Deuteronomy 8:2

And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness,.... For this was now the fortieth year of their coming out of Egypt into the wilderness, into

And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.

All the way, i.e. all the events which befell thee in the way, the miraculous protections, deliverances, provisions, instructions which God gave thee; and withal the frequent and severe punishments of thy disobedience. To know what was in thine heart, i.e. that thou mightest discover to thyself and others that infidelity, inconstancy, hypocrisy, apostacy, rebellion, and perverseness, which lay hid in thy heart; the discovery whereof was of singular use, both to them and to the church of God, in all succeeding ages.

Deuteronomy 8:2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, [and] to prove thee, to know what [was] in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.Ver. 2. To know what was,] i.e., To discover and make known to thyself and others. When fire is put to green wood, there comes out abundance of watery stuff that before appeared not. When the pond is empty, the mud, filth, and toads come to light. The snow drift covers many a muckhill; so doth prosperity many a rotten heart. It is easy to wade in a warm bath; and every bird can sing in a sunshine day, &c. Hard weather tries what health, afflictions try what sap we have, what solidity. Withered leaves soon fall off in windy weather; rotten boughs quickly break with heavy weights, &c. Tentat ut sciat, i.e., ut scire nos faciat. - Aug.

THE OF THE EXODUS.(2) And thou shalt remember.—The whole of the remainder of this exhortation, to the end of Deuteronomy 10, is chiefly taken up with this topic. Israel must remember (1) the leading of Jehovah, and (2) their own rebellious perversity in the journey through the wilderness. The same recollection is made the occasion for a separate note of praise in Psalms 136:16 : “To him which led his people through the wilderness; for his mercy endureth for ever.” The way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years.—Not so much the literal journey, but “the way:” i.e., the manner. The details of the actual journey are of course included, but only as incidents of “the way.” In the Acts of the Apostles the Christian life is in several passages called “the way.” In all these things the Israelites were types of us. To humble thee, and to prove thee.—The way in itself is described as “three days’ journey into the wilderness,” so far as the leading to Sinai is concerned (Exodus 3:18), and “eleven days’ journey from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea” (Deuteronomy 1:2). It was in the power of Jehovah to bring Israel from Egypt to Canaan, had He so willed it, without delay, in a very little time. And just so with “the way” of salvation. There is no intrinsic or necessary impossibility in the immediate turning of mankind, or of any individual, from darkness to light. And this change might be followed by immediate removal from “this present evil world” into the place which Christ has gone before to prepare for us. But manifestly the formation of human character by probation and training would vanish in such a process as this. There could be no well-tried and deliberate purpose to serve our Creator and Redeemer in any of us—or, at least, no proof of our deliberate preference for His service—under such circumstances. Nor, again, could there be that humility which arises only out of self-knowledge. The transitory nature of all mere human resolutions and impressions for good demonstrates to the man who knows himself, better than anything else could do, the power and patience of his Redeemer, and the moral cost of his redemption. This human transitoriness and feebleness is strikingly illustrated by the story of the Exodus. To know what was in thine heart.—“To know” is not simply that He might know (“Hell and destruction are before the Lord; how much more then the hearts of the children of men! “), but that the knowledge may arise—to determine, disclose, discover. So in 2 Chronicles 32:31 : “God left him (Hezekiah) to try him, to know all that was in his heart.” What God Himself knows by omniscience He sometimes brings to light by evidence for the sake of His creatures. (Comp. Ephesians 3:10 : “To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by (by means of) the church the manifold wisdom of God.”)

Verse 2. Thou shalt remember all the way] The various dealings of God with you; the dangers and difficulties to which ye were exposed, and from which God delivered you; together with the various miracles which he wrought for you, and his longsuffering towards you.

2. thou shall remember all the way] Another of the many calls in D to remember God’s Providence (Deuteronomy 5:15, Deuteronomy 7:18, etc.), but this time to fresh aspects of that Providence, cp. Deuteronomy 29:5. forty years in the wilderness] See on Deuteronomy 2:7. humble thee, to prove thee] Cp. Deuteronomy 8:3; Deuteronomy 8:16, Deuteronomy 13:3. On prove (whether as here of man by God, or of God by man) see on Deuteronomy 4:34, and Driver’s note on Exodus 17:2 (E). J also speaks of the manna as God’s proof of Israel. Exodus 16:4. to know what was in thine heart] Cp. Deuteronomy 13:3 (4), and note on Deuteronomy 7:9. whether thou wouldest keep his commandments] Steuernagel’s argument, that because the law was not yet given at the time of the provings described, therefore this clause must be regarded as a later addition, is quite insufficient. For either we may take it as implying some previous charges by God to Israel, without which Israel could not have set out in the wilderness (so Bertholet); or better, we may take these trials as of the people’s personal confidence in Jehovah and anticipatory to His entrusting them with His laws. Cp. Exodus 16:4, J.

2. Remember all the way — That forty years’ wandering through the great and terrible wilderness was to be the dark background against which the divine leadings could be seen: in deliverance from the