Deu. 26:16-19
This day YHWH your Mighty One commands you to do these statutes and ordinances. You shall do them and observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.
You have declared this day, YHWH to be your Mighty One. And that you will walk in His ways and keep His statutes and His commandments and His ordinances and listen to His voice.
And YHWH has declared you this day to be His people, a treasured possession, as He has promised you. And that you should keep all His commandments. And to make you high above all nations that He has made, for praise, fame, and honor.
And that you may be a set-apart people to YHWH your Mighty One as He has spoken.”
Some forty years after YHWH made a covenant with His people at Sinai, in the land of Horeb, He made a new covenant with the next generation in Moab (Deu. 28:69/29:1).
On this very day, YHWH and His people exchanged vows. The people promised to make YHWH their Mighty One and obey Him as such (26:17). YHWH, in turn, promised to make them His treasured possession and set apart people (26:18-19). Next, Moses and the elders instructed the people to set up an altar on the mountain of blessing once they crossed the Jordan (Deu. 27:1-8). Then Moses and Aaron’s descendants spoke to the congregation:
Keep silence and listen, O Israel. This day, you have become a set-apart people to YHWH your Mighty One…”
On that same day, Moses gave them future orders to divide their twelve tribes into two groups: six tribes to stand on Mount Gerizim and six to stand on Mount Ebal, while the priests were to pronounce the blessings and curses (Deu. 27:11-26).
Each curse had to do with secretly disobeying YHWH’s instructions. If an individual did not internally agree to obey Him, they would be cursed (Deu. 27:26). After each curse was uttered, the whole congregation would say: “Surely it shall be.”
The blessings and curses are further detailed in the following chapter and conclude with the statement: “These are the words of the covenant which YHWH commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab…” (28:69 or 29:1 in Christian versions).
Next, Moses recalled how YHWH brought them out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand (Deu. 29:1-2). He then said something particularly noteworthy:
But YHWH has not given you a heart to understand, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, until this day.”
Until this day—the day this covenant was made—they could not take His words to heart. It was as if before this day, their senses were numb, as they were incapable of experiencing His blessing.
What will be further discussed is that this covenant would not be just made with this generation. Instead, it extends to all future generations. In this Covenant, made that day, YHWH gave His people an understanding heart. He gives them eyes and ears to behold His healing Hand (Isa. 6:10).
Jacob McKessey says
Isa. 6:9-10
This is the message the Voice gave Isaiah to deliver to his people. Their spiritual eyes and ears would be closed from seeing and hearing the truth. Their hearts would be uncircumcised and unable to understand His message of salvation.
This is also the message Moses delivered to his generation. Deu. 29:1-3 (2-4):
Although they were all eyewitnesses to His miraculous Hand, until that Day, their spiritual eyes and ears were closed. Their hearts were uncircumcised—until that day when they entered a covenantal relationship with YHWH, as recorded in Deuteronomy 26:17-18.
These two passages, taken together, demonstrate the dual nature of the New Covenant.
On the one hand, it was made with the children of Israel (as it was with Abraham). It is the same kingdom offer Yeshua gave to His generation.
On the other, it is a future-bound promise, as prophesied by Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and others. Deu. 30:1-8; Lev. 26:40-45; Isa. 60:4-8; Jer. 31:31-34; 32:37-44; 50:4-5; Eze. 16:60-63; 34:23-31; 37:21-28; etc.
Isaiah 6:10 was also used by Yeshua and the apostle Shaul to show how the gospel is hidden in plain sight. Mat. 13:10-17; Act. 28:20-29. Isaiah was told to “bind up and seal” the Torah among the talmidim of YHWH’s Messiah. Isa. 8:16
When one accepts the two witnesses of Yeshua, they accept YHWH’s Covenant. He is their King, and they are His people.
Dawiyd says
Exodus 19:5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and guard my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
Exodus 19:6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak unto the children of Yashar’el.