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The eschatology of the covenant is implicit in many of the statements of Moses. For example, at the threshold of entering the land, Moses declares his pessimism concerning Israel’s ability to continue in the Land. “For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days” (Deut 31:29). Moses puts his finger on the one thing needful, the ‘without which not’ of all covenant inheritance, namely, the necessity for a new heart. “Yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day. (Deut 29:4).

This would be remedied by the gift of the new heart promised in Deut 30:1-6. Apart from a new creation, the intractable condition of the natural heart virtually dooms the nation to the perpetual curse of judgment and exile. Therefore, Deut 30:6 anticipates the coming in of a New Covenant, which is God’s pre-determined purpose to create a new heart that will enable the Jews to inherit the Land forever. “And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that you may live” (Deut 30:5-6). […]