Deuteronomy 30

1 "I have now given you a choice between a blessing and a curse. When all these things have happened to you, and you are living among the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you, you will remember the choice I gave you.

2 If you and your descendants will turn back to the Lord and with all your heart obey his commands that I am giving you today,

3 then the Lord your God will have mercy on you. He will bring you back from the nations where he has scattered you, and he will make you prosperous again.

4 Even if you are scattered to the farthest corners of the earth, the Lord your God will gather you together and bring you back,

5 so that you may again take possession of the land where your ancestors once lived. And he will make you more prosperous and more numerous than your ancestors ever were.

6 The Lord your God will give you and your descendants obedient hearts, so that you will love him with all your heart, and you will continue to live in that land.

7 He will turn all these curses against your enemies, who hated you and oppressed you,

8 and you will again obey him and keep all his commands that I am giving you today.

9 The Lord will make you prosperous in all that you do; you will have many children and a lot of livestock, and your fields will produce abundant crops. He will be as glad to make you prosperous as he was to make your ancestors prosperous,

10 but you will have to obey him and keep all his laws that are written in this book of his teachings. You will have to turn to him with all your heart.

11 "The command that I am giving you today is not too difficult or beyond your reach.

12 It is not up in the sky. You do not have to ask, "Who will go up and bring it down for us, so that we can hear it and obey it?' ¹

13 Nor is it on the other side of the ocean. You do not have to ask, "Who will go across the ocean and bring it to us, so that we may hear it and obey it?'

14 No, it is here with you. You know it and can quote it, so now obey it.

15 "Today I am giving you a choice between good and evil, between life and death. ²

16 If you obey the commands of the Lord your God, which I give you today, if you love him, obey him, and keep all his laws, then you will prosper and become a nation of many people. The Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are about to occupy.

17 But if you disobey and refuse to listen, and are led away to worship other gods,

18 you will be destroyed - I warn you here and now. You will not live long in that land across the Jordan that you are about to occupy.

19 I am now giving you the choice between life and death, between God's blessing and God's curse, and I call heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Choose life.

20 Love the Lord your God, obey him and be faithful to him, and then you and your descendants will live long in the land that he promised to give your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." ³

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.

Cross References

• 1. 30.12-14Romans 10.6-8.
• 2. +230.15Ben Sira 15.16, 17.
• 3. 30.20 aGenesis 12.7; bGenesis 26.3; cGenesis 28.13.

Footnotes

• [a]. [One ancient translation] If you obey the commands of the Lord your God; [Hebrew does not have these words.]

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.