SEV Biblia, Chapter 11:10
Que la tierra a la cual entras para heredarla, no es como la tierra de Egipto de donde habéis salido, donde sembrabas tu simiente, y regabas con tu pie, como huerto de legumbres.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 11:10
Verse 10. Wateredst it with thy foot] Rain scarcely ever falls in Egypt, and God supplies the lack of it by the inundations of the Nile. In order to water the grounds where the inundations do not extend, water is collected in ponds, and directed in streamlets to different parts of the field where irrigation is necessary. It is no unusual thing in the East to see a man, with a small mattock, making a little trench for the water to run by, and as he opens the passage, the water following, he uses his foot to raise up the mould against the side of this little channel, to prevent the water from being shed unnecessarily before it reaches the place of its destination. Thus he may be said to water the ground with his foot. See several useful observations on this subject in Mr. Harmer, vol. i., pp. 23-26, and vol. iii., p. 141. "For watering land an instrument called janta is often used in the north of Bengal: It consists of a wooden trough, about fifteen feet long, six inches wide, and ten inches deep, which is placed on a horizontal beam lying on bamboos fixed in the bank of a pond or river in the form of a gallows. One end of the trough rests upon the bank, where a gutter is prepared to carry off the water, and the other is dipped into the water by a man standing on a stage near that end, and plunging it in with his foot. A long bamboo, with a large weight of earth at the farther end of it, is fastened to that end of the janta near the river, and passing over the gallows, poises up the janta full of water, and causes it to empty itself into the gutter." This, Mr. Ward supposes, illustrates this passage. See Hindoo Customs, &c., vol. iii., p. 104. But after all, the expression, wateredst it with thy foot, may mean no more than doing it by labour; for, as in the land of Egypt there is scarcely any rain, the watering of gardens, &c., must have been all artificial. But in Judea it was different, as there they had their proper seasons of rain. The compound word lgrb beregel, with, under, or by the foot, is used to signify any thing under the power, authority, &c., of a person; and this very meaning it has in the sixth verse, all the substance that was in their possession, is, literally, all the substance that was under their feet, µhylgrb beragleyhem, that is, in their power, possession, or what they had acquired by their labour.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 10. For the land whither thou goest in to possess it , etc.] The land of Canaan they were about to take possession of: [is] not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out ; either the whole land of Egypt, or that part of it, Rameses, in which Israel dwelt, and which was the best of it, as Jarchi observes, and yet Canaan exceeded that; though the design of this passage is not so much to set forth the superior excellency and fertility of the land of Canaan to that of Egypt, which was certainly a very fruitful country; (see Genesis 13:10) but to observe some things in which they differed, whereby they both became fruitful, and in which Canaan had the advantage: where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs ; as a gardener when he has sowed his seed, or planted his plants, waters them that they may grow, by carrying his water pot from bed to bed, which requires much labour and toil. In Egypt rain seldom fell, especially in some places it was very rare, though that there was none at all is a vulgar mistake; (see Gill on “ Zechariah 14:18”) f103 . To supply the want of it the river Nile overflowed once a year, which not only moistened the earth, but left mud or slime upon it, which made it fruitful; but this was not sufficient, for what through the river not overflowing enough sometimes, and so as to reach some places, and through the heat of the sun hardening the earth again, it was found necessary to cut canals from it, and by water from thence to water it, as a gardener waters his seed and plants; and it is to this watering that respect is here had, not to the overflowing of the Nile, for that was before the seed was sown; but to the watering of it out of the canals, which was done after it was sown; the former was without any trouble of theirs, the latter with much labour; the manner in which it is done is expressed by the phrase “with thy foot”, which the Targum explains “by thyself”, by their own labour and industry. Jarchi is more particular; “the land of Egypt had need to “have water brought from the Nile with thy foot; he seems to have understood the phrase to signify carrying water on foot from the Nile to the place where it was wanted; but the custom still in use in Egypt, when they water their fields, plantations, or gardens, will give us a clear understanding of this phrase; as a late traveller informs us f104 , the water is drawn out of the river (Nile) by instruments, and lodged in capacious cisterns; when plants require to be refreshed, they strike out the plugs that are fixed in the bottoms of the cisterns, and then the water gushing out, is conducted from one rill to another by the gardener, who is always ready as occasion requires to stop and divert the torrent by turning the earth against it “with his foot”, and opening at the same time with his mattock a new trench to receive it: and to the same purpose another learned person has observed, that at other times (than the flowing of the Nile) they are obliged to have recourse to art, and to raise the water out of the river and some deep pits by the help of machines, which water is afterwards directed in its course by channels cut in the ground, which convey the water to those places where it is wanted; and when one part of the ground is sufficiently watered, they then stop that channel, by thrusting some earth into the entrance of it “with their foot”, and then also “with their foot” open a passage into the next channel, and so on: and Philo the Jew speaks of a machine with which they used to water fields, and was worked with the feet by going up the several steps within, which gave motion to it.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 8-17 - Moses sets before them, for the future, life and death, the blessin and the curse, according as they did or did not keep God's commandment Sin tends to shorten the days of all men, and to shorten the days of people's prosperity. God will bless them with an abundance of all goo things, if they would love him and serve him. Godliness has the promis of the life that now is; but the favour of God shall put gladness int the heart, more than the increase of corn, and wine, and oil. Revol from God to idols would certainly be their ruin. Take heed that you hearts be not deceived. All who forsake God to set their affection upo any creature, will find themselves wretchedly deceived, to their ow destruction; and this will make it worse, that it was for want of taking heed.
Original Hebrew
כי 3588 הארץ 776 אשׁר 834 אתה 859 בא 935 שׁמה 8033 לרשׁתה 3423 לא 3808 כארץ 776 מצרים 4714 הוא 1931 אשׁר 834 יצאתם 3318 משׁם 8033 אשׁר 834 תזרע 2232 את 853 זרעך 2233 והשׁקית 8248 ברגלך 7272 כגן 1588 הירק׃ 3419
