Deuteronomy 8 commentary

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.

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.

1. All the commandments. Although the first verse might have been included among the promises, whereby, as we shall hereafter see, the Law was ratified by Moses, because he here exhorts and incites the Israelites to obedience by proposing to them the hope of reward; still it appeared to me that I might conveniently insert it here, since the design of Moses was simply this, to attract them by the sweetness of the promised inheritance to receive the doctrines of the Law. This sentence, then, may be justly counted among those whereby their minds were prepared to submit themselves to God with the gentleness and docility that became them; as though he had said, because the land of Canaan is now not far from you, its very nearness ought to encourage you to take upon you God’s yoke more cheerfully; for the same God, who this day declares to you His law, invites you to the enjoyment of that land, which He promised with an oath to your fathers. And certainly it is evident from this latter clause of the verse, that Moses did not simply promise them a reward if they should keep the law; but rather set before them the previous favor, wherewith God had gratuitously prevented them, in order that they might, on their part, shew themselves grateful for it Moses calls the commandments his, not (as we have already seen) because he had invented them himself, but because he faithfully handed them down from the dictation of God’s own mouth. And this we may also more fully gather from the following verse, wherein he recounts the mercies of the time past, and at the same time calls to their recollection by how many proofs God had instructed them, to form and accustom them to obedience. In the first place, he bids them remember generally the dealings of God, which they had seen for forty years, and then descends to particulars, viz., that God had proved them by afflictions, “to know what was in their heart;” for thus may the expressions be paraphrased, “to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart;” in which words he admonishes them, that they were painfully tried by many troubles and difficulties not without very good reason, viz., because they had need of such trial. Yet, at the same time, he indirectly reproves their obstinacy, which was then detected; since otherwise, if all things had gone prosperously with them, it would have been easy for them to pretend great fear of God, though, as was actually discovered, it did not really exist.

3. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger. Inasmuch as they were sometimes made to suffer hunger in the wilderness, he proves the advantage of this discipline, because they thus learnt that the human race does not live by bread and wine alone, but by the secret power of God. For though all confess that it is through God’s goodness that the earth is fruitful, still their senses are so tied to the meat and drink, that they rise no higher, and do not acknowledge God as their Father and nourisher, but rather bind Him down to the outward means to which they are attached, as if His hand, of itself, and without instruments, could not effect or supply anything. Their perception, therefore, that the fruits of the earth are produced by God, is but a cold notion, which speedily vanishes, and does not cling to their memory. The power of God, as well as His goodness, is indeed abundantly manifested in the use of His creatures, which we naturally enjoy; but the depravity of the human mind causes that the testimonies of it act like a veil to obscure that bright light. Besides, the majority of mankind think of God as if banished afar off, and dwelling in inactivity as if He had resigned His office in heaven and earth; and hence it arises, that trusting in their present abundance, they implore not His favor, nay, that they pass it by as needless; and, when deprived of their accustomed supplies, they altogether despair, as if God’s hand alone were insufficient for their succor. Since, then, men do not sufficiently profit by the guidance and instruction of nature, but rather are blinded in their view of God’s works, it was desirable that in this miracle (of the manna) a standing and manifest proof should be given, that men do not only live upon God’s bounty, when they eat bread and drink wine, but even when all supplies fail them. Although there be some harshness in the words, yet the sense is clear, that men’s life consists not in their food, but that God’s inspiration suffices for their nourishment. And we must remember, that the eternal life of the soul is not here referred to, but that we are simply and solely taught that although bread and wine fail, our bodies may be sustained and invigorated by God’s will alone. Let it then be regarded as settled, that this is improperly, however acutely, referred to the spiritual life, and a relation imagined in its doctrine to faith; as if the grace, which is offered in the promises, and received by faith, gave life to our souls; since it is simply stated, that the animating principle (vigor), which is diffused by the spirit of God for sustenance, proceeds out of His mouth. In Psalm 104:30, there is an exact repetition of what was before said here by Moses, “Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.” The word translated “not only,” seems to have been expressly added, lest, if Moses had altogether excluded the bread which is destined for our food, he should not do justice to God. Thus, then, does he guard his words, as much as to say, that although bread sustains man’s life, still this support would be too weak, unless the hidden power of God occupied the first place; and that this intrinsic virtue, as it is called, which He of Himself inspires, would suffice, even although all other aids should fail. And this doctrine, first of all, arouses us to gratitude, referring to God Himself whatever by His creatures He supplies to us for the nourishment and preservation of our lives, whilst it teaches us that although all the instruments of this world should fail, still we may hope for life from Himself alone. There is no ordinary wisdom in recollecting both these points. Christ admirably applied this passage to its true and genuine practical use; for when the devil would persuade him to command the stones to be made bread for the satisfaction of His hunger, He answered, “Man shall not live by bread alone,” etc., (Matthew 4:4,) as if he had said, There is in God’s hands another remedy, for even although He supply not food, He is still able to keep men in life by His will alone. But I touch upon this the more briefly, because I have more fully treated it in my Commentaries on “the Harmony of the Gospels.” See Calvin Society Translation, in loco. With the same object he adds, that their raiment was not worn out in so long a time, and that their shoes remained whole; viz., that they might be fully convinced, that whatever concerns the preservation of human life and man’s daily wants is so entirely in God’s hands, that not only its enjoyment, but even its continuance and being, depend upon His blessing.

5. Thou shalt also consider in thine heart. He concludes that in the constant tenor of God’s acts, from the time the Israelites were brought out of Egypt, His paternal care for their instruction might be recognised For the word יסר, See note on Deuteronomy 11:2, ante, p. 383. yasar, is taken by some in too restricted a sense for “to chastise,” whereas it comprehends the whole process of a proper education; as if he had said, that unless they were hereafter submissive, and disposed to be dutiful, they would be something more than intractable, since they had been duly taught and kept under the best discipline, and that God had omitted nothing which could be required from the father of a family. Hence it follows, that long ago, and by much instruction, they were accustomed to embrace the teaching of the Law, just as it becomes children to be obedient to their father’s voice. And this he explains more clearly in the next verse; again concluding, that therefore they were to observe the Law, and to walk in the commandments of God. Whereon also we may shortly observe, that the fear of God, as I have already stated elsewhere, is the foundation of due obedience to the Law. The passage which I have interwoven from Deuteronomy 11 may also be counted among the promises, for God allures in it His people to obedience by the hope of His blessing; and since the possession of the land, which was then in sight, is set before them, the words appeared to me to fit in not badly here; because God had no other intention in this eulogium of it, but to prepare the minds of the people for keeping the Law.

Deuteronomy 29

Deuteronomy 29:2-9

2. And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land;

2. Vocavitque Moses universum Israelem, et dixit eis, Vos ipsi vidistis omnia quae fecit Jehova in oculis vestris in terra Aegypti Pharaoni et omnibus servis ejus, et universae terrae ejus.

3. The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles;

3. Probationes magnas quas viderunt oculi tui, signa et portenta ilia magna.

4. Yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.

4. Neque dedit vobis Jehova cor ad intelligendum, et oculos ad ridendum, et aures ad audiendum usque in hunc diem.

5. And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot.

5. Et deduxi vos quadraginta annis per desertum: non inveteraverunt vestimenta vestra super vos, nec calceamentum vestrum veteravit super pedem vestrum.

6. Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink; that ye might know that I am the Lord your God.

6. Panem non comedistis, neque vinum et siceram bibistis: ut intelligatis quod ego Jehova Deus vester.

7. And when ye came unto this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us unto battle, and we smote them:

7. Venistis tandem ad locum istum: egressusque est Sehon rex Esbon, et Og rex Basan in occursum nostrum ad praelium, et percussimus eos;

8. And we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance unto the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh.

8. Et abstulimus terram ipsorum, tradidimusque in haereditatem Rubenitis, et Gadiris, et dimidiae tribui Manasse.

9. Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do.

9. Custodiatis ergo verba pacti hujus et facite ea, ut (vel, intelligatis) prospere agatis in omnibus quae facturi estis.

7. For the Lord thy God. We may shortly sum up the words and the matter. He almost sets before their eyes a habitation full of wealth and various advantages, in order that they there may worship God more cheerfully, and study to repay by their gratitude so signal a benefit. In chapter 8 he commends the goodness of the land, because it is watered by the streams which flow through its valleys and mountains, and because it produces all kinds of fruits to supply them with nourishment; and not only so, but because it contains also mines of iron and brass. In chapter 11 he expresses the same thing more plainly and in greater detail, by the addition of a comparison with the land of Egypt; the fruitfulness of which, although it is marvellous from the yearly inundation of the Nile, and is renowned as an extraordinary miracle, yet requires much labor and cultivation, since it is irrigated by means of drains by the hand and industry of men. But the land of Canaan depends on God’s blessing, and waits for the rain from heaven. Moreover Moses extols in glowing words the peculiar privilege of the land, saying, that it is ever looked upon by God, in order that, on their part, the Israelites might attentively, and constantly also, look to Him. For this is the force of the words, “always, from the beginning of the year, even unto the end of the year;” as if he had said, that they would be ungrateful to God, unless they constantly and zealously directed their regards to Him, since He never ceased daily to look on them. It is true, indeed, that there is no corner of the earth which does not experience God’s blessing, witness the fact that the Nile fertilizes the whole of Egypt; but, because that only happens once a year, and since its waters are conducted hither and thither by drains artificially made by man, Moses, therefore, not improperly makes it the ground of his exhortation that they should constantly give themselves to meditation on the Law; for not only at a particular season of the year, but almost at every moment, their necessity would compel them to ask for God’s aid, when they saw that the land was ever requiring from Him the remedy of its dryness. The question however arises, how Moses could declare in such magnificent terms the richness of the land of Canaan, when now-a-days it is scarcely counted among those that are fertile; and thus “Des esprits phrenetiques, and profanes.” — Fr. This ancient scoff, repeated by Voltaire and other modern infidels, is well met by Dr. Keith, “Evidences of Prophecy, (Art. Judaea,)” by quotations not only from Tacitus, Ammianus Marcellinus, Florus, and Pliny the Elder, but from Volney and Gibbon themselves, as well as more friendly witnesses. the ungodly wantonly deride him, since all whom business or any other cause have taken there contradict his encomiums. Yet I do not doubt that it was always distinguished by the abundance of its various fruits, as we shall presently see in its proper place, where its fertility was proved by the bunch of grapes; but, at the same time, it is to be observed that its abundance was increased in a new and unwonted manner by the arrival of the people, that God might shew that He had blessed that country above all others for the liberal supply of His children. As long, therefore, as that land was granted as the inheritance of the race of Abraham, it was remarkable for that fertility which God had promised by Moses. But now, so far from wondering that it is to a great extent desert and barren, we ought rather to be surprised that some small vestiges of its ancient fruitfulness exist; since what God Himself had so often threatened against it must needs be fulfilled. The barrenness, therefore, of the land as it now appears, instead of derogating from the testimony of Moses, rather gives ocular demonstration of the judgment of God, which, as we shall see elsewhere, was denounced against it. In sum, as God for His people’s sake still further enriched a land already fruitful, so, for the punishment of the sins of this same people, He sowed it with salt, that it might afford a sad spectacle of His curse.

