“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.”
That is, the articles, or conditions. At the first giving of the law, which was forty years before.
“Yet the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.”
He showeth that it is not in man’s power to understand the mysteries of God, if it be not given him from above.
“Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I am the LORD your God.”
Made by man’s art, but Manna, which is called the bread of Angels.
“Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do.”
Cross references: : Deut. 4:6 ; 1 Kings 2:3
“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,”
Who knoweth your hearts, and therefore ye may not think to dissemble with him.
“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: enter: Heb. pass”
Alluding to them, that when they made a sure covenant, divided a beast in twain, and passed between the parts divided, Gen. 15:10 .
“Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood; gall: or, a poisonous herb: Heb. rosh”
Acts 8:23 Such sin, as the bitter fruit thereof might choke and destroy you.
“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 imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst: imagination: or, stubbornness drunkenness: Heb. the drunken to the thirsty”
Or, flatter. For as he that is thirsty desireth to drink much, so he that followeth his appetites, seeketh by all means, and yet cannot be satisfied.
“So that the generation to come of your children that shall rise up after you, and the stranger that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses which the LORD hath laid upon it; which: Heb. wherewith the LORD hath made it sick”
God’s plagues upon them that rebel against him, shall be so strong, that all ages shall be astonished.
“For they went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom he had not given unto them: whom he: or, who had not given to them any portion given: Heb. divided”
Or, which had not given them a land to possess.
“The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.”
Moses hereby proveth their curiosity, which seek those things that are only known to God: and their negligence that regard not that, which God hath revealed unto them, as the Law.