Deuteronomy 30: A gentler part of the covenant

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Covenant at Moab, part II of II

Deuteronomy 30: God's Fidelity Assured / Exhortation to Choose Life

View the first part of this covenant in yesterday's post. This is to be the last covenant before the Israelites enter the promised land.

God's Fidelity Assured: Deuteronomy 30.1-10
If the people disobey God and are cursed by him and are driven out among foreign nations, there is still hope. The people simply need to remember the blessings and curses that God has set before them and return to the Lord. When the people return to the Lord with all their hear, the Lord will restore them and once again have compassion on them. Such is the devotion of the Lord to his people - as long as they are obedient, the Lord will love them.

That is, God maintains fidelity to God's people, even through the times when the people do not reciprocate.

After returning to God in their hearts, the people will physically return to the land of their ancestors and be more numerous and prosperous than their ancestors were. The Lord will circumcise Israel's hearts so they will follow him. The Lord will curse their enemies and those that took advantage of them.

Exhortation to Choose Life: Deuteronomy 30.11-20
One of the distinguishing features of God's covenant with God's people is that it is accessible. It is not difficult to follow because the people have all the terms. The biblical author writing the Lord's speech puts this sentiment about the covenant in beautiful prose:

It is not in heaven, that you should say, "Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?" Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, "Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?" No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.
(Deut. 30.12-14)

The choice, God says, is up to you. You can obey the commandments of the Lord and be blessed, or disobey and be cursed. The terms of the contract are quite explicit, and most importantly, are present. God will not act on a whim, but rather only as he is required to act by the choices God's chosen people make. And it is a requirement that God acts on. This is a contract that God must keep.

And so the covenant closes, with heaven and earth as witness to a contract that began with the patriarchs as an unconditional promise of land and progeny:

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
(Deut. 30.19-20)