Deuteronomy 29:2 Kommentar

The first words of this chapter are the contents of it, "These are the words of the covenant" (Deu 29:1), that is, these that follow. Here is, I. A recital of God's dealings with them, in order to the bringing of them into this covenant (Deu 29:2-8). II. A solemn charge to them to keep the covenant (Deu 29:9). III. An abstract of the covenant itself (Deu 29:12, Deu 29:13). IV. A specification of the persons taken into the covenant (Deu 29:10, Deu 29:11, Deu 29:14, Deu 29:15). V. An intimation of the great design of this covenant against idolatry, in a parenthesis (Deu 29:16, Deu 29:17). VI. A most solemn and dreadful denunciation of the wrath of God against such persons as promise themselves peace in a sinful way (Deu 29:18-28). VII. The conclusion of this treaty, with a distinction between things secret and things revealed (Deu 29:29).

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 29 This chapter begins with an intimation of another covenant the Lord was about to make with the people of Israel, Deu 29:1; and, to prepare their minds to an attention to it, various things which the Lord had done for them are recited, Deu 29:2; the persons are particularly mentioned with whom the covenant would now be made, the substance of which is, that they should be his people, and he their God, Deu 29:10; and since they had seen the idols in Egypt and other countries, with which they might have been ensnared, they are cautioned against idolatry and idolaters, as being most provoking to the Lord, Deu 29:16; which would bring destruction not only on particular persons, but upon their whole land, to the amazement of posterity; who, inquiring the reason of it, will be told, it was because they forsook the covenant of God, and particularly were guilty of idolatry, which, whether privately or openly committed, would be always punished, Deu 29:22.

Moses called unto all Israel,.... He had been speaking before to the heads of them, and delivered at different times what is before recorded; but now he summoned the whole body of the people together, a solemn covenant being to be made between God and them; or such things being to be made known unto them as were of universal concernment: and said unto them; what is in this chapter; which is only a preparation or introduction to what he had to declare unto them in the following: ye have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt; the Targum of Jonathan is,"what the Word of the Lord did;''for all the wonderful things there done in Egypt were done by the essential Word of God, Christ, the Son of God; who appeared to Moses in the bush, and sent him to Egypt, and by him and Aaron wrought the miracles there; which many now present had seen, and were then old enough to take notice of, and could remember, though their fathers then in being were now dead: unto Pharaoh and unto all his servants, and unto all his land; the plagues he inflicted on the person of Pharaoh, and on all his courtiers, and on all the people in Egypt, for they reached the whole land.

AN EXHORTATION TO OBEDIENCE. (Deu. 29:1-29) 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.

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 (Deu 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.

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).

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).