Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 29:10
Ye stand this day all of you before the LORD your God; your captains of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, [with] all the men of Israel,
10, 11. Ye stand ] The Heb. is stronger, and probably reflexive: ye have taken your station or position.
all of you ] This comprehensiveness, and the exhaustive definition by which it is followed are striking. Not only the representatives of the people your heads, your judges (which read for tribes there is only the difference of one letter unless we read with LXX and Syr. heads of tribes, for LXX has judges as well after elders), your elders and your officers (for all of which except elders see Deu 1:13; Deu 1:15 f., and for elders Deu 16:18, Deu 19:12, Deu 21:2 f., etc.); and not only all the men of Israel, your little ones and 1 [149] your wives, but also thy gr from the gatherer (not hewer) of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water (Jos 9:21 ff.) appear before Jehovah to take the covenant. Cp. the Sabbath law, Deu 5:14, covering sons, daughters, servants and thy gr; Deu 31:12, men, women, little ones and thy ger; the assembly which received the law under Joshua, Jos 8:33; Jos 8:35, gr and home-born, women and little ones; and the covenant renewed under Nehemiah, Neh 10:28, all the temple-servants, wives, sons, daughters, every one that had knowledge and understanding (see further Jerusalem i. 435 ff.). On the phrase in the midst of thy camp cp. Deu 2:14 f., Deu 23:14.
[149] So Sam. and Syr.
The conception of the gr as a proselyte and as under the covenant, and the mention of the temple-drudges may be taken (as by many critics) for signs of the late date of the whole passage. Or since their introduction is coincident with a change of address to the Sg., it is possibly a later gloss on the rest. Yet again the Sg. of 11 b may be due to the attraction of the Sg. in Deu 29:12 f., in which its use by a writer otherwise employing the Pl. may be explained on the ground that he is addressing the whole nation as one party to the Covenant; while in Deu 29:14 he resumes the Pl., because there he is addressing the individuals of the present generation in distinction from others not present. Here then is a case on which the changes between Sg. and Pl. are reasonably explicable as by the same writer and on logical grounds. Steuern. and Marti’s proposal to consider the whole of the Sg. clauses as an addition is thus unnecessary.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Deu 29:10-13
Ye stand . . . before the Lord your God.
On covenanting with God
I. That covenanting with God, and that publicly, is not an unprecedented thing in the Church of God, but has been usual in former ages.
II. What is the nature of that covenant into which the people of God have entered, and into which we are called to enter with Him? And how do we enter into it? The Christian covenant is founded upon better promises (Heb 8:6). Its ceremonies are only two, baptism and the Lords Supper, both most significant. Its conditions or duties are most reasonable, necessary in the nature of things, and easy. Its worship is pure and spiritual, and confined to neither time nor place. Its privileges and blessings are spiritual and eternal Now, this covenant can only be entered into by a Mediator (Gal 3:19; Heb 7:22-28).
III. The end for which we should enter into or renew our covenant. That He may establish thee for a people to Himself.
1. A believing people, receiving in faith all His truths and promises.
2. A loving people (Deu 30:6; Deu 30:16; Deu 30:20), esteeming, desiring, grateful to, and delighting in Him.
3. An obedient people (Deu 30:20). (J. Benson.)
On standing before God
1. Surely there is a warning–for the forgetful a startling, for the guilty a terrible, even for the good man a very solemn warning–in the thought that not only our life in its every incident, but even our heart in its utmost secrets, lies naked and open before Him with whom we have to do.
2. The thought that we stand before God involves not only a sense of warning, but a sense of elevation, of ennoblement. It is a sweet and a lofty doctrine, the highest source of all the dignity and grandeur of life.
3. A third consequence of life spent consciously in Gods presence is a firm, unflinching, unwavering sense of duty. A life regardful of duty is crowned with an object, directed by a purpose, inspired by an enthusiasm, till the very humblest routine carried out conscientiously for the sake of God is elevated into moral grandeur, and the very obscurest office becomes an imperial stage on which all the virtues play.
4. The fourth consequence is a sense of holiness. God requires not only duty, but holiness. He searcheth the spirits; He discerneth the very reins and heart.
5. This thought encourages us with a certainty of help and strength. The God before whom we stand is not only our Judge and our Creator, but also our Father and our Friend. (Dean Farrar.)
On the covenant of God with His people
This is a covenant day between God and us. This is the design of our sacraments, and the particular design of the Holy Supper we have celebrated. This being understood, we cannot observe without astonishment the slight attention most men pay to an institution, of which they seem to entertain such exalted notions. One grand cause of this defect proceeds, it is presumed, from our having, for the most part, inadequate notions of what is called contracting or renewing our covenant with God. The covenant God contracted with the Israelites by the ministry of Moses, and the covenant He has contracted with you, differ only in circumstances, being in substance the same. Properly speaking, God has contracted but one covenant with man since the Fall, the covenant of grace upon Mount Sinai. The Israelites, to whom Moses addresses the words of my text, had the same Sacraments (1Co 10:2-3), the same appellations (Exo 19:5), the same promises (Heb 11:13). On the other hand, amid the consolatory objects which God displays towards us at this period, in distinguished lustre, and amid the abundant mercy we have seen displayed at the Lords table, if we should violate the covenant He has established with us, you have the same cause of fear as the Jews. We have the same Judge, equally awful now as at that period (Heb 12:29). We have the same judgments to apprehend (1Co 10:5-10). Further still, whatever superiority our condition may have over the Jews; in whatever more attracting manner He may have now revealed Himself to us, will serve only to augment our misery if we prove unfaithful (Heb 2:2-3; Heb 12:18-25). Hence the principle respecting the legal and evangelical covenant is indisputable. The covenant God formerly contracted with the Israelites by the ministry of Moses and the covenant He has made with us in the sacrament of the Holy Supper are in substance the same. And what the legislator said of the first, in the words of my text, we may say of the second, in the explication we shall give.
