BLB Commentary Deut. 30:1-10, 19-20 - A. Restoration for a repentant Israel.
1. (Deut. 30:1) When all these things come upon you.
1 "So it shall be when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind in all nations where the LORD your God has banished you,
a. Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you: Under the inspiration of the LORD, Moses carefully explained the blessings and curses that would come upon an obedient or disobedient Israel. Under the same inspiration, Moses knew that all these things would come upon Israel.
i. From the height of blessing during the reigns of David and Solomon, to the depth of cursing at the fall of Jerusalem, Israel's history has been a legacy of either being blessed or cursed under the terms of the Old Covenant.
b. And you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God drives you: God knew that Israel would be scattered and exiled, and here through Moses, God calls the Diaspora (Israel dispersed among the nations) to remember the promises of the blessing and the curse.
2. (Deut. 30:2-5) God's promise to regather Israel in the Promised Land.
2 and you return to the LORD your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command you today, you and your sons, 3 then the LORD your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. 4 If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back. 5 The LORD your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers.
a. Return to the LORD your God: As Israel would return to the LORD, God would bless them and bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you.
i. Of course, this was fulfilled in part by the return of the Babylonian exiles during the times of Ezra and Nehemiah. But the ultimate fulfillment of this would await the Twentieth Century, when God would regather Israel in the Promised Land. This modern regathering is a larger, broader, more sovereign, and more miraculous restoration than that recorded in Ezra and Nehemiah.
b. From all the nations where the LORD your God has scattered you: The modern regathering of Israel more accurately fulfills this promise than the return from the Babylonian exile. Today, Israel is populated from Jews from virtually every country in the world. The breadth of this promise is important, because God repeats the idea in verse 4: If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the LORD God will gather you.
i. Adam Clarke, writing in 1811, recognized that this regathering had to be fulfilled in a future time: "As this promise refers to a return from captivity in which they had been scattered among all nations, consequently it is not the Babylonian captivity which is intended; and the repossession of their land must be different from that which was consequent on their return from Chaldea."
c. Then the LORD your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it: The regathering had to happen in the land of Israel. The modern regathering of Israel more accurately fulfills this promise than the return from the Babylonian exile. In the return from the Babylonian exile, Israel was still a vassal state of the Persians. But in the modern regathering of Israel, you shall possess it is literally fulfilled.
i. At one time, in the early days of the Zionist movement, the British offered the country of Uganda to the Jews as a place to establish a Jewish state. If that would have happened, and if Jews from all over the world would have flocked there to establish a Jewish state, it would not fulfill the promise of regathering stated here and in other Old Testament passages. The promise here is plain: The land which your fathers possessed.
d. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers: This promise is fulfilled only in the modern regathering of Israel, not in the return from the Babylonian exile. In the days of the return from the Babylonian exile, the Jewish community was small, weak, and poor. But today, under the modern regathering of Israel, the state of Israel does indeed prosper and the promise to multiply you more than your fathers is fulfilled. Israel, as a nation, is larger, stronger, and richer than at any time in Biblical history.
3. (Deut. 30:6) The spiritual regathering of Israel.
6 "Moreover the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.
a. And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart ... to love the LORD your God with all your heart: As remarkable and as prophetically meaningful the modern regathering of Israel is, it is incomplete. The spiritual dimension of the regathering has not yet been accomplished.
i. Today Israel is a largely secular nation. There is respect for the Bible as a book of history and national identity, but there is not, and has not been, a true turning to the LORD God, particularly as a nation.
ii. We can say that in a sense, not even the religious or Orthodox Jews have completely turned to the LORD. Though they have had an important and precious part in God's plan for Israel in helping a spiritual consciousness for the Jewish people to survive through the centuries of the Diaspora, they have not truly turned to the LORD. We can say this because the character and nature of the LORD is perfectly expressed in His Messiah, Jesus. Jesus said, He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. (John 12:44-45) Since the Jewish people, except for a precious remnant, reject Jesus, they are rejecting the LORD God.
iii. But God's promise still stands. As the final aspect of the promise to regather Israel, God will restore them spiritually. He promises to circumcise your heart. This is an idea repeated in the promises of the New Covenant, in passages like Ezekiel 36:26-27: I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Indeed, Paul promised that all Israel will be saved (Romans 11:26). Jesus said that He would not return until Israel embraced Him as Messiah: For I say to you, you shall see Me no more til you say, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!" (Matthew 23:39)
iv. Some have thought that because the modern regathering of Israel has not yet demonstrated this spiritual dynamic that it has nothing to do with these prophesies. But the spiritual dynamic is properly listed in Deuteronomy 30:2-6 as the last of the blessings of regathering. Also, the picture of regathering in Ezekiel 37 - the vision of the dry bones - shows Israel regathered, and strong, before the LORD breathed the breath of His Spirit on the regathered Israel. We regard the modern regathering of Israel as a remarkable sign, and an extremely significant - but thus far only partial - fulfillment of these prophesies.
3. (Deut. 30:7-10) Blessings upon repentant Israel.
