Deuteronomy 8

De. § 1 ALL the commandment which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers. And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God hath led thee these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble thee, to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every thing that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years. And thou shalt consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee. And thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him. For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths, springing forth in valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig trees and pomegranates; a land of oil olives and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass. And thou shalt eat and be full, and thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee. Beware lest thou forget the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgements, and his statutes, which I command thee this day: lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; who led thee through the great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions, and thirsty ground where was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not; that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end: and thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God, for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth; that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as at this day. And it shall be, if thou shalt forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish. As the nations which the LORD maketh to perish before you, so shall ye perish; because ye would not hearken unto the voice of the LORD your God.

1-6. That they might be induced the more faithfully to observe all the commandments which had been enjoined upon them so as to go on and prosper, they are called to remember the experiences of the forty years in the wilderness, when God guided them and disciplined them for their good. He humbled them that he might test the state of their heart and affections toward him, using the distress and privations to which they were subjected as means of bringing out what was in them, and of leading them to feel their entire dependence on him for help, sustenance, and guidance. Not only by commands difficult to be obeyed laid on men, and by mighty works done in their view, does God prove men; but also by afflictions and calamities, as well as by benefits. Humbled so as to see his own weakness, chastised out of all self-conceit by affliction, man is brought to submit to God, to hear and obey him; and along with this the experience of God’s goodness tends to draw men, in grateful acknowledgment of his mercy and bounty, to yield themselves to him and sincerely and lovingly to serve him. W. L. A.

Their great thanksgiving festivals; their numerous thank-offerings; their vows; their required tithes—all concur in this one idea—the recognition of God as the Giver of all blessings, their great personal and national Benefactor. No pains was spared to impress and enforce this great truth. The long course of God’s redeeming mercies toward their nation; the rescue from Egyptian bondage; the miraculous supplies of bread and water forty years in the desert; the gift of the goodly land of Canaan—these were the staple facts of their history which God sought to engrave upon the national heart and to work into the living thought of the thousands of Israel. By every hopeful appliance their religious system was shaped to keep alive and intensify these feelings. H. C.

2. 3. While the whole period of the wilderness-life was strewed with tokens of goodness from the hand of God, by which he sought to draw and allure the people to himself, it was also the period emphatically of temptation and trial, by which the Lord sought to winnow and sift their hearts into a state of meekness for the inheritance. Hence these words of Moses: “Thou shalt remember all the way by which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or not. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man liveth not by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord.” This alternating process of want and supply, of great and appalling danger, ever ready to be met by sudden and extraordinary relief, was the grand testing process in their history, by which the latent evil in their hearts was brought fully to light that it might be condemned and purged out, and by which they were formed to that humble reliance on God’s arm and single-hearted devotedness to his fear, which alone could prepare them for taking possession of and permanently occupying the promised land. It proved in the issue too severe for by far the greater portion of the original congregation. But for those who did enter and their posterity to latest generations, it was of the greatest moment to have kept perpetually alive upon their minds the peculiar dealing of God during that transition period of their history, in order to their clearly realizing the connection between their continued enjoyment of the land, and the refined and elevated state of faith and love and of firm devoted purpose, to which the training in the wilderness conducted. P. F.

That the Israelites might be proved, purified, and bound more and more closely to God by the bands of love, of confidence, and of gratitude; that they might be delivered from the broken, cowardly spirit which had been engendered by a long-continued slavery, and strengthened till they grew into a free, spirited, and courageous race—Jehovah led his chosen people through the desert. There, amid the troubles and calamities, the dangers and privations of a desert life, they were to receive continual proofs of the mercy and faithfulness of Jehovah on the one hand, and of their own unworthiness and natural obduracy on the other. But what was to have been only a brief period of trial, according to the original design and intention of God, became, on account of the guilt of the people and the judgment of Jehovah, a long period of detention and purification. Instead of the two years’ sojourn in the desert, which would have sufficed for the original purposes, forty years were required to answer the new ends which had to be accomplished now. Thus the period spent in the wilderness was at the same time one of education and discipline, of trial and temptation, of punishment and purification. K.

3. “Every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” is a Hebrew phrase to express “everything that God appoints” or “arranges.” It assumes that every appointment of God is wise and loving; and asserts accordingly that a man’s life, that which is his genuine and abiding life and happiness, cannot consist in opposing such appointments of his Father, or in trying to get free from them as from chains and fetters; but must consist in a meek acquiescence in them, in meeting and sympathizing with a Father’s will as revealed in them, and thus by the inner chemistry of love converting them into food wherewith to nourish the life of the spirit. With such life as this in God, the God of grace and of Providence, the Governor of the world, the wise and loving Disposer of all things, no man can ever be in any wilderness where life cannot be found, for God himself, our life, is there! The universe thus becomes an Eden to his child! God has so adjusted all circumstances with reference to him as a well-beloved son in Christ, that all things appointed must prove the means of perfecting his higher nature, enabling him to bring forth more fruit to his glory. N. McLeod.

