mh_parser/vol_split/5 - Deuteronomy/Chapter 29.xml

<div2 id="Deu.xxx" n="xxx" next="Deu.xxxi" prev="Deu.xxix" progress="95.14%" title="Chapter XXIX">
<h2 id="Deu.xxx-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
<h3 id="Deu.xxx-p0.2">CHAP. XXIX.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Deu.xxx-p1">The first words of this chapter are the contents
of it, "These are the words of the covenant" (<scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.1" parsed="|Deut|29|1|0|0" passage="De 29:1">ver. 1</scripRef>), 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, <scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.2-Deut.29.8" parsed="|Deut|29|2|29|8" passage="De 29:2-8">ver.
2-8</scripRef>. II. A solemn charge to them to keep the covenant,
<scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.9" parsed="|Deut|29|9|0|0" passage="De 29:9">ver. 9</scripRef>. III. An abstract of
the covenant itself, <scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.12-Deut.29.13" parsed="|Deut|29|12|29|13" passage="De 29:12,13">ver. 12,
13</scripRef>. IV. A specification of the persons taken into the
covenant, <scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.10-Deut.29.11 Bible:Deut.29.14 Bible:Deut.29.15" parsed="|Deut|29|10|29|11;|Deut|29|14|0|0;|Deut|29|15|0|0" passage="De 29:10,11,14,15">ver. 10, 11, 14,
15</scripRef>. V. An intimation of the great design of this
covenant against idolatry, in a parenthesis, <scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.16-Deut.29.17" parsed="|Deut|29|16|29|17" passage="De 29:16,17">ver. 16, 17</scripRef>. VI. A most solemn and
dreadful denunciation of the wrath of God against such persons as
promise themselves peace in a sinful way, <scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.18-Deut.29.28" parsed="|Deut|29|18|29|28" passage="De 29:18-28">ver. 18-28</scripRef>. VII. The conclusion of this
treaty, with a distinction between things secret and things
revealed, <scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.29" parsed="|Deut|29|29|0|0" passage="De 29:29">ver. 29</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Deu.xxx-p1.9" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29" parsed="|Deut|29|0|0|0" passage="De 29" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Deu.xxx-p1.10" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.1-Deut.29.9" parsed="|Deut|29|1|29|9" passage="De 29:1-9" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.29.1-Deut.29.9">
<h4 id="Deu.xxx-p1.11">Mercies Called to
Remembrance. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p1.12">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxx-p2">1 These <i>are</i> the words of the covenant,
which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p2.1">Lord</span> commanded Moses to
make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the
covenant which he made with them in Horeb.   2 And Moses
called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p2.2">Lord</span> did before your eyes in the
land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all
his land;   3 The great temptations which thine eyes have
seen, the signs, and those great miracles:   4 Yet the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p2.3">Lord</span> hath not given you a heart to
perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.  
5 And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes
are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy
foot.   6 Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine
or strong drink: that ye might know that I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p2.4">Lord</span> your God.   7 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:  
8 And we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance unto the
Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half tribe of Manasseh.
