Sermon Bible Commentary
Deuteronomy 8:11-18
In the text we have Moses' answer to the first great question in politics: What makes a nation prosperous?
To that wise men have always answered, as Moses answered, "Good government is government according to the laws of God." That alone makes a nation prosperous. But the multitude, who are not wise men, give a different answer. They say, "What makes a nation prosperous is its wealth."
I. Moses does not deny that wealth is a good thing. He takes for granted that the Jews will grow very rich, but he warns them that their riches, like all other earthly things, may be a curse or a blessing to them. When riches multiplied, they might forget God, and say, "My power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth."
II. God gives power to get wealth in two ways: (1) He gives the raw material; (2) He gives the wit to use it. Moses bade the people remember that they owed all to God. What they had, they had of God's free gift What they were, they were of God's free grace. Therefore they were not to boast of themselves, their numbers, their wealth, their armies, their fair and fertile land. They were to make their boast of God, of God's goodness.
III. If we as a nation go on trusting in ourselves rather than God; if we keep within us the hard, self-sufficient spirit, and boast to ourselves, "My power and the strength of my hands have got me this and that," and, in fact, live under the notion, which too many have, that we could do very well without God's help if God would let us alone then we are heaping up ruin and shame for ourselves, and for our children after us. In this sense God is indeed a jealous God, who will not give His honour to another, but will punish those who trust in anything except Himself.
C. Kingsley, Gospel of the Pentateuch,p. 197.
References: Deuteronomy 8:15. J. M. Neale, Sermons in Sackville College,vol. ii., p. 336. Deuteronomy 8:16. Parker, vol. iv., p. 168. Deuteronomy 8:18. Ibid.,p. 188; Hidden Springs,p. 254.Deuteronomy 8:19. W. J. Butler, Sermons for Working Men,p. 353.Deuteronomy 8 Parker, vol. iv., p. 160.