Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee.
God's dealing with Israel through the forty years of wilderness wandering was a father's chastening of his son. That chastening was to humble them and to prove and test them, to reveal what was in their heart whether they would keep His commandments, and to teach them to depend on Him. He humbled them by letting them hunger and then feeding them with manna unknown to them and their fathers to teach that life is sustained by every word from God, and by withholding the comforts of Egypt to test whether they valued His service and the freedom He gave them above what they had enjoyed in bondage. Yet the discipline was loving correction and training, in which Christ Himself taught them with a wisdom no human teacher could give, leading and instructing them, keeping them as the apple of His eye, and bearing and carrying them in love and pity even while afflicted in their affliction. It calls for taking this to heart in obedience that keeps His commandments and walks in His ways in reverent fear, and the same proving and searching testing now comes upon His people today who as readily forget God and look back to the world as Israel looked back to Egypt.
Father's Discipline in Wilderness
God's dealing with Israel during the forty years of wilderness wandering was a father's chastening of his son. That discipline was to be taken to heart as the meaning of His dealings with them in the wilderness. It was part of leading and training His people, their education and guidance.
That chastening was to humble them and to prove and test them, to know what was in their heart, whether they would keep His commandments or not. The wilderness hardships and care were meant to teach them to depend on God. In response they were to keep His commandments, walk in His ways, and fear and revere Him.
He humbled them by suffering them to hunger and then feeding them with manna unknown to them and their fathers. This was to teach that man does not live by bread only but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord, revealing what was in their hearts and teaching dependence on every word from God. He also withheld the comforts and indulgences they had enjoyed in Egypt to humble them and test their fidelity, to see whether they valued His service and the freedom He had miraculously given them more highly than what they had enjoyed in servitude to a tyrannical, idolatrous power.
The discipline was loving correction and education and training. Christ Himself taught the people throughout their journey with infinite wisdom that no human teacher or agency could give, giving them the experience they needed to learn what God required of His church. He led them about, instructed them, kept them as the apple of His eye, redeemed them in love and pity, bore and carried them all the days of old, and even in their affliction He was afflicted with them.
Moses was directed to recount this history as deliverance from Egypt and wonderful preservation in the wilderness. He called to mind their unbelief and murmuring when brought into trial and God's great mercy and loving-kindness that never forsook them, to stimulate their faith and strengthen their courage. He traced God's dealings from the promise to Abraham through deliverance from Egyptian bondage and the exodus to the instruction given at Mount Sinai and throughout the wandering, when God led the people and taught them through Moses. This rehearsal of failures and victories in the forty years of wandering was to be repeated to guide Israel as they prepared to take possession of Jericho.
The forty-year wandering was not only judgment on rebels and murmurers but discipline of the rising generation to prepare them to enter the promised land. Those forty years prepared them to glorify God and to become a great nation among the surrounding peoples. The disobedient adults who left Egypt died in the wilderness, and only two of them entered Canaan.
Required Response and Application
The call is to take the discipline to heart and answer it by keeping the commandments, walking in the ways of God, fearing and revering Him, and living by every word that comes from Him. The wilderness hardships and care were meant to humble and test, teaching dependence on God, and that training itself was loving correction leading to obedience and reverence. Prosperity depended on obedience to the law, and disobedience brought disloyalty and made it impossible for the covenant agreement to be fulfilled, though long patience was shown toward impatience and self-exaltation. Rejecting the divine plans led to failure and defeat, while obedience brought safety and the marks of divine favor, and any departure from the requirements brings consequences.
Chastening vindicates the word of God, so turning aside from the commandments brings discipline. This was verified when all but two of the adults who left Egypt died in the wilderness and did not enter Canaan, and the same vindication of the word will come today if leaders depart from the commandments. What applied to ancient Israel applies to the people of God today, for the lesson was given to the present time as truly as to Israel and is of the greatest importance. The same proving now comes upon Sabbath-keepers, with a close and searching work among them, because like Israel they soon forget God and His wondrous works and rebel, looking to the world and desiring its fashions and pleasures as Israel looked back to Egypt and lusted for what was enjoyed there while in servitude to a tyrannical, idolatrous power. The wilderness education, in which Christ Himself taught what God required of His church with wisdom no human agency could give, remains instruction for people today.
The whole of Deuteronomy 8 together with Deuteronomy 1 and 7 is the direct word of the Lord to be read in full and heeded as admonition by those upon whom the ends of the world are come. Recounting the deliverance from Egypt and wonderful preservation in the wilderness, including unbelief and murmuring under trial and great mercy and loving-kindness that never forsook the people, was meant to stimulate faith and strengthen courage. Learning more of those dealings from the promise to Abraham through the exodus to the instruction at Sinai and throughout the wandering reveals how sacred the law given at Sinai is, stirs the heart as never before, and brings new and thorough conversion. Such study gives mastery of Old Testament history to be used not for selfish purposes but to bring blessing and light, especially when prophecies are about to be fulfilled and obscured light must be diligently searched out.
Heeding the chastening means being molded after the divine likeness rather than following guidance only to the point that agrees with human judgment and then holding to one's own ideas and opinions. It requires viewing everything in the light of Christ's example, asking whether it is the Lord's will, listening to Christ as the truth and true light, copying His self-denial and self-sacrifice, looking to His merits for His glory of character, and living not to please self, since human standards are feeble reeds and the divine standard is perfection of character. This fatherly dealing leads to realizing one's own sin and weakness and realizing that God is righteousness and strength.
