Wesley Corpus

Chapter XI Moses exhorts them to obedience by rehearsing God's works, ver. 1 - 7. By describing the goodness of the land, ver. 8 - 12. By promises and threats, ver. 13 - 17. An exhortation to teach their children, closed with a promise, ver. 18 - 25. A blessing and a curse, ver. 26 - 32. Know - That is, acknowledge and consider it with diligence and thankfulness. Unto this day - The effect of which destruction continueth to this day, in their weakness and fear, and our safety from their farther attempts against us. Your eyes have seen - All of them had seen some, and some of them had seen all the great things done in Egypt and at the Red - sea, and in the Wilderness. What our eyes have seen, especially in our early days, should be improved by us long after. With thy foot - That is, with great pains and labour of thy feet, partly by going up and down to fetch water and disperse it, and partly by digging furrows with thy foot, and using engines for distributing the water, which engines they thrust with their feet. For tho' the river Nile did once in a year overflow the grounds, and made them fruitful, yet often it failed them, at least in part, and then they were put to great pains about their ground. And when it did overflow sufficiently, and left its mud upon the earth, yet that mud was in a little time hardened, and needed another watering, and much digging and labour both of the hand and feet, especially in places more remote from that river; which inconvenience Canaan was free from. Of hills and valleys - And therefore much more healthful than Egypt was, which as it was enriched, so it was annoyed with the Nile, which overflowed the land in summer time, and thereby made the country both unpleasant and unhealthful. And health being the greatest of all outward blessings, Canaan must therefore needs be a more desirable habitation than Egypt.