10. When thou hast eaten and art full. In these words he admonishes them that they would be too senseless, unless God’s great bounty should attract them to obedience, since nothing is more unreasonable, than, when we have eaten and are full, not to acknowledge from whence our food has come. Fitly, then, does Moses require gratitude from the people, when they shall enjoy both the land promised to them and an abundance of all good things.

Deuteronomy 6

Deuteronomy 6:1-3, 17-19

1. Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it;

1. Istud autem est praeceptum, statuta et judicia quae praecepit Jehova Deus vester ut docerem vos, ut faciatis illa in terra ad quam vos transitis ut possideatis:

2. That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee; thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life, and that thy days may be prolonged.

2. Ut timeas Jehovam Deum tuum, custodiendo omnia statuta ejus et praecepta ejus, quae ego praecipio tibi, tu et filius tuus, et filius tilii tui, omnibus diebus vitae tuae: et ut prolongentur dies tui.

3. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.

3. Audias ergo o Israel, et custodias ut facias, ut bene tibi sit, utque multiplicemini valde, quemadmodum dixit Jehova Deus patrum tuorum tibi in terra, quae fluit lacte et melee.

17. Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee.

17. Custodiendo custodietis praecepta Jehovae, Dei vestri, et testimonia ejus, et statuta ejus quae praecepit tibi.

18. And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the Lord; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers,

18. Faciesque quod rectum et bonum est in oculis Jehovae, ut bene sit tibi, et ingrediaris possideasque terram bonam, quam juravit Jehova patribus tuis.

19. To cast out all thine enemies from before thee, as the Lord hath spoken.

19. Ut expellat omnes hostes tuos a facie tua, sieur loquutus est Jehova.

11. Beware that thou forget not Take heed to thyself — Lat. We may easily estimable the necessity of this admonition from the common corruption of human nature, which is even yet only too general and too influential; for scarcely shall we find one person in a hundred in whom satiety does not generate headiness. Moses will hereafter speak in his Song of the rebelliousness of this people, “LXX. autem pro eo (Jeshurun) substituerunt ὀ ἠγαπημένος, et V. imitatur per suum Dilectus. Unde autem sit illa versio, vix explicari video; fatente etiam Steucho, se nescire a quo verbo id nomen duct possit si Dilectum significat,” etc. — Marckius on Deuteronomy 32: C.’s own translation of the word is Rectus.

“The beloved, (Jeshurun,) waxen fat, and grown thick, kicked.” (Deuteronomy 32:15.)

It was needful, then, that a restraint should be put on such refractory beings, nay, that they should have their wantonness still more tightly repressed in their prosperity. But we may, and it is well to, extend this doctrine to ourselves also, since prosperity intoxicates almost all of us, so that we intemperately grow wanton against God, and forget ourselves and Him. Therefore Moses not only commands the Israelites not to be ungrateful to God, but warns them to guard themselves (for he uses this word for to beware) from that impious ingratitude. He immediately after uses this same word for the keeping of the Law. But this is the sum, that they needed the utmost care and attention to beware lest forgetfulness of God should steal over them in happy circumstances, and thus they should shake off His fear, and cast away His yoke, and indulge themselves in the lusts of their flesh. For he shews that contempt of the Law would be a token of ingratitude; because it could not be but that they would submit themselves to God, and keep His Law, if they only reflected that it was to nothing but His blessing that they owed their prosperity. We have already observed elsewhere that his designation of the Law by various terms amounts to a commendation of its perfect doctrine; as much as to say, that no part of right conduct is omitted in it. He also asserts here (as often elsewhere) the faithfulness of his ministry, lest they should shufflingly contend that, whilst they refuse the commands of a mortal man, they are not therefore rebellious against God. He says, then, that their piety will not be acceptable to God, unless they keep the Law propounded by Him.

12. Lest when thou hast eaten and art full. He more fully explains what we have already observed, viz., that it might happen, in the gradual course of time, that they should fail in their fear of God and honor for His Law, and therefore should take the greater care lest continual peace and joy should bring this callousness upon them. We should diligently remark the cause of departure which he points out, viz., the pride whereby riches and abundance ordinarily puff up men’s minds. The examples of moderation in prosperity are rare; rather, as soon as men perceive themselves to be in a flourishing estate, they begin to swell with arrogance, and so admire their exaltation that they despise even God Himself. On this ground Paul charges

“the rich in this world that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches.” (1 Timothy 6:17.)

We ought., indeed, the more kindly we are dealt with by God, to submit ourselves the more meekly to His rule; but, as I have said, the depravity of our nature hurries us quite the other way, so that we grow insolent under God’s indulgence, which should bend us to submission. And if this does not happen immediately, yet whenever prosperity flows on uninterruptedly, its delights gradually corrupt even the best of us, so that they at last degenerate from themselves. If, then, we desire to steer a straight course, we ought to strive after the healing of this most deadly disease of pride. Again, since by the wiles of Satan continued prosperity softens and ensnares us, let us learn to beware not only for a day, but to keep watch through the whole course of our lives. Moses wisely anticipates their pride by recalling to the Israelites’ recollection what was their original condition. For whence does it arise that those who seem to themselves and others to be happy in the world are puffed up with self-confidence and pride, except because they reflect not on their origin, but despise all but themselves, just as if they had come down from the clouds? For there are few like Codrus, who, after gaining a kingdom, always ingenuously confessed that his father had been a potter. God here presents a remedy to this vice, (which reigns too extensively,) by representing to the Israelites their former state, and commanding them to reflect that they were rescued from it by His especial blessing. Nothing but the recollection of their deliverance could tame their arrogance; for what could be more unreasonable than that they should be insolent who were formerly the slaves of a most haughty nation, and who had not acquired their liberty by their own efforts, but contrary to their hope and deserts had obtained it by God’s mere favor, who then had wandered in exile through the wilderness, and at length, under God’s guidance, had entered the land promised them? In a word, God deals with them just as if one should reproach a man (who, having become suddenly rich, bore himself intemperately) with his former beggary and want. Moreover, since they were too slow of heart to receive this admonition promptly and cheerfully, Moses enlarges on the Divine benefits which they had experienced in the wilderness. For this was incredible, that this mixed multitude of men, and women, and children, and slaves should have lived so many years, not only amongst wild beasts, but amongst scorpions and vipers, and all that is most venomous in the serpent tribe. God’s goodness shone forth, too, still more brightly in that sudden miracle whereby He supplied water to them in their thirst from what was before an and rock. The following sentence is omitted in the French. But since he reminds them in the next verse how they had manna for their bread or food, I will join these two things together.

16. Who fed thee in the wilderness. He had said that water was brought forth from the rock of flint when the people were suffering from thirst; now, he adds that they had manna instead of bread; as if he had said that when meat and drink failed them they must have perished of want unless God had preternaturally given them both, causing the hard rock to flow down in water, and sending bread from heaven. Moreover he repeats what he had said before, that the people were afflicted with this need as a trial of their faith and patience; yet in this trial both their incredulity and intemperance were discovered, whilst God’s goodness and power were eventually more clearly displayed, since He pardoned their ingratitude, and, notwithstanding it, aided their necessity. For if they had not suffered from hunger, God’s bounty in supplying them with their daily food would have been neglectfully received. This is the meaning of the conclusion, “to do thee good at thy latter end.” From which words let us also learn that we are often deprived of our necessary supplies, in order that our senses may awaken to acknowledge God’s aid which appears in our extremity. For whilst abundance covers our eyes with a veil, or dims their sight, so, on the other hand, deprivation and want purge and remove this dimness that we may more clearly perceive the benefits afforded us by God.

17. And thou say in, thy heart. He describes that kind of pride of which we have lately spoken, viz., when men attribute to their own industry, or labor, or foresight, what they ought to refer to the blessing of God. It has indeed been said, that our hearts are uplifted in other ways also; but this is the principal ground of pride, to assume and assign to ourselves what belongs to God. For nothing so greatly confines us within the boundaries of humility and modesty as the acknowledgment of God’s grace; for it is madness and temerity to raise our crests against Him on whom we depend, and to whom we owe ourselves and all we possess. Rightly, then, does Moses reprove the pride of the human heart which arises from forgetfulness of God, if they think that they have gained by their own exertions (marte suo) what God has given them of His own pleasure, in order to lay them under obligation to Himself. “To say in the heart,” is a Hebraism for thinking in one’s self, or reflecting in one’s self. He does not, therefore, only require the outward expression of the lips, whereby men profess that they are grateful to God’s bounty, (for in this there is often nothing more than hypocrisy and vanity;) but he would have them seriously persuaded that whatever they possess is derived from His sheer beneficence. He has already said, that although when they entered the land they would be fed with bread and other foods, still the manna wherewith God had supported them in the wilderness would be a perpetual proof that man is not sustained by bread only, but by the secret virtue of God, which inspires the principle of life. Another lesson is now added, viz., that because God formerly fed and clothed them gratuitously, and without any act of their own, they thence are taught that, even whilst they strenuously labor and strive, whatever they acquire is not so much the reward of their own industry as the fruit of God’s blessing. For he not only affirms that at their first entrance into the land they were enriched, because God dealt with them liberally, but He extends this to the whole course of human life, that men obtain nothing by their own vigilance and diligence, except in so far as God blesses them from above. And this he more fully explains immediately afterwards, where he commands them to remember therefore that “it is God who giveth them power,” etc. For although God would not have us slumber in inactivity, yet what Paul says of the preaching of the Gospel, A parenthesis is here added in the Fr., (“selon qu’il est prins de la similitude des laboureurs;”) as it. is taken from the similitude of laborers. holds good also in the most trifling matters, viz., that “neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth,” but all things are in the power of God, by whose only influence it is that the earth brings forth fruit. (1 Corinthians 3:7.) We must then recollect that although God reproves man’s slothfulness, and punishes it with want and hunger, still they who are active in labor do not get wealth by their own diligence, but by the blessing of God alone. On this doctrine the prayer which Christ dictated to us is founded, in which we ask to have our daily bread given us. But although this relates alike to all mankind, yet Moses appropriates it especially to God’s chosen people, in whom God’s blessing shines forth most brightly, and at the same time admonishes them that the fact of His supplying them with food depends on the covenant whereby He adopted the race of Abraham to Himself.

