And he said, behold, I will make a covenant
Or renew the covenant before made the people had broke; which on
his part was, that he would, as Moses had entreated, forgive the
sin of the people, go along with them, and introduce them into
the land of Canaan, and drive out the inhabitants of it before
them; and, on their part, that they should avoid idolatry, and
everything that led unto it, particularly making covenants, and
entering into alliances with the idolatrous nations cast out:
before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not
been done
in all the earth, nor in any nation;
both in their passage through the wilderness, and entrance into
Canaan's land, and the conquest of that; such as the earth
opening its mouth and swallowing alive Korah, Dathan, and Abiram,
and was a new thing God created; the smiting of the rock at
Kadesh, from whence flowed waters abundantly; the healing of such
as were bit by fiery serpents through looking at a serpent of
brass; Balaam's ass speaking, and reproving the madness of the
prophet; the division of the waters of Jordan; the fall of the
walls of Jericho at the sound of rams' horns; the sun and moon
standing still, until the Lord had avenged himself of his
enemies:
and all the people among which thou art shall see the work
of the
Lord;
for it should be visible, as the above things were, and plainly
appear to be the Lord's doing, and not man's, being above the
power of any created being to perform:
for it is a terrible thing that I will do with
thee;
Aben Ezra restrains this to Moses's person, and interprets this
of the wonderful shining of the skin of his face, when he came
down from the mount, which made the children of Israel afraid to
come nigh him; and of his vigorous constitution at the time of
his death, when his eye was not dim, nor his natural force
abated, contrary to the nature of ancient persons: but it is
better to understand it of the ministry of Moses, and of the
awful things that God would do by him; or rather of the people of
Israel, among whom, and for whose sake, God would do such things
as should cause a panic among the nations all around them;
particularly what he did for them to Og king of Bashan, and Sihon
king of the Amorites, on account of which terror fell, as on the
king of Moab, so on the inhabitants of Canaan; see ( Numbers
21:33-35 ) ( 22:3 ) (
Joshua
2:9-11 ) .