It is a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning to the end of the year. It is a landThe phrase "It is a land" refers to the Promised Land, Canaan, which God had promised to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In Hebrew, the word for "land" is "eretz," which can mean earth, land, or country. This land is not just any land; it is a specific, divinely chosen place set apart for God's people. Historically, Canaan was a fertile and strategic region, a land flowing with milk and honey, symbolizing abundance and divine provision. the LORD your God
This phrase emphasizes the covenant relationship between God and Israel. The Hebrew name for God here is "Yahweh," which signifies His eternal, self-existent nature. "Your God" personalizes this relationship, indicating that Yahweh is not a distant deity but one who is intimately involved with His people. This covenant relationship is central to the identity of Israel as God's chosen people. cares for
The Hebrew word used here is "darash," which means to seek, inquire, or care for. This indicates God's active involvement and concern for the land. It is not merely a passive observation but an ongoing, attentive care. This divine care assures the Israelites of God's provision and protection, reinforcing their trust in Him. the eyes of the LORD your God
This anthropomorphic expression conveys God's omniscience and vigilance. In the ancient Near Eastern context, eyes symbolize watchfulness and protection. God's eyes being upon the land signifies His constant awareness and supervision, ensuring that His purposes for the land and His people are fulfilled. are always upon it
The phrase "are always upon it" underscores the continuous and unceasing nature of God's attention. Unlike human oversight, which can be sporadic or limited, God's watchfulness is perpetual. This assurance of God's constant presence is a source of comfort and security for the Israelites. from the beginning of the year to the end of the year
This expression highlights the completeness and consistency of God's care. In the Hebrew calendar, the year is marked by agricultural cycles, and God's provision is seen in the regularity of seasons and harvests. This phrase reassures the Israelites that God's faithfulness is not limited to certain times but extends throughout the entire year, encompassing all aspects of life and sustenance. Persons / Places / Events 1. The LORD (Yahweh)The covenant-keeping God of Israel, who is actively involved in the care and oversight of the Promised Land. 2. The Land (Canaan)The Promised Land that God swore to give to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is described as a land flowing with milk and honey. 3. IsraelitesThe chosen people of God, who are being prepared to enter and possess the land under the leadership of Moses. 4. MosesThe prophet and leader of the Israelites, delivering God's commandments and promises to the people. 5. The Promised Land's Agricultural CycleThe verse references the agricultural cycle, emphasizing God's provision and care throughout the year. Teaching Points God's Sovereign CareJust as God watches over the land, He watches over our lives. We can trust in His continual care and provision. Faithfulness in God's PromisesThe promise of the land to the Israelites is a testament to God's faithfulness. We can rely on His promises in our own lives. Dependence on GodThe agricultural cycle of the land depended on God's provision. Similarly, we should depend on God for our daily needs. Spiritual VigilanceAs God's eyes are continually on the land, we should be vigilant in our spiritual walk, knowing that God is always watching over us. Year-Round CommitmentGod's care from the beginning to the end of the year encourages us to maintain our commitment to Him throughout all seasons of life. Bible Study Questions 1. How does understanding God's care for the land of Israel enhance your trust in His care for your personal life? 2. In what ways can you see God's faithfulness in your life, similar to His faithfulness in fulfilling His promise of the land to the Israelites? 3. How can you cultivate a deeper dependence on God for your daily needs, as the Israelites depended on Him for the land's productivity? 4. What steps can you take to remain spiritually vigilant, knowing that God's eyes are continually on you? 5. How can you apply the concept of year-round commitment to God in your personal spiritual journey, and what scriptures support this commitment? Connections to Other Scriptures Genesis 12God's promise to Abraham about the land, establishing the foundation for the Israelites' inheritance. Psalm 121The theme of God's watchful care and protection, similar to His continual oversight of the land. Matthew 6Jesus' teaching on God's provision, paralleling the assurance of God's care for the land and His people. Hebrews 4The concept of entering God's rest, which can be seen as a spiritual parallel to entering the Promised Land. 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 Always, Beginning, Cared, Cares, Careth, Constantly, Continually, Latter, SearchingDictionary of Bible Themes Deuteronomy 11:12 1210 God, human descriptions
1255 face of God
1330 God, the provider
5149 eyes
8491 watchfulness, divine Deuteronomy 11:8-12 1335 blessing Deuteronomy 11:8-17 7258 promised land, early history Deuteronomy 11:10-12 5704 inheritance, material Deuteronomy 11:10-15 4854 weather, God's sovereignty
8472 respect, for environment Deuteronomy 11:11-15 4978 year 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 11:12 NIVDeuteronomy 11:12 NLTDeuteronomy 11:12 ESVDeuteronomy 11:12 NASBDeuteronomy 11:12 KJV
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