Deuteronomy 29: 1 – 29
Wormwood keeps showing up
29 These are the words of the covenant which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He made with them in Horeb. 2 Now Moses called all Israel and said to them: “You have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land— 3 the great trials which your eyes have seen, the signs, and those great wonders. 4 Yet the LORD has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day. 5 And I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out on your feet. 6 You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or similar drink, that you may know that I am the LORD your God. 7 And when you came to this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us to battle, and we conquered them. 8 We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh. 9 Therefore keep the words of this covenant, and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do. 10 “All of you stand today before the LORD your God: your leaders and your tribes and your elders and your officers, all the men of Israel, 11 your little ones and your wives—also the stranger who is in your camp, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water— 12 that you may enter into covenant with the LORD your God, and into His oath, which the LORD your God makes with you today, 13 that He may establish you today as a people for Himself, and that He may be God to you, just as He has spoken to you, and just as He has sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 14 “I make this covenant and this oath, not with you alone, 15 but with him who stands here with us today before the LORD our God, as well as with him who is not here with us today 16 (for you know that we dwelt in the land of Egypt and that we came through the nations which you passed by, 17 and you saw their abominations and their idols which were among them—wood and stone and silver and gold); 18 so that there may not be among you man or woman or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations, and that there may not be among you a root bearing bitterness or wormwood; 19 and so it may not happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall have peace, even though I follow the dictates of my heart’—as though the drunkard could be included with the sober. 20 “The LORD would not spare him; for then the anger of the LORD and His jealousy would burn against that man, and every curse that is written in this book would settle on him, and the LORD would blot out his name from under heaven. 21 And the LORD would separate him from all the tribes of Israel for adversity, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this Book of the Law, 22 so that the coming generation of your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, would say, when they see the plagues of that land and the sicknesses which the LORD has laid on it: 23 ‘The whole land is brimstone, salt, and burning; it is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His anger and His wrath.’ 24 All nations would say, ‘Why has the LORD done so to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?’ 25 Then people would say: ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt; 26 for they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they did not know and that He had not given to them. 27 Then the anger of the LORD was aroused against this land, to bring on it every curse that is written in this book. 28 And the LORD uprooted them from their land in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.’ 29 “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
The word “wormwood” is mentioned only once in the New Testament in chapter 8 of the book of Revelation, but it appears eight times in the Old Testament, each time associated with bitterness, poison and death. The Revelation passage may not be saying that the star falling to the earth will actually be called Wormwood by the inhabitants of the earth. Rather, wormwood was a well-known bitter herb in the Bible times, so by naming the star Wormwood, we are told that its effect will be to embitter the waters of the earth, so much so that the water is undrinkable. It won’t be a matter of simply a bitter taste to the water; it will literally be poisonous. If drinking water is unavailable to one third of the earth’s population, it’s easy to see how chaos and terror will result. Humans can only survive a couple of days without water, and the inhabitants of the affected areas will be so desperate as to actually drink the poisoned water, causing the death of thousands, if not millions of people.
Wormwood is the Artemisia Absinthium of botanists. It is a perennial shrub that contains absinthum—a bitter principle—carotene, tannins, vitamin C, and volatile oils. Wormwood was once used as an anthelmintic, emmenagogue, an appetite stimulant, and to increased gastric and bile secretion
Per the FDA, wormwood is ‘unsafe’. It is noted for its intense bitterness and can cause some other problems such as toxicity, convulsions, impotence, muscular weakness, nausea, vomiting, and possibly death. It is a type of bitterness, affliction, remorse, and punitive suffering.
It may not have the cutest name, but wormwood is an effective herb. You're not likely to forget what it is used for because wormwood lives up to its name. The herb long has been used in herbal remedies to rid the body of pinworms, roundworms, and other parasites. And if you've got one, chances are, you're eager to see them go. However, it can also be used to enhance digestion for the worm-free. The most common use for this bitter herb is to stimulate the digestive system. You may be familiar with the practice of taking bitters before meals to aid digestion. A bitter taste in the mouth triggers release of bile from the gallbladder and other secretions from intestinal glands, which enables us to digest food.
People with weak digestion or insufficient stomach acid may benefit from taking wormwood preparations before meals. Wormwood, however, may cause diarrhea. Its secretion-stimulating qualities make the intestines empty quickly. So, if you ever went to a country and came back with parasites they also do not like wormwood and exit your body as fast as they can. Because wormwood also contains a substance that is toxic if consumed for a long time, it is used only in small amounts for a short time.
In today’s study we find The Holy Spirit use the word to describe someone who tries to counter God’s discipline in dealing with our sins. If we tend to ignore God’s wake up messages we will not face peace or blessing but experience bitterness, affliction, remorse, and punitive suffering.
In today’s scripture verses we see our Holy God point out again the blessings for obedience and the nasty problems for disobedience.
29 These are the words of the covenant which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He made with them in Horeb.
