Ver. 1. When all these things are come upon thee, &c.— Houbigant supposes this verse prophetical, and, in that view, renders it thus: It shall come to pass when all these things are come upon thee, the blessings and the curses which I have set before thee, thou shalt recover thy understanding among all the nations whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee; and thou shalt return unto the Lord thy God, &c. A prophecy, which, he thinks, has reference to a future and complete restoration of the Jews; as it can never be said, that, upon any restoration hitherto, they and their children have obeyed the Lord with all their heart, and with all their soul.

Ver. 4. If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven— See Matthew 24:31.Mark 13:27; Mark 13:27. Nehemiah alludes to this promise in his prayer for the restoration of Jerusalem, Nehemiah 1:8-9.; and it was in part fulfilled, when Cyrus made a proclamation throughout the kingdom, that all the Jews might return, if they pleased, to their own country. Ezra 1:4. The Jews themselves apply the passage to their present condition; being of opinion, that God has appointed a time for their deliverance, and that, if they repented, he would shorten the days of their banishment. Houbigant observes, that the Jews are literally and exactly in the state which the words in the former part of this verse describe; and as the former part of the prophecy is thus remarkably fulfilled, it follows, that the latter part, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, &c. remains to be fulfilled, and can never be applied to the return of a remnant of the Jews from Babylon under Esdras and Nehemiah, as clearly foretelling a return of the whole nation to their God; and to their own land, ver. 5 than which nothing can be more plainly pointed out: the land which their fathers possessed.

Ver. 6. The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart— Esdras and Nehemiah inform us, that the heart of the Jews was not circumcised when they returned from Babylon: the whole Jewish history teaches us the same; and so do St. Stephen and St. Paul. It is necessary, therefore, to understand this prophecy of some future restoration of the Jews, says Houbigant; and with him many of the most judicious writers agree: for there are, in this and several other prophecies concerning the restoration of the Jews, such magnificent descriptions of it, as no way appear to be sufficiently accomplished in any restoration yet passed; and therefore they are to be interpreted of a more complete one still to come.
REFLECTIONS.—There is with God grace abounding to the chief of sinners; none who return to him shall be, in any wise, cast out. We have here, 1. The penitent return of Israel, and therein also of every sinner. (1.) It begins with serious reflection on the fulfilment of God's word, begetting humbling conviction on the heart. Note; The first step towards return to God is always conviction of our sin and ingratitude, and a sense of the just desert of both. (2.) Faith in a reconciled God must be exercised. We must, like the prodigal, call him our God and Father in Jesus Christ, though we acknowledge ourselves utterly unworthy to be called his children. (3.) Conversion will, of course, follow, from a constraining sense of God's transcendant compassions; these will engage the heart, and we shall desire, without reserve, to yield up ourselves to him, from a principle of love, and with universal devotedness of body and soul to his service. (4.) Fervent and importunate prayer will express the earnest breathings of the heart after God. Behold he prayeth, is the sign of every returning sinner. Hereupon God promises, 2. To hear and answer them, not upbraiding them with their sins, nor rejecting them, because out of trouble they cry to him; but according to their necessities he will supply them: his bowels of compassion will yearn over them. Such are God's tender mercies to the vilest, that bow with contrite hearts before him; he will from the distant lands restore them; however far gone in sin, they shall be recovered: their captivity shall be loosed, the bonds of sin shall no longer enslave them; God will do them good, temporal good, in restoring them to plenty and affluence in their long lost heritages. Note; Return to God is often attended with great blessings in our worldly affairs. Spiritual good is better still. He will circumcise their hearts, will cut off their vile affections, and shed abroad his holy love within their souls; thereby qualifying them for the obedience he requires, and securing them against future departures from him: their enemies shall now fall before them, and feel the power of victorious grace; thus sin shall have no more dominion over the returning penitent. Finally, by ten several repetitions, God engages to regard them as their Covenant-God. Happy the sinner who thus returns to God, and finds God thus return to his poor soul!

Ver. 15. Life and good, and death and evil— The life and good is explained in the next verse; the death and evil in the 18th: whence we learn, that the former signifies all manner of national happiness; the latter, all manner of national misery: both which Moses had set before them at large in the twenty-eighth chapter.

Ver. 19. I call heaven and earth to record— See chap. Deu 4:26 Deuteronomy 32:1.
REFLECTIONS.—Warm and urgent when such important concerns were at stake, he seeks to fix some abiding impressions on their hearts, or at least to leave them inexcusable. 1. The case was plain, and on their choice it depended to be happy or miserable; they had every argument pressed upon them to avoid death, every motive urged to engage them to seek the life that God promised. The love of God, and obedience to his will, would infallibly procure the one; disobedience and idolatry inevitably expose them to the other. But if, under the law, where the promises and threatenings were chiefly temporal, their arguments were so strong, how much more so are they to us, before whom death and life eternal are set, according as we believe and obey, or by our disobedience and unbelief reject, the Gospel of Jesus? 2. He appeals to heaven and earth for his faithfulness, and urges them to choose the way of duty as the path of life. Those who perish will have only themselves to blame; they would not receive the knowledge of the truth, that they might be saved: whilst they, who hear and choose it, will own it to be not of themselves, but the gift of God. He that is saved, owes it to God's grace; every man who is damned has only himself to blame. 3. He again returns to exhort them to love, serve, and cleave to God, as the author of their life and all the comforts of it; that they may dwell in the land which he sware to give their fathers, and by their fidelity maintain a long and uninterrupted enjoyment of it. Thus closing with a remembrance, how much in interest, as well as duty, they are bound to obedience.