Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Deuteronomy 10:14-15
What God Is And Why He Has Chosen Them (Deuteronomy 10:14).
‘ Behold, to Yahweh your God belongs heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth, with all that is in it.'
For it was necessary for them to recognise Him for what He is. Look! he says, Let them now consider Yahweh. They must recognise His greatness, the greatness of Yahweh, their God and their Overlord. He is the One Who not only possesses the heavens that they can see, the heavens that declare the glory of God, but also the heaven of heavens, that which is beyond all that they can see and know, the Great Unknown. Nothing is outside His scope. The whole of what others speak of as the dwellingplace of the gods actually belongs to Him. He alone is Lord in the heavens. And He owns the earth also. He owns and controls all that is in them. He is supreme and over all (compare Deuteronomy 4:35). And He is their praise and their God for He has done great and terrible things on their behalf (Deuteronomy 10:21).
‘ Only Yahweh had a delight in your (thy) fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you (ye) above all peoples, as at this day.'
And yet in spite of this greatness, or possibly because of it, this is the remarkable fact, that He had delighted in their fathers, so that He had loved them. Here is a remarkable thing indeed. This great and wondrous and mighty God had set His love on their fathers, as they trudged as wandering Aramaeans along the dusty ways with staff in hand, together with their households, their family tribe. This was because He had delighted in them when He had called them, and had the same delight in them as they had walked before Him in faith, and love, and obedience. In this was love, not that they loved Him, but that He loved them, with the kind of love that was possible only to such a God. That is why He had said of Abraham, ‘For I have known (yatha‘) him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of Yahweh, to do justice and judgment, to the end that Yahweh may bring on Abraham that which he has spoken of him' (Genesis 18:18).
So it was because of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that He had ‘chosen' their seed after them with His elective love (compare Deuteronomy 7:6). They must think of that! They too stood there, having been chosen by Yahweh, for their fathers' sakes, even them. They had been chosen above all peoples to be His, so that they stood there this very day as the chosen of Yahweh.
But the reason why they were His people above all peoples, was not because of their doing or deserving. It was because of Yahweh's love. And because of others who had faithfully responded to that love. It was because of their fathers, and what they meant to Yahweh. Nevertheless they too would have their full part in it and could gain comfort from the fact that God was blessing them for the sake of others, and not for a righteousness of their own which might easily fail. Thus are they to fear Him, serve Him, cleave to Him and swear by His name (because He is their sole God - Deuteronomy 10:20).
We also are loved by Him (John 3:16; Ephesians 2:4; Ephesians 5:2; Ephesians 5:25; 2 Thessalonians 2:16; 1 John 4:10), not for our own sakes but for the sake of Him Who loved us and gave Himself for us (Galatians 2:20), and we too therefore in the same way have our full part in Him, and should fear Him, serve Him, cleave to Him and swear by His name (because He is our sole God - Deuteronomy 10:20).