  9 Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them,
that ye may prosper in all that ye do.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p3">Now that Moses had largely repeated the
commands which the people were to observe as their part of the
covenant, and the promises and threatenings which God would make
good (according as they behaved themselves) as part of the
covenant, the whole is here summed up in a federal transaction. The
covenant formerly made is here renewed, and Moses, who was before,
is still, the mediator of it (<scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.1" parsed="|Deut|29|1|0|0" passage="De 29:1"><i>v.</i>
1</scripRef>): <i>The Lord commanded Moses to make it.</i> Moses
himself, though king in Jeshurun, could not make the covenant any
otherwise than as God gave him instructions. It does not lie in the
power of ministers to fix the terms of the covenant; they are only
to dispense the seals of it. This is said to be <i>besides the
covenant made in Horeb;</i> for, though the covenant was the same,
yet it was a new promulgation and ratification of it. It is
probable that some now living, though not of age to be mustered,
were of age to consent for themselves to the covenant made at
Horeb, and yet it is here renewed. Note, Those that have solemnly
covenanted with God should take all opportunities to do it again,
as those that like their choice too well to change. But the far
greater part were a new generation, and therefore the covenant must
be made afresh with them, for it is fit that the covenant should be
renewed to the children of the covenant.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p4">I. It is usual for indentures to begin with
a recital; this does so, with a rehearsal of the great things God
had done for them, 1. As an encouragement to them to believe that
God would indeed be to them a God, for he would not have done so
much for them if he had not designed more, to which all he had
hitherto done was but a preface (as it were) or introduction; nay,
he had shown himself a God in what he had hitherto done for them,
which might raise their expectations of something great and
answering the vast extent and compass of that pregnant promise,
that God would be to them a God. 2. As an engagement upon them to
be to him an obedient people, in consideration of what he had done
for them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p5">II. For the proof of what he here advances
he appeals to their own eyes (<scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.2" parsed="|Deut|29|2|0|0" passage="De 29:2"><i>v.</i>
2</scripRef>): <i>You have seen all that the Lord did.</i> Their
own senses were incontestable evidence of the matter of fact, that
God had done great things for them; and then their own reason was a
no less competent judge of the equity of his inference from it:
<i>Keep therefore the words of this covenant,</i> <scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.9" parsed="|Deut|29|9|0|0" passage="De 29:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p6">III. These things he specifies, to show the
power and goodness of God in his appearances for them. 1. Their
deliverance out of Egypt, <scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.2-Deut.29.3" parsed="|Deut|29|2|29|3" passage="De 29:2,3"><i>v.</i>
2, 3</scripRef>. The amazing signs and miracles by which Pharaoh
was plagued and compelled to dismiss them, and Israel was tried
(for they are called <i>temptations</i>) whether they would trust
God to secure them from, and save them by, those plagues. 2. Their
conduct through the wilderness for forty years, <scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.5-Deut.29.6" parsed="|Deut|29|5|29|6" passage="De 29:5,6"><i>v.</i> 5, 6</scripRef>. There they were led, and
clad, and fed, by miracles; though the paths of the wilderness were
not only unknown but untrodden, yet God kept them from being lost
there; and (as bishop Patrick observes) those very shoes which by
the appointment of God they put on in Egypt, at the passover, when
the were ready to march (<scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.11" parsed="|Exod|12|11|0|0" passage="Ex 12:11">Exod. xii.
11</scripRef>), never wore out, but served them to Canaan: and
though they lived not upon bread which strengthens the heart, and
wine which rejoices it, but upon manna and rock-water, yet they
were men of strength and courage, mighty men, and able to go forth
to war. By these miracles they were made to know that the Lord was
God, and by these mercies that he was their God. 3. The victory
they had lately obtained of Sihon and Og, and that good land which
they had taken possession of, <scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.7-Deut.29.8" parsed="|Deut|29|7|29|8" passage="De 29:7,8"><i>v.</i> 7, 8</scripRef>. Both former mercies and
fresh mercies should be improved by us as inducements to
obedience.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p7">IV. By way of inference from these
memoirs,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p8">1. Moses laments their stupidity: <i>Yet
the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive,</i> <scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.4" parsed="|Deut|29|4|0|0" passage="De 29:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. This does not lay the
blame of their senselessness, and sottishness, and unbelief, upon
God, as if they had stood ready to receive his grace and had begged
for it, but he had denied them; no, but it fastens the guilt upon
themselves. "The Lord, who is the Father of spirits, a God in
covenant with you, and who had always been so rich in mercy to you,
no doubt would have crowned all his other gifts with this, he would
have given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see if you had not
by your own frowardness and perverseness frustrated his kind
intentions, and received his grace in vain." Note, (1.) The hearing
ear, the seeing eye, and the understanding heart, are the gift of
God. All that have them have them from him. (2.) 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 intention and use of the gifts.