God's dealing with Israel through the forty years of wilderness wandering was a father's chastening of his son. That chastening was to humble them and to prove and test them, to reveal what was in their heart whether they would keep His commandments, and to teach them to depend on Him. He humbled them by letting them hunger and then feeding them with manna unknown to them and their fathers to teach that life is sustained by every word from God, and by withholding the comforts of Egypt to test whether they valued His service and the freedom He gave them above what they had enjoyed in bondage. Yet the discipline was loving correction and training, in which Christ Himself taught them with a wisdom no human teacher could give, leading and instructing them, keeping them as the apple of His eye, and bearing and carrying them in love and pity even while afflicted in their affliction. It calls for taking this to heart in obedience that keeps His commandments and walks in His ways in reverent fear, and the same proving and searching testing now comes upon His people today who as readily forget God and look back to the world as Israel looked back to Egypt.
Father's Discipline in Wilderness
God's dealing with Israel during the forty years of wilderness wandering was a father's chastening of his son. That discipline was to be taken to heart as the meaning of His dealings with them in the wilderness. It was part of leading and training His people, their education and guidance.
That chastening was to humble them and to prove and test them, to know what was in their heart, whether they would keep His commandments or not. The wilderness hardships and care were meant to teach them to depend on God. In response they were to keep His commandments, walk in His ways, and fear and revere Him.
He humbled them by suffering them to hunger and then feeding them with manna unknown to them and their fathers. This was to teach that man does not live by bread only but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord, revealing what was in their hearts and teaching dependence on every word from God. He also withheld the comforts and indulgences they had enjoyed in Egypt to humble them and test their fidelity, to see whether they valued His service and the freedom He had miraculously given them more highly than what they had enjoyed in servitude to a tyrannical, idolatrous power.
The discipline was loving correction and education and training. Christ Himself taught the people throughout their journey with infinite wisdom that no human teacher or agency could give, giving them the experience they needed to learn what God required of His church. He led them about, instructed them, kept them as the apple of His eye, redeemed them in love and pity, bore and carried them all the days of old, and even in their affliction He was afflicted with them.
Moses was directed to recount this history as deliverance from Egypt and wonderful preservation in the wilderness. He called to mind their unbelief and murmuring when brought into trial and God's great mercy and loving-kindness that never forsook them, to stimulate their faith and strengthen their courage. He traced God's dealings from the promise to Abraham through deliverance from Egyptian bondage and the exodus to the instruction given at Mount Sinai and throughout the wandering, when God led the people and taught them through Moses. This rehearsal of failures and victories in the forty years of wandering was to be repeated to guide Israel as they prepared to take possession of Jericho.
The forty-year wandering was not only judgment on rebels and murmurers but discipline of the rising generation to prepare them to enter the promised land. Those forty years prepared them to glorify God and to become a great nation among the surrounding peoples. The disobedient adults who left Egypt died in the wilderness, and only two of them entered Canaan.
Required Response and Application
The call is to take the discipline to heart and answer it by keeping the commandments, walking in the ways of God, fearing and revering Him, and living by every word that comes from Him. The wilderness hardships and care were meant to humble and test, teaching dependence on God, and that training itself was loving correction leading to obedience and reverence. Prosperity depended on obedience to the law, and disobedience brought disloyalty and made it impossible for the covenant agreement to be fulfilled, though long patience was shown toward impatience and self-exaltation. Rejecting the divine plans led to failure and defeat, while obedience brought safety and the marks of divine favor, and any departure from the requirements brings consequences.
Chastening vindicates the word of God, so turning aside from the commandments brings discipline. This was verified when all but two of the adults who left Egypt died in the wilderness and did not enter Canaan, and the same vindication of the word will come today if leaders depart from the commandments. What applied to ancient Israel applies to the people of God today, for the lesson was given to the present time as truly as to Israel and is of the greatest importance. The same proving now comes upon Sabbath-keepers, with a close and searching work among them, because like Israel they soon forget God and His wondrous works and rebel, looking to the world and desiring its fashions and pleasures as Israel looked back to Egypt and lusted for what was enjoyed there while in servitude to a tyrannical, idolatrous power. The wilderness education, in which Christ Himself taught what God required of His church with wisdom no human agency could give, remains instruction for people today.
The whole of Deuteronomy 8 together with Deuteronomy 1 and 7 is the direct word of the Lord to be read in full and heeded as admonition by those upon whom the ends of the world are come. Recounting the deliverance from Egypt and wonderful preservation in the wilderness, including unbelief and murmuring under trial and great mercy and loving-kindness that never forsook the people, was meant to stimulate faith and strengthen courage. Learning more of those dealings from the promise to Abraham through the exodus to the instruction at Sinai and throughout the wandering reveals how sacred the law given at Sinai is, stirs the heart as never before, and brings new and thorough conversion. Such study gives mastery of Old Testament history to be used not for selfish purposes but to bring blessing and light, especially when prophecies are about to be fulfilled and obscured light must be diligently searched out.
Heeding the chastening means being molded after the divine likeness rather than following guidance only to the point that agrees with human judgment and then holding to one's own ideas and opinions. It requires viewing everything in the light of Christ's example, asking whether it is the Lord's will, listening to Christ as the truth and true light, copying His self-denial and self-sacrifice, looking to His merits for His glory of character, and living not to please self, since human standards are feeble reeds and the divine standard is perfection of character. This fatherly dealing leads to realizing one's own sin and weakness and realizing that God is righteousness and strength.