but the land, whereunto ye are passing over to possess it, is a land of mountains and valleys, which drinketh water of the rain of heaven,
Israel is about to cross into a new country, and this verse describes it by contrast. The land ahead is nothing like Egypt: there people watered the fields by hand, here the rain comes down from heaven.
Egypt drew its water from its own river. Canaan had no such river to draw on. One writer draws out what that meant for daily life in each place.
What a vivid contrast between Egypt and Canaan! Egypt had no rain from heaven. It was all human effort there. It was not so in the Lord's land. There the human foot could do nothing, and there was no need. The blessed rain from heaven fell on it. The Lord Himself cared for it and watered it with the early and latter rain. The land of Egypt depended on its own resources. The land of Canaan depended wholly on God — on what came down from heaven. "My river is mine own," was the language of Egypt. "The river of God" was the hope of Canaan. The habit in Egypt was to water with the foot; the habit in Canaan was to look up to heaven.
The shape of the ground matters. A land of hills and valleys cannot be watered from a river, so its people must look up for rain. God chose such a land for a people who were to live in dependence on Him.
Egypt was the land of independence. Its river watered it, and the sources of that river were so far off that people could all but forget them. Israel's land was a land of mountains and valleys, drinking the water of the rain of heaven. It was a dependent land, and its dependence was obvious. Because it was cast on God in this way, it was the very land He chose for a people who were in the same way to depend on Himself, and so to know His gracious and continual care… Israel's mountains were like a constant prayer to God, and the dews of heaven settled on them.
The verse names valleys as well as hills. One writer sets it beside an earlier description of the same land.
When God spoke of His earthly people possessing the land to which He would bring them, He said that it was "a land of hills and valleys" (Deuteronomy 11:11); but He also spoke of "fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills" (Deuteronomy 8:7). So there is provision to refresh our souls, whatever our circumstances.
Everything hung on rain, so everything hung on the people's walk with the One who sends it. One writer traces what happened when that link broke.
Obedience was therefore the appointed means for giving the early and later rain. That rain was most needed if their blessing was to continue and be enjoyed. So came the needed warning to take care. Strange gods, and other things put in place of the Lord, His land, and His things, must have no place with them. If they did, judgment would follow. One special form of that judgment shut up the heaven and withheld the rain, so that blessing ceased.
Depending on rain was no hardship. It was the privilege, because God Himself did the watering.
How perfectly beautiful! Only think of God watering the ridges and settling the furrows! Think of His stooping down to do a farmer's work for His people! Yes, and delighting to do it! It was the joy of His heart to pour His sunbeams and His refreshing showers on the "hills and valleys" of His beloved people.
The two countries also picture two ways of living. One writer applies the promised land to what Christians have now.
The land of their inheritance was not like Egypt. Egypt depended on men's methods of irrigation, watered by "foot." Israel's land was a land of hills and valleys, dependent on rain from heaven (vs. 10-11). This pictures the spiritual inheritance of Christians today. They are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. That is unlike the earthly, material blessings of the people of the world. So we are dependent, not on our surrounding circumstances, but on the blessing of God from heaven.
- Contrast. Egypt's people watered their fields by hand from their river. Canaan had no such resource and had to take its water from above.
- Design. God chose this ground on purpose: a dependent land for a people who were to live in dependence, with that dependence written into the landscape.
- Gift. No foot could work up this water. It came down as rain, with God Himself doing the farmer's work and delighting in it.
- Condition. Obedience brought the rain. Turning to other gods shut the heaven and stopped the blessing.
- Reach. Hills and valleys mean supply at every level of life. The blessing is held in heaven, not in our circumstances.
a land which Jehovah thy God careth for; the eyes of Jehovah thy God are constantly upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.
Moses is describing the country Israel is about to enter, and he sets it side by side with the Egypt they left behind. The difference is in who supplies the water. That difference shapes how Israel must live.
A river fed Egypt, and the people guided its water with their own feet. Canaan had no such thing, and one commentator draws out what that meant for the two nations' habits.
What a vivid contrast between Egypt and Canaan! Egypt had no rain from heaven. It was all human effort there. The Lord's land was different. The human foot could do nothing there, and there was no need. The blessed rain from heaven fell on it. The Lord Himself cared for it and watered it with the early and latter rain. Egypt depended on its own resources. Canaan depended completely on God — on what came down from heaven. "My river is mine own," was the language of Egypt. "The river of God" was the hope of Canaan. The habit in Egypt was to water with the foot; the habit in Canaan was to look up to heaven.
The dependence was not a drawback God tolerated. It was the reason He chose that land for that people.
Egypt's river came from sources so far off that the people could practically forget all about them. Israel's land was different. It was a land of mountains and valleys, drinking the water of the rain of heaven. It was dependent by its very nature, and its dependence was plain to see. Cast upon God like this, it was the land He chose for a people who were to depend on Him in the same way, and so to know His gracious and continual care. Israel's mountains were like a constant prayer to God. The dews of heaven settled on them and brought down the rain the land constantly needed.
"Cares for" does not mean distant supervision. One writer dwells on how low God stoops to give this care.
How perfectly beautiful! Only think of God watering the ridges, and settling the furrows! Think of His stooping down to do the work of a farmer for His people! Yes, and delighting to do it! It was the joy of His heart to pour His sunbeams and His refreshing showers upon the "hills and valleys" of His beloved people.
The watching runs from the year's first day to its last. That is a comfort, but it cuts both ways: nothing escapes those eyes, including the need for correction.
Could those watchful eyes overlook their need? No, certainly not. But their need might be, sadly, of chastening, and He would give it. Israel's land might suffer where Egypt escaped… The presence of the Holy One with us must mean discipline. But it is a Father's discipline of the "son in whom He delights."
God promised the rain. But He tied it to how the people lived.
Obedience, then, was the appointed means for giving the early and later rain. That rain was what they most needed if their blessing was to continue and be enjoyed… So how important it was to obey in a way that matched the position and privileges God had given them. How important to remember the word of the Lord, trusting His promised care, crowned by the truth that the eyes of the Lord would always be on the land. Surely such a promise meant blessing would not fail, if the people lived up to their privileges.
Israel was later scattered and the land left desolate. Even so, one writer reads this verse as a promise that still stands over that ground.
If the everlasting love of God is still toward Israel, His eyes are still upon the Land and the Temple. The land may be desolate and trampled under foot by the Gentiles. But it is still "a land that the LORD your God cares for. The eyes of the LORD your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year" (Deut. 11:12). Again, the word came to Solomon: "I have consecrated this house that you have built, by putting My name there forever. My eyes and My heart will be there for all time" (1 Kings 9:3).
The picture reaches past a plot of ground. One writer asks where God's eyes rest now, and answers his own question.
I ask you tonight, what is the spot where God's eyes are always held? Where is it? Is it not the one spot where Jesus is? I know no other place on which His eye rests always except that. That, then, is the place He gives you and me for our home. He gives it to us to be the home of our hearts. The land that He cares for is the spot that holds His own affections.
- Dependence. Human effort watered Egypt. Rain from heaven watered Canaan. God chose a dependent land for a dependent people.
- Care. "Cares for" means God stooping to do a farmer's work for His people, and delighting to do it.
- Eyes. Continual watching supplies every need — and notices when the need is chastening.
- Obedience. God promised the rain, but obedience was the channel He appointed for it.
- Permanence. Those eyes have not moved. They are still on the land, and always on the one spot where Christ is.