(3.) God's readiness to do us good in other things is a plain
evidence that if we have not grace, that best of gifts, it is our
own fault and not his; he would have gathered us and we would
not.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p9">2. Moses charges them to be obedient:
<i>Keep therefore, and do,</i> <scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.9" parsed="|Deut|29|9|0|0" passage="De 29:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. Note, We are bound in gratitude
and interest, as well as duty and faithfulness, to <i>keep the
words of the covenant.</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="Deu.xxx-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29" parsed="|Deut|29|0|0|0" passage="De 29" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Deu.xxx-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.10-Deut.29.29" parsed="|Deut|29|10|29|29" passage="De 29:10-29" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.29.10-Deut.29.29">
<h4 id="Deu.xxx-p9.4">The Covenant Renewed. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p9.5">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxx-p10">10 Ye stand this day all of you before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p10.1">Lord</span> your God; your captains of your
tribes, your elders, and your officers, <i>with</i> all the men of
Israel,   11 Your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger
that <i>is</i> in thy camp, from the hewer of thy wood unto the
drawer of thy water:   12 That thou shouldest enter into
covenant with the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p10.2">Lord</span> thy God, and
into his oath, which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p10.3">Lord</span> thy
God maketh with thee this day:   13 That he may establish thee
to day for a people unto himself, and <i>that</i> he may be unto
thee a God, as he hath said unto thee, and as he hath sworn unto
thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.   14 Neither
with you only do I make this covenant and this oath;   15 But
with <i>him</i> that standeth here with us this day before the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p10.4">Lord</span> our God, and also with
<i>him</i> that <i>is</i> not here with us this day:   16 (For
ye know how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt; and how we came
through the nations which ye passed by;   17 And ye have seen
their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and
gold, which <i>were</i> among them:)   18 Lest there should be
among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth
away this day from the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p10.5">Lord</span> our God,
to go <i>and</i> serve the gods of these nations; lest there should
be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood;   19 And
it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he
bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I
walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to
thirst:   20 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p10.6">Lord</span> will not
spare him, but then the anger of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p10.7">Lord</span> and his jealousy shall smoke against that
man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie
upon him, and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p10.8">Lord</span> shall blot
out his name from under heaven.   21 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p10.9">Lord</span> shall separate him unto evil out of all the
tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that
are written in this book of the law:   22 So that the
generation to come of your children that shall rise up after you,
and the stranger that shall come from a far land, shall say, when
they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses which the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p10.10">Lord</span> hath laid upon it;   23
<i>And that</i> the whole land thereof <i>is</i> brimstone, and
salt, <i>and</i> burning, <i>that</i> it is not sown, nor beareth,
nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and
Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p10.11">Lord</span> overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath:
  24 Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p10.12">Lord</span> done thus unto this land? what
<i>meaneth</i> the heat of this great anger?   25 Then men
shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p10.13">Lord</span> God of their fathers, which he made
with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt:
  26 For they went and served other gods, and worshipped them,
gods whom they knew not, and <i>whom</i> he had not given unto
them:   27 And the anger of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p10.14">Lord</span> was kindled against this land, to bring
upon it all the curses that are written in this book:   28 And
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p10.15">Lord</span> rooted them out of their
land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast
them into another land, as <i>it is</i> this day.   29 The
secret <i>things belong</i> unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p10.16">Lord</span> our God: but those <i>things which are</i>
revealed <i>belong</i> unto us and to our children for ever, that
<i>we</i> may do all the words of this law.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p11">It appears by the length of the sentences
here, and by the copiousness and pungency of the expressions, that
Moses, now that he was drawing near to the close of his discourse,
was very warm and zealous, and very desirous to impress what he
said upon the minds of this unthinking people. To bind them the
faster to God and duty, he here, with great solemnity of expression
(to make up the want of the external ceremony that was used
(<scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.4-Exod.24.8" parsed="|Exod|24|4|24|8" passage="Ex 24:4-8">Exod. xxiv. 4</scripRef>, &amp;c.),
concludes a bargain (as it were) between them and God, an
everlasting covenant, which God would not forget and they must not.
