Not by Your Own Strength (Deuteronomy 7:1-11:32)

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Not by Your Own Strength

Deuteronomy 7:1-11:32

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Not by Your Own Strength

Deuteronomy 7:1-11:32

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This song belongs to the Deuteronomy collection. 2 recordings are available to play here, with the complete lyrics below.

Bible book: Deuteronomy
Collection: Deuteronomy
Musical styles: Electronic

[Intro] Seven crowns beyond the river, Seven altars marked to fall. [Verse 1] You were little among nations, Yet the Faithful set His love. Egypt's yoke was split behind you; Pride had nothing to claim above. Larger armies filled the distance, Memory answered every fear. [Refrain] Not by your own strength, Not for a righteous name. The hand that broke the house of bondage Is the hand that gives the grain. [Verse 2] Forty years pared hunger open: Every word became your bread. Cloth endured and feet kept walking; Fatherly correction led. Brooks and wheat, the vine and fig tree, Iron stone and copper wait. Eat, be full, and bless the Giver; Fullness is another gate. [Breakdown] Remember the calf and the shattered stone, The dust on the stream, the days Moses lay prone. New words in the ark; Levi set apart; Love the stranger. Circumcise the heart. [Verse 3] Rain attends the turned-toward heaven; Closed skies follow other gods. Teach the children, door and pathway; Let obedience lengthen your days. [Outro] Gerizim receives the blessing. Ebal receives the curse. The land is gift, And gift reveals the heart.

Named in this songEgypt Moses Gerizim

About the passage

Deuteronomy 7: Chosen by love, forbidden to absorb the land's worship

Moses ties the coming conquest directly to the problem of worship. Israel is not to preserve the defeated nations' altars, gods, or religious alliances, and the severe commands against the named peoples are explained in part by the danger of being turned toward other gods. Yet election is stripped of numerical pride: Israel was not chosen for being impressive, but because the LORD loved the people and kept the oath to the fathers. Blessing is described in crops, children, flocks, and health, while fear of stronger nations is answered by remembering Egypt rather than pretending the enemies are weak. Even the pace of conquest is practical, occurring "little by little." The chapter ends at household scale, where silver or gold attached to an idol cannot be privately salvaged without importing the condemned object into Israel's life.

Study Deuteronomy 7 in depth

Deuteronomy 8: The danger of forgetting after the meal

Chapter 8 sets two landscapes beside each other: a wilderness where dependence was impossible to hide and a fertile land where dependence may be easier to forget. Hunger, manna, preserved clothing, and water from rock become part of Israel's schooling. The good land is then described in detail, with springs, grain, fruit, oil, minerals, and bread without scarcity. Moses does not distrust fullness, but he does distrust the explanation fullness may generate. Houses, herds, silver, and gold can lift the heart until Israel says its own power produced its wealth. The correction is not that human ability is imaginary. It is that the ability itself is given within a covenant God swore to the fathers. Forgetting finally takes religious form when Israel follows other gods, and election offers no exemption from the consequence.

Study Deuteronomy 8 in depth

Deuteronomy 9: Moses removes the grounds for boasting

Moses attacks the idea that possession of the land will certify Israel's virtue. The nations are stronger, the cities formidable, and their wickedness is named, but Israel's righteousness is repeatedly denied as the reason for victory. The golden calf supplies the clearest evidence. While Moses receives the covenant tablets, the people make an image below, and the tablets are broken before their eyes. Taberah, Massah, Kibroth-hattaavah, and Kadesh show that Horeb was not an isolated failure. Israel survives because Moses intercedes, appealing not to the people's innocence but to God's redemption, the fathers, and the reputation of the LORD among the Egyptians. The chapter leaves no room for boasting. The inheritance rests on judgment of the nations and faithfulness to a promise, not a clean record Israel does not possess.

Study Deuteronomy 9 in depth