This chapter is bracketed in verses 2 and 18 by “remember,” thus reminding the people of the danger of letting slip from memory all God has done for them. In Hebrew, “to remember” is not purely cognitive but also implies an action resulting from our calling it to mind. As the Lord “remembered” Hannah, she became pregnant (1 Sam. 1:19). As the great Puritan preacher Stephen Charnock advised, “Oh if we did remember [God’s] former goodness, we should not be so ready to doubt of his future care” (Charnock, 1:114).

Verse 3 contrasts self-dependence with dependence on God and his word. That is why God fed the Israelites with manna in the wilder…