Exodus 23

Exodus 23:20-23, 25-31

20. Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.

20. Ecce, ego mitre Angelum coram to, ut custodiat to in via, et introducat to in locum quem praeparavi.

21. Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him.

21. Cave a facie ejus, (ad verbum, custodias to; vel custoditus sis,) et obtempera voci ejus, ne exacerbes eum, neque enim parcet transgressioni vestrae: nomen meum intra ipsum.

22. But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries.

22. Si autem audiendo audieris vocem ejus, et feceris omnia quae loquor, inimicus ere inimicis tuis, et affligam affligentes te.

23. For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off.

23. Nam praecedet Angelus meus faciem tuam, et introducet tead Emorrhaeum, Hitthaeum, et Perezaeum, Chananaeum, Hivaeum, et Jebusaeum: et exterminabo illos.

25. And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.

25. Coletis Jehovam Deum vestrum, et benedicet pani tuo, et aquis tuis: auferamque infirmitatem e medio tui.

26. There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfill.

26. Non erit abortum faciens et sterilis in terra tua: numerum dierum tuorum complebo.

27. I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come; and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee.

27. Terrorem mittam coram to, et interficiam omnem populum ad quem venies, et dabo omnes hostes tuos tergum.

28. And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.

28. Mittam crabronem ante to, qui expellat Hivaeum, Chananaeum, et Hitthaeum a facie tua.

29. I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee.

29. Non ejiciam ilium a facie tua anno uno, ne sit terrae desolatio, et multiplicetur contra to bestia agri.

30. By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.

30. Paulatim paulatim ejiciam illum a facie tua, donec crescas et haereditate accipias terram.

31. And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee.

31. Ponam autem terminum tuum a mari rubro usque ad Philistin, et a deserto usque ad fluvium, ham dabo in manus vestras habitatores terrae.

CHAPTER 8

De 8:1-20. An Exhortation to Obedience.

1. All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live--In all the wise arrangements of our Creator duty has been made inseparably connected with happiness; and the earnest enforcement of the divine law which Moses was making to the Israelites was in order to secure their being a happy (because a moral and religious) people: a course of prosperity is often called "life" (Ge 17:18; Pr 3:2).

live, and multiply--This reference to the future increase of their population proves that they were too few to occupy the land fully at first.

2-3. thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness--The recapitulation of all their checkered experience during that long period was designed to awaken lively impressions of the goodness of God. First, Moses showed them the object of their protracted wanderings and varied hardships. These were trials of their obedience as well as chastisements for sin. Indeed, the discovery of their infidelity, inconstancy, and their rebellions and perverseness which this varied discipline brought to light, was of eminently practical use to the Israelites themselves, as it has been to the church in all subsequent ages. Next, he enlarged on the goodness of God to them, while reduced to the last extremities of despair, in the miraculous provision which, without anxiety or labor, was made for their daily support (see on Ex 16:4). Possessing no nutritious properties inherent in it, this contributed to their sustenance, as indeed all food does (Mt 4:4) solely through the ordinance and blessing of God. This remark is applicable to the means of spiritual as well as natural life.

4. Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years--What a striking miracle was this! No doubt the Israelites might have brought from Egypt more clothes than they wore at their outset; they might also have obtained supplies of various articles of food and raiment in barter with the neighboring tribes for the fleeces and skins of their sheep and goats; and in furnishing them with such opportunities the care of Providence appeared. But the strong and pointed terms which Moses here uses (see also De 29:5) indicate a special or miraculous interposition of their loving Guardian in preserving them amid the wear and tear of their nomadic life in the desert. Thirdly, Moses expatiated on the goodness of the promised land.

7. For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land--All accounts, ancient and modern, concur in bearing testimony to the natural beauty and fertility of Palestine, and its great capabilities if properly cultivated.

a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills--These characteristic features are mentioned first, as they would be most striking; and all travellers describe how delightful and cheerful it is, after passing through the barren and thirsty desert, to be among running brooks and swelling hills and verdant valleys. It is observable that water is mentioned as the chief source of its ancient fertility.

8. A land of wheat, and barley--These cereal fruits were specially promised to the Israelites in the event of their faithful allegiance to the covenant of God (Psa 81:16; 147:14). The wheat and barley were so abundant as to yield sixty and often an hundredfold (Ge 26:12; Mt 13:8).

vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates--The limestone rocks and abrupt valleys were entirely covered, as traces of them still show, with plantations of figs, vines, and olive trees. Though in a southern latitude, its mountainous formations tempered the excessive heat, and hence, figs, pomegranates, &c., were produced in Palestine equally with wheat and barley, the produce of northern regions.

honey--The word "honey" is used often in a loose, indeterminate sense, very frequently to signify a syrup of dates or of grapes, which under the name of dibs is much used by all classes, wherever vineyards are found, as a condiment to their food. It resembles thin molasses, but is more pleasant to the taste [Robinson]. This is esteemed a great delicacy in the East, and it was produced abundantly in Palestine.

9. a land whose stones are iron--The abundance of this metal in Palestine, especially among the mountains of Lebanon, those of Kesraoun, and elsewhere, is attested not only by Josephus, but by Volney, Buckingham, and other travellers.

brass--not the alloy brass, but the ore of copper. Although the mines may now be exhausted or neglected, they yielded plenty of those metals anciently (1Ch 22:3; 29:2-7; Is 60:17).

11-20. Beware that thou forget not the Lord--After mentioning those instances of the divine goodness, Moses founded on them an argument for their future obedience.

Thou shalt remember all the way - The various dealings of God with you; the dangers and difficulties to which ye were exposed, and from which God delivered you; together with the various miracles which he wrought for you, and his longsuffering towards you.

He - suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee - God never permits any tribulation to befall his followers, which he does not design to turn to their advantage. When he permits us to hunger, it is that his mercy may be the more observable in providing us with the necessaries of life. Privations, in the way of providence, are the forerunners of mercy and goodness abundant.

Thy raiment waxed not old, etc. - The plain meaning of this much-tortured text appears to me to be this: "God so amply provided for them all the necessaries of life, that they never were obliged to wear tattered garments, nor were their feet injured for lack of shoes or sandals." If they had carvers, engravers, silversmiths, and jewelers among them, as plainly appears from the account we have of the tabernacle and its utensils, is it to be wondered at if they also had habit and sandal makers, etc., etc., as we are certain they had weavers, embroiderers, and such like? And the traffic which we may suppose they carried on with the Moabites, or with travelling hordes of Arabians, doubtless supplied them with the materials; though, as they had abundance of sheep and neat cattle, they must have had much of the materials within themselves. It is generally supposed that God, by a miracle, preserved their clothes from wearing out: but if this sense be admitted, it will require, not one miracle, but a chain of the most successive and astonishing miracles ever wrought, to account for the thing; for as there were not less than 600,000 males born in the wilderness, it would imply, that the clothes of the infant grew up with the increase of his body to manhood, which would require a miracle to be continually wrought on every thread, and on every particle of matter of which that thread was composed. And this is not all; it would imply that the clothes of the parent became miraculously lessened to fit the body of the child, with whose growth they were again to stretch and grow, etc. No such miraculous interference was necessary.

A land of wheat, etc. - On the subject of this verse I shall introduce the following remarks, which I find in Mr. Harmer's Observations on the Fertility of the Land of Judea, vol. iii., p. 243. "Hasselquist tells us that he ate olives at Joppa (upon his first arrival in the Holy Land) which were said to grow on the Mount of Olives, near Jerusalem; and that, independently of their oiliness, they were of the best kind he had tasted in the Levant. As olives are frequently eaten in their repasts, the delicacy of this fruit in Judea ought not to be forgotten; and the oil that is gotten from these trees much less, because still more often made use of. In the progress of his journey he found several fine vales, abounding with olive trees. He saw also olive trees in Galilee; but none farther, he says, than the mountain where it is supposed our Lord preached his sermon. "The fig trees in the neighborhood of Joppa, Hasselquist goes on to inform us, were as beautiful as any he had seen in the Levant. "The reason why pomegranates are distinctly mentioned, in this description of the productions of the land of promise, may be their great usefulness in forming cooling drinks, for they are used among the Asiatics nearly in the same way that we use lemons; see vol. ii., 145. "Honey is used in large quantities in these countries; and Egypt was celebrated for the assiduous care with which the people there managed their bees. Maillet's account of it is very amusing. 'There are,' says he, 'abundance of bees in that country; and a singular manner of feeding them, introduced by the Egyptians of ancient times, still continues there. Towards the end of October, when the Nile, upon its decrease, gives the peasants an opportunity of sowing the lands, sainfoin is one of the first things sown, and one of the most profitable. As the Upper Egypt is hotter than the Lower, and the inundation there goes sooner off the lands, the sainfoin appears there first. The knowledge they have of this causes them to send their bee-hives from all parts of Egypt, that the bees may enjoy, as soon as may be, the richness of the flowers, which grow in this part of the country sooner than in any other district of the kingdom. The hives, upon their arrival at the farther end of Egypt, are placed one upon another in the form of pyramids, in boats prepared for their reception, after having been numbered by the people who place them in the boats. The bees feed in the fields there for some days; afterwards, when it is believed they have nearly collected the honey and wax, which were to be found for two or three leagues round, they cause the boats to go down the stream, two or three leagues lower, and leave them there, in like manner, such a proportion of time as they think to be necessary for the gathering up the riches of that canton. At length, about the beginning of February, after having gone the whole length of Egypt, they arrive at the sea, from whence they are conducted, each of them, to their usual place of abode; for they take care to set down exactly, in a register, each district from whence the hives were carried in the beginning of the season, their number and the names of the persons that sent them, as well as the number of the boats, where they are ranged according to the places they are brought from. What is astonishing in this affair is, that with the greatest fidelity of memory that can be imagined, each bee finds its own hive, and never makes any mistake. That which is still more amazing to me is, that the Egyptians of old should be so attentive to all the advantages deducible from the situation of their country; that after having observed that all things came to maturity sooner in Upper Egypt, and much later in Lower, which made a difference of above six weeks between the two extremities of their country, they thought of collecting the wax and the honey so as to lose none of them, and hit upon this ingenious method of making the bees do it successively, according to the blossoming of the flowers, and the arrangement of nature.'"

