Deuteronomy
8
Chapter 8 of Deuteronomy continues
Moses’ sermon on the First Commandment, which says, “You shall have no other
gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3). With the end of Deuteronomy 8, Moses reached the
middle of his sermon on the First Commandment. He spoke about this commandment
from chapters five through eleven. Within chapter eight, the thematic statement
is verse eleven. It says, “Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by
not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am
commanding you today.” Verse 11 is not the only time Moses stated this commandment
in chapter eight. He iterated and expanded on it in verses one, six, eleven, and
eighteen. Moses used the word “shall” seven times in both a positive (vs. 1-2,
6, 10, and 18) and negative format (11 and 19). You will notice, too, that the
thematic statement (vs. 11) is in a negative format as a warning. Through the
verses where God, through Moses, gave commands using the word “shall,” an
outline appears. First, we must remember that the word “keep” in Hebrew is shamar and it means to listen (hear and remember)
and obey (act and do). This means the first commandment encompasses hearing,
acting upon, remembering, and worshipping the only LORD God. From this, we can go
to the outline.
Vs.
1--------shall do the commandments
Vs.
2--------shall remember the ways the
Lord led
Remembering the LORD’s provision for
them from Egypt until that point in time:
(vs.
3-5) [Past]
Vs.
6--------shall keep the commands of
the LORD to walk in them and fear/reverence Him.
(“Keep” is listening,
remembering, and doing. (from vs. 1-2))
Hearing how God will bless them in
the Promised Land: (vs. 7-9) [Future]
Vs.
10------shall bless the LORD (“Bless”
from the Hebrew means to praise and worship.)
Vs.
11------shall not forget the LORD by not keeping His commandments (negative wording
of vs. 1, 2, 6, and 10)
What will happen to their minds and
hearts if they do forget the LORD is their
Savior and Provider: (vs. 12-14a, 17) [Future]
Keep remembering what God did: (vs.
14b-16) [Past]
Vs.
18------shall remember the LORD
Vs.19------shall
come about if you forget the LORD, go after, serve, and worship other gods
– the curse
The LORD will make you perish (vs. 20) [Future]
Moses said in verse one, “All the commandments
that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do that you may live and
multiply and go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to give to your
forefathers.” [NASB] Remember the word “shall” is an imperative command for the
future. From earlier lessons, we learned about the verbs. The word “live” comes
from the Hebrew word chayah, which
means living beings or having life. Since God is the creator of all life, He is
the one who determines the end of each life, too. Yet, we need to look at this
another way. God decides the beginning and end of life; He can use life as a
disciplining tool, as well. If the Israelites did not follow His commandments,
their covenant with Him voided and they would not live long and multiply. In
essence, He could end their lives because they chose not to follow Him as they promised
in their covenant. We need to remember this point for when we study verses
nineteen and twenty. God is the one who is in charge of life and death and He
is the one who gives everything - material, spiritual, and mental blessings. The
first generation of Israelites broke faith with God and perished before God
gave the Promised Land to the Israelites. The point is that God controls who
lives. “Multiply” means to become great or increase, and is God’s promise to
the Israelites that they would not be the smallest nation on earth. His
benefits to them included more people, might, and wealth. In chapters six and
seven, we learned the Israelites inherited the promise God made to Abraham that
He would give them a land of their own. So the “going in” part of verse one is
God’s faithful fulfilling of His promise to Abraham. The Israelites
“possessing” the land would come about because of their faithfulness to their
covenant with God. The Ten Commandments was their covenant with God.
Deuteronomy 8 is an expansion on the first commandment, the primary commandment
upon which all the others hang. By commanding us to have no other gods, God set
up the absolute basis of the covenant relationship. Following this commandment is
forward-looking as well as current and past. It involves the future – life, growth,
and possession. To get life, growth, and possession, God must will it and a child
of God must give absolute allegiance to the LORD - to worship, obey, and follow
Him.
Whereas the first verse commands the
Israelites to follow God’s commands, the second verse commands them to remember
God and how He led them in the wilderness. This verse says, “You shall remember
all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty
years that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart,
whether you would keep His commandments or not.” [NASB] First, Moses commanded
the Israelites to remember what God did for them in the wilderness. Next, he
told them God led them through the hard times to humble, test, and teach them.
