the secret things belong to YAHWEH our God

Anyone who is familiar with Paul’s letters knows that Paul is the apostle who reveals mysteries. Of this he says that the things he reveals were not previously made known (Eph.3:5). Yet early in Scripture we find a statement about hidden things. A text that may seem somewhat mysterious at first glance.

Deuteronomy 29
29 The secret things belong to YAHWEH our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children…

Israel
These chapters are addressed to Israel. God had entrusted his word to that people (Rom.3:2). Here it also says: the things revealed are for us and for our children (lit: sons). This concerns what was revealed to Israel and the sons of Israel. But already at the beginning of the Hebrew Bible it says that there are hidden things and that they are for YAHWEH, because he does not make them known to the people of Israel, but it is indeed mentioned that they are there. However, they are not revealed to Israel, it remained hidden from them.

blessing and curse
This verse is part of a series of chapters (28-30) above which there is an inscription: blessing and curse. These are predictions of what would happen to the people of Israel. Blessing if the people would serve their God, curse if they would serve other gods. When we compare Deuteronomy 28 and 29 with the biblical history of the Old Testament, we see that this is accurately fulfilled. These words turn out to be prophecies that have been fulfilled. Israel served other gods and was therefore expelled by God and scattered among the nations.

recovery
After reading Deuteronomy 29 about the rejection and scattering of Israel in the past, we see a chapter further that also foretells what will happen later. The first verses of Deuteronomy 30 describe the restoration of Israel. The people, being scattered among the nations, will return to God and He will return, gather the people and restore them to the land (verses 1-5).

scattered, recovered and in between?
Successively in these chapters we find the setting aside and scattering of Israel and the gathering and restoration of Israel described. In between we find that one verse with the statement about the hidden things. It is foretold here exactly as it would happen chronologically. It is not explained in this section, but it is given form in a beautiful structure!

Deuteronomy 29
24 Then all the nations will say, Why has the LORD done this to this land? What does this great kindling of His wrath mean?
25 Then it will be said, 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 They worshipped other gods, gods whom they did not know and which He had not assigned to them.
27 Therefore the anger of the LORD is kindled against this land, and He will bring upon it all these curses that are written in this book.
28 And the LORD plucked them up out of their land in wrath, and in wrath, and in great wrath, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.
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29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, to do all the words of this law.
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Deuteronomy 30
1 It shall come to pass, when all these things, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, that I have set before you, shall come upon you, that you shall again take them to heart among all the nations whither the LORD your God hath driven you.
2 And you shall return to the LORD your God, and obey His voice, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, according to all that I command you today.
3 Then the LORD your God will restore your captivity and have compassion on you. He will return and gather you from all the nations where the LORD your God has scattered you.
4 Though your outcasts be in the ends of the heavens, yet the LORD your God will gather you from there and take you from there.
5 And the LORD your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it again; and He will do you good, and multiply you above your fathers.

the ecclesia
When we speak of the mystery as Paul reveals it, we tend to think that these mysteries deal specifically with the ecclesia, the body of Christ. And that’s true, but it’s only one side of the coin. The other side is that God does a work that is revealed to us, but is hidden from Israel and the world. Now that Paul has revealed them, the cover is off and we can find them again, even in the writings addressed to Israel, to whom God has not made it known. About Israel it is stated several times in the following chapters that God would hide His face (Deut. 31:17-18; 32:20). The mystery that Paul reveals has everything to do with Israel, and is about the period in which God hides His face from Israel.


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