Deuteronomy 9:1
Hear, O Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven, Hear, O Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven,
The call to hear belongs to the instruction of chapters 9-12 that Moses was charged to repeat to the people, and he did so so that no one in Israel was left ignorant of this duty. It addresses Israel as having entered Canaan but not yet having subdued it, facing what to human appearance must be a long and difficult struggle to gain possession of the land. The nations to be possessed, described as greater and mightier than Israel, were a powerful people standing ready to oppose invasion, bound together by fear of a common danger, with great advantage from horses and iron battle-chariots, knowledge of the country, and training in war.
The cities described as great and fenced to heaven were the fortresses guarding the country. In that situation Israel could hope for success in the coming conflict only in assurance of a strength not its own. The same requirement rests on each person today to learn the importance of these lessons, to live by every word of God, and to express these heavenly principles in all that is done and said.