Metaphysical Bible Interpretation of Deuteronomy Chapter 11
Metaphysically Interpreting Deuteronomy 11:1-32
11:1Therefore thou shalt love Jehovah thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his ordinances, and his commandments, alway. 11:2And 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, 11:3and his signs, and his works, which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land; 11:4and 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; 11:5and what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came unto this place; 11:6and 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: 11:7but your eyes have seen all the great work of Jehovah which he did.
11:8Therefore shall ye keep all the commandment which I command thee this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go over to possess it; 11:9and that ye may prolong your days in the land, which Jehovah sware unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land flowing with milk and honey. 11:10For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs; 11:11but the land, whither ye go over to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven, 11:12a land which Jehovah thy God careth for: the eyes of Jehovah thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.
11:13And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love Jehovah your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, 11:14that I will give the rain of your land in its season, the former rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy grain, and thy new wine, and thine oil. 11:15And I will give grass in thy fields for thy cattle, and thou shalt eat and be full. 11:16Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; 11:17and the anger of Jehovah be kindled against you, and he shut up the heavens, so that there shall be no rain, and the land shall not yield its fruit; and ye perish quickly from off the good land which Jehovah giveth you.
11:18Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul; and ye shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. 11:19And ye shall teach them your children, talking of them, when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 11:20And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates; 11:21that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which Jehovah sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth.
11:22For if ye shall diligently keep all this commandment which I command you, to do it, to love Jehovah your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him; 11:23then will Jehovah drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves. 11:24Every place whereon the sole of your foot shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness, and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the hinder sea shall be your border. 11:25There shall no man be able to stand before you: Jehovah your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath spoken unto you.
11:26Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse: 11:27the blessing, if ye shall hearken unto the commandments of Jehovah your God, which I command you this day; 11:28and the curse, if ye shall not hearken unto the commandments of Jehovah your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.
11:29And it shall come to pass, when Jehovah thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt set the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal. 11:30Are they not beyond the Jordan, behind the way of the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites that dwell in the Arabah, over against Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh?
11:31For ye are to pass over the Jordan to go in to possess the land which Jehovah your God giveth you, and ye shall possess it, and dwell therein. 11:32And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and the ordinances which I set before you this day.
September 12, 1937: Deuteronomy 11:18-25
How does one learn to express complete devotion? One learns complete devotion by giving oneself heart and soul to the thought of love on the highest level of consciousness that one can reach, and by making this consciousness the basis of all one's actual expression (a sign upon one's hand) and all one's inner life of meditation and reverie (frontlets between the eyes).
What is the best method of teaching Truth? Concrete example as presented in a true life is more readily understood than any abstract statement of principle, no matter how clear and simple its presentation. Truth words are of value, but the word made flesh is the supreme teacher.
“And thou shalt write them {the words of God} upon the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates.” How can we do this in an individual sense? Each one’s habitual consciousness is his house or home. When we fix our attention on the divine law with a desire to observe it, we write the law of God on the doorposts of our house. As we practice the presence of God, we gradually transform the senses, until they function spiritually. The senses are the “gates” or avenues of approach to the consciousness of the individual.
What is meant by the expression “that your days may be multiplied ... as the days of the heavens above the earth”? Compared with the traditional three score and ten years reached by the average person in sense consciousness, he who keeps the divine law will attain to an age “as the days of the heavens above the earth,” i.e., endless life. “Man, that is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of trouble,” but man that is born of God is ageless and deathless.
How can we “dispossess nations greater and mightier” than ourselves? By concentrating on what is true we gain spiritual consciousness, before which nothing else can stand. Sense consciousness, which has been dominating us, falls away before the inrush of spiritual power, allowing us to dispossess the habits of sense consciousness (nations greater and mightier than we).
Explain the 24th verse: “Every place whereon the sole of your foot shall tread shall be yours.” The feet represent the understanding, and the sole of the foot represents the practical phase of intelligence that comes in touch with everyday affairs. As we train ourselves to use our understanding of spiritual truth in practical ways, we find that we can solve our problems satisfactorily. The “wilderness” represents the subconscious mind; “Lebanon,” pure thought; “the-river Euphrates,” the nervous system of man; the “hinder sea” or borderland of consciousness represents the deep unconscious mind or race thought of man, beyond which we do not go.