He requires not their explicit consent, but lays the matter plainly
before them, and then leaves it between God and their own
consciences. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p12">I. The parties to this covenant. 1. It is
the Lord their God they are to covenant with, <scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.12" parsed="|Deut|29|12|0|0" passage="De 29:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. To him they must give up
themselves, to him they must join themselves. "It is his oath; he
has drawn up the covenant and settled it; he requires your consent
to it; he has sworn to you and to him you must be sworn." This
requires us to be sincere and serious, humble and reverent, in our
covenant-transactions with God, remembering how great a God he is
with whom we are covenanting, who has a perfect knowledge of us and
an absolute dominion over us. 2. They are all to be taken into
covenant with him. They were all summoned to attend (<scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.2" parsed="|Deut|29|2|0|0" passage="De 29:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), and did accordingly, and
are told (<scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.10" parsed="|Deut|29|10|0|0" passage="De 29:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>)
what was the design of their appearing before God now in a
body—they were to enter into covenant with him. (1.) Even their
great men, the captains of their tribes, their elders and officers,
must not think it any disparagement to their honour, or any
diminution of their power, to put their necks under the yoke of
this covenant, and to draw in it. They must rather enter into the
covenant first, to set a good example to their inferiors. (2.) Not
the men only, but their wives and children, must come into this
covenant; though they were not numbered and mustered, yet they must
be <i>joined to the Lord,</i> <scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p12.4" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.11" parsed="|Deut|29|11|0|0" passage="De 29:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. Observe, Even little ones are
capable of being taken into covenant with God, and are to be
admitted with their parents. Little children, so little as to be
carried in arms, must be brought to Christ, and shall be blessed by
him, for <i>of such</i> was and <i>is the kingdom of God.</i> (3.)
Not the men of Israel only, but the stranger that was in their
camp, provided he was so far proselyted to their religion as to
renounce all false gods, was taken into this covenant with the God
of Israel, forasmuch as he also, though a stranger, was to be
looked upon in this matter as a <i>son of Abraham,</i> <scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p12.5" osisRef="Bible:Luke.19.9" parsed="|Luke|19|9|0|0" passage="Lu 19:9">Luke xix. 9</scripRef>. This was an early
indication of favour to the Gentiles, and of the kindness God had
in store for them. (4.) Not the freemen only, but the hewers of
wood and drawers of water, the meanest drudge they had among them.
Note, As none are too great to come under the bonds of the
covenant, so none are too mean to inherit the blessings of the
covenant. In Christ no difference is made between <i>bond and
free,</i> <scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p12.6" osisRef="Bible:Col.3.11" parsed="|Col|3|11|0|0" passage="Col 3:11">Col. iii. 11</scripRef>.
