Deuteronomy Chapter 30
1 It shall happen, when all these things have come on you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you shall call them to mind amongst all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you,
2 and return to the LORD your God and obey his voice according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul,
3 that then the LORD your God will release you from captivity, have compassion on you, and will return and gather you from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you.
4 If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of the heavens, 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 will possess it. He will do you good, and increase your numbers more than your fathers.
6 The LORD your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your offspring, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
7 The LORD your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you.
8 You shall return and obey the LORD's voice, and do all his commandments which I command you today.
9 The LORD your God will make you prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, for good; for the LORD will again rejoice over you for good, as he rejoiced over your fathers,
10 if you will obey the LORD your God's voice, 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 with all your soul.
11 For this commandment which I command you today is not too hard for you or too distant.
12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, "Who will go up for us to heaven, bring it to us, and proclaim it to us, that we may do it?"
13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, "Who will go over the sea for us, bring it to us, and proclaim it to us, that we may do it?"
14 But the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.
15 Behold, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and evil.
16 For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances, that you may live and multiply, and that the LORD your God may bless you in the land where you go in to possess it.
17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away and worship other gods, and serve them,
18 I declare to you today that you will surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you pass over the Jordan to go in to possess it.
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. Therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your descendants,
20 to love the LORD your God, to obey his voice, and to cling to him; for he is your life, and the length of your days, that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
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Deuteronomy Chapter 30 Guide
Continuing his discourse, Moses uttered words thrilling at first with tenderness and urgent appeal.
In the first ten verses of the chapter we have the long look ahead of love. He seems to have seen the people in the conditions which he had predicted must result from disobedience, scattered far off from their own land. He saw them, however, returning in spirit to God as the result of severe discipline. In view of this, he saw how ready God would ever be to receive and pardon them when they thus returned.
It was a great prophetic evangel, the message of which stands true for all time, but the value of which men have even yet hardly appreciated.
Proceeding, Moses reminded the people of the supreme glory of the nation. For them the law of God was not something to be sought out. It was near them, yea, in their hearts.
As the discourse drew to its close, Moses reminded the people of his faithfulness to them in delivering the message of God. His faithfulness he called heaven and earth to witness, and, recognizing that everything depended on their exercise of that power, urged them to choose life.
From "An Exposition of the Whole Bible" by G. Campbell Morgan.
Deuteronomy Chapter 30 Commentary
Chapter Outline
- 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.
From the "Concise Commentary on the Bible" by Matthew Henry.