Deuteronomy 29 commentary

Both former mercies, and fresh mercies, should be thought on by us as motives to obedience. The hearing ear, and seeing eye, and the understanding heart, are the gift of God. All that have them, have them from him. God gives not only food and raiment, but wealth and large possessions, to many to whom he does not give grace. Many enjoy the gifts, who have not hearts to perceive the Giver, nor the true design and use of the gifts. We are bound, in gratitude and interest, as well as in duty and faithfulness, to keep the words of the covenant.

The national covenant made with Israel, not only typified the covenant of grace made with true believers, but also represented the outward dispensation of the gospel. Those who have been enabled to consent to the Lord's new covenant of mercy and grace in Jesus Christ, and to give up themselves to be his people, should embrace every opportunity of renewing their open profession of relation to him, and their obligation to him, as the God of salvation, walking according thereto. The sinner is described as 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 now tempted, when drawn aside by their own lusts and fancies. Such men are roots that bear gall and wormwood. They are weeds which, if let alone, overspread the whole field. Satan may for a time disguise this bitter morsel, so that thou shalt not have the natural taste of it, but at the last day, if not before, the true taste shall be discerned. Notice the sinner's security in sin. Though he hears the words of the curse, yet even then he thinks himself safe from the wrath of God. There is scarcely a threatening in all the book of God more dreadful than this. Oh that presumptuous sinners would read it, and tremble! for it is a real declaration of the wrath of God, against ungodliness and unrighteousness of man.

Idolatry would be the ruin of their nation. It is no new thing for God to bring desolating judgments on a people near to him in profession. He never does this without good reason. It concerns us to seek for the reason, that we may give glory to God, and take warning to ourselves. Thus the law of Moses leaves sinners under the curse, and rooted out of the Lord's land; but the grace of Christ toward penitent, believing sinners, plants them again in their land; and they shall no more be pulled up, being kept by the power of God.

Moses ends his prophecy of the Jews' rejection, just as St. Paul ends his discourse on the same subject, when it began to be fulfilled, Ro 11:33. We are forbidden curiously to inquire into the secret counsels of God, and to determine concerning them. But we are directed and encouraged, diligently to seek into that which God has made known. He has kept back nothing that is profitable for us, but only that of which it is good for us to be ignorant. The end of all Divine revelation is, not to furnish curious subjects of speculation and discourse, but that we may do all the words of this law, and be blessed in our deed. This, the Bible plainly reveals; further than this, man cannot profitably go. By this light he may live and die comfortably, and be happy for ever.

2. And Moses called unto all Israel. This passage also may be fitly referred to the preface of the Law, since its tendency is to recommend it, and to instruct and prepare the people’s minds to be teachable. It takes its commencement from the divine blessings, which they had experienced as well in their exodus as in their forty years’ wanderings; for it would have been the height of baseness and ingratitude not to devote themselves to a Deliverer who had dealt so graciously with them. And surely it was an inestimable sign of His paternal love towards them, that He should have arrayed Himself against so very powerful a king for His servants’ sake. Finally, lest there should be any question as to their deliverance, he enlarges upon the power which God displayed therein, in magnificent terms of praise according with its dignity.

4. Yet the Lord hath not given. By reproaching them with their past stupidity, he stirs up their desire for a better understanding, as if he had said, that they had been too long indifferent to so many miracles, and therefore they should no longer delay to rouse themselves, etc., to give greater heed to God; not because they had been so senseless that His acts had altogether escaped their notice, but because all acknowledgment of them had immediately come to an end. For, just as the drunken man, or one suffering from lethargy, when he hears a cry, raises his head for a moment, and opens his eyes, and then relapses into a state of torpor, so the people had never seriously applied their minds to consider God’s works; and when they had been aroused by some miracle, had immediately sunk back into forgetfulness, wherefore there is good cause why Moses should seek to awaken them from their dulness and stupidity by various methods. But he does not merely condemn their senselessness, and blindness, and deafness, but declares that they were thus senseless, and blind, and deaf, because they were not inspired with grace from above to profit duly by so many lessons. Thence we learn that a clear and powerful understanding is a special gift of the Spirit, since men are ever blind even in the brightest light, until they have been enlightened by God. What Moses relates of the Israelites, is unquestionably common to us all. He declares, then, that they were not induced by the conspicuous glory of God to fear and worship Him, because He had not given them either mind, or eyes, or ears. It is true that at man’s creation He had naturally bestowed upon him a mind, and ears, and eyes; but Moses means, that whatever innate light we have, is either hidden or lost, so that, as far as regards the highest point of wisdom, all our senses lie useless. True that in nature’s corruption, the light still shineth in darkness, but it is light which is soon obscured; therefore, the entire understanding and faculty of reason, in which men glory and pique themselves, is nought but smoke and darkness. Well then may David ask that his eyes may be opened to behold the secrets of the Law. The references here are to Psalm 19:13, and 18:24, (in the Fr. 14.) There may be allusion to 19:12, and 18:28. See Calvin’s comments on these passages. (Psalm 119:18.) Still this defect by no means frees us from blame; because (as we are told) none have wisdom, but those to whom it is given by the Father of lights; for we are ignorant “Desipimus.” — Lat. “Ainsi hebetez, et desprouvez de sens.” — Fr. through our own fault. Besides, every one is sufficiently, and more than sufficiently convicted by his own conscience, that his ignorance is closely connected with pride and indolence, and is therefore voluntary. The word heart is not here used for the seat of the affections, but for the mind itself, which is the intellectual faculty of the soul.

5. And I have led you. He descends to the blessings with which He had continually visited His people during the course of forty years. Yet he does not recount them all, but contents himself with a few of the most remarkable instances, viz., that their clothes had not been worn out by age, and that they had been fed from heaven, when no sustenance was to be obtained from the fruits of the earth. He reminds them that God’s glory had been manifested by these testimonies, in order that they might submit themselves to His rule.

7. And when ye came unto this place. This, a third instance (of God’s goodness), because He had smitten the first enemies, who encountered them to impede their passage, and thus had already begun to bring them into a place of rest. For inasmuch as the two tribes and a half had here chosen their home, they might behold as in a mirror that the possession of the promised land awaited them. Hence, then, Moses concludes that they were under obligation to keep the law, and exhorts them to shew their gratitude by faithful and sincere obedience. The object, therefore, of the recital is, to procure reverent attention to his doctrine; since the word שכל, תשכילו; A. V., that ye may prosper. S.M., ut prudenter agatis; but he adds, the Hebrews, explain this word by הצליחו, “that ye may prosper.” The Hiphil of שכל, says Simon’s Lexicon, is to act prudently, and by a metonymy of the antecedent for the consequent, to proceed prosperously. — W. shakal, in Hiphil, means to act successfully as well as prudently. I have set down both readings, since they are alike suitable to the sense. For we have seen in chapter 4, that this was the people’s only wisdom to obey God’s statutes; nor was their prosperity to be expected from any other source except God’s blessing, which is everywhere promised to the Israelites, if they keep the law.

Deuteronomy 8

Deuteronomy 8:7-10

7. For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land; a land of brooks of water, of fountains, and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;

7. Quia Jehova Deus tuus introducit to in terram bonam, terram ubi torrentes, aquarum fontes, et abyssi erumpentes per valles et colles.

8. A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil-olive and honey;

8. Terram frumenti, et hordei, vitis et ficus, et malogranati: terram oleae oliviferae, et mellis.

9. A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.

9. Terram in qua non comedes panem in penuria, nee ulla re indigebis: terram cujus lapides sunt ferrum, et e cujus montibus effodies aes.

10. When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.

10. Comedes igitur, et satiaberis: et tunc benedices Jehovae Deo tuo in terra illa quam dedit tibi.

DEUTERONOMY 11

A REPETITION OF THE SAME DECLARATION

Deuteronomy 11:10-12

10. For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs:

10. Terra enim quam tu ingrederis ut possideas eam, non est sicut terra Aegypti, ex qua egressi estis, in qua seminabas semen tuum, et irrigabas pede tuo, ut hortum oleris.

11. But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven:

11. At terra ad quam vos transibitis ut possideatis eam, terra montium et vallium est: de pluvia coeli bibes aquam.

12. A land which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year, even unto the end of the year.

12. Est terra quam Jehova Deus tuus requirit: semper sunt oculi Jehovae Dei tui in ca, a principio anni usque ad extremum anni.

10. Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord your God. Again does Moses, as God’s appointed “Stipulator.” — Lat. “Un notaire stipulant.” — Fr. 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, “Peres de famille.” — Fr. 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 “Calones, et lixas.” — Lat. “Les buscherons, porteurs de bagages, et gouiats;” the wood-carriers, baggage-porters, and soldiers’-boys. — Fr. 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 “Quatre cens ans;” four hundred years. — Fr. 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; Added from Fr. ) 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, “Luy sont consacrez par le baptesme, pour estre siens;” are consecrated to Him by baptism, to be His own. — Fr. 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.

16. For ye know how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt. We know how greatly men’s minds are tickled by novelty; and this might occur to the Israelites when, upon entering the land of Canaan, they would see many forms of idolatry hitherto unknown, which would be so many snares to entangle them. Although, therefore, they were not as yet accustomed to such corruptions, he exhorts them to beware by former instances; for they were not ignorant that God had held in abomination the superstitions of Egypt, and also of other nations, which He had punished in terrible ways. Consequently Moses reminds them that there was no reason why the people should be carried away to imitate the rites of the Gentiles with which they were unacquainted, since they knew by extraordinary proofs that whatever imaginations had been invented by heathen nations were hateful to God. This argument, then, is drawn from experience, whereby the Israelites had been abundantly admonished, that they should hereafter beware of all delusions. But, when he passes from individual men and women to families and tribes, he indicates that those who are associated with others in sin, seek to excuse themselves in vain by their numbers; since a whole nation is as much to be condemned as a single person.