<i>Art thou called being a servant? Care not for it,</i> <scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p12.7" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.7.21" parsed="|1Cor|7|21|0|0" passage="1Co 7:21">1 Cor. vii. 21</scripRef>. (5.) Not only those
that were now present before God in this solemn assembly, but those
also that were not here with them were taken into covenant
(<scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p12.8" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.15" parsed="|Deut|29|15|0|0" passage="De 29:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>): <i>As with
him that standeth here with us</i> (so bishop Patrick thinks it
should be rendered) <i>so also with him, that is not here with us
this day;</i> that is, [1.] Those that tarried at home were
included; though detained either by sickness or necessary business,
they must not therefore think themselves disengaged; no, every
Israelite shares in the common blessings. Those that tarry at home
divide the spoil, and therefore every Israelite must own himself
bound by the consent of the representative body. Those who cannot
go up to the house of the Lord must keep up a spiritual communion
with those that do, and be present in spirit when they are absent
in body. [2.] The generations to come are included. Nay, one of the
Chaldee paraphrasts reads it, <i>All the generations that have been
from the first days of the world, and all that shall arise to the
end of the whole world, stand with us here this day.</i> And so,
taking this covenant as a typical dispensation of the covenant of
grace, it is a noble testimony to the Mediator of that covenant,
who is <i>the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p13">II. The summary of this covenant. All the
precepts and all the promises of the covenant are included in the
covenant-relation between God and them, <scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.13" parsed="|Deut|29|13|0|0" passage="De 29:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. That they should be appointed,
raised up, <i>established, for a people to him,</i> to observe and
obey him, to be devoted to him and dependent on him, and that he
should be to them a God, according to the tenour of the covenant
made with their fathers, to make them holy, high, and happy. Their
fathers are here named, <i>Abraham, Isaac,</i> and <i>Jacob,</i> as
examples of piety, which those were to set themselves to imitate
who expected any benefit from the covenant made with them. Note, A
due consideration of the relation we stand in to God as our God,
and of the obligation we lie under as a people to him, is enough to
bring us to all the duties and all the comforts of the
covenant.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p14">III. The principal design of the renewing
of this covenant at this time was to fortify them against
temptations to idolatry. Though other sins will be the sinner's
ruin, yet this was the sin that was likely to be <i>their</i> ruin.
Now concerning this he shows,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p15">1. The danger they were in of being tempted
to it (<scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.16-Deut.29.17" parsed="|Deut|29|16|29|17" passage="De 29:16,17"><i>v.</i> 16,
17</scripRef>): "<i>You know we have dwelt in the land of
Egypt,</i> a country addicted to idolatry; and it were well if
there were not among you some remains of the infection of that
idolatry; we have <i>passed by other nations, the Edomites,
Moabites, &amp;c.</i> and have <i>seen their abominations</i> and
<i>their idols,</i> and some among you, it may be, have liked them
too well, and still hanker after them, and would rather worship a
wooden god that they can see than an infinite Spirit whom they
never saw." It is to be hoped that there were those among them who,
the more they saw of these abominations and idols, the more they
hated them; but there were those that were smitten with the sight
of them, saw the accursed things and coveted them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p16">2. The danger they were in if they yielded
to the temptation. He gives them fair warning: it was at their
peril if they forsook God to serve idols. If they would not be
bound and held by the precepts of the covenant, they would find
that the curses of the covenant would be strong enough to bind and
hold them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p17">(1.) Idolatry would be the ruin of
particular persons and their families, <scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.18-Deut.29.21" parsed="|Deut|29|18|29|21" passage="De 29:18-21"><i>v.</i> 18-21</scripRef>, where observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p18">[1.] The sinner described, <scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.18" parsed="|Deut|29|18|0|0" passage="De 29:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. <i>First,</i> He is one
whose <i>heart turns away from his God;</i> there the mischief
begins, in the <i>evil heart of unbelief,</i> which inclines men to
<i>depart from the living God</i> to dead idols. Even to this sin
men are tempted when they are drawn aside by their own lusts and
fancies. Those that begin to turn from God, by neglecting their
duty to him, are easily drawn to other gods: and those that serve
other gods do certainly turn away from the true God; for he will
admit of no rivals: he will be all or nothing. <i>Secondly,</i> He
is <i>a root that bears gall and wormwood;</i> that is, he is a
dangerous man, who, being himself poisoned with bad principles and
inclinations, with a secret contempt of the God of Israel and his
institutions and a veneration for the gods of the nations,
endeavours, by all arts possible, to corrupt and poison others and
draw them to idolatry: this is a man whose fruit is <i>hemlock</i>
(so the word is translated, <scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:Hos.10.4" parsed="|Hos|10|4|0|0" passage="Ho 10:4">Hos. x.
