Portion 46 of 54 · Deuteronomy
עֵקֶב
Eikev
A warning about what comfort does to memory: when you have eaten and are full, do not forget.
Start by reading it
Deuteronomy 7:12–11:25
5 chapters. About 20 minutes at an unhurried pace.
Paired reading from the prophets: Isaiah 49:14–51:3
What happens
- 01
Remember the whole way you were led, and the manna, and the clothes that did not wear out.
- 02
You will come into a good land with wheat, vines, figs, olives and honey.
- 03
When you have built houses and your herds have grown, do not say 'my power got me this'.
- 04
What does God ask of you? To revere, to walk, to love, to serve, and to keep.
The thing most people walk past
The danger is prosperity, not hardship
The wilderness is over. The risk the speech worries about is a full stomach and a nice house, and the forgetting that comes with them. It is a strikingly modern anxiety.
One verse to carry
Man doth not live by bread only.
Half of a sentence that has travelled far beyond this book. The other half is that a person lives by what comes out of God's mouth.
A question to sit with
'My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.' How would you know if you were saying that?
There is no answer key. This is the part you take with you.