O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever! O that there were such a heart in them - Or rather, מי יתן והיה לבבם זה mi yitten vehayah lebabam zeh, Who will give such a heart to them, that they may fear, etc. They refuse to receive such a heart from me; who then can supply it? If they had not been such perfectly free agents as could either use or abuse their liberty, could God have made the complaint or expressed the earnest desire we find in this verse? He made the human will free; and in spite of all the influence of sin and Satan, he preserves its liberty. Had man no free will, he could neither be punished nor rewarded, because a mere machine, and consequently no more accountable for his actions than the fire for its consuming quality, or the stone for its gravity; the one having burned the house of the righteous, the other having crushed the innocent to death. See the note on Deuteronomy 29:4.
Related Commentaries of Deuteronomy 5:29
Deuteronomy 5:29
29 O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!