Israel's restoration.
The blackness of the picture of Israel's rejection and desolation is relieved by this rim of gold on the further edge. The verses seem to teach, not only that if Israel repent, mercy awaits it, but that Israel will repent; that a day of repentance is ordained for it—a day in which the veil that has been so long left lying on Jewish hearts will be lifted off, and the nation will mourn for him whom it has pierced and has so long rejected (Zechariah 12:9-14; Romans 11:25-33; 2 Corinthians 3:14-16). The result will be the incorporation of the Israelitish people into Christ's kingdom, with possibly restoration to the land given them as a national possession, and blessings, temporal and spiritual, beyond those bestowed upon their fathers (Deuteronomy 30:5). In a wider regard, the passage teaches—
I. THAT IN MAN'S CONVERSION, IT IS THE SINNER, NOT GOD, WHO CHANGES. Israel is saved at last, not by any lowering of the standard of holiness, or by any change in God's requirements, or by any new and easier way of life being discovered than that originally provided, but by Israel coming round to God's way of thinking, and doing in the end what God pleaded with it to do at first (Deuteronomy 30:2). After all their sorrowful experiences, the people are brought to this: that they must submit to do what they were told in the beginning that they ought to do. It is so always. There can be no change on God's part. If the sinner is to be saved, it is he who must forsake his thoughts and his ways (Isaiah 55:7). He must do at last what he now feels he has not the least inclination to do—what, as years go on, he is getting the more disinclined even to think about. Will he do it? Is it likely? Is it certain? If ever it is to come about, what agonies of soul must be gone through before so great a revolution can be produced!
II. THAT CONVERSION IS SOMETIMES A RESULT OF THE EXPERIENCE OF THE HARDNESS OF TRANSGRESSION. It is in the far-off country, broken, peeled, and scattered, that Israel, like the prodigal (Luke 15:14-19), remembers the Father's house. Is not this a reason why God sometimes leaves a sinner to eat of the fruit of his own devices—to take the reins upon his own neck, and plunge wildly away into sin's wildernesses?—that he may taste the hardness of such courses, the bitterness, the emptiness, the essential unsatisfyingness of a life of evil, and so, if by no gentler methods, be brought back to ways of righteousness? The penalties which attend sin are, while retributive, also designed in this world for the sinner's correction (Hosea 2:6-23; Hosea 14:1-9.).
III. THAT THE MOMENT THE SINNER RETURNS, GOD IS READY TO FORGIVE HIM. We must not, indeed, post-date the mercy of God, as if that waited on the sinner's self-moved return as a condition of showing him any kindness. God's gracious action goes before conversion—leading, drawing, striving, enlightening, aiding; nay, it is this gracious action which leads to conversion. This is of itself a pledge that when conversion comes, he who has thus drawn us to himself will not say us "nay." But we have express assurances, backed by numerous examples, that whoso cometh he will in no wise east out (Psalms 32:5; John 6:37; 1 John 1:9). There is:
1. Forgiveness, with reversal of sentence of rejection (Deuteronomy 30:3).
2. Redemption from bondage (Deuteronomy 30:3, Deuteronomy 30:4; Colossians 1:13).
3. Restoration to inheritance (Deuteronomy 30:5; Ephesians 1:14).
4. A new heart and spirit (Deuteronomy 30:6).
5. Deliverance from enemies (Deuteronomy 30:7; 2 Thessalonians 1:5, 2 Thessalonians 1:6).
6. Untold blessings (Deuteronomy 30:9; Ephesians 1:3).—J.O.