Deuteronomy 8
DOYLYDeuteronomy 8:5
- — as a man chasteneth his son, &c.] 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. Bp. Patrick.
Deuteronomy 8:7
- — a good land, a land of brooks &c.] It was styled in general “the pleasant land,” Ps. cvi. 24; Dan. viii. 9. And Babelakeh, the Assyrian, describes it as like his own, “a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards,” Ie. xxxvi. 17. It must indeed have been a wonderfully rich and fertile land to produce its immense population, both before and after the conquest of the Israelites. Dr. Hales. Moses enlarges now more frequently and more fully than he ever did before, on the fertility and excellence of the promised land: this was natural; such a topick 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. Dr. Graves.
Deuteronomy 8:8
- A land of wheat, &c.] The value of the good things, here said to be produced in Canaan, can hardly be estimated by us in Europe: “fountains, brooks, depths of water, wheat, barley, vines, fig trees, pomegranates, oil,” (oil in the East answers the purposes of butter among ourselves,) “and honey.” And whose “stones” (ver. 9.) are capable of being smelted down to “iron;” and whose mines furnish “copper;” not “brass,” this being a factitious metal, composed of copper as one part only, zinc being the other. Script. illustr. These useful minerals, as plentiful as stones were in other places, are the rather mentioned, because there were no such mines in Egypt, where the Israelites had long dwelt. Bp. Patrick.
Deuteronomy 8:10
- — then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God] Thou shalt give solemn thanks to God, not only for the present report, but for the plentiful provision, He had made for thee, of all good things, in the land He hath bestowed on thee. From this place the Jews have made it a general rule, that “every one bless God at his
full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.
Deuteronomy 8:11
- Beware that thou forget not &c.] Think what will be the natural effects of ease, plenty, and pleasure, without a sense of religion and virtue. Ease will be less luxury: and riches, that pride, scorn, and contempt of others, which will end in a forgetfulness of God Himself, the Author of your deliverance and prosperity. Pyle.
The generality of mankind remember most things better than benefits; those especially which have been conferred upon them by their heavenly Father and Friend. And if the case be so bad with individuals in this respect, there is no reason to suppose it better with communities; where, the benefit being shared by so many, each is apt to consider his own portion of it as small, and scarcely worth notice; where that which should be done by every body is often done by nobody; and where the guilt of ingratitude, like the value of the benefit, by being divided, seems, in the conscience of every single member, to be diminished, and as it were brought to nothing. The astonishing instances of forgetfulness among the ancient people of God are recorded and reproved for our admonition in the Scriptures of truth: and parallel instances among Christians, notwithstanding such admonition, will present themselves to him who is disposed to behold them. Bp. Horne.
Deuteronomy 8:14
- Then thine heart be lifted up, &c.] The descriptions, which we meet with in the Bible, of pride, in the sense of a proud disposition of the heart towards God, are very numerous; and always represent it to us in the most odious and detestable light. The expression commonly used for it is that of a “lifting up” or “exalting of the heart” against God. So Moses cautions the Israelites in this passage. Thus we read, that “the heart of Uzziah was lifted up to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord his God,” 2 Chron. xxvi. 16; and of Hezekiah, that “his heart was lifted up,” and afterwards that “he humbled himself for the pride of his heart,” 2 Chron. xxxii. 25, 26; and of Nebuchadnezzar it is said, with a peculiar emphasis, that “his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride,” Dan. v. 20. In the New Testament the same sin is described and condemned in the same language:
Deuteronomy 8:15
- — fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought.] For the fiery serpents see the note on Numb. xxi. 6. The “scorpion” is an insect with a great sting at the end of its tail. In hot countries, as in the desert between Judea and Egypt, they are companions with serpents, and their venom is equally fatal. In Africa they grow to a great size: and are sometimes as big as a small lobster, which they somewhat resemble. The word rendered “drought” is thought by some to signify a serpent, whose bite causes intolerable thirst, the “Dipasa:” others suppose it to signify a thirsty, dry, uncultivated desert. Script. illust.
Deuteronomy 8:16
- — to do thee good at thy latter end.] When we provoke God to treat us with harshness and severity, He still, like a kind and tenderhearted father, aims at our benefit and advantage. He designs kindness to the sons of men by all those judgments, which do not kill and cut them off from the opportunity and possibility of improving them. If He sends evils upon us, it is that thereby He may do us some greater good: if He afflicts us, it is not because it is pleasant to Him to deal harshly with us, but because it is profitable and necessary for us so to be dealt with: and if at any time He imbitter our lives by miseries and sufferings, it is because He is loth to see us perish in pleasant ways, and chooseth rather to be somewhat severe towards us, than suffer us to be utterly undone. This Moses declares to have been the great end of all the severe providences of God towards the people of Israel in their long wandering in the wilderness, and all the difficulties and hardships they
Deuteronomy 8:20
- — 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: “that the land cast not you out also, when ye defile it, as it cast out the nations that were before you: for whoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people.” The Jews are sometimes called the chosen and favoured people of God; and in a certain sense, and for some purposes, they were so: yet is this very people, both in this place and in other places, over and over again reminded, that if they followed the same practices, they must expect the same fate. “Ye shall not walk in the manners of the nations which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them: as the nations which the Lord destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish: because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the Lord your God.” Archdeacon Paley.
The admonition of St. Paul is most just, That if God spared not the natural branches of His Church, but broke them off because they grew wild, and brought forth sour fruit; much less reason have we to expect that He should spare us, if we are as impious towards Him, and as profligate in our manners, as His first people were. For we are not redeemed with the blood of bulls and goats, but with the invaluable sacrifice of His own well-be loved Son. And “if he, that despised Moses’ law, died without mercy,” being convicted by the testimony of “two or three witnesses, of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?” Heb. x. 28, 29. Reading.
Chap. IX. ver. 1. — this day.] That is, shortly, not long hence.