Deuteronomy 30:19 (ESV) … “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live…”
The covenant between God and Israel was to be a cosmic spectacle. Heaven and earth would serve as the witnesses if Israel should defect from her allegiance to Yahweh. In time he would have to call them to give testimony (cp. Isa. 1:2; Jer. 2:12–13). It was customary in Ancient Near Eastern suzerainty treaties to call on the gods to serve as observers and guarantors of the agreement, but of course Yahweh as the sole God of all things would never invoke the concern of pagan deities to ensure the observance of his covenant. Heaven and earth in this context may mean “those angels and people living in heaven and on earth.”
Moses urged the people to choose life, noting that the Lord was their life. Those who lived without reference to the God of Israel were not living at all. They had adopted an agonizing form of protracted death as the mode of their existence.
MAIN IDEA REVIEW: Although Israel is destined to suffer because of disobedience to the covenant, that will not be the end of the story. The nation’s repentance will come when its heart is changed, and with that repentance will come restoration and prosperity.[1]
In Christ & Friends Always,
Bro. Chris.
[1] Andrews, S. J., & Bergen, R. D. (2009). Deuteronomy (p. 342). B&H Publishing Group.