Deuteronomy 11:13–21: Edit history

Context

Deuteronomy is framed as a series of addresses delivered by Moses to the people on the plains of Moab before Israel crossed the Jordan. Chapter 11 concludes the long exhortation to love God and keep his commandments (chapters 5–11), which precedes the individual statutes (chapters 12–26). The immediately preceding verses, 10–12, contrast Egypt, where farming depended on irrigation from the river, with Canaan, a land watered by rain from heaven. Verses 13–21 build on this contrast, declaring that the early rain, which falls at the autumn sowing, and the latter rain, which falls before the spring harvest, depend on Israel's faithfulness to the covenant. Verses 18–20 repeat the wording of Deuteronomy 6:6–9 almost verbatim.

Interpretation

• Traditional Jewish reading: Together with Deuteronomy 6:4–9 and Numbers 15:37–41, this passage forms the second section of the Shema, which is recited morning and evening. Judaism observes verses 18 and 20 literally: parchments inscribed with this text are placed in tefillin (phylacteries), which are bound on the hand and forehead, and in the mezuzah, a small case affixed to the doorpost. The first section is sometimes described as an acceptance of God's sovereign rule, and this section as an acceptance of the commandments.
• Covenantal reading: Many Protestant commentaries read the promises of rain and harvest as covenant blessings and curses given to the community of Israel living in the land of Canaan. On this reading, the text is not a formula by which individual obedience yields immediate material blessing. Rather, it addresses whether the community as a whole is faithful to the covenant, and for Christians it applies as a principle for a life of loving and serving God.
• Faith-formation reading: Verse 19, "when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way," is read as a command for parents to pass on God's word to their children throughout the whole of daily life. Protestant churches generally do not regard the sign upon the hand or the writing on the doorposts as literal obligations but understand them as a call to inscribe the word on the heart and in daily conduct.

Debates and Issues

• Obedience and material blessing: Preaching in the prosperity theology tradition cites verses 13–15 as a promise that economic prosperity follows obedience and devotion. Critics argue that this takes the text out of context by transferring a covenant concerning Israel's land to matters of personal finance. Some hold that the passage should be read alongside Job, which addresses the suffering of the righteous, and Galatians 3:10–14, which teaches that Christ bore the curse of the law.
• Translation and text: In the Hebrew Masoretic Text, God speaks in the first person in verses 14–15 ("I will give…"). The Septuagint and the Samaritan Pentateuch are reported to use the third person. Among Korean translations, the Korean Revised Version and the New Korean Revised Version render the subject as "the LORD." In verse 13, the Korean Revised Version translates the Hebrew nephesh (life, soul, self) with a word meaning "nature" or "character," while the New Korean Revised Version renders it with a word meaning "mind" or "will."

In the Korean Church

In Korean Protestant churches, the passage is frequently cited, together with Deuteronomy 6, in sermons emphasizing family worship and the faith formation of children. The expression "the early rain and the latter rain," along with passages such as Joel 2:23–27, is also used in prayer and preaching as a metaphor for God's timely grace or for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Related Passages

• Deuteronomy 6:4–9
• Deuteronomy 28:13–15
• Deuteronomy 30:15–20
• Mark 12:28–34
• Ephesians 6:4