If this solicitude were as ancient as the dwelling of Israel in Egypt, they must have been anxious to know whether honey, about which they took such care in Egypt, was plentiful in the land of promise; and they must have been pleased to have been assured it was. It continues to be produced there in large quantities: Hasselquist, in the progress of his journey from Acra to Nazareth, tells us that he found "great numbers of bees, bred thereabouts, to the great advantage of the inhabitants." He adds, "they make their bee-hives, with little trouble, of clay, four feet long, and half a foot in diameter, as in Egypt. They lay ten or twelve of them, one on another, on the bare ground, and build over every ten a little roof." Mr. Maundrell, observing also many bees in the Holy Land, takes notice that by their means the most barren places in other respects of that country become useful, perceiving in many places of the great salt plain near Jericho a smell of honey and wax as strong as if he had been in an apiary.

By Hasselquist's account it appears, that the present inhabitants of Palestine are not strangers to the use of hives. They are constructed of very different materials from ours, but just the same with the Egyptian hives. They seem to be an ancient contrivance; and indeed so simple an invention must be supposed to be as old as the days of Moses, when arts, as appears from his writings, of a much more elevated nature were known in Egypt. I cannot then well persuade myself to adopt the opinion of some of the learned, that those words of Moses, in Deu 32:13, He made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil cut of the flinty rock, are to be understood of his causing Israel to dwell in a country where sometimes they might find honey-comb in holes of the rock. It is very possible that in that hot country these insects, when not taken due care of, may get into hollow places of the rocks, and form combs there, as they sometimes construct them in ours in hollow trees, though I do not remember to have met with any traveler that has made such an observation. But would this have been mentioned with so much triumph by Moses in this place? The quantities of honey produced after this manner could be but small, compared with what would be collected in hives properly managed; when found, it must often cost a great deal of pains to get the honey out of these little cavities in the hard stone, and much the greatest part must be absolutely lost to the inhabitants. The interpretation is the more strange, because when it is said in the next clause, "and oil out of the flinty rock," it is evidently meant that they should have oil produced in abundance by olive trees growing on flinty rocks; and consequently, the sucking honey out of the rock should only mean their enjoying great quantities of honey, produced by bees that collected it from flowers growing among the rocks: the rocky mountains of this country, it is well known, produce an abundance of aromatic plants proper for the purpose. Nor does Asaph, in the close of the eighty-first Psalm, speak, I apprehend, of honey found in cavities of rocks; nor yet is he there describing it as collected from the odoriferous plants that grow in the rocky hills of those countries, if the reading of our present Hebrew copies be right: but the prophet tells Israel that, had they been obedient, God would have fed them with the fat of wheat, and with the rock of honey would he have satisfied them, that is, with the most delicious wheat, and with the richest, most invigorating honey, in large quantities, both for eating and making agreeable drink. Its reviving, strengthening quality appears in the story of Jonathan, Saul's son, 1Sam 14:27; as the using the term rock to signify strength, etc., appears in a multitude of places. The rock of a sword, Psa 89:43, for the edge of the sword, in which its energy lies, is, perhaps, as strange an expression to western ears.

I shall have occasion to speak of the excellence of the grapes of Judea in a succeeding chapter; I may therefore be excused from pursuing the farther examination of the productions of this country, upon giving my reader a remark of Dr. Shaw's to this purpose, that it is impossible for pulse, wheat, or grain of any kind, to be richer or better tasted than what is sold at Jerusalem. Only it may not be amiss to add, with respect to this country's being well watered, that the depth, תהם tehom, spoken of in this passage, seems to mean reservoirs of water filled by the rains of winter, and of great use to make their lands fertile; as the second word תעלתיה tealotheiha seems to mean wells, or some such sort of conveniences, supplied by springs, and the first word; נהרתיה naharotheiha rivers or running streams, whether carrying a larger or smaller body of water. What an important part of this pleasing description, especially in the ears of those that had wandered near forty years in a most dry and parched wilderness! I will only add, without entering into particulars, that the present face of the country answers this description.

A land whose stones are iron - Not only meaning that there were iron mines throughout the land, but that the loose stones were strongly impregnated with iron, ores of this metal (the most useful of all the products of the mineral kingdom) being every where in great plenty.

Out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass - As there is no such thing in nature as a brass mine, the word נחשת nechosheth should be translated copper; of which, by the addition of the lapis calaminaris, brass is made. See on Exo 25:3 (note).

Who led thee through that - terrible wilderness - See the account of their journeying in the notes, Exo 16:1 (note), etc.; Numbers 21 (note), etc.

Fiery serpents - Serpents whose bite occasioned a most violent inflammation, accompanied with an unquenchable thirst, and which terminated in death. See on Num 21:6 (note).

Who fed thee - with manna - See this miracle described in Exo 16:13 (note), etc.

God - giveth thee power to get wealth - Who among the rich and wealthy believes this saying? Who gives wisdom, understanding, skill, bodily strength, and health? Is it not God? And without these, how can wealth be acquired? Whose is providence? Who gives fertility to the earth? And who brings every proper purpose to a right issue? Is it not God? And without these also can wealth be acquired? No. Then the proposition in the text is self-evident: it is God that giveth power to get wealth, and to God the wealthy man must account for the manner in which he has expended the riches which God hath given him.

Live - Live comfortably and happily.

All the way - All the events which befel three in the way, the miraculous protections, deliverances, provisions, instructions which God gave thee; and withal the frequent and severe punishments of thy disobedience. To know - That thou mightest discover to thyself and others that infidelity, inconstancy, hypocrisy, and perverseness, which lay hid in thy heart; the discovery whereof was of singular use both to them, and to the church of God in all succeeding ages. It is good for us likewise to remember all the ways both of God's providence and grace, by which he has led us hitherto through the wilderness, that we may trust him, and chearfully serve him.

By every word - That is, by every or any thing which God appoints for this end, how unlikely so - ever it may seem to be for nourishment; seeing it is not the creature, but only God's command and blessing upon it, that makes it sufficient for the support of life.

As a man chastiseth his son - That is, unwillingly, being constrained by necessity; moderately, in judgment remembering mercy; and for thy reformation not thy destruction.

Depths - Deep wells or springs, or lakes, which were numerous and large.

Whose stones are iron - Where are mines of iron in a manner as plentiful as stones, and upon which travellers must tread, as in other parts they do upon stones.

Bless the Lord - Solemnly praise him for thy food; which is a debt both of gratitude and justice, because it is from his providence and favour that thou receivest both thy food and refreshment and strength by it. The more unworthy and absurd is that too common profaneness of them, who, professing to believe a God, from whom all their comforts come, grudge to own him at their meals, either by desiring his blessing before them, or by offering due praise to God after them.

Lifted up - As if thou didst receive and enjoy these things, either, by thy owns wisdom, and valour, and industry, or for thy own merit.

That he might humble thee - By keeping thee in a constant dependence upon him for every day's food, and convincing thee what an impotent, helpless creature thou art, having nothing whereon to subsist, and being supported wholly by the alms of divine goodness from day to day. The mercies of God, if duly considered, are as powerful a mean to humble us as the greatest afflictions, because they increase our debts to God, and manifest our dependance upon him, and by making God great, they make us little in our own eyes. To do thee good - That is, that after he hath purged and prepared thee by afflictions, thou mayest receive and enjoy his blessings with less disadvantage, whilst by the remembrance of former afflictions. thou art made thankful for them, and more cautious not to abuse them.

1 ALl the commandments which I command thee this day, shall ye observe to do, that ye may live , and multiply, and go [illegible: 1 word], [illegible: 1 word] possess the [illegible: 1 word] which the LORD sware [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] fathers.

[illegible: 1+ letters]. [illegible: 1+ letters]. [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] ▪ and happily, as life is oft taken, as [illegible: 1 word]. 17. 18. [illegible: 1 word] v. [illegible: 1+ letters]. [illegible: 1+ letters]. [illegible: 1 word] on the contrary troubles or afflictions are called Death. End. 10. 17. 2 Cor. 11. 23.

2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God [illegible: 1+ letters]ed thee those fourty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments or no.

i. e. All the events which befel thee in the way, the miraculous protections, deliverances, provisions, instructions which God gave thee, and withal the frequent and severe punishments of thy disobedience.

i. e. That thou mightest discover to thy self and others that infidelity, inconstancy, Hypocrisie, Apostacy, rebellion and perver[illegible: 1+ letters] ▪ which lay hid in thy heart; the discovery whereof was of singular use both to them, and to the Church of God in all suc[illegible: 1+ letters]eding ages.

Marginal references: chap. 1[illegible: 1+ letters]. [illegible: 1 word].

3 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 onely, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.

i. e. By every or any thing which God appoints for this end, how unlikely soever it may seem to be for [illegible: 1 word], as appears in the Manna; seeing it is not thee Creature, but onely Gods command and blessing upon i[illegible: 1+ letters] ▪ that [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] for the support of life.

Marginal references: Exod. 1[illegible: 1+ letters]. [illegible: 1+ letters].; Exod. 1[illegible: 1+ letters]. 1[illegible: 1+ letters], 14.; Mat. 4. 4. Lux. 4. 4.

4 Thy raiment [illegible: 1 word] not old upon thee , neither did thy [illegible: 1+ letters]oot swell these fourty years.

[illegible: 1 span]

[illegible: 1 span]

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 span]

5 Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that as a man chasteneth his son , so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee.

(i. [illegible: 1+ letters].) Unwillingly▪ being [illegible: 1 word] by thy necessity; mode[illegible: 1+ letters]ely, in judgment remembring▪ mercy▪ and for thy reformation, not for thy [illegible: 1 word], Compare▪ [illegible: 1 word] ▪ 3. 11, 12. Heb. 12. 5, &c.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 span]

7 For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains, and depths that spring out of valleys, and hills.

(i. e.) Deep Wells or Springs, or Lakes, which were divers and large.

