| HEALTHIER, WEALTHIER, AND WISER |
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| the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?" (4:32, 34). Moses promised that good things would come the Israelites' way if they merely held up their end of the covenant. If, he said - underscoring that small but very crucial word. Threads of doubt and anxiety run all through the book. Will the Israelites stick to terms of the covenant? Will they obey? Dangers of Success Moses seemed to fear the coming prosperity even more than the rigors of the desert, and he voiced those fears in chapter 8. In the promised land, a lush country of streams and fruit trees and valuable resources, the Israelites might forget God and begin to take credit for their own success. That, at least, was the danger, and the reason Moses kept urging, "Remember!" Remember the days of slavery in Egypt, and God's acts in liberating you. Remember the trials of the vast and desolate desert, and God's faithfulness there. Remember our special calling as a peculiar treasure of God. Do not forget, as a prosperous nation, what you learned as refugees in the Sinai. God predicted bluntly, "When I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, the land I promised on oath to their forefathers, and when they eat their fill and thrive, they will turn to other gods and worship them, rejecting me and breaking my covenant" (31:20). As the books following Deuteronomy record, all that God and Moses feared came true. The covenant was irreparably broken. Ultimately, the Israelites received not wealth and happiness but slavery and suffering. A Message for Us Today The promises of Deuteronomy were given to a particular |
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