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 take them to heart among all the nations whither Jehovah thy God hath driven thee,
Moses is speaking to people who have not yet entered the land. Already he describes a day when they will be scattered out of it, with the blessing and the curse behind them. The chapter starts here: not with how Israel keeps the land, but with what God does after they lose it.
Chapter 29 closes by speaking of God's secret things. One commentator sees chapter 30 as the start of those secrets coming out.
This chapter is one of very deep interest and importance. It is prophetic, and presents to us some of "the secret things" referred to at the close of the preceding chapter. It opens up some of the most precious resources of grace stored in the heart of God. He kept them to be revealed when Israel, having completely failed to keep the law, would be scattered to the ends of the earth.
The verse assumes that everything Moses set before them arrives, curses included. Those curses sound final. One writer shows they are not.
Deuteronomy 28 uses the word six times about Israel, and never once does it mean their extinction. "Also every sickness and every plague… the Lord will bring upon you until you are destroyed." Are they extinct? No. It says, "you shall be left few in number." Then, after the curse has run its course, it adds, "the Lord will turn your captivity"! (Deut. 30:1-3.) [The ESV reads "restore your fortunes" where older translations read "turn your captivity."]
Israel calls these things to mind far from the altar, scattered among the nations. One writer shows what that setting rules out, and what it leaves open.
The first verse of our chapter makes one thing perfectly clear. It views the people in a condition where keeping the ordinances of the law is impossible. But, blessed be God, there is not a spot on the face of the earth, however remote, from which the heart cannot turn to God. The hands might not be able to bring a sacrifice to the altar. The feet might not be able to travel to the appointed place of worship. But the heart could travel to God.
Chapter 29 ends with the nation's failure under law. One writer shows the ground God moves to next.
In Deuteronomy 29 he describes the total breakdown of the whole nation on that ground. In Deuteronomy 30 he turns to show how God would come in on another ground altogether — the ground of grace. Israel's final blessing on earth depends not on what they do, but on God's faithfulness to His word. They are to gain righteousness and blessing not by works of law, but by faith in God's word.
So the chapter does not leave Israel's turning as an open question.
In Deuteronomy 30 the repentance of Israel is stated, not only as a condition of restoration, but as a fact.
Does Israel's long failure cancel the promise? One commentator answers from this chapter and from Romans.
There are some (even Christians) who insist that Israel has departed so far from God that they can never be restored. But they must ignore chapter 30:1-10, and also Romans 9, 10 and 11, which speak positively of Israel's eventual restoration. Israel would go through all the blessing and cursing, and would be driven out of their land. Suppose they then remember God's word and return to Him, set on obeying it. The Lord promises to bring them back from their captivity. He will gather them with compassion from all the nations where they have been scattered (vv. 1-3).
Exile stripped away every outward support for obedience. Another writer asks what was left.
The privileges that belonged to that whole system were gone. Obedience, in the literal sense, was impossible. The ark was gone; the Urim and Thummim were gone. The temple was ruined and burned with fire — the only place where those services could be carried out. And they were captives, moved from place to place. What then could be done? The word was near them, in their heart and in their mouth, so that they might do it. This was the principle of conduct that secured God's accepting favour. It is the only principle by which we can walk with God, and please Him, when all is dark.
- Curse. Blessing and curse both arrive. Yet "destroyed" in Deuteronomy 28 never means wiped out — chapter 30 speaks of God turning their captivity afterwards.
- Memory. The turning point is remembering. It happens among the nations, where altar, temple and ordinances are out of reach.
- Return. Literal obedience was impossible. The heart could still travel to God, and that is how anyone walks with Him in the dark.
- Grace. Restoration stands on another ground: God's faithfulness to His word, not Israel's doings.
- Certainty. God states their repentance as fact, not only as condition. No failure puts Israel's restoration beyond reach.
and shalt return to Jehovah thy God, and shalt hearken to his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy sons, with all thy heart and with all thy soul;
Moses is describing a day that has not yet come. Israel is scattered among the nations, the blessing and the curse have both fallen, and then the people turn back to God with heart and soul. The verse raises the hardest question in the book. If they have already failed under the law, what could bring them home?
This chapter follows Israel's ruin, not their obedience. One writer sees it as God unveiling what He had kept hidden until then.
This chapter is one of very deep interest and importance. It is prophetic, and it shows us some of "the secret things" mentioned at the end of the previous chapter. It opens up some of the most precious riches of grace stored up in the heart of God. God kept them for the day when Israel, having failed completely to keep the law, would be scattered to the ends of the earth.
Another writer contrasts this restoration with the covenant of chapter 28, which the people had already broken:
That is the tenor of the covenant on which they held the comforts of the land, as set out in Deuteronomy 28, after they had broken the earlier one. And that is the principle of the restoration — covenants of faith, taken up once they had lost the fruits of the first — as given in Deuteronomy 30.
Verse 1 places the people far from the temple, the altar and the land. So returning cannot mean taking up the rituals again.
Verse 1 of our chapter proves as clearly as possible that the people are in a condition where keeping the ordinances of the law is simply impossible. But, blessed be God, there is not a spot on the face of the earth, be it ever so remote, from which the heart cannot turn to God. The hands might not be able to present a victim for the altar; the feet might not be able to travel to the appointed place of worship; but the heart could travel to God.
Notice the measure set on this return: the whole heart, the whole soul. That lifts it above law-keeping.
How touching and beautiful all this is! It is no question of law-keeping, but of something far deeper and far more precious. It is the turning of the heart — the whole heart, the whole soul — to Jehovah, at a time when literal obedience to the law is impossible. It is a broken and contrite heart turning to God, and God, in deep and tender compassion, meeting that heart. This is true blessedness, at all times, and in all places.
