THE ABILITY TO PRODUCE WEALTH A Charge to Trust

WORD

You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. DEU 8:18

For forty years, the Israelites depended completely on God for their survival. But as they were about to enter the land he had promised, Moses told them that God would give them the power to get wealth. They may or may not have understood what this meant, but Moses assured them that it would happen because it was part of God’s covenant with their forefathers. Before they even experienced this and entered the Promised Land, Moses charged them to keep trusting God, who gives the power to get wealth. They were to trust him, not their own ability or the provision itself. Today, we will look at three truths about trusting God for provision.

We are not to rely on our own power, but on God

Beware lest you say in your heart, “My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.” DEU 8:17

Everything the Israelites had in the wilderness and would have in the Promised Land was from God. This provision was based on his power and ability. Moses assured them that there would be abundance in the land God was bringing them into (Deu 8:12-13), but warned them not to believe it was their own power that had brought them wealth and abundant resources. They were to put their trust in God, who gave them this power. We, too, should fix our eyes on our Provider, not our own strength and power. When all our needs are met, it is easy to forget that everything we have is from God. We have to continue to depend on him and seek his guidance. What do you think would happen if we relied on our own wealth and resources? How does this fall short?

John Gill

Beware lest you say in your heart—These words are in connection with the former part of Deu 8:14:

And you forget the Lord your God—The author and giver of all the good things enjoyed, and think within themselves, though they might not express it in words at length:

My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth—So ascribing that to themselves, their labour, and diligence, which ought to be ascribed to the bounty and blessing of God; see Hos 12:9.

12 . . . lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them,

John Gill

Lest, when you have eaten and are full—Not only once and again, but continually, day after day, being indulged with great plenty:

And have built good houses and live in them—Who for forty years had only dwelt in tents, moving from place to place in the wilderness.

For when I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and grown fat, they will turn to other gods and serve them, and despise me and break my covenant. DEU 31:20

Berakhot 32a:12

On a similar note, Rav Aha, son of Rav Huna, said that Rav Sheshet said: That is what people say in a popular maxim: Filling his stomach is a type of sin, as it is stated: “When they had grazed and became full, they were filled, and their hearts were lifted and they forgot me” (Hos 13:6). Rav Nahman said: This principle is derived not from the verse in Hosea, but from here: “Then your heart is lifted up, and you forget the Lord” (Deu 8:14). And the Rabbis say that this principle is derived from here: “And they will have eaten and been sated and fattened, they will turn to other gods” (Deu 31:20).

Rashi

Despise me—Heb. וְנִאֲצוּנִי, and they will provoke me to anger. So, too, every mention of the word נִאוּץ denotes anger.

13 and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied . . . DEU 8:12-13

John Gill

And when your herds and flocks multiply—Having good pasture for them in so fruitful a land:

And your silver and gold is multiplied—By trading with other nations:

And all that you have is multiplied—Children, servants, and substance.

God gives us the power to produce wealth

You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth . . . DEU 8:18

The God who led the Israelites in the wilderness by miraculously providing food, water, and shelter for them is the same God who promised to give them the power to get wealth. Like the Israelites, God will give us the power and ability we need—including skills, ideas, and opportunities—so that we can produce wealth. He wants us to come to him and acknowledge his presence in our lives not just in times of lack, but also in times of plenty. How is God enabling you to produce wealth? Why is it important to trust God not only in times of difficulty but also in times when we have more than we need?

John Gill

You shall remember the Lord your God—That he was the author of their beings, the God of their lives and mercies; what great and good things he had done for them in Egypt, and in the wilderness; and particularly in putting them into the possession of such a fruitful country, abounding with all that heart could wish for:

For it is he who gives you power to get wealth—For though men may have seeming opportunities for getting wealth, may have capacities for the management of business for the acquisition of it, and may not be wanting in diligence and industry, yet may not attain it; it is the blessing of God that makes rich, and to that it should be imputed whenever it is enjoyed; see 1Ch 29:12; Psa 127:2; Pro 10:22; Ecc 9:11.

1 A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon.

Unless the Lord builds the house,

those who build it labor in vain.

Unless the Lord watches over the city,

the watchman stays awake in vain.

