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Deuteronomy

About this book
Chapter 30

1 “When you have experienced all these things, both the blessings and the curses⁠ I have set before you, you will reflect upon them in all the nations where the Lord your God has banished you. 2 Then if you and your descendants turn to the Lord your God⁠ and obey him with your whole mind and being just as I am commanding you today,⁠ 3 the Lord your God will reverse your captivity and have pity on you. He will turn and gather you from all the peoples among whom he has scattered you.⁠ 4 Even if your exiles are in the most distant land, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back.⁠ 5 Then he will bring you to the land your ancestors possessed and you also will possess it; he will do better for you and multiply you more than he did your ancestors.⁠ 6 The Lord your God will also cleanse your heart, and the hearts of your descendants so that you may love him with all your mind and being and so that you may live. 7 Then the Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies, on those who hate you and persecute you. 8 You will return and obey the Lord, keeping all his commandments I am giving you today. 9 The Lord your God will make the labor of your hands abundantly successful and multiply your children, the offspring of your cattle, and the produce of your soil. For the Lord will once more rejoice over you to make you prosperous just as he rejoiced over your ancestors,⁠ 10 if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commandments and statutes that are written in this scroll of the law. But you must turn to him with your whole mind and being. 11 “This commandment I am giving you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it too remote.⁠ 12 It is not in heaven, as though one must say, ‘Who will go up to heaven to get it for us and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’⁠ 13 And it is not across the sea,⁠ as though one must say, ‘Who will cross over to the other side of the sea and get it for us and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’ 14 For the thing is very near you—it is in your mouth and in your mind so that you can do it. 15 “Look! I have set before you today life and prosperity on the one hand, and death and disaster on the other.⁠ 16 What I am commanding you today is to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to obey his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances. Then you will live and become numerous and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are about to possess. 17 However, if you turn aside and do not obey, but are lured away to worship and serve other gods, 18 I declare to you this very day that you will certainly perish! You will not extend your time in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess. 19 Today I invoke heaven and earth as witnesses against you⁠ that I have set life and death, blessing and curse, before you. Therefore choose life so that you and your descendants may live! 20 I also call on you to love the Lord your God, to obey him and be loyal to him, for he gives you life and enables you to live continually in the land the Lord promised to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

Texts in conversation

Compare Deuteronomy 30:15 and Matthew 7:13

Hebrew Bible · New Testament

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Summary

In Matthew 7, Jesus teaches about the Two Ways, one leading to death and the other to life, based on Deuteronomy where this choice describes covenant obedience. In Jewish tradition, this interpretation of Deuteronomy becomes an eschatological choice.

Passages

Deuteronomy 30:15

Hebrew Bible
11 “This commandment I am giving you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it too remote. 12 It is not in heaven, as though one must say, ‘Who will go up to heaven to get it for us and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’ 13 And it is not across the sea, as though one must say, ‘Who will cross over to the other side of the sea and get it for us and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’ 14 For the thing is very near you—it is in your mouth and in your mind so that you can do it. 15 “Look! I have set before you today life and prosperity on the one hand, and death and disaster on the other. 16 What I am commanding you today is to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to obey his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances. Then you will live and become numerous and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are about to possess.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Deuteronomy

Matthew 7:13

New Testament
9 Is there anyone among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you then, although you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 In everything, treat others as you would want them to treat you, for this fulfills the law and the prophets. 13 “Enter through the narrow gate because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 How narrow is the gate and difficult the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it!
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

References

"... In Matthew 7:13–14, Jesus mentions in two perfectly balanced lines two ways leading to two opposite destinations: one to destruction [εἰς τὴν ἀπώλειαν] and the other to life [εἰς τὴν ζωήν]. The theme of two ways is set in Jewish moral tradition, as is apparent in passages from the First Testament, for example, in Psalm 1:6, Psalm 119:29–32 and Proverbs 28:6, 18. Jewish texts, especially those with eschatological orientations (Keener 1999:250), also refer to two ways. The Second Book of Enoch, a pseudepigraphic text in the apocalyptic genre dating from the first century AD, tells that God showed Adam ‘the two ways, the light and the darkness, and God told him: “this is good and that is bad”’ (2 Enoch 30:15). The Berakot, a Babylonian tractate of the Mishnah and Talmud, composed by the end of the Mishnaic period (c. 200 AD), also refers to two ways: ‘There are two ways before me, one leading to Paradise and the other to Gehinnom’ (b. Berakhot 28b). The Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael, which reflects Scriptural exegesis in Judaism, interprets Exodus 14:28 by stating that God put before Adam ‘two ways, the way of life and the way of death’ (Mekhilta on Exodus 14:28). In line with these traditions, Jesus in Matthew 7:13–14 exhorts his listeners to enter through the small gate and to follow the narrow road in order to reach eschatological life, in contrast to the wide gate and broad road that leads to eschatological destruction ..."
Francois P. Viljoen, “Life in the Synoptic Gospels,” in Biblical Theology of Life in the New Testament, ed. Francois P. Viljoen and Albert J. Coetsee, Reformed Theology in Africa Series 6 (Cape Town: AOSIS, 2021), 1–29.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Deuteronomy 30:15 and Matthew 7:13

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