INTERESTING FACTS : "WE APPROACH SCRIPTURE WITH MINDS ALREADY FORMED BY THE MASS OF ACCEPTED OPINIONS AND VIEWPOINTS WITH WHICH WE HAVE COME INTO CONTACT, IN BOTH THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD....IT IS EASY TO BE UNAWARE THAT IT HAS HAPPENED; IT IS HARD EVEN TO BEGIN TO REALIZE HOW PROFOUNDLY TRADITION IN THIS SENSE HAS MOULDED US. " - J.I. PACKER

 

DAILY READING : DEUTERONOMY 28 - 29

 

TEXT : Deu 29:29  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.

 

THEME : REVELATION

 

Starting in Deuteronomy twenty seven and continuing in chapter twenty eight we have the cur se of the Law in detail. Of course, in chapter twenty eight we have the blessing as well. The only drawback with the blessing is its conditional nature. The blessing depended on the obedience of Israel which, as we have pointed out, was not always consistent. Therefore, when we read through the Old Testament, we see more of the curses of the Law than the blessings.

 

The curses in general, more than the blessings, are numerous and cover almost every aspect of life. From the field to the home, the mind to the womb, and the bread to the body the curse is extensive. It is, and would be, the result of non-compliance with God's commands. Of course, the blessing was equally conditional. Still, we see Israel experiencing more trouble in its history than continuous blessing.  Notice it is God who takes responsibility for both the blessing and the curse. It should serve as a fearsome warning for you and I as well.

 

"For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." [Heb 10: 26 - 31]

 

Albert Barnes does an excellent work in listing the curses of the Law - all of which came to pass in time. His list is worth looking at to see the many troubles Israel had when they disobeyed God.

 

Deuteronomy 28:15-68 

 

The curses correspond in form and number Deu_28:15-19 to the blessings Deu_28:3-6, and the special modes in which these threats should be executed are described in five groups of denunciations Deut. 28:20-68.

 

Deu_28:20-26

 

First series of judgments. The curse of God should rest on all they did, and should issue in manifold forms of disease, in famine, and in defeat in war.

 

Deu_28:20

 

Vexation - Rather, confusion: the word in the original is used Deu_7:23; 1Sa_14:20 for the panic and disorder with which the curse of God smites His foes.

 

Deu_28:22

 

"Blasting" denotes (compare Gen_41:23) the result of the scorching east wind; "mildew" that of an untimely blight falling on the green ear, withering it and marring its produce.

 

Deu_28:24

 

When the heat is very great the atmosphere in Palestine is often filled with dust and sand; the wind is a burning sirocco, and the air comparable to the glowing heat at the mouth of a furnace.

 

Deu_28:25

 

Shalt be removed - See the margin. The threat differs from that in Lev_26:33, which refers to a dispersion of the people among the pagan. Here it is meant that they should be tossed to and fro at the will of others, driven from one country to another without any certain settlement.

 

Deu_28:27-37

 

Second series of judgments on the body, mind, and outward circumstances of the sinners.

 

Deu_28:27

 

The "botch" (rather "boil;" see Exo_9: 9), the "emerods" or tumors 1Sa_5:6, 1Sa_5:9, the "scab" and "itch" represent the various forms of the loathsome skin diseases which are common in Syria and Egypt.

 

Deu_28:28

 

Mental maladies shah be added to those sore bodily plagues, and should Deu_28:29-34 reduce the sufferers to powerlessness before their enemies and oppressors.

 

Blindness - Most probably mental blindness; compare Lam_4:14; Zep_1:17; 2Co_3:14 ff.

 

Deu_28:30-33

 

See the marginal ref erences for the fulfillment of these judgments.

 

Deu_28:38-48

 

Third series of judgments, affecting every kind of labor and enterprise until it had accomplished the total ruin of the nation, and its subjection to its enemies.

 

Deu_28:39

 

Worms - i. e. the vine-weevil. Naturalists prescribed elaborate precautions against its ravages.

 

Deu_28:40

 

Cast ... - Some prefer "shall be spoiled" or "plundered."

 

Deu_28:43, Deu_28:44

 

Contrast Deu_28:12 and Deu_28:13.

 

Deu_28:46

 

Forever - Yet "the remnant" Rom_9:27; Rom_11:5 would by faith and obedience become a holy seed.

 

Deu_28:49-58

 

Fourth series of judgment s, descriptive of the calamities and horrors which should ensue when Israel should be subjugated by its foreign foes.

 

Deu_28:49

 

The description (compare the marginal references) applies undoubtedly to the Chaldeans, and in a degree to other nations also whom God raised up as ministers of vengeance upon apostate Israel (e. g. the Medes). But it only needs to read this part of the denunciation, and to compare it with the narrative of Josephus, to see that its full and exact accomplishment took place in the wars of Vespasian and Titus against the Jews, as indeed the Jews themselves generally admit.

