dildaysc
Puritan Board Junior
Poole's Synopsis on this important passage:
Verse 29: The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.
[The secret things belong to the Lord, etc.] It is an obscure sentence, neither is it evident to what it has regard (Bonfrerius). [They vary.] What things are hidden, let them be in the hands of God (or, they pertain to God [Ainsworth]), but what things are revealed, to us, etc. …that we might do (Junius and Tremellius, Ainsworth, similarly Munster). 1. The secret things belong to the Lord God; the things revealed belong to us, etc.; that is, it belongs to Go to punish secret idolatry; it belongs to us to punish open idolatry (Ibn Ezra in Munster, Targum Jerusalem and Chizkuni in Ainsworth, Fagius, Estius, Vatablus). Moses previously treated of secret sins: Cursed is he that makes a graven image in secret, and again, who secretly smites, and here in verse 19, he bless himself in his heart. Therefore, he adds, the secret things belong to the Lord, etc.; that is to say, by Aposiopesis, the Hidden Things, that is, those sins (doubt ye not) pertain to the judgment of the Lord; but it belongs to us to punish notorious sins (Estius). 2. The secrets of the Lord…the things revealed belong to us, etc.; that is to say, God has revealed to us things that He has not revealed to others: Psalm 147:20, He hath not dealt so, etc. (Fagius, Vatablus, Oleaster). Therefore, we shall be punished more severely, if we live not according to His precepts (Fagius). What things God had formerly kept to Himself, those things He has revealed to us, so that we might have a norm to which we might compare our lives (Grotius). 3. Moses here indicates the hidden things of the Gospel and other things that also are latent in the Law, and that God has in His own power, as One about to bring them forth when it pleases Him. Now, we ought to yield obedience to the things Revealed. If their reasons be obscure, or if anything is latent more deeply in them, or appears absurd to us, we still ought to so attribute them to God, that, because He has commanded, we do (Castalio). 4. I prefer that it be Moses’ wish: The hidden things, supply, Oh that they would be so eternally, belong to the Lord our God, these things that He previously threatened as punishments; and let the people live in such a way that it never be compelled to infer those things, but let the people so conduct itself as if it were ignorant of all those evils. At the same time, let the things made manifest be to us, by the fear of them we might keep from transgression (Tirinus out of Cajetan and out of Bonfrerius). 5. The Arabic has it thus: The secret things belong to the Lord our God, and likewise the things revealed, which are ours in this, that we might do all the words. 6. The sense: These future scourges, foreseen and decreed by God, are hidden, and among the hidden judgment of God; which He has, nevertheless, manifested to us, so that in the fear of them we might do the Law (Lapide). It is able to be applied to the counsel of God concerning the punishment and rejection of the Jews. Compare Romans 11:33. At the same time, it is to be understood of all the secrets that God has not revealed (Ainsworth). Let us not taste of the deep, neither make further search of God’s counsels, ways, and judgments; but let us, content with these, and acquiescing to His will, yield obedience to Him (Malvenda out of Junius). The pointing in the Hebrew text is extraordinary, so that it might excite attention, which is certainly deserved by the things that are here taught concerning the perpetual duty of the people of God, namely, that they both teach and do the Law, and propagate Religion to posterity (Ainsworth).
The secret things, etc.: Having now mentioned the dreadful and amazing judgments of God upon the whole land and people of Israel, and foreseeing by the Spirit of prophecy the utter extirpation and destruction which would come upon them for their wickedness, he breaks out into this pathetical exclamation, either to bridle their curiosity, who hearing this, would be apt to inquire into the time and manner of so great an event; or to quiet his own mind, and satisfy the scruples of others, who perceiving God to deal so severely with his own people, when in the mean time he suffered those nations which were guilty of grosser atheism, and idolatry, and impiety than the generality of the Jewish people were, to live and prosper in the world, might thence take occasion to deny or reproach his providence, or question the equity of his proceedings. To this he answers, that the ways and judgments of God, though never unjust, are ofttimes secret and hidden from us, and unsearchable by our shallow capacities, and are matter for our admiration, not for our inquiry. Unto us and to our children: but the things which are revealed by God and his word, these are the proper object of our inquiries and studies, that thereby we may come to the knowledge of our duty, by the practice whereof we may be kept from such terrible punishments and calamities as these now mentioned.