I. Moses requires the Israelites to consider the sanctity of the place in which the covenant was contracted with God. It was consecrated by the Divine presence. Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord. The Christians having more enlightened notions of the Divinity than the Jews, have the less need to be apprised that God is an Omnipresent Being, and unconfined by local residence. But let us be cautious lest, under a pretence of removing some superstitious notions, we refine too far. God presides in a peculiar manner in our temples, and in a peculiar manner even where two or three are met together in His name: more especially in a house consecrated to His glory; more especially in places in which a whole nation come to pay their devotion. The more solemn our worship, the more is God intimately near. And what part of the worship we render to God can be more august than that we have celebrated in the Lords Supper? In what situation can the thought, I am seen and heard of God, be more affecting?
II. Moses required the Israelites, in renewing their covenant with God, to consider the universality of the contract. Ye stand all of you before the Lord. Would to God that your preachers could say, on sacramental occasions, as Moses said to the Jews, Ye stand all of you this day before the Lord your God; the captains of your tribes, your elders, your officers, your wives, your little ones, from the hewer of wood to the drawer of water. But alas! how defective are our assemblies on these solemn occasions! There was a time, among the Jews, when a man who should have had the assurance to neglect the rites which constituted the essence of the law, would have been cut off from the people: This law has varied in regard to circumstances, but in essence it still subsists, and in all its force.
III. Moses required the Israelites, in renewing their covenant with God, to consider what constituted its essence: which, according to the views of the lawgiver, was the reciprocal engagement. Be attentive to this term reciprocal; it is the soul of my definition. What constitutes the essence of a covenant is the reciprocal engagements of the contracting parties. This is obvious from the words of my text, that thou shouldest (stipulate or) enter. Here we distinctly find mutual conditions; here we distinctly find that God engaged with the Israelites to be their God; and they engaged to be His people. We proved at the commencement of this discourse that the covenant of God with the Israelites was in substance the same as that contracted with Christians. This being considered, what idea ought we to form of those Christians (if we may give that name to men who can entertain such singular notions of Christianity) who venture to affirm that the ideas of conditions and reciprocal engagements are dangerous expressions, when applied to the evangelical covenant: that what distinguishes the Jews from Christians is, that God then promised and required, whereas now He promises and requires nothing?
IV. Moses required the Israelites to consider, in renewing their covenant with God, the extent of the engagement: That thou shouldest enter into covenant with the Lord thy God, and into His oath; that He may establish thee today for a people unto Himself; and that He may be unto thee a God. This engagement of God with the Jews implies that He would be their God; or, to comprehend the whole in a single word, that He would procure them a happiness correspondent to the eminence of His perfections. Cases occur in which the attributes of God are at variance with the happiness of men. It implies, for instance, an inconsistency with the Divine perfections, not only that the wicked should be happy, but also that the righteous should have perfect felicity, while their purity is incomplete. There are miseries inseparable from our imperfection in holiness; and, imperfections being coeval with life, our happiness will be incomplete till after death. On the removal of this obstruction, by virtue of the covenant, God having engaged to be our God, we shall attain supreme felicity. When God engaged with the Israelites, the Israelites engaged with God. Their covenant implies that they should be His people; that is, that they should obey His precepts so far as human frailty would admit. By virtue of this clause, they engaged not only to abstain from gross idolatry, but also to eradicate the principle. It is not enough to be exempt from crimes, we must exterminate the principle. For example, in theft there is both the root and the plant productive of wormwood and gall. There is theft gross and refined; the act of theft, and the principle of theft. To steal the goods of a neighbour is the gross act of theft; but to indulge an exorbitant wish for the acquisition of wealth, to make enormous charges, to be indelicate as to the means of gaining money, to reject the mortifying claims of restitution, is refined fraud or, if you please, the principle of fraud productive of wormwood and gall.