 

The eagle - The Roman ensign; compare Mat_24:28; and consult throughout this passage the marginal references.

 

Deu_28:54

 

Evil - i. e. grudging; compare Deu_15:9.

 

Deu_28:57

 

Young one - The "afterbirth" (see the margin). The Hebrew text in fact suggests an extremity of horror which the King James Version fails to exhibit. Compare 2Ki_6:29.

 

Deu_28:58-68

 

Fifth series of judgments. The uprooting of Israel from the promised land, and its dispersion among other nations. Examine the marginal references.

 

Deu_28:58

 

In this book - i. e. in the book of the Law, or the Pentateuch in so far as it contains commands of God to Israel. Deuteronomy is included, but not exclusively intended. So Deu_28:61; compare Deu_27:3 and note, Deu_31:9.

 

Deu_28:66

 

Thy life shall hang in doubt before thee - i. e. shall be hanging as it were on a thread, and that before thine own eyes. The fathers regard this passage as suggesting in a secondary or mystical sense Christ hanging on the cross, as the life of the Jews who would not believe in Him.

 

Deu_28:68

 

This is the climax. As the Exodus from Egypt was as it were the birth of the nation into its covenant relationship with God, so the return to the house of bondage is in like manner the death of it. The mode of conveyance, "in ships," is added to heighten the contrast. They crossed the sea from Egypt with a high hand. the waves being parted before them. They should go back again cooped up in slaveships.

 

There ye shall be sold - Rather, "there shall ye offer yourselves, or be offered for sale." This denunciation was literally fulfilled on more than one occasion: most signally when many thousand Jews were sold into slavery and sent into Egypt by Titus; but also under Hadrian, when numbers were sold at Rachel's grave Gen_35:19.

 

No man shall buy you - i. e. no one shall ventu re even to employ you as slaves, regarding you as accursed of God, and to be shunned in everything

 

TRUTH FOR TODAY : THE BIBLE IS THE ONLY REVELATION WE NEED!

 

Although we can know some characteristics of God and His nature from the natural world, the universe, His creatures and creation etc. we cannot know all from these sources alone. Therefore, God has revealed Himself in the Bible so we can know Him. Better, He wrote the Bible so we can know all we need to know about Him beyond what we observe with our eyes, ears, and other senses. The Bible does not tell all we will ever know about God. In eternity, we will learn more. In fact, we will be forever learning.

 

However, the Scriptures mention much concerning God's nature. The Bible chiefly is a revelation of God and Man. These are the two main characters of the Book. Further, we also learn much about Man in the Bible since God reveals not only Himself in the Scriptures, but the nature of Man as well. We would do well to study the Book of Books, for it reveals what we need to know about God and about ourselves.

 

In the text of Deuteronomy twenty nine and verse twenty nine we are presented with a great principle. Basically it tells us that God has not revealed everything, but He has revealed enough. More than that, it tells us that what He has revealed we are expected to obey and believe. Matthew Henry wrote -

 

"Moses ends his prophecy of the Jews' rejection, just as St. Paul ends his discourse on the same subject, when it began to be fulfilled, Rom_11:33. We are forbidden curiously to inquire into the secret counsels of God, and to determine concerning them. But we are directed and encouraged, diligently to seek into that which God has made known. He has kept back nothing that is profitable for us, but only that of which it is good for us to be ignorant. The end of all Divine revelation is, not to furnish curious subjects of speculation and discourse, but that we may do all the words of this law, and be blessed in our deed. This, the Bible plainly reveals; further than this, man cannot profitably g o. By this light he may live and die comfortably, and be happy for ever."

 

Today, there is no end of "prophets" manipulating the people of God with "new revelations." With unconscionable temerity and delusional thinking, they put forth extra-Biblical and non-Biblical interpretations of their dreams, visions, voices, tongues [as in the "glossolalia" we see in the Book of Acts], out of body experiences etc. et al, ad infinitum, ad nauseam. In this age, there is no end of the shameful, ridiculous, preposterous, and foolish declarations of men. These men are identical to the false teachers found in Jeremiah's time. Read carefully what God has to say about teachers, preachers, and prophets who speak a vision of their own heart, and not by God's Word.

 

Jer 23:16  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mo uth of the LORD. Jer 23:17  They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you. Jer 23:18  For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it? Jer 23:19  Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked. Jer 23:20  The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly. Jer 23:21  I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. Jer 23:22  But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings. Jer 23:23  Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off? Jer 23:24  Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD. Jer 23:25  I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed . Jer 23:26  How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart; Jer 23:27  Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. Jer 23:28  The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD. Jer 23:29  Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?

 

Since the time is short, and we are surrounded by misguided and manipulative preachers and teachers, let us act on what we have - i.e. the Bible, and leave the secret things to God. It is the safest and most secure means we have today of obtaining God's blessing!