God also promised that if while among the nations, where Jehovah their God would drive them, the children of Israel and their children would return to Jehovah their God and listen to His voice with all their heart and with all their soul, He would be compassionate to them. Jehovah God would turn, and He would gather them from all the peoples among whom He had scattered them and bring them into the land which their fathers possessed. He would do good for them and multiply them more than He had their fathers (30:1-5). He would circumcise their heart, meaning that He would transform their rebellious nature, and they would then love Him with all their heart and with all their soul (v. 6). He would put all the curses upon their enemies, give them an excess of prosperity in all their undertakings, and exult over them for good (vv. 7-10).
Moses called heaven and earth to witness against the children of Israel because he had set before them life and death, blessing and curse (v. 19). He also exhorted them to choose life that they and their seed might live, in loving Jehovah their God by listening to His voice and holding fast to Him. He was to be their life and the length of their days so that they might dwell upon the land which He swore to their fathers to give them (vv. 19-20).
After the children of Israel entered into the good land, they forsook Jehovah their God by rebelling against the covenant of God. Although Jehovah, through the prophets, testified against them because of their evil ways, they nevertheless stiffened their necks and rejected His statutes and His covenant, which He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies. They also followed vanity and became vain (2 Kings 17:13-15). As a result, they were cursed, suffered from plagues according to the prophecies in the covenant, were captured to the Gentile world, and were scattered among the nations. They have suffered oppression and persecution for nearly two thousand six hundred years. Israel was restored as a nation in 1948, and many Israelites returned to their land to rebuild the nation. God will renew His blessing on the land and send the early and late rain so that the land changes from desolateness to fertility. God also is preserving the Israelites by overcoming the enemies around them. However, even now, they still have not turned their heart back to God even though He desires their return. They will not fully turn until the Lord Jesus comes again. Then the whole house of Israel will repent and turn to God and be saved (Zech. 12:10-14; Rom 11:26).
The world situation today is advanced with respect to the fulfillment of this prophecy. Before the Lord’s return, the Jews will rebuild the temple. Even now they are making preparations for the temple. Soon after they regain the site of the old temple, the temple will be erected. When we see these things taking place, we will know that the summer, which signifies the age of the restoration, is near (Matt. 24:32 and footnotes, Recovery Version).
Jehovah charged Moses, “Write for yourselves this song and teach it to the children of Israel; put it in their mouth that I may have this song as a witness against the children of Israel” (Deut. 31:19). Jehovah knew their intention even before He brought them into the land (v. 21). He knew that after He brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, they would eat and become satisfied and grow fat. They would also turn to other gods and serve them and despise Jehovah and break His covenant (v. 20). Then, when many evils and troubles befell them, this song would respond as a witness before them, and it would not be forgotten in the mouth of their seed (v. 21).
Deuteronomy 32:1-43 is the contents of the song of Moses. Verses 5 and 6 say that the children of Israel dealt corruptly with Jehovah, having blemishes not like His sons, and repaying Jehovah as foolish and unwise people. The children of Israel were to be God’s sons (Exo. 4:22), but in their living they did not behave like God’s sons. Instead, they were twisted and crooked. Although God did so much for them, they repaid Him as foolish and unwise people.
The children of Israel grew fat and thick, forsook God who made them, treated the Rock of their salvation disdainfully, and provoked Him to anger with strange gods, with abominations and sacrifices to demons (Deut. 32:15-17). Jehovah saw their actions and held them in contempt because He was provoked to anger by His sons and daughters. He said that He would hide His face from them (vv. 19-20), for a fire was kindled in His anger toward them (v. 22). He would send the teeth of beasts against them with the venom of those that crawled in the dust (v. 24). The sword would bereave outside, and inside would be terror (v. 25). Jehovah would have said that He would scatter them and cause the memory of them to cease from among men, except He dreaded the vexation from the enemy, lest their adversaries misjudged and said that it was their hand that was exalted and that it was not Jehovah who had wrought all this (vv. 26-27). The children of Israel were destitute of counsel, and there was no understanding in them (v. 28). They were not wise and were unable to comprehend that it was Jehovah their Rock who sold them and delivered them up to their enemies (vv. 29-30).