion, Dathan and Abiram were the more determined, audacious and obdurate."[4] It was no doubt because of this greater guilt on the part of Dathan and Abiram that there was a difference in the punishments meted out to Korah on the one hand and to Dathan and Abiram on the other hand, a difference seen in the fact that "the sons of Korah" were spared to continue their father's name among the tribes of Israel. It cannot be denied that it was in respect to that difference that Moses here omitted Korah's name in mentioning the rebels. Keil properly understood and noted this, explaining Moses' omission of Korah's name as being due to considerations of tact, "Out of regard to his sons who were not swallowed up by the earth along with their father,"[5] but who at the time of Moses' speech here were a faithful and significant part of the nation of Israel. What a gratuitous insult (to the Korahites) it would have been for Moses to drag the name of Korah into the speech at this point!

Concerning the dramatic and terrible judgment of the rebels (Dathan, Abiram, etc.), "One would think that such an event would have put a stop to all thoughts of rebellion, murmuring, and disobedience for a long time to come, but on the very next day the people were murmuring against Moses, saying, `Ye killed the people of Jehovah.'"[6] (See Numbers 16).