Albert Barnes Commentary Deuteronomy 8:7-9

"For Jehovah thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig-trees and pomegranates; a land of olive-trees and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig copper." — Deuteronomy 8:7-9 (ASV)

See (Exodus 3:8) note, and the contrast expressed in (Deuteronomy 11:10–11), between Palestine and Egypt.

The physical characteristics and advantages of a country like Palestine must have been quite strange to Israel at the time Moses was speaking: compare (Deuteronomy 3:25) note. To have praised the fertility and excellence of the promised land at an earlier period would have increased the people's murmurings and impatience while they were detained in the wilderness. Whereas now, this praise encouraged them to encounter more cheerfully the opposition that they would meet from the inhabitants of Canaan.

(Deuteronomy 8:8)

Vines - The abundance of wine in Syria and Palestine is dwelt upon in the Egyptian records of the campaigns of Thutmose III. Only a little wine is produced in Egypt itself. The production of wine has in later times gradually ceased in Palestine (circa 1880s).

(Deuteronomy 8:9)

For "brass" read "copper" (Genesis 4:22 note); and compare the description of mining operations in (Job 28:1–11). Mining does not seem to have been extensively carried on by the Jews, though it certainly was by the Canaanite peoples displaced by them. Traces of iron and copper works have been discovered by modern travelers in Lebanon and many parts of the country. For example, the district of Argob (see Deuteronomy 3:4 notes) contains ironstone in abundance.