Deuteronomy 29:1

Both this and the following chapters are part of the ratification of the Sinai Covenant that took place on the plains of Moab, shortly before Israel would enter Canaan, the purpose being that of securing the succession to Leadership in the person of Joshua. A great part of the ceremony was already completed in the previous two chapters, and this through Deuteronomy 30 is concerned principally with the pronouncements of the curses and blessings, these two chapters being actually a kind of summary of the whole convocation of ratification

Deuteronomy 29:1 appears as Deuteronomy 28:69 in the Hebrew Bible, where it serves as a subscription to that long chapter. However, the better arrangement is that which appears in our version where it is the superscription for the final summary of the ratification ceremony embracing Deuteronomy 29-30. As Von Rad expressed it: "It is generally accepted today that this verse which, in German and in Hebrew, is reckoned as the last verse of Deuteronomy 28 is to be considered NOT as the conclusion of what precedes it, but as the heading of what comes next."[1] Von Rad also designated Deuteronomy 29-30 as the section which, in his opinion, "is the section described by this heading.[2] However, we cannot agree with Von Rad's notion that "another covenant" is made here. No, it cannot be another covenant in any sense of the word, for there were no sacrifices, no sprinkling of blood, or anything else identified with the Sinai Covenant.

As Keil accurately observed:

"Here we have literally a renewed declaration of the covenant which the Lord made with the nation at Horeb ... This is a fresh obligation of the congregation to keep the covenant which had already been concluded at Horeb, by the offering of sacrifices and the sprinkling of the people with the sacrificial blood. There was no necessity for the repetition of this act, because, despite Israel's sins, God had not abrogated the covenant, but it still remained in full validity and force."[3]

All of the mystery that perplexes some scholars is cleared up in the understanding that here we have the conclusion ceremony of ratification after the pattern of the old suzerainty treaties, the summary here being in the exact form of those old treaties. Watts' analysis is this:[4]

<MONO>

1. Pre-history...............................Deuteronomy 29:2-9

2. Recording the agreement made..............Deuteronomy 29:10-15

3. Warning against disobedience..............Deuteronomy 29:16-21

4. Curse for breaking covenant...............Deuteronomy 29:22-29

5. Statement of blessing.....................Deuteronomy 30:1-10

6. Exhortation to keep the covenant..........Deuteronomy 30:11-14

7. Blessing and curse conclusion.............Deuteronomy 30:15-20MONO>

As Kline stated, "Moses himself made a direct personal appeal to the people standing before him, and confronted them with the central purpose of the ceremony of this great day."[5] Moses urged the people to choose obedience and life, instead of disobedience and death, pointing out that if they failed, that the curses of the covenant "would be visited on an unfaithful nation throughout their generations (Deuteronomy 29:16-29)."[6]

"These are the words of the covenant which Jehovah commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab besides the covenant which he made with them in Horeb."

PRE-HISTORY (DEUT. 29:2-9)

"And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that Jehovah did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land; the great trials which thine eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders: but Jehovah hath not given you a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day. And I have led you forty years by the wilderness: your clothes have not waxed old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxed old upon thy foot. Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink; that ye may know that I am Jehovah your God. 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: and we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance unto the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of the Manassites. Keep therefore the words of this covenant, that ye may prosper in all that ye do."

"Besides the covenant ..." (Deuteronomy 29:1). Despite this language, which should be understood in the sense of "reaffirming" the covenant already in force, "This was not a new covenant in addition to the one made at Sinai, but simply a renewal and reaffirmation of that covenant. Here no sacrifices were offered."[7]

The identity of this "covenant" mentioned here with the one made at Sinai leads to a very important deduction, pointed out by Oberst: "Thus, in future writings, `the Laws of Moses' includes both those given at Sinai and also these given here on the plains of Moab."[8]

In a few minutes Moses would ask the people to swear allegiance to the covenant with God, and leading up to that, in order to have them in the proper frame of mind to do this, and also conforming strictly to the pattern of the suzerainty treaties, there is given here a brief pre-view of God's wonderful works for Israel. True to the Scriptural pattern observed throughout the Pentateuch, that whenever a former event is mentioned, there is usually thrown in some additional truth not previously mentioned, the fact of clothes and shoes not even becoming old is given, also God's withholding wine and strong drink from the people! But think how much was left out! These few verses are but a tiny fragment of all God's wonders on behalf of Israel. This whole ceremony is in the form of an abbreviated conclusion.

There is a note of sadness in Deuteronomy 29:4. For all the wonders of God on behalf of Israel, the vast majority of them possessed very little spiritual understanding. Like those who followed Jesus in later times in Galilee, the people enjoyed the "loaves and the fishes" but they did not look beyond such blessings for the spiritual realities that lay behind them and provided them. As John Calvin put it, "Men are ever blind in the brightest light, until they have been enlightened by God."[9] "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Corinthians 2:14). Moses was one of the great spiritual giants of all time, and in the amazing statement here, he says very sadly, "God has not enlightened you! ... By attributing such incapabilities of the people to God, Moses was merely following the O.T. tradition in relating everything to God as the ultimate source or ground of all things."[10] "The people of Israel so signally favored as to have lived forty years in the atmosphere of supernatural providence, lacked that gift (of spiritual discernment)."[11]

A word of caution is in order. Although it is true that only God can supply the gift of spirituality, man himself is also responsible as to the kind of person he becomes. No one has the right to say, "Well, I'm not the religious kind!" Especially in this dispensation of God's grace, "Whosoever will may come" and drink of the water of life freely. If any man will obey the gospel of Christ, God will create a new heart within him and supply within the man himself "the gift of the Holy Spirit."

In these remarkable ceremonies, Moses not only provided for the future renewal of the covenant (as in the commandments to do so at Mount Ebal), "but he called for rededication then and there. Note the recurring phrase, "this day," in Deuteronomy 29:4,10,12,15, etc."[12]

Before leaving this first paragraph, we should take special note of the fact that Moses is specifically declared to be the speaker, the maker of both covenants, the one at Sinai, and the one here, and these declarations, along with a number of others in Deuteronomy, "constitute the Pentateuchal claim to be the Word of God spoken through Moses."[13] The critical claim that Deuteronomy does not claim Moses as its author, like many another critical cliche, is a falsehood.

Notice in Deuteronomy 29:6, how, in Moses' speech, he unconsciously slips into his role of speaking God's Words, and without change in person, says, "That ye may know that I am Jehovah your God." Kline stated that, "This evidences the reality of the supernatural revelation which came through Moses, God's mediator.[14]