4</scripRef>) and <i>wormwood;</i> it is very displeasing to God,
and will be, to all that are seduced by him, <i>bitterness in the
latter end.</i> This is referred to by the apostle, <scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p18.3" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.15" parsed="|Heb|12|15|0|0" passage="Heb 12:15">Heb. xii. 15</scripRef>, where he is in like
manner cautioning us to take heed of those that would seduce us
from the Christian faith; they are the weeds or tares in a field,
which, if let alone, will overspread the whole field. A little of
this leaven will be in danger of infecting the whole lump.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p19">[2.] His security in the sun. He promises
himself impunity, though he persists in his impiety, <scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.19" parsed="|Deut|29|19|0|0" passage="De 29:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. Though he <i>hears the
words of the curse,</i> so that he cannot plead ignorance of the
danger, as other idolaters, yet even then he <i>blesses himself in
his own heart,</i> thinks himself safe from the wrath of the God of
Israel, under the protection of his idol-gods, and <i>therefore
says, "I shall have peace,</i> though I be governed in my religion,
not by God's institution, but by my own imagination, to add
drunkenness to thirst, one act of wickedness to another." Idolaters
were like drunkards, violently set upon their idols themselves and
industrious to draw others in with them. Revellings commonly
accompanied their idolatries (<scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.4.3" parsed="|1Pet|4|3|0|0" passage="1Pe 4:3">1 Pet.
iv. 3</scripRef>), so that this speaks a woe to drunkards
(especially the drunkards of Ephraim), who, when they are awake,
being thirsty, <i>seek it yet again,</i> <scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p19.3" osisRef="Bible:Prov.23.35" parsed="|Prov|23|35|0|0" passage="Pr 23:35">Prov. xxiii. 35</scripRef>. And those that made
themselves drunk in honour of their idols were the worst of
drunkards. Note, <i>First,</i> There are many who are under the
curse of God and yet bless themselves; but it will soon be found
that in blessing themselves they do but deceive themselves.
<i>Secondly,</i> Those are ripe for ruin, and there is little hope
of their repentance, who have made themselves believe that they
shall have peace though they go on in a sinful way. <i>Thirdly,</i>
Drunkenness is a sin that hardens the heart, and debauches the
conscience, as much as any other, a sin to which men are strangely
tempted themselves even when they have lately felt the mischiefs of
it, and to which they are strangely fond of drawing others,
<scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p19.4" osisRef="Bible:Hab.2.15" parsed="|Hab|2|15|0|0" passage="Hab 2:15">Hab. ii. 15</scripRef>. And such an
ensnaring sin is idolatry.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p20">[3.] God's just severity against him for
the sin, and for the impious affront he put upon God in saying he
should have peace though he went on, so giving the lie to eternal
truth, <scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.4" parsed="|Gen|3|4|0|0" passage="Ge 3:4">Gen. iii. 4</scripRef>. There is
scarcely a threatening in all the book of God that sounds more
dreadful than this. O that presumptuous sinners would read it and
tremble! For it is not a bug-bear to frighten children and fools,
but a real declaration of the wrath of God against the ungodliness
and the unrighteousness of men, <scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.20-Deut.29.21" parsed="|Deut|29|20|29|21" passage="De 29:20,21"><i>v.</i> 20, 21</scripRef>. <i>First, The Lord shall
not spare him.</i> The days of his reprieve, which he abuses, will
be shortened, and no mercy remembered in the midst of judgment.
