Chapter 30 God's Continuing Mercy.
This chapter begins by recognising that both the blessings and the cursings described in Deuteronomy 28 will finally have their effects. Moses was fully aware that God had not at this stage permanently given to His earthly people a heart to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear as he had said (Deuteronomy 29:4). It was he himself who had declared that they were a stiffnecked people (Deuteronomy 9:6) and needed to be circumcised in heart (Deuteronomy 10:16). He had certainly experienced enough in the wilderness to know how unreliable they were. He thus reluctantly had to recognise that Yahweh had given these warnings because He knew that they would necessarily be fulfilled. Man's sinfulness made it finally inevitable. Through these things Israel would have to learn their lessons.
But his confidence was also in the fact that God would fulfil His promises to the patriarchs. He knew that God would not fail in that. Thus he recognised that just as God had shown mercy when the people had been driven from the land in Deuteronomy 1:44, so would He do so again when the people were driven from the land in the future. He had already made that clear in Deuteronomy 4:27-30, and he repeats the same idea now.
The covenant relationship very much underlies this whole section. They would be removed because they broke the covenant. But Yahweh would again turn to them. They were therefore then to turn to Him. Then would they be restored when they submitted to His covenant again. Compare Hosea 14:4, ‘I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for my anger is turned away from him.'
The Promise That When They Return to God, He Will Turn to Them (Deuteronomy 30:1-10).
(Pronouns are all ‘thou, thee' until Deuteronomy 30:18).
Moses had already made known that he knew that they were a stiffnecked people, and thus he knew that the possibility of them being ejected from the land was not a question of ‘if', but of when. But then, they were assured, if they turned to Him, He would turn to them.
Analysis using the words of Moses:
a And it shall come about, when all these things are come on you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you will call them to mind among all the nations, to which Yahweh your God has driven you (Deuteronomy 30:1).
b And will return to Yahweh your God, and will obey His voice according to all that I command you this day, you and your children, with all your heart, and with all your soul (Deuteronomy 30:2).
c That then Yahweh your God will turn your captivity (or ‘your fortunes', literally ‘turn your turning'), and have compassion on you, and will return and gather you from all the peoples, to whom Yahweh your God has scattered you (Deuteronomy 30:3).
d If any of your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there will Yahweh your God gather you, and from there will He fetch you (Deuteronomy 30:4).
e And Yahweh your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you will possess it;
e And he will do you good, and multiply you above your fathers (Deuteronomy 30:5).
d And Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, to love Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, that you may live (Deuteronomy 30:6).
c And Yahweh your God will put all these curses on your enemies, and on those who hate you, who persecuted you (Deuteronomy 30:7).
b And you will return and obey the voice of Yahweh, and do all His commandments which I command you this day (Deuteronomy 30:8).
a And Yahweh your God will make you plenteous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of your ground, for good, for Yahweh will again rejoice over you for good, as he rejoiced over your fathers, if you will obey the voice of Yahweh your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul (Deuteronomy 30:9-10).
Note that in ‘a' the proposition is put to them that if the things which will come on them, the blessing and the curse, which Moses has set before them, are called to mind when they are among all the nations, to which Yahweh their God has driven them, then in the parallel He will respond with the blessing, He will make the work of their hands prosper so that they will produce many children see the birth of many cattle and enjoy good harvests, but only if they truly respond and obey His commandments and statutes as written in the book of the Instruction (Torah) and turn to Yahweh with all their heart and soul. In ‘b' the necessity is they respond and return to Yahweh their God, and obey His voice according to all that Moses commands them that day, them and their children, with all their heart, and with all their soul, and in the parallel the same condition is applied, that they return and obey His voice and do what He commands.
In ‘c' He will then turn their captivity (or ‘their fortunes', literally it reads ‘turn your turning'), and have compassion on them, and will return and gather them from all the peoples, to whom Yahweh their God has scattered them, and in the parallel He will turn their curses on their enemies who had hated and persecuted them. In ‘d' if any of their outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, even from there will Yahweh their God gather them, and in the parallel He will work on their hearts so that they truly love Him. In ‘e' Yahweh their God will bring them into the land which their fathers possessed, and they will possess it too, and in the parallel He will do them good and even multiply them above their fathers of old.
‘ And it shall come about, when all these things are come on you (thee), the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you will call them to mind among all the nations, to which Yahweh your God has driven you,'
Aware from long experience of the truth about the people he was dealing with, Moses informed them that he was aware that in the future they would experience both the blessing and the curse, as described in Deuteronomy 28. See also Deuteronomy 30:19 here. He expected that for a time they would keep covenant and would experience blessing. The blessing would come on them. But then as time went by he was sadly confident that the faithfulness of many of them would lapse, and then they would begin to experience the cursings, until at length God had had to drive them out of the land (compare Deuteronomy 4:27-30).
But when that happened they were to call to mind, when they were among ‘all the nations' to which Yahweh their God had driven them, all that God had said through him related to the blessings and the curses. Note the emphasis on ‘all the nations'. No particular exile was in mind. This is not a prophecy except in the fact that it is a declaration that the cursing was to be taken seriously and would inevitably be carried into effect. This reference to both blessings and cursings takes us back directly to Deuteronomy 28.