2 It is in vain that you rise up early

and go late to rest,

eating the bread of anxious toil;

for he gives to his beloved sleep. PSA 127:1-2

John Gill

It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest—A description of an industrious and laborious person, who takes great pains to get a livelihood, or increase his substance; see Psa 104:23; Pro 31:15, 18; which, yet, as in the former instances, depends upon the blessing of divine providence (Pro 10:4, 22; Ecc 9:11). For, after all, it may come to nothing more at last than

Eating the bread of anxious toil—That is, eating bread gotten with much sorrow and labour; such get bread, and that is all, and not that without the providence of God;

For he gives to his beloved sleep—That is, the Lord: such who are partakers of his grace, that fear and love him; to them, thus diligent and industrious, he gives not only bread to eat, but sleep, which to a labouring man is sweet; and having food and garments, he gives them contentment, quietness, and satisfaction of mind, which is the greatest blessing of all. Sleep, even bodily sleep, was reckoned with the very heathens a divine gift. Some think respect is had to, Solomon, whose name was Jedidiah, and signifies the beloved of the Lord (2Sa 12:24-25); to whom God gave peace, rest, and safety all around; or, as others, the kingdom without labour, when Absalom and Adonijah toiled for it: Christ, who is the beloved of the Lord, the Son of his love, his well beloved Son, may be thought of, whose rest is glorious; his sleep in the grave, where his flesh rested from his labours and sufferings, in hope of the resurrection of it: and it may be applied to all the Lord’s beloved ones; to whom he gives spiritual rest in this world, sleep in the arms of Jesus at death, and an everlasting rest in the world to come; all which depends not on their endeavours, but on his grace and goodness.

Rashi

It is in vain that you—The craftsmen, who rise early and stay late at their work and sustain themselves with toil and labor, with bread of toil, i.e., of the toil of work.

For he gives—The Holy One, blessed be he, will give sustenance to him who banishes his sleep from his eyes in order to engage in the law.

This power is a confirmation of his covenant

You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. DEU 8:18

God’s promise to provide for and prosper the Israelites is a confirmation of the covenant that he swore to their fathers. God promised to bring Abraham into the land that he showed him. He promised to bless Abraham and make his name great (Gen 12:1-3). Hundreds of years later, Abraham’s descendants entered that Promised Land. God is faithful and will always be true to his promises. In the same way that he was faithful to the Israelites, we can be assured that God will faithfully provide for anyone who trusts in him. How has God shown you his faithfulness to provide for you in this season?

John Gill

That he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day—That he would give the land of Canaan to their seed, and make them a rich and flourishing people, as they would be and were when possessed of the land, which is supposed throughout this discourse.

1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.

Rashi

Go (literally, go to you)—For your own benefit, for your own good: there I will make of you a great nation whilst here you will not merit the privilege of having children (Rosh Hashanah 16b). Furthermore, I shall make known your character throughout the world (Midrash Tanchuma, Lech Lecha 3).

From your country—Now had he not already gone out of there with his father and come as far as Haran? Rather, thus did he say to him, “Distance yourself more from there and leave your father’s house.”

That I will show you—He did not reveal the land to him immediately, in order to make it dear in his eyes and to give him reward for every command. Similarly (below 22:2): “your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love.” Similarly (ibid.): “on one of the mountains that I shall say to you.” Similarly (Jon 3:2): “and call out against it the message that I will tell you.” from Bereishit Rabbah 39:9

2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

Rashi

And I will make of you a great nation—Since traveling is the cause of three things—it decreases family life, it reduces one’s wealth and lessens one’s renown (lit. name), he therefore needed these three blessings: that God blessed him concerning children, concerning wealth, and concerning fame (Bereishit Rabbah 39:11).

And I will bless you—With wealth (Bereishit Rabbah 39:11).

So that you will be a blessing—Blessings are entrusted to you; hitherto they were in my power—I blessed Adam and Noah—but from now on you shall bless whomsoever you wish (Bereishit Rabbah 39:11). Another explanation: And I will make of you a great nation, this alludes to the fact that we say in our prayer “God of Abraham”; And I will bless you—that we say, “God of Isaac”; And make your name great—that we say, “God of Jacob.” One might think that we should conclude the benediction by mentioning the names of all the patriarchs—the text therefore states “so that you will be a blessing”: with you will they conclude, and not with them (Pesachim 117b).

3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” GEN 12:1-3

Yevamot 63a:6

And Rabbi Elazar said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed [nivrekhu]” (Gen 12:3)? The Holy One, blessed be he, said to Abraham: I have two good shoots to graft [lehavrikh] onto you: Ruth the Moabite, the ancestress of the house of David, and Naamah the Ammonite, whose marriage with Solomon led to the ensuing dynasty of the kings of Judea. “All the families of the earth” means: Even families that live in the earth, i.e., who have land of their own, are blessed only due to the Jewish people. Similarly, when the verse states: “All the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him” (Gen 18:18), it indicates that even ships that come from Galia to Hispania are blessed only due to the Jewish people.