<i>Secondly,</i> The <i>anger of the Lord, and his jealousy,</i>
which is the fiercest anger, <i>shall smoke against him,</i> like
the smoke of a furnace. <i>Thirdly,</i> The <i>curses written</i>
shall <i>lie upon him,</i> not only light upon him to terrify him,
but abide upon him, to sink him to the lowest hell, <scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p20.3" osisRef="Bible:John.3.36" parsed="|John|3|36|0|0" passage="Joh 3:36">John iii. 36</scripRef>. <i>Fourthly, His name
shall be blotted out,</i> that is, he himself shall be cut off, and
his memory shall rot and perish with him. <i>Fifthly,</i> He shall
be <i>separated unto evil,</i> which is the most proper notion of a
curse; he shall be cut off from all happiness and all hope of it,
and marked out for misery without remedy. And (<i>lastly</i>) All
this <i>according to the curses of the covenant,</i> which are the
most fearful curses, being the just revenges of abused grace.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p21">(2.) Idolatry would be the ruin of their
nation; it would bring plagues upon the land that connived at this
root of bitterness and received the infection; as far as the sin
spread, the judgment should spread likewise.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p22">[1.] The ruin is described. It begins with
plagues and sicknesses (<scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.22" parsed="|Deut|29|22|0|0" passage="De 29:22"><i>v.</i>
22</scripRef>), to try if they will be reclaimed by less judgments;
but, if not, it ends in a total overthrow, like that of Sodom,
<scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p22.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.23" parsed="|Deut|29|23|0|0" passage="De 29:23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. As that
valley, which had been like the garden of the Lord for
fruitfulness, was turned into a lake of salt and sulphur, so should
the land of Canaan be made desolate and barren, as it has been ever
since the last destruction of it by the Romans. The lake of Sodom
bordered closely upon the land of Israel, that by it they might be
warned against the iniquity of Sodom; but, not taking the warning,
they were made as like to Sodom in ruin as they had been in
sin.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p23">[2.] The reason of it is enquired into, and
assigned. <i>First,</i> It would be enquired into by the
<i>generations to come</i> (<scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p23.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.22" parsed="|Deut|29|22|0|0" passage="De 29:22"><i>v.</i>
22</scripRef>), who would find the state of their nation in all
respects the reverse of what it had been, and, when they read both
the history and the promise, would be astonished at the change. The
stranger likewise, and the nations about them, as well as
particular persons, would ask, <i>Wherefore hath the Lord done thus
unto this land?</i> <scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p23.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.24" parsed="|Deut|29|24|0|0" passage="De 29:24"><i>v.</i>
24</scripRef>. Great desolations are thus represented elsewhere as
striking the spectators with amazement, <scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p23.3" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.9.8-1Kgs.9.9 Bible:Jer.22.8-Jer.22.9" parsed="|1Kgs|9|8|9|9;|Jer|22|8|22|9" passage="1Ki 9:8,9,Jer 22:8,9">1 Kings ix. 8, 9; Jer. xxii. 8,
9</scripRef>. It was time for the neighbours to tremble when
judgment thus <i>began at the house of God,</i> <scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p23.4" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.4.17" parsed="|1Pet|4|17|0|0" passage="1Pe 4:17">1 Pet. iv. 17</scripRef>. The emphasis of the question
is to be laid upon <i>this land,</i> the land of Canaan, this good
land, the glory of all lands, this land flowing with milk and
honey. A thousand pities that such a good land as this should be
made desolate, but this is not all; it is this <i>holy</i> land,
the land of Israel, a people in covenant with God; it is Immanuel's
land, a land where God was known and worshipped, and yet thus
wasted. Note, 1. It is no new thing for God to bring desolating
judgments upon a people that in profession are near to him,
<scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p23.5" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3.2" parsed="|Amos|3|2|0|0" passage="Am 3:2">Amos iii. 2</scripRef>. 2. He never does
this without a good reason. 3. It concerns us to enquire into the
reason, that we may give glory to God and take warning to
ourselves. <i>Secondly,</i> The reason is here assigned, in answer
to that enquiry. The matter would be so plain that all men would
say, It was because they <i>forsook the covenant of the Lord God of
their fathers,</i> <scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p23.6" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.25" parsed="|Deut|29|25|0|0" passage="De 29:25"><i>v.</i>
25</scripRef>. Note, God never forsakes any till they first forsake
him. But those that desert the God of their fathers are justly cast
out of the inheritance of their fathers. They went and <i>served
other gods</i> (<scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p23.7" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.26" parsed="|Deut|29|26|0|0" passage="De 29:26"><i>v.</i>
26</scripRef>), gods that they had no acquaintance with, nor lay
under any obligation to either in duty of gratitude; for God has
not given the creatures to be served by us, but to serve us; nor
have they done any good to us (as some read it), more than what God
has enabled them to do; to the Creator therefore we are debtors,
and not to the creatures. It was for this that God was angry with
them (<scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p23.8" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.27" parsed="|Deut|29|27|0|0" passage="De 29:27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>), and
<i>rooted them out in anger,</i> <scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p23.9" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.28" parsed="|Deut|29|28|0|0" passage="De 29:28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>. So that, how dreadful soever
the desolation was, the Lord was righteous in it, which is
acknowledged, <scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p23.10" osisRef="Bible:Dan.9.11-Dan.9.14" parsed="|Dan|9|11|9|14" passage="Da 9:11-14">Dan. ix.
