Deuteronomy 29:27

29:22-28 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.

The description is borrowed from the local features of the Dead Sea and its vicinity. The towns of the vale of Siddim were fertile and well watered (compare Genesis 13:10 ) until devastated by the wrath of God Genesis 19:24-25 . The ruin of Israel and its land should be of the like sort (compare Leviticus 26:31-32 ; Psalm 107:34 ; Zephaniah 2:9 ). The desolate state of Palestine at present, and the traces of former fertility and prosperity, are attested by every traveler.

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 Heb 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"?

58 . observe to do ] See on Deuteronomy 28:1 . all the words of this law ] Heb. of this Tôrah , see on Deuteronomy 1:5 , Deuteronomy 31:9 . In Deuteronomy 17:19 , Deuteronomy 29:29 (28), Deuteronomy 31:12 , Deuteronomy 32:46 , with the same, or a similar, formula preceding; also in Deuteronomy 27:3 ; Deuteronomy 27:8 ; Deuteronomy 27:26 . that are written in this book ] Cp. Deuteronomy 28:61 , Deuteronomy 17:18 , Deuteronomy 29:20 f., Deuteronomy 29:27 ( Deuteronomy 29:19 f., Deuteronomy 29:26 ), Deuteronomy 30:10 . The Law, therefore, was already written down. As pointed out in the note on Deuteronomy 17:18 , such a statement may well have belonged to the original D, discovered in the Temple in 621; but it is not compatible with the other representation, hitherto prevalent, that the exhortations and laws were spoken by Moses, nor with the statement in Deuteronomy 31:9 , that he wrote the law when this discourse was finished. As Driver says, this v . ‘betrays the fact that Deuteronomy was from the first a written book.’ fear this glorious and fearful name ] Cp. Nehemiah 9:5 , Psalm 72:19 , 1 Chronicles 29:13 , Isaiah 63:12 . In J, Exodus 33:18 God’s glory is parallel to His Name. For fear this name see Micah 6:9 (on one reading), Malachi 4:2 , Isaiah 59:19 , Psalm 61:5 (6). Cp. Leviticus 24:11 . This list (containing as it does Micah 6:9 ) is not sufficient to prove, as Berth, suggests, a late date for our passage. 58–68.

"Gods which God had not assigned them" (vid., Deuteronomy 4:19 ). "All the curses," etc., are the curses contained in Deuteronomy 28:15-68 ; Leviticus 26:14-38 . - Those who give the answer close their address in Deuteronomy 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. (Note: 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.)

[Bible] 29:27. Therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this volume: 29:28. And he hath cast them out of their land, in anger and in wrath, and in very great indignation, and hath thrown them into a strange land, as it is seen this day. 29:29. Secret things to the Lord our God: things that are manifest, to us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. Secret things, etc... As much as to say, secret things belong to, and are known to, God alone; our business must be to observe what he has revealed and manifested to us, and to direct our lives accordingly. Deuteronomy Chapter 30 Great mercies are promised to the penitent: God's commandment is feasible. Life and death are set before them. 30:1. Now when all these things shall be come upon thee, the blessing or the curse, which I have set forth before thee, and thou shalt be touched with repentance of thy heart among all the nations, into which the Lord thy God shall have scattered thee, 30:2. And shalt return to him, and obey his commandments, as I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul: 30:3. The Lord thy God will bring back again thy captivity, and will have mercy on thee, and gather thee again out of all the nations, into which he scattered thee before. 30:4. If thou be driven as far as the poles of heaven, the Lord thy God will fetch thee back from hence, 30:5. And will take thee to himself, and bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it: and blessing thee, he will make thee more numerous than were thy fathers. 30:6. The Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed: that thou mayst love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, that thou mayst live. 30:7. And he will turn all these curses upon thy enemies, and upon them that hate and persecute thee.