the people of Israel. Israel’s disobedience to the voice of Yahweh, which stems from a failure to serve Yahweh from a joyful and good heart (בבל, Deut 28:47) and a misplaced trust (חטב) in fortified walls (28:52), will lead to the curses of the covenant falling on Israel (28:15–24). The Israelites will find themselves suffering like the Egyptians at the Exodus and the Canaanites at the conquest: disease ridden (28:27, 35, 60–61), blinded by darkness (28:29); defeated and pillaged by their enemies (28:25, 29b–31, 33; 49–52), enslaved (28:32, 41, 68), exiled (28:36, 64), given over to idolatry (28:36, 64), and in utter hopelessness and despair (28:53–57, 65–67). In the end, they will be back where they started, back in captivity in the land of Egypt (28:68). Instead of giving them a heart to know and eyes to see to keep the covenant—in answer to Yahweh’s rhetorical lament in 5:29 and in keeping with what we have seen is required to fulfill the stipulations of this covenant—Yahweh will give (ןתנ) them a trembling heart (זגר בל), darkened eyes (ןוילכ םיניע), and a languishing soul (שפנ ןובאד) (28:65). In contrast with chapter 4,
Deuteronomy 28:68 does not end on a note of hope:
And the LORD will bring you back in ships to Egypt, a journey that I promised that you should never make again; and there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer.
Deuteronomy 29:15–27 (ET 29:16–28). Thus, when it comes to the consequences for covenant disobedience in chapter 29, Israel’s future seems
indeterminate. Moses again warns against the sins of idolatry (Deut 29:17a, [ET 29:18a]) and heart disobedience (29:17b–18, [ET 29:18b–19]). Significantly, Moses’ warnings focus on the heart as the root of both sins that will lead to exile:
Deuteronomy 29:17a (ET 29:18a): “Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart (בבל) is turning away from the LORD our God to go and serve the gods of those nations.”
Deuteronomy 29:17b–18 (ET 29:18b–19): “Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, one who, when he hears the words of this covenant oath, blesses himself in his heart (בבל) saying, ‘Peace will be with me, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart (בבל).’”48
The imagery in Deuteronomy 29:17b–18 (ET 29:18b–19) is of a root that grows to bear poisonous fruit, and when the anger of Yahweh comes, his jealousy will burn against it and will “sweep away the moist and dry alike” in accord with the curses written in this book. The one who is disobedient will be singled out from the tribes to bear the curses (Deut 29:20 [ET 29:21]), but this punishment will affect all of Israel. The sin of one turns out to be the sin of Israel, as later generations are told that “they
abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers . . . and went and served other gods and worshiped them” (29:24–25, ET 29:25–26). And as in chapter 28 and the plagues of the Exodus, the punishment reserved for the enemies of God’s people will be meted out against God’s own people. This time the punishment against Israel is likened to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (29:22 [ET 29:23]). And as was true in
Deuteronomy 4 and 28, Israel’s fate is exile, an uprooting and casting out to another land.
48My translation, with dependence on the language of the ESV. This language of internal dialogue within a person’s heart crops up numerous times in Deuteronomy. Deut 7:17: “If you say in your heart (בבל) ‘These nations are greater than I. How can I dispossess them?’” Deut 8:17: “Beware lest you say in your heart (בבל), ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’” Deut 9:4: “Do not say in your heart (בבל), after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land.’” Deut 29:17–18 (ET 29:18–19):
“Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, one who, when he hears the words of this covenant oath, blesses himself in his heart (בבל) saying, ‘peace will be with me, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart (בבל).’” This is also the language Paul accesses in Rom 10 when he introduces the quotation of Deut 30:12–14, which I return to below in chapter 4.
With the threat of the curse of exile, this passage in Deuteronomy 29 leaves one wondering if hope will be extended, as in chapter 4, or withheld, as in chapter 28.
Things Hidden and Revealed
At this point, Moses says one of the most enigmatic things in all of the OT in Deuteronomy 29:29 (ET 29:28), “The hidden things are for Yahweh our God, but the revealed things are for us and our sons forever, to do all of the words of this Torah.”49 The significance of the location of this statement is picked up by several commentators.50 The fact that it occurs at the seam of chapters 29 and 30, between exile foretold in Deuteronomy 29 and restoration promised Deuteronomy 30, indicates that Deuteronomy 29:28 (ET 29:28) acts as a kind of meta-comment to the entire section.51
But what is the referent of “the hidden things” (תרתסנה) that are for Yahweh and “the revealed things” (תלגנהו) that are for Israel? Do the hidden and revealed things refer to Israel’s sin and covenant conformity,52 God’s word and the Torah,53 God’s will
49My translation.
50See, for example, Kenneth J. Turner, The Death of Deaths in the Death of Israel:
Deuteronomy’s Theology of Exile (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2011), 156. “With 29:28, we can perceive a transition from the generally negative attitude of chapter 29 to the more optimistic tone of chapter 30.” See also Lenchak, Choose Life!, 153, 174.