11-14</scripRef>. "Thus" (says Mr. Ainsworth) "the law of Moses
leaves sinners under the curse, and <i>rooted out of the Lord's
land;</i> but the grace of Christ towards penitent believing
sinners plants them again <i>upon their land, and they shall no
more be pulled up,</i> being kept by the power of God," <scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p23.11" osisRef="Bible:Amos.9.15" parsed="|Amos|9|15|0|0" passage="Am 9:15">Amos ix. 15</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p24">[3.] He concludes his prophecy of the Jews'
rejection just as St. Paul concludes his discourse on the same
subject, when it began to be fulfilled (<scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p24.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.11.33" parsed="|Rom|11|33|0|0" passage="Ro 11:33">Rom. xi. 33</scripRef>), <i>How unsearchable are God's
judgments, and his ways past finding out!</i> So here (<scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p24.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.29" parsed="|Deut|29|29|0|0" passage="De 29:29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>), <i>Secret things
belong to the Lord our God.</i> Some make it to be one sentence,
<i>The secret things of the Lord our God are revealed to us and to
our children,</i> as far as we are concerned to know them, and
<i>he hath not dealt so with other nations:</i> but we make it two
sentences, by which, <i>First,</i> We are forbidden curiously to
enquire into the secret counsels of God and to determine concerning
them. A full answer is given to that question, <i>Wherefore has the
Lord done thus to this land?</i> sufficient to justify God and
admonish us. But if any ask further why God would be at such a vast
expense of miracles to form such a people, whose apostasy and ruin
he plainly foresaw, why he did not by his almighty grace prevent
it, or what he intends yet to do with them, let such know that
these are questions which cannot be answered, and therefore are not
fit to be asked. It is presumption in us to pry into the <i>Arcana
imperii—the mysteries of government,</i> and to enquire into the
reasons of state which <i>it is not for us to know.</i> See
<scripRef id="Deu.xxx-p24.3" osisRef="Bible:Acts.1.7 Bible:John.21.22 Bible:Col.2.18" parsed="|Acts|1|7|0|0;|John|21|22|0|0;|Col|2|18|0|0" passage="Ac 1:7,Joh 21:22,Col 2:18">Acts i. 7; John xxi.
22; Col. ii. 18</scripRef>. <i>Secondly,</i> We are directed and
encouraged diligently to enquire into that which God has made
known: things <i>revealed belong to us and to our children.</i>
Note, 1. Though God has kept much of his counsel secret, yet there
is enough revealed to satisfy and save us. He has <i>kept back
nothing that is profitable for us,</i> but that only which it is
good for us to be ignorant of. 2. We ought to acquaint ourselves,
and our children, too, with the things of God that are revealed. We
are not only allowed to search into them, but are concerned to do
so. They are things which we and ours are nearly interested in.
They are the rules we are to live by, the grants we are to live
upon; and therefore we are to learn them diligently ourselves, and
to teach them diligently to our children. 3. All our knowledge must
be in order to practice, for this is the end of all divine
revelation, not to furnish us with curious subjects of speculation
and discourse, with which to entertain ourselves and our friends,
<i>but that we may do all the words of this law,</i> and be blessed
in our deed.</p>
</div></div2>