Both In Providence And Grace, A Duty Incumbent On Him
To Remember All The Way In Which The Lord Hath Led The Believer
Both In Providence And Grace, A Duty Incumbent On Him
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—Deuteronomy 8:2
This chapter begins with an exhortation to keep the commandments of the Lord, even all his commandments; and to this end, that such might live and multiply, and go in and possess the land of Canaan, which the Lord sware unto their fathers. All the commandments of God are to be kept; one, as well as another; whether those of the first, or second table of the law; whether such that respect God or man; whether greater or lesser, all are to be kept. The law requires perfect obedience; and, in case of failure, it curses and condemns. Its language is, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them.”
A good man, from a principle of grace, is desirous of having respect unto all God’s commandments, to do them, in faith, and from a principle of love, and with a view to his glory; without trusting in, or depending upon, obedience to that law, for justification before God. He esteems all his precepts, concerning all things, to be right; and hates every false way. Really good men are enabled, in some measure (though not in an absolute, yet in a comparative sense), to walk in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless, as Zechariah and Elizabeth did (Luke 1:6).
Such is the exhortation in the beginning of the chapter, which is repeated in verse eleven. “Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day.” Wherefore the people of Israel were directed to bind them upon their hands, and place them as frontlets between their eyes. Not in a literal sense; but by such expressions they were taught to have these laws and precepts continually in their view, as persons have any thing that is bound upon their hands, or between their eyes; that so they might always have respect to them, and walk according to those rules given. The end of which was, that they might live, multiply, and go in and possess the land which God sware unto their fathers that is (as this respects the Israelites), that they might live comfortably and safely in the land of Canaan; a land flowing with milk and honey. Possess it with all the benefits and blessings of it; for they held the tenure of that land by their obedience to the commandments of God (Isaiah 1:19). Spiritual and eternal life were not to be had in this way, or by obedience to these commandments: no, not spiritual life, for if there had been a law which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the law cannot give life, spiritual life, to a dead sinner; and if so, then not eternal life, which is the free gift of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, and not the merit of men’s works.
What Moses, under divine direction, exhorts the people of Israel to, in the words of the text, is, to remember all the way in which they had been led in the wilderness. They had been forty years, or thereabouts, travelling therein; and they had there received many mercies from the Lord, had a large and long experience of his goodness, in all his ways towards them; and now they are called upon to remember all that was done to humble them, to prove them, to make known what was in their hearts, and whether they would keep his commandments, or no.
In this direction we may observe,