For I am commanding you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, statutes, and ordinances, so that you may live and increase, and the LORD your God may bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. For I am commanding you todayThis phrase emphasizes the immediacy and urgency of God's command. The Hebrew root for "commanding" is צָוָה (tsavah), which implies a directive given with authority. The use of "today" underscores the present moment, reminding the Israelites that obedience is not a future consideration but a present responsibility. This reflects the timeless nature of God's Word, calling believers to respond in the present. to love the LORD your God
The Hebrew word for "love" is אָהַב (ahav), which encompasses a deep, covenantal love that goes beyond mere emotion to include loyalty and commitment. Loving God is foundational to the covenant relationship, requiring the Israelites to prioritize their devotion to Him above all else. This love is not passive but active, demonstrated through obedience and faithfulness. to walk in His ways
"Walk" in Hebrew is הָלַךְ (halak), which signifies a manner of life or conduct. To "walk in His ways" means to live according to God's standards and principles. This phrase suggests a continuous, daily journey of faith, where one's actions and decisions align with God's will. It is a call to a lifestyle that reflects God's character and holiness. and to keep His commandments, statutes, and ordinances
The Hebrew word for "keep" is שָׁמַר (shamar), meaning to guard, observe, or give heed. This implies a diligent and careful attention to God's laws. "Commandments" (מִצְוֹת, mitzvot), "statutes" (חֻקִּים, chukim), and "ordinances" (מִשְׁפָּטִים, mishpatim) represent different aspects of God's law, covering moral, ceremonial, and civil instructions. Together, they encompass the comprehensive nature of God's expectations for His people. so that you may live and increase
The phrase "live and increase" highlights the blessings of obedience. "Live" (חָיָה, chayah) implies not just physical life but a life of abundance and fulfillment. "Increase" (רָבָה, rabah) suggests growth and prosperity. This promise of life and growth is contingent upon the Israelites' faithfulness to God's commands, illustrating the principle that obedience leads to divine blessing. and the LORD your God may bless you
The Hebrew word for "bless" is בָּרַךְ (barak), which means to endow with favor and prosperity. God's blessing is a central theme in the covenant relationship, signifying His approval and provision. This blessing is not merely material but encompasses spiritual well-being and peace. It is a reminder that true prosperity comes from God's hand. in the land you are entering to possess
The "land" refers to the Promised Land, a tangible representation of God's promise and faithfulness. "Entering to possess" indicates the fulfillment of God's covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This land is not just a physical territory but a place where God's people can live out their covenant relationship with Him. It serves as a symbol of God's faithfulness and the fulfillment of His promises. Persons / Places / Events 1. MosesThe author of Deuteronomy, delivering God's commandments to the Israelites. 2. The IsraelitesThe chosen people of God, preparing to enter the Promised Land. 3. The Promised LandThe land of Canaan, which God promised to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 4. The LORD (Yahweh)The covenant God of Israel, who commands His people to follow His ways. 5. The CovenantThe agreement between God and Israel, involving blessings for obedience and consequences for disobedience. Teaching Points Love as the FoundationThe command to love the LORD your God is foundational. True obedience stems from a heart of love, not mere duty. Walking in His WaysThis involves a daily commitment to live according to God's principles, reflecting His character in our actions. Obedience Brings BlessingThe promise of blessing is tied to obedience. While salvation is by grace, the fullness of God's blessings often requires our cooperation through obedience. Holistic ObedienceThe call to keep commandments, statutes, and ordinances suggests a comprehensive approach to God's law, not picking and choosing what to follow. Entering the Promised LandSymbolically, this can represent entering into the fullness of God's promises and purposes for our lives today. Bible Study Questions 1. How does the command to "love the LORD your God" influence your daily decisions and actions? 