V. Moses lastly required the Israelites to consider the oath and execration with which their acceptance of the covenant was attended: that thou shouldest enter into covenant, and into this oath. What is meant by their entering into the oath of execration? That they pledged themselves by oath to fulfil every clause of the covenant, and, in case of violation, to subject themselves to all the curses God had denounced against those who should be guilty of so perfidious a crime. The words which we render, that thou shouldest enter into covenant, have a peculiar energy in the original, and signify that thou shouldest pass into covenant. The interpreters of whom I speak, think they refer to a ceremony formerly practised in contracting covenants. On immolating the victims, they divided the flesh into two parts, placing the one opposite to the other. The contracting parties passed in the open space between the two, thereby testifying their consent to be slaughtered as those victims if they did not religiously confirm the covenant contracted in so mysterious a manner. Perhaps one of my hearers may say to himself that the terrific circumstances of this ceremony regarded the Israelites alone, whom God addressed in lightnings and thunders from the top of Sinai. What! was there no victim immolated when God contracted His covenant with us? Does not St. Paul expressly say, that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins? (Heb 9:22.) What were the lightnings, what were the thunders of Sinai? What were all the execrations, and all the curses of the law? They were the just punishments every sinner shall suffer who neglects an entrance into favour with God. Now, these lightnings, these thunders, these execrations, these curses, did they not all unite against the slaughtered victim when God contracted His covenant with us–I would say, against the head of Jesus Christ? Sinner, here is the victim immolated on contracting thy covenant with God! Here are the sufferings thou didst subject thyself to endure, if ever thou shouldest perfidiously violate it! Thou hast entered, thou hast passed into covenant, and into the oath of execration which God has required. Application: No man should presume to disguise the nature of his engagements and the high characters of the Gospel. To enter into covenant with God is to accept the Gospel precisely as it was delivered by Jesus Christ, and to submit to all its stipulations. This Gospel expressly declares that fornicators, that liars, that drunkards, and the covetous shall Lot inherit the kingdom of God. Therefore, on accepting the Gospel, we submit to be excluded the kingdom of God if we are either drunkards, or liars, or covetous, or fornicators, and if after the commission of any of these crimes, we do not recover by repentance. And what is submission to this clause if it is not to enter into the oath of execration, which God requires of us on the ratification of His covenant? Let us be sincere, and He will give us power to be faithful. Let us ask His aid, and He will not withhold the grace destined to lead us to this noble end. (J. Saurin.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 10. Ye stand – all of you before the Lord] They were about to enter into a covenant with God; and as a covenant implies two parties contracting, God is represented as being present, and they and all their families, old and young, come before him.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Before the Lord your God; in his presence, who sees your hearts and carriages; and before his tabernacle, where it is probable they were now called together, and assembled for this work. See Deu 29:2.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10-29. Ye stand this day all of youbefore the Lord your GodThe whole congregation of Israel, ofall ages and conditions, allyoung as well as old; menials as wellas masters; native Israelites as well as naturalized strangersallwere assembled before the tabernacle to renew the Sinaiticcovenant. None of them were allowed to consider themselves as exemptfrom the terms of that national compact, lest any lapsing intoidolatry might prove a root of bitterness, spreading its noxious seedand corrupt influence all around (compare Heb12:15). It was of the greatest consequence thus to reach theheart and conscience of everyone, for some might delude themselveswith the vain idea that by taking the oath (De29:12) by which they engaged themselves in covenant with God,they would surely secure its blessings. Then, even though they wouldnot rigidly adhere to His worship and commands, but would follow thedevices and inclinations of their own hearts, yet they would thinkthat He would wink at such liberties and not punish them. It was ofthe greatest consequence to impress all with the strong and abidingconviction, that while the covenant of grace had special blessingsbelonging to it, it at the same time had curses in reserve fortransgressors, the infliction of which would be as certain, aslasting and severe. This was the advantage contemplated in the lawbeing rehearsed a second time. The picture of a once rich andflourishing region, blasted and doomed in consequence of the sins ofits inhabitants, is very striking, and calculated to awaken awe inevery reflecting mind. Such is, and long has been, the desolate stateof Palestine; and, in looking at its ruined cities, its blastedcoast, its naked mountains, its sterile and parched soilall thesad and unmistakable evidences of a land lying under a cursenumbersof travellers from Europe, America, and the Indies (“strangersfrom a far country,” De 29:22)in the present day see that the Lord has executed His threatening.Who can resist the conclusion that it has been inflicted “becausethe inhabitants had forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of theirfathers. . . . and the anger of the Lord was kindled against thisland, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book”?
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord your God,…. Being gathered together at the door of the tabernacle, at the summons of Moses. Aben Ezra interprets it round about the ark, which was the symbol of the divine Presence:
your captains of your tribes; the heads and rulers of them:
your elders and your officers, [with] all the men of Israel; not the seventy elders only, but their elders in their several tribes, cities, and families, men of gravity and prudence, as well as of age, and who were in some place of power and authority or another: and the “officers” may design such who attended the judges, and executed their orders; see De 16:18; and with them were the common people, the males, who were grown persons. Aben Ezra thinks they stood in the order in which they here are mentioned, which is not improbable; next to Moses the princes, then the elders, and after them the officers, and next every man of Israel, the males; and then the little ones with the males; after them the women, and last of all the proselytes.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Summons to enter into the covenant of the Lord, namely, to enter inwardly, to make the covenant an affair of the heart and life.
Deu 29:10 “ To-day,” when the covenant-law and covenant-right were laid before them, the whole nation stood before the Lord without a single exception – the heads and the tribes, the elders and the officers, all the men of Israel. The two members are parallel. The heads of the people are the elders and officers, and the tribes consist of all the men. The rendering given by the lxx and Syriac (also in the English version: Tr.), “ heads (captains) of your tribes,” is at variance with the language.
Deu 29:11 The covenant of the Lord embraced, however, not only the men of Israel, but also the wives and children, and the stranger who had attached himself to Israel, such as the Egyptians who came out with Israel (Exo 12:38; Num 11:4), and the Midianites who joined the Israelites with Hobab (Num 10:29), down to the very lowest servant, “ from thy hewer of wood to thy drawer of water ” (cf. Jos 9:21, Jos 9:27).
Deu 29:12 “ That thou shouldest enter into the covenant of the Lord thy God, and the engagement on oath, which the Lord thy God concludeth with thee to-day.” with , as in Job 33:28, “to enter into,” expresses entire entrance, which goes completely through the territory entered, and is more emphatic than ( 2Ch 15:12). “Into the oath:” the covenant confirmed with an oath, covenants being always accompanied with oaths (vid., Gen 26:28).
Deu 29:13 “ That He may set thee up (exalt thee) to-day into a people for Himself, and that He may be (become) unto thee a God ” (vid., Deu 28:9; Deu 27:9; Exo 19:5-6).