Let us look at a couple definitions. “Led” comes from the Hebrew word halak, which means to walk with a person
or people. The Israelites did not walk alone in the desert, but God walked with
them. “Testing” comes from the Hebrew word nacah,
which means to test, try, prove, or tempt. God disciplined the Israelites in
the desert so they would know that when times got hard, if they remained in
covenant with Him, He would give what they needed. They learned to trust in God.
This same disciplining is what a parent gives their child to help them grow.
Many people today consider disciplining to be a negative punishment, but the
opposite is true. Disciplining is teaching and making a person strong. Athletes
discipline their bodies, as do soldiers. Punishment is the negative side of
discipline. When a person does not grow, they fail. His or her punishment is
failure and the results of the failure. In the desert, God used the forty years
to discipline the Israelites. He wanted to know them, wanted them to know themselves,
and what they could be as faithful children of God. God used the remembering of
His faithfulness to the Israelites, which was their testing, to teach them He
is the one true God who will stand up for them. This led to their knowing and learning
that He tested them by leading them through the desert. He tested and disciplined
them just as an earthly father disciplines his child.
The Israelites knowing God in this way
developed their faith in Him. Their testing and growth of faith resulted in
obedience to God’s commandments. This explains verses three through six. Verses
three through four remind the Israelites of their hardships in the desert. It
reminds them, too, of God’s love and provision for them in the desert. God
provided manna and water in the desert of which they and their fathers did not
know. This taught them to trust in God’s provision and to trust that man cannot
live by bread alone, but by everything that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
Humankind lives because God created them. God determines when they die, too. He
determines who will live eternally with Him, as well. By His breath, God
created humans. By His word, humans die. By His Word, humans can have eternal Life.
The manna came by God speaking it into being. God’s speaking brought life to
the Israelites who were starving then. God’s speaking brought us life in the
beginning and gives us Life through His Word, Jesus Christ (John 1:1). Verse 3 says,
“man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.” Verse 4
reminded the Israelites that God ensured their clothes and sandals did not wear
out during their forty year wandering. God takes care of every need – food and
clothing for physical life and salvation for eternal life. Because the
Israelites learned about God and grew to trust in and rely upon Him, they
gained conviction about the LORD God. Their conviction led them to have faith
in Him. The writer of the book of Hebrews put it succinctly when he said, “Now
faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not
seen” (Hebrews 11:1). With this growth of faith in the hearts of the
Israelites, they learned to love and revere the LORD. The lesson on chapter six
taught us that the ultimate expression of love and reverence for God is
obedience. Moses made this point again in verse six of this chapter when he
said, “Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk
in His ways and to fear Him.” [NASB] These are the three steps to a perfect
response to God’s command in verse one and in response to the first commandment.
It requires your attitude to be reflected in actions.
Moses explained to the Israelites
what the LORD was giving them because of His faithfulness to His covenant with
Abraham. The Israelites would inherit a good land full of water, fertile soil,
and land rich in ores (vs. 7-9). Their natural response to God because of this
should be blessing. Moses stated in verse ten, “When you have eaten and are
satisfied, you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has
given you.” The word “bless” comes from the Hebrew word barak, which means to kneel, bless, and praise. Moses commanded the
Israelites to praise, worship, and revere the LORD. By acknowledging that every
good thing comes from God, their relationship with, conviction of, and faith in
God increased. By the time they traveled with God for forty years, they should
have been at the place where blessing God was automatic and would not need to
be commanded. It makes you wonder how we could not praise and worship God for
every blessing He gives us today. Many people see blessings as coming from their
own hands and brains. We no longer praise God for them. Have we forgotten the
Father who disciplined us?
Verse 11 is where Moses warned the Israelites
to keep God’s commandments. He gave the first commandment in a negative way.
Moses said, “Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His
commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you
today.” [NASB] You may say, “This is not the first commandment.” We must
remember that the word “forget” comes from the Hebrew word shakach, which means to ignore, forget, and cease to care about.
The first commandment says, “You are to have no other gods.” When a person
turns away from God by ignoring or ceasing to care for Him, the person has put
something else in God’s place in their life. God is not being worshipped,
loved, revered, and obeyed. Moses told the Israelites not to forget the LORD by
not obeying Him. So by not obeying, a person is ceasing to care about and
ignoring God. This is the thematic statement for the chapter. When a person follows
the commandment in verse one, he or she remembers (vs. 1) and does not forget
(vs. 11).