2. In what ways can you "walk in His ways" in your current life situation? 3. Reflect on a time when obedience to God's commandments led to a tangible blessing in your life. What did you learn from that experience? 4. How do the themes of obedience and blessing in Deuteronomy 30:16 connect with Jesus' teachings in the New Testament? 5. What steps can you take to ensure that your obedience to God is motivated by love rather than obligation? Connections to Other Scriptures Exodus 20The giving of the Ten Commandments, which are part of the statutes and ordinances mentioned in Deuteronomy 30:16. Joshua 1:7-8Joshua is instructed to be strong and courageous, keeping the law to prosper in the Promised Land, echoing the themes of obedience and blessing. John 14:15Jesus speaks about the connection between love and obedience, similar to the command to love God and keep His commandments. Psalm 1:1-3Describes the blessedness of the man who delights in the law of the LORD, paralleling the promise of blessing for obedience. Romans 8:28Speaks of God working all things for good for those who love Him, aligning with the promise of blessing for those who love and obey God. | A Last Word | J. Orr | Deuteronomy 30:15-20 | | An Alternative Choice | D. Davies | Deuteronomy 30:15-20 | | Choose Death or Life | Bonnefon. | Deuteronomy 30:15-20 | | Choosing Life | A. Maclaren, D. D. | Deuteronomy 30:15-20 | | Choosing Life or Death | C. Babut, B. D. | Deuteronomy 30:15-20 | | Death and Life Set Before the People | R.M. Edgar | Deuteronomy 30:15-20 | | Freedom of Man's Will; Or, the Great Decision | G. Lorimer, D. D. | Deuteronomy 30:15-20 | | Life | W. Stevens. | Deuteronomy 30:15-20 | | Life and Good, Death and Evil | Manton, Thomas | Deuteronomy 30:15-20 | | Life or Death | H. Linton, M. A. | Deuteronomy 30:15-20 | | The Blessing and the Curse | C. Kingsley, M. A. | Deuteronomy 30:15-20 | | The Choice of Life | F. K. Freeston. | Deuteronomy 30:15-20 | | The Decisive Choice | F. D. Maurice, M. A. | Deuteronomy 30:15-20 | | The God of Our Life | Matthew Henry. | Deuteronomy 30:15-20 | | The Good Choice | A. K. H. Boyd, D. D. | Deuteronomy 30:15-20 | | The Law of God Sets Before Us Good and Evil | C. Hickman, D. D. | Deuteronomy 30:15-20 | | The Offer of Life and Death | J. Burns, D. D. | Deuteronomy 30:15-20 | | The Service of God Chosen | C. E. Walters. | Deuteronomy 30:15-20 |
People Isaac, Jacob, MosesPlaces Jordan River, MoabTopics Bless, Blessed, Blessing, Command, Commanding, Commandments, Commands, Decisions, Decrees, Entering, Giving, Goest, Hast, Heritage, Increase, Increased, Judgments, Keeping, Laws, Love, Loving, Mayest, Multiplied, Multiply, Obey, Orders, Ordinances, Possess, Possession, Statutes, To-day, Walk, Walking, WhitherDictionary of Bible Themes Deuteronomy 30:16 1175 God, will of
4016 life, human
5504 rights Deuteronomy 30:1-16 5376 law, purpose of Deuteronomy 30:14-17 5015 heart, and Holy Spirit Deuteronomy 30:15-16 4966 present, the Deuteronomy 30:15-17 8723 doubt, results of Deuteronomy 30:15-18 8401 challenges Deuteronomy 30:15-19 4937 fate, fatalism
8702 agnosticism Deuteronomy 30:15-20 1335 blessing Deuteronomy 30:16-20 8625 worship, acceptable attitudes Library June 30. "Therefore, Choose" (Deut. xxx. 19).
"Therefore, choose" (Deut. xxx. 19). Men are choosing every day the spiritual or earthly. And as we choose we are taking our place unconsciously with the friends of Christ, or the world. It is not merely what ye say, it is what we prefer. When Solomon made his great choice at Gibeon, God said to him, "Because this was in thine heart to ask wisdom, therefore will I give it unto thee, and all else besides that thou didst not choose." It was not merely that he said it because it was right to say, and …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth The Spirit of the Law
'For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. 12. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? 13. 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? 14. But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. 15. See, I have …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture The Love of God Its Own Reward
DEUT. xxx. 19, 20. 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 cleave unto him, for he is thy life and the length of thy days, that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord God sware unto thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give them. I spoke to you last Sunday on this text. But there is something …
Charles Kingsley—The Good News of God The Blessing and the Curse.
