Deuteronomy — Chapter 30

And the Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed: that thou mayst love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, that thou mayst live. Lapide: God promises to circumcise the heart—to remove the superfluous and harmful desires and the hardness of the will. Septuagint: 'He shall cleanse thy heart.' This prophecy looks forward to the New Covenant and the grace of the Holy Ghost poured out to purify the will from within. It is the fulfilment of the spiritual circumcision promised at Lev. 26:41.

And the Lord thy God will make thee abound in all the works of thy hands, in the fruit of thy womb, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for thy good. Lapide notes the anthropopathic language: God does not change in His emotions, but He is said to 'rejoice' and 'be glad' because He performs for the repentant sinner the same actions that a man who has been reconciled performs for his friend.

This commandment that I command thee this day is not above thee, nor far off from thee. Moses anticipates the objection that God's commandments are too difficult. Lapide: The Law is not in heaven, requiring a heavenly messenger to bring it down; nor beyond the sea, requiring a voyage to obtain it. It is in thy mouth and in thy heart (v. 14). The Apostle Paul (Rom. 10:6) cites this allegorically of faith in Christ: one need not ascend to heaven to bring Christ down, nor descend to the abyss to raise Him; sufficient is to believe in the heart and confess with the mouth.

Consider that I have set before thee this day life and good, and on the other hand death and evil. Lapide quotes St. John Chrysostom: God has placed life and death as in a free hunting-ground before our souls, as if suspended in the air for us to seize. He quotes Ecclus. 15:17: 'Before man is life and death, good and evil; that which he shall choose shall be given him.' Free will is defended as the foundation of all moral responsibility.

That thou mayst love the Lord thy God, and obey his voice, and adhere to him (for he is thy life). God is not merely the source of life but is Himself life—effective and final life of all living things. Lapide cites St. Dionysius (de Divin. Nom. c. 6): God is life in Himself essentially; and He is the exemplary, efficient, and final cause of the life of all angels, men, plants, and blessed souls.