The next thing Moses said to the
Israelites concerns us still today. If they did not remember the LORD and keep
His commandments, they would become proud and would forget the LORD. The
Israelites would say their wealth and material things came from their own hands
(vs. 12 &13). They would deny that God gave them their power and strength and
would become proud of self (vs. 17). Added to this, they would forget the LORD.
They would ignore Him and cease to care about Him because they considered themselves
self-sufficient, not needing God. The Israelites would not remember what He did
for them in their past – saved from scorpions and serpents and gave water to
drink and food to eat (vs. 14-16). People today fall into this trap. When life
is going very well, a person believes he or she provided everything he or she
needed. The person becomes self-satisfied and is tempted to say they do not
need God anymore. The big issue, though, is how self-sufficient is a person? God
created, chose, saved, provided, and directed the Israelites. Were they truly
self-sufficient? The Israelites fell into this same trap many times. Each of
these times, they failed in keeping the first commandment because they made their
selves and their wealth into gods and forgot the LORD God. The humility God
taught them while wandering in the wilderness forty years should have been visible
even during their prosperous years. We, today, are no more self-sufficient than
the Israelites and should keep our humility when living in prosperous times. God
continues to be Provider today.
Moses reiterated the commandment strongly
in verse eighteen. He said, “But you shall remember the LORD 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.” The Hebrew word for “giving”
means bestowing, granting, permitting, and entrusting you with. God did not
give the Israelites anything He could not take away if they failed to keep His commandments.
He gave them the Promised Land to fulfill His covenant with Abraham. The Israelites
did not get the land because of their worthiness. If the Israelites remained
true to their promise with God, the Ten Commandments, at Mount Sinai, they would
possess the land and be His people.
There was always a curse connected
with Old Testament era covenants should one party fail to fulfill their side.
The curse for failing to fulfill this covenant with the LORD is in verses
nineteen and twenty. Moses said,
It shall come about
if you ever forget the LORD your God and go after other gods and serve them and
worship them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish. Like the
nations that the LORD makes to perish before you, so you shall perish because
you would not listen to the voice of the LORD your God. [NASB]
This
curse spells out what God considers as forgetting Him. God said going after (following),
serving, and worshipping other gods is shakach,
forgetting, Him. In verse six, God stated what following Him means. He said keeping
(listening and obeying) His commandments means walking in His ways and fearing
Him. Verse 19 speaks of doing (serving) and worshipping (fearing and revering) as
the way a person follows other gods. The actions for God are the same as if people
go after other gods – following, serving/doing, and fearing. By this reasoning,
if Israel “forgot” and turned their back on God by following other gods, the
LORD would “make them perish” just as He made the nations that lived in Canaan before
them perish.
Turning one’s back on God leads to death –
physical and spiritual. Forgetting God leads to drying up, shriveling, and
dying. God made this happen to other nations who chose not to live in
relationship with Him. Following God and His commandments leads to a blessed, full,
and joyous life – physically and spiritually. Israel was different from other
nations as long as they followed God and obeyed Him. When they abandoned Him,
they were no longer different and suffered the same consequences.
God still offers life to people who follow
and obey Him. Through Jesus Christ, He gives spiritual Life forever to those
who follow Him. God still gives blessings. His blessings are sometimes material.
They are sometimes spiritual, too, and lead us to new growth and joy. Whenever
and however God chooses to bless His children, He does not do it because a
person is worthy. God blesses because of His love for humankind. What was His
greatest gift? His greatest gift was the life of His only Son, Jesus Christ, given
to die for our sins so that we would not have to die forever as the punishment
for them. He felt the pain, guilt, and anguish of each of our sins then
suffered and suffocated on the cross.
We do not have to accept God’s gift, His
salvation from our penalty. We do not have to follow, obey, and worship Him. We
do die; that is the great equalizer of humanity. What happens after our
physical death is the choice of each person for him or herself. God gave the
perfect sacrifice for our penalty. We choose if we will accept it and Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, as our Savior. By doing this, we choose to follow,
obey, and worship God only. It is your choice.