The conclusion of verse 18, “lest there should be among you a root,” etc., seems to be tamely explained by some, Amongst others, De Lyra, whose gloss is, “Some one corrupted by idolatry, who should further corrupt others by his wicked persuasions.” Dathe says, “It is a proverbial expression, and its meaning is: lest there should be any rebel against the primary law of worshipping one God, and he should think within himself the things which follow in the next verse.” lest there should be venomous men, who should bring forth bitter fruits to God; for by the word root I rather under stand the hidden principles of sins, which, unless they be prevented in good time, spring up with collected vigor and lift themselves on high; for indulgence in sin increases by concealment and connivance. And to this the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews seems to allude when he exhorts believers lest, through their negligence, “any root of bitterness, springing up, trouble them, and thereby many be defiled.” (Hebrews 12:15.) As soon, therefore, as any one should endeavor to excite his brethren to worship false gods, God commands him to be plucked up, lest the poison should burst forth, and the bitter root should produce its natural fruits in the corruption of others. Wormwood “The word לענה certainly denotes an extremely disagreeable and bitter plant; and that it was wormwood is a well-supported and probable interpretation. We therefore give a cut of the Artemisia absinthium. It must be confessed, however, that the Scripture seems to attribute to the לענה stronger effects than the wormwood of Europe will produce. We may therefore understand that some more hurtful species is intended: unless, as suggested by Gesenius, in the strong passages which seem to call for such an explanation, the name of the plant is employed figuratively to express poison.” — Illust. Comment. on Proverbs 5:4 (absinthium) is here used, as often elsewhere, in a bad sense, on account of its unpleasant savour; unless perhaps it is some other herb, as is more probable.

19. And it come to pass when he heareth the words. He shews that it is not without reason that he has used so solemn and severe an adjuration; since nothing is more common than for men to flatter themselves, and by levity to evade the decision of God. He therefore repeats, that they are standing before God, who neither deceives, nor is deceived, nor even allows Himself to be thought lightly of; in order that they may tremble at His threats. Let the majesty of God, he says, be dreaded by you; so that none who despises Him, and wantons in his own lusts, should promise himself impunity. “To bless himself in his heart,” is to hope in his secret imaginations that all will go well; as the hypocrites do, who, in their foolish self-adulation, applaud themselves deceitfully, lest they should hear God thundering. Addition in Fr., “par maniere de dire.”

From this passage, therefore, let us learn that nothing is worse than to hope for peace, whilst we wage war with God; and to promise ourselves that He will let us alone, when we provoke Him by the impetuosity of our lusts.

The conclusion of the verse, “to add the drunken to the thirsty,” is variously explained on account of its ambiguity. Lat., “Ut addat ebriam sitienti.” A.V., “To add drunkenness to thirst;” Margin, “The drunken to the thirsty.” So Ainsworth, “To add the drunken, to wit, the drunken soul to the thirsty, or the moist to the dry, meaning to add sin unto sin in abundance, as in Isaiah 30:1.” Dathe follows Le Clerc, and explains it, “to add water to a thirsty soul;” and compares it to Isaiah 44:3, where, he says, the same metaphor is used, though in a good sense. I am ashamed to repeat the silly triflings of the Hebrew interpreters. To me it seems unquestionable that Moses, by a proverbial figure of speech, forbids us to excite the appetites of the flesh, already sufficiently heated, by new stimulants. As, therefore, they are said to add oil to the grate, who add more flames to a fire already lighted, “Que ceux, qui augmentent le mal, mettent l’huile en la cheminee;” that those who augment an evil put oil into the chimney. — Fr. so they are said to add the drunken to the thirsty who seek provocatives of their audacity, in order to sin more freely; for lust in a man is like an insatiable dropsy; and if any one indulges in such intemperance, he adds the drunken to the thirsty, i e., the madness of his own folly to unrestrained desire. רויה, ravah, however, is, in my opinion, used actively, as elsewhere. In Psalm 23:5, it is said, “My cup רויה, revayah, runneth over;” and, in like manner, in Psalm 66:12, a well-watered land A.V., “a wealthy (margin, moist) place.” See Cal. Soc. Comment. on Psalms, vol. 2, p. 473. is expressed by the same word, because it abundantly moistens the corn and grass. It is very appropriate that the desires of the flesh, that we burn with, should be compared to thirst; and the licentious impetuosity, which carries us away without reflection, to drunkenness; because the sinner stupifies himself into forgetfulness of the distinction between good and evil. And thence Paul calls those who are plunged in brutal forgetfulness of God and themselves, ἀπηλγηκότες (past feeling.) (Ephesians 4:19.)

20. The Lord will not spare him. Moses here teaches us that the obstinacy in which the wicked are willfully hardened, shuts against them the door of hope, so that they will find that God is not to be appeased. And assuredly it is the climax of all sins that a wretched man, who is abandoned to vice, should extinguish the light of his own reason, and destroy the image of God within him, so as to degenerate into a beast: and not only so, but also that he should dethrone God, as if He were not the Judge of the world. And this is the insult which they put upon Him who abandon themselves to sin in the confident expectation of impunity. “Car ceux qui sous ombre d’eschapper son jugement s’abandonnent ‘a pecher, luy font ce dishonneur de le despouiller de son empire;” for those who abandon themselves to sin under cover of escaping His judgment, do him this dishonor of despoiling him of his empire. — Fr. Thus, by Isaiah, God swears that this was an inexpiable crime, that, when He called them to baldness and to mourning, the Israelites encouraged each other to gladness; and, whilst feasting luxuriously, said in ridicule, “Tomorrow we shall die.” (Isaiah 22:12, 13.) By the word, אבה, ahab, Moses altogether shuts out the grace of God. “Le verbe que nous avons translate condescendre, signifie venir a gre. Ainsi Moyse exclud toutes graces de Dieu;” the verb which we have translated condescend, (the Lord will not condescend to spare him,) signifies to consent. Thus Moses shuts out all the graces of God. — Fr יאבה, acquiescet. — Taylor. Meanwhile he contrasts God’s fixed purpose, — that He will not be willing to pardon, — with the depraved pleasures of those who take too much delight in their sins. Behold, then, what poor sinners gain by their proud contempt when they endeavor to cast off God’s judgment together with His fear!

Further, in order the better to express that God will be irreconcilable to such great perversity, he declares that He will exterminate from the earth those who have so wantonly exulted in iniquity; and finally adds, that He will give them up to be accursed (in anathemata,) so that they shall no longer hold a place among the people of Israel. Now, it is a much more grievous thing to be cut off from the elect people, and to be set apart unto evil, as it is here said, than to be deprived of natural life.

22. So that the generation to come of your children. God enforces what we have already seen, that the punishments which He would inflict would be no ordinary ones, or such as should fall into contempt from their common use; but like portents, which should awaken astonishment among their posterity. For the question which is here put is such as refers to something extraordinary, and what is not easily comprehended. It is not, however, confined to the preceding clause, but refers to the whole list of curses; not as if each of them by itself had awakened such horror, but because, when heaped one upon another, they compelled all men to wonder, both on account of their number and their severity and duration, and thus were for a sign and a prodigy. For it everywhere occurs that men are afflicted with diseases, and barrenness for a single season is a common evil; but that sicknesses should cleave as it were to the marrow of a whole people, and that the earth should be dried up as if it were burnt with sulphur, this is an awful spectacle, in which God’s vengeance, which else would be incredible, manifestly appears; and therefore the cases of Sodom and Gomorrah are adduced, in whose destruction it might be seen what end awaits all the reprobate. Addition in Fr., “Comme Sainct Jude aussi declare, que la foudre dont elles ont este abysmees, est figure du feu eternal;” as St. Jude also declares, that the thunderbolt whereby they were destroyed, is a type of the eternal fire. (Jude 7.) Now the Israelites always had their desolation before their eyes, from the time that they entered the land, in order that they might be warned by so terrible a judgment, and might tremble at it. It is also worthy of notice, that strangers are introduced making inquiry; in which words Moses signifies that this vengeance would be terrible even to heathen nations; and with this corresponds what we read in Jeremiah; “many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbor, Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this great city? Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.” (Jeremiah 22:8, 9.) A similar divine menace is recorded in 1 Kings 9:8, 9; “And at this house,” referring to the Temple brought to desolation, “every one that passeth by it shall be astonished and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why hath the Lord done thus to this house? And they shall answer, Because they forsook the Lord their God, and have taken hold upon other gods,” etc. What we find further on is still more fearful; “Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle.” (2 Kings 21:12.)

Moses amplifies the crime of their rebellion, when he says, that forsaking the God of their fathers, God their deliverer, God who had made a covenant with them, they had gone and served strange and unknown gods, from See margin, A.V. — “Who had not given to them any portion,” v, 26. whom they had received no benefits to induce them. For God had bound them to Himself for ever, both by His instruction “Sa parole;” His word. — Fr. and the incomparable manifestation of His power; there could therefore be no pretense of ignorance, or mistake to excuse their defection from Him, and their prostitution of themselves to unknown idols.

In the meantime, let us learn from this passage anxiously to inquire who is the true God, and what is His will; because there is no true religion without knowledge; and again, if He convicted His ancient people of wicked ingratitude on account of their deliverance, that we also are now much more inexcusable, unless we constantly abide in the faith of our eternal Redeemer.

Deuteronomy 30

Deuteronomy 30:1-10, 15-20

1. And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee,

1. Erit autem, quum evenerint tibi omnia verba haec, benedictio et maledictio quas proposui tibi, et reduxeris ad cor tuum in cunctis gentibus ad quas expulerit te Jehova Deus tuus:

2. And shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice, according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul;

2. Et conversus fueris ad Jehovam Deum tuum, obedierisque voci ejus per omnia ut ego praecipio tibi hodie, tu et filii tui toto corde tuo, et tota anima tua:

3. That then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return, and gather thee from all the nations whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee.

3. Tunc reducet Jehova Deus tuus captivitatem tuam, et miserebitur tui: et conversus congregabit to de cunctis populis ad quos disperserit te Jehova Deus tuus.

4. If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee.

4. Si fuerit expulsus tuus in extremo coeli, illinc congregabit te Jehova Deus tuus, et illinc accipiet te:

5. And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers.

5. Reducetque te Jehova Deus tuus ad terram quam possederant patres tui, ac possidebis eam: benefacietque tibi, et multiplicabit te magis quam patres tuos.

