Deuteronomy Chapter 29

Renewal of the Covenant

A. God’s mighty works for Israel.

1. (Deuteronomy 29:1) The covenant in the land of Moab.

“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.”

a. These are the words of the covenant: This reminds Israel that what follows is not merely wise instruction or moral encouragement, but covenantal terms binding them to the LORD. This recalls the previous covenant at Horeb (Mount Sinai) forty years earlier when Moses took the Book of the Covenant and publicly read it to the people. “And they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.” (Exodus 24:7–8). That covenant was ratified by blood, emphasizing the seriousness of entering into a binding relationship with a holy God (Hebrews 9:18–20).

b. Beside the covenant which He made with them in Horeb: This does not mean a different covenant in nature but a renewal and reaffirmation of the same covenantal relationship with a new generation. The previous generation who heard the words and were sprinkled with the blood at Sinai had died in unbelief in the wilderness (Numbers 14:29–35). Their carcasses fell because they refused to trust the LORD. Now, the children of that generation stood on the plains of Moab, just outside the Promised Land, and Moses, as a faithful shepherd, prepares them to inherit the promises. This renewal demonstrates God’s faithfulness — though the fathers were unfaithful, the LORD remains steadfast to His covenant. It was a fresh invitation to obedience and blessing for a people who had not personally stood at Sinai but were still bound by God’s covenant.

c. A covenant of grace and responsibility: This scene shows both continuity and renewal. God does not lower His standards for the new generation; He restates His commands, His promises, and the blessings and curses tied to obedience or disobedience. The renewal is gracious: God did not abandon Israel after their failures, but allowed their children to step into what was promised. Yet it is also solemn because covenant relationship with God always carries responsibility. As Moses later says, “Ye stand this day all of you before the LORD your God...” (Deuteronomy 29:10).

2. (Deuteronomy 29:2–4) Israel saw wonders, but they did not truly see.

“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; The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles: Yet the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.”

a. You have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes: Moses reminds this new generation that they were eyewitnesses to the acts of God. They saw the ten plagues in Egypt, the death of the firstborn, the Red Sea split before them, and the Egyptian army swallowed by the waters (Exodus 14:26–31). They saw Amalek defeated when Moses’ hands were raised in prayer (Exodus 17:11–13). They ate manna from heaven daily — “And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna… And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna” (Exodus 16:15, 31). They drank water from the rock when Moses struck it as God commanded (Exodus 17:6). Their clothes did not wear out, nor did their feet swell for forty years (Deuteronomy 29:5). In short, they lived surrounded by miracles. Yet miracles alone could not change their hearts.

b. Yet the LORD hath not given you a heart to perceive: Though they saw with their physical eyes, they did not truly understand with spiritual discernment. Spiritual blindness is not solved by more evidence but by divine intervention. God must give a heart that perceives, eyes that see, and ears that hear. This truth is echoed throughout Scripture — “The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the LORD hath made even both of them.” (Proverbs 20:12). Jesus later applies the same principle — “For this people’s heart is waxed gross… lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart…” (Matthew 13:15). Physical exposure to God’s works does not guarantee spiritual transformation.

c. Miracles do not create faith without the work of God’s Spirit: Israel is a testimony that witnessing supernatural events does not automatically produce obedience or faith. Their fathers saw the plagues yet worshiped the golden calf (Exodus 32:1–4). They drank water from the rock yet complained against God (Numbers 20:2–5). The problem was not a lack of evidence but a lack of a surrendered heart. Faith is not born from spectacle but from divine grace working through the Word of God — “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17).

d. A warning and a mercy: Moses’ words are both rebuke and mercy. They expose Israel’s dullness but also remind them that God has not abandoned them — He is renewing the covenant, inviting them to respond in faith. Later in this same chapter God promises hope: “But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.” (Deuteronomy 4:29). Their need is not for more miracles, but for repentance and a heart yielded to God.

3. (Deuteronomy 29:5–9) God’s great works for Israel in the wilderness.

“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. Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I am the LORD your God. 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: 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. Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do.”

a. And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: God Himself reminds Israel that their survival in the wilderness was not due to their strength, wisdom, or ingenuity, but to His sustaining hand. For forty years their clothes did not decay, nor did their sandals wear out — a miracle only God could perform. No human effort could prevent fabric and leather from decaying under constant sun, sand, and travel. Moreover, He fed them not with man-made bread or vineyards of Canaan, but with manna from heaven and water out of the rock. This daily dependence was so “that ye might know that I am the LORD your God” — that is, to teach them His sufficiency, His care, and His authority (Exodus 16:4; Deuteronomy 8:3–4).

b. Victories over Sihon and Og: God not only preserved His people but gave them victory. Two powerful Amorite kings — Sihon of Heshbon and Og of Bashan — stood against them, yet Israel, formerly slaves with no military tradition, conquered them by the LORD’s power (Numbers 21:21–35). Not only were they defeated, but their land east of the Jordan was given as an inheritance to Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh. This demonstrates that God not only delivers His people from bondage but leads them into possession — from redemption to inheritance.

c. These miracles declare God’s power, faithfulness, and love:
i. Clothes lasting forty years, sandals not wearing out, manna from heaven, water from the rock — each of these is a visible declaration of God’s covenant love. No pagan deity cared for its worshipers like this.
ii. This also reveals that unbelief, not a lack of evidence, kept the first generation from entering the Promised Land. God had proven Himself again and again, yet they hardened their hearts.

d. Spiritual parallels for the believer: The physical provisions and victories of Israel have spiritual significance for believers in Christ:

• Clothing: Christ offers spiritual garments — “white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed” (Revelation 3:18).

• Shoes for the journey: “And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6:15).

• Bread and wine: He gives true spiritual sustenance in His body and blood — “This is my body… this cup is the new testament in my blood” (1 Corinthians 11:23–26).

• Victory: “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” (Romans 8:37).

• Conquering spiritual strongholds: “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds.” (2 Corinthians 10:4–5).

e. Therefore keep the words of this covenant: God’s care for them was not meant to produce complacency but obedience. The only right response to such grace is covenant faithfulness. As Moses says, “that ye may prosper in all that ye do.” Obedience is not a burden but the pathway to blessing. God’s past faithfulness is the strongest motivation for present obedience.

B. Renewing the Covenant

1. (Deuteronomy 29:10–15) The parties to the covenant.

“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, 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: 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: That he may establish thee today 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. Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath; But with him that standeth here with us this day before the LORD our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day.”

a. All of you stand today before the LORD your God: Moses emphasizes that every individual in the nation stood before God to renew the covenant — leaders, elders, military officers, men, wives, children, and even the lowest servants and foreigners living among them. This covenant is not selective or elitist. It is national, comprehensive, and personal. No one was exempt from accountability to God’s law or excluded from the privilege of belonging to His people. The phrase “before the LORD your God” underscores the solemnity; they were not merely in front of Moses but in the presence of God Himself.

b. That He may establish thee today for a people unto Himself: The purpose of the covenant is relational — that Israel would be God’s treasured people, and He would be their God. This fulfills His promise to the patriarchs — Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Genesis 17:7–8; Exodus 6:6–8). God was not merely seeking obedience but fellowship, loyalty, and exclusive devotion. The covenant was God choosing them, not because of their greatness (Deuteronomy 7:7–8), but because of His love and His oath to their fathers. This was a reaffirmation of identity — they were not to see themselves as former slaves, but as God’s chosen nation, holy and set apart to Him.

c. As well as with him who is not here with us today: The covenant is transgenerational. It extends beyond those physically present on the plains of Moab. It binds future generations of Israel. The unborn descendants are included because covenantal identity is not merely personal but national and enduring. As Scripture later says, “He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations.” (Psalm 105:8). This also lays the theological foundation for parental responsibility to teach the law to their children (Deuteronomy 6:6–7). Every generation must embrace the covenant personally, though it is given to them corporately.

d. Covenant grace and covenant responsibility: The covenant is both privilege and obligation. God initiates — “that He may establish thee…” — yet Israel must respond by entering, listening, and obeying. This mirrors the New Covenant — salvation is by grace, yet discipleship demands obedience (John 14:15). The presence of God’s people, their leaders, families, and strangers shows that no one is too insignificant to be called, and no one is too important to ignore God’s demands.

2. (Deuteronomy 29:16–20) The promise of judgment against the covenant-breaker.

Full Scripture (KJV):
“(For ye know how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt; and how we came through the nations which ye passed by; 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 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; 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: The LORD will not spare him, but then the anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven.”

a. You saw their abominations and their idols which were among them: Moses reminds Israel that they had firsthand knowledge of pagan corruption. They lived in Egypt and passed through idolatrous nations — they saw gods of wood, stone, silver, and gold. There was no ignorance. Therefore, if any man, woman, family, or tribe turned from the LORD to idols, that rebellion was deliberate. To see God’s mighty works and still turn to lifeless idols is not weakness alone — it is treason against the covenant.

• The phrase “a root that beareth gall and wormwood” refers to a poisonous root producing bitterness and spiritual corruption (Hebrews 12:15). Secret idolatry in one heart can spread like poison through a nation if left unchecked.

b. He blesses himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace: This is the most dangerous form of self-deception. The covenant-breaker hears the curses, yet says in his heart, “I will be fine. No judgment will come.” He feels peace — but it is a counterfeit peace. It is the peace of a man asleep in a burning house, or a passenger calm seconds before a plane explodes.

i. This is not true peace from God, but a false peace from spiritual blindness. Isaiah declares, “There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked.” (Isaiah 48:22).

ii. “To add drunkenness to thirst” means joining the deliberate rebel (drunk) with the careless or indifferent (thirsty), acting as if both will be safe together. It is like saying the drunk and sober alike are safe in judgment — a direct insult to God’s holiness.

c. The LORD would not spare him: God’s response to this self-deceived covenant-breaker is absolute. “The anger of the LORD and His jealousy shall smoke against that man.” The word “jealousy” here is relational — God will not share His people with idols. Every curse written in the book will fall upon such a person. His name will be “blotted out from under heaven,” meaning removal from God’s covenant people and memory.

