Deuteronomy 29:19

Deu 29:19 And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst:

Ver. 19. When he heareth the words.] But feareth them no more than Behemoth doth the iron weapons, which are esteemed by him as straws. The presumptuous sinner, saith one, makes God a God of clouts, - one that, howsoever he speaks heavy words, will not do as he saith. Words are but wind, say they in Jeremiah. {Jer 5:13} "God forbid," say they in the Gospel. {Luk 20:16} These things are but spoken in terrorem, thinks the practical atheist; bugbear words, devised on purpose to frighten silly people, &c. Ahab, after he was threatened with utter rooting out, begat fifty sons, as it were to cross God, and to try it out with him. So Thrasonical Lamech brags, and goes on to outdare God himself; "If Cain be avenged," &c. {Gen 4:24} The old Italians were wont, in time of thunder, to shoot off their greatest ordinance, and to ring their greatest bells, to drown the noise of the heavens: like unto these are many frontless and flagitious persons. "But shall they escape by iniquity? In thine anger" - it is not more a prayer than a prophecy - "cast down the people, O God." {Psa 56:7}

To add drunkenness to thirst.] To "add rebellion to sin." {Job 34:37} "To drink iniquity like water." {Job 34:7} His sin and his repentance run in a circle, as drunkenness and thirst do. He sins and cries God mercy, and says he will sin no more, and yet does it again the next day, till his heart be so hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, that at length he loseth all passive power of "recovering himself out of the snare of the devil, by whom he is taken alive at his pleasure." {2Ti 2:26}

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_29:19

To add drunkenness to thirst.

The sin of drunkenness

Among the vices which stamp upon human nature its fallen condition, there is not one which causes such misery, or which leads on to such reckless crime, as drunkenness.

1. It is a most selfish as well as degrading vice: it debases man, created in the image of God, lower than the brute creation. God denounces this sin most strongly in His Holy Word. Under the law of Moses, the son who would not obey the voice of his father, but gave himself up to gluttony and drunkenness, was put to death by stoning; and, in the Gospel, drunkenness is classed with murder, as one of the works of the flesh, of which it is said they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Drunkenness is a vice which destroys soul and body. It weakens the intellect, making a man a madman in his rage, and an idiot in his sober moments. It ruins the health, producing the most painful diseases, and causing premature decay and death. It involves his family in poverty and misery. There is no peace in the drunkards home. Who can describe all the misery which follows in the train of drunkenness, all the crime to which it leads, all the sorrow which it causes to others? How fitly the words of the text describe it, when Moses warns the Israelites to beware lest there should be among them a root that beareth gall and wormwood; or, as the marginal reading is, a poisonful herb. Never did Satan plant a more fearful seed in the human heart than the love of strong drink. Drunkenness is, indeed, a root which beareth gall and wormwood; nothing sweet, or pleasant, or excellent, or beautiful can spring from it, or grow in the heart beside it. Like the deadly upas tree, it poisons all which rests under its shade, or comes near to it. The drunkard cannot be a high-principled, virtuous, or amiable man. In his sober moments the testimony of every drunkard must be, that the root of that fatal passion beareth gall and wormwood--that it is a poisonful herb.

2. The next particular--which the text points out--is the deceptive nature of the vice. Of all self-deceivers, the drunkard is the most deluded, the most blinded. And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination (or as the marginal rendering is), the stubbornness of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst. There is no man so difficult to convince of his folly and sinfulness as the drunkard, and no man so hard to turn away from his evil course. Satans most powerful weapon against our holy religion is drunkenness. A drunkard cannot be a true Christian, a child of God. He is more often an infidel, a blasphemer, and he is on the high road to every kind of sin and crime. Let us not stretch forth our hand to save the far-off heathen idolater, and remain indifferent and effortless about the drunkard dwelling close to us, and even one admitted into the fellowship of the same holy faith as ourselves. (S. Charlesworth.)

