A Series on Divine Covenants
1. Read Deuteronomy 29:1-30:10.
What has happened up to this point? When was this covenant made and who was it with? Is this part of the
Mosaic covenant or is it distinctly different?
Because of their unbelief and idolatry, all but three individuals (Moses, Joshua, and Caleb)
from the first generation out of Egypt died during the 40-year wanderings in the desert
Free from the experience of Egyptian bondage and just before their crossing of the Jordan River entering Palestine,
God spoke through Moses and made the Land Covenant with the second-generation Israel.
This Covenant was known by several names:
a) the Land Covenant for its promises regarding the inheritance of land,
b) the Palestinian Covenant for the location of where the covenant was made
(the plains of Moab), and
c) the Deuteronomy Covenant for the location of where the covenant is found
in the Bible.
The Land Covenant is distinctly different from the Mosaic Covenant
for two reasons:
1) it was made 40 years after the Mosaic Covenant, and
2) it was made in Moab (instead of Horeb also known as Mt. Sinai).
2. What is promised in the Land Covenant? What must occur before the promises are fulfilled?
Israel will fail to uphold their commitment to the Mosaic Covenant and will be scattered
all over the world (Deut 29:2-30:1).
"...and you return to the LORD your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul
according to all that I command you today, you and your sons,..."
Israel will repent.
"...and will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has
scattered you. If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there the LORD your God will gather you,
and from there He will bring you back." (Deut 30:3-4)
Israel will be regathered.
"The LORD your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and
you shall possess it;..." (Deut 30:5)
Israel will possess the Promised Land.
"Moreover the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your
descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live."
Israel will be regenerated.
"The LORD your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who
hate you, who persecuted you." (Deut 30:7)
The enemies of Israel will be judged.
"Then the LORD your God will prosper you abundantly in all the work of your hand, in
the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your cattle and in the produce of your ground, for the LORD
will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers; if you obey the LORD your God to
keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to the LORD your
God with all your heart and soul." (Deut 30:8-10)
Israel will receive many blessings.
3. Read Deuteronomy 28,
29, and through
30:10. What must occur before the promises are fulfilled?
"So it shall be when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse
which I have set before you, and you call them to mind in all nations where the LORD your God has banished you,
and you return to the LORD your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command you
today, you and your sons,..." (Deut 30:1-2)
The promises are fulfilled when a) all the blessings and curses that are mentioned in
Deuteronomy 28 have occurred, and b) the nation of Israel
returns to and obeys God.
4. What is the significance of the Land Covenant?
The Land Covenant focuses and expands on the Land portion of the
Abrahamic Covenant! Like the
Abrahamic Covenant, the Land Covenant is unconditional and eternal. Despite the disobedience of the first
generation of Hebrews out of Egypt and while the
Mosaic Covenant was clear about
its conditions for God's blessings, God still makes the Land Covenant with the second generation.
Also important to note, while the curses in
Deuteronomy 28 are quite severe, God does not destroy the nation
of Israel nor end His covenant relationship with the nation.
At this time, the nation of Israel has not returned to God nor have they obeyed Him, and they
only reside in a portion of the Promised Land; hence, the promises of the Land Covenant remain to be fulfilled.