Return, Heart Circumcision, and the Choice of Life

Deu 30:6 The Lord will then circumcise their heart, and the heart of their children (see Deu 10:16), so that they will love Him with all their heart. When Israel should turn with true humility to the Lord, He would be found of them, - would lead them to true repentance, and sanctify them through the power of His grace, - would take away the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, a new heart and a new spirit, - so that they should truly know Him and keep His commandments (vid.

, Eze 11:19; Eze 36:26; Jer 31:33. and Deu 32:39.) “ Because of thy life ,” i. e. , that thou mayest live, sc. , attain to true life. The fulfilment of this promise does not take place all at once. It commenced with small beginnings at the deliverance from the Babylonian exile, and in a still higher degree at the appearance of Christ in the case of all the Israelites who received Him as their Saviour.

Since then it has been carried on through all ages in the conversion of individual children of Abraham to Christ; and it will be realized in the future in a still more glorious manner in the nation at large (Rom 11:25.) The words of Moses do not relate to any particular age, but comprehend all times. For Israel has never been hardened and rejected in all its members, although the mass of the nation lives under the curse even to the present day.

Deu 30:7 But after its conversion, the curses, which had hitherto rested upon it, would fall upon its enemies and haters, according to the promise in Gen 12:3. Israel would then hearken again to the voice of the Lord and keep His commandments, and would rejoice in consequence in the richest blessing of its God. In the expression, ושׁמעתּ תשׁוּב אתּה (“ thou shalt return and hearken ”), תּשׁוּב (“ thou shalt return ”) has an adverbial signification.

This is evident from the corresponding expression in Deu 30:9, “for Jehovah will again rejoice over thee” (lit. , “will return and rejoice”), in which the adverbial signification is placed beyond all doubt. Deu 30:8-10 contain the general thought, that Israel would then come again into its normal relation to its God, would enter into true and perfect covenant fellowship with the Lord, and enjoy all the blessings of the covenant.

Deu 30:9 Deu 30:9 is a repetition of Deu 28:11. The Lord will rejoice again over Israel, to do them good (vid., Deu 28:63), as He had rejoiced over their fathers. The fathers are not the patriarchs alone, but all the pious ancestors of the people.

Deu 30:10 A renewed enforcement of the indispensable condition of salvation.

Deu 30:11-14 The fulfilment of this condition is not impossible, nor really very difficult. This natural though leads to the motive, which Moses impresses upon the hearts of the people in Deu 30:11-14, viz. , that He might turn the blessing to them. God had done everything to render the observance of His commandments possible to Israel. “ This commandment ” (used as in Deu 6:1 to denote the whole law) is “ not too wonderful for thee ,” i.

e. , is not too hard to grasp, or unintelligible (vid. , Deu 17:8), nor is it too far off: it is neither in heaven , i. e. , at an inaccessible height; nor beyond the sea , i. e. , at an unattainable distance, at the end of the world, so that any one could say, Who is able to fetch it thence? but it is very near thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart to do it .

It not only lay before the people in writing, but it was also preached to them by word of mouth, and thus brought to their knowledge, so that it had become a subject of conversation as well as of reflection and careful examination. But however near the law had thus been brought to man, sin had so estranged the human heart from the word of God, that doing and keeping the law had become invariably difficult, and in fact impossible; so that the declaration, “the word is in thy heart,” only attains its full realization through the preaching of the gospel of the grace of God, and the righteousness that is by faith; and to this the Apostle Paul applies the passage in Rom 10:8.

Deu 30:11-14 The fulfilment of this condition is not impossible, nor really very difficult. This natural though leads to the motive, which Moses impresses upon the hearts of the people in Deu 30:11-14, viz. , that He might turn the blessing to them. God had done everything to render the observance of His commandments possible to Israel. “ This commandment ” (used as in Deu 6:1 to denote the whole law) is “ not too wonderful for thee ,” i.

e. , is not too hard to grasp, or unintelligible (vid. , Deu 17:8), nor is it too far off: it is neither in heaven , i. e. , at an inaccessible height; nor beyond the sea , i. e. , at an unattainable distance, at the end of the world, so that any one could say, Who is able to fetch it thence? but it is very near thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart to do it .

It not only lay before the people in writing, but it was also preached to them by word of mouth, and thus brought to their knowledge, so that it had become a subject of conversation as well as of reflection and careful examination. But however near the law had thus been brought to man, sin had so estranged the human heart from the word of God, that doing and keeping the law had become invariably difficult, and in fact impossible; so that the declaration, “the word is in thy heart,” only attains its full realization through the preaching of the gospel of the grace of God, and the righteousness that is by faith; and to this the Apostle Paul applies the passage in Rom 10:8.

