Section III Concluding Addresses: The Covenant

Deuteronomy 27:1—30:20

The recital of the terms of the covenant was now complete. It remained for the people formally to commit themselves to it. In covenants characteristic of the ancient Near East in the time of Moses such a ceremony, comprising various elements, was the customary climax of the concluding of a covenant.1 Chapters 27—30 embody this ratification procedure. The leading features are the repetition of the blessings and curses that will attend respectively the observance and infraction of the covenant (28); and the actual ceremony of oath taking (29—30).

A. THE RATIFICATION CEREMONY, 27:1-26

A covenant imposed by a conqueror upon his vassal was usually renewed in two stages. The first occurred before the suzerain's death, and the second after the accession of his successor. Such a pattern seems to be in view here, where Moses is about to die and to be succeeded by Joshua. The ritual for the second stage seems to be embodied in this chapter (its fulfillment is recorded in Josh. 8:30-35). Insofar as it interrupts the sequence between 26:19 and 28:1, it may be because it anticipates this later stage. The order of parts in such treaties was by no means constant.2 This may explain why Moses felt free to depart from a more logical order, especially when such a departure enabled him to enjoin obedience to God in future days when he would no longer be leading God's people.

1. Ceremonial Writing of the Law (27:1-8)

On arrival in the Promised Land the Israelites were to set up great stones, and plaister them with plaister: and…write upon them all the words of this law (2-3). The inscribing of laws upon stones was commonplace in the ancient world. The code of Hammurabi, the famous Babylonian king of the eighteenth century B.C. is about 8,000 words long, engraved on a block of diorite. The Persian code carved into the Behistun rock is twice as long as Deuteronomy 12—26. The method of writing enjoined here is Egyptian. It involved applying a layer of stucco to the surface of the stone and writing with some black pigment rather than carving.

More important than the method of writing the law was its significance. The publication of law implies the proclamation of it as the law of the land where it is published. This public inscription of God's covenant with Israel at the moment of her arrival in Canaan would signify the nation's acceptance of it as the rule of her life in the new land. The inscribed stones would bear permanent testimony to this act and to the content of the law.

That this is the meaning of the writing of the law is confirmed by the command to offer sacrifice, a customary part of covenant-ratification procedure (cf. Gen. 15:9-18; Jer. 34:18).3 An altar was to be erected in mount Ebal (4) made of whole stones (6), i.e., unhewn stones, untouched by any iron tool (5). The Hebrew word for whole (shelemoth) comes from the same root as shalom (peace). The physical character of the stones is indicative of their spiritual function and effect. Thus, as at Sinai (Exod. 24:5, 11), the conclusion of the covenant would be attended by a sacrificial feast as the people rejoiced before the Lord thy God (7).

It is significant that Moses found no incongruity between the erection of an altar on Mount Ebal and the law of the central sanctuary in 12:1-14. On the contrary, as Manley says, he “uses the very words of Exod. 20:24 which Deuteronomy is supposed to revoke.”4 This suggests strongly that, while 12:1-14 looks forward to a central sanctuary, it permits worship of the true God at any authorized place (see comments on 12:1-14).

2. A Solemn Reminder (27:9-10)

In the midst of directions for the future there is interjected this reminder that Israel is always to be the people of the Lord thy God (9). The covenant would need to be ratified later, but it was also in process of ratification as Israel listens to its terms from the lips of Moses in the plains of Moab (see map 3). Obedience to the voice of the Lord thy God (10) was therefore a present as well as a future obligation (10). Von Rad observes that these verses show strikingly that the covenant is the free gift of God. It was not the reward of Israel's obedience, for as yet she had not had the opportunity to obey its provisions for life in Canaan. Obedience indeed is required, but it is the consequence rather than the cause of the covenant.5

This section shows an affinity, in language and content, with 26:16-19 and c. 28. Far from interrupting the sequence, it serves to bind these chapters together.

3. Blessings and Curses (27:11-13)

The thought here returns to the ratification ceremony in the future after the land had been entered. The blessings and curses are the sanctions of the covenant (11:26-28). Their content is indicated in c. 28. The precise form of the ritual of blessing and cursing may be inferred at least in part from 11:29 and Josh. 8:30-35.

Six of the tribes were to stand on mount Gerizim to bless (12) and six on mount Ebal to curse the people (13). Whether the tribes recited the blessings and curses or simply had them recited to them is not clear. In the midst of this natural amphitheater stood the priests with the ark of the covenant. The substance of the blessings and curses is omitted here, presumably because of its inclusion in c. 28.

The principle on which the tribes were allotted to the mount of blessing or cursing appears to be genealogical. The sons of Jacob's legitimate wives were appointed to bless, and the sons of his concubines to curse. However Reuben, who forfeited his birthright (Gen. 49:4), and Zebulun, Leah's youngest son (Gen. 30:19-20), were transferred to the second group to make up even numbers. At the same time a geographical basis is not impossible. The first group, with the doubtful exception of Issachar, are tribes that settled south of Esdraelon. The second group, including Reuben and Gad from Transjordan, settled in the north (see map 4).

4. The Covenant Oath (27:14-26)

These verses represent a ritual distinct from that of blessing and cursing. This is evident from the fact that here the Levites (14) pronounce the curses and all the people (15), rather than merely half of them, respond. Also this ceremony is constituted entirely of curses. A formal oath of obedience was as much a part of the conclusion of a treaty in the ancient Near East as the reading of its terms or the pronouncement of its sanctions.6

It is likely that this feature, in which the vassal called down maledictions upon himself if he broke the provisions of the treaty, is embodied in these verses.7 Exod. 24:7 and Josh. 24:16, 21, 24 probably refer to the same kind of ceremony. As the curses were read out, the people indicated their assent by responding with the Amen (15).8 For other biblical instances see Num. 5:22; I Kings 1:36; Neh. 5:13.

All of the misdemeanors cursed here are outlawed elsewhere in the Pentateuch, though not in any single place. Thus making a graven or molten image (15) is banned in Exod. 20:4; dishonor of father or mother (16) in Exod. 20:12; Deut. 21:18-21; removal of the landmark (17) in 19:14; misleading the blind (18) in Lev. 19:14; perversion of justice (19) in 24:17; various forms of incest (20, 22-23) in Lev. 18:8-9, 17; bestiality (21)—a pagan rite to procure fertility—in Lev. 18:23; murder (24) in Lev. 24:17; the receiving of bribes for murder (25) in Exod. 23:8; Deut. 16:19.

The striking thing about this collection of evils, and that which gives it cohesion, is the note of the secrecy of these sins. This note is explicit in vv. 15, 24, and implicit in 16, 17, 18, 25 as well as in the wide area of sexual sins (20-23). Such offenses might escape human eyes and evade human justice, but they would not evade the sight and justice of God. “There is something splendid,” says von Rad, “about the way in which Israel…acknowledges Yahweh's will…as binding on those occasions when a man believes he is alone by himself.”9 As the Psalmist discovered (Psalm 139) there was no part of his interior life that was unknown to God.

As this chapter and the ceremony it describes spoke to Israel of the acknowledgment of the divine lordship, so it speaks to us of “The Coming of the Reign of God.” There is (1) The acknowledgment of God's reign, 1-8, which is the secret of blessing, 3. There is (2) The grace of God's reign, 9-10. His will to bless requires obedience, but as a consequence, not a precondition. Finally there is (3) The sphere of God's reign, 11-26—everything down to the secret springs. If He is Lord of the heart, He will be Lord of everything else.

B. THE COVENANT SANCTIONS, 28:1-68

Now that the second stage in the covenant renewal has been dealt with, Moses returns to the first. He is concerned with the submission of the people to God this day (1) as he speaks to them in the plains of Moab. In thought, therefore, 28:1 is the sequel to 26:19 and 27:9-10. A leading feature of this ceremony of submission was the recital of the blessings and curses which would follow obedience or disobedience to the terms of the covenant.10 These blessings and curses, embodied in c. 28, constituted the sole sanctions of the covenant, a further indication that the people were answerable directly to God.

In comparison with the parallel sections of other ancient covenants, c. 28 has several notable features. First, whereas the usual order is curses, then blessings, here that order is reversed. “This,” says Kitchen, “would appear to be a specifically O.T. feature, not unconnected with the difference in kind of witnesses involved.”11 Israel's God comes first to bless. Second, and apparently contradictory of the first point, the blessings (1-14) are heavily outweighted by the curses (15-68). While this has analogies in other ancient treaties,12 the explanation probably lies in Israel's tendency to go astray. This tendency was already well attested during her journey through the wilderness.

