Debian vs SuSE

[Bill.Light at kp.org]

I am moving a working BIND from a SuSE box to a Debian (Etch) box.  I've 
tried scp, copy/paste and  touching a new file, typing from scratch ... 
all with the same result.
When I rndc reload or start, I start off with a string of errors
unknown option '$TTL'
unknown option 'Who'
unknown option 'Serial'

I've tried starting with a comment (semi-colon) and it eliminates all 
those errors, and then gives   syntax error near ';'

Is there some nuance between SuSE and Debian I am missing?