Marginal references: chap. 11. [illegible: 1 word] ▪ 11.

8 A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranats, a land of oil olive , and honey.

[illegible: 1 span]

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 span]

9 A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without [illegible: 1 word], then shalt not lack any thing in it: a land whose [illegible: 1 word] are iron , and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass .

Where are [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] in a manner as plentiful a[illegible: 1+ letters] stones, and upon which [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] as in other par[illegible: 1+ letters] they do upon stones.

To [illegible: 1 word] in [illegible: 1 word] plenty. These are mentioned, because they had none such in Egypt whence they came.

Marginal references: chap. [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word]

10 When thou hast eaten, and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God , for the good land which he hath given thee.

(i. e.) Solemnly praise him for thy food; which is a debt both of gratitude and justice, because it is from his providence and favour that thou receivest both thy food and refreshment and strength by it. The more unworthy and absurd is that too common profaneness of them, who, professing to believe a God and his Providence, from whom all their comforts come, grudge to own him at their meals, either by desiring his blessing before them, or by offering due praise to God after them.

Marginal references: chap. 6. 11, 1[illegible: 1+ letters].

14 Then thine heart be lifted up , and thou forget the LORD thy God (which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;

As if thou didst receive and enjoy these things either by thy own wisdom, and valour, and industry, v. 17. or for thy own merit, D[illegible: 1+ letters]t. 9. 4. See Hos. 13. 6. 1 Cor. 4. 7.

16 Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee , and that he might prove thee good at thy latter end .)

By keeping thee in a constant dependance upon him for every dayes food, and convincing thee what an impotent, helpless, and beggerly Creature thou art in thy self, having, nothing whereon to subsist, but from hand to mouth, and being supported wholly by the alms of divine goodness given to thee from day to day. The mercies of God, if duly considered, are as powerful an argument or mean to humble us as the greatest afflictions, because they increase our debts to God, and manifest our dependance upon him, and insufficiency without him, and by making God great, they make us little in our own eyes. Though this clause, as well as that which follows, may have respect to their afflictions, mentioned, v. 15.

(i. e.) That after he hath purged and prepared thee by afflictions, he may give thee, and thou mayest receive and enjoy his blessings with less disadvantage, whilest by the remembrance of former afflictions thou art made thankful for them, and more cautious not to abuse and forfeit them again.

Marginal references: Exod. 16. 15.

18 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 it is this day.

So this word is used, Numb. 24. 18. Iob 20. 18. Prov. 31. 29.

Review of the Guidance of God, and their Humiliation in the Desert, as a Warning against Highmindedness and Forgetfulness of God.

In addition to the danger of being drawn aside to transgress the covenant, by sparing the Canaanites and their idols out of pusillanimous compassion and false tolerance, the Israelites would be especially in danger, after their settlement in Canaan, of falling into pride and forgetfulness of God, when enjoying the abundant productions of that land. To guard against this danger, Moses set before them how the Lord had sought to lead and train them to obedience by temptations and humiliations during their journey through the desert. In order that his purpose in doing this might be clearly seen, he commenced (Deu 8:1) with the renewed admonition to keep the whole law which he commanded them that day, that they might live and multiply and attain to the possession of the promised land (cf. Deu 4:1; Deu 6:3).

Deu 8:2

To this end they were to remember the forty years’ guidance through the wilderness (Deu 1:31; Deu 2:7), by which God desired to humble them, and to prove the state of their heart and their obedience. Humiliation was the way to prove their attitude towards God. ענּה, to humble, i.e., to bring them by means of distress and privations to feel their need of help and their dependence upon God. נסּה, to prove, by placing them in such positions in life as would drive them to reveal what was in their heart, viz., whether they believed in the omnipotence, love, and righteousness of God, or not.

Deu 8:3

The humiliation in the desert consisted not merely in the fact that God let the people hunger, i.e., be in want of bread and their ordinary food, but also in the fact that He fed them with manna, which was unknown to them and their fathers (cf. Exo 16:16.). Feeding with manna is called a humiliation, inasmuch as God intended to show to the people through this food, which had previously been altogether unknown to them, that man does not live by bread alone, that the power to sustain life does not rest upon bread only (Isa 38:16; Gen 27:40), or belong simply to it, but to all that goeth forth out of the mouth of Jehovah. That which “proceedeth out of the mouth of Jehovah” is not the word of the law, as the Rabbins suppose, but, as the word כּל (all, every) shows, “the word” generally, the revealed will of God to preserve the life of man in whatever way (Schultz): hence all means designed and appointed by the Lord for the sustenance of life. In this sense Christ quotes these words in reply to the tempter (Mat 4:4), not to say to him, The Messiah lives not by (material) bread only, but by the fulfilment of the will of God (Usteri, Ullmann), or by trusting in the sustaining word of God (Olshausen); but that He left it to God to care for the sustenance of His life, as God could sustain His life in extraordinary ways, even without the common supplies of food, by the power of His almighty word and will.

Deu 8:4

As the Lord provided for their nourishment, so did He also in a marvellous way for the clothing of His people during these forty years. “Thy garment did not fall of thee through age, and thy foot did not swell.” בּלה with מן, to fall off from age. בּצק only occurs again in Neh 9:21, where this passage is repeated. The meaning is doubtful. The word is certainly connected with בּצק (dough), and probably signifies to become soft or to swell, although בּצק is also used for unleavened dough. The Septuagint rendering here is ו̓פץכש́טחףבם, to get hard skin; on the other hand, in Neh 9:21, we find the rendering ὑποδήματα αὐτῶν ου' διεῤῥάγησαν, “their sandals were not worn out,” from the parallel passage in Deu 29:5. These words affirm something more than “clothes and shoes never failed you,” inasmuch as ye always had wool, hides, leather, and other kinds of material in sufficient quantities for clothes and shoes, as not only J. D. Michaelis and others suppose, but Calmet, and even Kurtz. Knobel is quite correct in observing, that “this would be altogether too trivial a matter by the side of the miraculous supply of manna, and moreover that it is not involved in the expression itself, which rather affirms that their clothes did not wear out upon them, or fall in tatters from their backs, because God gave them a miraculous durability” (Luther, Calvin, Baumgarten, Schultz, etc.). At the same time, there is no necessity to follow some of the Rabbins and Justin Martyr (dial. c. Tryph. c. 131), who so magnify the miracle of divine providence, as to maintain not only that the clothes of the Israelites did not get old, but that as the younger generation grew up their clothes also grew upon their backs, like the shells of snails. Nor is it necessary to shut out the different natural resources which the people had at their command for providing clothes and sandals, any more than the gift of manna precluded the use of such ordinary provisions as they were able to procure.

Deu 8:5

In this way Jehovah humbled and tempted His people, that they might learn in their heart, i.e., convince themselves by experience, that their God was educating them as a father does his son. יסּר, to admonish, chasten, educate; like παιδεύειν. “It includes everything belonging to a proper education” (Calvin).

Deu 8:6

The design of this education was to train them to keep His commandments, that they might walk in His ways and fear Him (Deu 6:24).

Deu 8:7-9

The Israelites were to continue mindful of this paternal discipline on the part of their God, when the Lord should bring them into the good land of Canaan. This land Moses describes in Deu 8:8, Deu 8:9, in contrast with the dry unfruitful desert, as a well-watered and very fruitful land, which yielded abundance of support to its inhabitants; a land of water-brooks, fountains, and floods (תּהומות, see Gen 1:2), which had their source (took their rise) in valleys and on mountains; a land of wheat and barley, of the vine, fig, and pomegranate, and full of oil and honey (see at Exo 3:8); lastly, a land “in which thou shalt not eat (support thyself) in scarcity, and shalt not be in want of anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose mountains thou hewest brass.” The stones are iron, i.e., ferruginous. This statement is confirmed by modern travellers, although the Israelites did not carry on mining, and do not appear to have obtained either iron or brass from their own land. The iron and brass of which David collected such quantities for the building of the temple (1Ch 22:3, 1Ch 22:14), he procured from Betach and Berotai (2Sa 8:8), or Tibchat and Kun (1Ch 18:8), towns of Hadadezer, that is to say, from Syria. According to Eze 27:19, however, the Danites brought iron-work to the market of Tyre. Not only do the springs near Tiberias contain iron (v. Schubert, R. iii. p. 239), whilst the soil at Hasbeya and the springs in the neighbourhood are also strongly impregnated with iron (Burckhardt, Syrien, p. 83), but in the southern mountains as well there are probably strata of iron between Jerusalem and Jericho (Russegger, R. iii. p. 250). But Lebanon especially abounds in iron-stone; iron mines and smelting furnaces being found there in many places (Volney, Travels; Burckhardt, p. 73; Seetzen, i. pp. 145, 187ff., 237ff.). The basalt also, which occurs in great masses in northern Canaan by the side of the limestone, from the plain of Jezreel onwards (Robinson, iii. p. 313), and is very predominant in Bashan, is a ferruginous stone. Traces of extinct copper-works are also found upon Lebanon (Volney, Travels; Ritter’s Erdkunde, xvii. p. 1063).