September 19, 1937: Deuteronomy 11:8-12
What is the immediate result to one who keeps the commandments or obeys the divine law? The keeping of the commandments develops strength of purpose, strength of will, and power to continue in one's chosen course. Each and everyone needs to develop these inner forms of strength in order to bring forth the substance of reality hidden in the subconsciousness.
What other reason is there for observing the divine law? We learn to live by keeping the divine law of life. This is the most obvious reason for our keeping the law. We not only add to the length of our days, but live each day more intensely and truly through living it “unto God.”
What comparison does this lesson afford between the obvious, material existence and the inner life of subconscious thought and feeling? The obvious material existence (Egypt) is easy, effortless. “Where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs.” The inner life is represented by the land of Canaan, a life of great beauty (hills and valleys), but one that must be won by faithful effort. We must “go over to possess it.”
September 19, 1937: Deuteronomy 11:26-32
What are some of the satisfactions from developing the inner life? Consciousness of God is the chief satisfaction. God's presence is felt first in the inner life. “A land which Jehovah thy God careth for.” The gift of spiritual vision is another. “The eyes of Jehovah thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.”
What is the blessing and the curse of free will and the choice that its exercise entails? When we elect to keep the law of life, we reap the blessing of health, happiness, and harmonious adjustment to our environment. When we violate the law of our being, we find ourselves running counter to life and accumulating various undesirable effects. The blessing of obedience and the curse of disobedience are easily discerned in life by any thoughtful person.
October 26, 1941: Deuteronomy 11:26-28
How are the effects of obedience and disobedience described in the text of the lesson? As a blessing and a curse, respectively. The result of keeping the law of one's being is blessing in the way of health, long life, unimpaired physical powers. The result of not keeping it is sickness, disease, suffering, and death.
What “other gods that we have not known” may we “go after”? Intellectual attainment is one, wealth is another, high social standing a third. Many other goals besides these may claim our time and devotion to the exclusion of other and more vital interests.
September 26, 1943: Deuteronomy 11:13-25
What does the individual's keeping of the commandments prove? That he has mastered himself and learned to control his thought processes. Without thought control no one can love Jehovah with all his heart and soul.
Can thought be so controlled as to influence external conditions? Yes, as in the case of Elijah’s prayer for rain after three and one half years of drought, and in numerous instances in modern times. These instances all prove that external conditions are responsive to the influence of thought.
What is necessary to controlling the elements by the power of thought? A high degree of concentration on the end desired and on the power that is able to supply it. Consciousness of God is bound up in the expression of the love of God with all the heart and soul, with consequent service of God.
Does the controlling of our thoughts put other things within our power? It gives us control over our environment, our temporal affairs, and over all that concerns us, provided we persevere in controlling our thoughts to the point of complete mastery.
What may lead us to “serve other gods” and thus lose the reward of our higher service? Success in demonstrating over external conditions may lead us to relax our efforts and center our thoughts on fruits of our first faithfulness may become our false gods claiming all our thought and devotion and robbing us of further good.
How is consciousness of God developed? By continual conscious thought of the divine (“Lay up these words in your heart and in your soul”); by acts that express our inmost thought (“Bind them for a sign upon your hand”); and by making the divine the background of all our reasoning processes (“frontlets between your eyes”). Consciousness thus includes feeling, acting, and thinking, or soul, body, and mind.
Do we teach faith most effectually by word of mouth? No, we teach it best by example. Precept has its place however in clarifying any questions that may arise, and we should always be ready to give an account of our faith in words when it is asked for.
How do we obey the command to write the words of the Mosaic law upon the “door-posts” of our house and upon our “gates”? The Mosaic law represents the moral and spiritual law, or Truth and right. We write these upon the doorposts by allowing nothing but what is true and right to enter and find permanent lodgment in our mind; and upon our “gates,” the passageway between self-consciousness and consciousness of others, by doing only what is right and true in our relations with them.
What does thought control accomplish for us when it is complete? Full spiritual consciousness. Sense consciousness with its limiting desires is shut out. “Then will Jehovah drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves.” Spiritual consciousness alone makes us equal to this gigantic task.
Transcribed by Lloyd Kinder on 02-01-2014
