Deuteronomy 11:1-7 comments: Moses reviews God's intervention in Israel's history for the eyewitnesses of it

 

Deuteronomy 11:1 ¶  Therefore thou shalt love the LORD thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway. 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, 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; 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; 5  And what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came into this place; 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: 7  But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the LORD which he did.

 

Moses reinforces something he has already said.

 

Deuteronomy 6:5  And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

 

Deuteronomy 10:12 ¶  And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, 13  To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?

 

He’ll do it again in chapter 30.

 

Deuteronomy 30:16  In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.

 

This is the most singularly important command for the Hebrews given in the Old Testament, as Jesus said.

 

Matthew 22:36  Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. [quoting directly from Deuteronomy 6:5] 38  This is the first and great commandment. 39  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. [Leviticus 19:18] 40  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

 

Moses is also making it clear that he is talking to the very people who witnessed these amazing historical events. This is a part of their heritage, what God did for the Israelites as a people.