Having reinstituted the covenant of Sinai Moses now calls for a true response to it in this follow-up speech. They had by now had time to consider all that he had spoken and to respond accordingly.
In this passage we also learn how quickly we so easily forget all the He has done for us.
2 Now Moses called all Israel and said to them: “You have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land— 3 the great trials which your eyes have seen, the signs, and those great wonders.
Moses pointed first to their deliverance from Egypt, the reason for gratitude that outstripped all others. He pointed out that they (the older among them, and the remainder through their eyes) had seen with their own eyes what Yahweh had done to Pharaoh in the land of Egypt, and to all His enslaved people, and to all His land. Yahweh had summarily dealt with the god-king, the whole people of Egypt and the land itself, of which He, Yahweh, was clearly the Lord of all. None had been able to resist Him.
4 Yet the LORD has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day.
Yet Moses goes on to indicate that as their subsequent history had revealed, the message had not got over to them, something which he recognized was still true at this very time. Their hearts had not taken it in, their eyes had been blinded, their ears had been deaf, their response had not been adequate, and still was so. The full significance of what had happened had not yet properly come home to them even now.
5 And I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out on your feet. 6 You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or similar drink, that you may know that I am the LORD your God.
Please notice that Adoni Yahweh speaks up Himself.. He was the One Who had borne them as a man bears his sons (1.31). Yahweh Himself reminds them that His direct response to their unbelief had not been to desert them, but to ensure that they were led forward by Him and that they had been well-clothed, and God-fed and supplied throughout the whole forty years in the wilderness. He had personally watched over them.
7 And when you came to this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us to battle, and we conquered them. 8 We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh.
Then subsequently the Israelites had experienced the massive victories over Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan, and received their first portion of God-given land. If this was not enough to stir them to faith, what was?
If we wonder at their lack of faith we must remember that it is quite remarkable how we, like them, can so easily forget past blessings and victories. There have been such for all of us; times when we have wondered how any man could ever doubt God. But as we later dwell on the problems of the moment the past is forgotten. It should not be so. That is why we need to be continually reminded. And here Moses was stirring their memories to precisely those victories of the past so that they would be truly responsive to God and ready for what the future held.
Another thing for them to think about was that they were at that very moment holding some of that land in possession. Houses were already being occupied, land was already being farmed, herds and flocks were already being fed. Settlement was already taking place by the two and a half tribes. They had already received an earnest, a guarantee and sample, of what they were to receive from Him. It was real for all to see. Thus in the light of this they were now to prove themselves genuine people of faith, genuine responders.
9 Therefore keep the words of this covenant, and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do.
They were to keep in their hearts and keep in their lives the words of ‘this covenant’, the covenant listed back beginning in chapter 1. They were ‘to do and the result would then be that they would prosper in all that they did. Believing is fine, but in the end true faith is only revealed by doing.
10 “All of you stand today before the LORD your God: your leaders and your tribes and your elders and your officers, all the men of Israel, 11 your little ones and your wives—also the stranger who is in your camp, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water— 12 that you may enter into covenant with the LORD your God, and into His oath, which the LORD your God makes with you today,
For that is why they were there, all of them, having taken their stand before their God Yahweh around His Sanctuary. It was in order to enter into His covenant and His oath that He was making with them this day. And it was not only a covenant; it was a covenant sworn to their fathers, and therefore doubly safe. The statement that they had ‘taken their stand’ suggests that there had been some positive response to Moses’ words.
It is possible to translate ‘oath’ as ‘curse’. It can mean either. Then the idea would be that by entering into the oath they had, as it were put themselves under the curse which would result from failure.
13 that He may establish you today as a people for Himself, and that He may be God to you, just as He has spoken to you, and just as He has sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
They stood there that they might be established that day (or ‘at that time’) by The only Living God Yahweh as a people, and that He might be their God as He had already promised, and as He had sworn to the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
14 “I make this covenant and this oath, not with you alone, 15 but with him who stands here with us today before the LORD our God, as well as with him who is not here with us today
This covenant was not only with them (him who stands here with us this day), it was with them and with all who would follow them, their children, and their children’s children (him who is not here with us this day).
Aware of their propensity to seek after idols he now warns them once more against doing so.
16 (for you know that we dwelt in the land of Egypt and that we came through the nations which you passed by, 17 and you saw their abominations and their idols which were among them—wood and stone and silver and gold);
They had no excuse for turning to idolatry, for they had good reason to know about gruesome idols. They had dwelt in the land of Egypt and had seen them there. And they had seen them as they had passed through the nations on their journey. All their abominations, their idols of wood and stone had been openly apparent. They had seen them everywhere. They had watched them being worshipped, and they should have recognized them for what they were, abominations, objects of stone and wood gilded with silver and gold.
18 so that there may not be among you man or woman or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations, and that there may not be among you a root bearing bitterness or wormwood;
And it was good that this was known to them, lest there be any among them, whether as individuals or as a group whose hearts would turn away from Yahweh in order to serve these other gods. For such an attitude would establish a root which would produce wormwood and gall, the bitterest things known to them, which would spread until it affected many.