Deu 8:10-18

But if the Israelites were to eat there and be satisfied, i.e., to live in the midst of plenty, they were to beware of forgetting their God; that when their prosperity - their possessions, in the form of lofty houses, cattle, gold and silver, and other good things - increased, their heart might not be lifted up, i.e., they might not become proud, and, forgetting their deliverance from Egypt and their miraculous preservation and guidance in the desert, ascribe the property they had acquired to their own strength and the work of their own hands. To keep the people from this danger of forgetting God, which follows so easily from the pride of wealth, Moses once more enumerates in Deu 8:14-16 the manifestations of divine grace, their deliverance from Egypt the slave-house, their being led through the great and terrible desert, whose terrors he depicts by mentioning a series of noxious and even fatal things, such as snakes, burning snakes (saraph, see at Num 21; 6), scorpions, and the thirsty land where there was no water. The words from נחשׁ, onwards, are attached rhetorically to what precedes by simple apposition, without any logically connecting particle; though it will not do to overlook entirely the rhetorical form of the enumeration, and supply the preposition בּ before נחשׁ and the words which follow, to say nothing of the fact that it would be quite out of character before these nouns in the singular, as a whole people could not go through one serpent, etc. In this parched land the Lord brought he people water out of the flinty rock, the hardest stone, and fed them with manna, to humble them and tempt them (cf. Deu 8:2), in order (this was the ultimate intention of all the humiliation and trial) “to do thee good at thy latter end.” The “latter end” of any one is “the time which follows some distinct point in his life, particularly an important epoch-making point, and which may be regarded as the end by contrast, the time before that epoch being considered as the beginning” (Schultz). In this instance Moses refers to the period of their life in Canaan, in contrast with which the period of their sojourn in Egypt and their wandering in the desert is recorded as the beginning; consequently the expression does not relate to death as the end of life, as in Num 23:10, although this allusion is not to be altogether excluded, as a blessed death is only the completion of a blessed life. - Like all the guidance of Israel by the Lord, what is stated here is applicable to all believers. It is through humiliations and trials that the Lord leads His people to blessedness. Through the desert of tribulation, anxiety, distress, and merciful interposition, He conducts them to Canaan, into the land of rest, where they are refreshed and satisfied in the full enjoyment of the blessings of His grace and salvation; but those alone who continue humble, not attributing the good fortune and prosperity to which they attain at last, to their own exertion, strength, perseverance, and wisdom, but gratefully enjoying this good as a gift of the grace of God. חיל עשׂה, to create property, to prosper in wealth (as in Num 24:18). God gave strength for this (Deu 8:18), not because of Israel’s merit and worthiness, but to fulfil His promises which He had made on oath to the patriarchs. “As this day,” as was quite evident then, when the establishment of the covenant had already commenced, and Israel had come through the desert to the border of Canaan (see Deu 4:20).

Deu 8:19-20

To strengthen his admonition, Moses pointed again in conclusion, as he had already done in Deu 6:14 (cf. Deu 4:25.), to the destruction which would come upon Israel through apostasy from its God.

A Charge to Israel; Israel's Retrospect. (b. c. 1451.)

1 All the commandments 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. 2 And thou shalt remember all the way 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 wouldest keep his commandments, or no. 3 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 word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. 4 Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years. 5 Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee. 6 Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him. 7 For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; 8 A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; 9 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.

The charge here given them is the same as before, to keep and do all God's commandments. Their obedience must be, 1. Careful: Observe to do. 2. Universal: To do all the commandments, v. 1. And, 3. From a good principle, with a regard to God as the Lord, and their God, and particularly with a holy fear of him (v. 6), from a reverence of his majesty, a submission to his authority, and a dread of his wrath. To engage them to this obedience, besides the great advantages of it, which he sets before them (that they should live and multiply, and all should be well with them, v. 1), he directs them,

I. To look back upon the wilderness through which God had now brought them: Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, v. 2. Now that they had come of age, and were entering upon their inheritance, they must be reminded of the discipline they had been under during their minority and the method God had taken to train them up for himself. The wilderness was the school in which they had been for forty years boarded and taught, under tutors and governors; and this was a time to bring it all to remembrance. The occurrences of these last forty years were very memorable and well worthy to be remembered, very useful and profitable to be remembered, as yielding a complication of arguments for obedience; and they were recorded on purpose that they might be remembered. As the feast of the passover was a memorial of their deliverance out of Egypt, so was the feast of tabernacles of their passage through the wilderness. Note, It is very good for us to remember all the ways both of God's providence and grace, by which he has led us hitherto through this wilderness, that we may be prevailed with cheerfully to serve him and trust in him. Here let us set up our Ebenezer.

1. They must remember the straits they were sometimes brought into, (1.) For the mortifying of their pride; it was to humble them, that they might not be exalted above measure with the abundance of miracles that were wrought in their favor, and that they might not be secure, and confident of being in Canaan immediately. (2.) For the manifesting of their perverseness: to prove them, that they and others might know (for God himself perfectly knew it before) all that was in their heart, and might see that God chose them not for any thing in them that might recommend them to his favour, for their whole carriage was untoward and provoking. Many commandments God gave them which there would have been no occasion for if they had not been led through the wilderness, as those relating to the manna (Exod. xvi. 28); and God thereby tried them, as our first parents were tried by the trees of the garden, whether they would keep God's commandments or not. Or God thereby proved them whether they would trust his promises, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations, and, in dependence on his promises, obey his precepts.

2. They must remember the supplies which were always granted them.

(1.) God himself took particular care of their food, raiment, and health; and what would they have more? [1.] They had manna for food (v. 3): God suffered them to hunger, and the fed them with manna, that the extremity of their want might make the supply the more acceptable, and God's goodness to them therein the more remarkable. God often brings his people low, that he may have the honour of helping them. And thus the manna of heavenly comforts is given to those that hunger and thirst after righteousness, Matt. v. 6. To the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet. It is said of the manna that it was a sort of food which neither they nor their fathers knew. And again, v. 16. If they knew there was such a thing that fell sometimes with the dew in those countries, as some think they did, yet it was never known to fall in such vast quantities, so constantly, and at all seasons of the year, so long, and only about a certain place. These things were altogether miraculous, and without precedent; the Lord created a new thing for their supply. And hereby he taught them the man liveth not by bread alone. Though God has appointed bread for the strengthening of man's heart, and that is ordinarily made the staff of life, yet God can, when he pleases, command support and nourishment without it, and make something else, very unlikely, to answer the intention as well. We might live upon air if it were sanctified for that use by the word of God; for the means God ordinarily uses he is not tied to, but can perform his kind purposes to his people without them. Our Saviour quotes this scripture in answer to that temptation of Satan, Command that these stones be made bread. "What need of that?" says Christ; "my heavenly Father can keep me alive without bread," Matt. iv. 3, 4. Let none of God's children distrust their Father, nor take any sinful indirect course for the supply of their own 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, as it is the revelation of God's will and grace duly received and entertained by faith, is the food of the soul, the life which is supported by that is the life of the man, and not only that life which is supported by bread. The manna typified Christ, the bread of life. He is the Word of God; by him we live. The Lord evermore give us that bread which endures to eternal life, and let us not be put off with the meat that perisheth! [2.] The same clothes served them from Egypt to Canaan, at least the generality of them. Though they had no change of raiment, yet it was always new, and waxed not old upon them, v. 4. This was a standing miracle, and the greater if, as the Jews say, they grew with them, so as to be always fit for them. But it is plain that they brought out of Egypt bundles of clothes on their shoulders (Exod. xii. 34), which they might barter with each other as there was occasion; and these, with what they wore, sufficed till they came into a country where they could furnish themselves with new clothes.

(2.) By the method God took of providing food and raiment for them [1.] He humbled them. It was a mortification to them to be tied for forty years together to the same meat, without any varieties, and to the same clothes, in the same fashion. Thus he taught them that the good things he designed for them were figures of better things, and that the happiness of man consists not in being clothed in purple or fine linen, and in faring sumptuously every day, but in being taken into covenant and communion with God, and in learning his righteous judgements. God's law, which was given to Israel in the wilderness, must be to them instead of food and raiment. [2.] He proved them, whether they could trust him to provide for them when means and second causes failed. Thus he taught them to live in a dependence upon Providence, and not to perplex themselves with care what they should eat and drink, and wherewithal they should be clothed. Christ would have his disciples learn the same lesson (Matt. vi. 25), and took a like method to teach it to them, when he sent them out without purse or scrip, and yet took care that they lacked nothing, Luke xxii. 35. [3.] God took care of their health and ease. Though they travelled on foot in a dry country, the way rough and untrodden, yet their feet swelled not. God preserved them from taking hurt by the inconveniences of their journey; and mercies of this kind we ought to acknowledge. Note, Those that follow God's conduct are not only safe but easy. Our feet swell not while we keep in the way of duty; it is the way of transgression that is hard, Prov. xiii. 15. God had promised to keep the feet of his saints, 1 Sam. ii. 9.

3. They must also remember the rebukes they had been under, v. 5. During these years of their education they had been kept under a strict discipline, and not without need. As a man chasteneth his son, for his good, and because he loves him, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee. God is a loving tender Father to all his children, yet when there is occasion they shall feel the smart of the rod. Israel did so: they were chastened that they might not be condemned, chastened with the rod of men. Not as a man wounds and slays his enemies whose destruction he aims at, but as a man chastens his son whose happiness and welfare he designs: so did their God chasten them; he chastened and taught them, Ps. xciv. 12. This they must consider in their heart, that is, they must own it from their own experience that God had corrected them with a fatherly love, for which they must return to him a filial reverence and compliance. Because God has chastened thee as a father, therefore (v. 6) thou shalt keep his commandments. This use we should make of all our afflictions; by them let us be engaged and quickened to our duty. Thus they are directed to look back upon the wilderness.

II. He directs them to look forward to Canaan, into which God was now bringing them. Look which way we will, both our reviews and our prospects will furnish us with arguments for obedience. Observe,

1. The land which they were now going to take possession of is here described to be a very good land, having every thing in it that was desirable, v. 7-9. (1.) It was well-watered, like Eden, the garden of the Lord. It was a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths, which contributed to the fruitfulness of the soil. Perhaps there was a greater plenty of water there now than in Abraham's time, the Canaanites having found and digged wells; so that Israel reaped the fruit of their industry as well as of God's bounty. (2.) The ground produced great plenty of all good things, not only for the necessary support, but for the convenience and comfort of human life. In their fathers' land they had bread enough; it was corn land, a land of wheat and barley, where, with the common care and labour of the husbandman, they might eat bread without scarceness. It was a fruitful land, that was never turned into barrenness but for the iniquity of those that dwelt therein. They had not only water enough to quench their thirst, but vines, the fruit whereof was ordained to make glad the heart. And, if they were desirous of dainties, they needed not to send to far countries for them, when their own was so well stocked with fig-trees, and pomegranates, olives of the best kind, and honey, or date-trees, as some think it should be read. (3.) Even the bowels of its earth were very rich, though it should seem that silver and gold they had none; of these the princes of Sheba should bring presents (Ps. lxxii. 10, 15); yet they had plenty of those more serviceable metals, iron and brass. Iron-stone and mines of brass were found in their hills. See Job xxviii. 2.

2. These things are mentioned, (1.) To show the great difference between that wilderness through which God had led them and the good land into which he was bringing them. Note, Those that bear the inconveniences of an afflicted state with patience and submission, are humbled by them and prove well under them, are best prepared for better circumstances. (2.) To show what obligations they lay under to keep God's commandments, both in gratitude for his favours to them and from a regard to their own interest, that the favours might be continued. The only way to keep possession of this good land would be to keep in the way of their duty. (3.) To show what a figure it was of good things to come. Whatever others saw, it is probable that Moses in it saw 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 the trees of righteousness, bearing the fruits of righteousness. Heaven is the good land, in which there is nothing wanting, and where there is a fulness of joy.