Degradation of drunkenness

Drunkenness is the shame of nature, the extinguisher of reason, the shipwreck of chastity, and the murder of conscience. Drunkenness is hurtful to the body; the cup kills more than the cannon; it causes dropsies, catarrhs, apoplexies; it fills the eye with fire, and the legs with water, and turns the body into an hospital. (T. Watson.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Deu 29:19. The words of this curse — This oath and execration, wherein he swore he would keep covenant with God, and that with a curse pronounced against himself if he did not perform it. Bless himself — Flatter himself in his own eyes with vain hopes, as if God did not mind such things, and either could not, or would not punish them. Peace — Safety and prosperity. My own heart — Though I do not follow God’s command, but my own devices. To add drunkenness to thirst — The words may be rendered, to add thirst to drunkenness, and so the sense may be, that when he hath multiplied his sins, and made himself as it were drunk with them, yet he is not satisfied therewith, but still whets his appetite, and provokes his thirst after more, as drunkards often use means to make themselves thirst after more drink. This is well deserving of our most serious consideration. Moses here assures the Israelites that, how much soever they might flatter themselves with hopes of peace and safety on account of their privileges, none of these would avail them at all if they forsook the law of God, and apostatized from his worship and service. This people, however, notwithstanding this solemn warning, did, in after ages, confide in those outward privileges, and that at a time when they lived in the open violation of the divine commands. The temple, the temple of the Lord! was their cry and their confidence, as if the having that among them had been sufficient to save and render them prosperous and happy, even although they defiled it with their abominations. But they found, by sad experience, that the threatenings denounced by Moses against the violators of God’s law were fulfilled. Let us all take warning by this, and neither as a nation nor as individuals dare to promise ourselves security and peace while we walk in the imagination of our own hearts, and live in sin and forgetfulness of God.

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

29:19 An attitude of nonchalance or smugness regarding God’s judgment would lead to utter ruin.

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

Or, flatter.

For as he that is thirsty desireth to drink much, so he that followeth his appetites, seeketh by all means, and yet cannot be satisfied.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 19. To add drunkenness to thirst] A proverbial expression denoting the utmost indulgence in all sensual gratifications.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(19) The imagination.—Rather the “stubbornness” or “obstinacy.” The word is only found here and in Psa_81:12 outside the writings of Jeremiah, who uses it eight times.

To add drunkenness to thirst—i.e., the indulgence of the desire to the desire itself; to add sin to temptation. The LXX. have a strange paraphrase, “So that the sinner shall not involve the righteous with him in destruction.” The thought seems to be that, perhaps, one idolater would not make so much difference to Israel. He would never involve the whole nation in destruction. The drunkard could not be the ruin of the thirsty, so to speak, and, therefore, he might do as he pleased, and might, in fact, escape punishment, being protected by the general prosperity of Israel. The quotation in the Epistle to the Hebrews meets this mistaken view admirably: “Lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.” The Targums render “to add sins of infirmity to sins of presumption,” a rendering which partly explains that of the LXX.

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

19. curse] Rather oath, for it is on the strength of Jehovah’s oath to be Israel’s God and so to protect them, that this Israelite flatters himself he is secure, no matter how he may behave. In the history of religion such a delusion has been lamentably frequent, and believers in extreme doctrines of election have presumed on these and recklessly indulged in evil.

bless himself in his heart] Flatter himself! Found only here.

stubbornness] Heb. sherirûth, firmness but always in a bad sense; only here, Jer_3:17; Jer_7:24; Jer_9:13; Jer_11:8; Jer_13:10; Jer_16:12; Jer_18:12; Jer_23:17, and in Psa_81:12 (13). This of course is not the man’s own, but the writer’s, view of him.

to destroy the moist with the dry] An unmeaning translation. The construction is elliptic and we should render: so as to sweep away the moist (herbage?) with the dried up; bring down a hurricane of destruction that would uproot the whole people, so fatal is the infectiousness, and so universal will be God’s punishment, of idolatry.

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.

Then the Lord will not spare him,.... Have no mercy upon him, nor forgive him, being an hardhearted, impenitent, stubborn, and obstinate sinner, as well as guilty of the grossest and most provoking sin, as idolatry is:

but then the anger of the Lord, and his jealousy, shall smoke against that man; or, "the nose of the Lord shall smoke" (f); alluding to an angry, wrathful, furious man, whose brain being heated, and his passions inflamed, his breath steams through his nostrils like smoke; it denotes the vehement anger, the greatness of God's wrath and indignation against such a person, and his burning zeal or jealousy for his own honour and glory injured by the idolater:

and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him: for as he that offends in one point is guilty of all, and especially in such a principal point as this, which concerns the being and worship of God; so he makes himself liable to all the curses of the law, which shall not only come upon him, but abide on him; and there is no person clear of them but by redemption through Christ, who, by being made a curse for his people, has redeemed them from the curse of the law:

and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven; he shall have no name in Israel, not in the church, and among the people of God, from whom he is to be excommunicated; shall have no name and place in the earth, being cut off from the land of the living; and shall have no name or fame after his death, his memory shall rot and perish; and he shall appear to have no name in the book of life; see Psa 69:28.

(f) "fumabit nasus Domini", Montanus.

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

Compare on the thought Jer 23:17. The secret and presumptuous sinner is meant who flatters himself that all is well and will be well with him, since he follows his own devices and prospers. Compare Psa 73:11 ff.

To add drunkenness to thirst - The sense is probably: “Himself, drinking iniquity like water, Job 15:16, he corrupts and destroys others who are thirsting for it or prone to it.”