6. And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.

6. Et circuncidet Jehova Deus tuus cor tuum, et cor seminis tui, ut diligas Jehovam Deum tuum toto corde tuo, et tota anima tua, propter vitam tuam.

7. And the Lord thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee.

7. Dabit autem Jehova Deus tuus omnes maledictiones istas super inimicos tuos, et super odio habentes te, et qui persequuti sunt te.

8. And thou shalt return, and obey the voice of the Lord, and do all his commandments, which I command thee this day.

8. Tu ergo revertaris, et obedias voci Jehovae, et fadas omnia praecepta ejus quae ego praecipio tibi hodie.

9. And the Lord thy God will make time plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the Lord will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers;

9. Et abundare te faciat Jehova Deus tuus in omni opere manuum tuarum, in fructu ventris tui, et in fructu jumenti tui, et in fructu terrae tuae, in bonum: quoniam convertetur Jehova ut laetetur super te in bonum quemadmodum laetatus est super patres tuos:

10. If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes, which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.

10. Si tamen obedieris voci Jehovae Dei tui, custodiendo praecepta ejus, et statuta ejus scripta in hoc libro Legis: quum conversus fueris ad Jehovam Deum tuum toto corde tuo, et tota anima tua.

15. See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;

15. Vide, proposui tibi hodie vitam, et bonum, mortem et malum.

16. In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.

16. Quando ego praecipio tibi hodie ut diligas Jehovam Deum tuum, ut ambules in viis ejus, et custodias praecepta ejus et statuta ejus, et judicia ejus: ut vivas, et multipliceris, benedicatque tibi Jehova Deus tuus in terra ad quam ingrederis ut possideas eam.

17. But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;

17. Qued si averterit se cor tuum, et non audieris, et impulsus adoraveris Deos alienos, coluerisque eos:

18. I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.

18. Denuntio vobis hodie, pereundo peribitis, non prorogabitis dies super terram ad quam transmisso Jordane pergis, ut possideas eam.

19. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live;

19. Testor contra vos hodie coelum et terram, quod vitam et mortem proposui, benedictionem et maledictionem: deligas ergo vitam, ut vivas tu, et semen tuum.

20. That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him; (for he is thy life, and the length of thy days;) that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

20. Diligendo Jehovam Deum tuum, obediendo voci ejus, adhaerendo ei: ipse enim est vita tua, et longitudo dierum tuorum, ut habites super terram quam juravit Jehova patribus tuis, Abrahm, Isaac et Jacob se daturum illis.

29. The secret things belong. The conciseness and brevity of this passage has rendered its meaning ambiguous; still there is no necessity for discussing the various expositions of it. I will only shortly touch upon those most generally accepted, lest they should lead to error. The meaning is forced which some of the Hebrews S.M. quotes Aben-Ezra as saying, “The secret things done by men belong to God, that he may punish them. But the things which become manifest, or are publicly done, belong to us, and such things we are bound to punish.” Where the ה demonstrative is repeated with the conjunction, as noticed by C., our A. V. has properly but those. — W. give it, viz., that God is the sole avenger of hidden crimes, whilst those transgressions, which come to the knowledge of men, should be punished by earthly judges; for here the execution of punishment is not the subject in discussion, but Moses is simply commending the use of the doctrine of the Law. The opinion of those who conceive that the excellency of the Law is maintained, because God has manifested by it His secret things, would be more probable, if the rules of grammar did not oppose it; for the words are not to be read connectedly.” The secret things of God are revealed unto us,” since the ה, or demonstrative pronoun, In C.’s Latin “ה agedia,” or as spelt in Buxtorf’s Thesaurus Gram. Ling. Sanctae, Lib. 2, c. 5, “ה hajediha, that is הידיעה, translatable which maketh known, is the name given to the prefix ה, when its effect is demonstrative” — W which is adjoined to both, does not permit this any more than the copula which stands between them. To me there appears no doubt that, by antithesis, there is a comparison here made between the doctrine openly set forth in the Law, and the hidden and incomprehensible counsel of God, concerning which it is not lawful to inquire. In my opinion, therefore, the copula is used for the adversative particle; as though it were said, “God indeed retains to Himself secret things, which it neither concerns nor profits us to know, and which surpass our comprehension; but these things, which He has declared to us, belong to us and to our children.” It is a remarkable passage, and especially deserving of our observation, for by it audacity and excessive curiosity are condemned, whilst pious minds are aroused to be zealous in seeking instruction. We know how anxious men are to understand things, the knowledge of which is altogether unprofitable, and even the investigation of them injurious. All of them would desire to be God’s counsellors, and to penetrate into the deepest recesses of heaven, nay, they would search into its very cabinets. Hence a heathen poet truly says, —

“Nil mortalibus arduum est: Coelum ipsum petimus stultitia.” — Hor. Od. 1: 3-37.

“Nought for mortals is too high; Our folly reaches to the sky.”

On the other hand, what God plainly sets before us, and would have familiarly known, is either neglected, or turned from in disgust, or put far away from us, as if it were too obscure. In the first clause, then, Moses briefly reproves and restrains that temerity which leaps beyond the bounds imposed by God; and in the latter, exhorts us to embrace the doctrine of the Law, in which God’s will is declared to us, as if He were openly speaking to us; and thus he encounters the folly of those who fly from the light presented to them, and wrongfully accuse of obscurity that doctrine, wherein God has let Himself down to the measure of our understanding. In sum, he declares that God is the best master to all who come to Him as disciples, because He faithfully and clearly explains to them all that it is useful for them to knew. The perpetuity of the doctrine is also asserted, and that it never is to be let go, or to become obsolete by the lapse of ages. How far the Law is perpetual I have more fully discussed in the Second Book of the Institutes, chap. 11. The rule of just and pious living even now retains its force, although we are delivered from the yoke of bondage and from the curse; but the coming of Christ has put an end to its ceremonies in such a way as to prove more certainly that they were not mere vain and empty shadows. Lastly, Moses requires obedience of the people, and reminds them that the Law was not only given that the Israelites might know what was right, but that they might do all that God taught. True is it indeed that all His precepts cannot be fully obeyed; but the perfection which is required, compels those to ask for pardon who otherwise feel themselves to be exposed to God’s judgment, as will be hereafter explained. Besides, we must observe that the doctrine that we must keep the whole Law has this object, that men should not separate one commandment from the others, and think that they have done their duty by performing only a part of it; since God admits no such divorce, having forbidden us to steal no less than to kill (James 2:11.)

Deuteronomy 30

Deuteronomy 30:11-14

11. For this commandment, which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off:

11. Praeceptum hoc quod praecipio tibi hodie, non est absconditam a to, nec procul remotum.

12. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?

12. Non est in coelis ut dicas, Quis nobis ascendet in coelum, ut deferat illud ad nos, et annuntiet nobis, ut ipsum faciamus?

13. Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?

13. Nec est ultra mare, ut dicas, Quis nobis trajiciet mare ut deferat iliud ad nos, et annuntiet nobis, ut ipsum faciamus?

14. But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.

14. Certe valde propinquns est tibi sermo in ore tuo, et in corde tuo, ut facias ipsum.

CHAPTER 29

De 29:1-29. An Exhortation to Obedience.

1. These are the words of the covenant--The discourse of Moses is continued, and the subject of that discourse was Israel's covenant with God, the privileges it conferred, and the obligations it imposed.

beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb--It was substantially the same; but it was renewed now, in different circumstances. They had violated its conditions. Moses rehearses these, that they might have a better knowledge of its conditions and be more disposed to comply with them.

2. Moses called unto all Israel, ... Ye have seen all that the Lord did, &c.--This appeal to the experience of the people, though made generally, was applicable only to that portion of them who had been very young at the period of the Exodus, and who remembered the marvellous transactions that preceded and followed that era. Yet, alas! those wonderful events made no good impression upon them (De 29:4). They were strangers to that grace of wisdom which is liberally given to all who ask it; and their insensibility was all the more inexcusable that so many miracles had been performed which might have led to a certain conviction of the presence and the power of God with them. The preservation of their clothes and shoes, the supply of daily food and fresh water--these continued without interruption or diminution during so many years' sojourn in the desert. They were miracles which unmistakably proclaimed the immediate hand of God and were performed for the express purpose of training them to a practical knowledge of, and habitual confidence in, Him. Their experience of this extraordinary goodness and care, together with their remembrance of the brilliant successes by which, with little exertion or loss on their part, God enabled them to acquire the valuable territory on which they stood, is mentioned again to enforce a faithful adherence to the covenant, as the direct and sure means of obtaining its promised blessings.

10-29. Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord your God--The whole congregation of Israel, of all ages and conditions, all--young as well as old; menials as well as masters; native Israelites as well as naturalized strangers--all were assembled before the tabernacle to renew the Sinaitic covenant. None of them were allowed to consider themselves as exempt from the terms of that national compact, lest any lapsing into idolatry might prove a root of bitterness, spreading its noxious seed and corrupt influence all around (compare He 12:15). It was of the greatest consequence thus to reach the heart and conscience of everyone, for some might delude themselves with the vain idea that by taking the oath (De 29:12) by which they engaged themselves in covenant with God, they would surely secure its blessings. Then, even though they would not rigidly adhere to His worship and commands, but would follow the devices and inclinations of their own hearts, yet they would think that He would wink at such liberties and not punish them. It was of the greatest consequence to impress all with the strong and abiding conviction, that while the covenant of grace had special blessings belonging to it, it at the same time had curses in reserve for transgressors, the infliction of which would be as certain, as lasting and severe. This was the advantage contemplated in the law being rehearsed a second time. The picture of a once rich and flourishing region, blasted and doomed in consequence of the sins of its inhabitants, is very striking, and calculated to awaken awe in every reflecting mind. Such is, and long has been, the desolate state of Palestine; and, in looking at its ruined cities, its blasted coast, its naked mountains, its sterile and parched soil--all the sad and unmistakable evidences of a land lying under a curse--numbers of travellers from Europe, America, and the Indies ("strangers from 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 "because the inhabitants had forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers. ... and the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book"?

These are the words of the covenant - This verse seems properly to belong to the preceding chapter, as a widely different subject is taken up at Deu 29:2 of this; and it is distinguished as the 69th verse in some of the most correct copies of the Hebrew Bible.

