Obedience is Faith

Deuteronomy 8: Only God is the source of abundance.

Welcome to the Daily Bible Chapter. My name is James Leroy Wilson and I invite you to join me as I attempt to read the Bible with fresh eyes, as if I don’t know anything about it, and without consulting experts on what it “really” means.. Let’s see where this takes us!

Deuteronomy 8

I’m reading Young’s Literal Translation (YLT) and the New Revised Standard Version.

We must remember that the Israelites spent 40 years in the wilderness so that the generation of adults that fled Egypt would die off. Now, if I’m getting this straight, only Moses, Joshua, Caleb, and two of Aaron’s priestly sons are left.

The previous generation had to die because they grew up in slavery and were habituated to the slave mentality of fear. They thought they couldn’t beat the “giants” in Canaan. They were embittered that the manna they received from the LORD wasn’t as good as the food in Egypt. They felt insecure, convinced that they’ll die of thirst or at the hands of a foreign army.

The younger generation, however, had grown accustomed to relying on the LORD and the LORD alone for their provision. They knew nothing else. They could enter the new land knowing that this would still be the case, that prosperity comes from…