Deuteronomy 29:16

Deu 29:16 (For ye know how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt; and how we came through the nations which ye passed by;

Ver. 16. How we have dwelt.] And how hard is it to pass through Ethiopia, how much more to dwell there, and not to be discoloured! Sin is catching, and by the senses, those five ports of the soul, that old serpent oft winds himself into the heart. Ye have seen their abominations; oh that you would say, Satis est vidisse, &c. Now therefore, lest there should be, &c., Deu 29:18.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Deu 29:16. Egypt — Where you have seen their idolatries, and learned too much of them, as the golden calf showed, and therefore have need to renew your covenant with God; where also we were in dreadful bondage, whence God alone hath delivered us; to whom therefore we are deeply obliged, and have all reason to renew our covenant with him. We came through the nations — With what hazard, if God had not appeared for us!

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The summons to enter into the covenant of the Lord is explained by Moses first of all by an exposition of the evil results which would follow from apostasy from the Lord, or the breach of His covenant. This exposition he introduces with an allusion to the experience of the people with reference to the worthlessness of idols, both in Egypt itself, and upon their march through the nations, whose territory they passed through (Deu 29:16, Deu 29:17). The words, "for ye have learned how we dwelt in Egypt, and passed through the nations...and have seen their abominations and their idols" (gillulim: lit., clods, see Lev 26:30), have this signification: In our abode in Egypt, and upon our march through different lands, ye have become acquainted with the idols of these nations, that they are not gods, but only wood and stone (see at Deu 4:28), silver and gold. את־אשׁר, as in Deu 9:7, literally "ye know that which we dwelt,' i.e., know what our dwelling there showed, what experience we gained there of the nature of heathen idols.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

(16, 17) These verses seem rightly placed in a parenthesis. (Comp. Eze_20:7-8; Eze_20:18.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16. for ye know, etc.] The necessity for such a covenant with Jehovah: viz. Israel’s experiences of the idolatry of other peoples, which otherwise might seduce them to itself. The Egyptian idolatry has not before been mentioned in Deut. Came through and passed are the same vb.: the idem per idem construction, see Deu_1:46.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And ye have seen their abominations and their idols,.... Or, "their abominations, even their idols"; for the same are meant by both: it is common in Scripture to call the idols of the Gentiles abominations, without any other explanation of them; see Kg1 11:5; because they are abominable to God, and ought to be so to men: the word for idols has the signification of dung, and may be rendered dunghill gods, either referring to such that were bred and lived in dung, as the beetle, worshipped by the Egyptians, as Bishop Patrick observes; or which were as much to be loathed and abhorred as the dung of any creature:

wood and stone, silver and gold; these are the materials of which the idols they had seen in the several countries they had been in, or passed through, were made of; some of wood, others of stone cut out of these, and carved; others more rich and costly were made of massive gold and silver, and were molten ones; or the images of wood were glided with gold and silver:

which were among them; now these being seen by them in as they passed along, they might run in their minds, or be called to remembrance by them, and so they be in danger of being drawn aside to make the like, and worship them.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

In the land of Egypt, where you have seen their idolatries, and learned too much of them, as the golden calf showed, and therefore need to renew your covenant with God; where also we were in dreadful bondage, whence God alone hath delivered us, to whom therefore we are deeply obliged, and have all reason to renew our covenant with him.

How we came through the nations, i.e. with what hazards, if God had not appeared for us.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

16-17. Ye know how we have dwelt — In this passage the reference is to the idol worship of Egypt and of the nations with whom they had been brought in contact on their journey. They are told in effect to remember what they have seen of the worthlessness and vileness of such worship. These verses are not parenthetical, as in our version, but are closely connected with the following verse.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 16-29. The summons to renew the covenant is enforced by a fresh exposition of the evil and danger of apostasy from the Lord. This is introduced by a reference to the experience which the people already had of idolatry in Egypt, and among the nations with whom they had come in contact during their march through the wilderness, from which they must have learned the utter worthlessness of all idols, that they were no gods, but only wood and stone,

Vers. 16, 17. These verses are not a parenthesis, as in the Authorized Version. Ver. 18 is connected, not with ver. 15, but with ver. 17; there should be a full stop at the end of ver. 15. Their idols; literally, their blocks or logs ( from llg to roll something too heavy to be carried), a term of contempt used frequently in Scripture of idols.

