(25) The fear of you and the dread of you.--Rashi says: "The fear of you on those that are near, and the dread upon those that are far off." It is a very far-reaching prophecy, for it may be read, "upon all the earth that ye shall tread upon." (See Esther 8:2-3, where it was fulfilled throughout the whole Persian Empire.}11:18-25 Let all be directed by the three rules here given. 1. Let our hearts be filled with the word of God. There will not be good practices in the life, unless there be good thoughts, good affections, and good principles in the heart. 2. Let our eyes be fixed upon the word of God, having constant regard to it as the guide of our way, as the rule of our work, Ps 119:30. 3. Let our tongues be employed about the word of God. Nor will any thing do more to cause prosperity, and keeping up religion in a nation, than the good education of children.There shall be no man able to stand before you,.... Meaning not a single man, such an one as Og, or any of the sons of Anak, the giants; because it could never be thought, imagined, or feared, that one man only should be able to stand against 600,000 fighting men, but any people or nation, though greater and mightier than they: for the Lord your God shall lay the fear of you, and the dread of you, upon all the land that ye shall tread upon: that is, upon all the land of Canaan, and the inhabitants of it; who should hear what wonderful things had been done for them in Egypt, and at the Red sea, and in the wilderness; and what they had done to Sihon and Og, and to their countries, and which accordingly was fulfilled, Joshua 2:9. as he hath said unto you; had promised them, Deuteronomy 2:25 and which was prophesied of in the prophetic song at the Red sea; see Exodus 15:14. |