then I will provide rain for your land in season, the autumn and spring rains, that you may gather your grain, new wine, and oil. then I will provideThis phrase underscores the divine promise and sovereignty of God. The Hebrew root word here is "נָתַן" (natan), meaning "to give" or "to provide." It reflects God's active role in the lives of His people, emphasizing His willingness to bless and sustain them. This promise is conditional upon Israel's obedience, highlighting the covenant relationship between God and His people. Historically, this reflects the ancient Near Eastern understanding of deities as providers of agricultural fertility, but uniquely, it is the one true God who offers this provision. rain for your land
Rain is a symbol of blessing and life in the arid climate of the Near East. The Hebrew word for rain is "מָטָר" (matar), which signifies not just physical rain but also spiritual blessings. In the context of Deuteronomy, rain is a tangible sign of God's favor and a critical component for agricultural success. The land of Israel depended heavily on seasonal rains, making this promise both practical and deeply spiritual, as it assured the Israelites of God's ongoing care and provision. in season
The phrase "in season" indicates the perfect timing of God's provision. The Hebrew word "בְּעִתּוֹ" (be'itto) means "at its appointed time." This reflects God's omniscience and perfect timing, providing exactly what is needed when it is needed. It reassures believers that God is never late and His timing is always perfect, encouraging trust in His divine schedule. the autumn and spring rains
These rains, known as the "yoreh" (early rain) and "malkosh" (latter rain), were crucial for the agricultural cycle in Israel. The autumn rains softened the ground for plowing and sowing, while the spring rains were essential for the maturation of crops. This phrase highlights God's provision throughout the entire agricultural process, from planting to harvest. It also serves as a metaphor for spiritual renewal and growth, reminding believers of the continual need for God's presence and blessing in their lives. that you may gather
The act of gathering implies a successful harvest, a direct result of God's provision. The Hebrew root "אָסַף" (asaf) means "to gather" or "to collect," indicating the completion of a cycle of growth and the fulfillment of God's promise. This gathering is not just physical but also spiritual, symbolizing the gathering of blessings and the fruits of obedience. your grain, new wine, and oil
These three products were staples of the ancient Israelite diet and economy. Grain represents sustenance and daily provision, new wine symbolizes joy and celebration, and oil signifies anointing and healing. Together, they encompass the fullness of God's provision for His people. In a broader spiritual sense, they represent the abundance of life that God offers to those who follow Him, pointing to the holistic nature of His blessings—physical, emotional, and spiritual. Historically, these products were also used in religious offerings, underscoring the connection between God's provision and worship. Persons / Places / Events 1. MosesThe speaker of Deuteronomy, delivering God's laws and promises to the Israelites. 2. IsraelitesThe audience receiving God's covenant and instructions through Moses. 3. Promised LandThe land of Canaan, which God promised to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 4. Autumn and Spring RainsSeasonal rains crucial for agriculture in the ancient Near East, symbolizing God's provision. 5. CovenantThe agreement between God and Israel, involving blessings for obedience and consequences for disobedience. Teaching Points God's ProvisionRecognize that God is the ultimate provider of all our needs, both physical and spiritual. Just as He provided rain for the Israelites, He provides for us today. Obedience and BlessingUnderstand that God's blessings are often contingent upon our obedience to His commands. Reflect on areas of life where obedience can lead to experiencing God's provision more fully. Seasonal FaithfulnessJust as the rains come in their seasons, trust in God's timing and faithfulness in your life. He knows the right time to bring blessings and growth. Gratitude for God's GiftsCultivate a heart of gratitude for the "grain, new wine, and oil" in your life—symbolic of the various blessings God provides. Spiritual HarvestConsider how the physical harvest parallels the spiritual harvest in our lives. Are we sowing seeds of faith and obedience to reap a bountiful spiritual harvest? Bible Study Questions 1. How does understanding the agricultural context of Deuteronomy 11:14 enhance our appreciation of God's provision? 2. In what ways can we apply the principle of obedience leading to blessing in our modern lives? 3. How can we cultivate patience and trust in God's timing, as illustrated by the seasonal rains? 4. What are some practical ways to express gratitude for God's provision in our daily lives? 5. How can we ensure that we are sowing seeds of faith and obedience to experience a spiritual harvest? Connections to Other Scriptures Leviticus 26:4This verse also speaks of God providing rain in its season as a blessing for obedience, reinforcing the covenant theme. Jeremiah 5:24Highlights the importance of recognizing God's provision of rain as a sign of His faithfulness. James 5:7Uses the metaphor of rain to encourage patience and trust in God's timing, drawing a parallel to the agricultural cycles mentioned 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 Autumn, Corn, Due, Early, Former, Gather, Gathered, Grain, Hast, Late, Later, Latter, Mayest, Oil, Rain, Rains, Season, Spring, Sprinkling, WineDictionary of Bible Themes Deuteronomy 11:14 4412 binding corn
4488 oil
4844 rain
4903 time
7968 spiritual gifts, nature of Deuteronomy 11:8-17 7258 promised land, early history Deuteronomy 11:10-15 4854 weather, God's sovereignty
8472 respect, for environment Deuteronomy 11:11-15 4978 year Deuteronomy 11:13-14 4544 wine Deuteronomy 11:13-15 4208 land, divine responsibility
8630 worship, results Deuteronomy 11:13-21 7410 phylactery Deuteronomy 11:14-15 1330 God, the provider
5225 barrenness 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 11:14 NIVDeuteronomy 11:14 NLTDeuteronomy 11:14 ESVDeuteronomy 11:14 NASBDeuteronomy 11:14 KJV
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