Remember the Wilderness: Humility, Bread, and the Danger of a Full Stomach

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 8:7-9 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 8:7-9 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 8:10-18 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 8:10-18 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 8:10-18 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 8:10-18 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 8:10-18 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 8:10-18 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 8:10-18 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 8:10-18 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.

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.

Besides the more vulgar pride which entirely forgets God, and attributes success and prosperity to its own power and exertion, there is one of a more refined character, which very easily spreads-namely, pride which acknowledges the blessings of God; but instead of receiving them gratefully, as unmerited gifts of the grace of the Lord, sees in them nothing but proofs of its own righteousness and virtue. Moses therefore warned the Israelites more particularly of this dangerous enemy of the soul, by first of all declaring without reserve, that the Lord was not about to give them Canaan because of their own righteousness, but that He would exterminate the Canaanites for their own wickedness (Deu 9:1-6); and then showing them for their humiliation, by proofs drawn from the immediate past, how they had brought upon themselves the anger of the Lord, by their apostasy and rebellion against their God, directly after the conclusion of the covenant at Sinai; and that in such a way, that it was only by his earnest intercession that he had been able to prevent the destruction of the people (Deut 9:7-24), and to secure a further renewal of the pledges of the covenant (Deut 9:25-10:11).

Deu 9:1-3 Warning against a conceit of righteousness, with the occasion for the warning. As the Israelites were now about to cross over the Jordan (“this day,” to indicate that the time was close at hand), to take possession of nations that were superior to them in size and strength (the tribes of Canaan mentioned in Deu 7:1), and great fortified cities reaching to the heavens (cf.

Deu 1:28), namely, the great and tall nation of the Enakites (Deu 1:28), before which, as was well known, no one could stand (התיצּב, as in Deu 7:24); and as they also knew that Jehovah their God was going before them to destroy and humble these nations, they were not to say in their heart, when this was done, For my righteousness Jehovah hath brought me in to possess this land. In Deu 9:3, היּום וידעתּ is not to be taken in an imperative sense, but as expressive of the actual fact, and corresponding to Deu 9:1, “thou art to pass.

” Israel now knew for certain - namely, by the fact, which spoke so powerfully, of its having been successful against foes which it could never have conquered by itself, especially against Sihon and Og - that the Lord was going before it, as the leader and captain of His people ( Schultz : see Deu 1:30). The threefold repetition of הוּא in Deu 9:3 is peculiarly emphatic.

“ A consuming fire: ” as in Deu 4:24. ישׁמידם הוּא is more particularly defined by וגו יכניעם והוּא, which follows: not, however, as implying that השׁמיד does not signify complete destruction in this passage, but rather as explaining how the destruction would take place. Jehovah would destroy the Canaanites, by bring them down, humbling them before Israel, so that they would be able to drive them out and destroy them quickly “מהר, quickly, is no more opposed to Deu 7:22, 'thou mayest not destroy them quickly,' than God’s not delaying to requite (Deu 7:10) is opposed to His long-suffering” ( Schultz ).

So far as the almighty assistance of God was concerned, the Israelites would quickly overthrow the Canaanites; but for the sake of the well-being of Israel, the destruction would only take place by degrees. “ As Jehovah hath said unto thee: ” viz. , Exo 23:23, Exo 23:27. , and at the beginning of the conflict, Deu 2:24.

Besides the more vulgar pride which entirely forgets God, and attributes success and prosperity to its own power and exertion, there is one of a more refined character, which very easily spreads-namely, pride which acknowledges the blessings of God; but instead of receiving them gratefully, as unmerited gifts of the grace of the Lord, sees in them nothing but proofs of its own righteousness and virtue. Moses therefore warned the Israelites more particularly of this dangerous enemy of the soul, by first of all declaring without reserve, that the Lord was not about to give them Canaan because of their own righteousness, but that He would exterminate the Canaanites for their own wickedness (Deu 9:1-6); and then showing them for their humiliation, by proofs drawn from the immediate past, how they had brought upon themselves the anger of the Lord, by their apostasy and rebellion against their God, directly after the conclusion of the covenant at Sinai; and that in such a way, that it was only by his earnest intercession that he had been able to prevent the destruction of the people (Deut 9:7-24), and to secure a further renewal of the pledges of the covenant (Deut 9:25-10:11).

Deu 9:1-3 Warning against a conceit of righteousness, with the occasion for the warning. As the Israelites were now about to cross over the Jordan (“this day,” to indicate that the time was close at hand), to take possession of nations that were superior to them in size and strength (the tribes of Canaan mentioned in Deu 7:1), and great fortified cities reaching to the heavens (cf.

Deu 1:28), namely, the great and tall nation of the Enakites (Deu 1:28), before which, as was well known, no one could stand (התיצּב, as in Deu 7:24); and as they also knew that Jehovah their God was going before them to destroy and humble these nations, they were not to say in their heart, when this was done, For my righteousness Jehovah hath brought me in to possess this land. In Deu 9:3, היּום וידעתּ is not to be taken in an imperative sense, but as expressive of the actual fact, and corresponding to Deu 9:1, “thou art to pass.

” Israel now knew for certain - namely, by the fact, which spoke so powerfully, of its having been successful against foes which it could never have conquered by itself, especially against Sihon and Og - that the Lord was going before it, as the leader and captain of His people ( Schultz : see Deu 1:30). The threefold repetition of הוּא in Deu 9:3 is peculiarly emphatic.