Commanded Moses to make - לכרת lichroth, to cut, alluding to the covenant sacrifice which was offered on the occasion and divided, as is explained, Gen 15:18 (note).

Beside the covenant which he made - in Horeb - What is mentioned here is an additional institution to the ten words given on Horeb; and the curses denounced here are different from those denounced against the transgressors of the decalogue.

The Lord hath not given you a heart, etc. - Some critics read this verse interrogatively: And hath not God given you a heart, etc.? because they suppose that God could not reprehend them for the non-performance of a duty, when he had neither given them a mind to perceive the obligation of it, nor strength to perform it, had that obligation been known. Though this is strictly just, yet there is no need for the interrogation, as the words only imply that they had not such a heart, etc., not because God had not given them all the means of knowledge, and helps of his grace and Spirit, which were necessary; but they had not made a faithful use of their advantages, and therefore they had not that wise, loving, and obedient heart which they otherwise might have had. If they had had such a heart, it would have been God's gift, for he is the author of all good; and that they had not such a heart was a proof that they had grieved his Spirit, and abused the grace which he had afforded them to produce that gracious change, the want of which is here deplored. Hence God himself is represented as grieved because they were unchanged and disobedient: "O that there were such a heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them and with their children for ever!" See Deu 5:29 (note), and the note there.

Your clothes are not waxen old - See on Deu 8:4 (note).

Ye have not eaten bread, etc. - That is, ye have not been supported in an ordinary providential way; I have been continually working miracles for you, that ye might know that I am the Lord. Thus we find that God had furnished them with all the means of this knowledge, and that the means were ineffectual, not because they were not properly calculated to answer God's gracious purpose, but because the people were not workers with God; consequently they received the grace of God in vain. See 2Cor 6:1.

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.

That thou shouldest enter - לעבר leaber, to pass through, that is, between the separated parts of the covenant sacrifice. See Gen 15:18 (note).

And into his oath - Thus we find that in a covenant were these seven particulars:

1. The parties about to contract were considered as being hitherto separated.

2. They now agree to enter into a state of close and permanent amity.

3. They meet together in a solemn manner for this purpose.

4. A sacrifice is offered to God on the occasion, for the whole is a religious act.

5. The victim is separated exactly into two equal parts, the separation being in the direction of the spine; and those parts are laid opposite to each other, sufficient room being allowed for the contracting parties to pass between them.

6. The contracting parties meet in the victim, and the conditions of the covenant by which they are to be mutually bound are recited.

7. An oath is taken by these parties that they shall punctually and faithfully perform their respective conditions, and thus the covenant is made and ratified. See Jer 34:18, Jer 34:19, and the notes on Gen 6:18 (note); Gen 15:18 (note); Exo 29:45 (note); Leviticus 26 (note).

Him that standeth here - The present generation. Him that is not here - all future generations of this people.

A root that beareth gall and wormwood - That is, as the apostle expresses it, Heb 3:12, An evil heart of unbelief departing from the living God; for to this place he evidently refers. It may also signify false doctrines, or idolatrous persons among themselves.

To add drunkenness to thirst - A proverbial expression denoting the utmost indulgence in all sensual gratifications.

Gods - whom he had not given unto them - This is an unhappy translation. Houbigant renders the original words ולו חלק להם velo chalak lahem, et quibuscum nulla eis societas, "And with whom they had no society;" and falls unmercifully on Le Clerc because he had translated it, From whom they had received no benefits. I must differ from both these great men, because I think they differ from the text. חלק chalak signifies a portion, lot, inheritance, and God is frequently represented in Scripture as the portion or inheritance of his people. Here, therefore, I think the original should be rendered, And there was no portion to them, that is, the gods they served could neither supply their wants nor save their souls - they were no portion.

The secret things belong unto the Lord, etc. - This verse has been variously translated. Houbigant renders it thus: Quae apud Dominum nostrum abscondita sunt, nobis ea filiisque nostris palam facta sunt ad multas aetates, "The things which were hidden with the Lord our God, are made manifest to us and our children for many generations." I am not satisfied with this interpretation, and find that the passage was not so understood by any of the ancient versions. The simple general meaning seems to be this: "What God has thought proper to reveal, he has revealed; what he has revealed is essential to the well-being of man, and this revelation is intended not for the present time merely, nor for one people, but for all succeeding generations. The things which he has not revealed concern not man but God alone, and are therefore not to be inquired after." Thus, then, the things that are hidden belong unto the Lord, those that are revealed belong unto us and our children. But possibly the words here refer to the subjects of these chapters, as if he had said, "Apostasy from God and his truth is possible. When a national apostasy among us may take place, is known only to God; but he has revealed himself to us and our children that we may do all the words of this law, and so prevent the dreadful evils that shall fall on the disobedient."

The Jews have always considered these verses as containing subjects of the highest importance to them, and have affixed marks to the original לנו ולבנינו lanu ulebaneynu, "to Us and to our Children," in order to fix the attention of the reader on truths which affect them individually, and not them only, but the whole of their posterity.

These are the terms or conditions upon which God hath made, that is renewed his covenant with you. The covenant was but one in substance, but various in the time and manner of its dispensation.

Yet the Lord - That is, you have perceived and seen them with the eyes of your body, but not with your minds and hearts; you have not yet learned rightly to understand the word and works of God, so as to know them for your good, and to make a right use of them, and to comply with them: which he expresseth thus, the Lord hath not given you, &c. not to excuse their wickedness, but to direct them to whom they must have recourse for a good understanding of God's works; and to intimate that although the hearing ear, and the seeing eye, be the workmanship of God, yet their want of his grace was their own fault, and the just punishment of their former sins; their present case being like theirs in Isaiah's time, who first shut their own eyes and ears that they might not see and hear, and would not understand, and then by the righteous judgment of God, had their eyes and ears closed that they should not see and hear, and understand. God's readiness to do us good in other things, is a plain evidence, that if we have not grace, that best of gifts, 'tis our own fault and not his: he would have gathered us, and we would not.

Ye have not eaten bread - Common bread purchased by your own money, or made by your own hands, but heavenly and angelical bread. Neither drank wine - But only water out of the rock. The Lord - Omnipotent and all - sufficient for your provision without the help of any creatures, and your God in covenant with you who hath a true affection to you, and fatherly care of you.

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 - Into covenant, confirmed by a solemn oath.

That he may establish thee - Here is the summary of that covenant whereof Moses was the mediator, and in the covenant relation between God and them, all the precepts and promises of the covenant are included. That they should be established for a people to him, to fear, love, obey, and be devoted to him, and that he should be to them a God, to make them holy and happy; and a due sense of the relation we stand in to God as our God, and the obligation we are under to him as his people, is enough to bring us to all the duties, and all the comforts of the covenant. And does this covenant include nothing spiritual? nothing that refers to eternity?

So also - With your posterity. For so the covenant was made at first with Abraham and his seed, by which as God engaged himself to continue the blessing of Abraham upon his posterity, so he also engaged them to the same duties which were required of Abraham. So it is even among men, where a king confers an estate upon a subject and his heirs for ever, upon some certain conditions, all his heirs who enjoy that benefit, are obliged to the same conditions. It may likewise include those who were then constrained to be absent, by sickness, or any necessary occasion. Nay one of the Chaldee pharaphrasts 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, 'tis a noble testimony to the Mediator of that covenant, who is the same yesterday, to day, and for ever.

Egypt - Where you have seen their idolatries, and learned too much of them, as the golden calf shewed, and therefore have need to renew your covenant with God; where also we were in dreadful bondage whence God alone hath delivered us, to whom therefore we are deeply obliged, and have all reason to renew our covenant with him. Through the nations - With what hazard, if God had not appeared for us!

A root - An evil heart inclining you to such cursed idolatry, and bringing forth bitter fruits.

Of this curse - Of that oath where - in he swore he would keep covenant with God, and that with a curse pronounced against himself if he did not perform it. Bless himself - Flatter himself in his own eyes, with vain hopes, as if God did not mind such things, and either could not, or would not punish them. Peace - Safety and prosperity. My own heart - Though I do not follow God's command, but my own devices. To add drunkenness to thirst - The words may be rendered, to add thirst to drunkenness, and so the sense may be, that when he hath multiplied his sins, and made himself as it were drunk with them, yet he is not satisfied therewith, but still whets his appetite, and provokes his thirst after more, as drunkards often use means to make themselves thirst after more drink.

Shall smoke - Shall burn and break forth with flame and smoke as it were from a furnace.

Unto evil - Unto some peculiar and exemplary plague; he will make him a monument of his displeasure to the whole land.

Salt and burning - Is burnt up and made barren, as with brimstone and salt.

Whom God had not given to them - For their worship, but hath divided them unto all nations, for their use and service. So he speaks here of the sun and moon and stars, which were the principal gods worshipped by the neighbouring nations.

The secret things - Having mentioned the amazing judgments of God upon the whole land and people of Israel, and foreseeing the utter extirpation which would come upon them for their wickedness, he breaks out into this pathetic exclamation, either to bridle their curiosity, who would be apt to enquire into the time and manner of so great an event; or to quiet his own mind, and satisfy the scruples of others, who perceiving God to deal so severely with his own people, when in the meantime he suffered those nations which were guilty of grosser atheism and idolatry, might thence take occasion to deny his providence or question the equity of his proceedings. To this he answers, that the ways and judgments of God, tho' never unjust, are often times hidden from us, unsearchable by our shallow capacities, and matter for our admiration, not our enquiry. But the things which are revealed by God and his word, are the proper object of our enquiries, that thereby we may know our duty, and be kept from such terrible calamities as these now mentioned.

1 THese are the words of the covenant , which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb.

These are the terms or conditions upon which God hath made, i. e. renewed Covenant with you.

(i. e.) That entring into or striking of covenant. The covenant was but one in substance, but various in the time and manner of its dispensation.

Marginal references: chap. 6. 2, 3.

