Deeper Commentary
Deu 29:1 These are the words of the covenant which Yahweh commanded
Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the
covenant which He made with them in Horeb-
This additional repetition of the covenant was because by grace, God
wished to reaffirm the covenant even though Israel had broken their part
of it- see on :13 and :23. The covenant on Sinai (Ex. 19:20) was
reaffirmed in the plains of Moab (Dt. 29:1) and on Joshua's death (Josh.
24:25), and was to be reaffirmed every seven years (Dt. 31:9-11,25,26). It
is this reaffirmation of covenant relationship which we make in the
breaking of bread service.
Deu 29:2 Moses called all Israel and said to them, You have seen all that
Yahweh did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all
his servants and to all his land;-As in Dt. 4:34 and Dt. 7:19 they had not literally seen these things- the audience by the end of
Deuteronomy included those who had been born during the 40 years
wandering. But historical events in God's word are as if we were there,
hence David can rejoice as if he personally was delivered at the Red Sea.
Deu 29:3 the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs and those great
wonders-
The individual Israelite was to perceive his absolute connection with
God's historical deliverance of His people from Egypt. And to be
appropriately awed by all the grace shown in that. In our world, human history is generally felt to be bunk, irrelevant
to this generation, of merely passing cultural fascination to the hurrying
man of modern society. And in some ways, that may indeed be a legitimate
take on secular history. But Biblical history is to be seen quite
otherwise by God's people. It is a living word spoken to us, and the
salvation acts which are there recorded happened to us. We are to learn
from history, not as a merely fascinating exercise. But the Bible is
history, and yet it is a living word to us. Israel were supposed to reason
back from the actions of Egypt towards them, and their weakness
spiritually at that time. And to respond personally to that grace.
Deu 29:4 But Yahweh has not given you a heart to know and eyes to see and
ears to hear, to this day-
In :2 we are told "you have seen" , but they didn't spiritually 'see'
what they saw with their physical eyes. God confirms people in the
psychological attitudes they adopt.
Deu 29:5 I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have
not grown old on you and your shoes have not grown old on your feet-
The observation that their "clothes didn’t grow old, and their feet
didn’t swell" is made in the context of lamenting that "Yet Yahweh has not
given you a heart to perceive nor eyes to see nor ears to hear" (Dt.
29:4). They refused to perceive His great and daily grace to them as
witnessed in His daily provision of food and clothing, just as we can fail
to perceive it today. Regular prayers of thanksgiving before food are a
good way of guarding against this human tendency to not perceive such
grace. The returned exiles likewise had been miraculously provided for by
the decrees of the Persian kings, but refused to perceive the grace of all
that provision (Neh. 9:21).
Deu 29:6 You have not eaten bread neither have you drunk wine or strong
drink, that you may know that I am Yahweh your God-
The whole process of Nazariteship was to encourage the normal
Israelite to have the ambition to rise up to the spirit of the High Priest
himself; the restrictions governing Nazariteship were a purposeful echo of
those regarding the High Priest. The way God describes Himself as
depriving Israel of "wine or strong drink" (Dt. 29:6) throughout the
wilderness journey is Nazarite language: as if in all their weakness and
profligacy, God still sought to inspire them to rise up to the heights.
Deu 29:7 When we came to this place-
Moses was standing with the people near the battlefield where they
had won a victory which was intended as a foretaste of how they would
conquer Canaan.
Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out
against us to battle and we struck them-
Deu 29:8 and we took their land and gave it for an inheritance to the
Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of the Manassites-
To take and give land for an inheritance whilst still on the East
side of Jordan was a foretaste of what was possible for them when they
entered the land West of Jordan. The same terms are used about what Israel
were to do with the rest of the land- although their fear of the Canaanite
tribes suggests they didn't learn the lesson. It was a foretaste of the
Kingdom... and our wilderness walk is designed, especially towards the end
of it, to have similar foretastes encouraging us that really this is what
we will experience.
Deu 29:9 Keep therefore the words of this covenant and do them, so that
you may prosper in all that you do-
See on Josh. 1:6. Joshua [cp. Jesus] is repeatedly made parallel with Israel [cp. Us]; his victories were theirs; what he achieved is counted to them. In the same way, the people of the Lord Jesus are counted as Him. Joshua was to be strong and possess the land (Josh. 1:6), just as they had been told to do, using the same Hebrew words (Dt. 11:8). Indeed, Israel and Joshua are given parallel charges, to be strong and of good courage to take the land (Dt. 31:6,7). Both Israel and Joshua are given the same charge to keep the words of the covenant, that they might “prosper” (Dt. 29:9; Josh. 1:7).
