Deuteronomy 29
Deuteronomy 29
"All of you are standing today before the Lord your God – your
leaders, tribes, elders, officials, all the men of Israel, your
children, your wives, and the foreigners in your camps who cut your
wood and draw your water – so that you may enter into the covenant of
the Lord your God, which He is making with you today, so that you may
enter into His oath and so that He may establish you today as His
people and He may be your God as He promised you and as He swore to
your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I am making this covenant and
this oath not only with you, but also with those who are standing here
with us today in the presence of the Lord our God and with those who
are not here today." Deut 29: 10-15
Deuteronomy 27-30, are chapters pertaining to God's covenant:
Blessings for abiding by His commands, Curses for transgressing them,
and provisions for Repentance & Returning to the Lord.
Almost hidden in all the verbiage, is exactly WHO the covenant was
pertaining to. Obviously God is making His covenant with all Israel,
but who were the "foreigners"? Israel is generally defined as those
whose biological lineage is traced through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
But along side the Israelite is the Foreigner who seeks after the
Lord. Whether slaves or members of the "mixed multitude" who left
Egypt with the Israelites, the bible records God's desire for the
foreigner to know & worship Him, by his inclusion of them in His
covenant.
Know for sure, that God's covenant with Israel concerning the LAND is
very clear. The land is divided among the tribes of Israel…and those
of Israel who are scattered (even today) have the right of return IF
they repent and return to the Lord. This is not the position of the
modern Israeli government, per se, but it is what is written in
scripture.
There is an open attitude and among Orthodox Jews, through
organizations like Chabad…which you see on most major college
campuses…to teach the Torah to Gentiles (non-Jews). But they teach
that Gentiles are under the "Noahide covenant". That is, the general
covenant God gave to mankind after the great flood. They teach that
Gentiles have no "Torah claim" to the covenants of the patriarchs.
Deuteronomy 29 is very clear that God was speaking not only to those
who are "Israel" by blood, but also those who are "Israel", by
faithfully following Adonai. While the two are separate with respect
to DNA and the Land, they are alike in terms of God's blessing to
those who, by faith, believe.
Blessings.
Steve Wiggins
