Deuteronomy 8

8:1-9. Command to Remember.

m¹  r  1. Command (particular).
     s  2-5. Motives. Preservation.
    r  6. Command.
     s  7-9. Motives. Provision.

1452 B.C.

Deuteronomy 8)

1: All the commandments (Heb. sing. = every commandment) which I command you this day (see 4:26) shall you all observe to do, that you all may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to your fathers.

2: And you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, and to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments (cp. 6:25 = the whole Law regarded as one great command), or no.
3: And He humbled you, and suffered you to hunger, and fed you with manna (see Ex.16:31), which you knew not, neither did your fathers know; that He might make you know that mankind does not live by eating bread only (put for all kinds of food), but by keeping every word (or obeying) that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord does man live (this verse quoted by Christ. Matt. 9:4. Luke 4:4).
4: Your clothing waxed not old upon you, neither did your foot swell, these forty years.
5: You shall also consider in your heart, that, according as a man chastens his son (= corrects, applicable to instruction as well as chastisement. 2 Sam. 7:14. Ps. 89:32. Prov. 3:12 and Heb. 12:5,), so the Lord your God corrects you.

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

(Prophetically, these following verses fit no other place today than the Americas) 7: For the the Lord your God brings you 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 olive oil, and honey (see Judg. 9:8-12);
9: A land wherein you shall eat bread without scarceness (Heb. miskênuth = poverty, misery; occurs only here), you shall not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you may dig brass (= bronze, or copper).

10-20. Warnings; Prospective.

l²  t¹  10. Hypothesis: "When you have eaten."
     u¹  11. Warning. Forgetfulness.
    t²  12,13. Hypothesis: "When you have eaten."
     u²  14-16. Warning. Forgetfulness.
    t³  17. Hypothesis: "If you say."
     u³  18. Warning. Memory.
    t4  19-. Hypothesis: "If you forget."
     u4  -19-20. Warning. Destruction.

10: When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.
11: Beware that you forget not (note the emphasis put on this by the Structure, as in the whole Book) the Lord your God, in not keeping His commandments, and His duties and punishments, and His ordinances, which I command you this day:
12: Lest when you have eaten and are full, and have built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;
13: And when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied;
14: Then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;
15: Who led you through that great and terrible wilderness (= desert, cp. 1:9), wherein were fiery serpents (Heb. nachash), and scorpions, and drought (Heb. zimm’ôn, only here and Ps. 107:33, and Isa.35:7), where there was no water; Who brought you forth water out of the rock of flint (cp. Ps. 114:8);
16: Who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers knew not, that He might humble you, and that He might prove you, to do you good at your latter end;
17: And you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth’ (Heb. = strength, put for the wealth it procures).
18: But you shall remember the Lord your God: for it is He that gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.
19: And it shall be, if you do at all forget the Lord your God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them,
I testify against you this day that you all shall surely perish.
20: As the nations which the Lord destroys before your face, so shall you all perish; because you all would not be obedient to the voice of the Lord your God.

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