A Prophecy of Esau and Jacob

Deuteronomy 29

¹ These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He made with them in Horeb.

— beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb; though it was substantially the same; but it was renewed now, in different circumstances;

— they had violated its conditions, hence Moses rehearses these, that they might have a better knowledge of its conditions and be more disposed to comply with them.

² 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,

— unto Pharaoh and unto all his servants, and unto all his land; the plagues he inflicted on the person of Pharaoh, and on all his courtiers, and on all the people in Egypt, for they reached the whole land.

³ the great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles. — the great temptations which thine eyes have seen; or trials, the ten plagues which tried the Egyptians; the signs and those great miracles: as the said plagues were such as were beyond the power of nature to produce.

⁴ Yet the Lord hath not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear unto this day. — yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive; some of them seen the above miracles with their eyes, but had not discerned with their understanding the power of God displayed in them;

⁵ And I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not waxed old upon you, and thy shoe has not waxed old upon thy foot. — your clothes are not waxen old upon you: were not worn out; all those forty years they had been in the wilderness, they had never wanted clothes fitting for them;

— and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot; which were to wear in travelling, and especially in a rugged wilderness; and yet, thought they had been always in use during so long a time, were not worn out.

⁶ Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink, that ye might know that I am the Lord your God. — ye have not eaten bread; not eaten bread made of corn, common bread, of their own preparing, by the labour of their own hands; but manna, the bread of heaven;

⁷ 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 when ye came unto this place; the borders of Moab, the wilderness before it, to which joined the plains they were now in;

⁸ And we took their land and gave it for an inheritance unto the Reubenites and to the Gadites and to the halftribe of Manasseh. — and we took their land; which belonged to the two kings, the lands of Jazer, Gilead, and Bashan, fine countries for pasturage:

⁹ Keep therefore the words of this covenant and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do. — the words of this covenant; that is, those spelt out in Deuteronomy 29:1 and on Deuteronomy 4:13;

¹⁰ “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, — ye stand — before the Lord your God; they were assembled at the tabernacle, from whence he delivered these words to them by the priests and Levites;

¹¹ 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—

— and thy stranger that is in thy camp; not only the proselyte of righteousness, who embraced the Israelite’s religion entirely, but the proselyte of the gate, who was admitted to dwell among them, having renounced idolatry;

¹² 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, — the covenant was national, the whole congregation of Israel, of all ages and conditions, all, young as well as old; and therefore embraced all the elements which make up the nation;

¹³ 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.

— that he may establish thee to day for a people unto himself; it must be observed that this is the aspect of the covenant which makes Yehovah responsible for the fulfilment of the whole; he takes all this trouble for the sake of establishing thee in his presence for himself;

¹⁴ “Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath, — neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath; that is, Moses; for he was ordered to make this covenant with them in the name of the Lord;

¹⁵ 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 — so also with him that is not here; that is, with your posterity; and so with him that is not here with us this day; of the people of future generations;

¹⁶ (for ye know how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the nations which ye passed by, — for ye know how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt; how long they and their fathers had dwelt there, the number of years they had been in the land;

— as the Targum of Jonathan, which was upwards of two hundred years; and being a country the inhabitants of which were much given to idolatry, they had seen many of their idols, and much of their idolatrous worship;

— and how we came through the nations which ye passed by; as the Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites, and Midianites, through whose borders they came, as they passed by their countries in their journeys in the wilderness.

¹⁷ and ye have seen their abominations and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them); — wood and stone, silver and gold; these are the materials of which the idols they had seen in the several countries they had been in, or passed through, were made of;

— some of wood, others of stone cut out of these, and carved; others more rich and costly were made of massive gold and silver, and were molten ones; or the images of wood were glided with gold and silver;

¹⁸ 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,

— lest there should be; to prevent their falling into idolatry, and preserve them from it, whether a single person of either sex, or a whole family, or even a tribe, which might be in danger of being infected with it, and so all the people;

¹⁹ 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.