7 The LORD your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. 8 And you shall again obey the LORD, and observe all His commandments which I command you today. 9 Then the LORD your God will prosper you abundantly in all the work of your hand, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your cattle and in the produce of your ground, for the LORD will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers; 10 if you obey the LORD your God to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and soul.
a. Also the LORD your God will put all these curses on your enemies ... The LORD your God will make you abound: In part, these prophesies are fulfilled now in the modern regathering of Israel. But perhaps their ultimate fulfillment will happen in the millennium, when Israel has regathered as a people truly turned to the LORD and His Messiah, Jesus.
3. (Deut. 30:19-20) Choose life.
19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, 20 by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them."
a. I call heaven and earth as witness today against you: In these most solemn words, Moses set the choice before Israel. They had to choose between life and death, blessing and cursing.
b. Therefore choose life: At the same time, though the choice belonged to Israel, God cared about what they chose. When Moses pled with Israel, crying out choose life, we know he reflected the heart of God toward Israel. How God glorified Himself through Israel was up to them, but it was obviously God's preference that He glorify Himself through an obedient, blessed Israel. So He pled, choose life!
i. Man today, even outside the Old Covenant, is confronted with the choice. But the choice focuses first not on "Will I obey God or not?" but on "Will I trust in Jesus for my standing before God?" Jesus said, He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters. (Luke 11:23) Jesus is still asking the question, who do you say that I am (Matthew 16:15), and our choice in answering that question determines our eternal destiny.
c. That you may love the LORD your God: To love God this way, to really trust Him, is explained well in Deuteronomy 30:20. To love and trust God means to obey His voice, for a child who really loves and trusts their father will obey him. It means to cling to Him, for if we really love and trust Him, we will be attached to Him. It means to regard Him as our life and the length of your days, because if we love and trust Him, He is not part of our life, He is our life.
Deuteronomy 30:8-10 - COMMENTARY
CONTEXT: The Israelites are in Moab, east of the Dead Sea. They have wandered forty years in the wilderness under Moses leadership, and are facing two significant changes. One is that Moses will soon die, without having entered the Promised Land. The second is that the people will soon cross the Jordan River to enter the Promised Land. Throughout this book, Moses is giving them his death-bed wisdom.
In chapter 28, Moses promised blessings if the Israelites would obey God's commandments (28:1-14). He then warned of the consequences of disobedience (28:15-68).
In chapter 29, he called them to a renewal of the covenant with Yahweh, and reminded them of the miraculous journey that they had taken from Egypt to Moab. He said, "but Yahweh has not given you a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, to this day" (29:4)-much of chapter 29 has that negative sort of tone. He reminded them of the idolatry of the nations through which they had passed and warned that the Lord would punish idolaters. He concluded on a more positive note: "The secret things belong to Yahweh our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law" (29:29).
In chapter 30, he began by telling them to return (Hebrew: sub) to the Lord (30:2) and the Lord would restore (Hebrew: sub) their fortunes (30:3). He promised that the Lord would bring them into the Promised Land (30:5) and circumcise their hearts (30:6) and curse their enemies (30:7).
It is difficult to understand why the framers of the lectionary would begin this reading with verse 9-in the middle of a sentence. I have chosen to begin this commentary with verse 8-at the beginning of that sentence. I recommend that you begin your reading of this text with verse 8 or earlier.
DEUTERONOMY 30:8-10. YAHWEH WILL MAKE YOU PLENTEOUS
8 And you shall again obey the LORD, and observe all His commandments which I command you today. 9 Then the LORD your God will prosper you abundantly in all the work of your hand, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your cattle and in the produce of your ground, for the LORD will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers; 10 if you obey the LORD your God to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and soul.
"You shall return and obey the voice of Yahweh, and do all his commandments which I command you this day" (v. 8). For the most part chapters 28-29 are quite negative in tone-warning Israel of the consequences of disobedience while calling them to obedience. But now Moses holds out hope that the Israelites will be obedient so that they might enjoy Yahweh's blessings.
"Yahweh your God will make you plenteous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, for good: for Yahweh will again rejoice over you for good, as he rejoiced over your fathers" (v. 9). Earlier, Moses outlined the blessings associated with obedience to Yahweh's commandments. These included blessings in the cities and in the field (28:3)-blessings on the "the fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the fruit of your animals, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock" (28:4)-blessings on their "basket and your kneading bowl" (28:5)-and blessings on them when they came in and went out (28:7). This verse largely repeats those promises, but adds the last part-the part that tells of Yahweh's delight in showering blessings on them and their ancestors.
"if you shall obey the voice of Yahweh your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law" (v. 10a). But they will receive these blessings only if they observe Yahweh's commandments. IF they obey the Lord's commandments, they can expect the blessings outlined in verse 9. That is a big IF.
"if you turn to Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul" (v. 10b). The Lord is looking for more than rote compliance with the law. The Lord wants these people to give him their hearts and their souls-their very essence.
DEUTERONOMY 30:19-20. CHOOSE LIFE SO THAT YOU MAY LIVE
19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, 20 by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them."
"I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse" (v. 19a). Calling witnesses serves to emphasize the importance of what Moses is saying. Most Near Eastern people would call the gods of the first party and the gods of the second party to serve as witnesses, but that would hardly do for Israel. Instead, Moses invokes heaven and earth-Yahweh's creation-to serve as witnesses. Moses calls them to witness the fact that he has offered Israel a clear choice-a choice between life and death-between blessings and curses. If the Israelites fail to make the right choice, no one can say that Moses failed to warn them. No one can accuse him of spiritual malpractice.
"therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your seed; to love Yahweh your God, to obey his voice, and to cling to him; for he is your life, and the length of your days" (v. 19b - 20a). Now Moses summarizes his call in clear and direct language. "Choose life," he says. He then makes the point that it is not only the lives of these Israelites but also the lives of their descendants that are as stake.
Once again (see the commentary on verse 16), Moses places the first emphasis on loving God, because loving God will lead to the second imperative, which is to obey God. He promises that this combination (loving and obeying God) will lead to life and length of days.
Those two things (life and length of days) seem redundant, but they are not. Length of days by itself can be a curse instead of a blessing, but a life of faith will always result in blessing, even among people whose lives are otherwise difficult.
"that you may dwell in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them" (v. 20b). The Israelites are poised to enter the Promised Land, and Yahweh has pledged to give it to them. The question is whether they will be allowed to remain there indefinitely. The answer depends whether they will choose life-loving and obeying Yahweh. If they do that, Yahweh will insure their future. If they do not, they will lose their heritage.
Deut. 30:1-20 - "Choose Love - Choose Life"
Service Orientation: Obeying God's Word brings life. Jesus is God's incarnate revelation of His Word. Jesus is life. If you have Jesus you have life. If you do not have Jesus you do not have life. Get a life. Get Jesus!
Bible Memory Verse for the Week: And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. - 1 John 5:11-12
Background Information:
• The theme of (Dt 4) vv. 1-4 is that doing the commandments leads to life, a theme occurring throughout Deuteronomy, the corollary to which is prolonged life for Israel in the land (4:1, 40; 5:33; 6:2, 24; 8:1, 3; 11:8-9, 18-21; 16:20; 25:15; 30:6, 16, 19-20; 32:47; cf. Lv 18:5). (Jack R. Lundbom, Deuteronomy, A Commentary, 235)
• Deuteronomy 30 represents the climax of the gospel according to Moses as he has proclaimed it in this book. Employing the second person of direct address, Moses brings his present audience into these future events. Much of the theological freight of this section is carried by key words. The most important of these is the root šûb ("to return, turn back"), which occurs seven times, with some variation in meaning. (Daniel I. Block, The NIV Application Commentary: Dt, 694)
• As Paul emphasizes in Rom 2, Dt 30:1-10 provides a paradigm for the way God establishes a covenant relationship with those who earnestly seek him. On the one hand, a positive relationship with God calls for a change in our disposition as we come to our senses and recognize the rebellion of our ways; a change in orientation as we move away from the path of evil and rebellion; and a willingness to hear the voice of God, calling us to faith and establishing the course on which we must go (Acts 3:19; 8:22). The message of Scripture is consistent: The human preconditions for relationship with God include faith and repentance, which Paul speaks of as putting on the new self (Col 3:9-10).
On the other hand, this spiritual renewal is effected by a gracious divine act. When God withdraws his hand of judgment from us who deserve it-for all fall short of God's glorious standard (Rom 3:23)-when his disposition and orientation changes from wrath to compassion, and when he circumcises human hearts by a gracious and undeserved act of transformation, a relationship with him is established. All whose hearts are circumcised will love him wholeheartedly and will demonstrate that love in joyful obedience to his will. (Daniel I. Block, The NIV Application Commentary: Dt, 704-5)
• (v. 1) That a dispersion of Israel is still in effect can be seen by the population distribution of Jewish people. In 1990 according to various almanacs and encyclopedias, there were about 13 million Jews scattered throughout the world and only about 4.4 million in Israel-for a total of 17.5 million. (Frank E. Gæbelein, The Expositor's Bible Commentary: Vol. 3, 188)
• (v. 5) The present section, with its singular address, is directed, in principle, to a future generation (cf. Sonnet 1997: 109). In one sense that generation is seen as continuous with the Moab generation that forms the immediate audience of Moses' words. However, the perspective belongs to the message in these latter chapters of Deuteronomy that obedience to the Torah that Moses is bequeathing to the people is continuously renewable. (J. G. McConville, Apollos OT Commentary: Dt, 425)
• (v. 6) The circumcision of the heart is closely connected with the characteristic call of Deuteronomy for love and obedience from the heart, and the term "heart" occurs frequently in the present passage (three times in the present verse). On such a complete and genuine turning by the people to Yahweh depends their "life." The preconditions for life in Deuteronomy had previously been expressed as the keeping of the commands and standards of the covenant (cf. 4:1; 8:1; 16:20). Now it is the consequence of Yahweh's circumcision of the heart, which leads in turn to Israel's love of him. (J. G. McConville, Apollos OT Commentary: Dt, 427)
• (v. 11) Israel's "life" is the goal of the covenant; they have every means at their disposal, by Yahweh's grace, by which to take the opportunity; and all depends on their decision to be faithful to the covenant-not just on one occasion, but continually, as the preaching has tirelessly made clear by its rhetorical use of the term "today." (J. G. McConville, Apollos OT Commentary: Dt, 430)
• (v. 11) "Not too difficult" which also means "not too mysterious, hard to understand or incomprehensible" (see 17:8). "Beyond your reach" which means "not far distant." (Frank E. Gæbelein, The Expositor's Bible Commentary: Vol. 3, 190)
• (vss. 12-14) In Rom 10:6-10 the apostle Paul cited Dt 30:12-14 to prove that salvation is by faith. He used Moses' rhetorical questions regarding the revealed commands of God as illustrative of attempting salvation by bringing Christ down from heaven or up from the grave-neither of which is necessary or effective. It is rather that the word of faith is "in your mouth and in your heart" as Moses declared. This then became the basis for Paul's great affirmation, "That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." As in Moses' time, so in NT times, the Word of God was in their mouths and in their hearts. (Frank E. Gæbelein, The Expositor's Bible Commentary: Vol. 3, 190)
• (v. 13) The ancient hero Gilgamesh sought to discover the secret to life by seeking out Utnapishtim (Babylonian Noah). Gilgamesh asserts, "I traversed difficult mountains, and I rowed all the seas," in order to gain the secret of life from Utnapishtim. He further declares that "man, the tallest, cannot stretch to heaven." The origin of this magnificent epic lies far back into hoary antiquity (ca. 2000 B.C. or earlier). It has Sumerian analogues and predecessors.
