Deuteronomy 29:2-9 – Deuteronomy 8:7-10; 11:10-12

Deuteronomy 29:2-9

Deuteronomy 29

Deuteronomy 29:2-9

2. And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land;

2. Vocavitque Moses universum Israelem, et dixit eis, Vos ipsi vidistis omnia quae fecit Jehova in oculis vestris in terra Aegypti Pharaoni et omnibus servis ejus, et universae terrae ejus.

3. The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles;

3. Probationes magnas quas viderunt oculi tui, signa et portenta ilia magna.

4. Yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.

4. Neque dedit vobis Jehova cor ad intelligendum, et oculos ad ridendum, et aures ad audiendum usque in hunc diem.

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.

5. Et deduxi vos quadraginta annis per desertum: non inveteraverunt vestimenta vestra super vos, nec calceamentum vestrum veteravit super pedem vestrum.

6. Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink; that ye might know that I am the Lord your God.

6. Panem non comedistis, neque vinum et siceram bibistis: ut intelligatis quod ego Jehova Deus vester.

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:

7. Venistis tandem ad locum istum: egressusque est Sehon rex Esbon, et Og rex Basan in occursum nostrum ad praelium, et percussimus eos;

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.

8. Et abstulimus terram ipsorum, tradidimusque in haereditatem Rubenitis, et Gadiris, et dimidiae tribui Manasse.

9. Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do.

9. Custodiatis ergo verba pacti hujus et facite ea, ut (vel, intelligatis) prospere agatis in omnibus quae facturi estis.

2. And Moses called unto all Israel. This passage also may be fitly referred to the preface of the Law, since its tendency is to recommend it, and to instruct and prepare the people’s minds to be teachable. It takes its commencement from the divine blessings, which they had experienced as well in their exodus as in their forty years’ wanderings; for it would have been the height of baseness and ingratitude not to devote themselves to a Deliverer who had dealt so graciously with them. And surely it was an inestimable sign of His paternal love towards them, that He should have arrayed Himself against so very powerful a king for His servants’ sake. Finally, lest there should be any question as to their deliverance, he enlarges upon the power which God displayed therein, in magnificent terms of praise according with its dignity.

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 dulness and stupidity by various methods. But he does not merely condemn their senselessness, and blindness, and deafness, but declares that they were thus senseless, and blind, and deaf, because they were not inspired with grace from above to profit duly by so many lessons. Thence we learn that a clear and powerful understanding is a special gift of the Spirit, since men are ever blind even in the brightest light, until they have been enlightened by God. What Moses relates of the Israelites, is unquestionably common to us all. He declares, then, that they were not induced by the conspicuous glory of God to fear and worship Him, because He had not given them either mind, or eyes, or ears. It is true that at man’s creation He had naturally bestowed upon him a mind, and ears, and eyes; but Moses means, that whatever innate light we have, is either hidden or lost, so that, as far as regards the highest point of wisdom, all our senses lie useless. True that in nature’s corruption, the light still shineth in darkness, but it is light which is soon obscured; therefore, the entire understanding and faculty of reason, in which men glory and pique themselves, is nought but smoke and darkness. Well then may David ask that his eyes may be opened to behold the secrets of the Law. (Psalm 119:18.) Still this defect by no means frees us from blame; because (as we are told) none have wisdom, but those to whom it is given by the Father of lights; for we are ignorant through our own fault. Besides, every one is sufficiently, and more than sufficiently convicted by his own conscience, that his ignorance is closely connected with pride and indolence, and is therefore voluntary. The word heart is not here used for the seat of the affections, but for the mind itself, which is the intellectual faculty of the soul.

Note 259. The references here are to Psalm 19:13, and 18:24, (in the Fr. 14.) There may be allusion to 19:12, and 18:28. See Calvin’s comments on these passages.

Note 260. “Desipimus.” — Lat. “Ainsi hebetez, et desprouvez de sens.” — Fr.

5. And I have led you. He descends to the blessings with which He had continually visited His people during the course of forty years. Yet he does not recount them all, but contents himself with a few of the most remarkable instances, viz., that their clothes had not been worn out by age, and that they had been fed from heaven, when no sustenance was to be obtained from the fruits of the earth. He reminds them that God’s glory had been manifested by these testimonies, in order that they might submit themselves to His rule.

7. And when ye came unto this place. This, a third instance (of God’s goodness), because He had smitten the first enemies, who encountered them to impede their passage, and thus had already begun to bring them into a place of rest. For inasmuch as the two tribes and a half had here chosen their home, they might behold as in a mirror that the possession of the promised land awaited them. Hence, then, Moses concludes that they were under obligation to keep the law, and exhorts them to shew their gratitude by faithful and sincere obedience. The object, therefore, of the recital is, to procure reverent attention to his doctrine; since the word שכל, shakal, in Hiphil, means to act successfully as well as prudently. I have set down both readings, since they are alike suitable to the sense. For we have seen in chapter 4, that this was the people’s only wisdom to obey God’s statutes; nor was their prosperity to be expected from any other source except God’s blessing, which is everywhere promised to the Israelites, if they keep the law.

Note 261. תשכילו; A. V., that ye may prosper. S.M., ut prudenter agatis; but he adds, the Hebrews, explain this word by הצליחו, “that ye may prosper.” The Hiphil of שכל, says Simon’s Lexicon, is to act prudently, and by a metonymy of the antecedent for the consequent, to proceed prosperously. — W.