— that he bless himself in his heart; inwardly pronounce himself blessed, thinking himself secure from the curse of the law, and flattering himself it will never reach him nor come upon him;

— saying, I shall have peace; all happiness and prosperity, in soul, body, and estate; inward peace of mind now, and eternal peace hereafter: though I walk in the imagination of my heart; in worshipping idols which he vainly and wickedly imagined to be gods; to the worship of which his wicked heart prompted him, and he was resolutely and stubbornly bent upon, and in which he continued;

²⁰ 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.

— then the Lord will not spare him; have no mercy upon him, nor forgive him, being an hardhearted, impenitent, stubborn, and obstinate sinner, as well as guilty of the grossest and most provoking sin, as idolatry is;

— and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him: for as he that offends in one point is guilty of all, and especially in such a principal point as this, which concerns the being and worship of God; so he makes himself liable to all the curses of the law;

²¹ 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, — according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law; the evil of punishment he shall be separated unto shall be according to them, or include them all;

— and here is from MSG:

^14-21 I’m not making this Covenant and its oath with you alone. I am making it with you who are standing here today in the Presence of God, our God, yes, but also with those who are not here today.

You know the conditions in which we lived in Egypt and how we crisscrossed through nations in our travels. You got an eyeful of their obscenities, their wood and stone, silver and gold junk-gods.

Don’t let down your guard lest even now, today, someone—man or woman, clan or tribe—gets sidetracked from God, our God, and gets involved with the no-gods of the nations; lest some poisonous weed sprout and spread among you, a person who hears the words of the Covenant-oath but exempts himself, thinking, “I’ll live just the way I please, thank you,” and ends up ruining life for everybody.

God won’t let him off the hook. God’s anger and jealousy will erupt like a volcano against that person. The curses written in this book will bury him. God will delete his name from the records.

God will separate him out from all the tribes of Israel for special punishment, according to all the curses of the Covenant written in this Book of Revelation. Deuteronomy 29:18-20 The Message

²² so that the generation to come of your children who shall rise up after you, and the stranger who 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 the stranger that shall come from a far land; the Assyrians and the Babylonians were from closeby; or for the sake of travelling from afar, his road either lying through it, or his curiosity leading him to see it;

²³ 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 Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and in His wrath—

— like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah; the whole land burnt of brimstone, and salt, and thereafter, is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein;

²⁴ even all nations shall say, ‘Why hath the Lord done thus unto this land? What meaneth the heat of this great anger?’ — even all nations shall say; not just the Assyrians and the Babylonians from closeby; or even the Roman, but all nations shall wonder;

²⁵ 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; — then men shall say; these men are Gentiles; and they even know the answer: because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers;

²⁶ for they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they knew not and whom He had not given unto them. — for they went and served other gods, and worshipped them; as did all Israel, in the times of Solomon, and the ten tribes under Jeroboam,

— and other succeeding kings of Israel; and the two tribes in the times of Ahaz, and especially of Manasseh, when they worshipped all the gods of the surrounding nations; 1 Kings 11:33,

²⁷ And the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book; — to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book; in this book of Deuteronomy, and particularly Deuteronomy 28:16; Daniel 9:11

²⁸ 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.’ — and cast them another land, as it is this day; the ten tribes were cast into Assyria, and from thence into the cities of the Medes, the two tribes into the land of Chaldea;

— “and cast them into another land, as it is this day” this maybe a predicted statement of the forthcoming exiles; it could either be the writer’s own and if so betrays his foresight at that time, or it is a later editorial addition. In view of the language of the whole chapter, the former alternative is the more probable.

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. — secret things belong unto the Lord our God; that is, the counsels and secrets of God concerning persons or nations;

— but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children for ever; the things of nature and Providence, which are plain and manifest, are for our use and instruction; and especially the word and ordinances of God, which are the revelation of his will, the doctrines and promises contained in the Scriptures, each of the duties of religion, and the commandments of God.

Deuteronomy 30

¹ “And it shall come to pass, when all these things have come upon thee, the blessing and the curse which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee,

— and thou shalt call them to mind; recollect the promises of blessings and cursings; an awakening among the people themselves must precede their restoration.

² and shalt return unto the Lord thy God and shalt obey His voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart and with all thy soul, — and shalt return unto the Lord thy God; by repentance, acknowledging their manifold sins and transgressions;

³ that then the Lord thy God will return thee from captivity and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee.

