An exhortation to obedience in regard of God’s dealing with them.
Deu 8:1 Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the LORD promised on oath to your ancestors.
Every command. Stressing each one individually (see on ch. 7:11).
Deu 8:2 Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.
Remember. The evidence of God’s leading are both so many and so remarkable that the humble child of God need never lose confidence or become despondent.
It is by forgetting the many things God has done for us that we take our first steps away from Him into the far country of forgetfulness (Rom. 1:21; LS 196). 2
Deu 8:3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
Bread alone. It was from this statement of Moses that Jesus quoted in response to Satan’s first temptation in the wilderness (Matt. 4:4; Luke 4:4).
Deu 8:4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.
A miraculous intervention by God (see Deut. 29:5; Neh. 9:21).
Apparently, they were without means of providing sufficient clothing themselves; otherwise, God would not have taken unusual steps to satisfy their requirements.
Deu 8:5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.
The discipline of God is always educational, never merely to inflict suffering and distress (Heb. 12:5–11; Rev. 3:19). The Greek verb translated “prove” or “proved” in 2 Cor. 8:8; 1 Tim. 3:10, almost invariably implies testing done to place approval upon what is so tested.
Thus, it is with the chastening of God (Job 23:10; Jer. 9:7).
Deu 8:6 Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him.
Rather than in ways of our own choosing (see Ex. 18:20; 1 Kings 3:14).
Deu 8:7 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills;
Deu 8:8 a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey;
Wheat, and barley. The basic grain crops. Fig trees, and pomegranates. Together with the olive tree, these were the principal fruit trees of ancient Palestine.
Deu 8:9 a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.
Rocks are iron. Iron was found in the mountainous country south of the Dead Sea.
Copper was mined in the Wadi Arabah, between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba. Copper artifacts were found at Ezion geber, Solomon’s port at the head of that gulf, from which sailed “ships of Tarshish,” or “refinery ships” (see on 1 Kings 10:22).
Deu 8:10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.
Gratitude should be expressed as well as felt. Without gratitude man is little better than a dumb brute. True nobility of soul begins with appreciation for the blessings of Heaven and the kindnesses of our fellow men (Ps. 103:2).
Deu 8:11 Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day.
Do not forget. Compare ch. 6:12. 12. Goodly houses. Material possessions often lead to undue concern with the things of this world. The Christian is to make God first, and trust Him for the needs of life (Matt. 6:33). Too often we are prone to make these “things” first and hope that in some way heaven will be “added” to us.
Deu 8:12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down,
Deu 8:13 and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied,
All you have. Wealth is not of itself evil. It is the human tendency, however, to become engrossed in attempts to accumulate it and to hold on to it for personal pleasure and forget God in the process.
It was when Abram and Lot became wealthy that strife arose between them (Gen. 13:6, 7). It is when Christians become “rich and increased with goods” and feel content therewith that they wax poor in things of more permanent worth (Rev. 3:17). It is often “the poor of this world” who prove to be “rich in faith” (James 2:5).
Deu 8:14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
Become proud. That is, in pride that wealth and prosperity are due to one’s own efforts (see v. 18). Note the counsel given as to the duties of a king (ch. 17:20), and compare Hosea 13:6.
Deu 8:15 He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock.
Dreadful Wilderness. See on ch. 1:19. Fiery serpents. See on Num. 21:6. Scorpions. A common nuisance in the desert country south of Judah, and less so elsewhere in Palestine.
Some eight varieties exist there, the largest being some 8 in. in length. Scorpion bites can be extremely painful. Drought. Literally, “thirsty ground” (see Ps. 107:33; Isa. 35:7). Flint. The same occurs also in Deut. 32:13 and Ps. 114:8. As used in the Bible “flint” may refer to any hard rock. Some knives were made of flint (Joshua 5:2). Figuratively, flint stands for loyalty and devotion to duty (Isa. 50:7).
Deu 8:16 He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you.
“In the end,” referring here to Israel’s settlement in the Promised Land. It simply draws a contrast between the painful lessons of the 40 years of wandering compared with the peace and security of Canaan (see Heb. 12:11).
The expression here has no reference to the end of the world.
Deu 8:17 You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.”
Man is prone to take the credit for his good estate and to boast of being a self-made person.
Deu 8:18 But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.
All that we are and all that we have are from God. Consciousness of this fact keeps a man humble and enables him to view the things of time in their true perspective.
Deu 8:19 If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed.
Literally, “if forgetting you shall forget,” a typically Hebrew idiom similar to “thou shalt surely die” (see on Gen. 2:17) and “thou mayest freely eat” (see on Gen. 2:16). This idiomatic expression is used for emphasis. I testify. Literally, “I affirm to you this day.” In the day of judgment they could not claim that God had not warned them (chs. 30:19; 32:46).
Deu 8:20 Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God.
When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.