Ancient Near Eastern wisdom literature found it impossible to discover the way to life. Hidden was the reasoning and the intentions of the gods, as the Righteous Sufferer declares. In the Babylonian Theodicy the friend of a sufferer indicates that people cannot grasp the divine purpose. "Who is tall enough to ascend to heaven?" The Babylonians believed that mortals who dwell on earth could not attain the wisdom of the gods, who dwell in heaven. Not so for the Israelites, whose God had clearly and publicly set forth what was right in his eyes for his people to follow. (John H. Walton, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary: Vol. 1, 512-3)
• Yahweh always keeps his word; the question here is, will the people keep theirs? (Daniel I. Block, The NIV Application Commentary: Dt, 711)
The questions to be answered are . . . What is Moses communicating to us in Deuteronomy 30? What does this have to do with being a Christian?
Answers: Moses is telling us that obedience to the Word of God brings life. Disobedience brings death. Jesus is the Word of God. Life and death are now found in God's incarnate expression of His Word: Jesus.
From the HFM message for August 1st, 2010 "The Life" : The question to be answered is . . . What does the Pentateuch mean by life?
Answer: The Pentateuch describes LIFE as being in harmony with the will and purposes of God. It means living in Shalom. It means living in obedience to the Law and will of God. It means enjoying a life of love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. It means living a life filled with meaning, significance and hope. It is a life that is Spirit led and "in Christ".
The gospel is a matter of life and death. John puts this in unmistakable terms when he says, "And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life" (1 Jn 5:11, 12). It is a choice between life and death, between salvation and damnation. (Ajith Fernando, Preaching the Word: Dt, 624-5)
Genuine religion is urgent religion. I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death. Sooner or later everyone must face a challenge like that which Jesus gave the rich young man, "Sell all that thou hast,. . . and come, follow me" (Lk 18:22). "He that is not with me is against me" (Mt 12:30) and "He that is not against us is for us" (Mk 9:40). (George Arthur Buttrick, The Interpreter's Bible Vol 2, 510-11)
We often talk about our delighting in God and his Law. But we do not talk as much of an even greater truth-God delighting in us! I found seven places in the OT where it says that God delights or takes pleasure in us. I found three instances, including the verse we are looking at, that say God takes delight in loving and blessing us (Dt 28:63; 30:9b; Micah 7:18). I also found one statement that God delights in our welfare (Ps 35:27). This means there are eleven references proclaiming that God's children bring delight to him. That is the way good fathers are. Observing and thinking about their children brings them great joy. (Ajith Fernando, Preaching the Word: Dt, 621)
We have faced so much disappointment, rejection, and pain from people who we thought were committed to us that we cannot think that anyone, even God, loves us enough to be thrilled about us. Until we come to accept this truth about God, we will never know the joy about which the Bible talks so much. When the most significant person in your life is thrilled about you, you will really be happy. When you realize that this person is the Lord of the universe, you will be thrilled. Let us make understanding the extent of this amazing love of God one of our main pursuits in life. (Ajith Fernando, Preaching the Word: Dt, 621-2)
The Word for the Day is . . . Life
Everything has been figured out, except how to live - Jean-Paul Sartre
Zōē can mean lifetime (Lk 16:25). It also indicates life as the native possession of God (Jn 5:26) and as His gift to mankind whereby people are able to feel, think, and act (Acts 17:25). In Acts 5:20 it is used as a substitute for the word "gospel." It often denotes life on the highest plane as redeemed and devoted to God (Jn 10:10). It is the only term for life with which the adj. "Eternal" is used (17:3). (Geoffrey W. Bromiley, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Vol. Three, 129)
What is life? In all its various levels and types, life is power to act and respond in specific kinds of relations. For example, a cabbage has certain powers of action and response and a corresponding level of life. There is a big difference between a cabbage that is alive and one that is dead, though the dead one still exists. This can also be said of a snail or a kitten.
But a live cabbage can make no response to, say, a ball of string. That is precisely because of the kind of life that is in it. Though alive as a cabbage, it is dead to the realm of play. Similarly, a kitten playing with the string can make no response to numbers or poetry, and in that sense the kitten is dead to the realms of arithmetic and literature. A live cabbage, though dead to one realm (that of play) is yet alive in another-that of the soil, the sun and the rain. The situation is similar with the kitten.
