◄ Deuteronomy 11:7 ►
For it is your own eyes that have seen every great work that the LORD has done.
Study Bible
For it is your own eyes
This phrase emphasizes personal witness and experience. In the Hebrew text, the word for "eyes" is "עֵינֵיכֶם" (einekhem), which underscores the direct and personal observation of the Israelites. The use of "your own eyes" serves as a reminder that the Israelites were not relying on second-hand accounts or hearsay; they were direct witnesses to God's mighty acts. This personal experience is crucial in the transmission of faith and obedience, as it calls the Israelites to remember and testify to what they have seen.

that have seen
The Hebrew verb "רָאוּ" (ra'u) means "to see" or "to perceive." This seeing is not just a physical act but involves understanding and recognizing the significance of what is observed. The Israelites' seeing is a call to acknowledge God's power and faithfulness. It is a reminder that their faith is grounded in real, historical events that they have personally witnessed, reinforcing the authenticity and reliability of their testimony.

every great work
The phrase "every great work" in Hebrew is "כָּל־מַעֲשֵׂה הַגָּדוֹל" (kol-ma'aseh ha-gadol). "Ma'aseh" refers to deeds or actions, and "gadol" means great or mighty. This highlights the comprehensive nature of God's actions, encompassing all the miraculous deeds He performed. The use of "every" indicates that nothing was left out; all of God's mighty works were witnessed by the Israelites. This serves to remind them of the breadth and depth of God's intervention in their history, from the plagues in Egypt to the parting of the Red Sea and beyond.

the LORD
The term "LORD" is translated from the Hebrew "יְהוָה" (YHWH), the personal name of God revealed to Moses. This name signifies God's eternal, self-existent nature and His covenant relationship with Israel. It is a reminder of His faithfulness and unchanging character. The use of "LORD" here emphasizes that it is not just any deity performing these works, but the one true God who has chosen Israel as His people and who acts on their behalf.

has done
The Hebrew verb "עָשָׂה" (asah) means "to do" or "to make." This verb underscores the active role of God in the history of Israel. It is not merely that God allowed these events to happen; He actively orchestrated them. This action-oriented view of God is central to the Israelite understanding of their relationship with Him. It reassures them of His ongoing involvement in their lives and His ability to accomplish His purposes. The phrase "has done" serves as a testament to God's sovereignty and His power to bring about His will in the world.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Moses
The speaker of Deuteronomy, Moses is addressing the Israelites, reminding them of their experiences and the works of God they have witnessed.

2. Israelites
The audience of Moses' speech, they are the chosen people of God who have been delivered from Egypt and are on the brink of entering the Promised Land.

3. The LORD (Yahweh)
The covenant God of Israel, who performed mighty works and miracles to deliver His people and guide them through the wilderness.

4. Egypt
The land from which the Israelites were delivered, representing bondage and oppression.

5. The Wilderness
The place of testing and divine provision where the Israelites wandered for 40 years.
Teaching Points
Remember God's Faithfulness
Reflect on the mighty works God has done in your life. Just as the Israelites were called to remember, we too should recall and testify to God's faithfulness.

Witness and Testimony
The Israelites were firsthand witnesses of God's power. As believers, we are called to share our testimonies and the gospel, bearing witness to God's work in our lives.

Obedience and Trust
Seeing God's works should lead to greater trust and obedience. Consider how witnessing God's faithfulness in the past can strengthen your faith in current challenges.

Generational Teaching
Like the Israelites, we are responsible for passing down the knowledge of God's works to the next generation, ensuring that His deeds are not forgotten.

Spiritual Vision
Pray for spiritual eyes to see God's hand in your daily life, recognizing His ongoing work and presence.
Bible Study Questions
1. How can recalling the works of God in your life strengthen your faith during difficult times?

2. In what ways can you bear witness to God's work in your life to those around you?

3. How does the memory of God's past faithfulness influence your obedience to His commands today?

4. What practical steps can you take to ensure that the next generation knows about God's mighty works?

5. How can you cultivate spiritual vision to recognize God's ongoing work in your life and the world around you?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Exodus 14
The crossing of the Red Sea is a significant event that the Israelites witnessed, showcasing God's power and deliverance.

Numbers 14
The rebellion at Kadesh Barnea, where the Israelites doubted God's promise, contrasts with the faith they are called to have in Deuteronomy 11:7.

Psalm 78
This psalm recounts the history of Israel, emphasizing the importance of remembering God's works and teaching them to future generations.

Hebrews 3
The New Testament warns against hardening hearts as the Israelites did, urging believers to remain faithful and obedient.
Sermons
Ocular Demonstrations of God's Nearness Increase Human ResponsibilityD. Davies Deuteronomy 11:1-7
Divine Judgments Upon Others, to Ensure Obedience in UsR.M. Edgar Deuteronomy 11:1-9
Obligations Arising from Personal ExperienceJ. Orr Deuteronomy 11:2-10, 18-22
People
Abiram, Canaanites, Dathan, Eliab, Moses, Pharaoh, Reuben
Places
Arabah, Beth-baal-peor, Egypt, Euphrates River, Gilgal, Jordan River, Lebanon, Moreh, Mount Ebal, Mount Gerizim, Red Sea
Topics
Acts, Seeing
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Deuteronomy 11:2-7

     5854   experience, of God
     8231   discipline, divine

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: 1856

The 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

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