I call heaven and earth to witness this day against you life and death have I set before you, blessing and cursing choose then life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy seed,
Moses has laid out the two ends of Israel's road: obedience with blessing, or turning away with ruin. Now he closes his teaching of the law with a formal summons. He calls heaven and earth to witness what he has set before the people. Is God simply laying out two options and standing back? And could a choice like this ever give life?
Moses puts the choice in the plainest terms.
Moses, speaking for God, sets before Israel only two choices: on one side "life and good," on the other "death and evil" (v.15). This was clear and plain. There could be no other alternative. Verse 16 shows it. If Israel walked in God's ways and kept His commandments, statutes and judgments, they would live and multiply, and God would greatly bless them in the land.
The two pairs are joined, and one writer urges us never to forget it.
Life and good, death and evil are bound together by an inseparable link. May we never forget it! May it ever abide in the remembrance of the thoughts of our hearts!
Moses calls in witnesses, but he does not leave the choice open.
Moses declared that he called heaven and earth as witnesses. He had faithfully set before Israel these two choices: either life or death, blessing or cursing (v.19). He does not say, "Choose that you please," but rather, "Choose life." God did not want them to ruin themselves, but to have an existence of pure blessing. If they refused His kind approaches to them, this was only their own folly.
The force of this appeal matches the book it closes.
Nothing can be more solemn than this closing appeal to the congregation: it is in full keeping with the tone and character of the entire book of Deuteronomy — a book filled from end to end with the most powerful appeals human ears have ever heard... The great burden of Deuteronomy, from beginning to end, is exhortation. Its theme is the word of God. Its aim is obedience — whole-hearted, earnest, loving obedience — grounded on a known relationship and enjoyed privileges.
These words are often quoted to prove that life or death rests on our own choice. One writer answers from what the law could not do.
Was it, then, that any were saved by choosing life so that they might live? That would be to claim that life could come by keeping the law. Paul says plainly, "if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law" (Gal. 3:21). But he also says, "if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose" (Gal. 2:21). That would indeed be a terrible conclusion to reach... Life was then offered to Israel on condition of obedience to the law. In other words, they could not have life on the terms Moses proposed.
Another writer shows what has taken the law's place.
The law is finished as a way of righteousness: Christ takes its place. The law knows nothing except the person under it fulfilling it. It says, the one who does these things shall live by them; and this is entirely righteous. The righteousness that is by faith speaks quite differently. It is, "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." The real question is the salvation of the sinner, not the keeping of law to live. The allusion is to Deuteronomy 30, where the question of responsibility over keeping the law was closed. The people were already in captivity for their sins, so keeping the law to live was wholly over. They had been cast out for not doing so.
The same appeal shapes how believers speak to others today.
In the same way, when believers preach the gospel to the unsaved, we must make it clear that receiving the Lord Jesus as Savior brings them great blessing, and refusing Him brings eternal remorse. But we are not wise to tell them to choose whichever they please. We should lovingly urge them to make a firm decision to receive the Lord Jesus and be saved.
- Two, not three. Moses sets before Israel only "life and good" or "death and evil." There is no third road.
- Witnessed. Moses calls heaven and earth as witnesses that he set both choices plainly before the people.
- Weighted. God does not say "choose as you please." He says "choose life," because He wants their blessing, not their ruin.
- Powerless. The choice itself could not give life. If any law could have given life, righteousness would have come that way, and Christ died for nothing.
- Answered. Christ takes the law's place. Confess Him as Lord, believe God raised Him, and you are saved — the real question is the sinner's salvation, not law-keeping to live.
in loving Jehovah thy God, in hearkening to his voice, and in cleaving to him -- for this is thy life and the length of thy days -- that thou mayest dwell in the land which Jehovah swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.