Deu 29:10 You stand this day, all of you, before Yahweh your God: your
heads, your tribes, your elders and your officers, all the men of Israel-
Moses on that last day of his life addressed the whole assembly of
Israel; and yet he so often speaks in the singular ("thee" rather than
"ye" in the KJV), as if to emphasize that the laws and covenant he was
giving them was to them personally. This is made clear in :10,12:
"You (plural) stand this day, all of you, before Yahweh... that you
(singular) may enter into covenant with Yahweh". That covenant was made
anew by God to each generation and individual. We cannot hide within a
family or a church. We are individually responsible to God and will
personally be saved. In the same spirit, Moses points out that Yahweh is
the only God that can be personally known; all the idols could not
be known personally (:26). No fewer than 137 times in Scripture we read
the phrase "my God". This was used in a public, unashamed way by many of
God's children (it was a particular favourite of Nehemiah, David and
Paul).
Deu 29:11 your little ones, your wives and the foreigner who is in the
midst of your camps, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws
your water-
Verses 10-13 is a very long sentence; from now until the end of his
speech in Deuteronomy, Moses uses (in the Hebrew text) very long
sentences, at times with unclear syntax- as if he was getting increasingly
intense and excited as he speaks of the utter realities to which we stand
personally related by our covenant with God.
Deu 29:12 You wish to enter into covenant with Yahweh your God and into
His oath, which Yahweh your God makes with you this day-
For Israel in covenant with God, absolutely nothing- not sex,
menstruation, the content of clothing fabric, diet- could fall outside the
scope of their covenant relationship. And so in principle it is with us
under the new covenant. Such a relationship also precludes the worship of
any other God. The covenant we have
entered has constant and binding claims upon our loyalty; and it also
speaks of God’s constant and passionate commitment to us.
Deu 29:13 that He may establish you this day to Himself for a people and
that He may be to you a God, as He spoke to you and as He swore to your
fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob-
The promise that Israel would be God's people and He would be their
God was conditional upon their obedience- that was the deal made with them
nearly 40 years previously (Ex. 19:5,6). They had not kept their side of
it- but by grace, God still wanted to fulfill His side of it. Israel would
be 'established' as God's people "unto Himself" only if they were obedient
(Dt. 28:9)- the point of the covenant proclaimed in chapter 29 is that
despite their disobedience, God was still going to establish them as His
people. This was the grace that only comes from a deep love and desire for
the beloved. Moses urges the peoples' faithfulness so that Yahweh might
"establish His covenant" with them (Dt. 8:18; 28:9; 29:13); and we note
that despite their disobedience, He still "established" the covenant with
them, by grace alone (Dt. 9:5).
Deu 29:14 Not only with you do I make this covenant and this oath-
Moses is one of greatest types of the Lord Jesus, in whom the Father
was supremely manifested. Because of this, it is fitting that we should
see a very high level of God manifestation in Moses. Indeed it seems that
God was manifest in Moses to a greater degree than in any other Old
Testament character. Therefore the pronouns often change (in Deuteronomy
especially), showing a confusion between the voice of God and that of
Moses. Dt. 7:4 is an example: “They will turn away thy son from following
me (this is Moses speaking for God)... so will the anger of the Lord be
kindled against you”. Thus Moses’ comments on God’s words are mixed up
with the words of God Himself. There are other examples of this in Dt.
7:11; 29:1,10,14,15 (“I” cp. “us”). Consider especially Dt. 11:13,14: “If
ye shall diligently hearken unto my commandments which I command you this
day, to love the Lord... that I will give you the rain of your land... I
will send grass in thy fields”. The “I” here switches at ease between God
and Moses. The Moses/God pronouns are also mixed in Rom. 10:19.
Deu 29:15 but with him who stands here with us this day before Yahweh our
God and also with him who is not here with us this day-
"Not only with you... but with him..." requires us to read in an ellipsis here; clearly the idea is that what God
had done at Sinai wasn’t only
between Him and the people there at that time, not so much with
the first hearers as with the later ones, with all His
subsequent people. In our Bible study we must be aware that we are reading
translations of languages which often rely on understanding the idiom for
their real meaning to be delivered to us the readers. In Hebrew
especially, we often have to read in an ellipsis; and this verse is a
parade example.
Deu 29:16 For you know how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we came
through the midst of the nations through which you passed-
The argument is that when living in Egypt and passing through the
nations on the wilderness journey, they had "seen" idols (:17) and were
now warned not to worship them (:18). And yet Ez. 20:7,8 is clear that
they carried the idols of Egypt with them through the wilderness; they
carried the tabernacles of both Yahweh and Moloch, the standards of their
tribes and also the star or Remphan (Acts 7:43). Yahweh and Moses surely
knew this, so the language here is very soft indeed. This overly positive
view of Israel is in line with the way God says He fell in love with
Israel in the desert, and did not count iniquity to them nor see
perverseness in Jacob (Num. 23:21). His positive view of us in Christ is
even greater.
Deu 29:17 and you have seen their abominations and their idols, wood and
stone, silver and gold, which were among them-
See on :16. Israel passed through the nations at close enough range
to see their idols. We should not therefore envisage the 38 year
wilderness journey as being through endless tracts of uninhabited desert.
Deu 29:18 This covenant is made lest there should be among you man or
woman, family or tribe-
Covenant relationship brings a natural desire to live within the
atmosphere of God's spirituality. For Israel in covenant with God,
absolutely nothing- not sex, menstruation, the content of clothing fabric,
diet- could fall outside the scope of their covenant relationship. And so
in principle it is with us under the new covenant. Such a relationship
also precludes the worship of any other God. Moses said that God
had made a covenant with every member of Israel "lest there should be
among you..." any who turn away from God and influence others. The
height of the demand, the extent of the implication of being in covenant
with God, ought to preclude the possibility of worshipping anything else.
The covenant we have entered has constant and binding claims upon our
loyalty.
Whose heart turns away this day from Yahweh our
God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should be among
you a root that bears gall and wormwood-
Applied in Heb. 12:15 to those within the church who discourage
others from total commitment to God. Those who don’t totally commit to Him
will poison others by their attitude and cause them to fall away from
God’s grace; and we must be keenly aware of this, because there are such
people around- so says Heb. 12:15.
Deu 29:19 who, when he hears the words of this curse blesses himself in
his heart saying I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of
my heart-
The context is of the blessings for obedience and curses for
disobedience, listed in the previous chapter. God here addresses the
deepest psychology of the sinner. He hears the words of cursing for
disobedience, but in his heart, says that the blessings for obedience will
apply to him, even if he sins in his heart. And this is the assumption
made by sinners- 'the condemnation stuff won't happen to me'.
To destroy the moist with the dry-
This may refer to the mentality that the moist [the blessed
righteous] will likely be destroyed anyway with the dry [unspiritual]
majority, so seeing Israel generally are astray, there was no point in
being righteous. This totally fails to see individual standing before God
and thinks instead only of membership in a collective sense of God's
people. "To add drunkenness to thirst" (AV) could however mean that the
reasoning went that sin [getting drunk] was only anyway a natural meeting
of basic human needs [to drink and slake thirst]. Whatever, this is an
indication that God knows the mind games played by the 'devil' of our own
sin-inclined hearts.
The "peace and safety" cry within the latter day ecclesia (1 Thess. 5:3) is part of an extended set of allusions back to the parables of Mt. 24 and 25, concerning the apostate, drunken servant who thinks everything is fine- but it then suddenly destroyed by his Lord's coming. This kind of believer had been foreseen by Moses in Dt. 29:19; the type who hears the curses for disobedience, but blesses (forgives) himself in his heart, "saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst" (AV).
