Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 30:20
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 swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
20. love obey cleave ] See on Deu 6:5, Deu 10:20, Deu 13:4 (5).
for that is thy life, etc.] Variant from Deu 4:1; Deu 4:40, etc.
sware ] See on Deu 1:8.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 20. That thou mayest love the Lord] Without love there can be no obedience.
Obey his voice] Without obedience love is fruitless and dead.
And – cleave unto him] Without close attachment and perseverance, temporary love, however sincere and fervent – temporary obedience, however disinterested, energetic, and pure while it lasts – will be ultimately ineffectual. He alone who endures to the end, shall be saved. Reader, how do matters stand between God and thy soul? He cannot persevere in the grace of God whose soul is not yet made a partaker of that grace. Many talk strenuously on the impossibility of falling from grace, who have not yet tasted that the Lord is gracious. How absurd to talk and dispute about the infallibility of arriving safely at the end of a way in which a man has never yet taken one hearty step! It is never among those that have the grace of God, but among those that have it not, that we find an overweening confidence.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He is thy life, i.e. the cause or author of thy life, as life is used Joh 14:6; 17:3.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
That thou mayest love the Lord thy God,…. And show it by keeping his commands:
[and] that thou mayest obey his voice; in his word, and by his prophets:
and that thou mayest cleave unto him; and to his worship, and not follow after and serve other gods:
for he [is] thy life, and the length of thy days; the God of their lives, and the Father of their mercies; the giver of long life, and all the blessings of it; and which he had promised to those that were obedient, to him, and which they might expect:
that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them; the land of Canaan, often thus described; this was the grand promise made to obedience to the law, and was typical of eternal life and happiness; which is had, not through man’s obedience to the law, but through the obedience and righteousness of Christ.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
, for that (namely, to love the Lord) is thy life, that is, the condition of life, and of long life, in the promised land (vid., Deu 4:40).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(20) He is thy life, and the length of thy days.This is the Old Testament form of a well-known saying in the New Testament, which may yet be fulfilled in Israel, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die (Joh. 11:25-26).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
I beg the Reader to take particular notice of what is included in the parenthesis, that he is thy life and the length of thy days. Is not this clearly referring to the LORD JESUS? Who is the life of his people, but he that hath said, I am the way, and the truth, and the life?-No man cometh unto the FATHER but by me? Dearest LORD! be thou my life and my portion forever. Joh 14:6 .
REFLECTIONS
BEHOLD! my soul, the earnestness with which Moses, the man of GOD follows up his Sermon, in the warm and impassioned manner he adopts in the close of it, so as to persuade the Israelites to duty and obedience. But, alas! what persuasion can operate until grace pleads in the soul? When thou hast fully viewed the solemn picture, and art become as fully satisfied from thine own feelings, that nothing less than sovereign grace, can be competent to restrain the corrupt passions of man’s fallen nature; then, my soul, from Moses turn thy view to contemplate the LORD JESUS CHRIST: and behold in him the only possible source to enable sinners both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Oh! thou ever-blessed JESUS, that art the first cause and final end of all the hopes, the strength, the ability, the holy desires of thy people. In thee we behold an adequate relief for all our wants. It is thou and thou alone, which by the influence of thine HOLY SPIRIT in the minds of thy people, dost first awaken eternal life; and as thou begettest, so thou alone canst maintain, support, preserve, and carry it on from day today in the soul. Oh! enable me to cleave unto thee, for thou art my life, and the length of my days; thou art my hope, and my portion forever. Do thou, by the sweet constraining influence of thine HOLY SPIRIT, keep me close to thyself, that I may live upon thy fulness, have the lively actings of faith upon thy person, and live to thy praise here, until thou shalt bring me home, to rejoice in thy glory forever.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Deu 30:20 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.
Ver. 20. For he is thy life. ] He in whom thou livest, as the fish doth in the water, the lamp in the oil, &c. He is the author of life natural, spiritual, and eternal to his obedient servants.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
in the land = on the soil. Hebrew. ‘adamah.
thy fathers. All three Patriarchs are named. See note on Gen 50:24.
them. This is the end of the sixth address. See note on Deu 1:1.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
love: Deu 30:6, Deu 30:16, Deu 10:12, Deu 11:22
cleave: Deu 4:4, Deu 10:20, Jos 23:8, Act 11:23, Rom 12:9
thy life: Psa 27:1, Psa 30:5, Psa 36:9, Psa 66:9, Joh 11:25, Joh 11:26, Joh 14:6, Joh 17:3, Act 17:25, Act 17:28, Gal 2:20, Col 3:3, Col 3:4, Rev 21:6, Rev 22:1, Rev 22:17
thou mayest: Deu 4:40, Deu 5:16, Deu 11:9, Deu 12:10
Reciprocal: Gen 5:5 – nine Gen 12:7 – Unto thy Deu 13:4 – and cleave Deu 20:6 – eaten of it 1Ki 3:3 – loved Psa 34:12 – What Psa 37:29 – General Ecc 7:12 – the excellency Jer 7:23 – Obey Jer 11:7 – in the Jer 35:15 – ye shall dwell Act 7:38 – lively
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Deu 30:20. That thou mayest love the Lord thy God Here he shows them in short what their duty is; to love God as the Lord, a being most amiable, and as their God, a God in covenant with them: as an evidence of their love, to obey his voice in every thing, and by constancy in this love and obedience, to cleave to him all their days. And what encouragement had they to do this? For he is thy life and the length of thy days He gives life, preserves life, restores life, and prolongs it, by his power, though it be a frail life, and by his presence, though it be a forfeited life. He sweetens life by his comforts, and completes all in life everlasting.