The Stubborn Heart and the Jealous God Text: Deuteronomy 29:14-21
Introduction: The Covenant and Its Counterfeits
We live in an age that despises boundaries, definitions, and non-negotiable terms. Our culture is allergic to covenants. It prefers contracts, which can be renegotiated, or better yet, casual arrangements with no strings attached. The idea of a binding, solemn oath that carries with it not just blessings for fidelity but also inescapable curses for infidelity is seen as archaic, intolerant, and frankly, terrifying. And so it should be. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and part of that fear is a right understanding of what He requires and what He has promised to do to covenant-breakers.
In our passage today, Moses is renewing the covenant with the second generation of Israelites on the plains of Moab. The first generation, who saw the wonders in Egypt and heard the voice of God at Sinai, had perished in the wilderness because of their unbelief. Now, their children stand on the brink of the Promised Land, and Moses is driving home the central reality of their existence: they are a people in covenant with Yahweh. This is not a ethnic identity club or a cultural heritage society. It is a relationship defined by a sworn oath, with God as the sovereign party.
And Moses, speaking by the Spirit, anticipates the great temptation that will face them, and which faces every generation of God's people. It is the temptation of the secret sin, the inward turning of the heart, the self-deceiving whisper that says, "I can have the benefits of the covenant on the outside while cherishing idols on the inside. I can have peace while walking in stubbornness." This is the perennial lie of the apostate heart. It is the attempt to play God for a fool, to treat the holy covenant of the Almighty as a cheap trinket. Moses is here to tell them, in no uncertain terms, that this is a fatal miscalculation. God is not mocked. His covenant has teeth, and His jealousy for His own name is a consuming fire.
This passage is a severe mercy. It is a stark warning against the kind of spiritual duplicity that is the seed of all apostasy. It lays bare the anatomy of a hardened heart and the certainty of divine judgment. And in doing so, it forces us to ask ourselves if we are truly in the covenant, or if we are merely standing among the covenant people, nursing a root of bitterness in our hearts.
The Text
"Now not with you alone am I cutting this covenant and this oath, but both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of Yahweh our God and with those who are not with us here today, for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed; moreover, you have seen their detestable things and their idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold, which they had with them, lest there be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from Yahweh our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood. And it will be when he hears the words of this curse, that he will bless himself in his heart, saying, ‘I have peace though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart in order to sweep away the watered land with the dry.’ Yahweh shall not be willing to pardon him, but rather the anger of Yahweh and His jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse which is written in this book will rest on him, and Yahweh will blot out his name from under heaven. Then Yahweh will separate him out for adversity from all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant which are written in this book of the law."
(Deuteronomy 29:14-21 LSB)
The Trans-Generational Covenant (v. 14-15)
Moses begins by establishing the comprehensive and enduring nature of this covenant oath.
"Now not with you alone am I cutting this covenant and this oath, but both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of Yahweh our God and with those who are not with us here today, " (Deuteronomy 29:14-15)
This is a foundational principle of covenant theology. God's covenants are not made with isolated individuals, but with heads of households and, by extension, with their descendants. The covenant has a corporate and multi-generational reality. Those standing there on the plains of Moab were bound, but so were their children, and their children's children. This is why we baptize our infants. They are "with us here today" in the covenant, even if they cannot yet articulate its terms. They are part of the visible people of God, brought into the administration of the covenant of grace by God's own decree.
This principle cuts both ways. It is a glorious promise, that God's faithfulness extends to a thousand generations of those who love Him. But it is also a solemn warning. The covenant obligations are not optional. You are born into them. You cannot simply opt out because you were born in a later century. The covenant is a binding reality that encompasses generations. To be born into a Christian home is to be born into this covenantal structure, with all its attendant blessings and responsibilities.
The Polluting Power of Idolatry (v. 16-18)
Moses then reminds them of their history and points to the specific danger that threatens the covenant relationship: idolatry.
"for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed; moreover, you have seen their detestable things and their idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold, which they had with them, lest there be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from Yahweh our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood." (Deuteronomy 29:16-18)
Memory is a crucial element of faithfulness. "For you know..." Moses says. He calls them to remember their deliverance from Egypt, a land saturated with idolatry, and their journey through other pagan nations. They have seen firsthand the "detestable things," the idols of lifeless materials. The warning is not against a theoretical danger, but a tangible one they have already witnessed. Idolatry is not just a bad idea; it is spiritually polluting. It is a detestable thing.
Notice how the sin begins. It begins in the heart. "Lest there be among you a man or woman... whose heart turns away." Apostasy is first and foremost a cardiac event. Before there is any outward act of rebellion, there is an inward pivot of the affections. The heart, which was made to worship Yahweh, turns away to serve other gods. This is the essence of spiritual adultery.
