Deuteronomy 8:2
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Remember that these forty years the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commandments.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
Moses had charged parents in teaching their children to whet the word of God upon them (Deu 6:7) by frequent repetition of the same things over and over again; and here he himself takes the same method of instructing the Israelites as his children, frequently inculcating the same precepts and cautions, with the same motives or arguments to enforce them, that what they heard so often might abide with them. In this chapter Moses gives them, I. General exhortations to obedience (Deu 8:1, Deu 8:6). II. A review of the great things God had done for them in the wilderness, as a good argument for obedience (Deu 8:2-5, Deu 8:15, Deu 8:16). III. A prospect of the good land into which God would now bring them (Deu 8:7-9). IV. A necessary caution against the temptations of a prosperous condition (Deu 8:10-14, and Deu 8:17, Deu 8:18). V. A fair warning of the fatal consequences of apostasy from God (Deu 8:19, Deu 8:20).
Open source ↗8:2 to prove your character (literally to know what is in your heart): God already knew the Israelites’ innermost thoughts (Pss 51:6; 139:1, 4, 23); he wanted their character to come out in their actions. • to find out whether: The Old Testament often describes God in human terms, even in ways that appear to limit God. Anthropomorphism (assigning human characteristics to God) and anthropopathism (assigning human feelings or emotions to God) are ways of representing God on a human level so the human mind can better grasp his ways, but God is not limited in his knowledge, power, or transcendence. Here, God is figuratively described as having only a human knowledge of the future, but other passages make it clear that God knows everything—past, present, and future (Ps 139:1-18; Heb 4:13).
Open source ↗Cross-references
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because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.
He fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers had not known, in order to humble you and test you, so that in the end He might cause you to prosper.
so that the proven character of your faith—more precious than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test whether or not they will follow My instructions.
Indeed, the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. The LORD your God has been with you these forty years, and you have lacked nothing.
And Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a log. And when he cast it into the waters, they were sweetened. There the LORD made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there He tested them,
But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
He did not need any testimony about man, for He knew what was in a man.
And so when ambassadors of the rulers of Babylon were sent to him to inquire about the wonder that had happened in the land, God left him alone to test him, that He might know all that was in Hezekiah’s heart.
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.