Original Meaning
IN THESE VERSES MOSES brings his audience back to the present with a final appeal. His pastoral concern is clear as he reminds the Israelites of the reasonableness of the covenantal demands (vv. 11–14) and challenges them to choose the right course (vv. 15–20).
The Accessibility of the Revelation of God (30:11–14)
IN VERSES 11–14 Moses reiterates that the demands of covenant relationship are not unknowable, unreasonable, incomprehensible, or impossible. On the contrary, they are accessible and doable. Seldom in the book has the argumentation been so tight. Beginning with a thesis statement expressed negatively (v. 11), Moses presents two supporting arguments virtually identical in style and structure, and then concludes with a positive answer to the opening thesis.
The paragraph opens with the particle kî (NIV “Now”), marking the peak or climax of the third address.1 In 29:14[13] Moses had thrust his audience forward to the distant future, warning them not to slide into apostasy (29:14–28[13–27]), but ultimately offering hope that in the end Yahweh’s compassion will win over his anger (30:1–10). If we read the main body of this covenant renewal oration (29:2–13, 29[1–12, 28]; 30:11–20) as a continuous narrative, the particle kî links this paragraph directly to 29:29[28], suggesting that verses 11–14 expand on “all the words of this law [Torah]” that have been revealed to the Israelites.2 In the opening declaration, “this command” (hammiṣwâ, untrans. in NIV) refers to all the covenantal demands.3 While some suggest this word serves as a virtual synonym for hattôrâ, “the Torah, instruction,”4 the singular form may also refer to the Supreme Command—under which all others are subsumed—expressed in the first command of the Decalogue and the second part of the Shema (6:5; cf. 10:12–21).
In 30:12–13 Moses inserts the voices of two hypothetical interlocutors, through whom he makes two important disclaimers about the command. (1) The command is not “too difficult” (niplēʾt) for the Israelites’ comprehension or performance (v. 11). This word may refer either to something beyond one’s understanding5 or beyond one’s power to perform.6 Here Moses probably intends the word to be understood in the broadest sense. The command is not so baffling that only a magician can grasp it, nor is it so difficult that it demands superhuman strength. For Yahweh to have imposed on his people a standard of conduct that was impossible to achieve would not have been a gracious act, but the ultimate in tyranny.
(2) The command is not out of reach. Moses makes this point with two illustrations cast in virtually identical form. Imagining a person embarking on a long journey to retrieve the command and then returning with it and teaching it to the people, Moses juxtaposes heaven and sea as a merism to express “any conceivable destination.”7 Several extrabiblical texts provide analogues to Moses’ comment.8 Although Moses was probably unaware of this cosmic journey tradition, his comment appears to answer the questions raised by the righteous sufferer in Ludlul Bēl Nēmeqi: “Who knows the will of the gods in heaven? Who understands the plans of the underworld gods? Where have mortals learnt the way of a god?”9
In contrast to the inaccessibility of the minds of the gods, the revelation of God, that is, “the word,” is right here and need not be retrieved from a distant place. The switch from “this command” in verse 11 to “the word” in verse 14 appears stylistic, but the choice invites association with “the words,” which collectively designate Moses’ instructions (cf. 1:1). Moses’ equation of “this command” and “the word” provides further insight into the significance of his final addresses. In contrast to the secret things that Yahweh has reserved for himself (29:29[28]), through Moses’ speeches Yahweh’s revelation is brought near to the present generation, and the people are given a mind to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear (cf. 29:4[3]).
The expression “near” suggests a link with 4:7–8, which speaks of Yahweh’s nearness to Israel. What is true of Yahweh is also true of “this command.” Verse 14 indicates the revelation is extremely near, in their mouths and in their minds/hearts; by recitation they commit it to memory.10 Through the concluding purpose clause in this verse, Moses declares that his instruction is to guide the Israelites’ conduct. The statement assumes that both the Supreme Command and the detailed body of instructions that flow from it are, in fact, doable. In calling for wholehearted obedience, Yahweh does not demand what is unknowable, impossible, or unreasonable. If Israel fails—and they will (31:16–18)—it will not be because the people cannot keep the law because the bar is impossibly high, but that they will not keep it. While every generation will produce individuals who are righteous and loyal to Yahweh (i.e., true Israelites), here the concern is spiritual recidivism of the nation as a whole. Their success depends on the fidelity of the group.