“ A consuming fire: ” as in Deu 4:24. ישׁמידם הוּא is more particularly defined by וגו יכניעם והוּא, which follows: not, however, as implying that השׁמיד does not signify complete destruction in this passage, but rather as explaining how the destruction would take place. Jehovah would destroy the Canaanites, by bring them down, humbling them before Israel, so that they would be able to drive them out and destroy them quickly “מהר, quickly, is no more opposed to Deu 7:22, 'thou mayest not destroy them quickly,' than God’s not delaying to requite (Deu 7:10) is opposed to His long-suffering” ( Schultz ).

So far as the almighty assistance of God was concerned, the Israelites would quickly overthrow the Canaanites; but for the sake of the well-being of Israel, the destruction would only take place by degrees. “ As Jehovah hath said unto thee: ” viz. , Exo 23:23, Exo 23:27. , and at the beginning of the conflict, Deu 2:24.

Besides the more vulgar pride which entirely forgets God, and attributes success and prosperity to its own power and exertion, there is one of a more refined character, which very easily spreads-namely, pride which acknowledges the blessings of God; but instead of receiving them gratefully, as unmerited gifts of the grace of the Lord, sees in them nothing but proofs of its own righteousness and virtue. Moses therefore warned the Israelites more particularly of this dangerous enemy of the soul, by first of all declaring without reserve, that the Lord was not about to give them Canaan because of their own righteousness, but that He would exterminate the Canaanites for their own wickedness (Deu 9:1-6); and then showing them for their humiliation, by proofs drawn from the immediate past, how they had brought upon themselves the anger of the Lord, by their apostasy and rebellion against their God, directly after the conclusion of the covenant at Sinai; and that in such a way, that it was only by his earnest intercession that he had been able to prevent the destruction of the people (Deut 9:7-24), and to secure a further renewal of the pledges of the covenant (Deut 9:25-10:11).

Deu 9:1-3 Warning against a conceit of righteousness, with the occasion for the warning. As the Israelites were now about to cross over the Jordan (“this day,” to indicate that the time was close at hand), to take possession of nations that were superior to them in size and strength (the tribes of Canaan mentioned in Deu 7:1), and great fortified cities reaching to the heavens (cf.

Deu 1:28), namely, the great and tall nation of the Enakites (Deu 1:28), before which, as was well known, no one could stand (התיצּב, as in Deu 7:24); and as they also knew that Jehovah their God was going before them to destroy and humble these nations, they were not to say in their heart, when this was done, For my righteousness Jehovah hath brought me in to possess this land. In Deu 9:3, היּום וידעתּ is not to be taken in an imperative sense, but as expressive of the actual fact, and corresponding to Deu 9:1, “thou art to pass.

” Israel now knew for certain - namely, by the fact, which spoke so powerfully, of its having been successful against foes which it could never have conquered by itself, especially against Sihon and Og - that the Lord was going before it, as the leader and captain of His people ( Schultz : see Deu 1:30). The threefold repetition of הוּא in Deu 9:3 is peculiarly emphatic.

“ A consuming fire: ” as in Deu 4:24. ישׁמידם הוּא is more particularly defined by וגו יכניעם והוּא, which follows: not, however, as implying that השׁמיד does not signify complete destruction in this passage, but rather as explaining how the destruction would take place. Jehovah would destroy the Canaanites, by bring them down, humbling them before Israel, so that they would be able to drive them out and destroy them quickly “מהר, quickly, is no more opposed to Deu 7:22, 'thou mayest not destroy them quickly,' than God’s not delaying to requite (Deu 7:10) is opposed to His long-suffering” ( Schultz ).

So far as the almighty assistance of God was concerned, the Israelites would quickly overthrow the Canaanites; but for the sake of the well-being of Israel, the destruction would only take place by degrees. “ As Jehovah hath said unto thee: ” viz. , Exo 23:23, Exo 23:27. , and at the beginning of the conflict, Deu 2:24.

Deu 9:4-6 When therefore Jehovah thrust out these nations before them (הדף, as in Deu 6:19), the Israelites were not to say within themselves, “ By (for, on account of) my righteousness Jehovah hath brought me (led me hither) to possess this land . ” The following word, וּברשׁעת, is adversative: “ but because of the wickedness of these nations ,” etc. - To impress this truth deeply upon the people, Moses repeats the thought once more in Deu 9:5.

At the same time he mentions, in addition to righteousness, straightness or uprightness of heart, to indicate briefly that outward works do not constitute true righteousness, but that an upright state of heart is indispensable, and then enters more fully into the positive reasons. The wickedness of the Canaanites was no doubt a sufficient reason for destroying them , but not for giving their land to the people of Israel, since they could lay no claim to it on account of their own righteousness.

The reason for giving Canaan to the Israelites was simply the promise of God, the word which the Lord had spoken to the patriarchs on oath (cf. Deu 7:8), and therefore nothing but the free grace of God, - not any merit on the part of the Israelites who were then living, for they were a people “of a hard neck,” i. e. , a stubborn, untractable generation. With these words, which the Lord Himself had applied to Israel in Exo 32:9; Exo 33:3, Exo 33:5, Moses prepares the way for passing to the reasons for his warning against self-righteous pride, namely, the grievous sins of the Israelites against the Lord.