“Today you are standing, all of you, before Adonai your God — your heads, your tribes, your leaders and your officers — all the men of Israel, along with your little ones, your wives and your foreigners here with you in your camp, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water. The purpose is that you should enter into the covenant of Adonai your God and into his oath which Adonai your God is making with you today, so that he can establish you today for himself as a people, and so that for you he will be God — as he said to you and as he swore to your ancestors, to Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov.“-Deuteronomy 29:9-12
In verses 9-20, we are presented with the actual covenant ratification ceremony.
Notice the opening words of…
…Today you are standing, all of you, before Adonai your God”
The word for “standing” or “stand” in Hebrew is NITSAV and is a very important word in this context.
The nuance being communicated is that the people of Israel are “presenting” themselves before the Lord.
Speaking about nuances, remember for the most part the Hebrew language does not make use of past, present and future tenses.
Instead Hebrew employs what we call perfect and imperfect or complete and incomplete tenses.
In other words, something is started and finished…
…OR…
something is started and continues on (not yet completed) to this day.
In verse 9, NITSAV is in the perfect tense.
So the nuance being communicated here is not that the people are NOW presenting themselves to HASHEM but…
…that they have been presenting themselves to HASHEM and continue to do so.
Next, notice the phrase…“and the foreigners living in your camps who chop your wood and carry your water”.
The point being made here is that not just the leaders and native born-Hebrews but every last person traveling with Israel were present at this covenant ratification ceremony.
Chopping wood and drawing water were considered to be the most menial and lowliest of tasks, so EVERYONE was included.
No social group in Israel was left out.
Let’s go on to verse 12.
The Complete Jewish Bible says…
“The purpose is that you should enter into the covenant of Adonai your God and into his oath which Adonai your God is making with you today…”.
The King James version says…
“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…”
The NIV version says…
“You are standing here in order to enter into a covenant with the Lord your God, a covenant the Lord is making with you this day and sealing with an oath…”
Every one of these translations says a covenant with its “oaths”.
And some other Bible translations will say “a covenant with its sanctions”.
Here’s the thing.
Every one of these translations is missing the point and I’m about to prove it.
The original Hebrew here is…
…BERIT VE ‘ALAH.
Literally, this means…
…“a covenant guarded by curses“.
Essentially what this means is do NOT enter into this covenant lightly or with a flippant attitude because the consequences for breaking its terms and conditions could be deadly.
Another thing you should know is that the phrase “a covenant guarded by curses” was actually quite common and well used throughout the entire ancient Middle East whenever a treaty was ratified between a king and the vassal cities and states he ruled over.
In these ancient treaties, the obligations of both sides and the curses (penalties) the vassal state would suffer should they break the treaty were clearly spelled out.
Again, these types of covenants protected by curses were a normal thing in the ancient Middle East.
So the Israelites knew darn well the serious nature of the covenant they were entering into.
And of course, we also find a similar notion expressed in the New Testament in reference to the covenant one enters into via accepting the sacrifice of Yeshua.
“For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord, until he comes. Therefore, whoever eats the Lord’s bread or drinks the Lord’s cup in an unworthy manner will be guilty of desecrating the body and blood of the Lord!”-1 Corinthians 11:26
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