Blessings & Cursings - Deuteronomy 11

Chapter 11 is very much a parallel and expansion of the consistent promise in the Book of Mormon, “if you keep my commandments, you shall prosper in the land.” Moses reminds the people of the miraculous ways in which God had preserved them previously. The IM implies that this might be because a lot of the people that Moses was speaking to at this point didn’t know about a lot the miracles that happened on their way out of Egypt. However, TB said that there were probably a lof of the people who were between the ages of 45 and 60 who were old enough to remember a lot of what happened in Egypt. Moses tells them of the “miracles, and his acts, which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land.”

One anecdote that I wanted to share was again, some video that I saw on Instagram that I thought was interesting. This video suggested that Moses, while living as a prince in Egypt as a child and young man, had been trained as a priest in Heliopolis, which was city that revolved around worship of the sun god. According to this video, Moses was trained in all the rituals and ceremonies and other aspects that went into being a priest for the sun god, who was the main god for Egypt at the time. The suggestion was that when Moses returned representing the God of Israel, and was confronted by the Egyptian priests, it was a battle of who’s god was stronger, and the God of Israel won. Like in Exodus 7:10-13 where Moses and Aaron throw their staffs down and they become snakes, then the other priests throw their own staffs down who become snakes as well, but them Aaron’s staff/snake eats the other snakes, thus winning this challenge. Moses returning to confront Pharaoh would not have just been a regular priest of some god challenging authority, but instead would have been a single man who had been trained in two separate ways of priesthood and one clearly being stronger than the other. And Pharaoh and the other priests would have known this, so it would have been a contrast in the power of each god. I googled it to see if this claim was true and it said, “While the Bible does not explicitly state Moses was trained as a priest, it confirms he was educated in ‘all the wisdom of the Egyptians.” It does indicate that there are some ancient traditions that “suggest Moses was a priest of Helipolis named Osarseph.” So an interesting theory, not necessarily going to hang my hat on it, but it would make sense, even if Moses wasn’t trained as a priest, he was raised as Egyptian royalty, and returned rejecting that identity and representing an unknown, and clearly more powerful, God.

So Moses’ reminder to the people of all the great miracles that were performed to bring them out of Egypt would have made sense because he was there for them and saw them first hand in a way that probably no one, except for maybe Aaron, would have been aware of. Not only did the miracles happen before they left Egypt, but Moses reminds them of what happened to the Egyptian army as they perused the Israelites, “he made the water of the Red sea to overflow them as they pursued after you.” In the last chapter, Moses told the people that God would win their battles for them with a consuming fire, but it appears that water would be another option as well.

This reminds me of the account of the Camp of Israel which was a militia led by Joseph Smith that went from Nauvoo to Missouri to defend the Saints down there. The google search says, “On June 19, 1834, a violent thunderstorm with hail and high winds destroyed an armed Missouri mob’s plans to attach Zion’s camp (Camp of Israel) at Fishing River. The storm swelled the river, preventing the mob’s attack, and was viewed by Joseph Smith as divine intervention. A mob leader admitted the storm saved the camp.” Additionally, I think there were several occurrences during the Revolutionary War where storms destroyed enemy ships and thwarted their plans. Just saying, fire has been an option and now water and the weather are options for God to assist and preserve His people as well. These are some of the ways that God will work in their favor if they are obedient to the commandments.

But if they refuse to keep the commandments, Moses has some examples of God’s consequences then, such as when those two guys in the tribe of Rueben were wicked, “how the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and al the substance that was in their possession, in the midst of Israel.” God will work miracles that way too, if necessary.

But that was what had happened in the past, God is making new promises now, specifically about the consequences of obedience and disobedience once they get into the promised land. Back in Egypt, it was hard to grow food and feed the livestock but in the promised land God will “give you the rain of your land in his due season… I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full.” God will not only fight and defeat their enemies, but he will give them the best land and make all the food grow easily for them to eat and drink as much as they want. This again reminds me of an Instagram video I just saw talking about the king of Israel going to kill the prophet Elisha during a drought and I will be very excited to get there when we do. But the video was basically saying that the drought and subsequent famine was due to the wickedness of the people and that the king wanted to kill Elisha because he knew that as God’s representative, Elisha could ask God to lift the curse and God would, so instead of recognizing his own fault in the current drought because of his own personal wickedness, he blamed the man who represented God.

A twisted thought process for sure, but this was a perfect example of the fulfillment of this promise. Just as a side note, in the video, and I’m not sure if this is true or not but I suspect that it is, the king dispatched the assassin to kill Elisha and then had a change of heart, realized his own wickedness and then ran to Elisha’s house to stop the assassination. He got there in time, repented to Elisha and Elisha promised that all the flour and barley in Israel would be plentiful the next day, and it was. Again, I might be misinterpreting things here because we haven’t gotten to that point yet, but I’ve been thinking a lot lately of just how much suffering God requires of us before relief and blessings and miracles come. I’ve spent my whole life believing that it was all suffering and that yes, God COULD deliver miracles, he just wouldn’t do it for me because his will was that I suffer and I’ll get those blessings in the eternities. I didn’t love that plan but I accepted it, but now I’m starting to see some movement in other ways, and starting to rethink that belief. Maybe God will work his hand in my life for good in ways that I couldn’t imagine. And it’s hard because there are so many people who have life worse than me, so why should my suffering be relieved when theirs isn’t but then I see people who have it a lot better than I do and I think “what makes them so special?” I guess the whole point is that who deserves what and who gets what isn’t up to me to decide and I need to just mind my own business and trust that the plan that I get will be what I need and will be in line with God’s will for my life.

These promises aren’t “If you’re obedient to my commandments then you will suffer for the entirety of this life and then in the next life it might be better for you.” That wasn’t the promise. The promise was “if you are obedient then I will bless you with an abundance so great, you won’t have room enough to receive it.” That’s the promise. They are promised that God will personally have their fields produce so much food that they “mayest eat and be full” and the same for their animals. God promises milk and honey and safety and beauty for ashes. The concept that maybe this life isn’t just about the constant misery, abuse, and suffering is a brand-new idea for me that has never occurred to me in my 40+ years, and it is interesting to think about.

The Israelites are told to “be not deceived” when the blessings come and turn to worship other gods, but to remember these promises and teach them to their children. Finally, Moses gives a blessing and a curse, one each on a very high mountain, “and ye shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments which I set before you this day.”