Deu 29:14-15 This covenant Moses made not only with those who are present, but with all whether present or not; for it was to embrace not only those who were living then, but their descendants also, to become a covenant of blessing for all nations (cf. Act 2:39, and the intercession of Christ in Joh 17:20).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Covenant Renewed. | B. C. 1451. |
10 Ye stand this day all of you before the LORD your God; your captains of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, with all the men of Israel, 11 Your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in thy camp, from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water: 12 That thou shouldest enter into covenant with the LORD thy God, and into his oath, which the LORD thy God maketh with thee this day: 13 That he may establish thee to day for a people unto himself, and that he may be unto thee a God, as he hath said unto thee, and as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 14 Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath; 15 But with him that standeth here with us this day before the LORD our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day: 16 (For ye know how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt; and how we came through the nations which ye passed by; 17 And ye have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them:) 18 Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood; 19 And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst: 20 The LORD will not spare him, but then the anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven. 21 And the LORD shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law: 22 So that the generation to come of your children that shall rise up after you, and the stranger that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses which the LORD hath laid upon it; 23 And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath: 24 Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger? 25 Then men shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt: 26 For they went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom he had not given unto them: 27 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book: 28 And the LORD rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day. 29 The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.
It appears by the length of the sentences here, and by the copiousness and pungency of the expressions, that Moses, now that he was drawing near to the close of his discourse, was very warm and zealous, and very desirous to impress what he said upon the minds of this unthinking people. To bind them the faster to God and duty, he here, with great solemnity of expression (to make up the want of the external ceremony that was used (Exod. xxiv. 4, c.), concludes a bargain (as it were) between them and God, an everlasting covenant, which God would not forget and they must not. He requires not their explicit consent, but lays the matter plainly before them, and then leaves it between God and their own consciences. Observe,
I. The parties to this covenant. 1. It is the Lord their God they are to covenant with, <i>v. 12. To him they must give up themselves, to him they must join themselves. “It is his oath; he has drawn up the covenant and settled it; he requires your consent to it; he has sworn to you and to him you must be sworn.” This requires us to be sincere and serious, humble and reverent, in our covenant-transactions with God, remembering how great a God he is with whom we are covenanting, who has a perfect knowledge of us and an absolute dominion over us. 2. They are all to be taken into covenant with him. They were all summoned to attend (v. 2), and did accordingly, and are told (v. 10) what was the design of their appearing before God now in a body–they were to enter into covenant with him. (1.) Even their great men, the captains of their tribes, their elders and officers, must not think it any disparagement to their honour, or any diminution of their power, to put their necks under the yoke of this covenant, and to draw in it. They must rather enter into the covenant first, to set a good example to their inferiors. (2.) Not the men only, but their wives and children, must come into this covenant; though they were not numbered and mustered, yet they must be joined to the Lord, v. 11. Observe, Even little ones are capable of being taken into covenant with God, and are to be admitted with their parents. Little children, so little as to be carried in arms, must be brought to Christ, and shall be blessed by him, for of such was and is the kingdom of God. (3.) Not the men of Israel only, but the stranger that was in their camp, provided he was so far proselyted to their religion as to renounce all false gods, was taken into this covenant with the God of Israel, forasmuch as he also, though a stranger, was to be looked upon in this matter as a son of Abraham, Luke xix. 9. This was an early indication of favour to the Gentiles, and of the kindness God had in store for them. (4.) Not the freemen only, but the hewers of wood and drawers of water, the meanest drudge they had among them. Note, As none are too great to come under the bonds of the covenant, so none are too mean to inherit the blessings of the covenant. In Christ no difference is made between bond and free, Col. iii. 11. Art thou called being a servant? Care not for it, 1 Cor. vii. 21. (5.) Not only those that were now present before God in this solemn assembly, but those also that were not here with them were taken into covenant (v. 15): As with him that standeth here with us (so bishop Patrick thinks it should be rendered) so also with him, that is not here with us this day; that is, [1.] Those that tarried at home were included; though detained either by sickness or necessary business, they must not therefore think themselves disengaged; no, every Israelite shares in the common blessings. Those that tarry at home divide the spoil, and therefore every Israelite must own himself bound by the consent of the representative body. Those who cannot go up to the house of the Lord must keep up a spiritual communion with those that do, and be present in spirit when they are absent in body. [2.] The generations to come are included. Nay, one of the Chaldee paraphrasts reads it, All the generations that have been from the first days of the world, and all that shall arise to the end of the whole world, stand with us here this day. And so, taking this covenant as a typical dispensation of the covenant of grace, it is a noble testimony to the Mediator of that covenant, who is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.
II. The summary of this covenant. All the precepts and all the promises of the covenant are included in the covenant-relation between God and them, v. 13. That they should be appointed, raised up, established, for a people to him, to observe and obey him, to be devoted to him and dependent on him, and that he should be to them a God, according to the tenour of the covenant made with their fathers, to make them holy, high, and happy Their fathers are here named, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as examples of piety, which those were to set themselves to imitate who expected any benefit from the covenant made with them. Note, A due consideration of the relation we stand in to God as our God, and of the obligation we lie under as a people to him, is enough to bring us to all the duties and all the comforts of the covenant.
III. The principal design of the renewing of this covenant at this time was to fortify them against temptations to idolatry. Though other sins will be the sinner’s ruin, yet this was the sin that was likely to be their ruin. Now concerning this he shows,
1. The danger they were in of being tempted to it (Deu 29:16; Deu 29:17): “You know we have dwelt in the land of Egypt, a country addicted to idolatry; and it were well if there were not among you some remains of the infection of that idolatry; we have passed by other nations, the Edomites, Moabites, c. and have seen their abominations and their idols, and some among you, it may be, have liked them too well, and still hanker after them, and would rather worship a wooden god that they can see than an infinite Spirit whom they never saw.” It is to be hoped that there were those among them who, the more they saw of these abominations and idols, the more they hated them but there were those that were smitten with the sight of them, saw the accursed things and coveted them.
