XI.

(1) Therefore.--There is no break here in the original. "The Lord thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God."

And keep his charge.--Literally, keep his keeping, i.e., all that is to be kept in obedience to Him.

Alway.--Literally, all the days. (Comp. "I am with you all the days" in Matthew 28:20) Israel must not omit one day in keeping the charge of Jehovah, for "He that keepeth Israel will neither slumber nor sleep."

Verse 1. - His charge; what he has appointed to be observed and done (cf. Leviticus 8:35; Numbers 1:53); more fully explained by his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments.

11:1-7 Observe the connexion of these two; Thou shalt love the Lord, and keep his charge. Love will work in obedience, and that only is acceptable obedience which flows from a principle of love, 1Jo 5:3. Moses recounts some of the great and terrible works of God which their eyes had seen. What our eyes have seen, especially in our early days, should affect us, and make us better long afterwards.Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God,.... Because he is so great and glorious in himself, and because he had done such great and good things for them, the Israelites, particularly in the multiplication of them, the last thing mentioned:

and keep his charge; whatsoever the Lord had charged them to observe, even what follow:

and his statutes and his judgments, and his commandments, alway; all his laws, ceremonial, judicial, and moral; and that constantly and continually, all the days of their lives.