Preached on Whit-Sunday. DEUT. XXX. 19, 20. 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 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 …
Charles Kingsley—Westminster Sermons The Jewish World in the Days of Christ - the Jewish Dispersion in the East.
Among the outward means by which the religion of Israel was preserved, one of the most important was the centralisation and localisation of its worship in Jerusalem. If to some the ordinances of the Old Testament may in this respect seem narrow and exclusive, it is at least doubtful, whether without such a provision Monothsiem itself could have continued as a creed or a worship. In view of the state of the ancient world, and of the tendencies of Israel during the earlier stages of their history, …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah Distinction Between Exterior and Interior Actions --Those of the Soul in this Condition are Interior, but Habitual, Continued, Direct, Profound, Simple, and Imperceptible --Being a Continual
The actions of men are either exterior or interior. The exterior are those which appear outwardly, and have a sensible object, possessing neither good nor evil qualities, excepting as they receive them from the interior principle in which they originate. It is not of these that I intend to speak, but only of interior actions, which are those actions of the soul by which it applies itself inwardly to some object, or turns away from some other. When, being applied to God, I desire to commit an …
Jeanne Marie Bouvières—A Short Method Of Prayer And Spiritual Torrents The Prophet Amos.
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS. It will not be necessary to extend our preliminary remarks on the prophet Amos, since on the main point--viz., the circumstances under which he appeared as a prophet--the introduction to the prophecies of Hosea may be regarded as having been written for those of Amos also. For, according to the inscription, they belong to the same period at which Hosea's prophetic ministry began, viz., the latter part of the reign of Jeroboam II., and after Uzziah had ascended the …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament According to which principle or hypothesis all the objections against the universality of Christ's death are easily solved
PROPOSITION VI. According to which principle or hypothesis all the objections against the universality of Christ's death are easily solved; neither is it needful to recur to the ministry of angels, and those other miraculous means which they say God useth to manifest the doctrine and history of Christ's passion unto such, who, living in parts of the world where the outward preaching of the gospel is unknown, have well improved the first and common grace. For as hence it well follows that some of …
Robert Barclay—Theses Theologicae and An Apology for the True Christian Divinity Entering the Covenant: with all the Heart
"And they entered into the covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart, and all their soul."--2 CHRON. xv. 12 (see xxxiv. 31, and 2 Kings xxiii. 3). "The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul."--DEUT. xxx. 6. "And I will give them an heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God: for they shall turn to Me with their whole heart."--JER. xxiv. 7 (see xxix. 13). …
Andrew Murray—The Two Covenants Sanctification.
I. I will remind you of some points that have been settled in this course of study. 1. The true intent and meaning of the law of God has been, as I trust, ascertained in the lectures on moral government. Let this point if need be, be examined by reference to those lectures. 2. We have also seen, in those lectures, what is not, and what is implied in entire obedience to the moral law. 3. In those lectures, and also in the lectures on justification and repentance, it has been shown that nothing is …
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology "He is the Rock, his Work is Perfect, for all his Ways are Judgment, a God of Truth, and Without Iniquity, Just and Right is He.
Deut. xxxii. 4, 5.--"He is the Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are judgment, a God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is he. They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children," &c. There are none can behold their own vileness as it is, but in the sight of God's glorious holiness. Sin is darkness, and neither sees itself, nor any thing else, therefore must his light shine to discover this darkness. If we abide within ourselves, and men like ourselves, …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning The Disciple, -- Master, what are Heaven and Hell...
