THE LAND COVENANT
Part One: Deuteronomy 29:1-13
(V1) “These are the words of the covenant, which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb.”
(V1) From chapter 28 we discover that God’s purpose for Israel was not made without expected reciprocation for He purposely blessed them according to their obedience to Him. In chapter 29 we are told that God made two covenants with Israel, one in mount Horeb and the other in the land of Moab. In chapter 29:12, 13 Moses urged the children of Israel to enter into a covenant with God in order to establish a people for Himself that He may be all that he can be to them as he swore to their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
(V2) “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;”
(V2) In this verse Moses reminds God’s chosen people to remember what God did when they were enslaved in Egypt and saw with their own eyes and testified to His mighty miracles. When He set them free and delivered them against the stubborn will of Pharaoh the vacillator who could not make up his mind if they should stay or go, God decided to make up his mind for him and made the wicked king wish he had never held the brick makers in captivity and made their lives bitter with hard bondage and great difficulty.
(V3) “The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles:”
(V3) Here we find that God had not given Israel an heart to perceive, an eye to see or ears to hear the temptations, signs, and the powerful miraculous things He had done. In other words they were spiritually numb to all that was happening around them. That is much like today when people profess to be so spiritual but are completely clueless to what’s happening around them. Today many preachers offer nothing but feel good sermons to a lifeless congregation who are starving to death for a good Holy Ghost anointed sermon that can reach their loved ones and bring them to an altar of repentance. Today when the old hymn books have been replaced by the thump, thump, thump of modern day songs with their repetitious phrasing that works the saved into a frenzy, but absent is the anointing it takes to break the yoke, soften the heart, and bend the sinner's knees at the altar of God.
(V4) “Yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.”
(V4) Again on another day, Moses speaks directly to the children of Israel and reminds them God still had not given them a discerning heart, eyes to see, and ears to hear.
(V5) “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.”
(V5) God reminds the Israelites that for forty years through their wilderness journey He had been their leader and that they never wanted for bread, meat, and water. As to apparel they walked in indestructible shoes and permanent clothing.
(V6) “Ye had not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I am the Lord your God.”
(V6) Since Israelites had enjoyed the heavenly manna and drank water from a rock they learned not to put their dependence on the earthly provisions of man. Both the heavenly wafer and the rock water were provided by God so they might know the faithfulness and love of the Great I AM who was still the Lord their God.
(V7) “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:”
(V7) As a stimulus to encourage the Israelites, once again Moses calls on them to remember the covenant God made with them. He reminds them to recall the time they were victorious in battle when they smote Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan.
(V8) “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.”
(V8) After conquering those two kings the victorious Israelites confiscated their land and distributed it among the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh.
(V9) “Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do.”
(V9) Here Moses warns the people of Israel to comply with the words in the covenant and to perform them that they might be prosperous in all their endeavors.
(V10) “Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord your God; your captains of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, with all the men of Israel.”
(V10) In this we find multitudes of Israelites including tribe captains, elders, and officers standing all together with the Israelite men.
(V11) “Your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in thy camp, from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water:”
(V11) This verse informs us that their wives and the strangers among them from the wood chopper to the water boy should respect this covenant. The children from a small child should become familiar with this covenant, then when they are grown they will understand and obey it.
(V12) “That thou shouldest enter into covenant with the Lord thy God, and into his oath, which the Lord thy God maketh with thee this day:”
(V12) Then the Hebrew pilgrims of a later day were told that they should also enter into the contract and oath that the Lord their God was making with them on that day.
(V13) “That he may establish thee to day for a people unto himself, and that he may be unto thee a God, as he hath said unto thee, and as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”
(V13) God’s purpose for them to enter into covenant and oath with Him on that day gave Him the opportunity to establish a people unto himself so that He may be to them all that He ever was to their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Before I shut down the ole computer, there is one question I want to ask: Dear Reader, ARE YOU AND YOUR FAMILY RAPTURE READY????
