'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 set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; 16.
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. 17. But
if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be
drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; 18. 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. 19. 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: 20. 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.'--DEUT. xxx. 11-20.
This paragraph closes the legislation of this book, the succeeding
chapters being in the nature of an epilogue or appendix. It sums up the
whole law, makes plain its inmost essence and its tremendous
alternatives. As in the closing strains of some great symphony, the
themes which have run through the preceding movements are woven
together in the final burst of music. Let us try to discover the
component threads of the web.
The first point to note is the lofty conception of the true essence of
the whole law, which is enshrined here. 'This commandment which I
command thee this day' is twice defined in the section (vs. 16, 20),
and in both instances 'to love Jehovah thy God' is presented as the
all-important precept. Love is recognised as the great commandment.
Leviticus may deal with minute regulations for worship, but these are
subordinate, and the sovereign commandment is love. Nor is the motive
which should sway to love omitted; for what a tender drawing by the
memories of what He had done for Israel is put forth in the name of
'Jehovah, _thy_ God!' The Old Testament system is a spiritual system,
and it too places the very heart of religion in love to God, drawn out
by the contemplation of his self-revelation in his loving dealings with
us. We have here clearly recognised that the obedience which pleases
God is obedience born of love, and that the love which really sets
towards God will, like a powerful stream, turn all the wheels of life
in conformity to His will. When Paul proclaimed that 'love is the
fulfilling of the law,' he was only repeating the teaching of this
passage, when it puts 'to walk in His ways,' or 'to obey His voice,'
after 'to love Jehovah thy God.' Obedience is the result and test of
love; love is the only parent of real obedience.
The second point strongly insisted on here is the blessedness of
possessing such a knowledge as the law gives. Verses 11-14 present that
thought in three ways. The revelation is not that of duties far beyond
our capacity: 'It is not too hard for thee.' No doubt, complete
conformity with it is beyond our powers, and entire, whole-hearted, and
whole-souled love of God is not attained even by those who love Him
most. Paul's position that the law gives the knowledge of sin, just
because it presents an impossible elevation in its ideal, is not
opposed to the point of view of this context; for he is thinking of
complete conformity as impossible, while it is thinking of real, though
imperfect, obedience as within the reach of all men. No man can love as
he ought; every man can love. It is blessed to have our obligations all
gathered into such a commandment.
Again, the possession of the law is a blessing, because its
authoritative voice ends the weary quest after some reliable guide to
conduct, and we need neither try to climb to heaven, nor to traverse
the wide world and cross the ocean, to find certitude and enlightenment
enough for our need. They err who think of God's commandments as
grievous burdens; they are merciful guide-posts. They do not so much
lay weights on our backs as give light to our eyes.
Still further, the law has its echo 'in thy heart.' It is 'graven on
the fleshly tables of the heart,' and we all respond to it when it
gathers up all duty into 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God,' and our
consciences say to it, 'Thou speakest well.' The worst man knows it
better than the best man keeps it. Blurred and illegible often, like
the half-defaced inscriptions disinterred from the rubbish mounds that
once were Nineveh or Babylon, that law remains written on the hearts of
all men.
A further point to be well laid to heart is the merciful plainness and
emphasis with which the issues that are suspended on obedience or
disobedience are declared. The solemn alternatives are before every man
that hears. Life or death, blessing or cursing, are held out to him,
and it is for him to elect which shall be realised in his case. Of
course, it may be said that the words 'life' and 'death' are here used
in their merely physical sense, and that the context shows (vs. 17, 18)
that life here means only 'length of days, that thou mayest dwell in
the land.' No doubt that is so, though we can scarcely refuse to see
some glimmer of a deeper conception gleaming through the words, 'He is
thy life,' though it is but a glimmer. We have no space here to enter
upon the question of how far it is now true that obedience brings
material blessings. It was true for Israel, as many a sad experience
that it was a bitter as well as an evil thing to forsake Jehovah was to
show in the future. But though the connection between well-doing and
material gain is not so clear now, it is by no means abrogated, either
for nations or for individuals. Moral and religious law has social and
economic consequences, and though the perplexed distribution of earthly
good and ill often bewilders faith and emboldens scepticism, there
still is visible in human affairs a drift towards recompensing in the
world the righteous and the wicked.
But to us, with our Christian consciousness, 'life' means more than
living, and 'He is our life' in a deeper and more blessed sense than
that our physical existence is sustained by His continual energy. The
love of God and consequent union with Him give us the only true life.
Jesus is 'our life,' and He enters the spirit which opens to Him by
faith, and communicates to it a spark of His own immortal life. He that
is joined to Jesus lives; he that is separated from Him 'is dead while
he liveth.'
The last point here is the solemn responsibility for choosing one's
part, which the revelation of the law brings with it. 'I have set
before thee life and death, the blessing and the curse, therefore
choose life.' We each determine for ourselves whether the knowledge of
what we ought to be will lead to life or to death, and by choosing
obedience we choose life. Every ray of light from God is capable of
producing a double effect. It either gladdens or pains, it either gives
vision or blindness. The gospel, which is the perfect revelation of God
in Christ, brings every one of us face to face with the great
alternative, and urgently demands from each his personal act of choice
whether he will accept it or neglect or reject it. Not to choose to
accept _is_ to choose to reject. To do nothing is to choose death. The
knowledge of the law was not enough, and neither is an intellectual
reception of the gospel. The one bred Pharisees, who were 'whited
sepulchres'; the other breeds orthodox professors, who have 'a name to
live and are dead.' The clearer our light, the heavier our
responsibility. If we are to live, we have to 'choose life'; and if we
do not, by the vigorous exercise of our will, turn away from earth and
self, and take Jesus for our Saviour and Lord, loving and obeying whom
we love and obey God, we have effectually chosen a worse death than
that of the body, and flung away a better life than that of earth.