4. The good providence of God took care that the Israelites in the wilderness never wanted raiment. They were supplied partly by the flocks and the materials which they brought out of Egypt, and partly by the Arabs, Ishmaelites, and neighboring people: so that they had change of apparel when they stood in need of it, and were not obliged to go barefoot, ragged, and half-naked for want of clothes. God so ordered the course of things, that they obtained whatsoever was needful by natural means, or, if they failed, by a miraculous interposition. Jortin.—Ordinary supplies must not be shut out of consideration, as regards the raiment of the chosen people, as they cannot in the similar question regarding their victual. It may have been that these natural sources were on occasions supplemented by extraordinary providences of God, as was undoubtedly the case with their food. Espin.—As the manna furnished by God’s creative power saved them from hunger, so by God’s providence and care their raiment was marvellously kept from decay, and they had not to go barefoot from their sandals being worn out. At the same time, there is no reason to suppose that the Israelites did not make use of such supplies as were within their reach for purposes of clothing, any more than that they lived only on manna during the forty years of their wandering. W. L. A.

5. As a man chasteneth his son. All the afflictions which God had sent upon them, he would have them think were not for their destruction but for their correction and amendment: and therefore they ought to be thankfully acknowledged, as well as his benefits. Patrick.—God educated, disciplined, and trained his people as a father does his child. The idea is not so much that of chastisement, properly so called, as that of severe discipline and training. God made them feel his hand upon them, but ever for their good; the end of the discipline to which they were subjected was that they might keep his commandments and walk in his ways, so as to enjoy his favor. W. L. A.—That which may be said of them holds good, in this respect, of the life-story of God’s children now. Two words would sum up the pith of their experience—“redemption,” “training.” Redeemed first, trained afterward. Redeemed, that they might be trained; trained, that they might become worthy of the redemption. Both the redemption and the training had in Israel’s case a depth of meaning of which the people knew little at the time, but which Israel’s God intended from the first. C. C.

Let it be deeply graven on our minds that all God’s dealing with us, from regeneration onward, is a discipline, a moulding, a training, an education. This is sought by all convictions, all applications of truth, all mercies, all chastisements. His purpose is to render us holy, to raise us to the perfection of our being, and to make us partakers of a Divine nature. The work has commenced, and will never cease. “He that hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of redemption.” The great thing is the spiritual work of the Holy Ghost upon the mind and heart, begun here, and completed, or rather carried ever onward hereafter. All things are subsidiary to this. Whatever relates to our bodies, our friends, our circumstances, our temporal weal or woe, our gladness or our tears, whatever is passing and external, is subordinate to this great end; and we miss the true point of our expectations from God when we anxiously look to him for anything short of being made “partakers of his holiness.” J. W. A.

The Scriptures instruct us that all things are directed by God; that men are his children; and that he guides all events with a paternal hand. Thus the aspect of things is quite changed to them that obey the Gospel. That one feature in the case—that trials and afflictions are chastisements, that they spring not from the dust, that they rise not from chance nor from the passions of men, nor from creatures except as instruments; but that they are all previously ordered, inflicted with design, measured by wisdom, controlled by power, made subservient to holiness—this one feature alters the whole case: all wears a new and different aspect. The Christian knows that all afflictions are part of the paternal discipline which God exercises in his family, and distinct from those acts of justice by which he appears as the governor of the world and the avenger of his enemies. “Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” Let none when under affliction think that they are under God’s anger, so as to have lost his favor and forfeited the complacency of their Heavenly Father. We should, indeed, examine ourselves to see if there be any reason for particular calamities, from our peculiar delinquencies in duty or from corruptions which we have indulged; and thus we should

“turn unto him that smiteth us.” But we should consider our trials as springing from love, as having their origin in our imperfect state of character, as made necessary by our sins. We should consider that they are sent to subdue in us the inclinations of “the old man,” and to form in us Jesus Christ, in all his features of “righteousness and true holiness.” To endure these afflictions and crosses, in some way or other, is an effect of necessity; but to endure them as a Christian is an act of grace. The Christian, convinced of the design of God in affliction, yields himself into his hands. R. Hall.

