©Michael Player
Chapter 30:1-10 (ESV) - “And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you, and return to the LORD your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. And the LORD your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. And the LORD your God will put all these curses on your foes and enemies who persecuted you. And you shall again obey the voice of the LORD and keep all his commandments that I command you today. The LORD your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the LORD will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, when you obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”
Question to consider: Does Moses sound confident that Israel will keep the commandments?
In today’s passage, Moses not only spoke prophetically, but he revealed an important character trait of the LORD. King David described it this way, “For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (Psalm 51:16-17) The LORD shows mercy and restores someone who comes to Him with a contrite heart (a heart that desires to repent) and confesses their sin.
The prophet, Jonah, understood this about God, but it infuriated him that God would be this way toward the Gentiles. He said, “O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.” (Jonah 4:2)
Israel experienced all of the judgments against them after years and years of continually violating God’s covenant, and from this passage, it is apparent that Moses knew they were going to fall short in keeping the Law. Throughout the books of Kings, there were those who introduced idolatry into the land and married those who worshiped foreign gods. Then another king would rise up and tear down all of the idols and point people back to the LORD in repentance. The culture of Israel went the way of their kings and the priests and prophets who supported them.
After the Babylonian exile, there was a remnant of Israel who confessed their sins and turned back to the LORD, and He gave them peace and prosperity in the land and a new temple. Their repentance was short-lived though, and they remained a vassal state to Babylon, then the Medes and Persians, then Greece, and then Rome before the Holy Spirit regathered Israel from all over the world to Jerusalem, and the church was born at Pentecost after Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father. I believe all of these prophecies Moses gave about the restoration of Israel, the circumcision of their hearts and their prosperity describe the growth of the church, for only through the finished work of Christ could they “have obeyed the voice of the LORD and kept all his commandments.”
Christ’s death made the earthly temple desolate, and the curtain which separated the Most Holy Place from the rest of the temple was torn so everyone could see that the temple was left to them desolate. It would be utterly destroyed by Rome in AD 70, and yet the kingdom of Christ would take over the world within a couple of centuries.
Dear heavenly Father, thank You for giving us mercy and forgiveness when we deserve only judgment and destruction. Help us to set aside our own attempts at righteousness and cling to Christ who has kept the Law for us. Amen.