Cautions Relating to Worldly Prosperity. (b. c. 1451.)

10 When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee. 11 Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day: 12 Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; 13 And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; 14 Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; 15 Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; 16 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; 17 And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. 18 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 it is this day. 19 And it shall be, if thou do at all 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. 20 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.

Moses, having mentioned the great plenty they would find in the land of Canaan, finds it necessary to caution them against the abuse of that plenty, which was a sin they would be the more prone to now that they came into the vineyard of the Lord, immediately out of a barren desert.

I. He directs them to the duty of a prosperous condition, v. 10. They are allowed to eat even to fulness, not to surfeiting no excess; but let them always remember their benefactor, the founder of their feast, and never fail to give thanks after meat: Then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God. 1. They must take heed of eating or drinking so much as to indispose themselves for this duty of blessing God, rather aiming to serve God therein with so much the more cheerfulness and enlargement. 2. They must not have any fellowship with those that, when they had eaten and were full, blessed false gods, as the Israelites themselves had done in their worship of the golden calf, Exod. xxxii. 6. 3. Whatever they had the comfort of God must have the glory of. As our Saviour has taught us to bless before we eat (Matt. xiv. 19, 20), so we are here taught to bless after meat. That is our Hosannah—God bless; this is our Hallelujah—Blessed be God. In every thing we must give thanks. From this law the religious Jews took up a laudable usage of blessing God, not only at their solemn meals, but upon other occasions; if they drank a cup of wine they lifted up their hands and said, Blessed be he that created the fruit of the vine to make glad the heart. If they did but smell at a flower, they said, Blessed be he that made this flower sweet. 4. When they gave thanks for the fruits of the land they must give thanks for the fruits of the land itself, which was given them by promise From all our comfortable enjoyments we must take occasion to thank God for our comfortable settlements; and I know not but we of this nation have as much reason as they had to give thanks for a good land.

II. He arms them against the temptations of a prosperous condition, and charges them to stand upon their guard against them: "When thou art settled in goodly houses of thy own building," v. 12 (for though God gave them houses which they builded not, ch. vi. 10, these would not serve them, they must have larger and finer),—"and when thou hast grown rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold (v. 13), as Abraham (Gen. xiii. 2),—when all thou hast is multiplied," 1. "Then take heed of pride. Beware lest then thy heart be lifted up," v. 14. When the estate rises, the mind is apt to rise with it, in self-conceit, self-complacency, and self-confidence. Let us 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, even the might of my hand, hath gotten me this wealth, v. 17. Note, 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. ix. 11. It is spiritual idolatry thus to sacrifice to our own net, Hab. i. 16. 2. "Then take heed of forgetting God." This follows upon the lifting up on the heart; for it is through the pride of the countenance that the wicked seek not after God, Ps. x. 4. Those that admire themselves despise God. (1.) "Forget not thy duty to God." v. 11. We forget God if we keep not his commandments; we forget his authority over us, and our obligations to him and expectations from him, if we are not obedient to his laws. When men grow rich they are tempted to think religion a needless thing. They are happy without it, think it a thing below them and too hard upon them. Their dignity forbids them to stoop, and their liberty forbids them to serve. But we are basely ungrateful if the better God is to us the worse we are to him. (2.) "Forget not God's former dealings with thee. Thy deliverance out of Egypt, v. 14. The provision he made for thee in the wilderness, that great and terrible wilderness." They must never forget the impressions which the horror of that wilderness made upon them; see Jer. ii. 6, where it is called the very shadow of death. There God preserved them from being destroyed by the fiery serpents and scorpions, though sometimes he made use of them for their correction: there he kept them from perishing for want of water, following them with water out of a rock of flint (v. 15), out of which (says bishop Patrick) one would rather have expected fire than water. There he fed them with manna, of which before (v. 3), taking care to keep them alive, that he might do them good at their latter end, v. 16. Note, God reserves the best till the last for his Israel. However he may seem to deal hardly with them by the way, he will not fail to do them good at their latter end. (3.) "Forget not God's hand in thy present prosperity, v. 18. Remember it is he that giveth thee wealth; for he giveth thee 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.

III. He repeats the fair warning he had often given them of the fatal consequences of their apostasy from God, v. 19, 20. Observe, 1. How he describes the sin; it is forgetting God, and then worshipping other gods. What wickedness will not those fall into that keep thoughts of God out of their minds? And, when once the affections are displaced from God, they will soon be misplaced upon lying vanities. 2. How he denounces wrath and ruin against them for it: "If you do so, you shall surely perish, and the power and might of your hands, which you are so proud of, cannot help you. Nay, you shall perish as the nations that are driven out before you. God will make no more account of you, notwithstanding his covenant with you and your relation to him, than he does of them, if you will not be obedient and faithful to him." Those that follow others in sin will certainly follow them to destruction. If we do as sinners do, we must expect to fare as sinners fare.

CHAP. VIII.

ALL the commandement which I command thee this day, ye shall observe to doe, that ye may live and multiply, & goe in, and possesse the land which Iehovah sware unto your fathers. And thou shalt remember all the way which Iehovah thy God led thee these forty yeeres in the wildernesse, for to humble thee, to tempt thee, to know what was in thine hart, whether thou wouldest keepe his commandements, 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 the might make thee know, that man liveth not by bread onely, but by every (word) that proceedeth out of the mouth of Iehovah doth man live. Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, & thy foot swelled not these forty yeares. And thou shalt know with thine heart, that as a man chasteneth his sonne, Iehovah thy God chasteneth thee. And thou shalt keepe the commandements of Iehovah thy God; to walke in his waies, and to feare him. For, Iehovah thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brookes of waters, of fountaines, and of depths, that issue out in the vallie, and in the mountaine.

A land of wheat, and of barley, and of vi[illegible: 1 span] and fig-trees, and pomegranats: a land of oile olive and honey. A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarcenesse, thou shalt not lacke any thing in it: a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose mountaines thou maiest hew brasse. And thou shalt eat and be full, & thou shalt blesse Iehovah thy God, for the good land which hee hath given thee. Take heed to thy selfe, left thou forget Iehovah thy God, in not keeping his commandements, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day. Lest thou eat, and bee full, and buildest good houses, and dwellest in them. And thy heards, and thy flockes multiply; and silver and gold bee multiplied to thee; and all that thou hast be multiplied. And thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget Iehovah thy God, which brought thee forth, out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of servants. Who led thee thorow that great and fearfull wildernesse, wherein were fierie serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water: who brought forth unto thee waters, out of the rocke of flint. Who fed thee with Manna in the wildernesse, wch thy fathers knew not, for to humble thee, and for to tempt thee, to doe thee good at thy latter end. And thou say in thy heart, my power, and the might of my hand hath gotten unto mee this wealth. But thou shalt remember Iehovah thy God, that it is hee that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant, which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day. And it shall bee, if forgetting thou shalt forget Iehovah thy God, and shalt walke after other gods, and serve them, and bow thy selfe downe unto them; I testifie against you this day, that perishing yee shall perish. As the nations which Iehovah causeth to perish from your faces, so shall yee perish, because yee would not heare the voice of Iehovah your God.

