旧约 - 申命记(Deuteronomy)第11章

Love the LORD your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always.
Remember today that your children were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of the LORD your God: his majesty, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm;
the signs he performed and the things he did in the heart of Egypt, both to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his whole country;
what he did to the Egyptian army, to its horses and chariots, how he overwhelmed them with the waters of the Red Sea as they were pursuing you, and how the LORD brought lasting ruin on them.
It was not your children who saw what he did for you in the desert until you arrived at this place,
and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when the earth opened its mouth right in the middle of all Israel and swallowed them up with their households, their tents and every living thing that belonged to them.
But it was your own eyes that saw all these great things the LORD has done.
Observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess,
and so that you may live long in the land that the LORD swore to your forefathers to give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.
The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden.
But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven.
It is a land the LORD your God cares for; the eyes of the LORD your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end.
So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today--to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul--
then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and oil.
I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.
Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them.
Then the LORD'S anger will burn against you, and he will shut the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the LORD is giving you.
Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.
Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates,
so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.
If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow--to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways and to hold fast to him--
then the LORD will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you.
Every place where you set your foot will be yours: Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the western sea.
No man will be able to stand against you. The LORD your God, as he promised you, will put the terror and fear of you on the whole land, wherever you go.
See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse--
the blessing if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today;
the curse if you disobey the commands of the LORD your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.
When the LORD your God has brought you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim on Mount Gerizim the blessings, and on Mount Ebal the curses.
As you know, these mountains are across the Jordan, west of the road, toward the setting sun, near the great trees of Moreh, in the territory of those Canaanites living in the Arabah in the vicinity of Gilgal.
You are about to cross the Jordan to enter and take possession of the land the LORD your God is giving you. When you have taken it over and are living there,
be sure that you obey all the decrees and laws I am setting before you today.
申命记第十一章   第 11 章 

  申 11:7> 得亲眼看见神大能的以色列人尚且不顺服,要我顺服,凭据在哪儿? 

  11:7 以色列人本来应该信靠神,遵守祂的命令,因他们亲眼看见神许多大能的神迹,所显明的祂的慈爱与眷顾,但他们仍然不忠心,真是令人费解。我们当中很少人亲眼见过这么大的神迹,叫我们顺服神,对祂效忠,似乎就更加困难。不过我们有圣经,就是神在整个历史中作为的书面记述。阅读神的话语,能使我们重温以色列人的体验,看见不同时代以色列人见和没见过的神迹,并有一个概览。圣经中过往的教训,现在的吩咐,以及对未来的一瞥,都给我们许多启示,加强对祂的信心。 

  申 11:26> 神也会咒诅!那是……那是术士的符咒吗? 

  11:26 什么是神的咒诅?这不是术士的符咒。想明白这件事,必须记住神与以色列人立约的条件,那是双方同意而订立的条件。如果以色列人守约,尽所当尽的本分,就会蒙福,必能赶出仇敌,得到应许之地,永远住在那里,且五谷丰收,人丁兴旺。只有在背约的时候,咒诅才会临到,即会失去神的赐福,五谷歉收,仇敌入侵,且有被掳的危险。约书亚日后也对全族覆述这些祝福与咒诅(参书 8:34 )。 

  申 11:26> 祝福与咒诅,并列在人前,选择由人── 

  11:26 神将蒙福与咒诅两种选择都摆在众人面前,真是奇妙。可惜他们就是不愿顺服神,反而选择咒诅,令人难解。我们现在也有这种基本的选择,可以为自己而活,也可以为事奉神而活。选走自己的道路是走向死亡,选走神的道路则领受永生(参约 5:24 )。──《灵修版圣经注释》