You shall therefore keep every commandment I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and possess the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, You shall therefore keep every commandment I am giving you todayThis phrase emphasizes the importance of obedience to God's commandments. In the context of Deuteronomy, Moses is reiterating the law to the Israelites before they enter the Promised Land. The use of "every commandment" underscores the comprehensive nature of the law, which covers moral, ceremonial, and civil aspects of life. The phrase "I am giving you today" highlights the immediacy and relevance of the commandments, as they are being delivered directly from God through Moses. This reflects the covenant relationship between God and Israel, where obedience is a response to God's grace and a condition for receiving His blessings. so that you may have the strength
Obedience to God's commandments is linked to receiving strength. This strength is not merely physical but also spiritual and moral, enabling the Israelites to face the challenges ahead. The concept of strength in the biblical context often involves reliance on God's power rather than human ability. This is seen in other scriptures, such as Isaiah 40:31, where those who hope in the Lord renew their strength. The strength provided by God is essential for the Israelites to fulfill their divine mission. to go in and possess the land
The land refers to Canaan, the Promised Land, which God swore to give to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Possessing the land involves both a physical conquest and a spiritual inheritance. The act of going in and possessing signifies taking hold of God's promises through faith and obedience. This is a recurring theme in the Old Testament, where the land is a symbol of God's faithfulness and the fulfillment of His promises. The conquest of Canaan is also a type of the spiritual victory believers have in Christ, as seen in the New Testament. that you are crossing the Jordan to possess
The Jordan River serves as a geographical and symbolic boundary between the wilderness and the Promised Land. Crossing the Jordan represents a transition from the old life of wandering to a new life of settlement and blessing. This event is significant in Israel's history, marking the fulfillment of God's promise to bring them into a land flowing with milk and honey. The crossing of the Jordan is also a type of baptism and spiritual renewal, as seen in the New Testament with John the Baptist's ministry at the Jordan River. The act of possessing the land is a call to faith and action, trusting in God's provision and guidance. Persons / Places / Events 1. MosesThe leader of the Israelites who is delivering God's commandments to the people. He is the primary speaker in Deuteronomy, conveying God's laws and instructions. 2. IsraelitesThe chosen people of God, who are being prepared to enter the Promised Land. They are the recipients of the commandments and instructions given by Moses. 3. The Promised LandThe land of Canaan, which God promised to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It represents a place of rest and blessing for the Israelites. 4. The Jordan RiverA significant geographical boundary that the Israelites must cross to enter the Promised Land. It symbolizes a transition from the wilderness to the fulfillment of God's promise. 5. God's CommandmentsThe laws and instructions given by God through Moses, which the Israelites are commanded to obey in order to receive God's blessings and strength. Teaching Points Obedience as a Source of StrengthObedience to God's commandments is not just a duty but a source of spiritual strength. By aligning our lives with God's will, we are empowered to face challenges and fulfill our God-given purposes. The Importance of PreparationJust as the Israelites needed to prepare to enter the Promised Land, we must prepare our hearts and minds to receive God's promises. This involves studying His Word and applying it to our lives. Faith and ActionFaith in God's promises must be accompanied by action. The Israelites were called to actively possess the land, just as we are called to actively live out our faith. The Role of God's Word in Our LivesGod's Word is a guide for living a life that is pleasing to Him. Regular engagement with Scripture helps us to understand His will and equips us to follow His commands. Bible Study Questions 1. How does obedience to God's commandments provide strength in your personal life, and what specific areas do you feel called to strengthen through obedience? 2. In what ways can you prepare yourself spiritually to "possess the land" or fulfill the promises God has for you? 3. How does the crossing of the Jordan River symbolize transitions in your own spiritual journey, and what steps can you take to move forward in faith? 4. Reflect on a time when acting on God's Word brought about a positive change in your life. How can this experience encourage you to be a doer of the Word? 5. How can you incorporate regular study and application of God's Word into your daily routine to ensure you are living in alignment with His will? Connections to Other Scriptures Joshua 1:6-9This passage emphasizes the importance of strength and courage, as well as adherence to God's law, for success in possessing the land. Psalm 119:1-2Highlights the blessings that come from walking in the law of the Lord and keeping His testimonies. James 1:22-25Encourages believers to be doers of the word, not just hearers, which aligns with the call to obey God's commandments in Deuteronomy. People Abiram, Canaanites, Dathan, Eliab, Moses, Pharaoh, ReubenPlaces Arabah, Beth-baal-peor, Egypt, Euphrates River, Gilgal, Jordan River, Lebanon, Moreh, Mount Ebal, Mount Gerizim, Red SeaTopics Command, Commanding, Commandment, Commandments, Commands, Cross, Crossing, Enter, Giving, Heritage, Jordan, Kept, Orders, Pass, Passing, Possess, Possessed, Possession, Strength, Strong, To-day, WhitherDictionary of Bible Themes Deuteronomy 11:8-9 4404 food Deuteronomy 11:8-12 1335 blessing
4209 land, spiritual aspects Deuteronomy 11:8-17 7258 promised land, early history Library Canaan on Earth
Many of you, my dear hearers, are really come out of Egypt; but you are still wandering about in the wilderness. "We that have believed do enter into rest;" but you, though you have eaten of Jesus, have not so believed on him as to have entered into the Canaan of rest. You are the Lord's people, but you have not come into the Canaan of assured faith, confidence, and hope, where we wrestle no longer with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus--when …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 2: 1856The God of the Rain
(Fifth Sunday after Easter.) DEUT. xi. 11, 12. The land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven. A land which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year, even unto the end of the year. I told you, when I spoke of the earthquakes of the Holy Land, that it seems as if God had meant specially to train that strange people the Jews, by putting them into a country where they …
Charles Kingsley—The Gospel of the Pentateuch Gilgal, in Deuteronomy 11:30 what the Place Was.