‘ And will return to Yahweh your God, and will obey his voice according to all that I command you this day, you and your children, with all your heart, and with all your soul,'
In that day they (Israel as a community not each individual person) will return to Yahweh their God, and will obey His voice in accordance with the covenant, and will begin again to obey His commandments with all their heart and soul (compare Deuteronomy 4:29). They will thrust idolatry from them, and again seek His face. They will set aside all else out of a firm desire to know Him again, and will commit themselves to obey His voice.
He knew that this would happen because of the faithfulness of God, and because of His promises to their forefathers. He knew that nothing could finally frustrate God's final purposes, just as Israel's faithlessness in Deuteronomy 1:26 had not done so. He had simply turned to others, in that case their sons.
‘ That then Yahweh your God will turn your captivity (or ‘your fortunes', literally ‘turn your turning'), and have compassion on you, and will return and gather you from all the peoples, to whom Yahweh your God has scattered you.'
And when that time came Yahweh their God would have compassion on them. He would reverse their situation. As He had brought them from Egypt, so would He bring them from all the peoples among whom He had scattered them, and restore them to the land which would now welcome them again because they were from their hearts responding to the covenant. Note here the stress on the fact that He will know exactly where they are. He is not just a local God. He is God of the whole earth.
“Turn your captivity.” Most now favour translating as ‘turn your fortunes'. The idea is basically the same, that their lot will be changed because Yahweh intervenes. It would be recognised as normal that some would have been carried away as slaves, while others would have fled for refuge and be relatively free. Some would be captive. And some would simply be struggling to survive.
That there was in the future such a turning back to God which resulted in their returning to the land is clear from Nehemiah, Ezra, Haggai and Zechariah. They were then being given their second chance. But there is no reason for seeing in this description the return of the Jews to Palestine in our own time. For that is not a return in faith. As far as the Christian is concerned it is a return in unbelief, and even the Jews themselves recognise that Israel as a whole is a worldly nation. It may be that God has a purpose for bringing them there at the present time, but it is not necessarily so. And it is not strictly in accord with what is described here, for this refers to a change of heart before their return. The present return was not required by the prophecy.
We must remember that the purpose of the land was that within it should be built up the Kingly Rule of God. But once that Kingly Rule was seen as available to all men everywhere because its nature was heavenly, the land became redundant. In the end the land was superseded by its greater spiritual reality, and today that Kingly Rule is centred on another land, the heavenly land. The earthly land is no longer of importance. All must be centred on the Kingly Rule of God and on the King, Jesus Christ, and on our future with Him in the new Heaven and the New Earth (2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1). If some of the Jews are to have a part in it, and they probably are, it can only be by becoming Christians. But the land is no longer the goal.
‘ If any of your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there will Yahweh your God gather you, and from there will he fetch you,'
However far from the land they may be, He will gather the outcasts from where they are. From whatever place they are He will fetch them. (And so he did, for Palestine was repopulated with Jews from all parts of the world well before the coming of their Messiah, Jesus Christ).
“Outcasts.” Literally ‘those driven', therefore the ones driven out of the land and driven there by God.
‘ And Yahweh your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you will possess it; and he will do you good, and multiply you above your fathers.'
And He will bring them back to the land from which He drove them out, the land which their fathers had possessed, and they will once more possess it. And He will prosper them there. He will ‘do them good'. And He will once more enlarge their numbers (compare Deuteronomy 30:16; Deuteronomy 7:13; Deuteronomy 13:17, contrast Deuteronomy 28:63). There is implicit in this that they will not be replaced in His favour by another nation, because the promises to Abraham must be fulfilled.
That this in fact happened the later prophets and history have recorded. Beginning as a trickle the people began to pour back into the land, so that by the time of the coming of Jesus Israel were once more well established in Palestine, and had experienced periods of independence and prosperity, and many of them were seeking God with heart and soul, as the ministries of John the Baptiser and Jesus made clear. But as had happened previously the hearts of many, especially the leaders, grew cold, and His kingdom was never established.
The enlarging of their numbers then went beyond all that they could possibly have dreamed when not only large numbers of Jews around the world, but also even larger numbers of Gentiles, through Christ, became members of the true Israel, and true sons of Abraham (Galatians 3:29; Galatians 6:16; Ephesians 2:11-22; Romans 11:17-26) by becoming Christians. For now the vision of the land has become that of a greater land, and of a greater Kingly Rule of God (Hebrews 11:15-16; Hebrews 12:22-24) based on a better sacrifice and a better hope (Hebrews 9-10). What God offered now was far better than the old land, which had been but its earthly representation at a time when people would have understood nothing better.
It should be noted here that a welcome within the covenant was always available, right from the start, to any who chose to follow Yahweh and come within its terms. Indeed Israel was from the beginning inclusive of many who were not strictly descended from the patriarchs. These included the servants and slaves of the ‘households', the mixed multitude of Exodus 12:38, and many who subsequently united with Israel in the covenant, witnessed to by names such as that of Uriah the Hittite.
