XXIX., XXX. THE SECOND COVENANT. (1) THESE ARE THE WORDS OF THE COVENANT. — The Hebrew Bibles add this verse to the previous chapter, and begin Deuteronomy 29 at the second verse. But they cannot be right in so doing. For though the pronoun “these” in Hebrew has nothing to determine whether it belon... [ Continue Reading ]
AND MOSES CALLED ALL ISRAEL AND SAID UNTO THEM. — The address in this chapter may be compared with that of Joshua to the _people_ (as distinct from their heads and officers) in Joshua 24. The topics brought before them are simple. In Deuteronomy 29:2, the miracles of the Exodus; in Deuteronomy 29:5;... [ Continue Reading ]
YET THE LORD HATH NOT GIVEN YOU AN HEART TO PERCEIVE. — “To mark the mercies of the Holy One, blessed be He! and to cleave unto Him” (Rashi). And so in Psalms 106:7, “Our fathers understood not Thy wonders in Egypt; _they remembered not the multitude of Thy mercies.”_ (See also on Deuteronomy 31:16,... [ Continue Reading ]
See on Deuteronomy 8:4.... [ Continue Reading ]
YE HAVE NOT EATEN BREAD — but manna (Deuteronomy 8:3). NEITHER HAVE YE DRUNK WINE OR STRONG DRINK. — A fact stated here only, and evidently coming from the lips of one who “knew their walking through the wilderness.” “They drank of that spiritual rock that followed them; and that Rock was Christ.”... [ Continue Reading ]
KEEP THEREFORE THE WORDS OF THIS COVENANT... THAT YE MAY PROSPER. — Comp. Joshua 1:8 (Note); Psalms 1:3.... [ Continue Reading ]
YE STAND THIS DAY ALL OF YOU. — There is no limit to the blessing of following Jehovah and keeping His word. It is open to all, from the highest to the lowest, to take hold of His covenant.... [ Continue Reading ]
YOUR LITTLE ONES. — Compare St. Peter’s words on the day of Pentecost: “The promise is unto you and to your children” (Acts 2:39). The covenant with Abraham was that the Almighty would be a God to him and _to his seed_ (Genesis 17:7), including the child of eight days old (Deuteronomy 29:12), and th... [ Continue Reading ]
ENTER (literally “pass “) INTO COVENANT WITH THE LORD. — Comp. Ezekiel 20:37 : “I will _cause you to pass_ under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of _the covenant”_ Rashi illustrates by Jeremiah 34:18, the _passing between_ the parts of the divided victim, in order to enter into the coven... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT HE MAY ESTABLISH THEE TO DAY FOR A PEOPLE UNTO HIMSELF. — It must be carefully observed that this is the aspect of the covenant which makes Jehovah responsible for the fulfilment of the whole. “He takes all this trouble for the sake of establishing thee in His presence for a people” (Rashi). Th... [ Continue Reading ]
NEITHER WITH YOU ONLY... BUT... ALSO WITH HIM THAT IS NOT HERE WITH US THIS DAY — _i.e.,_ “also with generations yet to be” (Rashi).... [ Continue Reading ]
These verses seem rightly placed in a parenthesis. (Comp. Ezekiel 20:7; Ezekiel 20:18.)... [ Continue Reading ]
THEIR ABOMINATIONS. — This word occurs here for the first time, but the verb appears in Deuteronomy 7:26 (“utterly detest “), and in Leviticus 11:11; Leviticus 11:13; Leviticus 11:43; Leviticus 20:25. In the later scriptures of the Old Testament this word “abomination” is frequently used to denote a... [ Continue Reading ]
LEST THERE SHOULD BE. — The connection with Deuteronomy 29:15 seems to be this. “I make this covenant binding with all your generations, in case there should even now be any root of idolatry among you which may grow up and bring forth fruit in later times, and bring a curse upon your whole country.”... [ Continue Reading ]
THE IMAGINATION. — Rather the “stubbornness” or “obstinacy.” The word is only found here and in Psalms 81:12 outside the writings of Jeremiah, who uses it eight times. TO ADD DRUNKENNESS TO THIRST — i.e., the indulgence of the desire to the desire itself; to add sin to temptation. The LXX. have a st... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL SMOKE. — Comp. Psalms 80:4; Psalms 74:1. Mount Sinai was altogether “on a smoke” because the Lord descended on it in fire. SHALL LIE UPON HIM. — As the beasts lie down in their lairs. The only other place which we can at all compare with this is the difficult expression in Genesis 4:7, “Sin _... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD SHALL SEPARATE HIM UNTO EVIL... SO THAT THE GENERATION TO COME... SHALL SAY... OF THAT LAND. — It is not a little remarkable that the sin of one man is here represented as growing and spreading devastation over the whole land of Israel — the very thing which the man apparently regards a... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THAT THE WHOLE LAND THEREOF IS BRIMSTONE, AND SALT, AND BURNING, THAT IT IS NOT SOWN, NOR BEARETH, NOR ANY GRASS GROWETH THEREIN. — Can this be a description of the same country of which it was written in Deuteronomy 8:7, “A good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spri... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL NATIONS SHALL SAY, WHEREFORE...? — The people of Israel are represented as asking a similar question in Jeremiah 5:19, “And it shall come to pass, when _ye shall say, Wherefore_ doeth the Lord our God all these things unto us? Then shalt thou answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOM HE HAD NOT GIVEN. — The latter clause _may_ be a change from plural to singular. “They went and served other gods, gods whom they knew not, and _none of whom gave_ them any portion.”... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD ROOTED THEM OUT. — Comp. 1 Kings 14:15, “He shall _root up_ Israel out of this good land.” The word is not uncommon in Jeremiah.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SECRET THINGS BELONG UNTO THE LORD OUR GOD. — The immediate connection of these words with the context is not clear. Rashi connects the “secret things” with the “imagination of the evil heart of the secret idolater” of Deuteronomy 29:19. (The “secret faults” of Psalms 19:12 is the same expressio... [ Continue Reading ]