Deuteronomy 29:1

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 28:1-68 ; 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 before them the blessing and the curse, and adjures them to choose the blessing.

Beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb. This was not a new covenant in addition to that made at Sinai, but simply a renewal and reaffirmation of that covenant. At Sinai the covenant was, properly speaking, made ; sacrifices were then offered, and the people were sprinkled with the sacrificial blood, whereby the covenant was ratified ( Exodus 24:1-18 .; cf. Psalms 50:5 ); but on the occasion here referred to, no sacrifices were offered, for this was merely the recognition of the covenant formerly made as still subsisting.