The Two Ways (vv. 15–20)
MOSES CONCLUDES HIS THIRD address with an urgent appeal to choose wisely between the two options he has been presenting all along (cf. 11:26–28). The structure of the present paragraph may be highlighted graphically as follows (pers. trans. below):
See, I set before you today |
The Choice | life
and prosperity | death
and disaster. |
The Conditions | which I am commanding you today by loving Yahweh your God by walking in his ways, and to keep his commands decrees and laws; | But if your heart turns away and you do not obey and you are seduced and you prostrate yourself before other gods and serve them |
I declare to you this day |
The Consequences | then you will live and increase, and Yahweh your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess it. | that you will certainly be destroyed. Your days shall not be lengthened on the soil you are crossing the Jordan to enter to possess it. |
In view of the language,11 many consider this unit a distillation of “Deuteronomic theology,” according to which obedience results in blessing and disobedience results in the curse.12 Adopting a style imitated in later wisdom writings,13 Moses the teacher/preacher presents two options and outlines the consequences of each. If they demonstrate love for Yahweh by walking in his ways and obeying all his commands, they will enjoy life and prosperity; but if they turn away from Yahweh and his way, they “will certainly be destroyed” (v. 18). Here “the life” and “the good” (lit. trans.; note the article in the Heb.) represent functional equivalents to “the blessing” (11:26; 28:1–14), while “the death and the destruction” (again, note the article) represent the curse (11:26; 28:15–68).
Verse 16 begins awkwardly in Hebrew with a subordinate clause that elsewhere refers to something that Moses has previously commanded.14 In 11:27, “if you obey the commands of the LORD your God” precedes this clause, which suggests that here in 30:16, either Moses assumes the people would have filled in the blank, or the omission represents a scribal lapse.15 Accordingly, the following infinitives should be interpreted modally: Israel obeys the commands of Yahweh that Moses is commanding them “by loving” Yahweh their God, “by walking” in his ways, and “by keeping” his commands, decrees, and laws (cf. 10:12). The consequences of infidelity involve the opposites of the benefactions Moses had promised as reward for fidelity: instead of life, death; instead of good, disaster.16
Naturally, the kinds of behavior that bring on death and disaster involve a change in disposition away from Yahweh, demonstrated in disobedience and worship of other gods (vv. 17–18). Whereas obedience yields life, multiplication, and blessing in the land the Israelites are entering, disobedience yields certain destruction, death, and shortened life spans in the land they are entering. By inserting “I declare to you this day” (v. 18) between the conditions and the consequences of disobedience, Moses adds solemnity to the warning.
Moses concludes his final address with an impassioned appeal to choose rightly (v. 19). Repeating a statement from the paraenetic ending to the first address (4:26), he calls on the heavens and the earth to testify against Israel that he has presented these options to them. The Hebrew of the second half of verse 19 is emphatic: “The life and the death I have put before you; the blessing and the curse” (pers. trans.). The references to life and death reiterate the opening of this paragraph (v. 15), and the references to the blessing and the curse are borrowed from 11:26–27.
The final call to “choose life” at the end of verse 19 represents both the high point of Moses’ final address and the climax of his preaching on the plains of Moab. This clause governs the rest of verses 19 and 20, being followed immediately by a purpose clause and then by three modal infinitives. To choose life means to demonstrate covenant commitment (“love”) to Yahweh in actions that serve his interests, to “listen” to the voice of Yahweh, and to “hold fast” to him alone.17
But the choice is binary: life or death. The three infinitives with which verse 20 opens assume that proper choices involve the entire person and that Israel holds the keys to life in their own hands. Here Moses understands “life” in both quantitative and qualitative terms. “Life” means a long life in which the effects of sin and premature death are staved off. But it also means dwelling in the land that Yahweh had promised on oath to give to their ancestors. With this last reference to the ancestors Moses has come full circle, ending where he began—with the people on the verge of the Promised Land and with Yahweh’s sworn promises ringing in his ears. Yahweh always keeps his word; the question here is, will the people keep theirs?
Bridging Contexts
MOSES’ PREACHING CONTINUES. ALTHOUGH Moses’ farewell addresses to his congregation have ended, his voice is not silenced. The sound of his preaching rings through the centuries, not only through the sermons preserved in the book of Deuteronomy, but also in the compositions of historians, prophets, sages, and psalmists, who remind us that those who claim to be God’s people always stand at the moment of decision: Will we love God? Will we listen to his voice? Will we hold fast to him alone?