— God will return thee from all the nations; not from Assyria, not from Babylon, not from Rome, but from “all the nations” that is, from the east, west, north, and south, where they are now dispersed;

— these are Prophecies of a sequence of Major events that will lead to the Return of the House of Israel, the Northern Lost 10-Tribes, back to the Promise Land that God had promised to Abraham, the land defined as the land between the two rivers;

— for more details written by the prophets Ezekiel, Isaiah and Jeremiah, see Sequence of Prophecies for the Return of Israel

⁴ If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will He fetch thee. — if any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven; again, emphasizing from the “outmost parts of heaven” that is, from the east, west, north, and south, where they are now dispersed;

— the timing is where the Targum of Jonathan indicates, “from thence will he bring you near by the hands of the King Messiah,” which means, at the close of this age;

⁵ And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and He will do thee good and multiply thee above thy fathers.

— and the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; that these Israelites upon their conversion in the latter day will return to the land of Judea and Samaria again, and possess it, is the sense of many passages of other Scripture; written by the prophets Ezekiel, Isaiah, Daniel and Jeremiah;

⁶ And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live. — the Lord will circumcise thy heart; will by his Word and Spirit change and purge thy heart from all thy idolatry and wickedness;

⁷ And the Lord thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies and on them that hate thee, who persecuted thee. — the Lord thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies; from these blind and unrepentent Gentiles, especially, First, from those of Psalm 83, and, Second, from those of “Gog and Magog;”

⁸ And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the Lord, and do all His commandments which I command thee this day. — and thou shalt return and do all his commandments; it is as certain that in this age that the laws of Deuteronomy have been forgotten or have never been kept perfectly.

⁹ And the Lord thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good. For the Lord will again rejoice over thee for good, as He rejoiced over thy fathers,

— thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand; indicating these Israelites are humans, not spirit beings; in the fruit of thy body; abundance of children; and in the fruit of thy cattle; a large increase of oxen and sheep; and in the fruit of thy land for good;

¹⁰ if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, and if thou turn unto the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul.

— to keep his commandments and his statutes, which are written in this book of the law; a constant reminder of keeping his laws and statutes, particularly at Mount Sinai and in this chapter;

¹¹ “For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. — for this commandment is not hidden, either is it far off; that law of obeying God, which was the subject of Moses’ discourse, was well known to the Israelites; they could not plead ignorance of its existence and requirements.

¹² It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, ‘Who shall go up for us to heaven and bring it unto us, that we may hear it and do it?’ — it is not in heaven; the scheme of it was formed in heaven, it was hid in the heart of God there, before revealed;

¹³ Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, ‘Who shall go over the sea for us and bring it unto us, that we may hear it and do it?’ — neither is it beyond the sea: the knowledge of this commandment is not to be fetched from far distant places;

¹⁴ But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. — in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it; the fulfilment of obeying God’s laws is not impossible, nor really very difficult;

¹⁵ “See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil, — see, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; the alternative of a good and happy, or a disobedient and miserable life.

¹⁶ in that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply; and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. — a constant reminder of keeping his commandments, his statutes and judgments;

— and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it; with health and happiness, with an affluence of all good things, in the land between the two rivers they would enter into to take possession of.

¹⁷ But if thine heart turn away so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, — so that thou wilt not hear; the voice of the Lord and obey it, or hearken to his laws, and do them: but shalt be drawn away; by an evil heart, or by the ill examples of others;

¹⁸ I declare unto you this day that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land whither thou passest over the Jordan to go to possess it. — I denounce unto you this day that ye shall surely perish; by one judgment or another; or else sent off into exile as captives;

¹⁹ I call heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live, — therefore choose life, that thou and thy seed may live; that is, prefer obedience to the law, and choose to perform that, the consequence of which is life;

²⁰ that thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey His voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto Him; for He is thy life and the length of thy days, that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

— that thou mayest love the Lord thy God; here he shows them in short what their duty is; to love God as the Lord, a being most amiable, and as their God;

— that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them; the land of Canaan, the land between the two rivers.

~ by Joel on June 8, 2024.

Posted in Books of Moses