The Fifth Book of Moses, called Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy 30
Chapter XXX · Vol. I, p. 531
1 Great mercies promised unto the penitent. 11 The commandment is of obvious interpretation. 15 Death and life are set before the people.
1 AND it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the ablessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, andb thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee,
A.M. 2553. B.C. 1451.
a ch. xxviii.; 27.15-26; 29.18-28; 11.26; ver. 15,19.
b 1 Ki. 8.47. Lu. 15.17. Is. 46.8. Le. 26.40.
2 Andc shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice, according to all that I command thee this day, thou, and thy children, dwith all thine heart, and with all thy soul;
c ch. 4.29,30. La. 3.40. Ho. 3.5; 6.1,2.
d ch. 11.13; 10.12; 13.3; 26.16. Ps. 119.34,69. ver. 6,10.
3 That ethen the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return, and gather thee from all the nations whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.
4 If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee.
5 And the LORD thy God fwill bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it;1 and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers.2
f Ps. 69.35,36. Je. xxxi.-xxxiii. Eze. xxxiv. xxxvi. xxxvii.
1 The curses of exile and distress have been inflicted literally and fully; the promises of restoration and prosperity must therefore be as literal and complete.—C.
2 If the blessings and the curses of the preceding chapters be interpreted literally, so must the remarkable promise contained in this chapter. The time referred to is yet to come. The curses are not yet exhausted. Palestine is still desolate; the Jews are still scattered among the nations; they are still a by-word in the earth. Just as surely as the curse was fulfilled which pronounced their dispersion, so surely will the promise be fulfilled which predicts their ingathering. A spiritual ingathering to the kingdom of Christ would not be such a fulfilment as the sound laws of exegesis demand; it must be a literal and national return to the country of their fathers.—P.
6 And the LORD thy God gwill 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 mayest live.
g ch. 10.16; 6.5. Je. 32.39. Eze. 11.19,20; 36.26,27. Ro. 11.26. Col. 2.11,12. Mat. 22.37.
7 And the LORD thy God will put all these curses hupon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee.
8 And thou shalt ireturn, and obey the voice of the LORD, and do all his commandments, which I command thee this day.
i Eze. xxxiv.-xxxvii. Is. xlviii. xlix. lx. lxv. Hos. 3.5; xiv. Mi. 4.5.
9 And the LORD thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the LORD will again krejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers;
10 Ifl 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, and if thou turn unto the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.3
l ch. 28.1,2,13,14; 5.29; 6.3,5; 10.12; 13.3; 26.16. Ps. 119.34,69. ver. 6,10.
3 We must return to our allegiance to God as our Lord and Ruler, our dependence upon him as our Father and Benefactor, our devotedness to him as our highest end, and our communion with him as our God in covenant. We must return to God from all that which stands in opposition to him, or competition with him. In this return to God, we must be upright—with the heart and soul, and universal—with all the heart and all the soul. It is evidenced by a constant obedience to the holy will of God. If thou shalt 'obey his voice,' ver. 2, 'thou and thy children;' for it is not enough that we do our duty ourselves, but we must train up and engage our children to do it.—Henry.
11 For this commandment, which I command thee this day, mit is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off:
12 It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
14 But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart,4 that thou mayest do it.
4 In thy mouth, as a subject of conversation; in thy heart, of love and confidence.—Note, As 'out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh,' professing Christians have here a sure and simple test of character, where self-examination lies upon the surface, and where self-deception is scarcely possible.—C.
15 See, nI have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;
n ch. 11.26; 28.1-68. Le. 26.1-46. ver. 1,19.
16 In that I ocommand thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
o ch. iv.-xxvi.; 4.1,2; 6.1-3,17,18; 8.1; 11.8,9,13,14,22,23; 26.19,20; 28.1-14.
17 But pif thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;
p ch. 29.18-28; 4.20; 11.16; 8.19,20; 31.16-18; 28.15-68. Lu. 21.22-26; 19.43,44. 1 Th. 2.16. Ro. 2.8,9. 1 Sa. 12.25. Le. 26.14-39.
18 I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.
19 Iq call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore rchoose life, that both thou and thy seed may live;
q ch. 4.26; 32.1. Is. 1.2. Je. 22.29,30. 1 Ti. 5.21; 6.13. Mi. 6.1,2. 2 Ti. 4.1.
20 That thou mayest slove the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him; (for he is thy tlife, and the length of thy days;) that thou mayest udwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.5
s ch. 6.5; 11.1; 10.12. Mat. 22.37. Ac. 11.23.
t Ac. 17.25. Jn. 11.25; 17.3. Ga. 2.20. Col. 3.3,4.
u ch. 12.10; 4.40; 5.16,33; 6.2; 11.9; 17.20; 26.8,9,15.
5 The allegation so often made by infidels—that Moses in the law did not draw his arguments from immortality, but solely from temporal good and evil—an allegation sometimes so thoughtlessly admitted and so feebly palliated by Christians, receives here a total overthrow; for, if 'the Lord God' was his people's 'life and the length of their days,' then, either God is mortal—which it were blasphemy and absurdity to suppose or assert—or his people are immortal, since he himself is their life. Jn. 1. 4; 10. 28. Col. 3. 4.—C.
Notes
Reflections.—In returning to the Lord, and resting in him, men must be saved. Our gracious God is always ready, not only to receive repenting prodigals, but to graciously forgive their sins. And great is the happiness and honour that is to be found in fellowship with a reconciled God. The future return of the Jewish nation to the Lord shall be a delightful and glorious season to them; and even to us Gentiles it will be as life from the dead; we shall share and rejoice in their mercies. God's manifestation of his special love, and his renovation of our heart, shall qualify and induce us to all holy obedience. We shall run in the way of his commandments when he shall enlarge our heart. But now let us consider how great a mercy it is that the laws and the gospel of Christ are set before us in so plain, affecting, and applicable a manner. And since eternal life is so exhibited, so offered to, so urged upon us, God forbid that we should entail redoubled loss on ourselves by a contemptuous rejection of it. Not Moses, but Jesus, sets before us life and good.—Let us see that we refuse not him that speaketh from heaven.