51So Gentry, “The Relationship of Deuteronomy to the Covenant at Sinai,” 51.
52According to Biddle, “The concluding proverb-like statement continues the theme of secret apostasy. YHWH knows the secrets of an individual’s heart. Abandonment of the covenant cannot be kept secret. The Torah and its requirements, on the other hand, are public knowledge. Israel’s responsibility is simply ‘to do all the words of this Torah.’” Mark E. Biddle, Deuteronomy, Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary (Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys, 2003), 442. The Jewish commentator Rashi concurs: “And if you say, ‘But what can we do? “Thou threatenest the many (the whole community) with punishment because of the sinful thoughts of one individual as it is said, 9v. 17): ‘Lest there should be among you a man, [or a woman or a family . . . whose heart turneth away this day from the Lord . . .]”, and afterwards it states, (v. 21) ‘And they will see the plagues of that land’. But surely no man can know the secret thoughts of his fellow! Now, I reply: I do not threaten to punish you because of secret thoughts for these belong to our Lord our God and He will exact punishment from that individual; but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children that we may put away the evil from our midst; and if we do not execute judgment upon them, the whole community will be punished.” Rashi, Pentateuch with Targum Onkelos, Haphtaroth and Prayers for Sabbath and Rashi’s Commentary, trans. M. Rosenbaum and Abraham Maurice Silbermann (London: Shapiro, Valentine & Co., 1946), 148.
53Cairns claims that “[Deut] 30:11–14 [is] a useful clue to the interpretation of 29:29. The emphasis of 30:11–14 is that Yahweh’s torah is not some obscure secret knowledge but guidance open and accessible, easily understood and practiced.” Ian Cairns, Word and Presence: A Commentary on the Book
and counsel,54 or something else?55
Looking at the immediate context, Moses has just warned Israel to beware two manifestations of disobedience to the covenant: in Deuteronomy 29:17a (ET 29:18a) Israel is warned against the one whose heart turns away from Yahweh to serve idols; and in Deuteronomy 29:17b–18 (ET 29:18b–19) Israel is warned against the one who would bless himself in his heart despite walking in the stubbornness of his heart. These two sins, idolatry and stubbornness of heart, both lead to covenant curses and ultimately result in exile (Deut 29:26–27 [ET 29:27–28]). For Israel to beware the idolater is one thing—it would be relatively easy to detect when someone was worshipping other gods by the presence of alternate forms of worship. But for Israel to beware the one whose internal dialogue is disobedient to Yahweh, who spurns the words of the covenant and blesses himself in his stubborn heart, is quite another.
In Deuteronomy 29:28 (ET 29:29), Israel is aware of both outward and inward manifestations of conformity to the covenant and their seeming helplessness with regard to the latter—both in their own hearts and in the hearts of their neighbors. There is external conformity to the law and there is internal conformity to the law. External conformity to the law, “the revealed things,” is what belongs to Israel, both the practicing of the law and the meting out of the sanctions that are prescribed against those who fail to uphold the law. But internal conformity to the law, “the hidden things,” is what belongs to Yahweh as he exercises his sovereignty over the heart of man and judges man
of Deuteronomy (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992), 262.
54Keil and Delitzsch argue, “That which is revealed includes the law with its promises and threats; consequently that which is hidden can only refer to the mode in which God will carry out in the future His counsel and will, which He has revealed in the law, and complete His work of salvation
notwithstanding the apostasy of people.” Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1900), 451.
55John Currid notes that above the words “to us and to our sons” in the Hebrew text appear puncta extraordinara, which, according to Emanuel Tov, are meant by the Masoretes to indicate text that should be omitted. Such an omission would dramatically alter the interpretation of this passage. John D.
Currid, A Study Commentary on Deuteronomy (Webster, NY: Evangelical Press, 2006), 464.
according to his heart.56
Deuteronomy 29:28 (ET 29:29) may function the same way in chapters 29–30.
The infinitive construct תאזה הרותה ירבד־לכ־תא תושעל and the adverbial clause םלוע־דע could be read with both independent clauses at the beginning of the verse, to וניהלא הוהיל תרתסנה and ונינבלו ונל תלגנהו, which would yield “The hidden things belong to Yahweh our God to do forever all the words of this law” and “the revealed things belong to us and to our sons to do forever all the words of this law.” In the context, Yahweh has just promised to visit the curses of the covenant against the “stubborn hearted” (Deut 29:19 [ET 29:18], 27 [ET 26]). He will discern the state of the heart and act according to all the words of this law. Thus, the internal state of a person is for Yahweh to judge in order to carry out the blessings and curses of this covenant; whereas the outward state of a person is for man to judge in order to carry out the blessings and curses of this covenant. In particular focus, then, in 29:28 (ET 29:29) moving into chapter 30, especially 30:11–14, is Yahweh’s unilateral ability to exercise sovereignty over the hidden things and judge a man according to the secrets of his heart.