And this secret turning of the heart is not a private, harmless affair. It is a "root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood." The author of Hebrews picks up this very language to warn the New Covenant church (Heb. 12:15). A secret idolater within the covenant community is not a neutral party. They are a root of bitterness. They are a source of poison that can defile many. One person's secret rebellion can have devastating corporate consequences. This is why church discipline is so essential. We are called to be gardeners, tending the soil of the church and uprooting these poisonous plants before they spread.
The Delusion of the Stubborn Heart (v. 19)
Here we get a glimpse into the psychology of the covenant-breaker, the inner monologue of the apostate.
"And it will be when he hears the words of this curse, that he will bless himself in his heart, saying, ‘I have peace though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart in order to sweep away the watered land with the dry.’" (Deuteronomy 29:19)
This is a stunning picture of self-deception. The man stands in the assembly, he hears the solemn words of the covenant curses, the very words we are reading now, and what is his response? He "blesses himself in his heart." While God is pronouncing a curse, he is whispering a blessing to himself. He says, "I have peace." This is a counterfeit peace, a false shalom. It is the peace of a man who has seared his conscience with a hot iron.
His justification is that he will "walk in the stubbornness of my heart." The Hebrew word for stubbornness here has the sense of being firm, obstinate, and rebellious. This is not a momentary lapse; it is a settled disposition. He has made his own heart his god. He is determined to follow his own way, regardless of what God has commanded. He believes he can get away with it, that he can have his secret sin and the covenant blessings too. He thinks he can sin with impunity, sweeping away both the watered land (the righteous) and the dry (the wicked) in his own ruin. He is a spiritual anarchist.
The Certainty of Divine Judgment (v. 20-21)
Moses now shatters this delusion with a terrifying description of God's personal, covenantal wrath.
"Yahweh shall not be willing to pardon him, but rather the anger of Yahweh and His jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse which is written in this book will rest on him, and Yahweh will blot out his name from under heaven. Then Yahweh will separate him out for adversity from all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant which are written in this book of the law." (Deuteronomy 29:20-21)
The response to the man who says "I have peace" is that Yahweh says, "I will not pardon." The Hebrew is emphatic. God will not be inclined to forgive this kind of high-handed, premeditated rebellion. This is not a sin of weakness or ignorance; this is the sin of defiant apostasy. This is the unforgivable sin in its Old Testament form.
And look at the language. It is personal and passionate. "The anger of Yahweh and His jealousy will burn against that man." God's jealousy is not the petty, insecure envy we experience. It is the righteous, zealous love of a husband for his covenant bride. He will not tolerate rivals. Idolatry is spiritual adultery, and it provokes the holy jealousy of God. This is not the detached indifference of a deist god; this is the fiery passion of a covenant Lord.
The consequences are total. Every curse in the book will land on this one man. His name will be blotted out from under heaven, which means the complete erasure of his memory and legacy. He will be excommunicated from the people of God in the most final way imaginable. God Himself will "separate him out for adversity." The man who sought to blend in, to have his sin in secret, will be publicly and divinely singled out for calamity. He will become a living object lesson of the severity of God.
Conclusion: No Neutral Ground
This passage leaves no room for casual, nominal Christianity. It demolishes the idea that you can be a member of the visible church, go through the motions, and yet harbor a heart that is turned away from the Lord. To do so is not to occupy some safe, neutral middle ground. It is to place yourself directly in the path of the burning jealousy of God.
The man who blesses himself while God curses him is the man who believes in a cheap grace that makes no demands. He is the man who redefines peace as the absence of personal conflict, rather than submission to the Prince of Peace. He is the man who thinks the covenant is a fire insurance policy rather than a marriage vow.
The warning here is for us. Are there any idols of wood, stone, silver, or gold in our hearts? Are we serving the gods of comfort, security, reputation, or self-will? Do we hear the warnings of Scripture against sin and secretly bless ourselves, thinking, "That doesn't apply to me. I shall have peace"?
If so, the call is to repent. The good news of the New Covenant is that Jesus Christ stood in the assembly and took all the curses of the law upon Himself. He was the one separated out for adversity. His name was, for a time, blotted out as He hung on the cross. He did this so that pardon would be available for stubborn-hearted rebels like us. But that pardon is only for those who abandon their self-made peace and flee to Him for refuge. It is for those who turn from their idols and surrender to the jealous love of the one true God. There is no other way to have peace. To seek it anywhere else is to find yourself, in the end, with nothing but poison, wormwood, and the consuming fire of the wrath of God.