Human beings were once alive to God. They were created to be responsive to and interactive with him. Adam and Eve lived in a conversational relationship with their Creator, daily renewed. When they mistrusted God and disobeyed him, that cut them off from the realm of the Spirit. Thus they became dead in relation to the realm of the Spirit-much as a kitten is dead to arithmetic. God had said of the forbidden tree, "in the day you eat of it you shall die" (Gn 2:17). And they did. (Dallas Willard, Hearing God, 192-3)
What is Moses communicating to us in this text?:
I- Choosing to obey the Word of God brings life. (Dt 30:2-10, 16,see also: Lv 18:5; Dt 10:12-22; 28:2; 32:47; Prv 3:17-18; 4:13, 22-23; 8:35; 10:11, 16-17; ; 11:19, 30; 12:28; 13:14; 14:27; 16:17; 19:16, 23; 21:21; 22:4; Jer 29:11-14; Mt 7:14; 10:39; 16:25; 19:17; Mk 8:35; Lk 9:24; 17:33;Jn 3:1-16; 5:24; 6:63; 8:51-52; 12:25; Rom 2:7; 5:17-21; 7:10-11, 20; 8:1-13; Gal 2:19-20; 3:21; 2 Cor 3:6; 1 Tm 4:16; 6:19; 2 Tm 1:9-10)
In the life of obedience, therefore, two things come together: man in the image of God, and the law in the image of God. In declaring his law, the Lord declares what he is; in obeying the law we are being fundamentally true to what we are. Because the law reflects his image, it is the true law of our true nature. In obedience we are living according to our revealed definition, we are 'being ourselves'. The law of the Lord is the 'Maker's Handbook' for the effectuation of a truly human existence and personal human fulfilment. (Alec Motyer, Look to the Rock, 77-8)
Because we love God, obedience is not just some duty that we perform to satisfy the authorities. We want to please the one we love. Then it involves "walking in his ways." We have chosen God's way as our way, the way we love to live. As Paul put it, we "walk by the Spirit" (Gal 5:16). This reminds us that we are in relationship with God through the Spirit. To walk in God's ways is to walk with God, as Enoch did (Gn 5:22, 24). (Ajith Fernando, Preaching the Word: Dt, 625)
To choose life means to demonstrate covenant commitment ("love") to Yahweh in actions that serve his interests, to "listen" to the voice of Yahweh, and to "hold fast" to him alone. (Daniel I. Block, The NIV Application Commentary: Dt, 711)
The OT word hāyâ has a range of meaning which includes "to prosper, to sustain life," or "to nourish" (Gn 27:40; 45:7; 2 Kg 18;32; 1 Sm 10:24; 2 Sm 12:3) or "to restore to health, to heal, recover" (Josh 5:8; 2 Kg 1:2; 8:10).
In contrast to the ancient near east, where men sought to link themselves with forces of life thought of in terms of nature deities, by magical recitations of myth accompanied by appropriate magical ritual, in the OT life is decided by a right relationship to the righteous standards of the Word of God. Moses places the people in a state of having to decide between life and death by laying the word of God before them (Dt 30:15-20). Israel is called upon to choose life, "for this word is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life" (Dt 32:47). Bultmann notes that Ezekiel "frees life from all false supports and obligations and relates it wholly and utterly to the Word of God (Ez 3:18ff.; 14:13ff.; 18:1ff.; 20:1ff.; 33:1ff.)" (TDNT, II, p. 845). In Proverbs, man is again called upon to make a decision for life, by embracing Wisdom (Prv 2:19; 5:6; 6:23; 10:17; 15:24). By cleaving to God, the righteous have life (Hab 2:4; cf. Amos 5:4, 14; Jer 38:20).