That which is said by Moses, that "Gerizim and Ebal were over-against Gilgal," Deuteronomy 11:30, is so obscure, that it is rendered into contrary significations by interpreters. Some take it in that sense, as if it were near to Gilgal: some far off from Gilgal: the Targumists read, "before Gilgal": while, as I think, they do not touch the difficulty; which lies not so much in the signification of the word Mul, as in the ambiguity of the word Gilgal. These do all seem to understand that Gilgal which …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica Josiah, a Pattern for the Ignorant.
"Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before Me; I also have heard thee, saith the Lord. Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place."--2 Kings …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII The Blessings of Noah Upon Shem and Japheth. (Gen. Ix. 18-27. )
Ver. 20. "And Noah began and became an husbandman, and planted vineyards."--This does not imply that Noah was the first who began to till the ground, and, more especially, to cultivate the vine; for Cain, too, was a tiller of the ground, Gen. iv. 2. The sense rather is, that Noah, after the flood, again took up this calling. Moreover, the remark has not an independent import; it serves only to prepare the way for the communication of the subsequent account of Noah's drunkenness. By this remark, …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament Subjects of Study. Home Education in Israel; Female Education. Elementary Schools, Schoolmasters, and School Arrangements.
If a faithful picture of society in ancient Greece or Rome were to be presented to view, it is not easy to believe that even they who now most oppose the Bible could wish their aims success. For this, at any rate, may be asserted, without fear of gainsaying, that no other religion than that of the Bible has proved competent to control an advanced, or even an advancing, state of civilisation. Every other bound has been successively passed and submerged by the rising tide; how deep only the student …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life In the Fifteenth Year of Tiberius Cæsar and under the Pontificate of Annas and Caiaphas - a Voice in the Wilderness
THERE is something grand, even awful, in the almost absolute silence which lies upon the thirty years between the Birth and the first Messianic Manifestation of Jesus. In a narrative like that of the Gospels, this must have been designed; and, if so, affords presumptive evidence of the authenticity of what follows, and is intended to teach, that what had preceded concerned only the inner History of Jesus, and the preparation of the Christ. At last that solemn silence was broken by an appearance, …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah The Worship of the Synagogue
One of the most difficult questions in Jewish history is that connected with the existence of a synagogue within the Temple. That such a "synagogue" existed, and that its meeting-place was in "the hall of hewn stones," at the south-eastern angle of the court of the priest, cannot be called in question, in face of the clear testimony of contemporary witnesses. Considering that "the hall of hew stones" was also the meeting-place for the great Sanhedrim, and that not only legal decisions, but lectures …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life Among the People, and with the Pharisees
It would have been difficult to proceed far either in Galilee or in Judaea without coming into contact with an altogether peculiar and striking individuality, differing from all around, and which would at once arrest attention. This was the Pharisee. Courted or feared, shunned or flattered, reverently looked up to or laughed at, he was equally a power everywhere, both ecclesiastically and politically, as belonging to the most influential, the most zealous, and the most closely-connected religions …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life Covenanting Confers Obligation.
As it has been shown that all duty, and that alone, ought to be vowed to God in covenant, it is manifest that what is lawfully engaged to in swearing by the name of God is enjoined in the moral law, and, because of the authority of that law, ought to be performed as a duty. But it is now to be proved that what is promised to God by vow or oath, ought to be performed also because of the act of Covenanting. The performance of that exercise is commanded, and the same law which enjoins that the duties …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting The Old Testament Canon from Its Beginning to Its Close.
The first important part of the Old Testament put together as a whole was the Pentateuch, or rather, the five books of Moses and Joshua. This was preceded by smaller documents, which one or more redactors embodied in it. The earliest things committed to writing were probably the ten words proceeding from Moses himself, afterwards enlarged into the ten commandments which exist at present in two recensions (Exod. xx., Deut. v.) It is true that we have the oldest form of the decalogue from the Jehovist …
Samuel Davidson—The Canon of the Bible Deuteronomy
Owing to the comparatively loose nature of the connection between consecutive passages in the legislative section, it is difficult to present an adequate summary of the book of Deuteronomy. In the first section, i.-iv. 40, Moses, after reviewing the recent history of the people, and showing how it reveals Jehovah's love for Israel, earnestly urges upon them the duty of keeping His laws, reminding them of His spirituality and absoluteness. Then follows the appointment, iv. 41-43--here irrelevant (cf. …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Deuteronomy 11:8 NIVDeuteronomy 11:8 NLTDeuteronomy 11:8 ESVDeuteronomy 11:8 NASBDeuteronomy 11:8 KJV
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