The Deuteronomic Covenant-Part 1

By: Dr. Renald Showers; ©2002

As a new generation was about to begin a new chapter in Israel’s history, it had to be reminded in a solemn way of Israel’s special covenant relationship with Jehovah. This reminder, says Dr. Showers, appears to have been the purpose of the Deuteronomic Covenant.

Contents

The Background Of The Covenant

Two significant things should be observed concerning the Deuteronomic Covenant. The first is the background of the covenant. This covenant was established by God with the nation of Israel after the establishment of the Mosaic Covenant (the Law), and it was sepa­rate from the Mosaic Covenant. Deuteronomy 29:1 states, “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 comparison of Exodus 19 and 20 with Deuteronomy 5 indicates that Horeb and Sinai are two different names for the same mountain, the mountain where God established the Mosaic Covenant with Israel.)

In preparation for the establishment of the Deuteronomic Covenant, God made promises of blessing and cursing to the nation of Israel. In Deuteronomy 28:1-14 God promised that if Israel obeyed the Mosaic Law, He would bless the nation abundantly and make it the head nation of the world. But then God warned that if Israel disobeyed the Mosaic Law, He would curse the nation abundantly with such things as drought, famine, pestilence, foreign oppression, captivity, and worldwide dispersion (Deuteronomy 28:15-68).

Having given these preparatory promises, God entered into the Deuteronomic Covenant relationship with Israel. In Deuteronomy 29:10-13 Moses said to Israel, “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 sojourner who 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.”

God established the Deuteronomic Covenant at the end of Israel’s 40 years of wilder­ness wondering, just a short time before the nation was to invade Canaan (Deuteronomy 29:5-8). The place of its establishment was the land of Moab (Deuteronomy 29:1), east of the Dead Sea across from the land of Canaan. The parties of the covenant were God, the new generation of the people of Israel that was to invade Canaan, and succeeding genera­tions of the nation. In Deuteronomy 29:14-15 Moses said to Israel, “Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath, but with him who stands here with us this day before the LORD our God, and also with him who is not here with us this day.” As a new genera­tion was about to begin a new chapter in Israel’s history, it had to be reminded in a solemn way of Israel’s special covenant relationship with Jehovah. This reminder appears to have been the purpose of the Deuteronomic Covenant.

The Promises Of The Covenant

The second significant thing to be observed concerning the Deuteronomic Covenant is the fact that God made very significant promises to Israel in conjunction with the establish­ment of the covenant (Deuteronomy 30:1-10). Moses indicated that these promises will be fulfilled when all the blessings and curses promised in Deuteronomy 28 have been fulfilled and when Israel genuinely returns to God and obeys Him: “And it shall come to pass, when all these things are 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, to which the LORD thy God hath driven thee, 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” (Deuteronomy 30:1-2).

First

God promised to gather the scattered Israelites from all over the world: “That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations where the LORD thy God hath scattered thee. If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from there will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from there will he fetch thee” (Deuteronomy 30:3-4).

Second

God promised to restore the Israelites to the land of their ancestors: “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” (Deuteronomy 30:5).

Third

God promised to regenerate the Israelites of that future time and their descen­dants, thereby causing them to love Him totally: “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” (Deuteronomy 30:6). Circumcision of the heart is the Old Testament designation for regeneration (compare Romans 2:29).

Fourth

God promised to judge Israel’s enemies: “And the LORD thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them who hate thee, who persecuted thee” (Deuteronomy 30:7).

Fifth

God promised that the Israelites of that future time will obey Him: “And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the LORD, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day” (Deuteronomy 30:8).

Sixth

God promised to prosper those future Israelites greatly: “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” (Deuteronomy 30:9).

Centuries after God made these promises of the Deuteronomic Covenant to Israel, He repeated a number of them to later generations of Israelites through the Prophets Jeremiah (Jeremiah 32:36-44) and Ezekiel (36:22-38).

The next article will consider the significance of the promises of the Deuteronomic Covenant.

Contents
Read Part 2