Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.
During Israel's forty years of journeying in the wilderness God sustained their everyday bodily needs so that their clothing did not wear out and their feet did not swell. That preservation was miraculous and daily by divine power alone in a great and terrible wilderness, standing together with manna from heaven, water from the rock, guidance and safety under the cloud by day and pillar of fire by night, and restraint of venomous creatures and fierce beasts. Christ Himself went before them and led, trained and educated them to make them His representative people and to bring them away from Egypt's idolatry. While so caring for them He humbled and proved them by withholding the indulgences of Egypt, to teach them that life depended on His sustaining provision and to lead them to keep His commandments, walk in His ways and fear Him. These lessons are given to God's people now as verily as to Israel, for the same close and searching proving comes upon Sabbath-keepers who are to learn dependence on Him and daily blessing in right relation to Him.
Wilderness Care and Testing
During the forty years of Israel's wilderness journeying, God sustained everyday physical needs so that clothing did not wear out and the foot did not swell. The preservation of clothing, including shoes, and of feet was part of His leading, guidance, provision, discipline, humbling and testing of the people.
The keeping was miraculous and daily, by divine power alone. It was given in a great and terrible wilderness of fiery serpents, scorpions, drought and lack of water, fierce beasts of prey and venomous reptiles, and despite long journeys over rocky heights and rugged paths there was no sickness among them and not a feeble one among them. The Son of God went before them and made their path so their feet did not swell.
The unworn garments and unswollen feet stand together with other tokens of love and merciful care. These were food and manna from heaven for the hungry, water brought from hard rock for the thirsty, peace and safety under the cloud by day and pillar of fire by night, angelic ministry, and the restraint and subduing of dangerous animals and serpents, with freedom from sickness and protection from many great evils. By this provision of food and water and preservation of clothing and bodies there was unmistakable evidence that He guided and protected them by divine power.
Christ personally led, guided, trained, educated and taught Israel through Moses from divine wisdom and not from any human teacher. The Lord remained faithful to His covenant after the promise to Abraham, the deliverance from Egyptian bondage in the exodus, and the law given at Sinai, providing the promised blessings for those who obeyed. This was to make them a representation of His people, to glorify His name among surrounding peoples as a great nation, to reveal His dealings and the sacredness of the law, and to bring them away from Egypt's idolatry.
While so caring for them God humbled, tested and proved them. He proved them by withholding the good things and indulgences they had enjoyed in Egypt, to test their fidelity and to prove whether they valued His service and the freedom He had so miraculously given them more highly than what they had while in servitude to a tyrannical, idolatrous people.
Remembrance, Obedience, and Application
Moses was directed to recount and repeat the history of deliverance from Egypt and wonderful preservation in the wilderness through the forty years of wandering. That rehearsal was to rebuke needless murmurings about the hardships of the journey, to remind Israel of past merciful care they had forgotten, and to call to mind their unbelief and murmuring when brought into trial alongside the Lord's great mercy and loving-kindness that never forsook them. It was given to stimulate faith and strengthen courage, to lead Israel to realize their own sin and weakness and to realize that God was their righteousness and strength. The history was meant to teach lessons from Israel's failures and victories and to guide each new step according to the principles God had given them.
Remembering that the clothing did not wear out and the foot did not swell through forty years was to teach that life depended on God's sustaining provision while He led, humbled, tested, disciplined, guided and provided for them. It was to teach dependence on Him and to teach them to keep His commandments, walk in His ways and fear Him. Through willing obedience the promised covenant blessings, safety and marks of His favor would be theirs, yet Israel became unthankful, selfish and disloyal and failed to heed that prosperity and happiness depended on obedience to God's law despite knowing the promised benefits.
The unworn clothing and unswollen feet stood with freedom from sickness, food from heaven, water brought from hard rock, and protection from dangerous animals and serpents as daily tokens of love and merciful care, proving real hardships had been kept from them and that later hardships did not erase the many evils God had already spared them from. The people had grown unaware of the many evils and dangers from which God continually preserved them by His restraining power, and their complaints and distrust led Him to withdraw that protection and allow the serpents to strike and distress them. Continued complaint, ingratitude and murmuring after such mercy would bring judgments upon them until they learned to appreciate His care and returned to Him with repentance and humiliation.
