Deuteronomy 29:4

_THE GREAT TEMPTATIONS WHICH THINE EYES HAVE SEEN, THE SIGNS, AND THOSE GREAT MIRACLES:_ No JFB commentary on these verses....

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 du...

1-9 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....

Verse Deuteronomy 29:4. _THE LORD HATH NOT GIVEN YOU A HEART, C._] Some critics read this verse interrogatively: _And hath not God given_ _you a heart, c._? 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_, c., 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 auth...

Ability to understand the things of God is the gift of God (compare 1 Corinthians 2:13); yet man is not guiltless if he lacks that ability. The people had it not because they had not felt their want of it, nor asked for it. Compare 2 Corinthians 3:14....

EXPOSITION RENEWAL OF THE COVENANT IN THE PLAINS OF MOAB. (Deuteronomy 29-30.) The first verse of this chapter is placed in the Hebrew text at the end of Deuteronomy 28:1; but in the LXX. and Vulgate the arrangement is as in the Authorized Version, where it appears as the title of the section that follows. In that section is contained an address to the people by Moses, in which he appeals to them to enter anew into the covenant with the Lord, which had been before concluded at Horeb; denounces apostasy as what would lead certainly to their being rejected of God; assures them at the same time of God's readiness to restore them should they sincerely repent and return to him; and once more sets bef

YET THE LORD HATH NOT GIVEN YOU AN HEART TO PERCEIVE,.... They had some of them seen the above miracles with their bodily eyes, but had not discerned with the eyes of their understanding the power of God displayed in them, the goodness of God to them on whose behalf they were wrought, in order to obtain their deliverance, and the vengeance of God on the Egyptians for detaining them; so Jarchi interprets it of an heart to know the mercies of the Lord, and to cleave unto him: AND EYES TO SEE, AND EARS TO HEAR, UNTO THIS DAY; to see and observe the gracious dealings of God with them, and to hearken to his voice and obey it: so the understanding heart, the seeing eye, and hearing ear, in things spiritual, are from the Lord, are special gifts of his grace, which he bestows on some, and not on others; see Proverbs 20:12. The Targum of Jonathan is, "the Word of

25. THE REPETITION OF THE COVENANT AND THE REPETITION OF THE CURSE CHAPTER 29 _ 1. The repetition of the covenant (Deuteronomy 29:1)_ 2. The repetition of the curse (Deuteronomy 29:16) The words of the covenant are once more brought to their remembrance. Once more all the goodness of the Lord towards them is unfolded by Moses, how the Lord had dealt with Egypt and how their eyes had seen the signs and great miracles. (Verses 5 and 6 are the direct words of Jehovah, ending with the declaration, “I am the LORD, your God.”) Again the forty years are mentioned, during which their clothes and their shoes did not get old. God took care of them and provided for their needs in the wilderness. Bread from heaven was their portion and therefore they had no need of sti

DEUTERONOMY 29:1 belongs, as in the Heb. Bible, to the preceding chapter. It is the formal ending of the great discourse (Deuteronomy 4:44, Deuteronomy 12-26, Deuteronomy 28). Deuteronomy 29 (except Deuteronomy 29:1) and Deuteronomy 30 form ostensibly Moses-' third address, in the course of which Israel is urged to obey Yahweh and to enter into covenant relations with Him (Deuteronomy 29:2), words of warning (Deuteronomy 29:16) being followed by words of promise ...

_an heart to know_ The _heart_the seat of the practical understanding; -not the seat of the affections, but the mind itself, the intellectual faculty of the soul" (Calvin), yet always in a moral aspect; see on Deuteronomy 4:39; Deuteronomy 6:6. _Eyes_and _ears_, figures here of the spiritual senses, cp. Jeremiah 5:21. In form the connection with the preceding _v_. is difficult to trace, but the substance is clear. The deeds in which the Divine revelation consists are of no avail without the inward power to recognise and appreciate them, which is also, equally with them, of the gift of God; -Men are ever blind even in the brightest light, until they have been enlightened of God" (Calvin).