And thou shalt hear, Israel, and take heed to do [them]; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase greatly, as Jehovah the God of thy fathers hath said unto thee, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
Read Full Chapter →Commentary for this Verse
Moses speaks on the plains of Moab, just before Israel crosses into the land. His charge comes down to one call: listen, then act. The nation's welfare and growth hang on that response, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
Hearing that becomes doing
The verse pairs hearing with doing. One writer sees that pairing running through the whole book.
Here, right in front of us, is the special mark of the whole book of Deuteronomy. "Hear," and "do"; that you may "live" and "possess." This is a universal and abiding principle. It was true for Israel, and it is true for us. The path of life, and the true secret of possession, is simple obedience to God's holy commandments. God has given us His word, not to speculate on it, or discuss it, but that we may obey it.
Another writer notes that this order of hearing and doing controls the promise attached to it.
They were to listen and to do. Hearing and doing stand in the foreground of this section. The result of obedience is life and possession of the land. "That you may live" does not mean the possession of eternal life, but a long earthly life in the promised land.
The terms of staying in the land
The verse hangs Israel's welfare on obedience. Commentators tie it to enjoying what God had already sworn to give.
Moses puts obedience before them again. That is the great aim of this book: Israel is placed under the condition of obedience if they are to keep enjoying the promises. He reminds them that in this way they would live long in the land they were going in to take.
The condition shapes what Israel would enjoy. It does not touch the promise God swore to their fathers.
Whether they obeyed or not, God will keep that covenant made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the end. It is unconditional. Yet if Israel had obeyed God, they would have reaped the benefits of the covenant in the land. As long as they obeyed, they would never be put out of it.
What "it may go well with you" covers
The promise here is national and earthly. One writer, working through a similar promise later in the book, marks its limits.
It is merely national. It has nothing to do with the soul in the sight of God. This is not what a poor soul wants. It in no way meets a sense of guilt or a dread of judgment. The sinner needs something which will stand for ever. He wants what will be in heaven, and not merely in the field or in the city. He wants acceptance for himself with God.
Christians should therefore not read this verse as a formula for prosperity.
Israel had the promise of earthly blessings if they were to keep the law faithfully (Deut. 6:3, 7:13). We as children of God have no promise of material blessing or prosperity. In fact, we have no promise of spiritual blessings either. Because you are no longer promised something you already have. As Christians, we are already blessed with every spiritual blessing!
Milk and honey
The phrase describes a real country. One writer traces both what it was and what it will be.
He declared His purpose to deliver His people from the slavery of Egypt and bring them into a land "flowing with milk and honey." This is what Palestine was, as the spies confirmed in Numbers 13:27. It is what the land will be in a coming day, though for centuries it has lain desolate. The blessings of that land were earthly, but they came from the hand of God. They were not won by irrigation and hard work, as they were in Egypt.
Some also read the two foods as a picture for believers today.
Milk speaks of the Word of God (1 Peter 2:2). Honey symbolizes the ministry of the Word of God (Song 4:11) — the sweetness believers have gathered from the Word and pass on to others.
A call they repeated but did not obey
Israel boasted in this call, but did not listen.
Jehovah kept claiming their attention. When they became the keepers of the divine law, He introduced His great declarations with those well-known words they boasted in, though the boast was empty: "Hear, O Israel" (Deut. 5:1; 6:3-4; 9:1; 20:3). But Israel was deaf to all the revelations made... They had a separate and favoured position given them as a nation. Yet they completely failed to use the privileges and opportunities given them.
Summary
- Hear — the verse opens a chain that runs through Deuteronomy: hear, do, live, possess. God gave His word to be obeyed, not discussed.
- Do — obedience was the condition for going on enjoying the promises. God's covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob stands whatever Israel does.
- Well — "that it may go well with you" is national and earthly welfare. It never answered the guilt of a soul before God.
- Multiply — God held out increase in the land as Israel's reward. Christians have no such material promise, because every spiritual blessing is already theirs.
- Land — milk and honey came from God's hand, not from hard work in the fields. Yet Israel could repeat "Hear, O Israel" and stay deaf to it.