The verse names the children beside the parents. One writer reads this as deliberate: the promise reached past the generation in front of Moses.
He goes on to unfold the Lord's covenant with them further. He shows them that they would fully enter into the curse of disobedience. Even then, if they or their children repented — for that covenant covered every generation alike — the Lord would have compassion on them and gather them. He would circumcise their heart, so that they would live for ever and be blessed in every work of their hand.
The return is not the end of the passage. It opens the door to more than the nation had ever known.
Israel's situation may have looked hopeless — no temple, no relationship with God, scattered among the nations. Even so, there was a way of healing: return. "When … you … return to the LORD your God." For that day God had set aside a blessing greater than the one the fathers received … How great a measure of God's grace!
This raises a further question: who is the promise for, and does it still stand?
In Deuteronomy 30 the repentance of Israel stands not only as a condition of restoration, but as a fact … These words were spoken to Israel as a nation, and only Israel as a nation can see them fulfilled. The same people who are cast out are the ones God will bring back, to have their hearts circumcised and to be ruled over again by the Lord for good. This is God's distinct undertaking about Israel, and it is not yet fulfilled.
That reading has a direct edge against a common assumption:
There are some (even Christians) who insist that Israel has departed so far from God that they can never be restored. But they must ignore chapter 30:1-10 … If they would remember God's word and return to Him with a purpose of heart to obey it, then the Lord promises to bring them back from their captivity. He will gather them with compassion from all the nations where they have been scattered.
- Failure first. God gives this promise to a people already scattered and under the curse — grace held in reserve for the worst day.
- Heart, not hands. With altar and temple out of reach, God asks for the whole heart and soul. The heart can travel to Him from anywhere.
- Reach. No distance shuts anyone out, and no generation drops out — the promise names the children with their parents.
- Response. God meets the returning heart. He gathers His people and gives a blessing greater than the fathers ever received.
- Certainty. Commentators read it as fact, not just possibility: a promise to the nation that God has not withdrawn.
that then Jehovah thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will gather thee again from all the peoples whither Jehovah thy God hath scattered thee.
Moses speaks to a nation that has not yet entered the land, describing what God will do long after they are driven out of it. Can a people scattered for breaking the law ever be taken back, and on what basis?
The previous chapter closed with "the secret things." One writer sees this chapter opening some of them.
This chapter is prophetic. It shows us some of "the secret things" mentioned at the close of the chapter before it. It opens up some of those precious resources of grace stored up in the heart of God. He kept them to bring out when Israel, having completely failed to keep the law, would be scattered to the ends of the earth.
What is hidden here is not a milder law but a different principle altogether — a way of setting the people right that the law itself could never supply.
Grace, in a distant and puzzling way, points to a secret not yet revealed. When the people have completely failed on the ground of law, God will still find ways and means of justifying them by faith. By words He can bring them all into the land for a time. But He also has means, still secret, by which He can justify them in spite of all their faults, and work in their hearts according to what is in His heart. In short, these are His secrets of grace.
This promise depends on a turning of the heart. Scattered people cannot keep the law's rituals — no altar, no journey to the appointed place. That is exactly the point.
The first verse of our chapter shows, as clearly as possible, that the people are in a state where keeping the ordinances of the law is impossible. But, blessed be God, there is not a spot on the face of the earth, however remote, from which the heart cannot turn to God. Their hands might not be able to bring a sacrifice to the altar. Their feet might not be able to travel to the appointed place of worship. But the heart could travel to God.
Where that turning happens is part of the promise.
It would be while scattered among the nations that their hearts would at last return to God, in whole-hearted obedience. Then He would have compassion on them, and gather them as He had scattered them... But this is of course grace, not law. And the grace of God cannot lack the power to show itself where the heart turns to God like this.
The older translation reads "turn your captivity" where the ESV has "restore your fortunes." Two returns meet in this promise.
The people Israel are scattered among all the nations, and yet the nations have not absorbed them. They remain a separate people. Along with the prediction that they would be scattered comes the message of hope, the prophecy of their return. The Lord promises that if they return to Him and obey His voice, He will return to them... That will happen when this present age closes... Some say Moses and the other prophets predicted a return that took place when a remnant of Jews came back from Babylon. This is not correct. The people were not then scattered among all the nations, and the small remnant that came back from Babylon never enjoyed the glories and blessings the prophetic Word predicted.
One writer draws a firm line about who this promise belongs to.
These words were spoken to Israel as a nation, and can only be fulfilled to Israel as a nation. The same people who were cast out are the ones to be brought back, to have their hearts circumcised, and to be ruled again by the Lord for good.
Not everyone accepts this. One writer answers, and points to what he sees today.
There are some (even Christians) who insist that Israel has drifted so far from God that they can never be restored. But they have to ignore Deuteronomy 30:1-10, and also Romans 9, 10 and 11, which speak clearly of Israel's eventual restoration... We have already seen the beginning of such a work of God. Israel stands as a nation again in her own land. Yet only a small number have returned so far, and they have come back in unbelief as far as Christ their Messiah is concerned.
The threats of chapter 28 sound final — "until you are destroyed." This verse settles what that word could and could not mean.
In Deuteronomy 28 the word appears six times about Israel, and never once means their extinction... Are they extinct? No — "you shall be left few in number," and after the curse has been fulfilled the text adds, "the Lord will turn your captivity"!
- Return — everything turns on a heart that comes back to God, and exile is where that turning happens.
- Reachable — no place on earth is too far for a heart to travel to God, even where obedience to the law is impossible.
- Restore — God answers with compassion, gathers His people from everywhere He scattered them, and returns to them Himself.
- Remain — the worst curse never meant the end of the nation. The same people God scattered are the people He promises to gather.