4 Yet the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day c.

d This verse comes in by way of correction or exception to the foregoing clause in this manner, I said indeed, ye have seen, &c. v. 2. and thine eyes have seen, &c. but I must recal my words, for in truth you have not seen them, in seeing you have not seen, and perceiving you have not perceived them: you have perceived and seen them with the eyes of your body, but not with your minds and hearts, you have not seen them to any purpose: you have not yet learned rightly to understand the word and works of God, so as to know them for your good, and to make a right use of them, and to comply with them: Which he expresseth thus, the Lord hath not given you, &c. not to excuse their wickedness, but partly to direct them what course to take, and to whom they must have recourse for the amending of their former errours, and for a good understanding and improvement of Gods works, and partly to aggravate their sin, and to intimate that although the hearing ear, and the seeing eye, and the understanding heart be the workmanship of God, Prov. 20. 12. and the effects of his special grace, Deut. 30. 6. Ier. 31. 33. and 32. 39, &c. yet their want of this grace was their own fault, and the just punishment of their former sins; their present case being like theirs in Isays time, who first shut their eyes and ears that they might not see and hear, and would not understand, and then by the tremendous, but righteous judgment of God, had their hearts made fat, and their eyes and ears closed that they should not be able to see and hear, and understand, as is manifest from the history of their carriage in the wilderness.

5 And I have led you fourty years in the wilderness, your cloths are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot .

So far, that it was necessary for you to throw them away, and to get new ones. See on Deut. 8. 4.

6 Ye have not eaten bread , neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink , that ye might know that I am the LORD your God .

(i. e.) Common bread purchased by your own mony, or made by your own hands, but Heavenly and Angelical bread, Deut. 8. 3. Psal. 78. 24, 25. You have subsisted without bread the staff of life.

But onely water out of the rock.

The Lord Omnipotent and All-sufficient for your provision without the help of any Creatures, and your God in covenant with you who hath a true affection to you, and fatherly care of you even when ordinary means fail.

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.

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 v. 2.

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 .

Such strangers as had embraced their Religion.

All sorts of persons, yea, even the meanest of them, such as these were, Ios. 9. 27. all sorts and ranks of servants.

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:

(i. e.) Into covenant or agreement confirmed by a solemn oath.

(i. e.) Into covenant or agreement confirmed by a solemn oath.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word].

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 :

(i. e.) With your prosperity. For so the covenant was made at first with Abraham and his seed, by which as God engaged himself to continue the blessing of Abraham upon his posterity, so he also engaged them to the same duties and conditions which were required of Abraham. So it is even among men where a King confers an estate upon a Subject and his Heirs for ever, upon some certain conditions all his Heirs who enjoy that benefit, are obliged to the same conditions. But whatsoever becomes of mans right, God the Creatour and Soveraign Lord of all men and things hath an unquestionable right and power to oblige all persons that are or shall be to such conditions as he pleaseth, and especially to such conditions as are for their own benefit, which is the present case.

Marginal references: See [illegible: 1 word] 1 Cor. 5. [illegible: 1 word].

16 (For ye know how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt , and how we came through the nations which ye passed by.

Where you have seen their Idolatries, and learned too much of them, as the Golden Calf shewed, and therefore need to renew your covenant with God; where also we were in dreadful bondage whence God alone hath delivered us, to whom therefore we are deeply obliged, and have all reason to renew our covenant with him.

(i. e.) With what hazards, if God had not appeared for us.

17 And ye have seen their abominations, and their idols , wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them.)

What sorry tools they are, what senceless and ridiculous deities; so that you have great reason to value your God, and to cleave to him in covenant, and to take heed of such abominable Idolatries.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word] gods.

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 .

Or take heed or beware lest there be. For it seems to be an Ellipsis, or defect of a verb which is usual in Scripture, and which we have in a case parallel to this, Gen. 3. 22. And now we must take care lest he put forth, &c. Or this particle, lest, may be joyned with v. 14, 15. to this purpose, I now renew the covenant with you, and with your posterity, lest any of you or yours should be tempted to depart from God, &c.

(i. e.) Who turneth away from God to Idols not by constraint, but by choice, and the inclination of his own heart. By this phrase he leads them to the spring of their sin and ruine, even their own hearts, which he admonisheth them hereby to look to above all things.

Either 1. An evil heart enclining you to such cursed Idolatry, and bringing forth bitter fruits. Or, rather 2. Some secret and subtil Apostate who lurks and works like a root under ground, and sliely conveighs his poison to the infection of others, for both the foregoing and following words speak of some particular person.

(i. e.) Which though for the present it may please your fancy, yet in the end, assure your selves, will produce bitter fruits, not onely distateful to God, but also poisonful and destructive to your selves.

Marginal references: Heb. 12. [illegible: 1 word]; Or, a [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word]. Heb. [illegible: 1 word]

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 :

(i. e.) That root, or that man mentioned, v. 18.

(i. e.) of that oath mentioned v. 12. wherein he swore that he would keep covenant with God, and that with a curse pronounced against himself if he did not perform it. Now if when he reads this again, or hears of it from others.

(i. e.) Flatter himself in his own eyes, as Psal. 36. 2. with vain conceits and hopes, as if God did not mind such things, and either could not, or would not punish them. Compare Psal. 49. 18. Ier. 2. 20. Zech. 11. 5.

(i. e.) Safety and prosperity.

Though in my practices and worship I do not follow Gods command, but my own devices, and whatsoever my fancy best liketh, minding nothing but the gratifying of mine own fancy and humour.

(i. e.) Not onely to satisfie his thirst, i. e. his concupiscence and inclination to wickedness, but even to exceed it, as Drunkards oft times take more than their appetite desires, and drink out of meer wantonness, or from a desire to be drunk; and as filthy persons commit lewdness with others more than their natural inclinations desire, or their strength can well bear, meerly from a wicked mind, and from contempt of God, and because they will do so. The words may be rendred, to add thirst to drunkenness, the particle eth, which is a note of the Accusative Case, being joyned with thirst, and not with drunkenness, and so the sence may be this, that when he hath multiplyed his sins, and made himself as it were drunk with them, yet he is not satisfyed therewith, but still whets his Appetite, and provokes his thirst after more, as Drunkards commonly will use means and temptations to make themselves thirst after more drink, that they may drink more abundantly. Or thus, to add the moist or moistening to the thirsty, (i. e.) in stead of restraining and mortifying, as he ought to do, fully and greedily to satisfy, his idolatrous or wicked inclinations, and resolvedly to give up himself to all the desires of his own heart. Compare Iob 34. 7. Prov. 23. 35. Isa. 30. 1. and 56. 12. Eph. 4. 19.

Marginal references: Heb. stubborn [illegible: 1+ letters].; Heb. The drunken to the thirsty.

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 .

(i. e.) Shall, burn and break forth with flame and smoak as it were from a furnace. Compare Psal. 18. 8.

(i. e.) destroy his person and memory from amongst men.

Marginal references: Ezek. 14. 7, 8.

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:

(i. e.) Unto some peculiar and exemplary plague, he will make him a monument of his displeasure to the whole land.

He intimates that the covenant of grace, which God made with them, hath not onely blessings belonging to it, as this foolish person imagined, but curses also to the transgressours of it.

Marginal references: Heb. that is written.

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:

The words following, v. 24, 25, &c.

Marginal references: Heb. wherewith the LORD [illegible: 1+ letters]ath made it sick.

23 And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning , that it is not sowen, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zebojim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath.

(i. e.) Is burnt up and made barren, as with brimstone and salt. See Iudg. 9. 45. Psal. 107. 34. Ier. 17. 6. Ezek. 47. 11.

Marginal references: Gen. 19. 24, 25.

26 For they went and served other gods, and worshipped them; gods whom they knew not, and whom he had not given unto them .

(i. e.) Whom God had not given or divided to them, as their portion, or for their worship, but hath divided them unto all Nations, as it is said, Deut. 4. 19. not for their worship, but for their use and service. So he speaks here of the Sun and Moon and Stars, which were the principal Gods worshipped by the neighbouring Nations. Or, to whom none hath given this, i. e. that they should be worshipped▪ or, to whom no worship belongs. So this is an argument against Idolatry. Or, who had not given unto them, to wit, any thing: It is an Ellipsis of the Accusative, which is very frequent: gods known to them by no benefits received from them, as they had from their God, whom therefore it was the greater folly and ingratitude to forsake.

Marginal references: Or, who had not given unto them any portion.; Heb. divided

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.

Having now mentioned the dreadful and amazing judgments of God upon the whole land and people of Israel, and foreseeing by the spirit of prophecy the utter extirpation and destruction which would come upon them for their wickedness, he breaks out into this pathetical exclamation either to bridle their curiosity, who hearing this, would be apt to enquire into the time and manner of so great an event, or to quiet his own mind, and satisfie the scruples of others, who perceiving God to deal so severely with his own people, when in the mean time he suffered those Nations which were guilty of grosser Atheisme and Idolatry, and Impiety than the generality of the Jewish people were to live and prosper in the world, might thence take occasion to deny or reproach his providence, or question the equity of his proceedings. To this he answers, that the ways and judgments of God, though never unjust, are ofttimes secret and hidden from us, and unsearchable by our shallow capacities, and are matter for our admiration, not for our enquiry.

But the things which are revealed by God and his word, these are the proper object of our enquiries and studies, that thereby we may come to the knowledge of our duty by the practise whereof we may be kept from such terrible punishments and calamities as these now mentioned.

Conclusion of the Covenant in the Land of Moab - Deuteronomy 29-30

The addresses which follow in ch. 29 and 30 are announced in the heading in Deu 29:1 as “words (addresses) of the covenant which Jehovah commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel, beside the covenant which He made with them in Horeb,” and consist, according to Deu 29:10., in a solemn appeal to all the people to enter into the covenant which the Lord made with them that day; that is to say, it consisted literally in a renewed declaration of the covenant which the Lord had concluded with the nation at Horeb, or in a fresh obligation imposed upon the nation to keep the covenant which had been concluded at Horeb, by the offering of sacrifices and the sprinkling of the people with the sacrificial blood (Ex 24). There was no necessity for any repetition of this act, because, notwithstanding the frequent transgressions on the part of the nation, it had not been abrogated on the part of God, but still remained in full validity and force. The obligation binding upon the people to fulfil the covenant is introduced by Moses with an appeal to all that the Lord had done for Israel (Deu 29:2-9); and this is followed by a summons to enter into the covenant which the Lord was concluding with the now, that He might be their God, and fulfil His promises concerning them (Deu 29:10-15), with a repeated allusion to the punishment which threatened them in case of apostasy (Deu 29:16-29), and the eventual restoration on the ground of sincere repentance and return to the Lord (Deu 30:1-14), and finally another solemn adjuration, with a blessing and a curse before them, to make choice of the blessing (Deu 30:15-20).

