And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
Thou shalt remember all the way which ... God led thee these forty years. The recapitulation of all their chequered experience during that long period was designed to awaken lively impressions of the goodness of God. First, Moses showed them the object of their protracted wanderings and varied hardships: these were trials of their obedience as well as chastisements for sin. Indeed, the discovery of their infidelity, inconstancy, and their rebellions and perverseness, which this varied discipline brought to light, was of eminently practical use to the Israelites themselves, as it has been to the Church in all subsequent ages. Next, he enlarged on the goodness of God to them, while reduced to the last extremities of despair, in the miraculous provision which, without anxiety or labour, was made for their daily support (see the note at Exodus 16:12), and which, possessing no nutritious properties inherent in it, contributed to their sustenance, as indeed all food does (Matthew 4:4), solely through the ordinance and blessing of God. This remark is applicable to the means of spiritual as well as natural life.