• This confirms the spiritual law of sowing and reaping — rebellion always bears its fruit. Whether in this life or in eternity, God will settle the account.

• This also serves as a warning to Israel and to all generations: profession without obedience is deadly. Hearing the covenant but walking in the imagination of one’s own heart leads not to blessing, but to judgment.

3. (Deuteronomy 29:21–28) The purpose for judgment against the covenant-breaker.

Full Scripture (KJV):
“And the LORD shall separate him 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: 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; And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath: Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger? Then men shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt: For they went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom he had not given unto them: And the anger of the LORD was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book: And the LORD rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.”

a. And the LORD would separate him from all the tribes of Israel for adversity: This speaks of God’s personal judgment upon the individual covenant-breaker — He will be “separated,” meaning marked out for calamity, removed from blessing, and set apart for destruction. Yet the judgment is not only for the sake of the rebel. God has a larger purpose — that His holiness, righteousness, and covenant faithfulness might be displayed before others.

b. So that the coming generation and the foreigner may see and understand: God’s judgment upon Israel for covenant rebellion would not be done in secret. It would be a visible, historical testimony. Future generations of Israelites, and even foreign nations, would see the devastation — the land laid waste like Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim — places God destroyed for their wickedness (Genesis 19:24–25; Hosea 11:8). A once fruitful land turned into brimstone, salt, and burning would serve as a warning: God is not mocked; disobedience brings ruin.

i. This teaches that divine judgment is not only punitive but instructional. The ruins of Israel would shout to future generations, “Do not forsake the LORD!” We learn not only from obedience but from the consequences of disobedience.

ii. Proverbs 21:12 reflects this principle: “The righteous man wisely considereth the house of the wicked: but God overthroweth the wicked for their wickedness.”

c. All nations would say… Why has the LORD done this? God’s judgment on Israel would become a global sermon. Other nations would witness the calamity and ask why such anger fell upon God’s chosen people. The answer would not be political, military, or economic — it would be theological: “Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD God of their fathers.” Their exile, their desolate land, their scattering among the nations would be a visible testimony that forsaking God brings wrath.

• This prophetic warning came true in Israel’s history — in the Assyrian captivity (722 B.C.), the Babylonian exile (586 B.C.), and ultimately the Roman destruction of Jerusalem (A.D. 70).

• Yet even in judgment, God preserves His covenant — the same God who uproots also promises to restore (Deuteronomy 30:1–3; Jeremiah 31:35–37).

d. Theological significance:

• God’s judgment is righteous, instructional, and covenantal.

• The land itself becomes a witness — fruitful under obedience, barren under rebellion.

• Israel was to be a light to the nations by obedience (Deuteronomy 4:6–8), but if disobedient, they would still testify — through judgment — of God’s holiness.

4. (Deuteronomy 29:29) God’s revelation to Israel

Full Scripture (KJV):
“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.”

a. The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: Moses closes this chapter with a profound theological principle. Not everything God plans, knows, or decrees has been revealed to man. There are divine mysteries hidden in His infinite wisdom. He is not obligated to explain all His purposes. God keeps some things known only to Himself, and this is His sovereign right. Scripture affirms this — “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8–9). This teaches humility. We are not God. There will be unanswered questions and mysteries beyond our understanding.

b. But those things which are revealed: Though God keeps some things hidden, He has graciously chosen to reveal much. He has spoken through His law, His prophets, and ultimately through His Son — “God… hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son.” (Hebrews 1:1–2). What He has revealed is sufficient for faith and obedience. We must not obsess over what God has not revealed but faithfully respond to what He has made known.

c. Belong unto us and to our children: God’s revelation is not abstract or academic; it is personal and covenantal. It is given to His people as a possession — truth to be known, believed, taught, and lived. This includes parents teaching their children — just as earlier it was commanded, “And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children…” (Deuteronomy 6:7). God’s truth is not to stop with one generation but to be faithfully transmitted.

d. Forever: God’s revelation does not expire. His Word is as binding and relevant today as when first spoken. “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.” (Isaiah 40:8). Every generation must submit to Scripture; no one is free to alter or disregard God’s commands.

e. That we may do all the words of this law: The purpose of revelation is obedience, not speculation. God has revealed His law not to entertain our minds but to transform our lives. Knowledge without obedience is rebellion — “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” (James 1:22). God’s revelation demands response, faith, and action.