832 lines
38 KiB
HTML
832 lines
38 KiB
HTML
<HTML>
|
|
<HEAD>
|
|
<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Deuteronomy, Chapter XXIX].</TITLE>
|
|
<meta name="aesop" content="information">
|
|
<meta name="description" content=
|
|
"This site is for those friends and family members who may or may not know Our Lord Jesus Christ, and if not, they may come to know Our Lord through His Prophets."> <meta name="author" content="Brian Duncalfe">
|
|
<meta name="keywords" content=
|
|
"Prophecy, Rapture,hope,bible map,bible maps, God, tribulation,Second Coming,Christ,large print bible,commentary,complete">
|
|
</HEAD>
|
|
<body background="../sueback.jpg" bgproperties="fixed" >
|
|
<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
|
|
on the Whole Bible</h1>
|
|
<h3><a href="http://www.biblesnet.com" target="_blank">Back to Biblesnet.com Home Page</a>
|
|
</h3>
|
|
</center>
|
|
|
|
<HR>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%">
|
|
<TR>
|
|
<TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP">
|
|
[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
|
|
[<A HREF="MHC05028.HTM">Previous</A>]
|
|
[<A HREF="MHC05030.HTM">Next</A>]<BR>
|
|
<TD ALIGN="RIGHT" VALIGN="TOP">
|
|
Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1706)
|
|
</TD></TR></TABLE>
|
|
<HR>
|
|
|
|
<!-- (Begin Body) -->
|
|
|
|
<CENTER>
|
|
<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>D E U T E R O N O M Y</B></FONT>
|
|
<BR>
|
|
<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. XXIX.</FONT>
|
|
<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
|
|
</CENTER>
|
|
|
|
<FONT SIZE=-1>
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
The first words of this chapter are the contents of it, "These are the
|
|
words of the covenant"
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:1">ver. 1</A>),
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:2-8">ver. 2-8</A>.
|
|
|
|
II. A solemn charge to them to keep the covenant,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:9">ver. 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
III. An abstract of the covenant itself,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:12,13">ver. 12, 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
IV. A specification of the persons taken into the covenant,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:10,11,14,15">ver. 10, 11, 14, 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
V. An intimation of the great design of this covenant against idolatry,
|
|
in a parenthesis,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:16,17">ver. 16, 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
VI. A most solemn and dreadful denunciation of the wrath of God against
|
|
such persons as promise themselves peace in a sinful way,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:18-28">ver. 18-28</A>.
|
|
|
|
VII. The conclusion of this treaty, with a distinction between things
|
|
secret and things revealed,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:29">ver. 29</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
</FONT>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="De29_1"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De29_2"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De29_3"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De29_4"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De29_5"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De29_6"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De29_7"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De29_8"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De29_9"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Mercies Called to Remembrance.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1451.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>1 These <I>are</I> the words of the covenant, which the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>
|
|
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 L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> 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 L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> 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 L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> 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.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>):
|
|
|
|
<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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
II. For the proof of what he here advances he appeals to their own eyes
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>):
|
|
|
|
<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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. These things he specifies, to show the power and goodness of God
|
|
in his appearances for them.
|
|
|
|
1. Their deliverance out of Egypt,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:2,3"><I>v.</I> 2, 3</A>.
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:5,6"><I>v.</I> 5, 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+12:11">Exod. xii. 11</A>),
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:7,8"><I>v.</I> 7, 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
Both former mercies and fresh mercies should be improved by us as
|
|
inducements to obedience.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IV. By way of inference from these memoirs,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. Moses laments their stupidity: <I>Yet the Lord has not given you a
|
|
heart to perceive,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
2. Moses charges them to be obedient: <I>Keep therefore, and do,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
Note, We are bound in gratitude and interest, as well as duty and
|
|
faithfulness, to <I>keep the words of the covenant.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="De29_10"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De29_11"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De29_12"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De29_13"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De29_14"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De29_15"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De29_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De29_17"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De29_18"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De29_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De29_20"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De29_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De29_22"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De29_23"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De29_24"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De29_25"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De29_26"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De29_27"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De29_28"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De29_29"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Covenant Renewed.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1451.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>10 Ye stand this day all of you before the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> 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 L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> thy
|
|
God, and into his oath, which the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> 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 L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> 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 L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> 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 L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> will not spare him, but then the anger of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>
|
|
and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses
|
|
that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>
|
|
shall blot out his name from under heaven.