2. The danger they were in if they yielded to the temptation. He gives them fair warning: it was at their peril if they forsook God to serve idols. If they would not be bound and held by the precepts of the covenant, they would find that the curses of the covenant would be strong enough to bind and hold them.
(1.) Idolatry would be the ruin of particular persons and their families, v. 18-21, where observe,
[1.] The sinner described, v. 18. First, He is one whose heart turns away from his God; there the mischief begins, in the evil heart of unbelief, which inclines men to depart from the living God to dead idols. Even to this sin men are tempted when they are drawn aside by their own lusts and fancies. Those that begin to turn from God, by neglecting their duty to him, are easily drawn to other gods: and those that serve other gods do certainly turn away from the true God; for he will admit of no rivals: he will be all or nothing. Secondly, He is a root that bears gall and wormwood; that is, he is a dangerous man, who, being himself poisoned with bad principles and inclinations, with a secret contempt of the God of Israel and his institutions and a veneration for the gods of the nations, endeavours, by all arts possible, to corrupt and poison others and draw them to idolatry: this is a man whose fruit is hemlock (so the word is translated, Hos. x. 4) and wormwood; it is very displeasing to God, and will be, to all that are seduced by him, bitterness in the latter end. This is referred to by the apostle, Heb. xii. 15, where he is in like manner cautioning us to take heed of those that would seduce us from the Christian faith; they are the weeds or tares in a field, which, if let alone, will overspread the whole field. A little of this leaven will be in danger of infecting the whole lump.
[2.] His security in the sun. He promises himself impunity, though he persists in his impiety, v. 19. Though he hears the words of the curse, so that he cannot plead ignorance of the danger, as other idolaters, yet even then he blesses himself in his own heart, thinks himself safe from the wrath of the God of Israel, under the protection of his idol-gods, and therefore says, “I shall have peace, though I be governed in my religion, not by God’s institution, but by my own imagination, to add drunkenness to thirst, one act of wickedness to another.” Idolaters were like drunkards, violently set upon their idols themselves and industrious to draw others in with them. Revellings commonly accompanied their idolatries (1 Pet. iv. 3), so that this speaks a woe to drunkards (especially the drunkards of Ephraim), who, when they are awake, being thirsty, seek it yet again, Prov. xxiii. 35. And those that made themselves drunk in honour of their idols were the worst of drunkards. Note, First, There are many who are under the curse of God and yet bless themselves; but it will soon be found that in blessing themselves they do but deceive themselves. Secondly, Those are ripe for ruin, and there is little hope of their repentance, who have made themselves believe that they shall have peace though they go on in a sinful way. Thirdly, Drunkenness is a sin that hardens the heart, and debauches the conscience, as much as any other, a sin to which men are strangely tempted themselves even when they have lately felt the mischiefs of it, and to which they are strangely fond of drawing others, Hab. ii. 15. And such an ensnaring sin is idolatry.
[3.] God’s just severity against him for the sin, and for the impious affront he put upon God in saying he should have peace though he went on, so giving the lie to eternal truth, Gen. iii. 4. There is scarcely a threatening in all the book of God that sounds more dreadful than this. O that presumptuous sinners would read it and tremble! For it is not a bug-bear to frighten children and fools, but a real declaration of the wrath of God against the ungodliness and the unrighteousness of men, Deu 29:20; Deu 29:21. First, The Lord shall not spare him. The days of his reprieve, which he abuses, will be shortened, and no mercy remembered in the midst of judgment. Secondly, The anger of the Lord, and his jealousy, which is the fiercest anger, shall smoke against him, like the smoke of a furnace. Thirdly, The curses written shall lie upon him, not only light upon him to terrify him, but abide upon him, to sink him to the lowest hell, John iii. 36. Fourthly, His name shall be blotted out, that is, he himself shall be cut off, and his memory shall rot and perish with him. Fifthly, He shall be separated unto evil, which is the most proper notion of a curse; he shall be cut off from all happiness and all hope of it, and marked out for misery without remedy. And (lastly) All this according to the curses of the covenant, which are the most fearful curses, being the just revenges of abused grace.
(2.) Idolatry would be the ruin of their nation; it would bring plagues upon the land that connived at this root of bitterness and received the infection; as far as the sin spread, the judgment should spread likewise.
[1.] The ruin is described. It begins with plagues and sicknesses (v. 22), to try if they will be reclaimed by less judgments; but, if not, it ends in a total overthrow, like that of Sodom, v. 23. As that valley, which had been like the garden of the Lord for fruitfulness, was turned into a lake of salt and sulphur, so should the land of Canaan be made desolate and barren, as it has been ever since the last destruction of it by the Romans. The lake of Sodom bordered closely upon the land of Israel, that by it they might be warned against the iniquity of Sodom; but, not taking the warning, they were made as like to Sodom in ruin as they had been in sin.
