Deuteronomy 11:10-17

The Excellencies of the Land of Promise

v. 10. For the land whither thou goest in to possess it is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, where the need of irrigation made constant toil and watchfulness necessary, as a garden of herbs, of vegetables. That the irrigation of Egypt was literally done with the feet may still be seen from the pictures on some of the monuments; for many of the machines used for irrigation were run on the principle of the treadmill, the water thereby being lifted from a lower to a higher level.

v. 11. But the land whither ye go to possess it is a land of hills and valleys, not a great, flat plain like the valley of the Nile, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven, the amount of its rainfall being great enough for all purposes of agriculture and horticulture;

v. 12. a land which the Lord, thy God, careth for, over which He watches and is concerned with anxious care; the eyes of the Lord, thy God, are always upon it, His tender solicitude never abates, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.

v. 13. And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord, your God, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, Deuteronomy 10:12,

v. 14. that I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, when it would come in just right for the benefit of the crops, the first rain, after the seeding, from October to December, and the latter rain, before the harvest, in March and April, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thy oil, an abundant harvest of all the products of the soil.

v. 15. And I will send, as a gift of His rich bounty, grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full; stock-raising would also be profitable.

v. 16. Take heed to yourselves, watch carefully over your hearts and minds, that your heart be not deceived, namely, by standing open and foolishly inviting enticement of various kinds, and ye turn aside and serve other gods, and worship them, Deuteronomy 5:29; Deuteronomy 7:4; Deuteronomy 6:14;

v. 17. and then the Lord's wrath be kindled against you, and He shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit, and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you, in consequence of the famine and the epidemics which usually accompany such a visitation, 1 Kings 8:35; 2 Chronicles 6:26. These same facts hold true also in our days, in spite of all the attempts of men to deny the Lord's interposition.