The lessons of the eighth chapter of Deuteronomy are of the greatest importance and are given to God's people now as verily as to Israel, and the chapter's record of clothing unworn and feet unswollen through forty years carries instruction important for God's people as well as for Israel. Those words in Deuteronomy 1, 7 and 8 are written for admonition upon those on whom the ends of the world are come, to be read and obeyed rather than following the Lord's guidance only to the point that agrees with human judgment and then clinging to human ideas. They call for asking if a course is the will of the Lord, viewing everything in the light of the example of Christ, being molded after the Lord's similitude, living not to please self, and reaching perfection of character by Christ's merits. They belong to the instruction given after the promise to Abraham and the deliverance from Egyptian bondage, at Sinai and through the wilderness-wandering, revealing God's dealings with His children and the sacredness of the law, knowledge to be mastered and used not for selfish purposes but to bring blessing and light when prophecies are about to be fulfilled.
The word spoken to Israel was verified when the people disobeyed and fell in the wilderness, with only two of the adults who left Egypt entering Canaan while the rest died there, and if leaders of God's people today depart from His commandments He will vindicate His word the same way. God's requirements of obedience to His statutes and judgments in Deuteronomy 8:1-15 show that keeping them brings life and proves that perfection of Christian character is attainable as earth's history closes, while transgression brings disease. These requirements were to be framed into song and sung in the congregations of Israel lest they forget them.
The same close and searching proving that tested ancient Israel by withholding the good things and indulgences enjoyed in Egypt, to prove whether they valued His service and the freedom miraculously given them more highly than what they had in servitude to a tyrannical, idolatrous people, now comes upon Sabbath-keepers. Like ancient Israel they soon forget God and His wondrous works and rebel against Him when they look to the world and desire to follow its fashions and share its pleasures. The preservation of clothing and shoes from wearing out and of feet from swelling, like the provision of manna, shows God still cares for His people and will daily teach and bless those who remain in right relation to Him and commune with Him.
During Israel's forty years of journeying in the wilderness God sustained their everyday bodily needs so that their clothing did not wear out and their feet did not swell. That preservation was miraculous and daily by divine power alone in a great and terrible wilderness, standing together with manna from heaven, water from the rock, guidance and safety under the cloud by day and pillar of fire by night, and restraint of venomous creatures and fierce beasts. Christ Himself went before them and led, trained and educated them to make them His representative people and to bring them away from Egypt's idolatry. While so caring for them He humbled and proved them by withholding the indulgences of Egypt, to teach them that life depended on His sustaining provision and to lead them to keep His commandments, walk in His ways and fear Him. These lessons are given to God's people now as verily as to Israel, for the same close and searching proving comes upon Sabbath-keepers who are to learn dependence on Him and daily blessing in right relation to Him.
Wilderness Care and Testing
During the forty years of Israel's wilderness journeying, God sustained everyday physical needs so that clothing did not wear out and the foot did not swell. The preservation of clothing, including shoes, and of feet was part of His leading, guidance, provision, discipline, humbling and testing of the people.
The keeping was miraculous and daily, by divine power alone. It was given in a great and terrible wilderness of fiery serpents, scorpions, drought and lack of water, fierce beasts of prey and venomous reptiles, and despite long journeys over rocky heights and rugged paths there was no sickness among them and not a feeble one among them. The Son of God went before them and made their path so their feet did not swell.
The unworn garments and unswollen feet stand together with other tokens of love and merciful care. These were food and manna from heaven for the hungry, water brought from hard rock for the thirsty, peace and safety under the cloud by day and pillar of fire by night, angelic ministry, and the restraint and subduing of dangerous animals and serpents, with freedom from sickness and protection from many great evils. By this provision of food and water and preservation of clothing and bodies there was unmistakable evidence that He guided and protected them by divine power.
