Deuteronomy 11:16, commentary and pictures

Moses gave this charge as part of his rehearsal of vital instruction to Israel before they entered Canaan, to take heed to self and guard the heart against being deceived into turning aside from God to serve and worship other gods. It stands between the promise of rain and plenty for diligent, loving obedience and the command to internalize God's words. Loving the Lord and serving Him with all heart and soul brings blessing with rain in due season, corn and wine and oil, and grass for cattle, while turning to other gods kindles His wrath so He shuts heaven that there is no rain and the land yields no fruit and the people perish quickly from the good land. Thus it sets before God's people a choice between obedience bringing blessing and turning aside bringing curse and retribution, so prosperity and continuance in the land depend on heeding God's commandments. The safeguard is to lay up His words in heart and soul, bind them upon the hand and between the eyes, teach them diligently to children at all times, and write them on doorposts and gates, a duty that binds God's people and their leaders and parents and children in every age.

Setting and Surrounding Words

Moses spoke this caution as part of his rehearsal of vital instruction to Israel just before they entered Canaan. It stands directly between a promise and a command. On one side is the promise that diligent obedience in loving the Lord and serving Him with all heart and soul brings the first rain and the latter rain in due season, corn and wine and oil gathered in, and grass in the fields for cattle so the people eat and are full. On the other side is the command to internalize God's words.

The verse itself is a call to take heed to self and guard the heart against being deceived. That deception is a misleading of the heart, through carelessness and self-deception, that turns aside from God to serve other gods and worship them. To guard against it is to watch lest the heart be led away from loyalty to God into idolatry.

The safeguard set around the warning is to lay up God's words in heart and soul. They are to be bound for a sign upon the hand and as frontlets between the eyes. They are to be taught to children in the house and by the way and in lying down and rising up, night and morning, and written on doorposts and gates. Kept in this way, the days of the people and their children are multiplied as the days of heaven upon the earth.

Consequence, Principle, and Duty

Loving the Lord and serving Him with all heart and soul brings blessing and prosperity, with the first rain and the latter rain in due season, corn and wine and oil gathered in, and grass in the fields for cattle so the people eat and are full, and Israel's continuance in the good land depended on that loyalty. Diligent, loving obedience is the condition on which rain and plenty are promised, and the danger of a deceived heart is placed inside that promise. Turning to other gods kindles the Lord's wrath so He shuts up heaven that there is no rain, the land yields no fruit, and the people perish quickly from off the good land He gave them. Such disobedience brings the Lord's anger with withholding of rain, crop failure, loss of the land's produce, and danger of perishing from the land.

The verse sets before God's people a choice between obedience bringing blessing and turning aside bringing a curse and retribution, so prosperity depends on heeding and obeying God's commandments. Blessing and curse are set on the condition of obedience to His commandments, with obedience bringing blessing and prosperity while disobedience brings retribution. In its wider passage, the Lord is shown as longsuffering and full of compassion and love, but continued rebellion and obstinacy passes a boundary line, and when that boundary is passed punishment will follow the transgressor.

The warning lays grave responsibility on those who know the truth to heed words from One with no variableness nor shadow of turning, and it remains God's required work through each successive age. The warning applies to God's people and their leaders in every age, including those carrying responsibilities in sacred work who must carefully observe the instructions in chapters four to eleven, and it instructs parents and children to remain faithful to God and His commandments. Carelessness that could turn the heart from God must be guarded against by those in sacred work, while the lesson of blessing for obedience and curse for turning aside belongs to God's people as well as to Israel. In its setting, the warning bears on the danger of adopting worldly ambitions and religious ideas instead of acting according to what God says.