Time and again, Moses speaks of the state of their heart. He warns them against allowing a bad state of heart to develop, he speaks often of how apostasy starts in the heart. Moses makes a total of 49 references to the heart / mind of Israel in Deuteronomy, compared to only 13 in the whole of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers. This indicates the paramount importance which our Lord attaches to the state of our mind. This was perhaps his greatest wish as He faced death; that we should develop a spiritual mind and thereby manifest the Father and come to salvation. Moses likewise saw the state of our mind as the key to spiritual success. But do we share this perspective? Do we guard our minds against the media and influence of a mind-corrupting world? It's been observed that the phrase "The God of [somebody]", or similar, occurs 614 times in the Old Testament, of which 306 are in Deuteronomy. Our very personal relationship with God was therefore something else which Moses came to grasp in his spiritual maturity. Statistical analysis of the word "love" in the Pentateuch likewise reveals that "love" was a great theme of Moses at the end of his life (Moses uses it 16 times in Deuteronomy, and only four times in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers).
Deu 29:20 Yahweh will not pardon him, but then the anger of Yahweh and His
jealousy will smoke against that man, and all the curse that is written in
this book shall lie on him, and Yahweh will blot out his name from under
the sky-
Yahweh's refusal to pardon will only be at the last day, so these
events may be intended as only coming fully true at judgment day.
Deu 29:21 Yahweh will separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of
Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that is written in
this book of the law-
The ministering of judgement on the unworthy will no doubt be
supervised by an (the?) Angel of evil, in the same way that it appears an
Angel of evil ministered the curses of the Law: "The Lord shall separate
(Hebrew: sever) him (the disobedient man) out of all the tribes of
Israel, according to all the words of the covenant" (Dt. 29:21)- just as
He did to Achan. In the same way the Angels "sever the wicked from among
the just" (Mt. 13:49) at the judgement. The picture of the rejected
severed from among God's people is fairly common in the pictures of
condemnation- the people of God shall see the naked shame of the rejected
(Rev. 16:15). Willful separation from God's people in this life, either by
thinking them worthy of our rejection or through disinterest in them, is
therefore living out the picture of condemnation.
Deu 29:22 The generation to come, your children who shall rise up after
you and the foreigner who will come from a distant land, shall see the
plagues of the land and the sicknesses with which Yahweh has made it sick-
The curses for disobedience outlined in Dt. 28 and 29 never came
totally true; hence the prophecy that disobedient Israel would be poor and
unsuccessful in business during their dispersion never really came true,
and instead God had blessed them through His grace. The whole land of
Israel was to become “brimstone and salt and burning, that it is not sown,
nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom…”
(Dt. 29:22-25). It’s no good even reasoning that this will come true in
the future; these were to be the punishments that would come when Israel
broke covenant and went into dispersion. They’ve been in this position for
many centuries, but still the full extent of the prophesied cursing hasn’t
come about. And yet God keeps His word; and yet His grace is such that He
can chose not to keep some of the punishments. This is a paradox of grace,
beyond our human explanation in trite, logical, expositional terms. This
to my mind is the real explanation of why the prophecy that in the day
Adam ate of the fruit, he would die… never came true, in that sense.
Deu 29:23 The whole land is sulphur, salt and burning, that it is not sown
nor giving produce and no grass grows therein, like the overthrow of Sodom
and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which Yahweh overthrew in His anger and
in his wrath-
Israel were disobedient, but still this promised judgment didn't
come. This chapter is full of grace; for Israel was never made as Sodom
although this was commonly threatened. Although they acted worse than
Sodom (Ez. 16:48; Jer. 7:16). It was due to the faithful remnant that God
did not judge Judah as Sodom even though their rulers were in fact rulers
of Sodom (Is. 1:9,10). They were Sodom, disobedient Israel were to be
judged as Sodom (Dt. 29:23), but were not judged as Sodom because of a
remnant- who themselves were preserved by God's grace. We see grace all
through this. Although Rev. 18 and many of the prophets seem to foresee a
Sodom-like destruction coming upon latter day Israel.
Deu 29:24 They and all the nations shall say, Why has Yahweh done thus to
this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?-
Deu 29:25 Then men shall say, Because they forsook the covenant of Yahweh
the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them
forth out of the land of Egypt-
Jud. 2:13 says that the people did forsake Yahweh. But
Deu 29:26 and went and served other gods and worshipped them, gods that
they didn’t know and that He had not given to them-
Moses points out that Yahweh is the only God that can be personally
known; all the idols could not be known personally (Dt. 29:26). No
fewer than 137 times in Scripture we read the phrase "my God". This was
used in a public, unashamed way by many of God's children (it was a
particular favourite of Nehemiah, David and Paul).
