Deuteronomy 8:15, commentary and pictures

God led Israel for forty years through that great and terrible wilderness of fiery serpents and scorpions and drought where there was no water, and miraculously brought them water out of the rock of flint. Christ Himself guided them in cloud and fire, keeping them alive by daily miracle, restraining beasts and venomous reptiles and unseen dangers, giving bread and water and strength, keeping sickness away and clothes from wearing out. He did this to humble and prove them and know their hearts whether they would keep His commandments, to chasten them as a father chastens his son for their good, and to teach them to depend on Him and live by every word from His mouth. This mercy is the reason to remember God and not say one's own power or piety gained prosperity, but to keep His commandments and fear Him, beware of forgetting Him when full and rich with multiplied goods, and beware of following other gods lest prosperity end in perishing as Israel perished in the wilderness. When in ingratitude and unbelief they murmured and loathed His simple healthful provision and lusted for Egypt's flesh, He withdrew His restraining hand and let the serpents strike to show what He had shielded them from and to bring them to repentance, a warning and guide given as truly to believers living at the end of the world in the time of final review.

Wilderness Leading and Provision

The verse recalls that God brought Israel out of Egypt from the house of bondage and led them through forty years in that great and terrible wilderness, marked by fiery serpents and scorpions and drought and places where there was no water. It was a vast, harsh and dangerous wilderness through which God guided and sustained Israel while He humbled and tested them. The fiery serpents named in it were poisonous serpents infesting the wilderness, called fiery because their sting caused violent inflammation and speedy death. God miraculously brought Israel water out of the rock of flint in that waterless place, a token of His loving care and goodness alongside His protection from the wilderness dangers and hardships. That miracle showed His power to provide and that nothing was impossible for Him.

Christ led and guided Israel through the wilderness in the cloud by day and fire by night, guarding them from its beasts and poisonous serpents. The journey revealed the ministration of angels, with God restraining beasts, serpents, wild beasts and other dangers and perils that could have harmed them and saving them from many perils. Israel was kept alive only by divine power through a daily miracle of preservation, shielded from countless surrounding dangers they did not realize. He supplied water and bread, gave them peace and safety, protected them from wild animals and venomous reptiles and dangerous beasts and serpents, and preserved them by continual miracle from being harmed as a token of His care, preparing the way before them. He also kept them strong on the journey so that none was feeble, kept sickness from them and sickness away, kept their feet from swelling, kept their clothes from wearing out, and gave them angels' food and purest water out of the flinty rock.

The wilderness leading was to humble Israel and prove them and know what was in their heart whether they would keep His commandments or not, to chasten them as a man chastens his son and do them good. It tested and humbled the people to teach them dependence on God and that man lives by every word from the mouth of the Lord, for He was their protector and provider who had relieved their troubles at Marah and supplied what they needed. God's provision of water from the flinty rock and bread from heaven while withholding flesh meats in great measure was simple, sufficient, and healthful provision chosen for His people. His power and mercy in protecting Israel amid fiery serpents and scorpions and providing water from flint rock was displayed not only for Israel's benefit but as an object lesson to surrounding nations, as Christ led and guided Israel, preserved them from the wilderness's dangers, and brought them toward the promised land.

Remembrance, Warning, and Application

The leading through the dangerous wilderness of fiery serpents and scorpions and drought where there was no water, and the bringing of water from flint rock, is a reason to remember dependence on God and not to claim that one's own power secured prosperity. The warning is against the lifted-up heart that forgets the Lord God when eating and full and dwelling in goodly houses and herds and flocks and silver and gold multiply, and says my power and might got this wealth. Blessings came not from one's own piety or righteousness but from God's undeserved mercy, for the Lord God must be remembered as the one who gives power to get wealth to establish His covenant sworn to the fathers.

Remembering requires keeping His commandments and statutes and judgments, walking in His ways and fearing Him. The requirements express God's will and were to be remembered and obeyed, even framed into song so Israel would not forget them. Thus they might be a holy people unto Himself and live and multiply and possess the land, receiving the covenant and mercy sworn to their fathers with love and blessing and removal of all sickness.

The verse belongs to the warning to beware of forgetting the Lord God by not keeping His commandments and judgments and statutes in prosperity. Forgetting God and walking after other gods to serve and worship them brings sure perishing like the nations destroyed before them. Because Israel disobeyed, only two of the adults who left Egypt entered Canaan and the rest died in the wilderness, and God will verify and vindicate His word today if leaders depart from His commandments.

Their prosperity and happiness depended on obedience, but they became unthankful and selfish and transgressed God's law. They were not satisfied with His provision but loathed it and wished themselves back in Egypt to sit by the fleshpots, preferring slavery and even death to being deprived of flesh. Their craving illustrates surrender to appetite, and when God granted flesh and left them to eat, gluttony produced a plague from which many died.

When Israel in ingratitude and unbelief expected death, God removed His protecting hand and permitted death to come upon them, so great numbers were attacked by venomous creatures and terror and suffering filled the camp and murmuring ceased and the people humbled themselves before God. The wilderness dangers show how much God was protecting Israel from, for He had restrained the serpents and wild beasts and saved them from many perils by continual miracle, and only because of needless murmurings and complaints did He permit the serpents to bite them. This punished ingratitude for tokens of love, showed the many great evils from which He had preserved them and what they could truly call hardships, and was meant to make them realize His past merciful care of which they had been unmindful and return to Him in repentance, with further judgments if they still complained. Amid unbelief, murmuring, perversity, and rebellion, after they forgot God's mercy and protection and magnified their trials, their suffering came, and the miracle showing that God had power to provide and that nothing was impossible for Him should have been remembered by Moses when he doubted that God could provide meat for the people.

The eighth chapter of Deuteronomy and its lessons are of the greatest importance and are given to present believers as truly as to Israel. Deuteronomy 8 is presented as the Lord's words, written to admonish those living at the end of the world, as the Lord's instruction for His people and as a warning and guide to heed God's words rather than rely on their own judgment. The same words are to be read with profit now because the day of God's great final review is near, when all must stand before the Judge of all the earth, in this time of investigation when every character is investigated and every case decided for eternity.