Moses explained why it was necessary to renew and strengthen the covenant that G‑d first forged with the Jewish people at Mount Sinai, 40 years prior. Perhaps in the intervening 40 years, some of them began to think that they could avoid G‑d’s corrective punishment if they would be disloyal to Him.
Why We Wait Impatiently for the Future
לְמַעַן סְפוֹת הָרָוָה אֶת הַצְּמֵאָה: (דברים כט:יח)
[Moses told the Jewish people not to try] “to add the drunken to the thirsty.” Deuteronomy 29:18

We possess two souls: a Divine soul, which seeks to enhance our relationship with G‑d, and a human/animal soul, which seeks physical comfort and the pleasures of secular intellectual stimulation.

The pleasures that our human/animal soul craves are more readily available in our physical world, so it is “drunk” compared to our Divine soul, which thirsts for G‑dliness. Only in the Messianic future, when G‑dliness will be openly revealed, will the Divine soul be “drunk” with Divinity.

In the meantime, our human/animal souls attempt to “add the drunken to the thirsty.” This side of our personality knows that material pleasures are too shallow to satisfy us in any meaningful or long-lasting way. Yet, it deceptively argues that the spiritual fulfillment that our Divine soul seeks in the study of the Torah, prayer, and the performance of G‑d’s commandments are more readily available to us in the enticements of this world.

Our challenge in life is not to listen to this voice, but to listen instead to the inner voice of our Divine soul and order our priorities in accordance with both our and G‑d’s true interests.1