Deuteronomy 30

1 And it shall come to pass when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse which I have set before thee, and thou shalt return unto thy heart among all the Gentiles, where the LORD thy God shall have driven thee,

2 and shalt convert unto the LORD thy God and shalt hear his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart and with all thy soul,

3 then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity and have mercy upon thee and will return and gather thee from all the peoples where the LORD thy God has scattered thee.

4 If thou hast been driven out unto the outmost parts of the heavens, from there will the LORD thy God gather thee and from there will he take thee;

5 and the LORD thy God will return thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt inherit it; and he will do thee good and multiply thee more than thy fathers.

6 And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul, that thou may live.

7 And the LORD thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies and on those that hate thee, who persecuted thee.

8 And thou shalt return and thou shalt hear the voice of the LORD and do all his commandments which I command thee this day.

9 And the LORD thy God will make thee abound in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body and in the fruit of thy beasts and in the fruit of thy land, for good; for the LORD will turn to rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers,

10 when thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, when thou shalt turn unto the LORD thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul.

11 For this commandment which I command thee today is not hidden unto thee, neither is it far off.

12 It is not in heaven, that thou should say, Who shall go up for us to heaven and take it for us and recite it unto us, that we may fulfil it?

13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou should say, Who shall go over the sea for us and take it for us and recite it unto us, that we may fulfil it?

14 But the word is very near unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart that thou may fulfil it.

15 See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;

16 for I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his rights, that thou may live and be multiplied; and may the LORD thy God bless thee in the land into which thou dost enter to inherit it.

17 But if thine heart turns away so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away and worship other gods and serve them,

18 I declare unto you this day that ye shall surely perish and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, to go unto which thou passest the Jordan to inherit it.

19 I call the heavens and the earth to witness today against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore, choose life that both thou and thy seed may live,

20 that thou may love the LORD thy God and that thou may hear his voice and that thou may cleave unto him; for he is thy life and the length of thy days that thou may dwell in the land which the LORD swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob, to give them.

Deuteronomy 30 Commentary

Chapter 30

Mercies promised to the repentant. (1-10) The commandment manifest. (11-14) Death and life set before them. (15-20)

Verses 1-10 In this chapter is a plain intimation of the mercy God has in store for Israel in the latter days. This passage refers to the prophetic warnings of the last two chapters, which have been mainly fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and in their dispersion to the present day; and there can be no doubt that the prophetic promise contained in these verses yet remain to come to pass. The Jewish nation shall in some future period, perhaps not very distant, be converted to the faith of Christ; and, many think, again settled in the land of Canaan. The language here used is in a great measure absolute promises; not merely a conditional engagement, but declaring an event assuredly to take place. For the Lord himself here engages to "circumcise their hearts;" and when regenerating grace has removed corrupt nature, and Divine love has supplanted the love of sin, they certainly will reflect, repent, return to God, and obey him; and he will rejoice in doing them good. The change that will be wrought upon them will not be only outward, or consisting in mere opinions; it will reach to their souls. It will produce in them an utter hatred of all sin, and a fervent love to God, as their reconciled God in Christ Jesus; they will love him with all their hearts, and with all their soul. They are very far from this state of mind at present, but so were the murderers of the Lord Jesus, on the day of Pentecost; who yet in one hour were converted unto God. So shall it be in the day of God's power; a nation shall be born in a day; the Lord will hasten it in his time. As a conditional promise this passage belongs to all persons and all people, not to Israel only; it assures us that the greatest sinners, if they repent and are converted, shall have their sins pardoned, and be restored to God's favour.

Verses 11-14 The law is not too high for thee. It is not only known afar off; it is not confined to men of learning. It is written in thy books, made plain, so that he who runs may read it. It is in thy mouth, in the tongue commonly used by thee, in which thou mayest hear it read, and talk of it among thy children. It is delivered so that it is level to the understanding of the meanest. This is especially true of the gospel of Christ, to which the apostle applies it. But the word is nigh us, and Christ in that word; so that if we believe with the heart, that the promises of the Messiah are fulfilled in our Lord Jesus, and confess them with our mouth, we then have Christ with us.

Verses 15-20 What could be said more moving, and more likely to make deep and lasting impressions? Every man wishes to obtain life and good, and to escape death and evil; he desires happiness, and dreads misery. So great is the compassion of the Lord, that he has favoured men, by his word, with such a knowledge of good and evil as will make them for ever happy, if it be not their own fault. Let us hear the sum of the whole matter. If they and theirs would love God, and serve him, they should live and be happy. If they or theirs should turn from God, desert his service, and worship other gods, that would certainly be their ruin. There never was, since the fall of man, more than one way to heaven; which is marked out in both Testaments, though not with equal clearness. Moses meant that same way of acceptance, which Paul more plainly described; and Paul's words mean the same obedience, on which Moses more fully treated. In both Testaments the good and right way is brought near, and plainly revealed to us.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 30

This chapter contains some gracious promises of the conversion of the Jews in the latter day, of their calling things to mind that have befallen them, of their repentance, and the circumcision of their hearts to love the Lord, of the return of them to their own land, and of the great increase of them, and of their enjoyment of plenty of good things, De 30:1-10; in it is an account of the Gospel, or word of faith, which at this time should be brought near to the Jews, and be received by them, De 30:11-14; and for the present Moses desires them to consider what he now set before them, and what would be the consequences of receiving or rejecting it, and so what it would be most proper for them to make choice of, De 30:15-20.