Deuteronomy 11:25, commentary and pictures

The promise was given as part of Moses' rehearsal to the people before they entered Canaan. It was conditional on diligently keeping all the commandments, loving the Lord, walking in all His ways, clinging to Him and remaining faithful to Him. Those who taught it this way also held that obedience, faithful love, and taking the promised land were the ground on which the promise belonged to Israel. When Israel obeyed, the Lord Himself would lay the fear of them and the dread of them upon all the land they entered and trod upon, so that no man or enemy could stand before them or withstand them. He would drive out all nations before them, even nations greater and mightier than the Canaanites, and every place where the soles of their feet trod would become theirs, from the wilderness and Lebanon to the River Euphrates and to the uttermost sea.

By placing Israel in Canaan God set them as a mighty breastwork to stay the tide of moral evil from flooding the world, and if faithful they were to go on conquering and to conquer. The verse belongs to God's setting before Israel a blessing if they obeyed the commandments and a curse if they turned aside to go after other gods, proving that God makes a decided difference between the obedient and the disobedient. The word was verified in disobedience when only two of the adults who left Egypt entered Canaan while the rest died in the wilderness. Israel's history showed that the Lord carried out what He promised, while disobedience brought destruction.

In David's reign Israel's expanded kingdom reached the extent of the promise that it would possess the land and be feared by the peoples around it, reaching the height of its greatness. The promise that every place they walked would belong to them was fulfilled in Solomon's extensive dominion and the security of Judah and Israel. The lessons of Deuteronomy 11, with Deuteronomy 8, are of the greatest importance to people today as verily as to Israel, with the same call to heed God's commands. The Lord will today vindicate His word in the same way if the leaders of His people depart from His commandments.