Deuteronomy 8:7-10; 11:10-12

Deuteronomy 8

Deuteronomy 8:7-10

7. For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land; a land of brooks of water, of fountains, and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;

7. Quia Jehova Deus tuus introducit to in terram bonam, terram ubi torrentes, aquarum fontes, et abyssi erumpentes per valles et colles.

8. A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil-olive and honey;

8. Terram frumenti, et hordei, vitis et ficus, et malogranati: terram oleae oliviferae, et mellis.

9. A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.

9. Terram in qua non comedes panem in penuria, ne ulla re indigebis: terram cujus lapides sunt ferrum, et e cujus montibus effodies aes.

10. When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.

10. Comedes igitur, et satiaberis: et tunc benedices Jehovae Deo tuo in terra illa quam dedit tibi.

DEUTERONOMY 11

A REPETITION OF THE SAME DECLARATION

Deuteronomy 11:10-12

10. For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs:

10. Terra enim quam tu ingrederis ut possideas eam, non est sicut terra Aegypti, ex qua egressi estis, in qua seminabas semen tuum, et irrigabas pede tuo, ut hortum oleris.

11. But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven:

11. At terra ad quam vos transibitis ut possideatis eam, terra montium et vallium est: de pluvia coeli bibes aquam.

12. A land which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year, even unto the end of the year.

12. Est terra quam Jehova Deus tuus requirit: semper sunt oculi Jehovae Dei tui in ca, a principio anni usque ad extremum anni.

7. For the Lord thy God. We may shortly sum up the words and the matter. He almost sets before their eyes a habitation full of wealth and various advantages, in order that they there may worship God more cheerfully, and study to repay by their gratitude so signal a benefit. In chapter 8 he commends the goodness of the land, because it is watered by the streams which flow through its valleys and mountains, and because it produces all kinds of fruits to supply them with nourishment; and not only so, but because it contains also mines of iron and brass. In chapter 11 he expresses the same thing more plainly and in greater detail, by the addition of a comparison with the land of Egypt; the fruitfulness of which, although it is marvellous from the yearly inundation of the Nile, and is renowned as an extraordinary miracle, yet requires much labor and cultivation, since it is irrigated by means of drains by the hand and industry of men. But the land of Canaan depends on God’s blessing, and waits for the rain from heaven. Moreover Moses extols in glowing words the peculiar privilege of the land, saying, that it is ever looked upon by God, in order that, on their part, the Israelites might attentively, and constantly also, look to Him. For this is the force of the words, “always, from the beginning of the year, even unto the end of the year;” as if he had said, that they would be ungrateful to God, unless they constantly and zealously directed their regards to Him, since He never ceased daily to look on them. It is true, indeed, that there is no corner of the earth which does not experience God’s blessing, witness the fact that the Nile fertilizes the whole of Egypt; but, because that only happens once a year, and since its waters are conducted hither and thither by drains artificially made by man, Moses, therefore, not improperly makes it the ground of his exhortation that they should constantly give themselves to meditation on the Law; for not only at a particular season of the year, but almost at every moment, their necessity would compel them to ask for God’s aid, when they saw that the land was ever requiring from Him the remedy of its dryness. The question however arises, how Moses could declare in such magnificent terms the richness of the land of Canaan, when now-a-days it is scarcely counted among those that are fertile; and thus the ungodly wantonly deride him, since all whom business or any other cause have taken there contradict his encomiums. Yet I do not doubt that it was always distinguished by the abundance of its various fruits, as we shall presently see in its proper place, where its fertility was proved by the bunch of grapes; but, at the same time, it is to be observed that its abundance was increased in a new and unwonted manner by the arrival of the people, that God might shew that He had blessed that country above all others for the liberal supply of His children. As long, therefore, as that land was granted as the inheritance of the race of Abraham, it was remarkable for that fertility which God had promised by Moses. But now, so far from wondering that it is to a great extent desert and barren, we ought rather to be surprised that some small vestiges of its ancient fruitfulness exist; since what God Himself had so often threatened against it must needs be fulfilled. The barrenness, therefore, of the land as it now appears, instead of derogating from the testimony of Moses, rather gives ocular demonstration of the judgment of God, which, as we shall see elsewhere, was denounced against it. In sum, as God for His people’s sake still further enriched a land already fruitful, so, for the punishment of the sins of this same people, He sowed it with salt, that it might afford a sad spectacle of His curse.

Note 262. “Des esprits phrenetiques, and profanes.” — Fr. This ancient scoff, repeated by Voltaire and other modern infidels, is well met by Dr. Keith, “Evidences of Prophecy, (Art. Judaea,)” by quotations not only from Tacitus, Ammianus Marcellinus, Florus, and Pliny the Elder, but from Volney and Gibbon themselves, as well as more friendly witnesses.

10. When thou hast eaten and art full. In these words he admonishes them that they would be too senseless, unless God’s great bounty should attract them to obedience, since nothing is more unreasonable, than, when we have eaten and are full, not to acknowledge from whence our food has come. Fitly, then, does Moses require gratitude from the people, when they shall enjoy both the land promised to them and an abundance of all good things.