Part 127 (1/2)

29:8. And took their land, and delivered it for a possession to Ruben and Gad, and the half tribe of Mana.s.ses.

29:9. Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and fulfil them: that you may understand all that you do.

29:10. You all stand this day before the Lord your G.o.d, your princes, and tribes, and ancients, and doctors, all the people of Israel,

29:11. Your children and your wives, and the stranger that abideth with thee in the camp, besides the hewers of wood, and them that bring water:

29:12. That thou mayst pa.s.s in the covenant of the Lord thy G.o.d, and in the oath which this day the Lord thy G.o.d maketh with thee.

29:13. That he may raise thee up a people to himself, and he may be thy G.o.d as he hath spoken to thee, and as he swore to thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

29:14. Neither with you only do I make this covenant, and confirm these oaths,

29:15. But with all that are present and that are absent.

29:16. For you know how we dwelt in the land of Egypt, and how we have pa.s.sed through the midst of nations, and pa.s.sing through them,

29:17. You have seen their abominations and filth, that is to say, their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which they wors.h.i.+pped.

29:18. Lest perhaps there should be among you a man or a woman, a family or a tribe, whose heart is turned away this day from the Lord our G.o.d, to go and serve the G.o.ds of those nations: and there should be among you a root bringing forth gall and bitterness.

29:19. And when he shall hear the words of this oath, he should bless himself in his heart saying: I shall have peace, and will walk on in the naughtiness of my heart: and the drunken may consume the thirsty,

The drunken, etc., absumat ebria sitientem... It is a proverbial expression, which may either be understood, as spoken by the sinner, blessing, that is, flattering himself in his sins with the imagination of peace, and so great an abundance as may satisfy, and as it were, consume all thirst and want: or it may be referred to the root of bitterness, spoken of before, which being drunken with sin may attract, and by that means consume, such as thirst after the like evils.

29:20. And the Lord should not forgive him: but his wrath and jealousy against that man should be exceedingly enkindled at that time, and all the curses that are written in this volume should light upon him: and the Lord should blot out his name from under heaven,

29:21. And utterly destroy him out of all the tribes of Israel, according to the curses that are contained in the book of this law and covenant:

29:22. And the following generation shall say, and the children that shall be born hereafter, and the strangers that shall come from afar, seeing the plagues of that land and the evils wherewith the Lord hath afflicted it,

29:23. Burning it with brimstone, and the heat of salt, so that it cannot be sown any more, nor any green thing grow therein, after the example of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha, Adama and Seboim, which the Lord destroyed in his wrath and indignation:

29:24. And all the nations shall say: Why hath the Lord done thus to this land? what meaneth this exceeding great heat of his wrath?

29:25. And they shall answer: Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord, which he made with their fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt:

29:26. And they have served strange G.o.ds, and adored them, whom they knew not, and for whom they had not been a.s.signed:

29:27. Therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this volume:

29:28. And he hath cast them out of their land, in anger and in wrath, and in very great indignation, and hath thrown them into a strange land, as it is seen this day.

29:29. Secret things to the Lord our G.o.d: things that are manifest, to us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Secret things, etc... As much as to say, secret things belong to, and are known to, G.o.d alone; our business must be to observe what he has revealed and manifested to us, and to direct our lives accordingly.

Deuteronomy Chapter 30

Great mercies are promised to the penitent: G.o.d's commandment is feasible. Life and death are set before them.