Deuteronomy 8:1-9

God's Gracious Dealings

1 "All the commandments that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, that you ¹may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to give to your forefathers.

2 "²You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has ³led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, ⁴testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.

3 "He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that ⁵man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.

4 "⁶Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.

5 "⁷Thus you are to know in your heart that the LORD your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.

6 "Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.

7 "For ⁸the LORD 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;

8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey;

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.

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Deuteronomy 8:1-9 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 8

In this chapter Moses repeats the exhortation to observe the commands of God, and urges the Israelites to it, from the consideration of the great and good things God had done for them in the wilderness, and even in those instances which were chastisements, and were of an humbling nature, De 8:1-6, and on the consideration of the blessings of the good land they were going to possess, De 8:7-9 for which blessings they are exhorted to be thankful, and are cautioned against pride of heart through them, and forgetfulness of God, and of his goodness to them while in the wilderness, and when brought into the land of Canaan, which they were to ascribe to his power and goodness, and not their own, De 8:10-18, and the chapter is concluded with a warning against idolatry, lest they perish through it as the nations before them, De 8:19,20.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 8

1. Deuteronomy 4:1
2. Deuteronomy 8:16
3. Psalms 136:16; Amos 2:10
4. Exodus 15:25; Exodus 20:20; 2 Chronicles 32:31
5. Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4
6. Deuteronomy 29:5; Nehemiah 9:21
7. Deuteronomy 4:36; 2 Samuel 7:14; Proverbs 3:12; Hebrews 12:6; Revelation 3:19
8. Deuteronomy 11:9-12; Jeremiah 2:7

Footnotes 2

[a]. Lit "know"
[b]. Or "reverence"