Deuteronomy 11:24, commentary and pictures

The promise was given in Moses' rehearsal to the people before they entered Canaan. It repeated the land promise first given to Abraham. Every place where the soles of their feet would tread was to become theirs, with their coast to extend from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river Euphrates even to the uttermost or western sea.

The gift of the ground they occupied was conditional on diligently keeping all God's commandments, loving the Lord, walking in all His ways, cleaving to Him and remaining loyal. It stood within a covenant setting of blessing for obedience, including life and prosperity, and a curse for disobedience and turning aside to go after other gods, marking the decided difference God makes between the obedient and the disobedient. If faithful, the Lord would drive out all nations before them, even nations greater and mightier than themselves, and would lay fear and dread of them upon all the land they trod, so that no man would be able to stand before them or against them.

The extent of that territorial promise was fulfilled under David, when Israel had become a mighty nation respected and feared by surrounding peoples. It was fulfilled during the reigns of David and Solomon, when Israel reached the height of its greatness. In Solomon's reign in particular Israel's dominion extended from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and the border of Egypt.

The word was also verified in disobedience, when all but two of the adults who left Egypt died in the wilderness and did not enter Canaan. Israel's history as a whole shows that disobedience brought destruction. The lessons of the eighth and eleventh chapters of Deuteronomy are of the greatest importance and are given to God's people today as verily as to Israel, so the words remain a warning that obedience matters to receiving God's blessing and God will vindicate His word today if leaders depart from His commandments.