Saturday, May 20, 2023

Deuteronomy 30, Choose Life!

Moses has repeated the numerous blessings and curses that will occur in the nation of Israel, depending on their obedience to YHWH.

Deuteronomy 30: 1-5, Fortunes restored
When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come upon you and you take them to heart wherever the LORD your God disperses you among the nations, and when you and your children return to the LORD your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you.

Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the LORD your God will gather you and bring you back. He will bring you to the land that belonged to your fathers, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers.

Even if the people disobey, there are promises of restoration. This will be remembered during the Babylonian captivity.

Currid says that the phrase translated here "most distant land under the heavens" is literally "at the end of the sky."

Deuteronomy 30: 6-10, "Circumcise your hearts"
The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.

The LORD your God will put all these curses on your enemies who hate and persecute you. You will again obey the LORD and follow all his commands I am giving you today. Then the LORD your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land. The LORD will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your fathers, if you obey the LORD your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

And so the people are to have "circumcised hearts", an internal moral decision, separate from their genetics and cultural heritage, that leads them and their descendants to stay close to YHWH.

Deuteronomy 30: 11-16, This is not too difficult
Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?"

No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.
 
See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.

For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

Moses argues that the Law is not too difficult (its principles are straightforward) and that one need not go up to heaven or across the ocean to find the answers.  But, focusing on all the many decrees, the broken people of Israel will find this difficult!

The apostle Paul quotes this passage in Romans 10: 5-8, arguing there that through the Messiah, obedience to the Law is natural and by faith.

Commentator John Currid says that this passage is a contrast to ancient Near East culture where, for example, in The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh travels the world, even going beyond the sea, in a futile hunt for the meaning of life.

Deuteronomy 30: 17-20, "Choose life!"
But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Moses admonishes his listeners to "Choose Life!"  The blessings of the covenant bring life; disobedience brings death. The invitation includes a triplet of steps: love, listen, hold fast to YHWH.

Currid says that calling heaven and earth as witnesses was a standard feature of ancient Near East treaties.

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