Teks -- Deuteronomy 29:18 (NET)

29:18 Beware that the heart of no man, woman, clan, or tribe among you turns away from the Lord our God today to pursue and serve the gods of those nations; beware that there is among you no root producing poisonous and bitter fruit.

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

Wesley: Deu 29:18 - A root

An evil heart inclining you to such cursed idolatry, and bringing forth bitter fruits.

Clarke: Deu 29:18 - A root that beareth gall and wormwood

A root that beareth gall and wormwood - That is, as the apostle expresses it, Heb 3:12, An evil heart of unbelief departing from the living God; for to this place he evidently refers. It may also signify false doctrines, or idolatrous persons among themselves.

TSK: Deu 29:18 - among you man // among you a root // gall and wormwood

among you man : Deu 11:16, Deu 11:17, Deu 13:1-15, Deu 17:2-7; Heb 3:12

among you a root : Jer 9:15; Hos 10:4; Amo 6:12; Act 8:23; Heb 12:15

gall and wormwood : or, a poisonful herb, Heb. rosh

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: Deu 29:18 - Lest there should be // A root // Gall and wormwood

Lest there should be or take heed or beware lest there be ; for it seems to be an ellipsis, or defect of a verb, which is usual in Scripture, and which we have in a case parallel to this. Gen 3:22 . And now we must take care lest he put forth , &c. Or this particle lest may be joined with Deu 29:14,15 , to this purpose, I now renew the covenant with you, and with your posterity, lest any of you or yours should be tempted to depart from God, &c. Whose heart turneth away , i.e. who turneth away from God to idols, not by constraint, but by choice, and the inclination of his own heart. By this phrase he leads them to the spring of their sin and ruin, even their own hearts, which he admonisheth them hereby to look to above all things.

A root either,

1. An evil heart inclining you to such cursed idolatry, and bringing forth bitter fruits. Or rather,

2. Some secret and subtle apostate, who lurks and works like a root under ground, and slyly conveys his poison to the infection of others; for both the foregoing and following words speak of some particular person.

Gall and wormwood i.e. which though for the present it may please your fancy, yet in the end, assure yourselves, will produce bitter fruits, not only distasteful to God, but also poisonful and destructive to yourselves.

Haydock: Deu 29:18 - Bitterness

Bitterness; an Israelite, who cherishes now in his heart any idol, (Haydock) and who may draw God's judgments upon the people, (Calmet) or induce them to follow his wicked example. (Haydock) ---

Let all watch over their children, lest they fall off. Chaldean, "Let there be none among you now whose heart may be filled with the sin of pride." See Acts viii. 13., and Hebrew xii. 15., where this text is cited. The Hebrew seems to allude to some very bitter herbs. Rass is mentioned as growing in the ground, and the juice of it is often alluded to, Osee x. 4., Jeremias viii. 13., and Psalm lxviii. 22. Lane is generally joined with the former term, and God threatens to make the faithless Israelites eat of it, Jeremias ix. 15., and Proverbs v. 4. It may denote a poisonous bitter herb, as well as rass, which signifies "the head, gall, wormwood, aconite," &c. (Calmet) ---

The root designates a mind secretly infected with idolatry, and the appetite, being once drunken with pleasures, thirsteth still more. (Worthington)

Gill: Deu 29:18 - Lest there should be among you man or woman, or family, or tribe // whose heart turneth away this day from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations // lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood

Lest there should be among you man or woman, or family, or tribe,.... These words stand in connection with Deu 29:15, with Deu 29:16 being in a parenthesis, as may be observed, and show the design of this solemn appearance of the people, and their entering afresh into covenant; which was to prevent their falling into idolatry, and preserve them from it, whether a single person of either sex, or a whole family, or even a tribe, which might be in danger of being infected with it, and so all the people:

whose heart turneth away this day from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations; whose heart is enticed and drawn aside at the remembrance of the idols he has seen worshipped by others; and is looking off from the Lord God, his faith in him being weakened, his fear of him removed, and his affections for him lessened; and is looking towards the idols of the nations, with a hankering mind to serve and worship them:

lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood: the word "rosh", which we render "gall", signifies, according to Jarchi, a bitter herb, which better suits with a root than gall, and is elsewhere by us rendered "hemlock", Hos 10:4; and is by him very rightly interpreted of a wicked man among them; for not a principle of immorality, or heresy, rooted in the mind, productive of bitter fruits, or evil actions, is meant; but a bad man, particularly an idolater, who is rooted in idolatry, and is guilty of and commits abominable actions; the issue of which will be bitterness and death, if not recovered; which agrees with what the apostle says, Heb 12:15; who manifestly alludes to this passage; see the Apocrypha:"In those days went there out of Israel wicked men, who persuaded many, saying, Let us go and make a covenant with the heathen that are round about us: for since we departed from them we have had much sorrow.'' (1 Maccabees 1:11)and is confirmed by what follows.