Deuteronomy 8
Read Deuteronomy 8
Helpful Background Information:
Central to Deuteronomy are the terms of the covenant between God and Israel (Deut. 12-26). They take the form of an ancient treaty between a “suzerain” (a powerful king) and a “vassal” (a lesser king or nation). Many of these terms are repeated from the laws given to Moses at Mount Sinai. That’s actually where the book gets its name, “Deuteronomy,” which is from the Greek words meaning “a second law.” The stipulations of the covenant are bookended with speeches from Moses (Deut. 1-11 and 27-34). These speeches are Moses’ last sermons to the Israelites, which they receive right before entering the promised land under Joshua’s leadership.
In their simplest form, the laws of Deuteronomy encourage the people to listen to God and to love Him. For Israel, the path to blessing for themselves and everyone around them would be faithfulness to their covenant with God. The people are warned over and over that the greatest threat to their covenant faithfulness would be “forgetting God” (8:11, 14, 17).
One of the specific things that the people are told would tempt them to forget their God was wealth and prosperity: “Beware, lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth’” (8:17). Moses calls the people to remember their God because it is He who gave them the power to get wealth in the first place (8:18a). The wealth they received as a gift from God was not meant to be an end in itself, but a confirmation of the covenant He made with their ancestors (8:18b).
Reflection Questions:
Why do you think Moses makes a direct connection between “wealth” and “forgetting God”? Do you think his analysis is accurate?
What is the better approach to wealth that Moses lays out?
God provided strong warnings for the people about how they were to rightly relate to their money (8:18-20), yet history would show story after story of how they disregarded these warnings to their own demise. What is a practical step you can take to regularly recognize your money as a gift from God?