It was added to by proselytes who added themselves to Israel in the post Old Testament days. The establishing of the Christian ‘church' (in Jesus' terms the ‘congregation' of new Israel - Matthew 16:18) as the Israel of God, made up of both Jews and Gentiles, was simply following on the pattern. There can be no other Israel in Biblical terms than the one composed of those who are in Christ, believing ‘Israel'. Unbelieving Israel is no Israel (Romans 9:6; Romans 11:17 with Romans 11:23). There cannot be two Israels. If rejected Israel are to become Israel it will be by response to Christ and a uniting with His people, now the true Israel.
‘ And Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, to love Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, that you may live.'
This new people would be established because of what God would do, because of His work in men's hearts (compare Philippians 2:13). The idea behind this way of describing it (circumcising the heart) is taken from Deuteronomy 10:16. The thought is of a transformed heart which is turned to righteousness, either by the cutting away of sin and disobedience, as the foreskin is cut away in circumcision, or through the shedding of the blood of the covenant as the blood is spilled in circumcision (compare Genesis 17). But while in Deuteronomy 10:16 they were to circumcise their own hearts, (although the thought was always there that it was with Yahweh's assistance), here it is Yahweh Who is to circumcise their hearts. The idea is therefore of the activity of God working in sovereign power, transforming their lives and putting love for Him in their hearts, so that they may fulfil Deuteronomy 6:4-5, loving Him with heart and soul, and may live. This was also what Jeremiah had in mind in Jeremiah 31:31-34; Jeremiah 32:36-44. Compare also Ezekiel 36:26. It certainly took place through the ministry of Jesus and the early church.
As ever the thought behind ‘living' is not only that of being alive, but of living abundant and fruitful lives, lives of joy and wellbeing and blessing, what Jesus spoke of as eternal life, life under the Kingly Rule of God.
‘ And Yahweh your God will put all these curses on your enemies, and on those who hate you, who persecuted you.'
And the curses, which would no longer be on them, would be put on their enemies, on those who hated them and persecuted them. Strictly speaking the curses of the covenant could only come on those who rejected the covenant, thus this would signify that these enemies had had the opportunity to come within the covenant, but had rejected it. But it may be that the connection is more general.
Of course as a result of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the covenant was offered as a new covenant to the whole world, but it is the irony of sin that in the early days it was the unbelieving Jews, the rejected Jews, who were one of the greatest enemies of the church of Christ, the new Israel. That they endured the curse, and would until they repented, is evident from Luke 21:20-24 compare Matthew 23:37-38.
(As Paul makes clear in Romans 9-11; Ephesians 2:12-22 and elsewhere the true Israel still continued in the church of Jesus Christ, which was solidly based on Him (as the archetypal Jew) and His Apostles (all Jews) and on large multitudes of Jews who had put their faith in Him, to whom were joined the new mixed multitude of all those Gentiles who responded to Jesus Christ. This was now the true Israel, the Israel of God, God's covenant people. The cast off Jews could only have their part in it by coming to Him and submitting to Him as their Messiah. Until they did they no longer had, or can have, any part in God's Israel).
‘ And you will return and obey the voice of Yahweh, and do all his commandments which I command you this day.'
And the result of their return to God would be that they would obey His voice and do all His commandments as commanded through Moses. Through God's working the covenant would be triumphant in accomplishing its purpose. A faith that does not result in obedience is no living faith, and we are still equally responsible for fulfilling the principles of what Moses taught except in so far as they are superseded by and fulfilled in Christ, or made impossible by the conditions of the times. And we are to do this, not in order to be accepted into His covenant, but because He has brought us into His covenant and we seek to please and obey Him (Hebrews 8:6-10; Hebrews 10:16).
This picture of joyous obedience is the sign of the true people of God. It was no doubt seen in those who returned from Exile. It was seen in the faithful remnant described in Luke 1-3 who were awaiting the coming of the Messiah. It will be seen in the church too. Outwardly the church may appear grown old and tired, but the true people of God within it will ever be finally vibrant and obedient, even though sometimes they have to undergo trial, because they are His.
‘ And Yahweh your God will make you plenteous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of your ground, for good, for Yahweh will again rejoice over you for good, as he rejoiced over your fathers,'
That the remnant of Israel, the ‘few in number', did return to God is testified to in history and they did eventually prosper and enjoy the covenant blessings, being plenteous in the work of their hands, fruitful in begetting children, and abundant in cattle and agriculture (Deuteronomy 28:11). And so it mainly continues today for those who are the church, the true Israel. God blesses their births, God blesses their work, God blesses their productivity. Indeed one of the churches' great problems has always been that those who became Christians tended to prosper, and this then led on to complacency and forgetting God. This is not, however, to doubt that there are many Christians who are poor, especially in countries where they are a small minority. But their tendency will always be to grow richer simply because they work hard, are abstemious and can be fully trusted.
‘ If you will obey the voice of Yahweh your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul.'
But the promises are all dependent on true response to God. They are fulfilled only for those who obey His voice, and thus keep His commandments and His statutes as written in the book of His Instruction, and if they turn to Him with all their heart and soul. As Jesus would later say, ‘My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me' (John 10:27). This is the life to which He has called us.