Deu 30:11-14 The fulfilment of this condition is not impossible, nor really very difficult. This natural though leads to the motive, which Moses impresses upon the hearts of the people in Deu 30:11-14, viz. , that He might turn the blessing to them. God had done everything to render the observance of His commandments possible to Israel. “ This commandment ” (used as in Deu 6:1 to denote the whole law) is “ not too wonderful for thee ,” i.

e. , is not too hard to grasp, or unintelligible (vid. , Deu 17:8), nor is it too far off: it is neither in heaven , i. e. , at an inaccessible height; nor beyond the sea , i. e. , at an unattainable distance, at the end of the world, so that any one could say, Who is able to fetch it thence? but it is very near thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart to do it .

It not only lay before the people in writing, but it was also preached to them by word of mouth, and thus brought to their knowledge, so that it had become a subject of conversation as well as of reflection and careful examination. But however near the law had thus been brought to man, sin had so estranged the human heart from the word of God, that doing and keeping the law had become invariably difficult, and in fact impossible; so that the declaration, “the word is in thy heart,” only attains its full realization through the preaching of the gospel of the grace of God, and the righteousness that is by faith; and to this the Apostle Paul applies the passage in Rom 10:8.

Deu 30:11-14 The fulfilment of this condition is not impossible, nor really very difficult. This natural though leads to the motive, which Moses impresses upon the hearts of the people in Deu 30:11-14, viz. , that He might turn the blessing to them. God had done everything to render the observance of His commandments possible to Israel. “ This commandment ” (used as in Deu 6:1 to denote the whole law) is “ not too wonderful for thee ,” i.

e. , is not too hard to grasp, or unintelligible (vid. , Deu 17:8), nor is it too far off: it is neither in heaven , i. e. , at an inaccessible height; nor beyond the sea , i. e. , at an unattainable distance, at the end of the world, so that any one could say, Who is able to fetch it thence? but it is very near thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart to do it .

It not only lay before the people in writing, but it was also preached to them by word of mouth, and thus brought to their knowledge, so that it had become a subject of conversation as well as of reflection and careful examination. But however near the law had thus been brought to man, sin had so estranged the human heart from the word of God, that doing and keeping the law had become invariably difficult, and in fact impossible; so that the declaration, “the word is in thy heart,” only attains its full realization through the preaching of the gospel of the grace of God, and the righteousness that is by faith; and to this the Apostle Paul applies the passage in Rom 10:8.

Deu 30:15-17 In conclusion, Moses sums up the contents of the whole of this preaching of the law in the words, “life and good, and death and evil,” as he had already done at Deu 11:26-27, in the first part of this address, to lay the people by a solemn adjuration under the obligation to be faithful to the Lord, and through this obligation to conclude the covenant afresh. He had set before them this day life and good (“ good ” = prosperity and salvation), as well as death and evil (רע, adversity and destruction), by commanding them to love the Lord and walk in His ways.

Love is placed first, as in Deu 6:5, as being the essential principle of the fulfilment of the commandments. Expounding the law was setting before them life and death, salvation and destruction, because the law, as the word of God, was living and powerful, and proved itself in every man a power of life or of death, according to the attitude which he assumed towards it (vid.

, Deu 32:47). נדּח, to permit oneself to be torn away to idolatry (as in Deu 4:19). As Deu 4:26; Deu 8:19. He calls upon heaven and earth as witnesses (Deu 30:19, as in Deu 4:26), namely, that he had set before them life and death. וּבחרתּ, in Deu 30:19, is the apodosis: “ therefore choose life . ”

Deu 30:15-17 In conclusion, Moses sums up the contents of the whole of this preaching of the law in the words, “life and good, and death and evil,” as he had already done at Deu 11:26-27, in the first part of this address, to lay the people by a solemn adjuration under the obligation to be faithful to the Lord, and through this obligation to conclude the covenant afresh. He had set before them this day life and good (“ good ” = prosperity and salvation), as well as death and evil (רע, adversity and destruction), by commanding them to love the Lord and walk in His ways.

Love is placed first, as in Deu 6:5, as being the essential principle of the fulfilment of the commandments. Expounding the law was setting before them life and death, salvation and destruction, because the law, as the word of God, was living and powerful, and proved itself in every man a power of life or of death, according to the attitude which he assumed towards it (vid.