Joshua picked up Moses’ plea in his own farewell address with the challenge: “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.” And then he presented himself as a model, “As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD” (Josh. 24:15). Sadly, the history of Israel is a history of wrong choices. To be sure, there were individuals who chose life. The history of the nation is framed by two such persons. For his loyalty, at the beginning Caleb gained the honorific title “my servant,” and enjoyed the delights of dwelling in the land, because he possessed a different spirit and followed Yahweh fully (Num. 14:24).18 At the end, Josiah received the supreme commendation: “Before him there was no king like him, who turned to Yahweh with his whole inner being, his whole person, and all his resources, according to the entire Torah of Moses” (2 Kings 23:25, pers. trans.). But in the swirl of Judah’s final decades, even his life was cut short by a “random” Egyptian arrow.
The author of Hebrews summarizes well the exodus generation’s rejection of the glorious grace of Yahweh demonstrated in election, redemption, covenant, and providential care: “For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith” (Heb. 4:2; cf. Num. 32:11–12). The same was true of their grandchildren. According to Judges, within a generation after crossing the Jordan, the Israelites repeatedly made wrong choices, bringing on themselves the covenant curses. They chose death rather than life, and only by Yahweh’s grace did the nation emerge at the end of second millennium BC more or less intact—physically at least. But spiritually they all did what was right in their own eyes (Judg. 17:6; 21:25).
After the establishment of the Davidic monarchy, within a generation Israel’s kings led the way in wrong choices, greasing the nation’s downward slide to destruction. Israel’s choice of death was so fixed that Isaiah could rhetorically twist the notion of Israel’s covenant relationship with Yahweh into their own “covenant with death” (Isa. 28:15, 18). Overcome by the power of their flesh (cf. Rom. 8:3), the Israelites refused to link the good news represented by Yahweh’s offer of life with faith (e.g., Num. 14:11). Instead of circumcising their hearts and submitting to the divine circumcision, they hardened their hearts, refused to listen to Yahweh’s voice, and broke the covenant (cf. Heb. 8:9 [Jer. 31:32]). This led to Yahweh’s suspension of his promised blessing and the imposition of the covenant curses.
Paul and Deuteronomy 30. However, Moses and the prophets, particularly Jeremiah (Jer. 31:1–40) and Ezekiel (Ezek. 34; 36:13–38; 37:1–28), and Paul in the New Testament (Romans 9–11), insisted that Israel’s story would not end with the exile. Through God’s gracious work in fulfillment of his covenant commitments, the nation would rise again and fulfill the ideals Moses declared in his farewell addresses. However, when Paul spoke of Christ being brought down from heaven and brought up from the abyss, he took the present text in a surprising direction. The following synopsis of literal translations shows that his argument was based loosely on the Septuagintal reading of Deuteronomy 30:11–14:
Deuteronomy 30:11–14 (LXX) | Romans 10:6b–8 |
For this command that I am commanding you today is not excessive or far away; It is not in heaven above, saying ‘Who will go up to heaven for us and get it to us so hearing it we may do [it]?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, saying, ‘Who will cross over beyond the sea for us and bring it to us so hearing it we may do [it].’ The word is very near in your mouth and in your heart and in your hand to do it. | Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will go up to heaven that is, to bring Christ down?’ or ‘Who will go down to the Abyss that is, to bring Christ up from the dead?’ But what does it say, ‘Near you is the word, in your mouth and in your heart.’ That is, the word of faith that we proclaim. |
New Testament scholars have gone to great lengths to rationalize Paul’s christological adaptation of this text.19 However, we must remember that Paul functions primarily as a rhetorician rather than as a scholar engaged in grammatical-historical exegesis as we practice it. His intent was not to unlock the mysteries of Moses’ statement in Deuteronomy 30:11–14, but to exalt Christ by highlighting him as the climax of the covenant20 for all who believe (Rom. 10:4), and to expose Jewish abuse of the law by divorcing it from faith and claiming access to relationship with God on the basis of superior righteousness (cf. Rom. 9:30–32).21 Paul began his argument by appealing to Yahweh’s own promise in Leviticus 18:5, that those who faithfully keep the ordinances and laws will live by them. This is in perfect harmony with the spirit of the entire book of Deuteronomy22 and accords with the disposition of psalmists, who delight in keeping Torah and find in obedience to Torah the way of life.23
Remarkably, Deuteronomy lacks the Hebrew equivalent of Paul’s pistis (“faith”). However, the absence of the word does not mean the absence of the concept. The offer of life as a reward for obedience in Deuteronomy assumes obedience to be expression of faith, an outworking of exclusive devotion to and fear of Yahweh.24 We should not confuse the ideals of the Torah as laid out in Deuteronomy generally and 30:11–14 in particular with Israel’s historical response to the same. Paul cannot hereby be correcting a flaw in the Torah, for that would contradict its perfections by virtue of its divine origin. Romans 10:5 and 6–9 do not represent opposing notions, as if in its original context the law offered a “works righteousness,” in contrast to the “righteousness by faith” for which Paul appeals. Rather, Paul hereby corrects a contemporary misinterpretation and misuse of the law. His Jewish detractors treat obedience to the law as the ticket into the kingdom of God, when that ticket is to be understood as a gracious gift to be received only by faith. Paul and Moses agree that divine soteriological favor is not won through obedience to the law; rather, willing obedience to the law is proof that one has accepted by faith the grace that God has offered (cf. Deut. 6:20–25).
We should also be cautious when wrestling with the relationship between Paul’s use of excerpts from Deuteronomy 30:12–14 and their function in the original context. No doubt Paul understood the intent of Moses’ words in their original context. In fact, he brilliantly recognizes the analogous relationship between the “command/word” in Deuteronomy 30:11, 14, and Christ. For the Israelites of Moses’ day to learn the will of Yahweh required no effort at all, for Yahweh had freely and graciously revealed his will. Indeed, to have commissioned agents to go and fetch a word from God either from heaven or from some far-off land would have been an act of unbelief and a repudiation of the grace already received.
Paul applies the same principle to Christ. There is no need to go up to heaven or down to the netherworld to retrieve Christ. In the incarnation Christ came down from heaven, and in the resurrection he came up from the abyss. Whereas in the original context faith was demonstrated by accepting the Torah and submitting to Yahweh, in the wake of the resurrection, faith is demonstrated in accepting Christ and in submitting to him. Jesus is more than the embodiment of the law; because he is Yahweh incarnate, he, rather than the law, is now “the focus of God’s revelatory word.”25
But how can Paul link the “command”/“word” in Deuteronomy 30:11–14 with Christ? Is this some sort of midrashic exegesis or an ancient rhetorical method? Although we cannot be sure Moses was making the link here, the use of the adjective qârôb to describe the “nearness” of the word in verse 14 recalls Moses’ statement in 4:7 that Yahweh, Israel’s God, is “near” (qerôbîm) to his people. Indeed within the reception history of Moses’ final address, Yahweh and the Torah are intimately associated—so intimate that in Psalm 119 human actions and dispositions we would expect to be directed toward Yahweh are directed instead toward the word/command, as if God is identified with the word. In many instances expressions for “law”/“word”/“Torah” can be substituted with the divine name Yahweh.26
Given these associations of the “word” with Yahweh, Paul’s substitution of Jesus Christ for the “command”/“word” in Deuteronomy 30:11, 14 begins to make sense. In the context of Romans 10 Paul’s goal is to prove not only that Jesus Christ is analogous to the Torah declared by Moses, but also that Jesus is to be identified with Yahweh, to whom the Israelites were to be committed without reservation and on whose behalf Moses spoke. This is suggested in Romans 10:8b by Paul’s association of “the word of faith that we are proclaiming” with the confession “Jesus is Lord” in 10:9.
