29:1 This chapter opens with the statement of the covenant renewal. Rather generously, God continually enters into new covenants with each of us. Although humanity is unfaithful to Him, He remains faithful to us. Each new covenant is a personal relationship between God and an individual, a relationship which God promises to bless abundantly.
The children of Israel have spent 40 years in the wilderness. Along the way, children have grown into adults, babies have been born, some have left the group due to unfaithfulness. Through Moses, God brings covenant renewal to those who were too young to receive it the first time and reestablishes it for those who still remember.
29:2-4 The Israelites have been moved and led and blessed by God for much of their lives now. Yet their obstinacy has inhibited them from understanding. They have continued to throw tantrums, doubt God and even abandon Him. Sometimes God helps us to stay ignorant. He does this because once we are given spiritual wisdom and understanding, we are responsible for our actions. The children of Israel have no been spiritually mature enough to have their eyes opened, figuratively.
This is a tool God continues to utilize: 2 Peter 2:21, Romans 11:8. Out of compassion, God gives us a built-in opportunity for redemption. Once we do know better, we have a second chance to be better. Every atom of every matter here on earth is an intricate miracle, if we were all completely spiritually awakened, we would never get anything done... we would be too amazed to focus our attention on anything but the miracle we exist within.
Instead, we a population of polluters. Rushing to places that do not matter, oblivious to the fact that we are rotating at an incredible speed on a planet, in a solar system, in a galaxy, in a universe no mortal can explain.
29:5 The children of Israel do not even realize how blessed they have been: their clothes have not worn out, neither have their shoes or their bodies. They've been nomads for forty years! It is incredible that they did not realize this miracle. Yet we are the same. We are surrounded by God's protective and creative hand and we neglect to see how busy and generous He has been.
29:6 God has sustained the children of Israel by faith alone: they've eaten of His spirit and they've quenched their thirst with His holy water. This is a metaphor for us to benefit from! When go to Him only as our source of provision, we are perfectly sustained.
29:7 When we establish God as our defender, no enemy breaks through our barrier: we win all of the wars, as long as we are studious and faithful to Him during the battles.
29:8 Evil is removed and goodness is established in its place. Enemy is removed and we are established in its place. God uproots corruption and plants us soundly, deeply in His soil.
29:9 Therefore, Moses pleads, enter into a personal covenant with God and remain faithful to it.
29:10-11 God is rebuilding a family. A community. A kinship. Every member with their specific personality and talent and purpose.
29:12-13 God is gathering all of the Israelites, all of us, together so that He can restore the spiritual family which never should have been torn apart in the first place. He is bringing us together without the corruption. Eternally.
The first of the covenants God made were with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Yet His plan to bring us all back under His wing existed before any of us were even born, Ephesians 1:4. He continues to implement the plan and encourage us back toward Him. Toward Home. The Israelites were represented by a prophet, we are represent by Jesus Christ. We have been gifted the opportunity for personal relationships with God. Your hand in His, He will lead you back on your own specific path of healing, wisdom and love.
29:14-15 God makes this covenant with whomever will receive it.
29:16-17 Moses explains to the Israelites that they have personally witnessed and experienced the cruelty of their generation. Similarly, we have witnessed the flaws and unkindness of our own generation. We can each understand why God so vehemently proclaims His philosophy: we need restoration.
Throughout humanity's time here, we have made idols of wood and stone and money and power and vanity. All of it has lead us into corruption, discontentment, aimless wander. God's philosophy is the by which to restore order, peace and purpose. Love. Justice. Wisdom. Eternity: that which does not corrode.
29:18-19 Moses encourages us to get to a point - as a generation, a population, a species - where we realize that any path other than God's path will lead us astray. Moses teaches us that we will remain feeling unfulfilled and meaningless until we step into the rightful, righteous order.
29:20-22 Neither evil, corruption or selfishness can exist in Spirit. Therefore any host, vessel or voice of evil, corruption or selfishness is stifled. Blotted out. Removed from existence. Our time on earth is our opportunity to start adjusting to the climate of Spirit. If we are not equipped with a properly restored physiology of the soul (compassion, truth, wisdom, love), we will be unable to survive or even enter Spirit.
29:23-24 Because God will not allow evil to thrive. He will fully extinguish even its ability to spark.
29:25-28 Moses promises that if the children of Israel abandon or oppose God, they will be history. A population the rest of the world knows was wiped out for their evil actions.
29:29 We are welcomed into understanding and wisdom. If we enter into a covenant with Him as children and rapt students He fills our classroom with wonders and truths. He reforms our life into a miraculous adventure, opportunity for fulfillment of purpose, playground and place of rest.
God keeps no secrets. His doors are wide open. All that He is, knows, and does is transparent. Jesus reiterates that we are welcomed back into the family as equals, knowing all things: Mark 13:23.