Verse 29: The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.
[The secret things belong to the Lord, etc.] It is an obscure sentence, neither is it evident to what it has regard (Bonfrerius). [They vary.] What things are hidden, let them be in the hands of God (or, they pertain to God [Ainsworth]), but what things are revealed, to us, etc. …that we might do (Junius and Tremellius, Ainsworth, similarly Munster). 1. The secret things belong to the Lord God; the things revealed belong to us, etc.; that is, it belongs to Go to punish secret idolatry; it belongs to us to punish open idolatry (Ibn Ezra in Munster, Targum Jerusalem and Chizkuni in Ainsworth, Fagius, Estius, Vatablus). Moses previously treated of secret sins: Cursed is he that makes a graven image in secret, and again, who secretly smites, and here in verse 19, he bless himself in his heart. Therefore, he adds, the secret things belong to the Lord, etc.; that is to say, by Aposiopesis, the Hidden Things, that is, those sins (doubt ye not) pertain to the judgment of the Lord; but it belongs to us to punish notorious sins (Estius). 2. The secrets of the Lord…the things revealed belong to us, etc.; that is to say, God has revealed to us things that He has not revealed to others: Psalm 147:20, He hath not dealt so, etc. (Fagius, Vatablus, Oleaster). Therefore, we shall be punished more severely, if we live not according to His precepts (Fagius). What things God had formerly kept to Himself, those things He has revealed to us, so that we might have a norm to which we might compare our lives (Grotius). 3. Moses here indicates the hidden things of the Gospel and other things that also are latent in the Law, and that God has in His own power, as One about to bring them forth when it pleases Him. Now, we ought to yield obedience to the things Revealed. If their reasons be obscure, or if anything is latent more deeply in them, or appears absurd to us, we still ought to so attribute them to God, that, because He has commanded, we do (Castalio). 4. I prefer that it be Moses’ wish: The hidden things, supply, Oh that they would be so eternally, belong to the Lord our God, these things that He previously threatened as punishments; and let the people live in such a way that it never be compelled to infer those things, but let the people so conduct itself as if it were ignorant of all those evils. At the same time, let the things made manifest be to us, by the fear of them we might keep from transgression (Tirinus out of Cajetan and out of Bonfrerius). 5. The Arabic has it thus: The secret things belong to the Lord our God, and likewise the things revealed, which are ours in this, that we might do all the words. 6. The sense: These future scourges, foreseen and decreed by God, are hidden, and among the hidden judgment of God; which He has, nevertheless, manifested to us, so that in the fear of them we might do the Law (Lapide). It is able to be applied to the counsel of God concerning the punishment and rejection of the Jews. Compare Romans 11:33. At the same time, it is to be understood of all the secrets that God has not revealed (Ainsworth). Let us not taste of the deep, neither make further search of God’s counsels, ways, and judgments; but let us, content with these, and acquiescing to His will, yield obedience to Him (Malvenda out of Junius). The pointing in the Hebrew text is extraordinary, so that it might excite attention, which is certainly deserved by the things that are here taught concerning the perpetual duty of the people of God, namely, that they both teach and do the Law, and propagate Religion to posterity (Ainsworth).
The secret things, etc.: Having now mentioned the dreadful and amazing judgments of God upon the whole land and people of Israel, and foreseeing by the Spirit of prophecy the utter extirpation and destruction which would come upon them for their wickedness, he breaks out into this pathetical exclamation, either to bridle their curiosity, who hearing this, would be apt to inquire into the time and manner of so great an event; or to quiet his own mind, and satisfy the scruples of others, who perceiving God to deal so severely with his own people, when in the mean time he suffered those nations which were guilty of grosser atheism, and idolatry, and impiety than the generality of the Jewish people were, to live and prosper in the world, might thence take occasion to deny or reproach his providence, or question the equity of his proceedings. To this he answers, that the ways and judgments of God, though never unjust, are ofttimes secret and hidden from us, and unsearchable by our shallow capacities, and are matter for our admiration, not for our inquiry. Unto us and to our children: but the things which are revealed by God and his word, these are the proper object of our inquiries and studies, that thereby we may come to the knowledge of our duty, by the practice whereof we may be kept from such terrible punishments and calamities as these now mentioned.