7-20. The land on which they were about to enter is described as a good land, fertile and well watered, and yielding abundant produce to its cultivators; and they are cautioned against forgetting, in their enjoyment of the gift, the bounty of the Giver, or congratulating themselves on having achieved the conquest of such a land, instead of gratefully acknowledging the grace which had sustained them during their protracted wandering in the wilderness, and by which alone they had been enabled to take possession of that favored land. W. L. A.

7-9. Moses enlarges now more frequently and more fully than before on the fertility and excellence of the promised land. This was natural; such a topic at an earlier period would have increased the murmurings and the impatience of the people at being detained in the wilderness; whereas now it encouraged them to encounter with more cheerfulness the opposition they must meet with from the inhabitants of Canaan. Graves.—These things are mentioned, to show the great difference between that wilderness through which God had led them and the good land into which he was bringing them; to show what obligations they lay under to keep God’s commandments, both in gratitude for his favors to them and from a regard to their own interest, that the favors might be continued; and to show what a figure it was of good things to come. H.

In these verses is implied a contrast, which in the parallel passage 11:10, 11 (next section) is expressed, between Palestine and Egypt. The latter depends entirely on its single river; without the Nile, and the utmost use of the waters of the Nile, Egypt would be a desert. But Palestine is well distinguished not merely as “a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig-trees and pomegranates, of oil olive and honey,” but emphatically as “a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of plains and mountains;” “not as the land of Egypt, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs,” but a land of “mountains and plains which drinketh water of the rain of heaven.” This mountainous character, this abundance of water both from natural springs and from the clouds of heaven, in contradistinction to the one uniform supply of the great river, this abundance of “milk” from its “cattle on a thousand hills,” of “honey” from its forests and its thymy shrubs, was absolutely peculiar to Palestine among the civilized nations of the East E-quin.

Palestine was an extremely fertile country, the glory of all lands in the richness of its soil. Moses distinctly so represents it; and his representation is confirmed by the testimony of Josephus, Tacitus, the great Arabian geographer Abulfeda, and the best modern travellers. The whole country was one vast and busy workshop of rural industry, abounding in all the productions of the tropical and temperate zones. It was cultivated like a garden. The sides of the mountains were terraced even to their summits, and the cold rocks were covered with soil by the hand of industry. No judgment can be formed of its pristine fertility, from the state to which it has been reduced by eighteen centuries of tyranny and devastation. Yet even now intelligent travellers represent the soil of Palestine as unusually rich and productive. E. C. W.

Our ride for the last two days around the sources of the Jordan has reminded me of the words of Moses to the children of Israel in regard to this country: The Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of the valleys and hills. Certainly this is a good land. I have never seen a better; and none where the fountains and depths that spring out of the valleys and hills are so numerous, so large, and so beautiful. And then remember that this is a climate almost tropical, where water is fertility and life, and the absence of it sterility and death, and the greatness of the blessing is vastly enhanced. The number of these fountains and depths is prodigious. We might go all through Palestine, on both sides of the Jordan, and enumerate hundreds of them—powerful fountains—the permanent sources of every river in the country. I have visited them often, and always with admiration and astonishment. Nor need we wonder that so much is made of them in the Bible: they are the glory and the life of the land. W. M. Thompson.

10. “When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God.” From this place the Jews have made it a general rule, or, as they call it, an affirmative precept, that every one bless God at their meals—that is, give him thanks for his benefits; for he blesses us when he bestows good things on us, and we bless him when we thankfully acknowledge his goodness therein. Patrick.

14,17. “Beware lest then thy heart be lifted up.” When the estate rises, the mind is apt to rise with it, in self-conceit, self-complacency, and self-confidence. Therefore strive to keep the spirit low in a high condition; humility is both the ease and the ornament of prosperity. Take heed of saying, so much as in thy heart, that proud word, My power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth (verse 17). We must never take the praise of our prosperity to ourselves nor attribute it to our ingenuity or industry; for bread is not always to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding (Eccl. 9:11). It is spiritual idolatry thus to sacrifice to our own net (Hab. 1:16). And “take heed of forgetting God.” This follows upon the lifting up of the heart; for it is through the pride of the countenance that the wicked seeks not after God (Ps. 10:4). Those that admire themselves, despise God. H.

16. To do thee good at thy latter end.** This is presented as the result of God’s dealings. The people had been suffered to hunger (verse 3) and fed with manna in order that God might prove them. This trial was not laid on them arbitrarily, but as a moral discipline qualifying for the blessings which God designed ultimately to bestow. The “humbling” and “proving” are exhibited as God’s immediate purpose—the “doing good” to Israel as the eventual issue. The expression “at thy latter end” conveys somewhat more than “at length,” “in future.” The settlement of Israel in Canaan was the end and climax of the Mosaic dispensation, to which the sojourn in Egypt, the wandering in the desert, and the arrangements of the Law all led up. “Thy latter end” is then the later, and for the purpose in hand, final epoch in the national life to which all that had gone before was preparatory and introductory. Espin.