[2.] The reason of it is enquired into, and assigned. First, It would be enquired into by the generations to come (v. 22), who would find the state of their nation in all respects the reverse of what it had been, and, when they read both the history and the promise, would be astonished at the change. The stranger likewise, and the nations about them, as well as particular persons, would ask, Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this land? v. 24. Great desolations are thus represented elsewhere as striking the spectators with amazement, 1Ki 9:8; 1Ki 9:9; Jer 22:8; Jer 22:9. It was time for the neighbours to tremble when judgment thus began at the house of God, 1 Pet. iv. 17. The emphasis of the question is to be laid upon this land, the land of Canaan, this good land, the glory of all lands, this land flowing with milk and honey. A thousand pities that such a good land as this should be made desolate, but this is not all; it is this holy land, the land of Israel, a people in covenant with God; it is Immanuel’s land, a land where God was known and worshipped, and yet thus wasted. Note, 1. It is no new thing for God to bring desolating judgments upon a people that in profession are near to him, Amos iii. 2. 2. He never does this without a good reason. 3. It concerns us to enquire into the reason, that we may give glory to God and take warning to ourselves. Secondly, The reason is here assigned, in answer to that enquiry. The matter would be so plain that all men would say, It was because they forsook the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers, v. 25. Note, God never forsakes any till they first forsake him. But those that desert the God of their fathers are justly cast out of the inheritance of their fathers. They went and served other gods (v. 26), gods that they had no acquaintance with, nor lay under any obligation to either in duty of gratitude; for God has not given the creatures to be served by us, but to serve us; nor have they done any good to us (as some read it), more than what God has enabled them to do; to the Creator therefore we are debtors, and not to the creatures. It was for this that God was angry with them (v. 27), and rooted them out in anger, v. 28. So that, how dreadful soever the desolation was, the Lord was righteous in it, which is acknowledged, Dan. ix. 11-14. “Thus” (says Mr. Ainsworth) “the law of Moses leaves sinners under the curse, and rooted out of the Lord’s land; but the grace of Christ towards penitent believing sinners plants them again upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up, being kept by the power of God,” Amos ix. 15.
[3.] He concludes his prophecy of the Jews’ rejection just as St. Paul concludes his discourse on the same subject, when it began to be fulfilled (Rom. xi. 33), How unsearchable are God’s judgments, and his ways past finding out! So here (v. 29), Secret things belong to the Lord our God. Some make it to be one sentence, The secret things of the Lord our God are revealed to us and to our children, as far as we are concerned to know them, and he hath not dealt so with other nations: but we make it two sentences, by which, First, We are forbidden curiously to enquire into the secret counsels of God and to determine concerning them. A full answer is given to that question, Wherefore has the Lord done thus to this land? sufficient to justify God and admonish us. But if any ask further why God would be at such a vast expense of miracles to form such a people, whose apostasy and ruin he plainly foresaw, why he did not by his almighty grace prevent it, or what he intends yet to do with them, let such know that these are questions which cannot be answered, and therefore are not fit to be asked. It is presumption in us to pry into the Arcana imperii–the mysteries of government, and to enquire into the reasons of state which it is not for us to know. See Act 1:7; Joh 21:22. Secondly, We are directed and encouraged diligently to enquire into that which God has made known: things revealed belong to us and to our children. Note, 1. Though God has kept much of his counsel secret, yet there is enough revealed to satisfy and save us. He has kept back nothing that is profitable for us, but that only which it is good for us to be ignorant of. 2. We ought to acquaint ourselves, and our children too, with the things of God that are revealed. We are not only allowed to search into them, but are concerned to do so. They are things which we and ours are nearly interested in. They are the rules we are to live by, the grants we are to live upon; and therefore we are to learn them diligently ourselves, and to teach them diligently to our children. 3. All our knowledge must be in order to practice, for this is the end of all divine revelation, not to furnish us with curious subjects of speculation and discourse, with which to entertain ourselves and our friends, but that we may do all the words of this law, and be blessed in our deed.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Verse 10-13:
All Israel was included in the covenant God made with Israel in Horeb, and which He renewed in the plains of Moab: the rulers and the ruled, the free and the slave.
“Enter into covenant,” a strong phrase denoting not merely a formal agreement, but a thorough understanding and commitment.
“Into his oath:” a covenant was ratified or confirmed with an oath, Gen 26:28; Exo 22:11; Heb 6:17. Scripture on occasion refers to God’s covenant as His oath, 1Ch 16:15-18; Heb 7:28.
The purpose of the covenant: to establish Israel as the exclusive property and people of Jehovah; and to establish Jehovah as the God of Israel.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
10. Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord your God. Again does Moses, as God’s appointed (261) representative, sanction the doctrine proclaimed by him by a solemn adjuration. With this design he says that the Israelites stood there not only to hear the voice of God, but to enter into covenant with Him, in order that they might apply themselves seriously, and with becoming reverence, to perform the promise they had given. Nor does he only address their chiefs, but, after having begun with the officers, the elders, and men, (262) he descends to the little children and the wives, in order that they might understand that their whole race, from the least to the greatest, were bound to keep the Law: nay, he adds all the strangers, who had devoted themselves to the service of the God of Israel, and states particularly that the very porters and lacqueys (263) were included in the covenant, in order that the minds of those, who derive their origin from the holy Patriarchs, should be more solemnly impressed. Moreover, in order that they may accept the covenant with greater reverence, he says that it was established with an oath. Now, if perjury between man and man is detestable, much less pardonable is it to belie that which you have promised God by his sacred name. Finally, he requires that the covenant should be reverenced, both on account of its advantages and its antiquity. Nothing was more advantageous for the Israelites than that they should be adopted by God as His people; this incomparable advantage, therefore, ought deservedly to render the covenant gratifying; and, besides the exceeding greatness of this blessing, God had prevented them by His grace many ages (264) before they were born.