|
|
21 And the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> 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 L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> 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 L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> overthrew in his anger, and in
|
|
his wrath:
|
|
24 Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> 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 L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> 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 L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> was kindled against this land, to
|
|
bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book:
|
|
28 And the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> 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 L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> 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.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+24:4-8">Exod. xxiv. 4</A>,
|
|
|
|
&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>
|
|
|
|
I. The parties to this covenant.
|
|
|
|
1. It is the Lord their God they are to covenant with,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>),
|
|
|
|
and did accordingly, and are told
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>)
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+19:9">Luke xix. 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Col+3:11">Col. iii. 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Art thou called being a servant? Care not for it,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+7:21">1 Cor. vii. 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
(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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>):
|
|
|
|
<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>
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
1. The danger they were in of being tempted to it
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:16,17"><I>v.</I> 16, 17</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<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, &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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(1.) Idolatry would be the ruin of particular persons and their
|
|
families,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:18-21"><I>v.</I> 18-21</A>,
|
|
|
|
where observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[1.] The sinner described,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
<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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+10:4">Hos. x. 4</A>)
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+12:15">Heb. xii. 15</A>,
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
[2.] His security in the sun. He promises himself impunity, though he
|
|
persists in his impiety,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Pe+4:3">1 Pet. iv. 3</A>),
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+23:35">Prov. xxiii. 35</A>.
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:15">Hab. ii. 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
And such an ensnaring sin is idolatry.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+3:4">Gen. iii. 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:20,21"><I>v.</I> 20, 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
<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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+3:36">John iii. 36</A>.
|
|
|
|
<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>
|
|
|
|
(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>
|
|
|
|
[1.] The ruin is described. It begins with plagues and sicknesses
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>),
|
|
|
|
to try if they will be reclaimed by less judgments; but, if not, it
|
|
ends in a total overthrow, like that of Sodom,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
[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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>),
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>.
|
|
|
|
Great desolations are thus represented elsewhere as striking the
|
|
spectators with amazement,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ki+9:8,9,Jer+22:8,9">1 Kings ix. 8, 9; Jer. xxii. 8, 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
It was time for the neighbours to tremble when judgment thus <I>began
|
|
at the house of God,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Pe+4:17">1 Pet. iv. 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+3:2">Amos iii. 2</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:26"><I>v.</I> 26</A>),
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:27"><I>v.</I> 27</A>),
|
|
|
|
and <I>rooted them out in anger,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:28"><I>v.</I> 28</A>.
|
|
|
|
So that, how dreadful soever the desolation was, the Lord was righteous
|
|
in it, which is acknowledged,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:11-14">Dan. ix. 11-14</A>.
|
|
|
|
"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,"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+9:15">Amos ix. 15</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:33">Rom. xi. 33</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>How unsearchable are God's judgments, and his ways past finding
|
|
out!</I> So here
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:29"><I>v.</I> 29</A>),
|
|
|
|
<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
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+1:7,Joh+21:22.Col+2:18">Acts i. 7;
|
|
John xxi. 22; Col. ii. 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
<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>
|
|
|
|
<!-- (End Body) -->
|
|
|
|
<HR>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%">
|
|
<TR>
|
|
<TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP">
|
|
[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
|
|
[<A HREF="MHC05028.HTM">Previous</A>]
|
|
[<A HREF="MHC05030.HTM">Next</A>]<BR>
|
|
<TD ALIGN="RIGHT" VALIGN="TOP">
|
|
Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1706)
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
<HR>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%">
|
|
<TR>
|
|
<TD ALIGN="CENTER" VALIGN="BOTTOM">
|
|
|
|
|
|
<!--Matthew_Henry's_Commentary_on_the_Whole_Bible:_Deuteronomy_XXIX.--><a href="http://www.biblesnet.com" target="_blank"><b>Back to Bibles Net . Com - Online Christian Library </b></a><br>
|
|
<a href="http://biblesnet.com/download.html" target="_blank"><br>
|
|
<b>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Free Download</b></a><br>
|
|
<br>
|
|
<A HREF="http://biblesnet.com/contactus.html" target="_blank"><strong>Contact Us </strong></A><br>
|
|
|
|
</TD></TR></TABLE>
|
|
<HR>
|
|
</BODY>
|
|
</HTML>
|