Christ personally led, guided, trained, educated and taught Israel through Moses from divine wisdom and not from any human teacher. The Lord remained faithful to His covenant after the promise to Abraham, the deliverance from Egyptian bondage in the exodus, and the law given at Sinai, providing the promised blessings for those who obeyed. This was to make them a representation of His people, to glorify His name among surrounding peoples as a great nation, to reveal His dealings and the sacredness of the law, and to bring them away from Egypt's idolatry.
While so caring for them God humbled, tested and proved them. He proved them by withholding the good things and indulgences they had enjoyed in Egypt, to test their fidelity and to prove whether they valued His service and the freedom He had so miraculously given them more highly than what they had while in servitude to a tyrannical, idolatrous people.
Remembrance, Obedience, and Application
Moses was directed to recount and repeat the history of deliverance from Egypt and wonderful preservation in the wilderness through the forty years of wandering. That rehearsal was to rebuke needless murmurings about the hardships of the journey, to remind Israel of past merciful care they had forgotten, and to call to mind their unbelief and murmuring when brought into trial alongside the Lord's great mercy and loving-kindness that never forsook them. It was given to stimulate faith and strengthen courage, to lead Israel to realize their own sin and weakness and to realize that God was their righteousness and strength. The history was meant to teach lessons from Israel's failures and victories and to guide each new step according to the principles God had given them.
Remembering that the clothing did not wear out and the foot did not swell through forty years was to teach that life depended on God's sustaining provision while He led, humbled, tested, disciplined, guided and provided for them. It was to teach dependence on Him and to teach them to keep His commandments, walk in His ways and fear Him. Through willing obedience the promised covenant blessings, safety and marks of His favor would be theirs, yet Israel became unthankful, selfish and disloyal and failed to heed that prosperity and happiness depended on obedience to God's law despite knowing the promised benefits.
The unworn clothing and unswollen feet stood with freedom from sickness, food from heaven, water brought from hard rock, and protection from dangerous animals and serpents as daily tokens of love and merciful care, proving real hardships had been kept from them and that later hardships did not erase the many evils God had already spared them from. The people had grown unaware of the many evils and dangers from which God continually preserved them by His restraining power, and their complaints and distrust led Him to withdraw that protection and allow the serpents to strike and distress them. Continued complaint, ingratitude and murmuring after such mercy would bring judgments upon them until they learned to appreciate His care and returned to Him with repentance and humiliation.
The lessons of the eighth chapter of Deuteronomy are of the greatest importance and are given to God's people now as verily as to Israel, and the chapter's record of clothing unworn and feet unswollen through forty years carries instruction important for God's people as well as for Israel. Those words in Deuteronomy 1, 7 and 8 are written for admonition upon those on whom the ends of the world are come, to be read and obeyed rather than following the Lord's guidance only to the point that agrees with human judgment and then clinging to human ideas. They call for asking if a course is the will of the Lord, viewing everything in the light of the example of Christ, being molded after the Lord's similitude, living not to please self, and reaching perfection of character by Christ's merits. They belong to the instruction given after the promise to Abraham and the deliverance from Egyptian bondage, at Sinai and through the wilderness-wandering, revealing God's dealings with His children and the sacredness of the law, knowledge to be mastered and used not for selfish purposes but to bring blessing and light when prophecies are about to be fulfilled.
The word spoken to Israel was verified when the people disobeyed and fell in the wilderness, with only two of the adults who left Egypt entering Canaan while the rest died there, and if leaders of God's people today depart from His commandments He will vindicate His word the same way. God's requirements of obedience to His statutes and judgments in Deuteronomy 8:1-15 show that keeping them brings life and proves that perfection of Christian character is attainable as earth's history closes, while transgression brings disease. These requirements were to be framed into song and sung in the congregations of Israel lest they forget them.
The same close and searching proving that tested ancient Israel by withholding the good things and indulgences enjoyed in Egypt, to prove whether they valued His service and the freedom miraculously given them more highly than what they had in servitude to a tyrannical, idolatrous people, now comes upon Sabbath-keepers. Like ancient Israel they soon forget God and His wondrous works and rebel against Him when they look to the world and desire to follow its fashions and share its pleasures. The preservation of clothing and shoes from wearing out and of feet from swelling, like the provision of manna, shows God still cares for His people and will daily teach and bless those who remain in right relation to Him and commune with Him.