The sense of the whole passage from Deu 29:16 onward to Deu 29:20 may be exhibited thus: “Ye have seen the abominations of idolatry among the pagan. Do you therefore look diligently that there be no secret idolater among you; a root of bitterness to all about him. Let there be no one, I say, who when he hears the curses of the Law against this sin, flatters himself, saying within himself, ‘All will be well, for I walk unmolested in my own self-chosen path; ‘ and thus acting, not only takes his own fill of sin, but destroys likewise every tempted brother within his reach, for the Lord will not spare him,” etc.

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

The drunken, &c.: absumat ebria sitientem. It is a proverbial expression, which may either be understood as spoken by the sinner, blessing, that is, flattering himself in his sins with the imagination of peace, and so great an abundance as may satisfy, and as it were, consume all thirst and want, or it may be referred to the root of bitterness, spoken of before, which being drunken with sin may attract, and by that means consume such as thirst after the like evils. (Challoner) --- St. Jerome seems to have translated sephoth by assumat, as the manuscripts and interpreters read, before the correction of Sixtus V, who adopted the other signification of the Hebrew absumat. (Calmet) --- The sense however seems to be the same, as evil communications corrupt good manners, the wicked draw on those who before were dry, or thirsty, and superior to the allurements of pleasure, but not quite so sincere and constant as to shut out from their hearts the desire of tasting, what the man of the world so highly extols, and thus the just give way to the temptation, and become the companion of the libertine and of the idolater, and of course share in his destruction. The feasts of the idols were generally celebrated with the most dissolute mirth, which seemed more congenial to the depraved heart of man, than the sober feasts, which the Lord allowed his people. The drunken revellings in honour of Bacchus, who was worshipped in Arabia, &c., were a disgrace to human nature. Yet it is well known with what eagerness the deluded pagans joined in these religious sports. How prone to such excesses the Israelites also were, sacred history too plainly shews, so that they might well be described as thirsty, and willing to imitate those who were already drunk with dissolute pleasures; and this proverbial warning was not unnecessary to remind them what they had to expect from such conduct, at least if the people should become generally addicted to the service of idols. The most terrible chastisements mentioned below, (ver. 20, &c., and in the preceding chapters, and still greater, chap. xxviii. 61,) hung over their guilty heads. But the man who should give occasion to such a defection from the Lord, and , like Jeroboam, cause Israel to sin, must remember that he will have to suffer for the sins of all those whom he has perverted. Hence this cutting remark almost always accompanies the mention of Jeroboam’s name, He made Israel to sin. Such a one walked in the way, or imitated the sins of the house of Jeroboam, &c. A similar infamy and destruction attend arch-heretics and impostors. (Haydock) --- Chaldean translates, "Let him not say.....lest he should add sins of ignorance to sins of pride." (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "lest the innocent be involved in the destruction of the sinner." Cornelius a Lapide would leave out the negation, and translate, "that the innocent may be," &c. (Menochius) --- Bonfrere believes that the earth is to be understood; "and the earth drunken or deluged with rain, may take away its former dryness, yet so as to be rendered unfit for cultivation." The proverb affects those who wish for things which will prove destructive to them: so the man who expects to derive great pleasure and advantage from the practice of idolatry, will be miserably deceived, and will only bring on his own ruin; or, if his passions be gratified for a moment, he must, if he die in that state, endure eternal torments in destruction from the face of the Lord. Homer (Odyssey) says, "Crimes prosper not; the low outstrips the quick." Festina lente. Hasten slowly, is an old and useful admonition. Ebria, a drunken woman, is a very indifferent partner for one that is sober at a dance. (Haydock) --- The flesh being indulged, presently perverts the understanding. (Du Hamel)

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).

When he, i.e. that root or that man mentioned Deu 29:18.

Of this curse, i.e. of that oath mentioned Deu 29:12, wherein he swore that he would keep covenant with God, and that with a curse pronounced against himself if he did not perform it. Now if when he reads this again, or hears of it from others.

Bless himself in his heart, i.e. flatter himself in his own eyes, as Psa 36:2, with vain conceits and hopes, as if God did not mind such things, and either could not or would not punish them. Compare Psa 49:18; Jer 2:20; Zec 11:5.

Peace, i.e. safety and prosperity.

Though I walk in the imagination of mine heart; though in my practices and worship I do not follow God’s command, but my own devices, and whatsoever my fancy best liketh, minding nothing but the gratifying of mine own fancy and humour.

