The first thing to note about Dt. 29 is that v1 (these are the words of the covenant) is referring to the previous chapters, not what follows in this chapter. What preceded (esp. Dt. 5-26) is what the people had committed themselves to (26:16-19). Now, in this and the following chapters, Moses calls the people to faith and warns them about their inability to keep the law themselves.
The Apostle Paul “claims”
(it’s the Lord speaking through Paul, of course) that the purpose of the law
was to point out sin and that by the law no one could have a right standing
before God (Rom. 3:20). He even argued
that the law had the effect of increasing sin when it conflicted with the lusts
of sinners (Rom. 7:7-9). Yet, throughout
Israel’s history the Jewish people operated on the basis that they were commanded
by God to keep the law. Surely God would not ask them to do something they
could not do, would He? So, the question
is, where did Paul get this idea? Did he
find it in the Old Testament? A related
question is,
Should
the Jews have been able to know that they could not keep the law?
I have heard people say that Paul’s view of
the law was new and unexpected, that it was not found in the OT. My answer is that nothing could be further
from the truth. Dt. 29-30. Let us begin with Dt. 29:4: Yet the LORD
has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this
very day. What an amazing
statement. It is in the context of Moses
reminding them of all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of
Egypt (v2-3), and that God had led you forty years in the wilderness
(v5-6), and of the recent conquering of the two kings whose land was given to
the two and a half tribes (v7-8). This
brings us then to v9: Therefore, keep the words of this covenant, and do
them, that you may prosper in all that you do.
Now think about this, putting verses 4 and 9
together. God has not given you a heart
to perceive … keep the words of this covenant.
These seem to be in conflict. God
seems to ask them to do something they cannot do.
Furthermore, the remainder of the chapter makes it clear that this is for the generations to come (v14-15). God warns about someone among them who would be
a root bearing bitterness or wormwood (v18). This refers to someone who might influence
the rest of the nation so as to turn them away from the LORD, who follows the
dictates of my heart (v19). Israel
needs to be careful of this person who could cause the nation to depart from
the LORD and bring on themselves God's great anger.
We need to dip into
Dt. 30 just far enough to read the first phrase: Now it shall come to pass,
when all these things come upon you.
What sounds like a warning in Ch. 29 we see is actually a
prediction. This is what is actually
going to happen. In other words, there
are three truths we need to line up together:
God has not given you a heart to
perceive.
To prosper in the land, you must
keep this covenant, now and for generations.
You will not be able to keep the covenant.
We are not finished with this; Dt. 30 will add
much to it. But note 29:29. This is
profound. We are dealing with a “secret.” The three phrases above were known to Israel
and they needed to trust God in this. We
should understand this. We often are in
situations where we don’t understand what God is doing. But the things revealed we are responsible
for and we need to trust God with what we don’t know.
Please come back tomorrow. More “secrets” will be revealed.
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