It would have been, therefore, very disgraceful not to embrace eagerly and ardently so signal a pledge of his love. Nevertheless, the question here arises, how the little children could have passed into covenant, when they were not yet of a proper age to learn (its contents; (265)) the reply is easy, that, although they did not receive by faith the promised salvation, nor, on the other hand, renounce the flesh so as to dedicate themselves to God, still they were bound to God by the same obligations under which their parents laid themselves; for, since the grace was common to all, it was fitting that their consent to testify their gratitude should also be universal; so that when the children had come to age, they should more cheerfully endeavor after holiness, when they remembered that they had been already dedicated to God. For circumcision was a sign of their adoption from their mother’s womb; and therefore, although they were not yet possessed of faith or understanding, God had a paternal power over them, because He had conferred upon them so great an honor. Thus, now-a-days, infants are initiated into the service of God, (266) whom they do not yet know, by baptism; because He marks them out as His own peculiar people, and claims them as His children when He ingrafts them into the body of Christ. Moses goes further, stating that their descendants were bound by the same covenant, as if already enthralled to God; and surely, since slavery passes on by inheritance, it ought not to appear absurd that the same right should be assigned to God which mortal men claim for themselves. What he says, then, is tantamount to reminding the Israelites that they covenanted with God in the name of their offspring, so as to devote both themselves and those belonging to them to His service.
(261) “Stipulator.” — Lat. “Un notaire stipulant.” — Fr.
(262) “Peres de famille.” — Fr.
(263) “Calones, et lixas.” — Lat. “Les buscherons, porteurs de bagages, et gouiats;” the wood-carriers, baggage-porters, and soldiers’-boys. — Fr.
(264) “Quatre cens ans;” four hundred years. — Fr.
(265) Added from Fr.
(266) “Luy sont consacrez par le baptesme, pour estre siens;” are consecrated to Him by baptism, to be His own. — Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
3. THE PURPOSE OF GOD (Deu. 29:10-13)
10 Ye stand this day all of you before Jehovah your God; your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all the men of Israel, 11 your little ones, your wives, and thy sojourner that is in the midst of thy camps, unto the drawer of thy water; 12 that thou mayest enter into the covenant of Jehovah thy God, and into his oath, which Jehovah thy God maketh with thee this day; 13 that he may establish thee this day unto himself for a people, and that he may be unto thee a God, as he spake unto thee, and as he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
THOUGHT QUESTIONS 29:1013
516.
Please notice how God expected everyone to enter into His covenant on a personal basis, Has His interest in individual participation changed?
517.
What was Gods purpose in establishing His covenant with Israel?
AMPLIFIED TRANSLATION 29:1013
10 All of you stand before the Lord your God; your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all the men of Israel.
11 Your little ones, your wives, and the stranger and sojourner in your camp, from the hewer of your wood to the drawer of your water;
12 That you may enter into the covenant of the Lord your God, and into His oath, which He makes with you today;
13 That He may establish you this day as a people for Himself, and that He may be to you a God, as He said to you and as He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
COMMENT 29:1013
AS HE SWARE UNTO THY FATHERS (Deu. 29:13)Israel, about to become a great nation, was the chief participant in the covenant God made with Abraham (Gen. 17:7), Isaac (Gen. 26:4), and Jacob (Gen. 28:14). Cf. Deu. 8:1, etc. The promises of God were not being kept because of Israels goodness (Deu. 7:6-8, Deu. 9:4-5) but because of Gods eternal purpose to bring the Messiah into the world through a nation he loved.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(10) Ye stand this day all of you.There is no limit to the blessing of following Jehovah and keeping His word. It is open to all, from the highest to the lowest, to take hold of His covenant.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
10. Ye stand before the Lord See Deu 29:10-15. Moses here calls upon the nation to enter into a new covenant with Jehovah their God.
Your captains elders officers, with all the men of Israel The Hebrew is better rendered, your captains, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, every man of Israel.
A Solemn Call to Obedience
v. 10. Ye stand this day, all of you, before the Lord, your God, v. 11. your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in thy camp, from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water, v. 12. that thou shouldest enter into covenant with the Lord, thy God, v. 13. that he may establish thee today for a people unto Himself, v. 14. Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath, v. 15. but with him that standeth here with us this day before the Lord, our God, v. 16. (for ye know how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the nations which ye passed by, v. 17. and ye have seen their abominations, v. 18. lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe whose heart turneth away this day from the Lord, our God, v. 19. and it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, v. 20. The Lord will not spare him, v. 21. And the Lord shall separate him, v. 22. so that the generation to come of your children that shall rise up after you, and the stranger that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, v. 23. and that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth there in, v. 24. even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this land? What meaneth the heat of this great anger? v. 25. Then men shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers which He made with them when He brought them forth out of the land of Egypt; v. 26. for they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom He had not given unto them, v. 27. and the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book, v. 28. and the Lord rooted them out of their land in anger and in wrath and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, v. 29. The secret things belong unto the Lord, our God, It was the same feature of the old church as it is of the new, (for they are both one and the same church in JESUS) that there was no distinction of person, age, or character. None too great not to need salvation; none too humble to be excluded from it. Paul sweetly includes all when he saith, there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, but CHRIST is all and in all. Col 3:11 .
Deu 29:10 Ye stand this day all of you before the LORD your God; your captains of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, [with] all the men of Israel,
Ver. 10. Before the Lord. ] Who seeth your inside also, and is intimo vestro vobis intimior.
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Deu 29:10-13
10You stand today, all of you, before the LORD your God: your chiefs, your tribes, your elders and your officers, even all the men of Israel, 11your little ones, your wives, and the alien who is within your camps, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, 12that you may enter into the covenant with the LORD your God, and into His oath which the Lord your God is making with you today, 13in order that He may establish you today as His people and that He may be your God, just as He spoke to you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Deu 29:10 You stand Notice the different groupings of Israeli society mentioned in Deu 29:10-11 :
1. chiefs, BDB 910
2. tribal members, BDB 986
3. tribal elders, BDB 278
4. tribal officers, BDB 1009, Qal ACTIVE PARTICIPLE
5. all the men of Israel, BDB 481, 35, 975 (same as #2)
6. children, BDB 381
7. wives, BDB 61
8. resident aliens, BDB 158
9. servants, described in their servant tasks
All these different groups are called upon to attest to their commitment to the covenant (cf. Deu 29:14-15). This is a formal covenant renewal ceremony!
