Deuteronomy 30:15-20: Edit history

Context

Deuteronomy consists of the farewell sermons that Moses delivered to Israel on the plains of Moab before they crossed the Jordan River. Chapters 29–30 depict the renewal of the covenant in Moab, and this passage is their conclusion. Moses has already set forth blessings and curses (chapter 28), the promise of restoration after exile (30:1-10), and the assurance that the commandment is not far off (30:11-14). He now calls the people to choose between two ways: loving and obeying God, or serving other gods. The expression "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you" signifies the summoning of witnesses to the covenant.

Interpretation

• Historical and literary reading: A view widely known in Old Testament scholarship compares this structure, in which blessings and curses are set side by side and witnesses are summoned, to the suzerainty treaties of the ancient Near East. A suzerainty treaty was an agreement between the king of a great power and a vassal state. In this reading, "good" and "life" refer to the community's long life in the promised land.
• Reformed reading: The Reformed tradition understands this exhortation as setting forth the responsibility of the covenant people. At the same time, it reads the passage together with the promise in verse 6 of the same chapter that God "will circumcise thine heart." It therefore holds that even the ability to obey comes from the grace of God.
• Wesleyan reading: Traditions shaped by Wesleyan theology, such as Methodist and Holiness churches, cite this passage as grounds for holding that human beings bear a genuine responsibility to respond and to choose. The prior grace of God that makes such a response possible is called prevenient grace.
• Jewish reading: Within Judaism, too, this passage has long been cited as a classic text on human free choice.

Debates and Issues

• Predestination and free will: In the predestination and free will debate, this passage is frequently cited in support of positions that emphasize free will. Calvinists respond that a command to choose does not in itself imply an ability to choose on one's own.
• The scope of "good": Proponents of prosperity theology sometimes cite this passage as grounds for the claim that obedience brings material blessing to the individual. Critics respond that this blessing is bound to a covenantal context concerning the community of Israel and the promised land and therefore cannot be turned into a formula for personal wealth.
• Translation: In Korean Bible translation, the Korean Revised Version (Gaeyeok Hangeul) uses the archaic verb bujong-hara, meaning "to cling to and follow," to render the Hebrew dabaq ("to cleave, to hold fast"). The alternation in the Korean text between singular and plural forms of "you" reflects the interchange of singular and plural forms in the original Hebrew.

Related Passages

• Deuteronomy 30:11-14
• Deuteronomy 28:13-15
• Joshua 24:14-25
• Galatians 3:10-14
• Matthew 7:13-14