Deu  29:2-4

The introduction in Deu 29:2 resembles that in Deu 5:1. “All Israel” is the nation in all its members (see Deu 29:10, Deu 29:11). - Israel had no doubt seen the mighty acts of the Lord in Egypt (Deu 29:2 and Deu 29:3; cf. Deu 4:34; Deu 7:19), but Jehovah had not given them a heart, i.e., understanding, to perceive, eyes to see, and ears to hear, until this day. With this complaint, Moses does not intend to excuse the previous want of susceptibility on the part of the nation to the manifestations of grace on the part of the Lord, but simply to explain the necessity for the repeated allusion to the gracious acts of God, and to urge the people to lay them truly to heart. “By reproving the dulness of the past, he would stimulate them to a desire to understand: just as if he had said, that for a long time they had been insensible to so many miracles, and therefore they ought not to delay any longer, but to arouse themselves to hearken better unto God” (Calvin). The Lord had not yet given the people an understanding heart, because the people had not yet asked for it, simply because the need of it was not felt (cf. Deu 4:26).

Deu 29:5-8

With the appeal to the gracious guidance of Israel by God through the desert, the address of Moses passes imperceptibly into an address from the Lord, just as in Deu 11:14. (On Deu 29:5, Deu 29:6, vid., Deu 8:3-4; on Deu 29:7, vid., Deu 2:26., and Deu 3:1. and Deu 3:12.).

Deu 29:9

These benefits from the Lord demanded obedience and fidelity. “Keep the words of this covenant,” etc. (cf. Deu 8:18). השׂכּיל, to act wisely (as in Deu 32:29), bearing in mind, however, that Jehovah Himself is the wisdom of Israel (Deu 4:6), and the search for this wisdom brings prosperity and salvation (cf. Jos 1:7-8).

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.” עבר with בּ, as in Job 33:28, “to enter into,” expresses entire entrance, which goes completely through the territory entered, and is more emphatic than בברית בּוא   (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).

Deu 29:16-17

The summons to enter into the covenant of the Lord is explained by Moses first of all by an exposition of the evil results which would follow from apostasy from the Lord, or the breach of His covenant. This exposition he introduces with an allusion to the experience of the people with reference to the worthlessness of idols, both in Egypt itself, and upon their march through the nations, whose territory they passed through (Deu 29:16, Deu 29:17). The words, “for ye have learned how we dwelt in Egypt, and passed through the nations...and have seen their abominations and their idols” (gillulim: lit., clods, see Lev 26:30), have this signification: In our abode in Egypt, and upon our march through different lands, ye have become acquainted with the idols of these nations, that they are not gods, but only wood and stone (see at Deu 4:28), silver and gold. את־אשׁר, as in Deu 9:7, literally “ye know that which we dwelt,' i.e., know what our dwelling there showed, what experience we gained there of the nature of heathen idols.

Deu 29:18-19

“That there may not be among you,” etc.: this sentence may be easily explained by introducing a thought which may be easily supplied, such as “consider this,” or “do not forget what ye have seen, that no one, either man or woman, family or tribe, may turn away from Jehovah our God.” - “That there may not be a root among you which bears poison and wormwood as fruit.” A striking image of the destructive fruit borne by idolatry (cf. Heb 12:15). Rosh stands for a plant of a very bitter taste, as we may see from the frequency with which it is combined with לענה, wormwood: it is not, strictly speaking, a poisonous plant, although the word is used in Job 20:16 to denote the poison of serpents, because, in the estimation of a Hebrew, bitterness and poison were kindred terms. There is no other passage in which it can be shown to have the meaning “poison.” The sense of the figure is given in plain terms in Deu 29:19, “that no one when he hears the words of this oath may bless himself in his heart, saying, I will prosper with me, for I walk in the firmness of my heart.” To bless himself in his heart is to congratulate himself. שׁרירוּת, firmness, a vox media; in Syriac, firmness, in a good sense, equivalent to truth; in Hebrew, generally in a bad sense, denoting hardness of heart; and this is the sense in which Moses uses it here. - “To sweep away that which is saturated with the thirsty:” a proverbial expression, of which very different interpretations have been given (see Rosenmüller ad h. l.), taken no doubt from the land and transferred to persons or souls; so that we might supply Nephesh in this sense, “to destroy all, both those who have drunk its poison, and those also who are still thirsting for it” (Knobel). But even if we were to supply ארץ (the land), we should not have to think of the land itself, but simply of its inhabitants, so that the thought would still remain the same.

Deu 29:20-21 “For the Lord will not forgive him (who thinks or speaks in this way); but then will His anger smoke (break forth in fire; vid., (Psa 74:1), and His jealousy against that man, and the whole curse of the law will lie upon him, that his name may be blotted out under heaven (vid., Deu 25:19; Exo 17:14). “The Lord will separate him unto evil from all the tribes, - so that he will be shut out from the covenant nation, and from its salvation, and be exposed to destruction - according to all the curses of the covenant.” Although the pronominal suffix refers primarily to the man, it also applies, according to Deu 29:18, to the woman, the family, and the tribe. “That is written,” etc., as in Deu 28:58, Deu 28:61.

Deu 29:22-23

How thoroughly Moses was filled with the thought, that not only individuals, but whole families, and in fact the greater portion of the nation, would fall into idolatry, is evident from the further expansion of the threat which follows, and in which he foresees in the Spirit, and foretells, the extermination of whole families, and the devastation of the land by distant nations; as in Lev 26:31-32. Future generations of Israel, and the stranger from a distant land, when they saw the strokes of the Lord which burst upon the land, and the utter desolation of the land, would ask whence this devastation, and receive the reply, The Lord had smitten the land thus in His anger, because its inhabitants (the Israelites) had forsaken His covenant. With regard to the construction, observe that ואמר, in Deu 29:22, is resumed in ואמרוּ, in Deu 29:24, the subject of Deu 29:22 being expanded into the general notion, “all nations” (Deu 29:24). With וראוּ, in Deu 29:22, a parenthetical clause is inserted, giving the reason for the main thought, in the form of a circumstantial clause; and to this there is attached, by a loose apposition in Deu 29:23, a still further picture of the divine strokes according to their effect upon the land. The nouns in Deu 29:23, “brimstone and salt burning,” are in apposition to the strokes (plagues), and so far depend upon “they see.” The description is borrowed from the character of the Dead Sea and its vicinity, to which there is an express allusion in the words, “like the overthrow of Sodom,” etc., i.e., of the towns of the vale of Siddim (see at Gen 14:2), which resembled paradise, the garden of Jehovah, before their destruction (vid., Gen 13:10 and Gen 19:24.).

Deu 29:24-25

“What is this great burning of wrath?” i.e., what does it mean - whence does it come? The reply to such a question would be (Deu 29:25-29): The inhabitants of the land have forsaken the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers; therefore has the wrath of the Lord burned over the land.

Deu 29:26-29

“Gods which God had not assigned them” (vid., Deu 4:19). “All the curses,” etc., are the curses contained in Deut 28:15-68; Lev 26:14-38. - Those who give the answer close their address in Deu 29:29 with an expression of pious submission and solemn admonition. “That which is hidden belongs to the Lord our God (is His affair), and that which is revealed belongs to us and our children for ever, to do (that we may do) all the words of this law.” That which is revealed includes the law with its promises and threats; consequently that which is hidden can only refer to the mode in which God will carry out in the future His counsel and will, which He has revealed in the law, and complete His work of salvation notwithstanding the apostasy of the people.What the puncta extraordinaria above (ע)ד וּלבנינוּ לנוּ mean, is uncertain. Hiller's conjecture is the most probable, “that they are intended to indicate a various reading, formed by the omission of eleven consonants, and the transposition of the rest עולם והנגדלות (at magnalia saeculi sunt);” whereas there is no foundation for Lightfoot's notion, that “they served as a warning, that we should not wish to pry with curiosity into the secret things of God, but should be content with His revealed will,” - a notion which rests upon the supposition that the points are inspired.

Mercies Called to Remembrance. (b. c. 1451.)

1 These are the words of the covenant, which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb. 2 And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land; 3 The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles: 4 Yet the Lord hath not given you a heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day. 5 And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot. 6 Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I am the Lord your God. 7 And when ye came unto this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us unto battle, and we smote them: 8 And we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance unto the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half tribe of Manasseh. 9 Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do.

Now that Moses had largely repeated the commands which the people were to observe as their part of the covenant, and the promises and threatenings which God would make good (according as they behaved themselves) as part of the covenant, the whole is here summed up in a federal transaction. The covenant formerly made is here renewed, and Moses, who was before, is still, the mediator of it (v. 1): The Lord commanded Moses to make it. Moses himself, though king in Jeshurun, could not make the covenant any otherwise than as God gave him instructions. It does not lie in the power of ministers to fix the terms of the covenant; they are only to dispense the seals of it. This is said to be besides the covenant made in Horeb; for, though the covenant was the same, yet it was a new promulgation and ratification of it. It is probable that some now living, though not of age to be mustered, were of age to consent for themselves to the covenant made at Horeb, and yet it is here renewed. Note, Those that have solemnly covenanted with God should take all opportunities to do it again, as those that like their choice too well to change. But the far greater part were a new generation, and therefore the covenant must be made afresh with them, for it is fit that the covenant should be renewed to the children of the covenant.

I. It is usual for indentures to begin with a recital; this does so, with a rehearsal of the great things God had done for them, 1. As an encouragement to them to believe that God would indeed be to them a God, for he would not have done so much for them if he had not designed more, to which all he had hitherto done was but a preface (as it were) or introduction; nay, he had shown himself a God in what he had hitherto done for them, which might raise their expectations of something great and answering the vast extent and compass of that pregnant promise, that God would be to them a God. 2. As an engagement upon them to be to him an obedient people, in consideration of what he had done for them.

