John Gill Commentary


John Gill Commentary
"that thou mayest enter into the covenant of Jehovah thy God, and into his oath, which Jehovah thy God maketh with thee this day;" — Deuteronomy 29:12 (ASV)
That you should enter into covenant with the Lord your God ,
&c.] That is, they were all to appear and stand in this order before the Lord, that they might solemnly avouch him to be their God, and hear him declaring them to be his people, and the many promises and prophecies of good things he should deliver to them, as well as threatenings of wrath and vengeance in case of disobedience to him: or "that you should pass" F5 : which some think is an allusion to the manner of making covenants, by slaying a creature, and cutting it in pieces, and passing between them, as in (Jeremiah 34:18) ; so Jarchi and Aben Ezra:
and into his oath ;
annexed to his covenant and promise, to show the immutability and certain fulfilment of it on his part; and may signify not only the oath he swore that they should be his people, but the oath he gave them, and they took, that he should be their God:
which the Lord your God makes with you this day ;
which refers both to the covenant and the oath, or the covenant confirmed by an oath, even the covenant now made in the plains of Moab, distinct from that at Horeb or Sinai.