Comentario sobre Deuteronómio 30:8

ואתה תשוב, not from the root שוב to return, but from the root ישב, i.e. you will sit at ease, undisturbed. Compare Isaiah 30,15 בשובה ונחת. This period will be ushered in by the arrival of the Messiah after the hostile nations have been eliminated. Moses contrasts what will happen to those nations and what will happen to the Jewish people at that time. G’d will never exile you again. All this has been spelled out by Jeremiah 4,1 when he said:אם תשוב ישראל....אלי תשוב....ולא תנוד, “if you return Israel….return to Me, and you do not waver, …nations shall bless themselves by you, etc.”

ועשית את כל מצותיו אשר אנכי מצוך היום, “and you will carry out all His commandments which I command to you this day.” After having spoken about Israel’s repentance, and their return to the Holy Land, the Torah now speaks of the commandments being commanded “this day;” we find a similar formulation already in verse 2 of our chapter where the repentance had also been featured. All of this is to focus on the fact that the essence of repentance is to accept the Torah as governing our lives. This is why whenever repentance is mentioned the reference to the commandments of the Torah is appended. The prophet Jeremiah employs a similar style when he writes (Jeremiah 2,17) “is this not what has happened to you for forsaking the Lord your G’d at the time He led you on the way?” “The way” is the path of Torah. This was the path which earlier generations of Jews observed and their lives were successful.

VV. 8 — 10. ואתה תשוב וגו׳. Oben (V. 2) ist die Rückkehr zur treuen Erfüllung des göttlichen Gesetzes, so weit dasselbe im Exil zur Verwirklichung steht, ausgesprochen. Hier aber folgt nun die endliche volle Verwirklichung aller göttlichen Gesetze im Lande, welcher die Verheißung des vollsten allseitigen Gottessegens erteilt ist und nun ebenfalls zur Wahrheit wird, ohne wie in aller Vergangenheit eine Wiedergefährdung durch den Glückszustand befürchten zu müssen (siehe zu Kap. 31, 20-21).