But there is also the somewhat less concrete meaning where one "lives" by the words of God, "not by bread alone" (Dt 8:3; Ps 119:50, 93). Some would insist that this refers to prosperity as the gift of obedience rather than to the spiritual quality of life, as Jesus seems to have interpreted Dt 8:3. But considering again the biblical unity of man's nature, it obviously refers to both. (R. Laird Harris, Theological Wordbook of the OT Vol. 1, 280)
Eugene Peterson writes, "The Bible is not a script for a funeral service, but it is the record of God always bringing life where we expected to find death. Everywhere it is the story of resurrection." (Rebecca Manley Pippert, Hope Has Its Reasons, 122)
Moses never taught Israel that they were justified by obeying the law. In his first book he stated that Abraham was justified by faith in the Lord (Gn 15:6). Here Moses is speaking to a believing people about fellowship, not justification. His point is simply that Israel's full enjoyment of life is based on their obedience to God's word. Although the people could not be justified by the law, they could be blessed because of their obedience to it. (John C. Maxwell, The Preacher's Commentary, Dt, 301)
The Bible teaches that the Word of God can keep a person from sinning. Ps 119:11 says "I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you." The Word stored up in the heart can also help a person who has sinned to repent! The biographies of some famous Christians who came to Christ only after a time of sinful rebellion against God show that the truths that they had been taught, often in their childhood, had a part to play in their return to God. Today some Christians say that people are not interested in Bible exposition and that the push for relevance would dictate that preachers look for other ways of preaching. Indeed, we have to adapt to our audience, and our styles may change. But our content must always come from the Bible. (Ajith Fernando, Preaching the Word: Dt, 616)
The Israelite does not build his view of life on a developed mythology. He does not seek to link himself with creative life by magical rites or mysteries. The Word of God sets him in the decision between life and death. And this belief is so strongly developed that the primitive story and its statements regarding the impartation of life are almost emptied of significance. For the implanting of life at creation is far less important for those who know that its actual attainment or loss depends solely on the Word of God, so that there is constant need of the blessing of life. In the promulgation of Deuteronomy Moses lays before Israel life and death (Dt 30:15-20), and Israel is to choose life, "for this word is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life" (Dt 32:47). Thus Dt with its variations on this theme reaches the paradoxical conclusion that man's life does not depend on bread alone but on the Word of God (Dt 8:3). Nor is this view peculiar to Dt. Amos considers the possibility that hunger for the Word of God will bring disruption and overthrow (Am 8:11ff.). The sharpest development of this line of thought, however, is to be found in Ezekiel. In broad doctrinaire discussions he freed life from all false supports and obligations and relates it wholly and utterly to the Word of God. The obedient chooses life, the disobedient death, and the expositions all lead to the somber reflection that the just does not receive any special blessings but does remain alive, whereas the disobedient must die. Ezra seems to expect the speedy death of the sinner. This is the culmination of the relationship between the natural process of life and the Word of God. The theological deduction from this belief is obviously that Israel is to understand elemental life quite radically in terms of grace. This life is not merely an aspect but the very foundation of the state of salvation. Only by faith, i.e., by cleaving to the God of salvation, will the righteous have life. It is obvious that life is here understood as a gift. Indeed, in a new development of the ancient oriental estimation, it is understood as enjoyment both of real goods regarded as the blessing of Yahweh on the one hand and of living fellowship with God, whose unshakable certainty gives joy to the righteous, on the other. (Gerhard Kittel, Theological Dictionary of the NT, Vol. II; 845)
II- Choosing to disobey the Word of God brings death. (Dt 30:17-18, see also: Dt 4:26-31; 8:19; 28:15-45; Prov 8:35-36; 10:16-17; 11:19; 14:12; 16:25; Mt 7:21-27; Gal 6:7-8)
The man who believes he was created to enjoy fleshly pleasures will devote himself to pleasure seeking; and if by a combination of favorable circumstances he manages to get a lot of fun out of life, his pleasures will all turn to ashes in his mouth at the last. He will find out too late that God made him too noble to be satisfied with those tawdry pleasures he had devoted his life to here under the sun. (A.W. Tozer, Man: The Dwelling Place of God, 94)
Moses tells the people at the close of this covenant renewal ceremony that they have two ways to walk. Joshua will repeat the same before he dies (Josh 24). One way leads to life and good fortune, the other to death and misfortune. The road to life consists in loving Yahweh, walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments. Not only will Israel live by walking in this way, it will multiply and enjoy Yahweh's blessing in the land it is about to enter. The other way consists of turning away from Yahweh and going after other gods, worshiping them and serving them, and if the people choose to walk in this way, they will perish. (Jack R. Lundbom, Deuteronomy, A Commentary, 826)
III- Every one of us is accountable for what we choose to do with the Word of God. (Dt 30:19-20 see also: Dt 4:7; Josh 24:14-24; Prv 30:4, 18; Jer 21:8; Mt chps 5-7 {7:13-14}; Mk 4:3-20; Rom 10:3-10)
God in the covenant has made his offer. The decision is one for the free choice of the people. But, the passage affirms, let it be clearly and soberly understood that the alternatives are definite and clear-cut. They are nothing less than good over against evil, life against death, for these are the blessing and the curse respectively. Note here the typically biblical conjunction of evil, sin, and death, as against the good which is life and which involves loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice, and cleaving to him (cf. 10:12-22). Precisely because of the covenant aspect of Israel's faith it is impossible actually to enter it and remain partially neutral, or to be sentimentally tolerant of all things good and bad which may be lumped together. Instead the God of the covenant demands a definite, concrete decision. Issues are sharply defined. Their edges are not smoothed so as not to scratch the comfortable. One is required to make a decision and a commitment, for it is realized that without such decision belief without faith and without life will result. Instead one will be tolerant of idolatry, and that is the one tolerance which the God of biblical faith will not abide (cf. vss. 17-18). The choice is either for God or for idols; the Bible understands this as the real
My friend, you don't have to go to heaven to get salvation. You don't need to cross the ocean to get it. May I say to you, it's right near you. It is as near as your radio; it is as near to you as a preacher or another Christian who will give you the Word of God. And you are responsible to act upon what you have heard. That is where your free will comes in. It is my business to get out the Word of God-I try to get it right up to your eardrums by radio, and right before your eyes by the printed page. That is as far as I can go. From then on, it is up to you. (J. Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible Commentary: Dt, 184)
While Israel failed collectively, God's response to individuals who choose life offers inspiration to all. Although we must caution against an unhealthy individualism, the facts remain that God takes no pleasure in the death of anyone (Ezek 18:32), and that the course of life is open to all. Ezek 18 emphasizes that there are no victims; people's standing before God and their ultimate destiny-life or death-is in their own hands. Such is the gospel according to Moses, and such is the gospel according to Jesus, who invites us to "enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it" (Mt 7:13). This is not only a warning against choosing the wrong path that leads to death and destruction, but also an invitation to choose the path of life. (Daniel I. Block, The NIV Application Commentary: Dt, 717)
The law is intelligible to all and accessible to all. Thus, to say that the law is not too difficult does not mean that obedience is easy but rather that it is simple. It is not complicated and distracted by obscure philosophies, complex rules, or esoteric religious rituals, accessible only to the privileged few. All those who are included in the covenant relationship (cf. 29:10-15; 31:12-13) are deemed capable of understanding and obeying the covenant law. (Christopher J. H. Wright, Understanding the Bible Commentary Series: Dt, 291)
Paul was heartbroken at the sight of his own countrymen rejecting the good news the Lord commissioned him to preach. Why did they refuse their Savior? "Since they did not know the righteousness for everyone who believes" (Rom 10:3, 4). Then, paraphrasing Moses' words, Paul said we don't need to try to climb up to heaven or descend to the deep to find Christ and his gospel: "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming" (Rom 10:6-8). The good news that we are declared right with God by grace through faith in Jesus wasn't a distant, secret message. The Savior makes his forgiveness available wherever people hear, read, study, and learn the Word of God.
