Deuteronomy 30:4 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Ver. 4. If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven— See Matthew 24:31.Mark 13:27. Nehemiah alludes to this promise in his prayer for the restoration of Jerusalem, Nehemiah 1:8-9.; and it was in part fulfilled, when Cyrus made a proclamation throughout the kingdom, that all the Jews might return, if they pleased, to their own country. Ezra 1:4. The Jews themselves apply the passage to their present condition; being of opinion, that God has appointed a time for their deliverance, and that, if they repented, he would shorten the days of their banishment. Houbigant observes, that the Jews are literally and exactly in the state which the words in the former part of this verse describe; and as the former part of the prophecy is thus remarkably fulfilled, it follows, that the latter part, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, &c. remains to be fulfilled, and can never be applied to the return of a remnant of the Jews from Babylon under Esdras and Nehemiah, as clearly foretelling a return of the whole nation to their God; and to their own land, ver. 5 than which nothing can be more plainly pointed out: the land which their fathers possessed.