But what is the meaning of the confession, “Jesus is Lord” (kyrion Iēsoun)? On first impulse it is tempting to interpret this as a confession of Jesus’ lordship, perhaps in response to Caesarian demands to accept the Roman emperor as lord. However, the word kyrios (“lord”) in the New Testament was used as an epithet, reflecting both Hebrew ʾ adôn (“Lord”) and the divine name yhwh (“Yahweh”). By the latter interpretation, the confession signifies “Jesus is Yahweh,”27 which differs from verse 12, where the characterization of Jesus as “Lord of all” obviously speaks to his sovereignty rather than his identity.28
This interpretation of kyrion Iēsoun is reinforced by several additional features. (1) Leviticus 18:5, which Romans 10:5 quotes, is framed by the divine self-introduction formula: “I am Yahweh, your God; and you shall keep my ordinances and laws, by the doing of which you shall live; I am Yahweh” (pers. trans.).29 (2) Just as the signs and wonders of Egypt fulfilled Yahweh’s self-revelatory goals, so God’s raising of Jesus from the dead proved his identity with Yahweh (Rom. 10:7). (3) Paul’s punctuation of Romans 10:1–13 with soteriological language (vv. 1, 9, 13) suggests he was looking back beyond Moses’ address in Deuteronomy 29–30 to the exodus. (4) Finally by applying Joel 2:32[3:5] to Christ (v. 13), Paul identifies Jesus with Yahweh. Accordingly, the confession kyrion Iēsoun (“Jesus is Yahweh”) resembles a similar confession in Philippians 2:9–11: kyrios Iēsous Christos (“Jesus Christ is Yahweh”).30
Paul’s identification of Christ with Yahweh is not intended primarily to contrast the law as a way of works righteousness and the righteousness that comes by faith, but to up the ante for his Jewish audience. Whereas Moses challenged the Israelites to demonstrate faith by choosing life and submitting to the Torah, Paul declares that in view of the death and resurrection of Christ, those who would be saved must put their faith in Jesus Christ, who is Yahweh come in the flesh. As the “the end of the law,” Jesus is both the perfect embodiment of Torah righteousness and the embodiment of Yahweh himself, the source of the Torah. Thus the incarnation goes far beyond the revelation involved in the Torah. Whereas Moses could only mediate divine grace by teaching Torah, in Jesus grace and truth are embodied (John 1:17).31
In recognizing this link between the “command”/“word” in Deuteronomy 30:11, 14, we may have solved the riddle of Paul’s citation of this verse in Romans 10:6–8, but we may also have stumbled upon the riddle represented by the prologue of John’s gospel. What is said of Christ, the divine Word, in John 1:1–18 could be said of the revealed word in Deuteronomy. Moreover, what is said of John the Baptizer is true of Moses: “He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light” (John 1:8). The juxtaposing of rejection and belief in John 1:11–12 is analogous to Moses’ challenge in Deuteronomy 30:15–20 to choose life. John 1:14 finally explains the link between the presence of Yahweh in Deuteronomy 4:7–8 and the presence of the “word” in 30:11, 14. The grace represented by the Torah mediated by Moses is now embodied in Christ. Through Christ, God has revealed the “hidden things” of Deuteronomy 29:29[28]. If this interpretation is correct, then 29:29[28] and 30:11–14 provide the first hint in the book of the glorious events with which the New Testament opens. In light of the incarnation, the crucifixion, and the resurrection, we see in Christ the grace of God embodied. Therefore, whoever will call upon the name of Yahweh—that is, Christ—will be saved.
Contemporary Significance
GOD’S SELF-REVELATION. THE SIGNIFICANCE of a text like this for the church today is no mystery. As heirs of God’s revelation to Israel and as those who understand the climactic revelation in Christ, we celebrate the grace expressed in the name Immanuel. God is near, and his will is clearly revealed. In our post-Christian spiritual environment, the quest for the mind of God takes many forms: Eastern religions, meditation, fascination with the cultic practices of aboriginal populations, and hunger after “words of knowledge.” This text reminds us that God has taken the initiative in revealing himself; no human quests to the far corners of the globe or into the deep recesses of the soul are needed.
A further dimension to the good news of this passage is that what God has revealed of himself—in the Word and in Christ—is clear, and the response that he calls forth from us is doable. God does not demand of his people that they jump over nine-story buildings; he asks the reasonable and calls for the doable. That he should have revealed himself to us is marvelous, but that which he asks of us is plain: to demonstrate love for God in Christ through joyful obedience and grateful service.
Choose life! While Israel failed collectively, God’s response to individuals who choose life offers inspiration to all. Although we must caution against an unhealthy individualism, the facts remain that God takes no pleasure in the death of anyone (Ezek. 18:32), and that the course of life is open to all. Ezekiel 18 emphasizes that there are no victims; people’s standing before God and their ultimate destiny—life or death—is in their own hands. Such is the gospel according to Moses, and such is the gospel according to Jesus, who invites us to “enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it” (Matt. 7:13). This is not only a warning against choosing the wrong path that leads to death and destruction, but also an invitation to choose the path of life. Thanks be to God!