Do not forget God when you have everything
1 ① Be careful to fulfill all the commandments which I give you today, that you may live and increase, and conquer the land which Yahweh promised on oath to your fathers.
2Remember how Yahweh, your God, brought you through the desert for forty years. He humbled you, to test you and know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. 3He made you experience want, he made you experience hunger, but he gave you manna to eat which neither you nor your fathers had known, to show you that man lives not on bread alone, but that all that proceeds from the mouth of God is life for man. 4Your garment did not even fray, or your foot swell all these forty years. 5Understand, then, that Yahweh has taught you in the same way that a father teaches his child.
6Observe the commandments of Yahweh, your God; follow his ways and revere him. 7For Yahweh, your God, will bring you into that good land, a land of streams and rivers, of subterranean waters that gush forth in the valleys and mountains, 8a land of wheat and barley, of grapes and figs, of pomegranates and olives, a land of oil and honey, 9a land where the bread you eat is not rationed and where you will lack nothing, a land with iron in stones and copper mines in the mountains.
10You shall eat until you are satisfied, and you shall bless Yahweh for the good land he has given you.
11So take care that you do not forget Yahweh, your God, by neglecting the commandments, norms and laws that I give you today. 12And when you have eaten and have been satisfied, when you have built comfortable homes and live in them, 13when your livestock have multiplied, when you have silver and gold in abundance, and an increase of good things of every kind, 14then do not let your heart become proud and do not forget Yahweh, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of slavery. 15It is he who has led you across this great and terrible desert, full of fiery serpents and scorpions, an arid land where there is no water. But for you he made water gush forth from the hardest rock. 16And he fed you in the desert with manna which your fathers did not know.
He made you experience want and put you to the test, so that it would be for your good later on, 17lest you say, “With my own strength I have attained all these good things.” 18Remember Yahweh, your God, the one who gave you power to become prosperous, as you are today, in fulfillment of the Covenant he promised under oath to your fathers.
19But if you forget Yahweh and follow other gods, if you pay them homage and bow before them, I warn you right now that you will surely perish. 20In the same way that Yahweh destroyed the nations that stood in your way, so will he destroy you if you disobey Yahweh, your God.
- Dt 8,1 {N}8,{/}1-6 shows the meaning of the wandering in the desert: a time of testing for Israel. Israel was poor and yet God's help was never lacking. He gave you manna to eat, to show you that man lives not on bread alone, but that everything coming from the mouth of God is life for God's children. The manna they were given was the sign of another food needed by all and which comes from the mouth of God: his Word (see commentary on Ex 16:16).
