Deuteronomy8
New International Version
1Be 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.
2Remember 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.
3He 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.
4Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.
5Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.
6Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him.
7For 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;
8a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey;
9a 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.
10When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.
11Be 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.
12Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down,
13and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied,
14then 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.
15He 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.
16He 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.
17You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.”
18But 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.
19If 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.
20Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Deuteronomy 8.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Exhortations and cautions, enforced by the Lord's former dealings with Israel, and his promises. (1–9). Exhortations and cautions further enforced. (10–20).
vv1-9
Obedience must be, 1. Careful, observe to do; 2. Universal, to do all the commandments; and 3. From a good principle, with a regard to God as the Lord, and their God, and with a holy fear of him. To engage them to this obedience. Moses directs them to look back. It is good to remember all the ways, both of God's providence and grace, by which he has led us through this wilderness, that we may cheerfully serve him and trust in him. They must remember the straits they were sometimes brought into, for mortifying their pride, and manifesting their perverseness; to prove them, that they and others might know all that was in their heart, and that all might see that God chose them, not for any thing in them which might recommend them to his favour. They must remember the miraculous supplies of food and raiment granted them. Let none of God's children distrust their Father, nor take any sinful course for the supply of their necessities. Some way or other, God will provide for them in the way of duty and honest diligence, and verily they shall be fed. It may be applied spiritually; the word of God is the food of the soul. Christ is the word of God; by him we live. They must also remember the rebukes they had been under, and not without need. This use we should make of all our afflictions; by them let us be quickened to our duty. Moses also directs them to look forward to Canaan. Look which way we will, both to look back and to look forward, to Canaan. Look which way we will, both to look back and to look forward will furnish us with arguments for obedience. Moses saw in that land a type of the better country. The gospel church is the New Testament Canaan, watered with the Spirit in his gifts and graces, planted with trees of righteousness, bearing fruits of righteousness. Heaven is the good land, in which nothing is wanting, and where is fulness of joy.
vv10-20
Moses directs to the duty of a prosperous condition. Let them always remember their Benefactor. In everything we must give thanks. Moses arms them against the temptations of a prosperous condition. When men possess large estates, or are engaged in profitable business, they find the temptation to pride, forgetfulness of God, and carnal-mindedness, very strong; and they are anxious and troubled about many things. In this the believing poor have the advantage; they more easily perceive their supplies coming from the Lord in answer to the prayer of faith; and, strange as it may seem, they find less difficulty in simply trusting him for daily bread. They taste a sweetness therein, which is generally unknown to the rich, while they are also freed from many of their temptations. Forget not God's former dealings with thee. Here is the great secret of Divine Providence. Infinite wisdom and goodness are the source of all the changes and trials believers experience. Israel had many bitter trials, but it was “to do them good.” Pride is natural to the human heart. Would one suppose that such a people, after their slavery at the brick-kilns, should need the thorns of the wilderness to humble them? But such is man! And they were proved that they might be humbled. None of us live a single week without giving proofs of our weakness, folly, and depravity. To broken-hearted souls alone the Saviour is precious indeed. Nothing can render the most suitable outward and inward trials effectual, but the power of the Spirit of God. See here how God's giving and our getting are reconciled, and apply it to spiritual wealth. All God's gifts are in pursuance of his promises. Moses repeats the warning he had often given of the fatal consequences of forsaking God. Those who follow others in sin, will follow them to destruction. If we do as sinners do, we must expect to fare as sinners fare.
Key Words
כֹּל: properly, the whole; hence, all, any or every (in the singular only, but often in a plural sense)
מִצְוָה: a command, whether human or divine (collectively, the Law)
צָוָה: (intensively) to constitute, enjoin
יוֹם: a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)
שָׁמַר: properly, to hedge about (as with thorns), i.e. guard; generally, to protect, attend to, etc.
עָשָׂה: to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest application
חָיָה: to live, whether literally or figuratively; causatively, to revive
רָבָה: to increase (in whatever respect)
בּוֹא: to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)
יָרַשׁ: to occupy (by driving out previous tenants, and possessing in their place); by implication, to seize, to rob, to inherit; also to expel, to impoverish, to ruin
Cross References
Deuteronomy 8Jesus directly quotes this verse during His wilderness temptation to repel the devil's suggestion.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, JFB
Luke's account of Jesus quoting this verse during His wilderness temptation to show dependence on God.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, JFB
Parallel repetition of the miraculous preservation of their clothes and shoes during the forty years.
Supported by JFB
A direct New Testament expansion on the fatherly discipline of God mentioned in verse 5.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The original account of the giving of the manna, which they and their fathers knew not.
Supported by JFB
Direct historical and prophetic parallel of Israel becoming full, heart-lifted, and forgetting God.
Supported by Matthew Poole
New Testament parallel warning against self-attribution of gifts, matching "mine hand hath gotten me wealth."
Supported by Matthew Poole
Nehemiah's post-exilic confession echoing the miracle of clothes not wearing out and feet not swelling.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Contrasts the watered nature of Canaan with Egypt, expanding on the description of the good land.
Supported by John Calvin
The historical bringing forth of water out of the rock of flint during wilderness travels.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
Warns Israel against claiming their own righteousness or strength secured their success.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The danger of being full and denying God, saying, "Who is the Lord?"
Supported by Matthew Henry
Identifies the wilderness rock that yielded water as a type of Christ.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Nebuchadnezzar exemplifies the wicked self-reliance warned against: "by the might of my power."
Supported by Matthew Henry