Deuteronomy 29:16

WARNING AGAINST DISOBEDIENCE

"(for ye know how we dwelt in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which we passed, and ye have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them); lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from Jehovah our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood; 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 stubbornness of my heart, to destroy the moist with the dry. Jehovah will not pardon him, but then the anger of Jehovah and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curse that is written in this book shall lie upon him, and Jehovah will blot out his name from under heaven. And Jehovah will set him apart 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."

Regarding the parenthesis in Deuteronomy 29:16,17, "These verses are not a parenthesis (as in the KJV and ASV). Deuteronomy 29:18 connects, not with Deuteronomy 29:15, but with Deuteronomy 29:17, and there should be a full stop at the end of Deuteronomy 29:15."[18] Alexander, along with others, also stressed that, "The covenant was a national agreement,"[19] This is only partially true. Yes, the covenant was indeed made with the whole body of the posterity of Abraham, but throughout the entire O.T., that "whole body" contained within it the real Israel, the true people of God, and a very large, and at times dominant, element of evil and rebellious men. That commingling of the secular and the spiritual Israels was present in the family of Abraham itself as exemplified in the sons Ishmael and Isaac; in the family of Isaac, the same division was seen between Esau and Jacob; and in the family of Jacob, the same cleavage derived from the lying idolatry of Rachel, whose son Ephraim later usurped the very name "Israel" and led the Northern Israel in to the apostasy and debaucheries of paganism. An understanding of the Old Covenant absolutely demands. that it be understood as restricted to the spiritual Israel among the sons of Abraham. See Christ's discussion of this in John 8. In the days of Ahab, the true Israel consisted of only 7,000 people (Romans 11:4).

These verses (Deuteronomy 29:16,17) carry the warnings: "Remember, O Israel, that the Lord is your God, for, as you well know, the temptation to idolatry comes to you from all the surrounding nations; `You have seen their abominations.'"[20] Payne brought up a question which, in the minds of some, might require an answer. He asked, "Why would idolatry attract anyone?"[21] There is a great deal of attractiveness in idolatry, strange as it might appear.

(1) "There is the deliberate act of a warped mind.

(2) There is the sort of person who merely wants to be different."[22] Take a look at the people who turn to Eastern cults, or go off with a lunatic like Jones and wind up drinking cyanide in South America!

(3) There is the ability to get God "out of the way" in idolatry, at least in the mind of the idolater. An idol limits God's presence (in the pagan view) to a specific location, leaving the wicked person free to serve his own lusts. It is the natural passion of every wicked person to put God out of mind; and an idol enables the accomplishment of the next-best thing, that of restricting God to a single location.

(4) Also, an idol misrepresents God in every way. The idol is blind, and deaf, and mute, and helpless, and can, in no way, harm the idolater. That is not the way God is!

(5) In addition to all this, in the ancient pagan systems, there existed the most licentious ceremonies by which the idols were worshipped, and these lustful orgies were a major attraction to men through the lusts of the body.

"Root that beareth gall and wormwood ..." This is a metaphorical way of saying, "an evil person who produces a poisonous influence of bitterness and shame." The author of Hebrews mentioned this in Hebrews 12:15. One such person, advocating wickedness, is capable of defiling many, as indicated by another metaphor here, "He shall destroy the moist with the dry." The meaning of this is simply "everything."[23] Similar metaphors indicating totality as used in America are: "lock, stock, and barrel," "root and branch," etc.

"All the curse ... (Deuteronomy 29:20) all the curses ..." (Deuteronomy 29:21). This emphasizes that this passage is a summary, a ceremonial inclusion of all that God had commanded. There are no less that "ninety-eight of these curses"[24] in Deuteronomy 28 alone!

"That is written in this book ... (Deuteronomy 29:20) What are written in this book of the law ..." (Deuteronomy 29:21). That the whole law of Moses was committed to writing in "this book of the law" reveals that a solemn book of writings, amounting to the charter and constitution of Israel has existed from the times of Moses. That this was later "lost" by Israel is an unsupported and worthless theory. Could the United States of America lose the Declaration of Independence? Theories involving speculations about the lost book of Moses are worthless.