Deuteronomy 11:22-3222For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him; 23Then will the Lord drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves. 24Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be. 25There shall no man be able to stand before you: for the Lord your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you. 26Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; 27A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day: 28And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known. 29And it shall come to pass, when the Lord thy God hath brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal. 30Are they not on the other side Jordan, by the way where the sun goeth down, in the land of the Canaanites, which dwell in the champaign over against Gilgal, beside the plains of Moreh? 31For ye shall pass over Jordan to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God giveth you, and ye shall possess it, and dwell therein. 32And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments which I set before you this day. (Deuteronomy 11:22‑32)
MOSES goes on to tell the people that if they loved the Lord and walked in His ways, then He would drive out all the nations from before them, and they would possess nations greater and mightier than themselves.
"Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours; from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be." v. 24.
Thus the utmost bounds of the land promised is set before them, not merely the area which they actually possessed, but from the Mediterranean Sea as far east as the Euphrates itself. In the days of David and Solomon Israel held sway over the peoples and lands that filled these countries, but it was not for long. In the coming day, when the Christ their King returns. Israel will yet have all this land in possession including the lands of Edom, Moab and Ammon.
The Lord told them that every bit of the land their feet trod upon should be theirs forever, but they had to fight every step of the way. If their feet trod on a rich field or vineyard, it was a proof that they had put out the enemy that used to live there. But only upon that which the soles of their feet would tread could they say they really possessed.
And so it is with us; we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ" (Eph. 1:33Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: (Ephesians 1:3)), but we only possess in reality the truth in which we walk. This is important for us to remember, for though we are truly rich in Christ, we can walk through the world enjoying very little of our heavenly portion, to our own shame and loss.
And now Moses says, "I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; a blessing if you obey, and a curse if you disobey."
There were two mountains on the other side of the Jordan. Gerizim and Ebal, and they exactly faced each other north and south. Gerizim was to represent blessing, and Ebal the curse. We are told that after Ezra rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem, a Samaritan temple was built on mount Gerizim, where they had priests and sacrifices. No doubt this was the cause of the great enmity between the Jews and the Samaritans. Later the Samaritan temple was destroyed, but the people still clung to the spot as a right place of worship. The Samaritan woman in the 4th of John said to the Lord, "Our fathers worshipped in this mountain" (John 4:2020Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. (John 4:20)). We are told also that Ebal was a wild place frequented by jackals and other wild animals.
Joshua in his day, in obedience to the word of the Lord, read the blessings to the people from mount Gerizim while the cursings of the law were read from mount Ebal (Josh. 8:33-3533And all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their judges, stood on this side the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, as well the stranger, as he that was born among them; half of them over against mount Gerizim, and half of them over against mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel. 34And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law. 35There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them. (Joshua 8:33‑35)). There was only a narrow valley between, so he could be distinctly heard. In recent years a Christian traveler and his friend tells of how they stationed themselves, one on each mount, and then read the blessings and the curses, and were distinctly heard by all present.
It is little wonder that Israel finally lost the land altogether, for if blessing is upon the ground of man's faithfulness, all is lost. Oh how good to turn to the Lord Jesus, the "faithful and true witness" and see His finished work on Calvary as the true ground of blessing. Through this Israel will possess the land again in a future day, and through that same blessed work we also shall have our place in the eternal glory. Salvation is all of grace.
Messages of the Love of God 3/9/1975