Vers. 16-21. The lying hope.

We have here

I INEXCUSABLE UNBELIEF. (Vers. 16-18.) The man who, turning from Jehovah, went after the gods by the nations, was doubly inexcusable.

1. The true God had been revealed to him.

2. The worthlessness of heathen idols had been demonstrated. He had the light, and could compare it with the darkness of the nations around. If not himself, a witness of God"s mighty works in Egypt and in the desert, he had heard of them from his forefathers, or could read of them in his Scriptures (ver. 20). The existence of the nation was a proof that such things had been done.

Unbelief is not less inexcusable in us:

1. With the Bible in our hands.

2. With so large a body of evidences of Divine truth.

3. With centuries of experience of the regenerative influence of Christianity.

4. With a wide knowledge of heathen nations, discovering to us by contrast our own advantages.

Unbelief may be:

1. Speculative.

2. Practical.

It is enough that our practice be shaped on the hypothesis of the untruth of God"s Word, to constitute us unbelievers. (1Ti_5:8)

II GROSS SELF-DECEIT. (Ver. 19.) The act of this wicked man is very remarkable. He blesses himself in his heart, and says, "I will have peace," at the very time that God"s curses are being read out to him. Yet his case is not a solitary one. He does no more than men do every day in the teeth of the threatenings of the Bible. Satan whispers, "Ye shall not surely die"; (Gen_3:4) "Be it far from thee: this shall rot be unto thee"; (Mat_16:22) and Satan, not God, is believed. We may explain this self-deceit:

1. From want of consideration. (cf. Isa_1:3) The wicked man does not really trouble himself about the curses. They are mere words to him. The mind makes no application, scarcely even asks the meaning, of what it hears. The oracle with which the wicked man consults is in his own heart, (Psa_36:1-5) and the oracles of God" get no attention.

1. From want of faith. God"s Word, even if attended to, could not compel belief in a heart already possessed by an opposite set of beliefs, and determined not to part with them.

2. From self-will. Will enters into the question of our beliefs; so long as it can twist evidence, resist unwelcome conclusions, find evasions and pretexts, it will not accept what is contrary to its ordinary bent. While, if the worst comes to the worst, it can cut the knot by a simple "I won"t," and obstinately refuse to believe aught but what it likes. The account of the sinner"s unbelief and self-deceit is therefore this:

1. He has not liked to retain God in his knowledge.

2. Unwelcome subjects have been banished from his mind.

3. Through unfamiliarity to his thoughts, the supersensual world has become less and less a reality to him.

4. He acquires the power of ignoring it, and ends by disbelief in it.

III UNUTTERABLE FOLLY. (Vers. 20, 21.) Unbelief, unhappily for the sinner, cannot alter the actual state of the case. God"s auger smokes against him, and will certainly destroy him. His sin, agreeable as it may appear at present, will yield at last gall and wormwood. Contending with the Almighty, he rushes on his ruin. The curses written in the Book will not fail to overtake him. It is easy for sinners to "laugh now", (Luk_6:25) but there awaits them a terrible undeceiving a day when they shall "mourn and weep. J.O.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ותראו את שקוציהם AND YE HAVE SEEN THEIR ABOMINABLE THINGS — Idols are so termed because they are loathsome like unclean things that are held in abomination.

גלליהם THEIR IDOLS — thus termed because they are detestable (lit., malodorous) and loathsome like dung (גלל).

עץ ואבן [AND YE HAVE SEEN … THEIR IDOLS] WOOD AND STONE — Those of wood and stone you have seen exposed openly, because the heathen was not afraid lest they might be stolen; those of gold and silver, however, ARE WITH THEM (עמהם), in their “marbled halls” (cf. Rashi on Ezekel 8:12 whence he borrowed this expression), because they were afraid they might be stolen (Midrash Tanchuma, Nitzavim 3).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.