God’s discipline is meant to turn to our ultimate advantage. “To do thee good at thy latter end.” The immediate object of God’s discipline is to form character; to create and develop love, trust, and obedience; to uproot evil dispositions; to break down self-will and self-dependence. The ultimate end of it is the service and blessedness of heaven. There may be some service which God is preparing us for on earth, some possession he wishes to give us, some trust he is about to repose in us. But heaven is the goal, and the end of God’s discipline will not be fully seen until the goal is reached. Orr.—God does not say, Rise up and walk, and you shall come to a great desert; for if he did, we should never set out; but he says, Come to the rest! And when, in obedience and faith and hope, we have risen up and lost ourselves in the desert, then he lets us know that it was necessary, before we could come to the place of our rest, that he should lead us through the wilderness, to prove us and show us all that was in our hearts, and that without such disciplinary wanderings and discoveries, we never could come to the palace nor be fitted to go in at its gates. Cheever.

If the grand assurance which Jesus Christ has given to his disciples is fulfilled, how happy shall we shortly be—happy, if we are his; with what delight shall we then look back on the way he has led us! How sweet it will be to retrace the mysterious operations of his Providence—the wonderful way in which God hath brought us all the journey through; all the trials and afflictions of this life so tempered and overruled that none could be spared, none could be wanting; they are all a part of the Divine mercy toward us; and not only do they not obstruct our felicity, but in the hand of the great Disposer they are made subservient to promoting it. “These light afflictions, which are but for a moment, work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” And while common salvation produces a common song of praise, millions of glorious spirits will each have a separate song, each a separate theme—each one will have within him motives of gratitude which are peculiar to himself. Eternity will never cease to exhibit fresh occasions of wonder that he should be brought from danger and distress, and made an heir with God and joint-heir with Christ. R. Hall.

18. “Forget not God’s hand in thy present prosperity (verse 18), Remember, it is he that giveth the power to get wealth.” See here how God’s giving and our getting are reconciled, and apply it to spiritual wealth. It is our duty to get wisdom, and above all our gettings to get understanding; and yet it is God’s grace that gives wisdom, and when we have got it, we must not say, It was the might of our hand that got it, but must own it was God that gave us power to get it, and therefore to him we must give the praise, and consecrate the use of it. The blessing of the Lord on the hand of the diligent, makes rich both for this world and for the other. He giveth thee power to get wealth, not so much to gratify thee, and make thee easy, as that he may establish his covenant. All God’s gifts are in pursuance of his promises. H.—A deep conviction of this fact would turn human history into a sacrament. Receive into the mind the full impression of this doctrine, and you will find yourself working side by side with God, in the field, the warehouse, the bank, the shop, the office, the pulpit. What a blow this text strikes at one of the most popular and mischievous fallacies in common life—namely, that man is the maker of his own money! Men who can see God in the creation of worlds cannot see him suggesting an idea in business, smiling on the plough, guiding the merchant’s pen, and bringing summer into a brain long winter-bound and barren. J. P.

20. So shall ye perish.** It appears from various passages in Scripture that God’s abhorrence and treatment of the crimes for which he destroyed the nations of Canaan were impartial, without distinction, and without respect of nations or persons. The Divine impartiality is pointed out by such words as these, in which Moses warns the Israelites against falling into any of the like wicked courses. The Jews are sometimes called the chosen and favored people of God; and in a certain sense and for some purposes they were so; yet is this very people, both in this and in other places, over and over again reminded that it they followed the same practices they must expect the same fate. Paing.

Disobedience means penalty as certainly as obedience means reward. Men should never trifle with the idea of the punishment of sin; it is everlasting punishment; it is eternal penalty; it is an expression of the horror of God as his infinite holiness looks upon the abomination of sin. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” This is not a one-sided law; it is the impartial law which holds within its ample scope all that is terrible in the idea of perdition and all that is sublime in the promise of heaven. J. P.

SECOND DISCOURSE (CONTINUED): ANOTHER WARNING AGAINST PRIDE AND SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS; REMINDED OF THEIR REPEATED REBELLIONS; URGED TO LOVE, OBEDIENCE, AND SERVICE, AS THE SCOPE AND SUM OF GOD’S REQUIREMENTS; PAST DELIVERANCES, AND FUTURE PROSPERITY IN CANAAN, AGAIN PRESENTED AS MOTIVES; A BLESSING AND A CURSE DEFINITELY SET BEFORE THEIR CHOICE.