II. For the proof of what he here advances he appeals to their own eyes (v. 2): You have seen all that the Lord did. Their own senses were incontestable evidence of the matter of fact, that God had done great things for them; and then their own reason was a no less competent judge of the equity of his inference from it: Keep therefore the words of this covenant, v. 9.

III. These things he specifies, to show the power and goodness of God in his appearances for them. 1. Their deliverance out of Egypt, v. 2, 3. The amazing signs and miracles by which Pharaoh was plagued and compelled to dismiss them, and Israel was tried (for they are called temptations) whether they would trust God to secure them from, and save them by, those plagues. 2. Their conduct through the wilderness for forty years, v. 5, 6. There they were led, and clad, and fed, by miracles; though the paths of the wilderness were not only unknown but untrodden, yet God kept them from being lost there; and (as bishop Patrick observes) those very shoes which by the appointment of God they put on in Egypt, at the passover, when the were ready to march (Exod. xii. 11), never wore out, but served them to Canaan: and though they lived not upon bread which strengthens the heart, and wine which rejoices it, but upon manna and rock-water, yet they were men of strength and courage, mighty men, and able to go forth to war. By these miracles they were made to know that the Lord was God, and by these mercies that he was their God. 3. The victory they had lately obtained of Sihon and Og, and that good land which they had taken possession of, v. 7, 8. Both former mercies and fresh mercies should be improved by us as inducements to obedience.

IV. By way of inference from these memoirs,

1. Moses laments their stupidity: Yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive, v. 4. This does not lay the blame of their senselessness, and sottishness, and unbelief, upon God, as if they had stood ready to receive his grace and had begged for it, but he had denied them; no, but it fastens the guilt upon themselves. "The Lord, who is the Father of spirits, a God in covenant with you, and who had always been so rich in mercy to you, no doubt would have crowned all his other gifts with this, he would have given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see if you had not by your own frowardness and perverseness frustrated his kind intentions, and received his grace in vain." Note, (1.) The hearing ear, the seeing eye, and the understanding heart, are the gift of God. All that have them have them from him. (2.) God gives not only food and raiment, but wealth and large possessions, to many to whom he does not give grace. Many enjoy the gifts who have not hearts to perceive the giver, nor the true intention and use of the gifts. (3.) God's readiness to do us good in other things is a plain evidence that if we have not grace, that best of gifts, it is our own fault and not his; he would have gathered us and we would not.

2. Moses charges them to be obedient: Keep therefore, and do, v. 9. Note, We are bound in gratitude and interest, as well as duty and faithfulness, to keep the words of the covenant.

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, 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 (v. 16, 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, v. 20, 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, 1 Kings ix. 8, 9; Jer. xxii. 8, 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 Acts i. 7; John xxi. 22; Col. ii. 18. 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.

CHAP. XXIX.

THese are the words of the covenant which Iehovah commanded Moses to strike with the sonnes of Israel, in the land of Moab, beside the covenant which he stroke with them in Horeb.

And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, You have seene all that Iehovah did before your eies in the land of Egypt, unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land. The great tentations which th[illegible: 1 letter]e eies have seene, the signes, and those great wonders. Yet Iehovah hath not given unto you an heart to know, and eies to see, and eares to heare, unto this day. And I have lead you forty yeares in the wildernesse; your cloathes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shooe is not waxen old upon thy foot. Ye have not eaten bread, neither have you drunke wine or strong drinke, that yee might know that I am Iehovah your God. And yee came unto this place, and Sihon king of Heshbon, and Ogh king of Bashan came out against us unto battell, and wee smote them. And we tooke their land, and gave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to halfe the tribe of the Manassites. Therefore yee shall keepe the words of this covenant, and doe them▪ that ye may wisely doe all that ye[illegible: 1 letter] doe. [non-Latin text not transcribed]

Yee stand this day all of you before Ieho [illegible: 1 span] your God, your heads of your tribes, your elders and your officers, all the men of [illegible: 1 word] ▪ Your little ones, your wives, and thy [illegible: 1 word] ▪ that is within thy campe, from the [illegible: 1 word] of thy wood, unto the drawer of thy water. That thou shouldest passe into the covenant of Iehovah thy God, and into his [illegible: 1 word] which Iehovah thy God striketh with [illegible: 2 letters]ee this day. That hee may stablish thee this day for a people unto himselfe, and that he may bee unto thee a God, as hee hath spoken unto thee, and as hee hath sworne unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Iakob. And not with you your selves alone doe I strike this covenant and this oath; But with him that is standing here with us this day before Iehovah your God, and with him that is not here with us this day. For ye know, how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt, and how wee have passed in the midst of the nations which yee passed by. And yee have seene their abominations, and their filthy idols, wood and stone, silver and gold which were with them. Lest there should be among you man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from Iehovah our God, to goe to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should bee among you a root that beareth gall and wormewood. And it be when he heareth the words of this oath, that hee blesse himselfe in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walke in the imagination of mine heart, to adde the drunken to the thirsty. Iehovah will not spare him; but then the anger of Iehovah and his jealousie shall smoke against that man, and every curse that is written in this book shall lie upon him, and Iehovah will blo[illegible: 1 letter] out his name from under the heavens. And Iehovah will separate him unto evill, out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that is written in this book of the Law. And the after generation, your sonnes that shall rise up after you, and the stranger that shall come from a farre land, shall say, when they shall see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses thereof, wherewith Iehovah hath made it sicke; That all the land thereof is brimstone & salt, and burning▪ that it is not sowen, neither springeth, nor any grasse groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorr[illegible: 1 letter]h, Admah, and Zebojim, which Iehovah overthrew in his anger & in his wrath.

Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath Iehovah done thus unto this land; what meaneth the heat of this great anger? Then they shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of Iehovah the God of their fathers, which he strucke with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt. For they went and served other gods, and bowed themselves▪ downe unto them; gods whom they knew not, and hee had not imparted unto them. And the anger of Iehovah was kindled against this land, to bring upon it every curse that is written in this booke. And Iehovah 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. The secret things belong unto Iehovah our God, and the things revealed belong unto us, and to our sonnes forever, to doe all the words of this Law.

