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Deuteronomy 30

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The Promise of Restoration and Return 1–10

1
And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither Jehovah thy God hath driven thee, ​
2
and shalt return unto Jehovah thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul; ​
3
that then Jehovah thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the peoples, whither Jehovah thy God hath scattered thee. ​
4
If any of thine outcasts be in the uttermost parts of heaven, from thence will Jehovah thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee: ​
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and Jehovah thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers.
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And Jehovah thy God will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live. ​
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And Jehovah thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, that persecuted thee.
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And thou shalt return and obey the voice of Jehovah, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day.
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And Jehovah thy God will make thee plenteous in all the work of thy hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, for good: for Jehovah will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers; ​
10
if thou shalt obey the voice of Jehovah thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law; if thou turn unto Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul. ​

The Accessibility of God's Commandment 11–14

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For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not too hard for 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, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?
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Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?
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But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. ​

Choose Life 15–20

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See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; ​
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in that I command thee this day to love Jehovah thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his ordinances, that thou mayest live and multiply, and that Jehovah thy God may bless thee in the land whither thou goest in to possess it.
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But if thy heart turn away, and thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;
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I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish; ye shall not prolong your days in the land, whither thou passest over the Jordan to go in to possess it.
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I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before thee life and death, the blessing and the curse: therefore choose life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy seed; ​
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to love Jehovah thy God, to obey his voice, and to cleave unto him; for he is thy life, and the length of thy days; that thou mayest dwell in the land which Jehovah sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Deuteronomy 30

Verse 1

call them to mind among all the nations — The Hebrew is literally 'bring back to thy heart', from shuv, to turn, the verb that governs the chapter (vv.1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10). 'Driven' is nadach, thrust out. Solomon asked for this very outcome, that those carried captive 'bethink themselves… and repent' (1 Kgs 8:47). The 'blessing and the curse' are those of Deut 11:26.

Verse 2

shalt return unto the LORD thy God — Shuv, to turn back, is the pivot of the whole chapter. It is joined to obedience 'with all thine heart, and with all thy soul', the measure of the command to love (Deut 6:5). The LORD makes the same appeal through Joel: 'turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning' (Joel 2:12).

Verse 3

will turn thy captivity — Shebuth is captivity, and the LORD is the one who turns it, as in Jer 29:14: 'I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations'. 'Have compassion' is racham, deep pity, as in Lam 3:32, 'yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies'.

Verse 4

the outmost parts of heaven — Qatsah is an end or edge, here the far edge of the sky. The promise answers the scattering of Deut 28:64, 'from the one end of the earth even unto the other'. Nehemiah's prayer recalls it: 'though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence' (Neh 1:9).

Verse 6

circumcise thine heart — Mul, to circumcise. Israel is commanded to do this in Deut 10:16, 'Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart', but here the LORD promises to do it himself, 'to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart'. Paul takes it up: 'circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter' (Rom 2:29). Compare Ezek 36:26.

Verse 9

the LORD will again rejoice over thee for good — Sus, to rejoice, is the verb of the warning in Deut 28:63, 'as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good… so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you'. The blessings return as in Deut 28:4, and Jeremiah has the same words: 'I will rejoice over them to do them good' (Jer 32:41).

Verse 10

written in this book of the law — The same book holds the curses (Deut 29:20) and the commandments. Moses 'wrote this law' (Deut 31:9) and finished 'writing the words of this law in a book' (Deut 31:24). The condition is repeated from v.2, 'with all thine heart, and with all thy soul', and a later prayer takes it up: 'turn again to the LORD' (Lam 3:40).

Verse 11

not hidden from thee, neither is it far off — 'Hidden' is pala, which usually means a thing too wonderful or too hard, as in 'Is any thing too hard for the LORD?' (Gen 18:14). The commandment is not among 'the secret things' that belong to the LORD but among 'those things which are revealed' (Deut 29:29). The next verses say where it is.

Verse 14

very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart — Vv.12–13 say the word is not 'in heaven' nor 'beyond the sea'. Paul sets the verse against the gospel: 'The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach' (Rom 10:8), and reads heaven and the deep as bringing 'Christ down from above' or bringing him 'up… from the dead'.

Verse 15

life and good, and death and evil — The verb 'set before' (nathan, to give) occurs again in v.19, and the pairs are chayyim and tov, mavet and ra. Moses had put it as 'a blessing and a curse' (Deut 11:26), and Jeremiah restates it to Judah: 'Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death' (Jer 21:8).

Verse 19

I call heaven and earth to record — Ud, to bear witness. Moses has called the same witnesses before, 'I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day' (Deut 4:26), and does again in Deut 31:28. 'Choose' (bachar) is the choice Joshua puts to the people, 'choose you this day whom ye will serve' (Josh 24:15), and they answer, 'We are witnesses' (Josh 24:22).

Verse 20

cleave unto him — Dabaq, to cleave, is the verb of marriage, 'shall cleave unto his wife' (Gen 2:24), and of Deut 10:20, 'to him shalt thou cleave'. The reason given is 'he is thy life, and the length of thy days'. Christ says, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life' (John 14:6). The land is the one sworn to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.