, Deu 32:47). נדּח, to permit oneself to be torn away to idolatry (as in Deu 4:19). As Deu 4:26; Deu 8:19. He calls upon heaven and earth as witnesses (Deu 30:19, as in Deu 4:26), namely, that he had set before them life and death. וּבחרתּ, in Deu 30:19, is the apodosis: “ therefore choose life . ”

Deu 30:15-17 In conclusion, Moses sums up the contents of the whole of this preaching of the law in the words, “life and good, and death and evil,” as he had already done at Deu 11:26-27, in the first part of this address, to lay the people by a solemn adjuration under the obligation to be faithful to the Lord, and through this obligation to conclude the covenant afresh. He had set before them this day life and good (“ good ” = prosperity and salvation), as well as death and evil (רע, adversity and destruction), by commanding them to love the Lord and walk in His ways.

Love is placed first, as in Deu 6:5, as being the essential principle of the fulfilment of the commandments. Expounding the law was setting before them life and death, salvation and destruction, because the law, as the word of God, was living and powerful, and proved itself in every man a power of life or of death, according to the attitude which he assumed towards it (vid.

, Deu 32:47). נדּח, to permit oneself to be torn away to idolatry (as in Deu 4:19). As Deu 4:26; Deu 8:19. He calls upon heaven and earth as witnesses (Deu 30:19, as in Deu 4:26), namely, that he had set before them life and death. וּבחרתּ, in Deu 30:19, is the apodosis: “ therefore choose life . ”

Deu 30:20 חיּיך הוּא כּי, for that (namely, to love the Lord) is thy life , that is, the condition of life, and of long life, in the promised land (vid., Deu 4:40).

With the renewal of the covenant, by the choice set before the people between blessing and curse, life and death, Moses had finished the interpretation and enforcement of the law (Deu 1:5), and brought the work of legislation to a close. But in order that the work to which the Lord had called him might be thoroughly completed, it still remained for him, before his approaching death, to hand over the task of leading the people into Canaan to Joshua, who had been appointed as his successor, to finish writing out the laws, and to hand over the book of the law to the priests.

The Lord also directed him to write an ode, as a witness against the people, on account of their obstinacy, and teach it to the Israelites. To these last arrangements and acts of Moses, which are narrated in ch. 31 and 32, there are added in ch. 33 the blessing with which this man of god bade farewell to the tribes of Israel, and in ch. 34 the account of his death, with which the Pentateuch closes.

Deu 31:1-13 describe how Moses promised the help of the Lord in the conquest of the land, both to the people generally, and also to Joshua, their leader into Canaan (Deu 31:2-8), and commanded the priests to keep the book of the law, and read it publicly every seventh year (Deu 31:9-13); and Deu 31:14-23, how the Lord appeared to Moses before the tabernacle, and directed him to compose an ode as a testimony against the apostasy of the people, and promised Joshua His assistance. And lastly, Deu 31:24-27 relate how the book of the law, when brought to completion, was handed over to the Levites; and Deu 31:28-30 describe the reading of the ode to the people.

In Deu 31:1 Moses’ final arrangements are announced. ויּלך does not mean “he went away” (into his tent), which does not tally with what follows (“and spake”); nor is it merely equivalent to porro , amplius . It serves, as in Exo 2:1 and Gen 35:22, as a pictorial description of what he was about to do, in the sense of “he prepared himself,” or rose up. After closing the exposition of the law, Moses had either withdrawn, or at any rate made a pause, before he proceeded to make his final arrangements for laying down his office, and taking leave of the people.

Deu 31:2 These last arrangements he commences with the declaration, that he must now bid them farewell, as he is 120 years old (which agrees with Exo 7:7), and can no more go out and in, i. e. , no longer work in the nation and for it (see at Num 27:17); and the Lord has forbidden him to cross over the Jordan and enter Canaan (see Num 20:24). The first of these reasons is not at variance with the statement in Deu 34:7, that up to the time of his death his eyes were not dim, nor his strength abated.

For this is merely an affirmation, that he retained the ability to see and to work to the last moment of his life, which by no means precludes his noticing the decline of his strength, and feeling the approach of his death.

Deu 31:3-5 But although Moses could not, and was not to lead his people into Canaan, the Lord would fulfil His promise, to go before Israel and destroy the Canaanites, like the two kings of the Amorites; only they (the Israelites) were to do to them as the Lord had commanded them, i.e., to root out the Canaanites (vid., Deu 7:2.; Num 33:51.; Exo 34:11.).

Deu 31:3-5 But although Moses could not, and was not to lead his people into Canaan, the Lord would fulfil His promise, to go before Israel and destroy the Canaanites, like the two kings of the Amorites; only they (the Israelites) were to do to them as the Lord had commanded them, i.e., to root out the Canaanites (vid., Deu 7:2.; Num 33:51.; Exo 34:11.).