The number of groups mentioned varies from translation to translation. Some translations (REB) assume that #1 and 2 should be combined (e.g., KJV, your captains of your tribes, JPSOA, your tribal leaders). The ASV, NASB, NIB all have #1-4.
Deu 29:12-13 This is a covenant renewal text. Notice how the covenant (BDB 136) and the oath (BDB 46) are parallel. YHWH’s regulations are linked to His promises!
YHWH wants to culminate the promises made to the Patriarchs in Genesis by establishing a people (cf. Deu 28:9), a people who reflect His character!
Deu 29:12
NASB, NKJV,
NRSV, TEVthat you may enter into the covenant
NJBand you are about to pass into the covenant
The VERBAL (BDB 716, KB 778, Qal INFINITIVE CONSTRUCT) literally means pass over. It is used only in the sense of entering into a covenant here. It is possibly connected to the idea of cutting a covenant by passing between the parts of the sacrificial animal as in Gen 15:17-18. The inference is that the fate of the animal will pass on to the one making the covenant if they disobey the stipulations.
Deu 4:10, Deu 31:12, Deu 31:13, 2Ch 23:16, 2Ch 34:29-32, Neh 8:2, Neh 9:1, Neh 9:2, Neh 9:38, Neh 10:28, Joe 2:16, Joe 2:17, Rev 6:15, Rev 20:12
Reciprocal: Deu 5:1 – all Israel Deu 5:3 – General Deu 11:2 – And know Deu 31:28 – Gather unto me Jos 8:33 – all Israel Jos 24:25 – made Jdg 2:20 – transgressed Rth 4:2 – the elders 2Ki 17:15 – his covenant 2Ki 17:35 – With whom 2Ki 23:3 – made a covenant 1Ch 28:8 – in the audience 2Ch 5:10 – the Lord 2Ch 20:13 – all Judah 2Ch 34:31 – made a covenant Psa 105:7 – the Lord Jer 11:4 – I commanded Eze 16:59 – which Joe 1:14 – the elders
STANDING BEFORE GOD
Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord your God.
Deu 29:10
Intense in their significance, fresh in their solemnity, as when Moses uttered them to the listening multitudes on the farther shore of Jordan, the echo of these warning words rolls to us across the centuries. They express the formative principle, the regulating conception, the inspiring influence, of every greatly Christian life. The very differentia of such a lifethat is, its distinguishing featureis this, that it is spent always and consciously in the presence of God.
From the fact that we stand before God we gather:
I. A lesson of warning.Surely there is a warningfor the forgetful a startling, for the guilty a terrible, even for the good man a very solemn warningin the thought that not only our life in its every incident, but even our heart in its utmost secrets, lies naked and open before Him with whom we have to do.
II. The thought that we stand before God involves not only a sense of warning, but a sense of elevation, of ennoblement.It is a sweet and a lofty doctrine, the highest source of all the dignity and grandeur of life.
III. A third consequence of life spent consciously in Gods presence is a firm, unflinching, unwavering sense of duty.A life regardful of duty is crowned with an object, directed by a purpose, inspired by an enthusiasm, till the very humblest routine carried out conscientiously for the sake of God is elevated into moral grandeur, and the very obscurest office becomes an imperial stage on which all the virtues play.
IV. The fourth consequence is a sense of holiness.God requires not only duty, but holiness. He searcheth the spirits; He discerneth the very reins and heart.
V. This thought encourages us with a certainty of help and strength.The God before whom we stand is not only our Judge and our Creator, but also our Father and our Friend. He is revealed to us in Christ, our Elder Brother in the great family of God.
Dean Farrar.
Illustration
(1) Next to the hearing of the law at the foot of Sinai, this covenant on the plains of Moab is the greatest national transaction in the whole history of Israel.
(2) Strong inducements are here presented to the people to win their obedience. The great Lawgiver, however, bitterly laments that they were deficient in those spiritual sensibilities which are so necessary to the right appreciation of Gods dealings. God would no doubt have imparted these spiritual gifts, if He had seen any desire on their part for them, or any will to receive and use them. Keep therefore, and do; that ye may prosper (Psa 1:1-3; Jos 1:8).
(3) Our religious life should include in its influence the stranger and sojourner, the hewer of wood and drawer of water, and him that stands with us. What a striking unveiling is given of the boast of many ungodly men, We shall have peace though we walk in the stubbornness of our hearts! Alas! they soon discover that there is no peace to the wicked, and that men reap precisely what they sow. But these are among the secret things. God does not give His reasons to every questioner. Rich and wicked men fade away in their ways. No one knows the precise reason why their schemes miscarry and only their stump is left, but the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him. Oh, Spirit of God! reveal to us, we beseech Thee, the secret of the Lord, what eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, but which Thou revealest.
Deu 29:10-12. Ye stand before the Lord your God They were assembled at the tabernacle, from whence he delivered these words to them by the priests and Levites, Deu 27:9; Deu 27:14. Thy stranger
Such strangers as had embraced their religion: all sorts of persons, yea, even the meanest of them. Into covenant, and into his oath A covenant confirmed by a solemn oath. Hebrew, , bealatho, his adjuration, execration, or curse; for they entered into this covenant with imprecations upon themselves if they did not perform faithfully their engagements.
29:10 Ye stand this day all of you before the LORD your {f} God; your captains of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, [with] all the men of Israel,
(f) Who knows your hearts, and therefore you may not think to conceal from him.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes