10 "You stand today , all of you, before the Lord your God : your chiefs , your tribes , your elders and your officers , even all the men of Israel , 11 your little ones , your wives , and the alien who is within your camps , from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water , 12 that you may enter into the covenant with the Lord your God , and into His oath which the Lord your God is making with you today , 13 in order that He may establish you today as His people and that He may be your God , just as He spoke to you and as He swore to your fathers , to Abraham , Isaac , and Jacob .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Deuteronomy 29:10-13
Commentary on Deuteronomy 29:10-21
(Read Deuteronomy 29:10-21)
The national covenant made with Israel, not only typified the covenant of grace made with true believers, but also represented the outward dispensation of the gospel. Those who have been enabled to consent to the Lord's new covenant of mercy and grace in Jesus Christ, and to give up themselves to be his people, should embrace every opportunity of renewing their open profession of relation to him, and their obligation to him, as the God of salvation, walking according thereto. The sinner is described as one whose heart turns away from his God; there the mischief begins, in the evil heart of unbelief, which inclines men to depart from the living God to dead idols. Even to this sin men are now tempted, when drawn aside by their own lusts and fancies. Such men are roots that bear gall and wormwood. They are weeds which, if let alone, overspread the whole field. Satan may for a time disguise this bitter morsel, so that thou shalt not have the natural taste of it, but at the last day, if not before, the true taste shall be discerned. Notice the sinner's security in sin. Though he hears the words of the curse, yet even then he thinks himself safe from the wrath of God. There is scarcely a threatening in all the book of God more dreadful than this. Oh that presumptuous sinners would read it, and tremble! for it is a real declaration of the wrath of God, against ungodliness and unrighteousness of man.