Deuteronomy 29:17

Deu 29:17 And ye have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which [were] among them:)

Ver. 17. A root that beareth gall] An evil heart of unbelief, {Heb 3:12} a deceitful and deceived heart, {Jer 17:9 Isa 44:20} that is ever either weaving spiders’ webs - i.e., loving vanity, seeking after leasing {Psa 4:2} - or hatching cockatrice’ eggs, that is, acting mischief. {Isa 59:5} As in that first chaos were the seeds of all creatures; so in man’s heart, here therefore fitly called, a root of rottenness, of all sins. {a} Holy Bradford would never look upon any one’s lewd life with one eye, but presently reflect upon himself with the other, and say, In this my vile heart remains that sin, which without God’s special grace I should have committed as well as he.

{a} πανσπερμια.

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.

29:17 The detestable practices were abominable manifestations of paganism, especially regarding worship (see 7:25-26; 12:31; 13:14). • idols: The Hebrew term, meaning round things, probably alludes to dung. These objects were so reprehensible that they were compared to excrement.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(17) Their abominations.—This word occurs here for the first time, but the verb appears in Deu_7:26 (“utterly detest “), and in Lev_11:11; Lev_11:13; Lev_11:43; Lev_20:25. In the later scriptures of the Old Testament this word “abomination” is frequently used to denote an idol.

Their idols.—Either “great blocks,” or as in the margin, a term of extreme contempt. (See Lev_26:30, where the word first occurs. ) It is a favourite term with the prophet Ezekiel, who uses it four times as often as other writers in the Old Testament.

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

17. abominations] Rather detestable things, not to ‘ebôth, as in Deu_7:25, but shiḳḳuṣîm, frequent in Jer. and Ezek. of idols, nowhere else in Deut., but the vb. from which it comes is found in Deu_7:26.

idols] Heb. gillulîm, a scornful term meaning either things gross or coarse, such as some forms of the root in Ar. mean (applied to dung, etc.), or things round or podgy, as from Heb. galal, to roll (cp. the nicknames ‘round-head’ and ‘rolling-pin’). In the Hex. only here and Lev_26:30 (H); Jer_50:2; Jer_50:39 times in Ezek. The gods of the heathen were mere blocks or boulders!

wood and stone] Deu_4:28, Deu_28:36; Deu_28:64.

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.

Lest there should be among you man or woman, or family, or tribe,.... These words stand in connection with Deu 29:15, with Deu 29:16 being in a parenthesis, as may be observed, and show the design of this solemn appearance of the people, and their entering afresh into covenant; which was to prevent their falling into idolatry, and preserve them from it, whether a single person of either sex, or a whole family, or even a tribe, which might be in danger of being infected with it, and so all the people:

whose heart turneth away this day from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations; whose heart is enticed and drawn aside at the remembrance of the idols he has seen worshipped by others; and is looking off from the Lord God, his faith in him being weakened, his fear of him removed, and his affections for him lessened; and is looking towards the idols of the nations, with a hankering mind to serve and worship them:

lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood: the word "rosh", which we render "gall", signifies, according to Jarchi, a bitter herb, which better suits with a root than gall, and is elsewhere by us rendered "hemlock", Hos 10:4; and is by him very rightly interpreted of a wicked man among them; for not a principle of immorality, or heresy, rooted in the mind, productive of bitter fruits, or evil actions, is meant; but a bad man, particularly an idolater, who is rooted in idolatry, and is guilty of and commits abominable actions; the issue of which will be bitterness and death, if not recovered; which agrees with what the apostle says, Heb 12:15; who manifestly alludes to this passage; see the Apocrypha:"In those days went there out of Israel wicked men, who persuaded many, saying, Let us go and make a covenant with the heathen that are round about us: for since we departed from them we have had much sorrow.'' (1 Maccabees 1:11)and is confirmed by what follows.

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

Idols - See the margin, “dungy gods;” i. e. clods or stocks which can be rolled about (compare Lev 26:30).

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Idols. Hebrew, "you have seen their abominations and their filth, (or idols,) wood," &c. Septuagint, "their abominations and their idols."

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

What sorry tools they are, what senseless and ridiculous deities; so that you have great reason to value your God, and to cleave to him in covenant, and to take heed of such abominable idolatries.