To add drunkenness to thirst; i.e. not only to satisfy his

thirst, i.e. his concupiscence and inclination to wickedness, but even to exceed it, as drunkards take ofttimes more than their appetite desires, and drink out of mere wantonness, or from a desire to be drunk; and as filthy persons commit lewdness with others more than their natural inclinations desire, or their strength can well bear, merely from a wicked mind, and from contempt of God, and because they will do so. The words may be rendered, to add thirst to drunkenness, the particle eth, which is a note of the accusative case, being joined with thirst, and not with drunkenness; and so the sense may be this, that when he hath multiplied his sins, and made himself as it were drunk with them, yet he is not satisfied therewith, but still whets his appetite, and provokes his thirst after more, as drunkards commonly will use means and temptations to make themselves thirst after more drink, that they may drink more abundantly. Or thus, to add the moist or moistening to the thirsty, i.e. instead of restraining and mortifying, as he ought to do, fully and greedily to satisfy his idolatrous or wicked inclinations, and resolved to give up himself to all the desires of his own heart. Compare Job 34:7; Pro 23:35; Isa 30:1; 56:12; Eph 4:19.

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

19. Though I walk in the imagination of mine heart — The word translated imagination is generally used in a bad sense. But it may be used, as in the corresponding Syriac, in a good sense.

To add drunkenness to thirst — The literal translation is, so that satiety increases thirst. The whole passage has almost baffled the ingenuity of commentators. We think the meaning is, I shall have peace even though I do not keep the laws of God, even though I do what is pleasing to myself and indulge my passions to satiety — even to a satiety that produces greater longing for indulgence.

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

That he bless himself in his heart; congratulate himselfsaying, I shall have peacei.e. , all shall be well with me though rather, forI walk in the imagination of mine heart; literally, in the firmness or hardness of my heart, (tWryriv, from rrv; to twist together, to be tough or firm); the word is always used in a bad sense in Hebrew, though not in Aramaic. (cf. Psa_81:13; Jer_3:17 Jer_7:24; Jer_9:13 Jer_9:14; Jer_11:8) To add drunkenness to thirst; a proverbial expression, of which very different explanations have been given. It is now generally admitted that the verb (twOps) cannot be taken here in the sense of "add," but has its proper sense of pouring out, pouring away, destroying. The word rendered "drunkenness" (twr from hwr to be sated with moisture, to be drenched) means rather "sated, drenched, well-watered;" and the word rendered "thirst" (hamex from amex; to thirst) is properly thirsty, and is used of dry land; (Isa_44:3) both are adjectives, and a substantive is to be supplied. Some supply vpn, soul or person; others, ra land. The former render, "The full soul with the thirsty" (Gesenius); or, "Them that are sated with them that are thirsty," i.e. as well those who have imbibed the poison as those who thirst for it (Knobel); or "That the sated soul may destroy the thirsty," i.e. that the impious one, restrained by no law and, as it were, drunk with crime, may corrupt others, also prone to evil, and bring on them destruction (Maurer). Those who supply "land," render "To destroy the well-watered land with the dry." This last seems the preferable rendering; but the general meaning is the same in either case, viz. that the effect of such hardness of heart would be to destroy one and all. "The Orientals are fond of such bipartite forms of expressing the whole (of. Gesenius, "Thes.," p. 1008)". (Knobel; cf. Deu_32:36)

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

Of this curse - Of that oath where-in he swore he would keep covenant with God, and that with a curse pronounced against himself if he did not perform it. Bless himself - Flatter himself in his own eyes, with vain hopes, as if God did not mind such things, and either could not, or would not punish them. Peace - Safety and prosperity. My own heart - Though I do not follow God's command, but my own devices. To add drunkenness to thirst - The words may be rendered, to add thirst to drunkenness, and so the sense may be, that when he hath multiplied his sins, and made himself as it were drunk with them, yet he is not satisfied therewith, but still whets his appetite, and provokes his thirst after more, as drunkards often use means to make themselves thirst after more drink.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

יעשן אף ה׳ THE ANGER OF THE LORD SHALL SMOKE [AGAINST THAT MAN] — Through anger the body becomes heated and smoke, as it were, issues from the nostrils. And thus does it state, (Psalms 18:9) “Smoke rose up in his nostril”. Although this idea is not really applicable to God, Scripture makes the human ear hear the matter (i.e. it tells it to him) in the manner that it is accustomed and able to understand according to the ordinary course of the world (i.e. when speaking of God it uses language that properly is applicable only to human beings because this the only language we have at our command).

וקנאתו — This is a term denoting wrath, emportment in old French; it means: retaining one’s hold on the 'garment of vengeance', and not forgoing one’s right to punish.

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.

THE ANGER OF THE ETERNAL AND HIS JEALOUSY SHALL BE KINDLED AGAINST THAT MAN — this refers to the curse against the individual sinner, man or woman.

AND THE ETERNAL SHALL BLOT OUT HIS NAME — this is the curse against a whole family [if they all be sinners] for there is a common name to the head of their father’s house [and that name will be erased].

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.