Luther remarked that Paul hadn't meant to quote Moses word for word, but "with overflowing spirit" he used Moses' words "for composing a new and fitting text against the work-righteous." Moses and Paul weren't trying to make the same point, but their words agree on this: God hasn't kept his word a secret; its' all around us. (Mark E. Braun, The People's Bible: Dt, 287-8)
The two spatial metaphors (up in heaven. . . beyond the sea), significantly rule out the idea that the law is somehow only for those capable of rising to the heights of understanding it or that it is attainable only after great struggles and journeys. (C. J. H. Wright, Understanding the Bible Commentary Series: Dt, 290-1)
Paul's use of this verse in Rom 10:5-13 is entirely Christocentric. His argument should not be seen as a mutually exclusive contrast between the law and faith, since he quotes from Leviticus and Deuteronomy (both part of the law) on both sides of his argument. Rather, his point is that in Christ the true response to the law (i.e., faith and obedience), expressed in the law itself, is possible. (Christopher J. H. Wright, Understanding the Bible Commentary Series: Dt, 291)
It is important to recognize that Paul's use of these verses in Rom 10 is intended not to negate the law as such, but to affirm that the law, as something good, was always intended to be lived out by faith in the God who gave it. (Christopher J. H. Wright, Understanding the Bible Commentary Series: Dt, 293)
The Lord's commands that will bring prosperity and a restored condition are not beyond Israel's reach. God's truth is not up in heaven where it cannot be known; it is revealed. Neither is his word beyond the sea, where it is impossible to see or hear. Because Moses had expounded the law, God's truth is fully accessible to all who desire to meditate upon it and obey it. (Doug McIntosh, Holman OT Commentary: Dt, 341)
God's commandment is not too difficult, nor is it beyond your reach. The law is not among those things that the humble person does not bother with (Ps 131:1) or that even the wise find beyond their understanding (Prv 30:18). It is not, therefore, impossibly idealistic, impracticable, unachievable. We have noticed earlier the balance achieved between ideal standards and earthly realities. The idea that God deliberately made the law so exacting that nobody would ever be able to live by it belongs to a distorted theology that tries unnecessarily to gild the gospel by denigrating the law. The frequent claims by various psalmists to have lived according to God's law are neither exaggerated nor exceptional. They arise from the natural assumption that ordinary people can indeed live in a way that is broadly pleasing to God and faithful to God's law, and that they can do so as a matter of joy and delight. This is neither self-righteousness nor a claim to sinless perfection, for the same psalmists are equally quick to confess their sin and failings, fully realizing that only the grace that could forgive and cleanse them would likewise enable them to live again in covenant obedience. (Christopher J. H. Wright, Understanding the Bible Commentary Series: Dt, 290)
IV- It is never too late to choose life. (Dt 30:3-6, 15, 19-20 see also: Dt 4:29-30; Neh 1:9; Ps 106:45; 147:2; Jer 29:11-14; 30:16-20; 32:37-39; Ezek 34:13; 37:1-14; Lam 3:22; Heb 9:27)
The terrifying picture of the curses which accrue to apostasy is followed by the affirmation that the door is always open for the return of the prodigal. Wherever the sinful people may be scattered, let them turn again with a mind to love God and keep his commandments, and he by his mighty power will bring them home again. (George Arthur Buttrick, The Interpreter's Bible Vol 2, 507-8)
More than almost any other passage in the Bible, this one has kept alive the Jewish hope for an ultimate return to their land. Under the impetus of Zionism, hope for the re-establishment of Israel's home has been realized. Certainly this nationalistic movement involves many who no longer claim the ancient faith. Yet it is the spiritual flame of the faithful that has kept the scattered people intact and brought so many back again. The way back to God is forever open. The faithless one can never really burn his bridges behind him. God himself is the Good Shepherd seeking his sheep, or the Hound of Heaven breathing upon the necks even of those who flee him. Therefore the prophet of God must woo the sin-sick and despairing. (George Arthur Buttrick, The Interpreter's Bible Vol 2, 508-9)
Moran says: "Curse can never be the final word on God's people; exile can only be a means God uses to effect a conversion of the heart." (Jack R. Lundbom, Deuteronomy, A Commentary, 817)
Among all the nations where Yahweh their God has banished them, they will come to their senses. (Daniel I. Block, The NIV Application Commentary: Dt, 696)
The promise that the Jews would return to their land was fulfilled in part when exiles returned to Judah in several waves, beginning in 538 B.C., but it finds a larger and more complete fulfillment in the Lord's gathering of his "new Israel"-both Jews and Gentiles in the NT church. Paul told the church at Rome: "Not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children. . . It is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring" (Rom 9:6-8). "If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise" (Gal 3:29). This new Israel-Abraham's spiritual descendants-can claim the promises made to Israel in a new and fuller way, including a better Promised Land at the Savior's side in heaven. (Mark E. Braun, The People's Bible: Dt, 286-7)