Deu 29:27 Therefore the anger of Yahweh was kindled against this land, to
bring on it all the curse that is written in this book-
See on :25,26. The fact is, not all the curses were brought upon the
land. But the allusions to the language of :22,23 in the book of
Revelation suggests that it will come true in the last days, and will be
the prelude to the conversion of a Gentile remnant at the time of the
Lord's return and establishment of His Kingdom on earth.
Deu 29:28 and Yahweh rooted them out of their land in anger in wrath and
in great indignation and cast them into another land, as at this day-
As Israel were "cast" out of their land and into another country (Dt.
29:28) so the rejected are cast out of God's presence. Zedekiah fled, was
overtaken, wept (Ez. 7:27), judgment was given upon him (Jer. 52:9), he
was punished in the presence of the king (Jer. 52:10), cast into prison
(Jer. 52:11 cp. Mt. 5:25).
Deu 29:29 The secret things belong to Yahweh our God, but the things that
are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all
the words of this law-
This could be translated as meaning that the secret things of God
have been revealed unto God's children. Or it could mean that the things
which have been revealed are the Law and Covenant made with Israel then,
but they should not think that this was all there was to God. There was
more, the "secret things", which had not then been opened to them. And
those things were the things of Christ and the new covenant- 1 Cor. 2:9,10
appears to allude here by saying that "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has
prepared for them that love Him. But God has revealed them unto us
by His Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of
God" .
The immediate context of the "secret things" is :19, where they refer to the secret thought that one could continue in sin, and just be treated by God as He was going to treat the nation of Israel. But the warning here would be that God indeed does know the secret things of hearts, and will judge people on an individual and not a collective basis. And this is indeed how the New Testament speaks of God's individual judgment of the secret things of human hearts (Rom. 2:16; 1 Cor. 4:5; 14:25). Therefore the lesson is that the revealed things of God's law 'belonged to' Israel for them to keep individually.
"Forever" doesn't require us to think that the Mosaic law and
covenant was eternal. The Sabbath is described as a perpetual, eternal ordinance between
God and His people (Ex. 31:16). Yet in the New Testament we read that the
Old Covenant has been done away; and the Old Covenant clearly included the
ten commandments (Dt. 4:13), one of which was concerning the Sabbath. For
this reason the New Testament is at pains to explain that Sabbath keeping
is not now required of God’s people (Col. 2:14-17; Rom. 14:1-3). Indeed,
the whole Law of Moses is described as an everlasting covenant (Is. 24:5;
Dt. 29:29), but it has now been done away (Heb. 8:13). The feasts of
Passover and Atonement were to be “an everlasting statute unto you” (Lev.
16:34; Ex. 12:14); but now the Mosaic feasts have been done away in Christ
(Col. 2:14-17; 1 Cor. 5:7). The Levitical priesthood was “the covenant of
an everlasting priesthood” (Ex. 40:15; Num. 25:13), but “the priesthood
being changed (by Christ’s work), there is made of necessity a change also
of the law” (Heb. 7:12). There was an “everlasting covenant” between God
and Israel to display the shewbread in the Holy Place (Lev. 24:8). This
“everlasting covenant” evidently ended when the Mosaic Law was dismantled.
But the same phrase “everlasting covenant” is used in 2 Samuel 23:5
concerning how Christ will reign on David’s throne for literal eternity in
the Kingdom. In what sense, then, is God using the word olahm, which is
translated “eternal”, “perpetual”, “everlasting” in the Old Testament?
James Strong defines olahm as literally meaning “the finishing point, time
out of mind, i.e. practically eternity”. It was God’s purpose that the Law
of Moses and the associated Sabbath law were to continue for many
centuries. To the early Israelite, this meant a finishing point so far
ahead that he couldn’t grapple with it; therefore he was told that the Law
would last for ever in the sense of “practically eternity”. For all of us,
the spectre of ultimate infinity is impossible to intellectually grapple
with. We may glibly talk about God’s eternity and timelessness, about the
wonder of eternal life. But when we pause to really come to terms with
these things, we lack the intellectual tools and linguistic paradigms to
cope with it. Therefore there is no Hebrew or Greek word used in the Bible
text to speak of absolute infinity. We know that death has been conquered
for those in Christ, therefore we have the hope of immortal life in his
Kingdom. But God speaks about eternity very much from a human viewpoint.
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