Only, Jehovah took pleasure in thy fathers, to love them, and he chose their seed after them, [even] you, out of all the peoples, as it is this day.
Moses has just recalled the golden calf, the broken tablets, and a stubborn people who could expect only rejection. Instead he traces Israel's standing back to God's delight in Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, which raises two questions: why God chooses anyone at all, and what that love asks in return.
God showed His love long before He spoke of it.
God reveals His love when and as He will. So in the Old Testament He spoke of it, but only in connection with Israel. He never even mentioned it in any divine message that has come down to us until the closing days of Moses, the great lawgiver. Then in the Book of Deuteronomy (Deut. 4:37; 7:7; 10:15; 23:5) it is first disclosed. He had loved their fathers. He loved them too... Constantly showing His love, God did not speak of it to them until Moses in his dying charge revealed it. God speaks of His love to act, if possible, on those to whom He reveals it... It was a love that never faltered, as Malachi made clear (Mal. 1:2).
The previous verse says heaven and earth belong to God. That is the One who set His love on Israel.
What a marvellous privilege to be chosen and loved by the Possessor of heaven and earth! What an honour to be called to serve and obey Him! Surely nothing in all this world could be higher or better. To be identified and associated with the Most High God! To have His Name called upon them, to be His special people, His special possession, the people of His choice! To be set apart from all the nations of the earth as the servants of the LORD and His witnesses! What could exceed this, except the calling given to the church of God and to the individual believer?
Moses is building a case for obedience.
Moses proceeds to show how the LORD had perfect title to Israel's obedience, for heaven and earth belong to God (v.14). Even more, God had shown true delight in the fathers of Israel — Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He chose them and their descendants above all other nations (v.15).
Did Israel earn this choice? Deuteronomy itself rules that out.
The answer is that God made choice of them in His sovereign wisdom. We read in Deuteronomy 7-8 that the LORD did not choose them because they outnumbered other nations. In fact, they were the fewest. No, the only reason that God could give for His choice was that He loved them. There was nothing in them to draw out His love in contrast with others. The reason lay in His own nature. Here lies the solid foundation of the blessing into which the Lord brings His people.
Israel's special place did not shut others out.
Israel, as a nation, had a special place in the ways of God. He loved them and set them apart from the nations. Even so, He wanted them to know His attitude to the strangers who lived among them. In the chapter where Moses said, "the LORD set His heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them," he also said, "He... loves the stranger, in giving him food and clothing. Love the stranger therefore, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt" (Deut. 10:15, 18-19).
The very next verse turns from what God did to what Israel must do. The demand reaches the heart.
Therefore he tells them to circumcise the foreskin of their heart. That is, cut off the selfish, fleshly desires of their heart, and "be stiff-necked no longer" (v.16). Being stiff-necked refers to the stubbornness of wanting our own way. But would Israel be corrected by being told this? Sadly, no! Only the New Testament shows the way of proper correction.
Long after Moses, God repeated the same claim to a generation that had the nerve to ask for evidence.
The message of Malachi begins with the sublime statement, "I have loved you, says the LORD." It is the message to Israel. This love is written large on every page of their history... And this generation, brought back through His mercy from Babylon... could brazenly answer back, "How have You loved us?" How deep they had sunk! Even worse is the deadness of a Christianity that is Christian in name only. It rejects, yes, despises, the great love with which He has loved us in the gift of His Son.
- Cause — Nothing in Israel drew out God's choice; they were the fewest. The reason lay in His own nature, so the blessing built on it holds firm.
- Gift — The Owner of heaven and earth took delight in Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He made their descendants His own special possession.
- Disclosure — He showed love long before He spoke of it, and He speaks of it to move those who hear.
- Reach — The same chapter that sets Israel above all peoples tells them to love the stranger. They had been strangers in Egypt themselves.
- Result — Love asks for a circumcised heart — the stubborn will to have our own way cut off.
Circumcise then the foreskin of your heart, and stiffen your neck no more.
Moses has just recalled the golden calf and God's choice of Israel's fathers. Now he turns the demand inward, and asks a stubborn nation to do to itself what God later promises to do for it.
The verse asks for something to be cut away. One writer says plainly what is cut, and what the stiff neck means (older versions read "stiff-necked" where the ESV reads "stubborn").
So he tells them to circumcise the foreskin of their heart, that is, cut off the selfish, fleshly desires of their heart; and "be stiff-necked no longer" (v.16). Being stiff-necked refers to the stubbornness of wanting our own way. But would Israel be corrected by being told this? Sadly, no! Only the New Testament shows the way of proper correction.
The command answers something God has already done. He set His love on their fathers and chose their descendants.
Now in the first place they were, as verse 16 says, to "circumcise" their hearts, as the answer to the love shown to them. We again find the Apostle Paul referring to this in Romans 2:28-29. God set up circumcision along with the covenant made with the fathers, as we read in Genesis 17, and confirmed it later under the law. Their deep-rooted habit was to keep the outward ceremony and miss its meaning. Israel was to be a people completely cut off for and to God. Circumcision of the "heart" would have meant cutting off self-love, as they came to know the love of God.
That call came to people who had just shown what their hearts were.
In the book of Deuteronomy circumcision is twice related to the heart. Israel turned out to be a rebellious and stubborn people. This first call comes just after the terrible sin of worshipping the golden calf at Horeb. There God says He delighted in their fathers and loved them, and chose their descendants above all peoples — and on that ground He tells them to circumcise their heart and be stubborn no longer (Deut. 10:15-16).
The command lands on people God has already blessed. One writer warns against brushing such a duty aside as legalism.
So let us always keep in mind — yes, let us hold it deep, deep down in our hearts — that our obligations match our privileges. Let us not refuse the wholesome word "obligation" as though it had a legal ring about it. Far from it. Nothing could be further from legality than the obligations that flow out of the Christian's position. It is a very serious mistake to keep crying "Legal! Legal!" whenever someone presses the holy responsibilities of our position on us.
This danger did not stop with Israel.
We still do the same today. We lay much stress on the outward, visible ceremony and overlook the inward, spiritual meaning. Take the ordinance of baptism, for instance... If we had paid as much attention to the spiritual meaning of the ordinance, set out in the early verses of Romans 6, we would have gained far more.
The same book that tells Israel to circumcise their own hearts later promises that God will do it for them.
The second passage in Deuteronomy says: "And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your offspring, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live" (Deut. 30:6). This verse looks on to the future. No day has yet come when God has kept this promise for Israel.
Man's own way is to trim off one fault at a time. Christ's way is different.
By nature, man hopes in religion to cut away this and that evil thing from himself, and so make himself fit for God's service. But in Christ we are complete. In Him we are also circumcised — and by nothing less than the putting off of the body of the flesh itself! Not by the stripping off of this or that evil tendency, but by the stripping off of the body of the flesh itself. The circumcision of Moses meant Israel's separation to God from the nations. The circumcision of Christ means the putting off of the believer's old man, and his being completely separated to God in Christ risen from the dead.
- Cut. Circumcising the heart means cutting off selfish desires. The stiff neck is our stubborn wanting of our own way.
- Cause. God asks for the cutting as the answer to His love. He delighted in their fathers and chose their descendants. Knowing that love, self-love falls away.
- Claim. Obligation is not legality. Our responsibilities rest on privileges God has already given. Crying "Legal!" to escape them is a serious mistake.
- Counterfeit. The old danger was keeping the outward rite and missing its meaning. The same danger runs through Christian ordinances today.
- Cure. Being told was not enough to change Israel. Deuteronomy 30:6 promises that God Himself will circumcise the heart. In Christ the cutting off is complete, not partial.