The Disciple,--Master, what are heaven and hell, and where are they? The Master,--1. Heaven and hell are the two opposite states in the spiritual realm. They have their origin in the heart of man and it is in this world that their foundations are laid. Since man cannot see his own spirit, so neither can he see these two states of the soul. But he has experience of them within him, just as he feels pain from a blow and perceives sweetness from eating sweetmeats. The wound caused by the blow may increase …
Sadhu Sundar Singh—At The Master's Feet The Everlasting Covenant of the Spirit
"They shall be My people, and l will be their God. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me."--JER. xxxii. 38, 40. "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye …
Andrew Murray—The Two Covenants Covenanting Confers Obligation.
As it has been shown that all duty, and that alone, ought to be vowed to God in covenant, it is manifest that what is lawfully engaged to in swearing by the name of God is enjoined in the moral law, and, because of the authority of that law, ought to be performed as a duty. But it is now to be proved that what is promised to God by vow or oath, ought to be performed also because of the act of Covenanting. The performance of that exercise is commanded, and the same law which enjoins that the duties …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting "Now the End of the Commandment is Charity Out of a Pure Heart, and a Good Conscience, and Faith Unfeigned. "
[It is extremely probable that this was one of the probationary discourses which the author delivered before the Presbytery of Glasgow, previous to his ordination. The following is an extract from the Record of that Presbytery: "Dec. 5, 1649. The qlk daye Mr. Hew Binnen made his popular sermon 1 Tim. i. ver. 5 'The end of ye commandment is charity.'--Ordaines Mr. Hew Binnen to handle his controversie this day fifteen dayes, De satisfactione Christi."--Ed.] 1 Tim. ii. 5.--"Now the end of the commandment …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning a survey of the third and closing discourse of the prophet
We shall now, in conclusion, give a survey of the third and closing discourse of the prophet. After an introduction in vi. 1, 2, where the mountains serve only to give greater solemnity to the scene (in the fundamental passages Deut. xxxii. 1, and in Is. 1, 2, "heaven and earth" are mentioned for the same purposes, inasmuch as they are the most venerable parts of creation; "contend with the mountains" by taking them in and applying to [Pg 522] them as hearers), the prophet reminds the people of …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament Josiah, a Pattern for the Ignorant.
"Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before Me; I also have heard thee, saith the Lord. Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place."--2 Kings …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII The Blessings of Noah Upon Shem and Japheth. (Gen. Ix. 18-27. )
Ver. 20. "And Noah began and became an husbandman, and planted vineyards."--This does not imply that Noah was the first who began to till the ground, and, more especially, to cultivate the vine; for Cain, too, was a tiller of the ground, Gen. iv. 2. The sense rather is, that Noah, after the flood, again took up this calling. Moreover, the remark has not an independent import; it serves only to prepare the way for the communication of the subsequent account of Noah's drunkenness. By this remark, …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament The Right Understanding of the Law
Thou shalt have no other Gods before me.' Exod 20: 3. Before I come to the commandments, I shall answer questions, and lay down rules respecting the moral law. What is the difference between the moral laud and the gospel? (1) The law requires that we worship God as our Creator; the gospel, that we worship him in and through Christ. God in Christ is propitious; out of him we may see God's power, justice, and holiness: in him we see his mercy displayed. (2) The moral law requires obedience, but gives …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments Commerce
The remarkable change which we have noticed in the views of Jewish authorities, from contempt to almost affectation of manual labour, could certainly not have been arbitrary. But as we fail to discover here any religious motive, we can only account for it on the score of altered political and social circumstances. So long as the people were, at least nominally, independent, and in possession of their own land, constant engagement in a trade would probably mark an inferior social stage, and imply …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life Deuteronomy
Owing to the comparatively loose nature of the connection between consecutive passages in the legislative section, it is difficult to present an adequate summary of the book of Deuteronomy. In the first section, i.-iv. 40, Moses, after reviewing the recent history of the people, and showing how it reveals Jehovah's love for Israel, earnestly urges upon them the duty of keeping His laws, reminding them of His spirituality and absoluteness. Then follows the appointment, iv. 41-43--here irrelevant (cf. …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Deuteronomy 30:16 NIVDeuteronomy 30:16 NLTDeuteronomy 30:16 ESVDeuteronomy 30:16 NASBDeuteronomy 30:16 KJV
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