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

whose heart is turning away today from Yahweh our God

Here "heart" refers to the whole person, and "turning away" means to stop obeying. AT: "who no longer obeys Yahweh our God" (See: Synecdoche)

any root that produces gall and wormwood

Moses speaks of someone who secretly worships another God as if he were a root, and the evil deeds he does to serve that god, and which he encourages others to do, as a bitter plant that poisons people. AT: "any person who worships idols and causes others to disobey Yahweh" (See: Metaphor)

that person

The person described in verse 18.

bless himself in his heart

This is an idiom. AT: "congratulate himself" or "encourage himself" (See: Idiom)

though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart

This is an idiom. AT: "even though I still refuse to obey Yahweh" (See: Idiom)

This would destroy the wet together with the dry

Here the words "wet" and "dry" are metaphors for the righteous people and the wicked people. This forms a merism for "everyone." AT: "This would cause Yahweh to destroy both the righteous people and the wicked people in the land" (See: Metaphor and Merism)

wet ... dry

These nominal adjectives can be translated as nouns. Because the land was usually dry and the people needed rain so their crops would grow, these words are metaphors for "living ... dead" or "good ... bad." AT: "wet things ... dry things" or "good people ... bad people" (See: Nominal Adjectives and Metaphor)

translationWords

false god

silver

gold

family

tribe

heart

turn

God

worship

false god

nation

word

curse

bless

peace

walk

stiff-necked

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

פן יש בכם means PERHAPS (שמא = פן) THERE IS AMONG YOU,

אשר לבבו פנה היום [A MAN …] WHOSE HEART TURNETH AWAY THIS DAY from accepting the covenant upon himself,

שרש פרה ראש ולענה [PERHAPS THERE IS AMONG YOU] A ROOT THAT IS FRUITFUL IN POISONOUS HERB AND WORMWOOD — i.e. a root that brings forth herbs bitter as wormwood-plants, which are very bitter. The meaning is: Lest there be a man or woman or family or tribe that fruitfully produces and increases wickedness in your midst.

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.

LEST THERE SHOULD BE AMONG YOU etc. Therefore, I must place you under an oath.” Thus far is Rashi’s language. He has commented well. And the purport thereof is to state, “I must bring you now into this covenant with an imprecation and an oath on account of my fear that perhaps the hearts of some of you have been beguiled into following the abominations of Egypt as you did at the [affair of the golden] calf, or the abominations of Ammon and Moab that you saw on the road when you had the affair with Baal-peor,” for at the first covenant at the time of the Giving of the Torah there were no imprecations and curses. He stated [lest there should be among you] man or woman because a woman is frivolous [and can easily be led into idol-worship]. He stated a similar expression in [the chapter dealing with an individual] worshipping the idols. He mentioned individuals, family, and tribe [lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe] meaning a multitude, but he did not say it [lest they should worship the idols] concerning all of them, out of respect [to them]. Or it may be that it was impossible for the hearts of all of them to turn to the idols on that day, because, if so, they would not have come into the covenant of G-d and His oath, for who could have compelled them. A family or tribe, however, might have come into the covenant for fear of the majority. He stated lest there should be among you [man, or woman etc.] whose heart turneth away this day referring to him who has already been beguiled to idol-worship and who secretly believes in them that day. Or lest there should be among you an evil root that will blossom and grow and in the coming days will bring forth poisonous buds and grow bitter herbs. This refers back to him that is not here with us this day, for the father is the root and the son is the twig that shall grow forth out of his roots. He mentioned the root in order to state that he can bring the coming generations into this oath, for the root from which the coming generations will grow is before him this day, and it comes within this covenant and oath. He stated a root that beareth gall to suggest that from a sweet root no bitter plant will issue, and that all those whose hearts are perfect with the Glorious Name and gave no thought to the idols, will not give birth to a child, who will avow idolatry. Now, do not refute me in this matter on the basis of the verse If he [a man who is just, and does that which is lawful and right] beget a son that is a robber, for the matter is true, there being a great secret therein which I cannot explain.

‘Rosh v’la’anah’ (gall and wormwood) are bitter or poisonous herbs. These are their names in the Sacred Language. Or it may be that they are surnames, one called rosh (“the head”) because it is the head of the bitter herbs, the bitterest of all, and the second is called la’anah, from the expression ‘lei’anoth’ (to humble thyself) before Me, for he who eats it becomes oppressed and is humbled, because he eats it only in order to afflict his soul.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lest their hearts lead them astray, to the foolishness of the Moavites who dwell nearby, and they think in their hearts that they can nullify the covenant. Therefore I said that all of you are standing before Hashem, who examines the mind, and you are unable to fool him.

Sforno on the Tanakh — English translation: “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.