1 Great mercies promised unto the repentant. 11 The commandment is manifest. 15 Death and life are set before them.
Deu 30:1 When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come on you and you take them to heart wherever the LORD your God disperses you among the nations,
Take them to heart. Call them to mind. Literally, “bring them back to thy heart.” Note the same expression in 1 Kings 8:47. It would be necessary for them to meditate upon the causes of their exile and their relation to
God as a preliminary to their restoration to God’s favor (see Lev. 26:40; Deut. 4:29, 30).
Deu 30:2 and when you and your children return to the LORD your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today,
Return. There must also be a turning away from sin and a return to the worship of God (see Neh. 1:8, 9). Sincerity would be reflected in obedience.
Deu 30:3 then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you.
Gather you again. Compare Ps. 14:7; 85:1–3; 126:1, 4; Eze. 16:53. It is not a deliverance from physical captivity that is most important, but rather deliverance from captivity to sin (see Ps. 41:4; Jer. 3:22; 17:14; Hosea 14:4; Matt. 13:15).
Deu 30:4 Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the LORD your God will gather you and bring you back.
Bring you back. The prophet Nehemiah refers to the promise of this verse (Neh. 1:8, 9). For a similar expression see Deut. 4:32; Ps. 19:4; Isa. 13:5.
9God would not cast off His people; as individuals He has never rejected them.
Dispersion was to be their punishment. Divine chastisement always has a particular objective. When that effect is brought about, God turns to His child with offers of, and help to accomplish, restoration (see Job 23:10; Hosea 6:1–3; Heb. 12:11).
Deu 30:5 He will bring you to the land that belonged to your ancestors, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors.
Deu 30:6 The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.
Circumcise your heart. Compare Lev. 26:41; Jer. 631:33. To circumcise the heart means to quicken one’s spiritual perception and make tender one’s conscience.
Deu 30:7 The LORD your God will put all these curses on your enemies who hate and persecute you.
Your enemies. Genuine repentance reverses the curse that follows waywardness. There is no separation between God and the sinner so wide and deep that it cannot be closed immediately, upon the sinner’s turning again to God.
The joy of God is complete when a man turns to Him, for then the blessings of heaven can be poured out. It is the persistent sinner who must suffer the full curse of sin.
Deu 30:8 You will again obey the LORD and follow all his commands I am giving you today. .
Obey. To retrace one’s steps, as from a journey. It is often used figuratively of turning to God in humble repentance (see Isa. 10:21; 19:22; Jer. 4:1; 15:19; 18:11; Eze. 18:23; etc.).
Deu 30:9 Then the LORD your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land. The LORD will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your ancestors,
Make you prosperous.
When a man loves God and obeys His will (see John 14:15), because he takes delight in God’s requirements (see 1 John 5:3), then it is that the divine principles become enshrined in his heart (see Ps. 40:8).
This allows God to invigorate the soul and life of that man and add material blessings (see Deut. 28:63; Jer. 32:41; Matt. 6:33).
Deu 30:10 if you obey the LORD your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Commandments. Refers to God’s revealed will in general. The Jews also applied it to the Pentateuch, and even to the entire OT.
Deu 30:11 Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.
Deu 30:12 It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?”
It is possible that vs. 12 and 13 quote a proverbial saying. The meaning is that one is not required to undertake some superhuman task, to make a long, laborious journey, or seek to climb up into heaven to understand God’s will for man.
God has clearly revealed His mind to Israel, through His prophet Moses. His righteous requirements have been written down; man is fully informed. Compare the argument of the apostle Paul (Rom. 10:5–13).
Deu 30:13 Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?”
Deu 30:14 No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.
Near you. Moses had not only declared God’s will by word of mouth but had also put it in writing. Compare the defence of Paul (Acts 20:26, 27; Phil. 1:8).
Deu 30:15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.
Deu 30:16 For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
Deu 30:17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them,
Deu 30:18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
Deu 30:19 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live
Deu 30:20 and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
The Lord is your life. To have one’s life inspired and directed by the love of God is to inherit eternal life. The possibilities of life for every man are ultimately reduced to two. One is to love God with all one’s powers. The result is life in all its fullness, ultimately merging into immortality.
The alternative is a disregard of God’s good pleasure; with one’s life devoted to the things of this earth. A life spent persistently in such a way leads to eternal death. These alternatives challenge every man and woman born into the world. Here ends Moses’ fourth oration.