Deut 8.1-20 tells us that Moses now looks back in history as a motive to obey God, drawing upon God’s fatherly correction in the wilderness. Verses 1-4 are life verses. As he goes on, the Lord will show us how they apply. They will be very important. At times he tested Israel, to humble them. He let them go hungry and fed them, teaching them that “man does not live by bread alone but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.” These are the words of Yeshua in Matt 4.4. Deut 8.1 says we are to keep “all” the commandments that apply to you, which is hard to do when we are with others who don’t believe.
Let’s talk about the concept of the “shadow” in relation to the commandments and what does it mean. In Col 2.17 it says, “Things which are a shadow of what is to come.” This is talking about the Torah (v 16). If we are out in the sun we will cast a shadow, and it is a likeness (shadow picture) of us, but it is not the substance (us). If we drove a car over that shadow it won’t hurt us. However, if someone walks up to our shadow and spits on it, that person will get our attention because contempt is involved. The Lord has an opinion about those who show contempt for his “shadow pictures” in the Torah. You want to say the Sabbath is nothing, explain that to the Lord of the Sabbath. If you want to say the Torah, the festivals, the new moons are of no value, explain that to the Lord who is the subject of what these are teaching about. You want to call animals that God called unclean clean so you can eat them, explain that to the Lord who said we should not eat them.
We would advise anyone not to speak against the “shadow” of anything the Lord said was a picture of him and what he is trying to teach us in the Torah. We are not to have any likeness or representation of him or we will suffer the consequences. How does this apply? But, there is a likeness of God in the world that we should honor, and that is every brother or sister in the Lord. They are in his likeness and they belong to him. We do this as if we are honoring and speaking to their father.
The “shadow” is never in conflict with the “substance.” When we dishonor and show show contempt for the Torah, we dishonor and show contempt for the Lord. Yeshua also said in Matt 25.40, “The king will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine (the shadow), you did to me (the substance).'” Every commandment has truth or wisdom in it. If we ignore them, we are diminished and something isn’t right. What Moses will be saying all through this book is “keep the commandments” and “live” and “it your life” (Deut 30.6, 32.47). Our physical life is a drop in the sea compared to eternal life. We are to understand, there are blessings for being obedient, but he is a God of judgment also. We will look into this aspect in Deut 28.15-68.
v 1…”All the commandments (that apply to you) 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.
v 2…And 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 (this is defined in v 3, 15-16), testing you (prove you) to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.
v 3…And he humbled you (they came out of Egypt with a haughty, arrogant attitude-Exo 14.8; Num 33.3) and let you be hungry and fed you with manna which you did not know, that he might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord (quoted by Yeshua in Matt 4.4; this is not saying that they should not eat physical bread in Canaan, but to live in Canaan under his care they must obey the word of the Lord found in the Torah).
v 4…Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell for forty years (this was symbolic of Yehovah’s enduring protection-Deut 29.5).
v 5…Thus you are to know in your heart (meditate, think) that the Lord your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.
v 6…Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in his ways and fear (revere) him.
v 7…For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountain s and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills;
v 8…a land of wheat (in fall) and barley (in spring), of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey (this is a list of some of the foods available in the land, and these are called the “Shevah Minim” or the “seven species”-2 Chr 31.4-7; these were brought to the Temple on Shavuot-Mishnah, Bikkurim 3.1-12).;
v 9…a land where you shall eat food without scarcity, in which you shall not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper.
v 10…When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which he has given you (the rabbis understood this as a command to bless the Lord for the food, the land, the Temple and general praise and petition after we have eaten called the Birkat Hamazon; on weekdays Psa 137 is recited first, and on Sabbaths and festivals Psa 126) .
v 11…Beware lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his ordinances and his statutes which I am commanding you today (notice it says that by not keeping the commandments they have “forgotten” or never knew the Lord; there is a term for this and it is called “lawless”-Matt 7.21-23; 1 John 2.3-4);
v 12…lest, when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them;
v 13…and when your herds and your stocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies,
v 14…then your heart becomes proud, and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
v 15…He led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with fiery serpent serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water. He brought water for you out of the rock of flint (Exo 17.6).
v 16…In the wilderness he fed you manna, which your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and that he might test (examine) you, to do good for you in the end (we will see the Lord’s hand in our lives as we look back, too. In the end, it will be well with us).
v 17..,.Otherwise, you may say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.
v 18…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 reason he is doing this with Israel is to confirm his covenant, and that is why he is leading them the way he does; he will lead us the same way, away from false teaching, so we can learn the Torah and to confirm the covenant with us, too).
v 19…And it shall come about if you forget the Lord your God (v 11 is how), and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I testify against you today that you shall surely perish.
v 20…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 (The voice from the mountain; every generation was to hear that voice. When someone says, “We don’t have to keep the commandments anymore” they are really saying, “We don’t have to listen to the Lord anymore.” Is that what a true servant of God says? The “voice” in your heart should match the words of the Lord found in the Scriptures).
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