DEUTERONOMY 8
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Deuteronomy Chapter 8

All the operations of Providence are directed to obtain eternal happiness for the soul, and it must be constantly borne in mind that all good things come from heaven and none from self.

All the commandments which I command you this day shall you observe to do, that you may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to your fathers.

All that the regenerate perceive to be the Lord's will in every state must be most carefully observed and carried out in the life, that they may acquire spiritual life, and that what is from heaven in them may be increased, and that they may advance towards interior things and possess those heavenly states which are promised in the Word to those who receive genuine good.

And you shall remember all the way which the LORD your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, and to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or no.

You shall ever bear in mind the dealings of the Divine Love and Wisdom in Providence whereby the Lord has led you through periods of temptation and desolation to reduce the obstructions arising from self, and to give you confidence in Him, to show you the evils of your own heart, and to show you whether your will was in conformity with Divine order or not.

And he humbled you, and suffered you to hunger, and fed you with manna, which you knew not, neither did your fathers know; that he might make you know that man does not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD does man live.

And He showed you your own nothingness, and suffered you to feel the want of spiritual good, and then supplied the hunger of the soul with good and truth from Himself, which you perceive was not of your own acquiring, and which you hadst not experienced in any previous state; that you might clearly perceive that your spiritual life is not fed by the wisdom and good endeavours acquired by your own exertions alone, but by the influx of the Love and Wisdom proceeding from the Divine Humanity is the soul fed.

Your clothing waxed not old upon you, neither did your foot swell, these forty years.

Still the truths of the natural man acquired by your own exertions were not injured, nor was the natural mind itself impaired in all this period of temptation.

You shall also consider in your heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD your God chasteneth you.

You shall therefore lay it well to heart, that as a man chasteneth his son for his good, so has the Lord with Divine Love and Wisdom corrected you.

Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.

You shall therefore above all things endeavour to know the will of Jehovah your God, for it is your best interest to follow His directions, and shall exceedingly fear to act against His will.

For the LORD your God brings you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;

For the Divine Love and Wisdom are leading you to a blessed state, a state abounding with pure truths, and where the truth concerning natural and spiritual things springs out from the Word into the natural mind and into the interior soul enlightened from heaven;

A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;

A state in which the natural mind will be well stored and endowed with good desires from heaven, both in interior and exterior things, and the understanding be recruited with truths both as to spiritual and natural things, and with all useful knowledges for the regenerate life; a state abounding with pure and holy affections received from the Creator, and with all the delights that spring therefrom;

A land wherein you shall eat bread without scarceness, you shall not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you may dig brass.

A state in which the soul will be plentifully recruited with good from heaven without scarceness, and in which all its spiritual wants will be supplied; a state in which sensual truths (i.e. truths based on the evidence of the senses) will agree with and confirm the truths of faith provided for the natural man, and out of the spiritual things of which you may procure good for your natural life.

When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which he has given you.

When you are in the enjoyment of these things, and feel all your spiritual wants supplied, you shall bless the goodness and wisdom of the Lord for the heavenly state of soul which you have received from Him.

Beware that you forget not the LORD your God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgements, and his statutes, which I command you this day:

Beware lest you forget that all these good things are received from the Goodness and Wisdom of the Lord, and neglect to carry out His will in every thought, word, and deed, as it is revealed to you from the Word,

Lest when you have eaten and are full, and have built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;

Lest when you have received these good things, and feel all your wants supplied, and have thereby procured heavenly affections and enjoyed them,

And when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied;

And when all your powers for good in internal and external things are increased, and when your intelligence and wisdom in spiritual things are increased, and all the things of heaven within you are multiplied,

Then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;

Lest then your heart be lifted up with pride, and you forget to continually seek the inspiration of the Divine Love and Wisdom, which brought you forth out of your unregenerate condition when your mind was enslaved by evil and falsity;

Who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought you forth water out of the rock of flint;

Who led you through those states of temptation in which there was a great and terrible void of all spiritual sustenance and hope, when the soul was oppressed by evil desires, evil deeds, and delusive errors and longings for a guidance, but where none was to be found (wilderness of the serpent, the flying serpent and the scorpion; of thirst, where there were no waters, AC 8568); who brought forth the living waters of truth out of the fundamental principle of belief and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as the one only God;

Who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers knew not, that he might humble you, and that he might prove you, to do you good at your latter end;

Who sustained you in these states of temptation with good from Himself, which was foreign to your hereditary nature, that He might reduce the love of evil within you, and that the evil and good might be separated, and that He might gift you with heavenly affections at the end of your time of probation;

And you say in your heart, My power and the might of mine hand has gotten me this wealth.

And you cherish the thought in your interior soul that your own powers and the exertions of your own strength have procured these spiritual riches.

But you shall remember the LORD your God: for it is he that gives you power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

But you shall ever have present before you Jehovah God (the Lord Jesus Christ); it is He that gives you the power to acquire spiritual riches, that He may carry out His gracious designs for those who will receive good from Himself, as you have already experienced in the state to which the soul has now advanced.

And it shall be, if you do at all forget the LORD your God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish.

And it will certainly come to pass that if you forget the precepts of Divine Love and Wisdom, and follow after falsities proceeding from your own evil heart, and obey them, and worship them as true, the Divine Word now plainly warns you that in this case your spiritual life will perish.

As the nations which the LORD destroys before your face, so shall you perish; because you would not be obedient to the voice of the LORD your God.

As those evils which the mercy of the Lord has driven out from the interiors of the soul, so will you yourselves be driven out from heaven, because you would not attend to carry out in the life the laws of heavenly order proceeding from Divine Love and Wisdom (whereby alone you could be prepared for heaven).

