Are not these mountains across the Jordan, west of the road toward the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah opposite Gilgal near the Oak of Moreh? As you knowThis phrase suggests familiarity and prior knowledge among the Israelites. It implies that the people have been previously informed or have a cultural understanding of the geographical and historical context. The Hebrew root here is "yada," which means to know or to perceive. This knowledge is not just intellectual but experiential, indicating that the Israelites have a deep, lived understanding of the land and its significance. they are across the Jordan
The Jordan River is a significant geographical and spiritual boundary for the Israelites. Crossing the Jordan symbolizes entering into the Promised Land, a fulfillment of God's covenant with Abraham. The Hebrew word "Yarden" means "descender," reflecting the river's flow from the highlands to the Dead Sea. This crossing is a pivotal moment in Israel's history, marking a transition from wandering to settling. west of the road
This phrase provides a specific geographical marker, indicating the location relative to a known path. The "road" likely refers to the ancient trade routes that crisscrossed the region, such as the King's Highway. These roads were vital for commerce and communication, and their mention underscores the strategic importance of the land. in the land of the Canaanites
The Canaanites were the original inhabitants of the land promised to the Israelites. The term "Canaanite" is derived from the Hebrew "Kena‘ani," which can mean "merchant" or "trader," reflecting their role in ancient trade networks. The Canaanites' presence in the land represents both a challenge and an opportunity for the Israelites to trust in God's promise and provision. who live in the Arabah
The Arabah is a desert region stretching from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. The Hebrew word "Aravah" means "desolate" or "dry area," highlighting the harshness of the terrain. Despite its arid conditions, the Arabah was a significant area for trade and travel, and its mention here emphasizes the breadth of the land God is giving to Israel. opposite Gilgal
Gilgal holds historical and spiritual significance as the first campsite of the Israelites after crossing the Jordan. The Hebrew "Gilgal" means "circle" or "rolling," possibly referring to the circle of stones set up as a memorial (Joshua 4:20-24). Gilgal is a place of remembrance and renewal, where the Israelites reaffirmed their covenant with God. beside the oaks of Moreh
The "oaks of Moreh" are significant as a place of divine revelation. The Hebrew "Elon Moreh" can be translated as "teacher's oak" or "oak of instruction," suggesting a place where God imparts wisdom and guidance. This location is associated with Abraham, who built an altar there (Genesis 12:6-7), symbolizing continuity in God's promises from Abraham to the Israelites. Persons / Places / Events 1. Jordan RiverA significant geographical landmark for the Israelites, representing the boundary they must cross to enter the Promised Land. 2. CanaanitesThe inhabitants of the land that God promised to the Israelites. They represent the challenges and obstacles the Israelites must overcome. 3. ArabahA desert region that stretches from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba, indicating the wilderness the Israelites have traversed. 4. GilgalA location near Jericho, significant as the first campsite of the Israelites after crossing the Jordan River. 5. Oaks of MorehA landmark associated with divine revelation, as it is where God appeared to Abraham in Genesis. Teaching Points The Significance of LandmarksLandmarks in our spiritual journey serve as reminders of God's promises and faithfulness. Just as the Israelites had physical landmarks, we have spiritual milestones that remind us of God's work in our lives. Facing Challenges with FaithThe presence of the Canaanites symbolizes the challenges we face in our spiritual journey. Like the Israelites, we are called to trust in God's promises and power to overcome obstacles. The Importance of ObedienceThe Israelites' journey to the Promised Land required obedience to God's commands. Our spiritual journey also requires us to follow God's guidance and live according to His Word. God's Faithfulness to His PromisesThe journey to the Promised Land is a testament to God's faithfulness. We can trust that God will fulfill His promises in our lives, just as He did for the Israelites. Bible Study Questions 1. How do the geographical landmarks mentioned in Deuteronomy 11:30 serve as reminders of God's promises in your own life? 2. What challenges or "Canaanites" are you currently facing, and how can you apply faith to overcome them? 3. In what ways can you ensure that you are obedient to God's guidance in your spiritual journey? 4. How does the account of the Israelites crossing the Jordan River inspire you to trust in God's faithfulness? 5. Reflect on a time when God fulfilled a promise in your life. How can this encourage you in your current circumstances? Connections to Other Scriptures Genesis 12The Oaks of Moreh are first mentioned in the context of God's promise to Abraham, connecting the Israelites' journey to the fulfillment of God's covenant. Joshua 4The crossing of the Jordan River is detailed, emphasizing the transition from wilderness wandering to entering the Promised Land. Judges 7The region of Gilgal is mentioned in the context of Israel's military campaigns, highlighting its strategic importance. 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 Across, Arabah, Aren't, Behind, Beside, Beyond, Canaanite, Canaanites, Champaign, Dwell, Dwelling, Gilgal, Holy, Jordan, Moreh, Oak, Oaks, Opposite, Over-against, Plain, Plains, Road, Setting, Sunset, Terebinths, Territory, Tree, Trees, Vicinity, WestDictionary of Bible Themes Deuteronomy 11:30 4284 sun
4528 trees
4857 west 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 11:30 NIVDeuteronomy 11:30 NLTDeuteronomy 11:30 ESVDeuteronomy 11:30 NASBDeuteronomy 11:30 KJV
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