Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 8:1-9
The charge here given them is the same as before, to keep and do all God's commandments. Their obedience must be, 1. Careful: Observe to do. 2. Universal: To do all the commandments, Deu 8:1. And, 3. From a good principle, with a regard to God as the Lord, and their God, and particularly with a holy fear of him (Deu 8:6), from a reverence of his majesty, a submission to his authority, and a dread of his wrath. To engage them to this obedience, besides the great advantages of it, which he sets before them (that they should live and multiply, and all should be well with them, Deu 8:1), he directs them,
I. To look back upon the wilderness through which God had now brought them: Thou shalt remem…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Deuteronomy 8:9
a land whose stones are iron--The abundance of this metal in Palestine, especially among the mountains of Lebanon, those of Kesraoun, and elsewhere, is attested not only by JOSEPHUS, but by Volney, Buckingham, and other travellers.
brass--not the alloy brass, but the ore of copper. Although the mines may now be exhausted or neglected, they yielded plenty of those metals anciently (Ch1 22:3; Ch1 29:2-7; Isa 60:17).
John Gill on Deuteronomy 8:9
A land wherein thou shall eat bread without scarceness,.... That is, should have plenty of all sorts of provisions, which bread is often put for:
thou shall not lack anything in it; for necessity and convenience, and for delight and pleasure:
a land whose stones are iron; in which were iron mines:
and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass; both which are taken out of the earth and the stones of it, Job 28:2 and were to be found in the land of Canaan, and particularly in the tribe of Asher, as seems from Deuteronomy 33:25 and more particularly at Sidon and Sarepta, which were in that tribe; the latter of which seems to have its name from the melting of metals there, and the former is sa…
Read the whole note in the consoleJohn Calvin on Deuteronomy 8:7-10