Annotations. COmmandement] that is, as the Greeke translateth, commandements. See Deut. 5. 31. and 6. [illegible: 1 word]. observe to doe] or, keepe and doe, as the phrase sometime signifieth. See the notes on Gen. 2. 3. [illegible: 1 word] may l[illegible: 1 letter]ve] that is, continue long in a prosperous life; for as sorrowes, plagues, miseries are called deaths, Exod. [illegible: 1 letter]0. [illegible: 1 letter]7. 2 Cor. 11. 23. so a quiet and blessed estate is called life; as, yeeres of life, Prov. 3. 2. meane many good yeeres: and in Psal. 30. 6. life is opposed unto a moment. possesse] or, inherit the land: under which, eternall life was figured, as is noted on Gen. 12. 5. Vers. 2. all the way] that is, all the accidents that befell thee in the way; which were afflictiōs, wants, dangers on the one hand; and comforts, blessings, and deliverances on the other: by which, as by two walls, he kept Israel from going astray. Therfore this leading thorow the wildernesse is often mentioned by the Prophets; as Amos 2. 10. Psal. 136. 16. and 78. 52, 53. Ier. 2. 2. 6. to humble] or, to afflict; as the Greeke translateth, that hee might afflict thee, and tempt thee. So vers. 3. tempt] or, prove, to wit, their faith and obedience: see the notes on Gen. 22. [illegible: 1 word] to know] that is, to have experiment in practise of that which was in them. The like is said of king Ezechias, whom God left, to tempt him, that he might know all that was in his heart, 2 Chron. 32. 31. But in respect of himselfe, God needeth not that any should testifie of man; for he knoweth what is in man, and what himselfe will doe, Ioh. 2. 25. and 6. 6. A faithfull heart loveth, serveth, and beleeveth in God, as well in adversitie, as prosperity, Matt. 4. 4. but an unfaithfull murmureth in afflictions, Psal. 78. 40, 41. Vers. 3. humbled] or, afflicted, as vers. 2. So God afflicteth the strength of his people in the way, Psal. 102. 24. Hee suffered them to hunger, before he gave them Manna: so Gods people hunger and thirst after righteousnesse, and then he filleth them, Matt. 5. 6. Luk. 1. 53. Manna] Hebr. Man: of this meat, see the annotations on Exod. 16. 14, 15. &c. It was a figure of Christ, Ioh. 6. bread onely] that is, ordinary food, such as men live by; whereof bread is the principall. This sentence Christ alledged against Satan, when hee tempted him to unlawfull meanes for satisfying his hunger, Matth. 4. 4. word that proceedeth] so the Greeke also translateth, adding this word, as the Apostle also doth, in Matt. 4. 4. But another Evangelist saith onely, every word of God, Luk. 4. 4. The word of God is the ground of faith, Rom. 10. 17. which they that have abiding in them, shall surely bee fed in time of hunger, both soule and body, Psal. 37. 3. &c. Vers. 4. not old] that is, was not worne out with age, [illegible: 1 word] the Greeke explaineth it: so in Deut. 29. 5. Neh. [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1 letter]1. This was the second meanes of sustentation of life; which God also miraculously supplied unto them, that they might learne, not to seeke as the Gentiles; or take thought, what they should eat, or drinke, or wherewith they should be cloathed, M[illegible: 2 letters]t. [illegible: 1 word]. 31, 32. swelled not] the Chaldee expoundeth it, thy shooes were not bare (or broken:) and so the Greeke in Neh. 9. 21. where this is againe mensioned: and Moses himselfe in Deut. 29. 5. In this sense it agreeth with the former. But it seemeth here to meane the feet properly, which swelled not, neither were surbated, though they travelled so long thorow that dry and [illegible: 1 letter]horny wildernesse: and so it meaneth health of body, which God also gave them, as the third blessing necessary for this present life. fortie yeeres] the time of their travell in the wildernesse: which number fortie, is often used for to denote the time of affliction and humiliation. See the notes on Gen. 7. 4. Vers. 5. know with thine heart] that is, know and acknowledge heartily, upon thine owne feeling and experience. So Iosua said unto them, Yee know in all your heart, and in all your soule, Ios. 23. 14. chasteneth] or nurtureth, restraineth from the pleasures of the flesh. So other Scriptures speak of Gods chastisements, like a father, Prov. 3. 11, 12. Heb. 12. 5.—10. and, Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest [illegible: 1 word] I[illegible: 2 letters], Psal. 94. 12. Vers. 6. his wayes] which he hath commanded to [illegible: 1 word] in, that is, his Law, Exod. 18. 20. Psal. 25. 4. The Chaldee expoundeth it, the wayes that are right[illegible: 1 letter] before him. These are opposed to mens own [illegible: 2 letters]yes, Esai. 66. 3. and 55 8. 9. They comprehend faith, and other duties of the first Table, 1 King. 11. [illegible: 1 word]. 38. Act. 18 25, 26. and 22. 4. and vertues of the second Table also, 2 Pet. 2. 15. See the notes on Gen. 6. 12. to feare him] this is the meanes to keepe men in Gods wayes, and is therefore set be [illegible: 1 span], [illegible: 1 word] 2 Chron. 6. 31. Psal. 128. 1. Vers. 7. good land] a fat and fertile soile: See [illegible: 1 word] 1[illegible: 1 letter]. 20. brookes] or rivers: the Chaldee explaineth it, flowing with brookes. of foun [illegible: 1 span]] or of springs: the Chaldee saith, welling out [illegible: 1 span]aines and depths: the Greeke, and fountaines of [illegible: 1 word]. By deepes are meant store of waters, as Gen. 1. [illegible: 1 word]. and 7. 11. These brookes and springs figured [illegible: 1 word] plentifull graces of Gods spirit, wherewith his Church is watered, Ioel 3. 18. Ezek. 47. 1. &c. Rev. [illegible: 1 span] Psal. 65. 10. and 46. 5. vallie] put for vallies, and mountaines, as the Greeke and Chaldee translate. One is often used for many: See the notes on Gen. 3. 2. God sendeth the springs into the vallies, they run among the mountaines, they give drinke to e [illegible: 1 span]y beast of the field, the wilde asses quench their [illegible: 1 word], Psal. 104. 10, 11. Vers. 8. pomegranates] it signifieth both the fruit, Num. 13. 24. and the tree that beares them, Song 7. 1[illegible: 1 letter]. Agg. 2. 20. oile olive] Hebr. olive-tree of [illegible: 1 word], that is, as the Chaldee expounds it, olives that [illegible: 1 word] oile. With the fatnesse of the olive, they honoured God and man, Iudg. 9. 9. These earthly fruits figured also the heavenly graces which the faithfull (warred with Gods word and spirit) are filled and comforted with, Psal. 81. 17. and 147. 14. Song 8. [illegible: 1 word]. The trees that beare these fruits, figure ou[illegible: 1 letter] gracious men, from whose doctrine and conversation, heavenly comforts doe flow in the Church, Iudg. 9. 8.—13. Song 4. 13. and 6. 10. Hos. 10. 1. and 14. 7, 8. Psal. 1. 3. and 52. 10. Vers. 9. eat bread] so having the fruition of Gods blessings therein, which sometime men have not, though the land be fruitfull, as Deut. 28. 30. 33. 39. 40. And for their sinnes it came to passe, that they did eat bread by weight, and with care, Ezek. 4. 16. brasse] these latter are for munition, and other uses, as the former were for food: so all good things are implyed. See also Deut. 33. 25. The mountaines as Gods store-houses were not onely fruitfull on the upmost face of them, with corne and grasse, and trees of sundry sorts; but within their bowels (as it were) bred minerals and metals of great use for man. iron is taken out of the dust, and Brasse is molten out of the stone, Iob 28. 2. Vers. 10. be full] or, satisfied; which is a blessing that God giveth to the righteous, Prov. 13. 25. Ps. 147. 14. the contrary, to the wicked, Mic. 6. 14. Hag. 1. 6. shalt blesse Iehovah] that is, shalt give him thankes; as where it is said, that Iesus tooke bread, and blessed, Mark. 14. 22. another Evangelist saith, he tooke bread, and gave thankes, Luke 22. 19. And as our Saviour teacheth us to blesse before we eat, Mat. 14. 19, 20. so this law chargeth us to blesse after we have eaten: and as for meat and drinke, so for other good things which we receive of God; as David saith, Blesse the LORD, O my soule, and forget not all his benefits, Psal. 103. 2. and the Apostle commandeth, In every thing give thankes, for this is the will of God in Christ Iesus concerning you, 1 Thes. 5. 18. The Hebrewes (from this Law of Moses) teach, that although it be here said, thou shalt eat, and be full; and thou shalt blesse, &c. yet if a man eat but a morsell (so much as an olive) he is to blesse after it. And he is bound to blesse for all meat first, and afterward to use it: likewise if he be to smell unto any sweet thing, hee is to blesse, and after to have the fruition of it: as also to blesse after whatsoever he eateth or drinketh, though he drinke but one little draught, or eat but a morsell. And as they were to blesse for the use of the creatures, so for every thing commanded in the Law, they were first to blesse, and then to doe the same. Women and servants were bound to blesse their meat, and little children also, that they might be trained up in the Commandements. Vncleane persons, whatsoever uncleannesse they had, might blesse notwithstanding. Maimony tom. 1. in treat. of Blessings, ch. 1. s. 1. &c. and chap. 5. sect. 1. Vers. 11. lest thou forget Iehovah] or, that thou forget not Iehovah; which the Chaldee expoundeth, that thou forget not the feare of the LORD. God is forgotten, when his Commandements are neglected, Psal. 106. 19, 21. Ier. 2. 32. and he is remembred, when his precepts are remembred and done, Psal. 103. 18. Moses his next words shew this to be the meaning here. So God is forgotten, when his workes towards us are forgotten, as appeateth after, in vers. 14. 15. &c. Vers. 124 good] that is, goodly faire, pleasant, commodious; see the notes on Gen. 1. 4. Vers. 14. l[illegible: 1 letter]fted up] the Chaldee expounds it strengthned, (or hardned:) meaning with pride, as is said of Nebuchadnezar, Dan. 5. 20. and so lifting up of the heart meaneth, as Deut. 17. 20. Ier. 48. 29. Dan. 11. 12. which is the way for men to forget God, as is written, They were filled, and their heart was lifted up. therefore have they forgetten [illegible: 1 letter]e, Hos. 13. 6. servants] in Greeke and Chaldee, servitude (or bondage.) Vers. 15. [illegible: 1 letter]ed thee,] or, made thee goe, to wit, safely that thou shouldst not stumble, as Esa. 63. 13. This grace David remembreth, in Psal. 136. 16. Which led his people thorow the wildernesse, &c. This was by a pillar of a cloud by day, and by a pillar of fire by night, Exod. 13. 21. fearefull] for it was a land of desarts and of pits, a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, a land that no man passed thorow, & where no man dwelt, Ier. 2. 6. fiery serpents] or, serpent, burning serpent and scorpian; the Greeke translateth, where was the biting serpent and scorpion: the Chaldee saith, a place of barning. serpents and scorpions. See Num. 21. 6. &c. [illegible: 1 word]. scorpions] Hebr. scorpion, one for many, as is noted on Gev. 3. 2. Scorpions are venemous creatures, which hurt and sting with their tailes: wicked men are likened unto such, Ezek. 2. 6. Rev. 9. 3. 5. 10. as also unto Serpents. Matth. 23. 33. drought] or thirst; meaning a land of thirst, as is expressed in Esa, 35. 7. and so the Chaldee here translateth, a place of drinesse. rocke of flint] that is, hard and dry rocke, from whence God gave them water twise, Exod. 17. and Num. 20. Of this mercy David sung, that God turneth the rocke to a lake of watens; the flint to a fountaine of waters, Psal. 114. 8. After Moses speaketh figuratively, of oile out of the flints rocke, Deut. 32. 13. Vers. 16. Mavna] where of see before, vers. 3. and Exod. 16. thy latter end] for though no chastening for the present, seemeth to be joyous but grievoin, yet afterward it yeeldith the peaceable fruit of righte on snesse, unto them which are exercised shereby, Hebr. 12. 11. Vers. 17. And thou say] understand from vers. 12. lest thou say, that is, as the Greeke translateth, and say not. gotten] Hebr. made, that is, as the Chaldee expoundeth it, gotten: So in vers. 18. wealth] or power, meaning wealth or goods, as the Chaldee hath it. Vers. 18. that it is he] or, for it is he. Riches and wealth in the land of Canaan, (figuring spirituall riches in Christ,) were the speciall gift of God, for The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, Prov. 10 22. but Israel forgat this, as God saith, For she did not know, that I gave her corne, and wine, and oile, and multiplied her silver and gold, Hos. 2. 8. Vers. 19. other gods] the idols of the people, saith the Chaldee paraphrast. These words shew what the forgetting of God meaneth: so Psal. 106. 19, 21. Itestifie] the Greeke addeth, I take heaven and [illegible: 1 span]th to witnesse against you. So Moses him-selfe elsewhere speaketh in Deut. 30. 19. parishing ye shall perish] that is, ye shall assuredly and speedily perish, not with standing your wealth and prosperity; as it is said, Neither their silver, nor their gold, shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORDS wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealiousie, Zeph. 1. 18. Vers. 20. not heare] that is, not obey the voice, which the Chaldee explaineth, not receive the word of the LORD.