DEUTERONOMY 8 Other translations - previous - next - notes - discussion - Deuteronomy - BM Home - Full Page

All the commandments which I command you this day shall you observe to do, that you may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to your fathers.	All that the regenerate perceive to be the Lord's will in every state must be most carefully observed and carried out in the life, that they may acquire spiritual life, and that what is from heaven in them may be increased, and that they may advance towards interior things and possess those heavenly states which are promised in the Word to those who receive genuine good.
And you shall remember all the way which the LORD your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, and to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or no.	You shall ever bear in mind the dealings of the Divine Love and Wisdom in Providence whereby the Lord has led you through periods of temptation and desolation to reduce the obstructions arising from self, and to give you confidence in Him, to show you the evils of your own heart, and to show you whether your will was in conformity with Divine order or not.
And he humbled you, and suffered you to hunger, and fed you with manna, which you knew not, neither did your fathers know; that he might make you know that man does not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD does man live.	And He showed you your own nothingness, and suffered you to feel the want of spiritual good, and then supplied the hunger of the soul with good and truth from Himself, which you perceive was not of your own acquiring, and which you hadst not experienced in any previous state; that you might clearly perceive that your spiritual life is not fed by the wisdom and good endeavours acquired by your own exertions alone, but by the influx of the Love and Wisdom proceeding from the Divine Humanity is the soul fed.
Your clothing waxed not old upon you, neither did your foot swell, these forty years.	Still the truths of the natural man acquired by your own exertions were not injured, nor was the natural mind itself impaired in all this period of temptation.
You shall also consider in your heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD your God chasteneth you.	You shall therefore lay it well to heart, that as a man chasteneth his son for his good, so has the Lord with Divine Love and Wisdom corrected you.
Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.	You shall therefore above all things endeavour to know the will of Jehovah your God, for it is your best interest to follow His directions, and shall exceedingly fear to act against His will.
For the LORD your God brings you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;	For the Divine Love and Wisdom are leading you to a blessed state, a state abounding with pure truths, and where the truth concerning natural and spiritual things springs out from the Word into the natural mind and into the interior soul enlightened from heaven;
A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;	A state in which the natural mind will be well stored and endowed with good desires from heaven, both in interior and exterior things, and the understanding be recruited with truths both as to spiritual and natural things, and with all useful knowledges for the regenerate life; a state abounding with pure and holy affections received from the Creator, and with all the delights that spring therefrom;
A land wherein you shall eat bread without scarceness, you shall not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you may dig brass.	A state in which the soul will be plentifully recruited with good from heaven without scarceness, and in which all its spiritual wants will be supplied; a state in which sensual truths (i.e. truths based on the evidence of the senses) will agree with and confirm the truths of faith provided for the natural man, and out of the spiritual things of which you may procure good for your natural life.
When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which he has given you.	When you are in the enjoyment of these things, and feel all your spiritual wants supplied, you shall bless the goodness and wisdom of the Lord for the heavenly state of soul which you have received from Him.
Beware that you forget not the LORD your God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgements, and his statutes, which I command you this day:	Beware lest you forget that all these good things are received from the Goodness and Wisdom of the Lord, and neglect to carry out His will in every thought, word, and deed, as it is revealed to you from the Word,
Lest when you have eaten and are full, and have built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;	Lest when you have received these good things, and feel all your wants supplied, and have thereby procured heavenly affections and enjoyed them,
And when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied;	And when all your powers for good in internal and external things are increased, and when your intelligence and wisdom in spiritual things are increased, and all the things of heaven within you are multiplied,
Then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;	Lest then your heart be lifted up with pride, and you forget to continually seek the inspiration of the Divine Love and Wisdom, which brought you forth out of your unregenerate condition when your mind was enslaved by evil and falsity;
Who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought you forth water out of the rock of flint;	Who led you through those states of temptation in which there was a great and terrible void of all spiritual sustenance and hope, when the soul was oppressed by evil desires, evil deeds, and delusive errors and longings for a guidance, but where none was to be found (wilderness of the serpent, the flying serpent and the scorpion; of thirst, where there were no waters, AC 8568); who brought forth the living waters of truth out of the fundamental principle of belief and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as the one only God;
Who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers knew not, that he might humble you, and that he might prove you, to do you good at your latter end;	Who sustained you in these states of temptation with good from Himself, which was foreign to your hereditary nature, that He might reduce the love of evil within you, and that the evil and good might be separated, and that He might gift you with heavenly affections at the end of your time of probation;
And you say in your heart, My power and the might of mine hand has gotten me this wealth.	And you cherish the thought in your interior soul that your own powers and the exertions of your own strength have procured these spiritual riches.
But you shall remember the LORD your God: for it is he that gives you power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.	But you shall ever have present before you Jehovah God (the Lord Jesus Christ); it is He that gives you the power to acquire spiritual riches, that He may carry out His gracious designs for those who will receive good from Himself, as you have already experienced in the state to which the soul has now advanced.
And it shall be, if you do at all forget the LORD your God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish.	And it will certainly come to pass that if you forget the precepts of Divine Love and Wisdom, and follow after falsities proceeding from your own evil heart, and obey them, and worship them as true, the Divine Word now plainly warns you that in this case your spiritual life will perish.
As the nations which the LORD destroys before your face, so shall you perish; because you would not be obedient to the voice of the LORD your God.	As those evils which the mercy of the Lord has driven out from the interiors of the soul, so will you yourselves be driven out from heaven, because you would not attend to carry out in the life the laws of heavenly order proceeding from Divine Love and Wisdom (whereby alone you could be prepared for heaven).