What does "I set before you life and death" mean in Deuteronomy 30:19?
Answered from the commentary of Leslie M. Grant, C. H. Mackintosh, Arno Clemens Gaebelein and 4 others
“I set before you life and death” means that life and good, or death and evil, were set before Israel as the consequences of their response to God’s commands. Loving the Lord, walking in His ways and keeping His commandments meant life and blessing in the land; turning away to other gods meant death and cursing. The life promised here was long earthly life in the promised land, not eternal life. So Moses urged them to choose life, and made plain that their choice carried responsibility before God. But the law could not give life or make anyone righteous: life was offered on the condition of obedience, and Israel would fail to keep it. The authors differ on whether “death” here concerns only Israel’s earthly standing or also the soul’s state Godward: one says it affected their position Godward, describing life as communion and death as its reverse, while another says the promised life and curse concern earthly affairs.
The above is AI generated summary based on the writers below.
What the commentators say
The passages the answer is drawn from, the most direct first, with the words that bear on the question marked.
v.19
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,
Further, Moses declared that he called heaven and earth as witnesses that 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 overtures of kind concern for them, this was only their own folly.
Similarly, when believers preach the gospel to the unsaved, we must make it clear that in receiving the Lord Jesus as Savior, there is great blessing for them, and in refusing Him there is eternal remorse; but we are not wise to tell them to choose whichever they please. Rather, we should urge them affectionately to make a firm decision to receive the Lord Jesus and be saved.
But, again, some may feel disposed to say, "Can any unconverted person do good?" We reply, this question is not raised, in the scripture just quoted. Every one taught of God knows, and feels and owns, that not one atom of "good" has ever been done in this world but by the grace of God; that man left to himself will do evil only, evil continually. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights." All this is most blessedly true, and thankfully owned by every pious soul; but it leaves wholly untouched the fact set forth in Deuteronomy 30 and confirmed by Romans 2 that 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!
"See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; in that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgements, that thou mayest live and multiply; and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; I denounce to you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live; that thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave to Him;" — the all important, essential thing, for each, for all, the very spring and power of all true religion, in every age, in every place — "for he is thy life, and the length of thy days" — How close! How vital! How real! How very precious! — "that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware to thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them." (Vers. 15-20.)
It was to Israel that the words, so often quoted to prove that life or death is at our own choice, were spoken: "See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; in that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, and His statutes, and His judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply," etc. Deut. 30:15-16). Again, "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live" (v. 19).
Was it, then, that any were saved by thus choosing life that they might live? This would be to affirm that life could come by keeping the law; and Paul says plainly, "If there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law" (Gal. 3:21). But then he also says, "If righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain" (Gal. 2:21). This would indeed be a terrible conclusion to come to. And if you should enquire, as some did in the apostle's days, "Wherefore then the law?" let the apostle answer: "It was added, because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made" (Gal. 3:19). And if you should still say, Why added because of transgressions? take for answer the same apostle's words in another place, "For by law is the knowledge of sin" (Rom. 3:20). And again, "Moreover, the law entered that the offence might abound" (Rom. 5:20). And again, "I had not known sin, but by the law" (Rom. 7:7). And again, "But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful" (ver. 13). Yet once more, "The law works wrath" (Rom. 4:15). Now, it seems to me a serious thing, in the face of all these inspired declarations of what ends the law was designed to answer, to affirm that any were saved by "choosing life" according to the tenor of the words of Moses, which have been quoted. Life was then offered them on condition of obedience to the law; and the Holy Ghost solemnly assures us, that "By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified" (Rom. 3:20; Gal. 2:16, 21; Gal. 3:11); that is, in other words, they could not have life on the terms proposed by Moses.
Deut. 6:4-5 shows that the Lord our God, Jehovah, requires the affection of the whole heart. The reason is found in Deut. 10:12. Deut. 11:13-15 shows if they would only love the Lord with all their heart, everything they could wish for they would have. Thus the important thing is to love the Lord. Deut. 30:1 shows the backsliding heart finding the power of the world too strong, but He is faithful and just to forgive. If reality of heart is there, the Lord is ever the same. He allows chastening to come in that we may be restored. Then in the 15th verse of the same chapter, life is spoken of and contrasted with death, and good with evil, and then we are exhorted to choose life. That is the antidote. Again in Ps. 18:1, "I will love Thee, O Lord." It is David's autobiography, his own history. Solomon also loved the Lord, and he could speak of Him as the chiefest among tenthousand. He is easily first against 9,999 rivals, and then the writer becomes lost in the sense of His love, and takes Him out of all comparison by saying, "He is altogether lovely." If we realize this then it will be easy to serve Him. It is not naturally easy to be insignificant, but if we become such we shall be glad to sweep a crossing in His interests.
(5) Thus the way and the end on both sides had been put before them; and with one more solemn appeal to "choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live," the exposition of the law comes to an end.