Deuteronomy 4:30 - Chapter 4:44—chapter 26:19. Summary

In the latter days ; in the afterward of days ( בְּאַחֲריִת הַיָּמִים ; "end," Deuteronomy 11:12 )-a phase used sometimes to designate the times of the Messiah ( Isaiah 2:2 ; Hosea 3:5 ; comp. Acts 2:17 ; 1 Peter 1:20 ; Hebrews 1:1 ; 1 John 2:18 ); but here, as generally, it simply indicates futurity, the time to come (cf. Genesis 49:1 ; Numbers 24:14 ; Deuteronomy 31:29 , etc.). This, however, may include the far distant future, and so points to the time when Israel shall finally return to the Lord and be saved, through the acknowledgment of him whom they despised and rejected when he came as the Messiah promised to the fathers. As St. Paul grounds the assurance of the final redemption of Israel, as a whole, on their calling of God ( Romans 11:26-29 ), so Moses here sees in God's covenant the ground of the ever-watchful care and grace of God to Israel, and the security of their final restoration as a nation.