Deuteronomy 29:10

RECORDING THE COVENANT

"Ye stand this day all of you before Jehovah your God; your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and thy sojourner that is in the midst of thy camps, from the hewer of the wood unto the drawer of the water; that thou mayest enter into the covenant of Jehovah thy God, and into his oath, which Jehovah thy God maketh with thee this day; that he may establish thee this day unto himself for a people, and that he may be unto thee a God, as he spake unto thee, and as he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath, but with him that standeth here with us this day before Jehovah our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day."

This covenant renewal extended to all within the house of Israel, even the strangers who made their homes among the people of God, and to all who, in the future, would do so! Of all the fantastic comments we have encountered, this one by Cook is the most amazing: "This text is fairly alleged in justification of the Church's practice of admitting little ones into the covenant of God by baptism, and accepting the promises made on their behalf by sponsors."[15] Of course, the text supports in no way whatever the baptizing of infants or the acceptance of such "little ones" into God's kingdom on the basis of pledges made on their behalf by sponsors. Jeremiah prophetically declared that the New Covenant of the grace of God "would be not according to the covenant God made with your fathers" (Jeremiah 31:32); and most certainly the impossibility of untaught, unbelieving, unrepentant persons of any age belonging to it, is one of the differences.

"The hewers of wood and drawers of water mentioned here were identified by Craigie as "those persons charged with the more menial tasks."[16]

"And with him that is not here ..." (Deuteronomy 29:15b). Kline has an excellent word on this:

"This means that there was to be a genealogical continuity to the covenant. This did not mean that salvation was an unalienable family right, but that God is faithful to extend his mercies to thousands of generations of those who love him.[17]