Today’s passage is a warning to Israel that they should guard against forgetting Yahweh after they entered the Promised Land and became very prosperous. Forgetting Yahweh when life is good is something we need to guard against as well.
When we stopped reading yesterday, Moses was telling Israel that Yahweh had led them in the wilderness for forty years, and allowed them to experience hunger and thirst, so that He could learn what was in their heart. He wanted to know if Israel would obey. He wanted Israel to learn that there is more to life than having food.
Deut. 8:5 Thus you shall know in your heart that Yahweh your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.
Deut. 8:6 So you shall keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.
Don’t miss the emphasis upon keeping God’s commandments, walking in His ways, and fearing Him.
Deut. 8:7 For Yahweh your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills;
Verse 7 is a description of the pleasantness of the land itself.
Deut. 8:8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey;
Verse 8 is a description of the productivity of the land.
Deut. 8:9 a land where you will eat food without scarcity, in which you will not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper.
Look at the words “without scarcity” and “not lack anything”. The bountiful water and fertile land would give Israel great prosperity once they entered Canaan.
Deut. 8:10 And so you will eat and be satisfied, and you shall bless Yahweh your God for the good land which He has given you.
Ponder the word “satisfied”. After 40 years in the wilderness, when Israel entered the Promised Land and took possession of it, they would feel like they had arrived and had nothing more to work towards.
Deut. 8:11 ¶ “Beware lest you forget Yahweh your God by not keeping His commandments and His judgments and His statutes which I am commanding you today;
Notice the words “beware” and “forget”. Once life was easy for Israel, it would be easy to forget Yahweh. That would cause them to disobey God’s commandments and statutes.
This is true today. When life is easy, it is easy to forget God. It is easy to become lax about our moral standards. We forget to be diligent about obeying the Bible.
Deut. 8:12 lest you eat and are satisfied and build good houses and live in them,
Deut. 8:13 and your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies,
Deut. 8:14 and your heart becomes lifted up and you forget Yahweh your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
Look at the words “heart becomes lifted up”. When life is easy, it is easy to think we are in control and that our own efforts are giving us success.
Deut. 8:15 He led you through the great and fearsome wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water; He brought water for you out of the rock of flint.
This is a very brief summary of the book of Numbers.
Deut. 8:16 In the wilderness He fed you manna which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do good for you in the end,
Take note of the words “humble” and “test”. The purpose of the manna was to train the Israelites.
Deut. 8:17 lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand made me this wealth.’
Take note of the word “lest”. The intent was that their experiences in the wilderness would keep them from becoming proud.
Deut. 8:18 But you shall remember Yahweh your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.
Deut. 8:19 Now it will be, if you ever forget Yahweh your God and walk after other gods and serve them and worship them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish.
Don’t miss the word “if”. Israel was being given a great and prosperous land. They had a choice to make. They could remain faithful to Yahweh and keep the land, or they could disobey Yahweh and perish.
Deut. 8:20 Like the nations that Yahweh makes to perish before you, so you shall perish, because you would not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God.
Deut. 9:1 ¶ “Hear, O Israel! You are crossing over the Jordan today to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, great cities fortified to heaven,
Deut. 9:2 a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’
Verses 1-2 summarize the difficulty of the task from a human perspective. The Canaanites were stronger and more numerous than Israel. Israel was not capable of defeating them on their own.
Deut. 9:3 So you shall know today that it is Yahweh your God who is crossing over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them, and He will subdue them before you, so that you may dispossess them and make them perish quickly, just as Yahweh has spoken to you.
Israel could not conquer the Promised Land, but Yahweh could and would.
Yahweh warned Israel that after they settled in the Promised Land and experienced prosperity, they would be tempted to forget Yahweh. This is a temptation we need to resist.
In the parable of the sower, Jesus warned that riches and pleasures can choke out the word (see Luke 8:14). Jesus also stated that it is difficult for a rich man to enter heaven (see Matthew 19:23). Paul wrote that those who are rich should not be haughty or rely on their temporal earthly riches (see 1 Timothy 6:17).
The church in Laodicea did exactly what Yahweh warned Israel to avoid. The letter to the church in Laodicea reveals that the Laodiceans said, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing” (Revelation 3:17b). The letter goes on to advise them that they were actually wretched, poor, blind, and naked.
Western civilization in the 21st century is very prosperous. We have an overabundance of food, gadgets, and entertainment. This causes us to forget about God. Just as Israel had to be intentional about remembering Yahweh once they entered the Promised Land, so too Christians today need to be intentional about remembering Jesus amidst the prosperity and abundance that we are blessed with.
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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”