Deuteronomy 11:18

"Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul; and ye shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, talking of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates; that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which Jehovah sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth. For if ye shall diligently keep all this commandment, which I command you, to do it, to love Jehovah your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him; then will Jehovah drive out all those nations from before you, and ye shall dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves. Every place whereon the sole of your foot shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness, and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the hinder sea shall be your border. There shall no man be able to stand before you: Jehovah thy God shall lay the fear of thee and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath spoken unto you."

(For a more detailed discussion of the [~tsitsith], the [~tephillin], and the [~mezuzah], see under Deuteronomy 6:7,8, above.) The attachment which the Jews have ever had for these items is attested by the fact that, "Even today, one may see on the houses of orthodox Jews a [~mezuzah] on the outside door-post."[14]

"As the days of the heavens above the earth ..."; Deuteronomy 11:21. This means. "As long as the heavens remain stretched over the earth, to the end of time, forever,"[15] or, "As long as the cosmos endures."[16]

The use of such a metaphor is enough to convince some people that, no matter what Israel does, Palestine belongs to Israel as long as the world stands, but that is a gross error. In this very verse, "These words, `that your days may be multiplied' preclude any thought that the land promise to Israel was made unconditionally."[17] Not only that, take a look at the colossal word that begins the very next verse and which contains a statement which is a vital part of this promise, "For IF ye shall diligently keep all this commandment ... etc."

Deuteronomy 11:24 gives the boundaries of the land promise. "The near Eastern peoples oriented themselves by facing east. Thus, the south was on their right, and the hinder sea was the Western Sea, the Mediterranean." In this fact may also lie the reason for the blessings (Deuteronomy 11:26ff) being placed on Mount Gerizim (south of Mount Ebal). That would have been on the right hand of a person facing eastward! Traditionally, the RIGHT hand was always the place of blessing. Jesus spoke of the "sheep on the right hand, and the goats on the LEFT."

"Christians, why can't we learn this lesson that Israel so stubbornly refused to learn, that faithful service of God will enable us to do things that appear totally impossible, accomplish things that try even the imagination, conquer the unconquerable, and to overcome difficulties that seem to be insurmountable? ... Who can stand up against him who is aligned with and in fellowship with Almighty God?"[18]