Annotations. TO strike] or, to cut, whereof see the notes on Gen. 15. 18. Here the covenant is renewed betweene God and the people; and it is the same in effect with the covenant made at Horeb, Exod. 19. and 24. save that Christ, who is the end of the legall covenant, is here more cleerely revealed, especially in Chap. 30. vers. 11,—14. of Moab] the countrey on the out side of Iordan, whereof see Deut. 1. 1, 5. in Horeb] or Choreb, that is, mount Sinai, where the covenant was given, Ex. 20. and the blessings and curses for confirmation thereof, Lev. 26. 3,—46. Vers. 3. tentations] or trialls, whereby God tried the Israelites faith, and the hardnesse of the Egyptians in letting Israel goe: see Deut. 4. 34. and 7. 19. From Gods former benefits, whereof they had experience, hee exhorteth them unto the keeping of the covenant. Vers. 4. not given unto you] This sheweth the unability of man to understand the things of God, without the gift of God. And long after this, Paul complaineth of the Iewes, even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veile is laid over their hearts, 2 Cor. 3. 15. and Christ saith, that to them it was not given to understand the mysteries of the kingdome of heaven, Matt. 13. 11, 13, 14. Vers. 5. upon you] or, from upon you; that is, so as you should put them off and cast them from you. Compare Deut. 8. 4. Vers. 6. bread] to wit, ordinary bread out of the earth, but God hath nourished you with Manna, the bread of heaven, Psal. 78. 24, 25. Deut. 8. 3. Vers. 7. Sihon] in Greeke, Seon king of Esebon. Of this history see Num. 21. Vers. 8. wee tooke] in Chaldee, wee subdued. to the Reubenites] in Chaldee, to the tribe of Reuben, &c. See the performance hereof in Num. 32. Vers. 9. wisely doe] or, prudently carry, and with understanding, and consequently prosper: so in 1 King. 2. 3. Ios. 1. 7, 8. Here beginneth the one and fiftieth [non-Latin text not transcribed] section of the Law: see the notes on Gen. 6. 9. Vers. 10. your heads of your tribes] that is, your heads, or chiefe men, which are the heads of your tribes: the Greeke translateth them by one word Archiphuloi, that is, the chiefe, or Rulers of the tribes. Vers. 11. thy stranger] in Greeke, the proselyte which is in the midst of your campe. Such of that mixed multitude as came out of Egypt with Israel, Exod. 12. 38. and others that had joyned themselves to the Church. hewer of thy wood] such ashewed wood, and drew water, were the basest servants or slaves of Israel, (as afterward was the case of the Gibeonites, Ios. 9. 21, 27.) who also by faith were admitted into the Church and covenant of Israel. Vers. 12. That thou shouldest passe] He speaketh to them all, as to one man; and to passe into the covenant, is a phrase taken from the manner of making covenants, when they passed betweene the parts of the sacrifices, Gen. 15. 17. Ier. 34. 18, 19, 20. his oath] or, his execration; in Greeke, his curses, because they tooke the curses of the Law upon them, if they kept not the Covenant. This is called the oath of God, Eccles. 8. 2. So this people returned from the captivity of Babylon, entred into a curse, and into an oath, to walke in Gods law which was given by the hand of Moses, Neh. 10. 29. Vers. 13. a God] or, for a God: this is the substance of the Covenant, even such as is made with us in Christ, 2 Cor. 6. 16. Heb. 8. 10. Rev. 21. 3. See the Annotations on Gen. 17. 7. Vers. 15. not here] meaning their posterity throughout all generations, to whom this covenant did alike belong. So in Thargum Ionathan it is expounded, and with every generation that shall rise up unto the worlds end, &c. But this is to be understood with exception of the new Covenant, which God promised, and hath now stablished unto us in Christ, Ier. 31. 31, 32, 33. Heb. 8. 7, 8, 9, 10. Vers. 16. how wee have dwelt] or, that which we have dwelt, which Ionathan expoundeth, the number of yeares that wee have dwelt. This their peregrination in Egypt, and deliverance thence, with Gods gracious conduct of them thorow the wildernesse, are named as motives to perswade unto obedience. Vers. 17. filthy idols] in Hebr. Gillulim, (whereof see Levit. 26. 30.) in Greeke, Idols. Vers. 18. Lest there should be] or, as the Greeke and Chaldee explaine it, That there be not. whose heart] the heart is to bee kept with all diligence, because out of it are the issues of life, Prov. 4. 23. According therefore to this, Paul warneth the Israelites, Take heed brethren, lest there be in any of you an evill heart of unbeleefe, in departing from the living God, Heb. 3. 12. from Iehovah] in Chaldee, from the feare of the Lord. the gods] in Chaldee, the idols of the peoples. a root] an evill heart forementioned, which is hidden from men, as the root is hidden in the earth, but the fruits after doe appeare. The Chaldee translateth it, a man. beareth] or, fructifieth, beareth fruit: in Greeke, springeth up; which word Paul useth in Hebr. 12. 15. gall and wormwood] the Greeke translateth, with gall and bitternesse; whereby is meant sinnes, (as the Chaldee explaineth it, and) as it was said to Simon Magus, Thou art in the gall of bitternesse, and in the bond of iniquity, Act. 8. 23. The Apostle respecting this place, saith, lest any root of bitternesse springing up trouble you, Heb. 12. 15, (for enc[illegible: 1 letter]oles, with gall, saying, enochlee, trouble.) Gall (or Hem [illegible: 1 span]ke) was a bitter and poisonous weed, growing in the East countries, as appeareth by Hos. 10. 4. and wormewood likewise: which are applied sometime to sinnes, as here and in Amos 6. 12. Deuteronom. 32. 32. sometime to bitter punishments, as in Ier. 9. 15. and 23. 15. Lament. 3. 15, 19. Vers. 19. of this oath] or, as the Greeke saith, of this curse: see vers. 12. I shall have peace] or, peace shall be unto me, that is, safety and prosperity, without hurt or punishment. imagination] or contemplation, that which the heart hath spied out, and looketh unto. So the Chaldee translateth it, imagination, (or conceit) but the Greeke calleth it aberration. This sinne Ieremy often imputeth to this people, Ier. 3. 17. and 7. 24. and 9. 14. and 11. 8. and 16. 12. and 18. 12. and 23. 17. to adde the drunken] to wit, the drunken soule to the thirsty, or, the moist to the dry; meaning, to adde sinne unto sinne in abundance, as in Esay 30. 1. The soule that desireth is said to thirst, Psal. 63. 1: and as the godly doe hunger and thirst after righteousnesse, Matt. 5. 6. so doe the wicked after unrighteousnesse, and drinke it up like water, Iob 34. 7. which when he hath glutted himselfe therewith, hee may be said to have added drunkennesse to his thirst. Some understand it also of punishment for sinne, which the Chaldee favoureth, translating, that I may adde unto him the sinnes of ignorance, unto (the sinnes of) presumption. The Hebrew Sephoth, to adde, is sometime used for to consume or destroy. (as in Psal. 40. 15.) in which sense the Greeke Interpreters tooke it here, saying, that the sinner destroy not also him that is without sinne. Vers. 20. not spare] or, not forgive him in mercy. For, if wee walke in the light, as (God) is in the light, the bloud of Iesus Christ his Sonne cleanseth us from all sinne, 1 Ioh. 1. 7. But God will not bee mercifull to any that unfaithfully commit iniquity, Psal. 59. 6. jealousie] which is the rage of a man, that he will not spare in the day of vengeance, Prov. 6. 34. applied here unto the Lord, as in Exod. 20. 5. smoke] in Greeke, burne: a signe of great displeasure, as in Psal. 74. 1. shall lie upon him] the Greeke and Chaldee translate, shall cleave unto him. See this word in Gen. 4. 7. Vers. 21. out of all the tribes] in Greeke, from all the sonnes of Israel, that is, from the communion of the Church (whereto hee addeth daily such as shall be saved, Act. 2. 47.) even as before in v. 20. the man was separated from communion with God. So he threatneth against the false Prophets, they shall not be in the secret of my people, neither shall they be writtē in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shal they enter into the land of Israel, Ezek. 13. 9. And this is a separation unto evill, or for his hurt, as on the contrary the Levites were separated for their good when they were designed to stand before the LORD, to minister unto him, &c. Deut. 10. 8. that is written] in Chaldee, that are written: meaning all and every one. Vers. 22. made it sicke] in Greeke, which he hath sent upon it. God here signifieth such a certainty of his judgments, as all peoples (within the Church and without) should be witnesses of them. Vers. 23. and salt] which maketh the land barren, as saltnesse is used for barrennesse in Psal. 107. 34. So Abimelech sowed the city with salt, which hee made utterly desolate, Iudg. 9. 45. and the wicked man shall dwell in a salt land and not inhabited, Ier. 17. 6. and of mytie places, which should not be healed, it is said, they shall bee given to salt, Ezek. 47. 11. any grasse] or, any herbe: in Greeke, any greene thing; which phrase is used in Rev. 9. 4. This signified a spirituall barrennesse in mens hearts, that they should not bringforth the fruits of the Spirit, Heb. 6, 7, 8. overthrow of Sodom] whereof see Gen. 19. 24, 25. with the Annotations. Zebojim] by the letters, Zebiim, but read Zebojim, as is noted on Gen. 14. [illegible: 1 word]. in Greeke, Sebocim. These two cities were destroyed with Sodom and Gomorrhe; and so another Prophet saith unto Israel, How shall I make thee as Admah? shall I set thee as Zebojim? Hos. 11. 8. in his anger] to their condemnation, 2 Pet. 2. 6. he overthrew them, and repented not, Ier. 20. 16. Vers. 24. shall say] every man to his neighbour, as Ier. 22. 8. that is, one to another. Vers. 25. stroke] Hebr. cut, that is, made with them; which the Greeke translateth, covenanted (or disposed) with their fathers. For things done to the fathers are applied to the children: see v. 14, 15. The like speech is in 1 King. 9. 8, 9. they shall say, Why hath Iehovah done thus unto this land, and to this house? And they shall answer, Because they have forsaken Iehovah their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, &c. which another Prophet recordeth thus; Because they have forsaken Iehovah the God of their fathers, who brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, 2 Chron. 7. 22. So in Ier. 22. 8, 9. Vers. 26. other gods] in Chaldee, the idols of the peoples. gods whom they knew not] or gods which knew not them. and he had not imparted] that is, and hee, to wit, any of those gods, had not imparted or bestowed any good thing upon them. Thus the Chaldee Paraphrast expounds it, and they had not done good unto them: and Ionathan in Tharg, and they had not divided unto them. Or it may be referred to the true God, that he had not imparted, that is, taught them to have any part or fellowship with those gods, or their services. The Greeke translateth, neither had hee distributed unto them. And whereas it is said of the Sunne, Moone, and Stars, that God hath imparted them unto all nations, Deut. 4. 19. this here may aggravate their idolatry, that not onely worshipped such, but even the fictions also of the heathens, gods which they never saw, knew, or had any manner of benefit by them; whereby their sinne was the moreodious. Vers. 27. every curse] the Greeke paraphraseth, according to all the curses of the covenant, which are written in the booke of this Law. The accomplishment of this was acknowledged by Daniel, The curse is powred upon us, and the oath that is written in the Law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him, Dan. 9. 11. &c. Vers. 28. rooted them out] or, plucked them up: which is contrary to planting, Ier. 24. 6. and 42. 10. and 45. 4. Thus the Law of Moses leaveth sinners under the curse, and rooted out of the Lords land: but grace in Christ towards repentant and beleeving sinners, planteth them upon the land, and they shall no more be plucked up, Amos. 9. 15. for they are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, 1 Pet. 1. 5. and cast them] or, sent them: in the Hebrew the word cast hath an extraordinary great letter, to signifie the greatnesse of this punishment. And Baal Hatturim noteth upon it, there is a great Lamed, and a want of Iod, to teach, that there is no casting away like that of the ten tribes. Whereof see 2 King. 17. 18, 23. Vers. 29. The secret things belong] or hidden things are to be left unto Iehovah. This is to be understood generally of all secret things which God hath not revealed in his word, as the times or seasons which the father hath put in his owne power, Act. 1. 7. the day and houre of judgment, Matt. 24. 36. and all other like things. Particularly it may be applied to Gods counsell concerning the Israelites, in punishing, and casting them off for their sinnes, and afterward calling a remnant of them: which the Apostle treating of in Rom. 11. saith; O the depth of the riches both of the wisdome and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his waies past finding out! Rom. 11. 33. The Hebrew Nistaroth (here used) sometime meaneth secret sinnes, as Psal. 19. 13. Vnto which some of the Hebrewes referre this speech, that secret sinnes: God will punish, but open sinnes are for men to punish, Chazkuni on Deut. 29. & so Ionathan in Thargum explaineth it, Hidden sinnes are manifest before the Lord our God, and hee will take vengeance on them, &c. and the things revealed] or, but open (or manifest) things belong to us, and to our sonnes: upon which last words, the Hebrew text hath extraordinary pricks, to stir up attention to the matter here spoken, as it is indeed worthy of all observation, for it teacheth the continuall duty of Gods people in all ages, to learne his law, to doe the same, and to have care that true religion may bee continued among their posterity. The Hebrewes say, Every man of Israel is bound to learne the Law, be he poore or rich, be he in health of body, or under chastisements; be he young, or old and decrepit; though he be so poore that he lives on almes; yea, though he have wife and children, he is bound to set himselfe a time to leanne the Law, by day and by night, as it is said, and thou shalt meditate therein day and night. The great wise men of Israel, some of them were hewers of wood, and some drawers of water, and some blinde: notwithstanding they imployeth themselves in learning the Law, day & night. How is a man bound to learne the law? Vntill the day of his death, as it is said, and lest they depart from thine heart, all the daies of thy life, (Deut. 4. 9.) and all the while that he imployeth not himselfe in learning, he forgetteth. Maimony in Thalmud Torah, chap. 1. sect. 8, 9, 10.