PART 4
SCRIPTURAL REFERENCES: 30:1-20
(V1) “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 call them to mind among all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee,”
(V1) In chapter 29:25 we learned that the Israelites had forsaken the covenant that God had made with them when He brought them out of Egypt. Here in chapter 30 He speaks of a blessing that would be set before them if they would turn back to Him and do the right thing. But if they refused to turn back to Him then a cursing would come upon them.
(V2) “And shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul;”
(V2) Here we learn the requirement of returning back to Him was obedience. Both the parents and their children should obey the voice of the Lord with all their heart and soul. This really needs to be preached under every steeple and taught in every Sunday School room in this nation.
(V3) “That then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee.”
(V3) When a rebellious people begin to pray and seek the Lord and humble themselves then will God hear from heaven and sympathize with them. If they are bound by the enemy anywhere in the world He will go back and retrieve all of those He has dispelled (see 2nd Chronicles 7:14).
(V4) “If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will He fetch thee:"
(V4) We see here that if any enemy of Israel ever succeeds to drive them out of their homeland to any place on this earth God will bring them home again. All they have to do before trying to wipe Israel off the face of the earth (their words) is to read the history books of Egypt.
(V5) “And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers.”
(V5) Come what may God will keep His promise to bring Israel into the land of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and when He takes action against an enemy He will be victorious every time.
(V6) “And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.”
(V6) God tells the Israelites that He will perform His work within the heart of every one of them and cut away the things that have hindered them so that they may live.
(V7) “And the Lord thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee.”
(V7) He told them that all the enemies of the Israelites would be cursed as well as all Jew haters. I think that Israel’s enemies today should realize that God has Israel’s back and be with them and fight for them. Their enemies need to remember the six day war in 1967.
(V8) “And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the Lord, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day.”
(V8) Because God circumcised their heart they turned around and obeyed his voice and lived by His commandments.
(V9) “ And the Lord thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the Lord will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers:”
(V9) The Lord then told them they would reap a plentiful harvest from anything they worked: their crops in the fields, the fruit on the vine, as well as their posterity.
(V10) “If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the Lord thy God, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.”
(V10) In this verse the Israelites were told to listen to the voice of the Lord their God and obey His commandments and statutes that were written in the Bible and return to Him with all their heart and soul.
(V11) “For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off.”
(V11) He tells them that this commandment was not buried and not beyond their reach.
(V12) “It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and to bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?”
(V12) The commandment was not in heaven and it was needless to ask someone to go up there and bring it down to them so they could hear it with their ears and live by its instructions.
(V13) “Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?”
(V13) And it’s not over in a foreign country that they would need to send a missionary to go and return and share the news with them.
(V14) “But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.”
(V14) Now we learn where the commandment can be found. It is in the mouth and the heart of every believer for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:10).
(V15) “See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;”
(V15) You may ask why God would set both life and good, along with death and evil before the rebellious multitude, but the answer is simple He gave them a choice to make on their own. When God made man He placed within him a choice making mechanism that remains with him today. He can choose Satan or God, life or death, heaven or hell. It’s not God’s choice to send even the most vilest sinner to hell, but He also will not restrain his capability to choose for himself. One can almost see the tears in God’s eyes when He stands by and watches sinners heading for hell and going there by their own choosing.
(V16) “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: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.”
(V16) Here He tells them that to live, multiply, and receive His blessings in their future home land, they must love Him and travel in His ways. He also instructed them to live by the same laws that He wrote in stone and gave to Moses on Mount Sinai.
(V17) “But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;”
(V17) However, if in their hearts they refused to hear Him and turn to other gods they would suffer the consequences.
(V18) “I denounce unto 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.”
(V18) In this verse we find listed the disastrous effects for their rebellious turning away. They were denounced by God Himself and told that all of them would surely die. He also told them they would not be able to extend their days in the land beyond the Jordan and that they would lose their possession there.
(V19) “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:”
(V19) God calls on heaven and earth to record His actions and his charges against the rebellious multitude that He had set before them, living and dying, blessing and cursing, but they always seemed to make the wrong choice by disobeying the commands of the Lord.
(V20) “That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”
(V20) Again God tells them to love Him and obey His voice. He also told them to adhere to Him and that He was their life and had the length of their days in His hand.
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