Where the call to repent and the assertion of Yahweh's grace are polarized, it is unhelpful. The rhetorical structure of 30:1-10 is often neglected in these debates. As we saw, it effects a balance between Israel's repentance and Yahweh's grace that cannot be reduced. The need for repentance is absolute; so is the decision of Yahweh to act in grace and compassion. The reconciliation of these two imperatives in the Bible always requires travel through a certain moral terrain, from apostasy through reprobation to restoration. This typical journey asserts God's ultimate intention to do good to people in a way that respects and preserves the need for righteous behavior. The same point emerges from the structure of the flood narrative (cf. Gn 6:5-7 with 8:20-21) and the apostasy at Sinai (Ex 32-34; note 34:9). (J. G. McConville, Apollos OT Commentary: Dt, 432)
No matter how severe the judgment or how distant the exile, God will restore the people. All hope is placed in God, who is the subject of most of the verbs in these verses. (Christopher J. H. Wright, Understanding the Bible Commentary Series: Dt, 289)
The repentance that God expects of Israel is more than merely turning away from an evil past. It involves a wholehearted commitment to obeying God's voice. Present forgiveness and future blessing is contingent upon Israel's obedience to God. (John C. Maxwell, The Preacher's Commentary, Dt, 298)
The condition that frames the promise of restoration is Israel's wholehearted turning back to God in obedience (vv. 2 and 10). But the central verse (v. 6), by its repetition of the key phrase with all your heart and with all your soul, makes it clear that even such turning cannot happen apart form the gracious decision of God to circumcise the Israelites' hearts so that they could love him in that way. Thus the fundamental demand of the law (to love God with all one's heart and soul) is presented as the ultimate fruit of God's grace in the human heart. (Christopher J. H. Wright, Understanding the Bible Commentary Series: Dt, 289-90)
Since their dispersion into unknown countries might have altogether annihilated their hope of restoration, Moses anticipates this doubt, and teaches them that, although they might be driven out into the utmost regions of the earth, the infinite power of God sufficed to gather them from thence; as also it is said in Ps 147:2, "The Lord doth build up Jerusalem; he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel." (John Calvin, Commentaries, vol. III, 284)
Exile will not be the end. God's people will have a future. In the distant places to where they have been dispersed, they-and their children-will take the blessings and curses to heart, return to Yahweh their God, and commit themselves to obeying Yahweh's commands. Their return will be heart and soul. Then Yahweh will restore their fortunes and, more important, will have compassion on them, gathering them from all the places to where they have been dispersed. No matter where they have gone, Yahweh will fetch them and return them to the land promised to the fathers, the land of Israel. There they will possess it as before, and there Yahweh will actively bring about this new day, circumcising the hearts of people and their children so they will love him and in so doing find life. (Jack R. Lundbom, Deuteronomy, A Commentary, 820)
The God who scatters is the God who gathers (Jer 23:3; 29:14; 31:8; Ezek 11:17-18). (Jack R. Lundbom, Deuteronomy, A Commentary, 818)
No matter how far distant the dispersed one is, Yahweh will fetch that person and bring him/her back to the land of Israel. (Jack R. Lundbom, Deuteronomy, A Commentary, 818)
After two thousand years in the diaspora, the descendants of Abraham from all over the world have recreated a state in the land promised to his descendants. This is evidence of a most remarkable providence.
Even so, we recognize that the present state of Israel is not the fulfillment of Moses' vision or of the vision of the prophets who succeeded him. The preconditions established for the renewal of the covenantal triangle have not been fulfilled. While some Jews scrupulously follow ritual and kosher laws of Judaism, Israel today is essentially a secular state; furthermore, their treatment of Palestinians and other aliens in their midst exhibits little evidence of a national movement characterized by a circumcised heart and the moral vision summarized in Dt 10:12-22. Apart from the faith and the fear of God demonstrated in actions that seek the well-being of the next person ahead of one's own, there is no divine right to the land. (Daniel I. Block, The NIV Application Commentary: Dt, 704)
It is never too late to live happily ever after (sign at HCMCF 11-19-15)
CONCLUSION/APPLICATION: What does this text have to do with being a Christian?:
A- God revealed Jesus as the Word of God incarnate. Therefore review points 1-4 substituting Jesus for the Word of God. (Jn 1:1-14; 1 Jn 1:1-3)