1. Blessings (28:1-14)

Obedience to the voice of the Lord thy God (1) and His commandments expressed in the covenant will bring these blessings (2). They are spelled out in the succeeding verses. First, there is a series of six beatitudes—Blessed shalt thou be (3-6). They promise blessing in every area of life. The last three especially indicate their comprehensiveness. Prosperity is promised in basket and store (5; kneading trough). The basket was used to garner, and the kneading trough to prepare the produce of the soil for eating. Verse 6 means that their work would be blessed from start to finish.

After this comprehensive blessing three areas are specified in which further blessing is promised, and these become the motif of the rest of the chapter. If obedient, the nation will enjoy victory over her enemies (7). Though they advance against her bravely in a single body, they will be routed in every direction. Further, she will enjoy blessing in her storehouses (8), i.e., material prosperity. Israel shall also know moral and spiritual well-being in that God shall establish her as His holy people (9). These blessings are repeated in reverse order in vv. 10-14. In 10 the expression shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord is more properly rendered “shall see that the Lord's name is called over thee.” This expresses divine ownership, as does v. 9.13 Verses 11-12 promise material prosperity. His good treasure (12) refers to the rain…in his season. Verse 13 corresponds to 7, holding out the expectation of rising power and influence. Throughout, the dependence of this blessing upon obedience is emphasized (1, 9, 13-14).

2. Curses (28:15-68)

After the blessings come six groups of curses. The first (15-19) consists of the reversal of the blessings in 3-6. Then follow three cycles of curses (20-26, 27-37, 38-48) on the pattern of the blessings of 7-14. The nation may be blessed militarily, materially, and spiritually, but she will be cursed in these same areas if she breaks the covenant. The most dire of these curses—military defeat—is taken up and expounded as a single curse (49-57). The chapter ends with a warning curse summarizing all the others (58-68). The whole sequence is one of the most solemn and eloquent in Scripture. It produces much of its effect through repetition.

a. The reversal of covenant blessings (28:15-19). Obedience will bring blessing (8); disobedience will bring all these curses (15). This is expressed strikingly in that these verses are an exact reversal of the boons promised earlier. Verse 15 corresponds to v. 1; vv. 16-19, with a slight change, follow the order of 3-6.

b. Curses of man and nature: cycle one (28:20-26). Verses 20-24 describe the cursing of the physical and material realms. Man and nature are both afflicted—man with disease,14 and nature with plague and drought. Blasting (22) refers to the withering effect of the scorching east wind from the desert. Verse 23 refers to withholding the rain. There shall be no clouds—the heaven will be as bright as brass. The earth will be dry and crusted—as hard as iron. The withholding of rain leads the author to combine the thoughts of blasting (22) and drought in 24. The only rain would be the dust with which the east wind filled the air as it blew in from the sands of the desert. Verses 25-26 describe military disaster. Verse 25 is the reversal of v. 7. The last clause of 25, And shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth, is better rendered, “And you shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth” (RSV). The thought is that of Jer. 18: 15-17. The defeat in battle would be such that it would lead to the dissolution of the nation. The final indignity would be that man, who was made to have dominion over the creatures of the earth (Gen. 1:26), would become their hapless prey. There would not even be anyone to fray (drive) them away (26).

The fact that these disasters come from the hand of the Lord (20-22, 24-25) is indicative of His repudiation of Israel as His people (9-10).

c. Curses of man and nature: cycle two (28:27-37). The same theme continues in this section although the cursing of man takes predominance (27-35). The rejection of the people by God is more explicit than in the preceding cycle (36-37). Kline notes15 that of the four forms of curse mentioned in 27-35, disease, madness, oppression, frustration, the first three lead up to the fourth and then are repeated after it in reverse order: i.e., the arrangement is inverted.

The curse will affect man physically. “The boils of Egypt…the ulcers and the scurvy and the itch, of which you cannot be healed” (27, RSV), may be forms of plague. The curse will also affect man mentally, resulting in madness (28, confusion) worse than physical blindness (29 a). At 29 b it becomes clear that one of the agents of divine judgment is the foreign invader—Thou shalt be…oppressed. Hence man's social life will also be thrown into chaos. The frustrations that men were exempted from military service to avoid (20:5-7) will come upon them inexorably (30). Property will be expropriated before their very eyes (31). Their children will be sold into slavery while they look on in palsied helplessness (cf. 32-34). Verses 33-35 repeat these same judgments in reverse order.

The climax of this cycle is the rejection of the people by the Lord (36), symbolized by national exile and the worshipping of other gods, wood and stone.

d. Curses of man and nature: cycle three (28:38-48). The material curse occupies 38-44, though the note of military defeat is present in 41. The basic theme is that judgment in the form of pests and blight will reduce the Israelites to poverty. In reversal of the promise of vv. 12-13, they will have to borrow from the stranger (43-44). The cause of these material curses is spiritual defection (45-46). Israel's rejection of God (47) will be sealed by His rejection of them in handing them over to their enemies (48).

e. The curse of national overthrow (28:49-57). In this section the most fearful of all the curses—military defeat—is expanded as a single curse. This constitutes the climax, since there could be no greater mark of divine disapproval than the overthrow of the nation.

The horrors that attend it will be as bad as the curse itself. These will come from without and within. From without will come the invading foe of such a character as to strike terror. It will be a nation…as swift as the eagle (vulture, 49), speaking an unknown tongue and utterly pitiless (50). Besides spoiling the land (51) he will besiege and overthrow the cities (52). As a result of the siege (53), privation will be such that the beleaguered Israelites will resort to cannibalism. The man that is tender (54, the most refined) will be reduced to such straits that he will not share, even with his wife and surviving children, the flesh of his children (55) he is now consuming. Not even maternal instincts or feminine propriety will be able to withstand the intense privation. The lady of rank, who would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground (56), accustomed as she is to being borne in a litter, would devour her afterbirth (cf. RSV) and her children born during the siege. But she would do so secretly to avoid having to share even this grisly meal with her husband and other children (56-57).

f. A warning summary curse (28:58-68). To this point the vast majority of the curses have been in the indicative. Now as the final series commences, the conditional—if thou wilt not observe (58)—with which they began (15) is resumed. This is to remind Israel that these drastic results are not inevitable but will occur only through disobedience. The theme of this final series is roughly like the first (15-19), namely, the reversal of covenant blessings. Here, however, the blessings with which the curses are contrasted are those of the original covenant promise to Abraham (Gen. 12:2), subsequently confirmed in the miraculous deliverance from Egypt.

Obedience brought exemption from the plagues of Egypt (Exod. 8:22-23; 9:4, 6-7, 26; 10:23; 11:7). In contrast disobedience would bring not only these plagues (59) but other judgments not written (61) in the covenant. Wonderful (59) is better “extraordinary” (RSV). If obedience enabled the Israelites to multiply even under oppression (Exod. 1:12), the divine judgments would decimate them (62). If obedience brought them to the Promised Land (Gen. 12:1), disobedience would drive them from off the land (63). They would become a scattered remnant, reduced to pagan servitude (64). Even in exile they would find no ease (65). Seeing their lives hanging in doubt (66), they would be a perpetual prey to anxiety (67). They are pictured as being transported in slave traders' ships again to Egypt to a bondage worse than that of their forefathers. They would suffer the ultimate indignity of being undesired even as bondmen and bondwomen (68).

Prophecy and curse mingle as the penalty of disobedience assumes the form of banishment from the land (63-64). There is no inconsistency between this and the threat of return to Egypt, which became a symbol of divine rejection (Hos. 8:13).

This chapter is the most sustained exposition in the book of one of the central doctrines of Deuteronomy, that obedience brings prosperity and disobedience disaster. According to many scholars this view is peculiar to what is identified as the Deuteronomic theology. It is a pragmatic theology which “teaches that the fortunes of Israel will inevitably reflect its religious loyalty, and that when it is faithful and pure in its worship and life, prosperity will mark its way, while religious declension will be followed by disaster and curse.”16 In the light of NT teaching such a view is at best a half-truth, since in many cases faithfulness to God brings the reverse of prosperity.

The author of Deuteronomy would not have denied this. Indeed George Adam Smith points out that there is at least one passage in the book which explains suffering in didactic rather than corrective or retributive terms (8:2-3).17 That, however, is not the point which the book needed or intended to emphasize. The emphasis required as the Israelites were about to enter Canaan with all its temptations was that disobedience would bring disaster.

Even if all suffering cannot be explained on such terms, an important part of it can be. If the universe was created and ordered by God it will—although fallen—reflect His character. Hence the truly “natural” life is the Ufe lived according to His will. To live otherwise is to live against the grain of life, to rub life the wrong way. This cannot be the way to peace or prosperity. Baines Atkinson summarizes the matter judiciously when he says: “The issue is that there is a measure of material prosperity promised by God to His people,”18 a conclusion that is surely justified by our Lord's words in Matt. 6:33.

Within this area the chapter teaches of “Blessing and Judgment in Human Life.” (1) God's primary intent is to bless. The precedence of the blessings over the curses, in contrast to the reverse order in secular covenants, is striking. Vriezen rightly protests against the misrepresentation of the God of the OT as a God of judgment in contrast with the God of mercy in the NT.19 Hos. 11:8-9 and Lam. 3:32-33 are typical of OT passages which speak with the same voice as John 3:17 and 12:47. (2) The way to blessing is obedience. (3) The penalty of disobedience is judgment. This principle, whose operation Deuteronomy shows in the temporal realm, obtains also in the eternal. Those who will not receive Christ as Saviour will face Him as Judge (John 3:18, 36).

C. TAKING THE COVENANT OATH, 29:1—30:20

The contents of the covenant, including the benefits of obeying and the penalties for breaking it, have been set forth. There remains only the sealing of the covenant by the taking of the oath. It is this act and its accompaniments that are the subject of cc. 29—30. To underscore the solemnity of the oath the leading elements of the covenant are repeated in brief, so that these chapters are to a degree a recapitulation of the entire covenant. Thus 29:1-9 answers to the historical prologue in 1:6—4:49; also 29:16-29 answers to the sanctions of 28:1-68; and 30:8, 10-14 alludes to the stipulations of the covenant embodied in 5:1—26: 19; while 30:15-20 contains the summons to the oath and the invocation of witnesses, as yet unmentioned but integral parts of the standard treaty pattern.20 Here, as throughout Deuteronomy, there is a strong note of exhortation. The book is not merely a legal covenant but a collection of material for the public proclamation of a covenant. It might be called a “preached covenant”—hence the strong hortatory element.

1. Exhortation on the Basis of History (29:1-9)

Verse 1 is regarded as 28:69 in the Hebrew text. Grammatically, it may be either the subscription of c. 28 or the superscription of c. 29. The words of the covenant (1, 9) may refer back to the terms of cc. 5—26, or more probably forward to the words Moses is about to speak (cf. 4:45; 5:1).21

The covenant…made…in Horeb (1) is about to be renewed in Moab. As Israel enters into this renewal, Moses reminds her of the blessings received from her Lord in the past (2). Three are recalled. First was the deliverance from Egypt (2-3). Temptations (3) is better “great trials” (RSV). Second was the miraculous provision in the wilderness (5-6); and third, the victories over Sihon and Og (7-8; 2:30—3:11), whose lands they now occupied. Yet despite these displays of supernatural power, given to evoke faith in God (6; cf. 8:2-4), Israel was still untrusting (4). “In attributing their dullness of heart to Jehovah, Moses only adopts the mode of thought, which runs throughout the Old Testament, of attributing all things to Jehovah as their ultimate source.”22 Regarding this renewed covenant things must be different (9).

2. Parties to the Covenant (29:10-15)

The people were assembled for the taking of the covenant oath: leaders (10), children, wives, foreigners, servants—all were included (11). Nor was it merely the living who were incorporated. The covenant extends to those as yet unborn—to him that is not here with us this day (15). The purpose is twofold, as are the parties: that Israel should be Jehovah's people and that He should be their God (13; cf. 26:17-18). Indeed, Israel's taking the oath of loyalty to God is but the fulfillment of God's oath to her founding fathers (Gen. 17: 7).

3. Exhortation Based on Covenant Sanctions (29:16-29)

The covenant was to be observed not only because of God's past blessings, but also because of the dire consequences of disobedience. The chief threat to Israel would be idolatry, and this section begins with a double warning, although this is obscured in the KJV. At the beginning of vv. 16 and 18 some such words as “Take heed” have to be supplied. However alluring idol worship might appear, its results would be disastrous. The poisonous root (18) would yield bitter fruit. Such defection might well take place on the part of one who imagined that the curse (19, “sworn covenant,” RSV) guaranteed unconditional security. So far from doing so, infringement of it would bring the destruction of the entire nation. For the expression to add drunkenness to thirst (19) read, “This would lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike” (RSV), a proverb indicating general ruin.

In 21-29, the perspective both widens and lengthens. In 18-21, the emphasis has been on some treacherous individual. The effect of his action on the nation has been mentioned incidentally (19). Now, however, he is seen to have been a source of infection to the whole nation, and the tone changes from warning to prediction. The fearful consequences are portrayed in a dramatic dialogue between your children that shall rise up after you (22; Israelites of the future) and the stranger, foreign visitors for whom Israel has become a grisly tourist attraction, a second Sodom (23; cf. Gen. 14:2; 19:29). And even the astonished heathen will understand the cause of the dereliction—Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God (25). They themselves felt bound to their own gods, false as they were. Faithless Israel had shown a perfidiousness which not even the pagans could match (26); hence her overthrow and exile (27-28). The warning is therefore repeated. The secret things (29) of the future are in the mind of God alone. Israel's business is to live by what she knows now—this law, the covenant, the will of God.

4. Obedience a Cure for National Overthrow (30:1-10)

The tone is now unmistakably predictive. Exile is not a threat but a certainty—when all these things are come upon thee (1). This passage looks beyond the blessing and the curse to the period of restoration. As such it is an apt sequel to 29:16-29. While imperfect connections of thought may be explained by dislocation of the text, the character of Deuteronomy as a “preaching of the law” may also be a contributory factor. As Manley says: “The stream of words flows on, as befits a discourse, with various turnings, and not as in a formal document.…The arrangement is therefore governed by the lawgiver's dominant religious motive and the various matters which required his attention. Caution should therefore be exercised before passages are put down to later insertions, when they may be merely digressions.”23

The future overthrow of the nation need not be final. If idolatry brought disaster, obedience will bring restoration. The purposes of God are merciful and He “will restore your fortunes, and have compassion upon you” (3, RSV). From “the ends of heavens” (4, Berk.) He will bring them back to the promised land (5), blessing them with prosperity (9) and cursing their erstwhile enemies (7). This, however, is conditional upon wholehearted obedience (2, 8, 10), an obedience which God himself will enable them to render. The sign of Israel's covenant was circumcision of the flesh. In His own time God will visit them with a spiritual circumcision whereby, from renewed and willing hearts, they will yield the voluntary obedience that He requires (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:26-28; Rom. 2:28-29; Col. 2:10-11).

5. Summons to Decision (30:11-20).

The secret of that future obedience will be its ease. But with that thought the mind of the lawgiver leaps back to the present and to all those who “stand this day…before the Lord your God” (29:10). For them also obedience is possible. The divine requirements are easy both to ascertain and to understand. Its availability is the chief feature of the divine law: it is in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it (14).

Consequently the time for exposition is past. This is the moment for decision. The alternatives are set forth starkly: life and good (15) are dependent upon obedience; death and evil are consequent upon disobedience (15-18). Denounce (18) means to “declare.” These alternatives are the essence of the theology of the book. As if to add solemnity, heaven and earth (19) are summoned to witness that the opportunity for free choice has been offered. The speech closes with an exhortation to choose life and its accompanying benefits (19-20).

From these chapters it is easy to derive “Modern Lessons from the Old Faith.” For while the new covenant supersedes the old, it is in the sense of fulfilling rather than nullifying it. Christ is the Fulfillment of the promise to Abraham (Gen. 12:3; Gal. 3:29), and the principles of the divine dealings with men are unchanging. Three lessons are particularly stressed here: (1) The conditionality of security, 29:16-29, esp. 19-20. The covenant guarantees blessing only on condition of obedience (cf. Amos 9: 10). (2) The possibility of inward obedience, 30:1-14, esp. 6. For us, through Christ, the devotion of the whole heart to God without division has become a practical possibility. This is the essence of the new covenant. (3) The demand for decision, 30:15-20.

In 15-20 we see “Make Your Choice.” (1) God makes clear the alternatives, 15-18; (2) Man makes the decision, 19; (3) Final consequences are certain, 17-18, 20 (G. B. Williamson).