19 and so it may not happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall have peace, even though I follow the dictates of my heart’—as though the drunkard could be included with the sober.
This bitter root at work within a man, this foolish way of thinking, could cause him, when he heard the curse against idolatry (or the oath of the covenant), to deceive him and rather bless him and say ‘I shall have wellbeing, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.” He would foolishly, and fruitlessly, counter Yahweh’s curse with his own blessing. And by his behavior he could then affect others. Thus would he destroy what is watered (is watered, moist and at present alive) with that which is parched (is thirsty, dry and dead).
This is always man’s tendency with God, to dismiss the possibility of being called to account and to suppose that God can be mocked. But it is not so. God will bring every work into judgment. We may have been forgiven, but w will still have to give account.
20 “The LORD would not spare him; for then the anger of the LORD and His jealousy would burn against that man, and every curse that is written in this book would settle on him, and the LORD would blot out his name from under heaven.
In attempting to allow this in his life the man will find out that he was wrong. God Is Omnipresent in that He Is everywhere. Yahweh would see, and He would act. He would not pardon him (unless of course he repented), because His anger and jealousy for His people’s purity would be like the smoke of fiery judgment against him, and the whole curse written in the book containing Moses’ covenant speeches, would lie on him, and Yahweh would blot out his name from under heaven.
21 And the LORD would separate him from all the tribes of Israel for adversity, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this Book of the Law,
He would be set apart to evil, to the evils as described and he will be selected to be cut out from all the tribes of Israel because of his detestable behavior to undergo the curses of the covenant written in this book of instruction. If he was allowed to go unchecked it was not only he but the whole nation who would be affected. Moses jumps rapidly from the first unchecked failing to the final consequence. The whole nation would eventually suffer.
22 so that the coming generation of your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, would say, when they see the plagues of that land and the sicknesses which the LORD has laid on it: 23 ‘The whole land is brimstone, salt, and burning; it is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His anger and His wrath.’
This thought immediately springs from the individual to the whole nation. They had allowed the person to continue unchecked and so the whole nation has been affected. This sudden leap is powerful in its impact, and is in accordance with warnings previously given. To begin with it was one man, allowed to sin unchecked, and now suddenly it is the whole nation. It is saying that such compromise allowed unchecked must eventually bring disaster for all. They should have put him to death from the start. The final consequence is simply assumed as the necessary result of their failure to act.
Now the whole land is affected. It is riddled with plague, and sickness, and barrenness. It is parched (all has now become parched as threatened in verse 19) with brimstone, salt and burning, symbols of barrenness and destruction. It is no longer sown, it no longer produces grain or fruit, no grass grows on it. It has become like Sodom and Gomorrah, like Admah and Zeboiim which Yahweh overthrew in His anger. The picture is not one of exile but of judgment. The land is devastated.
24 All nations would say, ‘Why has the LORD done so to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?’
The nations will ask, ‘why has Yahweh done this to the land? What is the reason for His great anger? What does it all mean?’ When any asks what has brought this sad state about, the witnesses to the covenant will reply, ‘It was because they broke their covenant with Yahweh.’
25 Then people would say: ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt; 26 for they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they did not know and that He had not given to them.
The crime was deep because it was not only their own covenant that they had broken, but the covenant made with their fathers. They had not only broken their own promises but had frustrated God’s purposes in and for the world. And how had they done it? Their sin was by seeking other gods, and serving them, and worshipping them, strange and unknown gods which He had not given them.
27 Then the anger of the LORD was aroused against this land, to bring on it every curse that is written in this book. 28 And the LORD uprooted them from their land in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.’
That would be why they had been turned out of the land, rooted out by Yahweh in ‘His anger, His wrath, and in His great indignation’. He had then inevitably cast them out into another land.
The harsh lesson for us is that if we also fail in our true response to God then inevitably at one point or another there will be a price to pay. God Is not mocked. Whatever a man sows he will reap. If we allow our idols of wealth, fun, lust, sport, and music to take out hearts away from God then we must expect judgment as well.
29 “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
He stresses that he was not trying to dictate to God. He was not seeking to pierce the veil of the inscrutability of Yahweh. It was not for him or for them to be dogmatic about God’s doings. There was much that was unknown to him, and to them all, the secret things which belonged to their covenant God, ‘Yahweh our God’. They could not yet know those.
What they could know were the things that were revealed, and what he had been speaking about were some of them. God had revealed to them sufficient of them. He had revealed His instruction, He had revealed to them His covenant, and that was in order that they and their children might observe them forever. None of what he had described need happen. That was not God’s purpose. God purpose was that His people might ‘do all the words of this Instruction’. They had sufficient to go on, and it was all that was needed.
We should all stop and take our own inventory on this excellent point. If some of us concentrated less on understanding ‘the secret things’ and more on obeying the known things we would be the more greatly blessed.
