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The passage in Deuteronomy 29:4 does not refer primarily to
the time of which Paul spoke, but to the condition obtaining
when Israel came out of Egypt. The words: `unto this day' as
uttered by Moses can have no other interpretation. There is a
hint, however, of further and fuller revelation in the last verse of
the chapter - a verse that has suffered somewhat at the hands of
translators. We transcribe the note given in The Companion
Bible:
`The italics in the A.V. (put in Roman type in the R.V.) show that the
Hebrew was not clear to the translators. They make good sense in English,
but this is not the sense of the Hebrew text. The words rendered `unto the
Lord our God' should have the extraordinary points (Ap.31) to show that
they form no part of the text. The meaning then is:
`The secret things, even the revealed things, (belong) to us and to our
children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law'; i.e. the
revealed things, and the secret things which have not been, but will yet be
revealed'.
Israel had `seen' the miracles which had been wrought in
Egypt, but these `revealed' things had left them blind. Their
children, however, were to `do all the words of this law', so that
the fact that blindness was only for a time was evidently a part
of the `secret'. Moreover, it is the `nations' that comment upon
Israel's excision (Deut. 29:24-28), and that are likely to become
`wise in their own conceits'.
Isaiah 6:9 and 10 - the third passage mentioned above - is
followed by the prophet's question `LORD, how long?' and the
LORD'S answer in verse 11. In verse 13, also, we have the
pledge of the remnant. Even Psalm 69, which seems to speak of
hopeless misery, ends on the same note: `God will save Zion'.