John Gill Commentary Deuteronomy 30
John Gill Commentary
Deuteronomy 30
John Gill Commentary
Deuteronomy 30
"And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither Jehovah thy God hath driven thee," — Deuteronomy 30:1 (ASV)
And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon
you
Declared, pronounced, foretold, and prophesied of in the three preceding chapters, especially in (Deuteronomy 28:1–68) ;
the blessing and the curse which I have set before you ;
the blessings promised to those that pay a regard to the will of God and obey his voice, and curses threatened to the see (Deuteronomy 28:1–20) ;
and you shall call [them] to mind among all the nations whither the
Lord your God has driven you ;
recollect the promises and the threatenings, and observe the exact accomplishment of them in their captivities, and especially in this their last and present captivity.
"and shalt return unto Jehovah thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul;" — Deuteronomy 30:2 (ASV)
And shall return unto the Lord your God
By repentance, acknowledging their manifold sins and transgressions, particularly their disbelief and rejection of the Messiah, now seeking him and salvation by him; see (Hosea 3:5) ;
and shall obey his voice ;
in the Gospel, yielding the obedience of faith to that; embracing the Gospel, and submitting to the ordinances of it:
according to all that I command you this day, you, and your children ;
which was to love the Lord, and walk in his ways, directed to in the Gospel, and which were to be regarded from a principle of love to God and the blessed Redeemer; see (Deuteronomy 30:6Deuteronomy 30:16) ;
with all your heart and with all your soul ;
that is, both their return unto the Lord, and their obedience to his voice or word, should be hearty and sincere; which being the case, the following things would be done for them.
"that then Jehovah thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the peoples, whither Jehovah thy God hath scattered thee." — Deuteronomy 30:3 (ASV)
That then the Lord your God will turn your captivity, and have
compassion on you
Return them from their captivity, or bring them out of it, both in a temporal and spiritual sense; free them from their present exile, and deliver them from the bondage of sin, Satan, and the law; and all this as the effect of his grace and mercy towards them, and compassion on them; see (Jeremiah 30:18) ; The Targum of Jonathan is,``his Word shall receive with good will your repentance;'' it being cordial and unfeigned, and fruits meet for it brought forth:
and will return and gather you from all the nations where the Lord
your God scattered you ;
or, "will again gather you" F11 ; as he had gathered them out of all places where they had been scattered, on their return from the Babylonish captivity; so will he again gather them from all the nations of the earth, east, west, north, and south, where they are now dispersed; when they shall turn to the Lord, and seek David their King, the true Messiah. Maimonides F12 understands this passage of their present captivity, and deliverance from it by the Messiah.
FOOTNOTES:
- F11: (Kubqw bvw) (kai palin sunaxei) , Sept. "et rursum congregabit te", V. L. "et iterum colliget te", Piscator.
- F12: Hilchot Melachim, c. 11. sect. 1.
"If [any of] thine outcasts be in the uttermost parts of heaven, from thence will Jehovah thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee:" — Deuteronomy 30:4 (ASV)
If [any] of yours be driven out to the outermost parts of
heaven
As many of them are in this remote island of ours, Great Britain, reckoned formerly the uttermost part of the earth, as Thule, supposed to be Schetland, an isle belonging to Scotland, is said to be.
And as some of them are thought to be in America, which Manasseh Ben Israel F14 has a firm belief of.
from thence will the Lord your God gather you, and from thence will he
fetch you ;
whose eye is omniscient, and reaches every part of the world; and whose arm is omnipotent, and none can stayit, or turn it back. The Targum of Jonathan is: "from thence will he bring you near by the hands of theKing Messiah."
FOOTNOTES:
- F14: Spes Israelis, sect. 38.
"and Jehovah thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers." — Deuteronomy 30:5 (ASV)
And the Lord your God will bring you into the land which your
fathers possessed, and you shall possess it
That the Jews upon their conversion in the latter day will return to the land of Judea again, and possess it,is the sense of many passages of Scripture; among others, see (Jeremiah 30:18) (Ezekiel 28:25Ezekiel 28:26) (Ezekiel 37:21Ezekiel 37:22Ezekiel 37:25) (Zechariah 10:10) ; the above Targum is; ``theWord of the Lord will bring you'' and he will do you good ;
both in things temporal and spiritual; see (Ezekiel 34:24–31) ;
and multiply you above your fathers ;
increase their number more than ever they were in any age; for they shall be as the sand of the sea, whichcannot be numbered, (Hosea 1:10Hosea 1:11) .
Jump to: