The importance of remembering what we already know (Deut 8.10)
You shall eat your fill and bless the LORD your God for the good land that he has given you.
Deuteronomy 8.10
Background
This call to prayer occurs in the midst of a passage that addresses the problem of forgetting the blessings we have. Just before this prayer, the writer repeats the Ten Commandments (Deut 5.1–33), discusses why the Law is so important (6.1–25), and presents the “whats” and “whys” of how Israel was to act towards other nations (7.1–26). The entire passage is structured around two phrases, poetic negatives of each other: “Remember” and “Do not forget.” After each is a lengthy list of the things God did for the Israelites, including the provision of manna, clothes, water, food, and protection. We may not often think of the staples of life as blessings, but without food, water, or clothing, we would die within a short time. Whether a family farmed their own food or bought it from someone, its origin was in God. Near the end of the passage, God warns the people: do not think these things come about by your own hand, and, more significantly, if you forget that it is God who gave them, bad things can happen.
The call to prayer is a simple prayer. It comes in the middle of a discussion of the importance of “remembering” and follows immediately after a description of the land’s abundance of food and water. The prayer is like a blessing for a meal: “You shall eat your fill and bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.”
Despite its simplicity and brevity, this prayer speaks volumes. Enjoy what you have and then offer a blessing to the One who provided it. Do not forget.
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