Hebrew Word Study – CHOOSE LIFE  – BACHARETA BACHIYIM  בחרת בחיים  Beth Cheth Resh Taw    Beth Cheth Yod Yod Mem 

Deuteronomy 30:19: “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, [that] I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: (20) That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, [and] that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he [is] thy life…”

Deuteronomy 30:19 sounds a little obvious.  God says” “I have set before you life and death…choose life.” I mean will a person not choose life if given a choice?  Why would any normal person not choose life?  If someone is choosing death they are suffering from a mental condition and that is not normal. This passage is speaking of people who are supposed to be of sound mind.  

Then we are told to choose life so that we and our descendants might live.  Will thank you Captain Obvious. You choose life to live.  But take a close look at that word for life. Life in its root form is chi.  The word is found three times in verse 19.  The first time it is hachiyim which literally reads, “I have set before you the lives and death.”  The second time it is bachiyim which literally reads “choose in the lives.”  The third time the word is used it is ticheyeh which reads literally so that you may (be) in the life.” Or to read less awkwardly, “So that you may live.”   

Each word means life but the first one is in a plural form with the definite article “the.”  The second is also in a plural form with a preposition Beth for “in” or “on,’ with the definite article “the.”  The third time it is used as a verb in a Qal imperfect infliction in a singular form, properly rendered as “to live.”

Now, why is life in the plural form the first two times but in a singular form the third time?  We need to remember that a plural in Hebrew is different than a plural in English.  A plural in English always means more than one.  In Hebrew, it could mean more than one or it could mean the most important one. It is the context that determines if you are speaking of more than one or the ultimate one. In some cases, the context might even suggest both would apply as I believe it does here.

Life in Biblical Hebrew is commonly expressed in the plural to represent both our physical life here on earth and our spiritual or eternal life. Sometimes the plural is used to just express the ultimate life we will experience which is the spiritual life, the life in eternity. Physical life on earth is temporal and thus compared to our eternal life chi would be applied in the singular form to express our physical life.  Spiritual life or eternal goes on forever and is thus superior to our physical life so therefore our spiritual life would always be expressed in the plural. 

This is how I would read this verse: “I call heaven (heaven is in a plural form to represent our ultimate eternal state) and earth (earth is in the singular to represent our temporal physical state) to record this day against you that I have set before you live (Plural meaning eternal life) and death (death is in a singular state representing once to die then the judgment), that both you and your seed may live (life is in a singular form speaking of living here on earth, the physical life).  Now it is to be understood that life only exists with God, outside of God is death metaphorically speaking. Life is used in the sense of fulfillment and joy as we would say during a good meal “This is the life.”   Note the article is used the first two times life is used in this verse “the life.”  Some people often say that they are just existing, they are not living. In our eternal state, we will either live or just exist. We live when we are with God, if we are separated from God when we die, that is we do not accept His gift of salvation, then we are doomed to spend eternity in just an existence, meaningless, joyless, and unfulfilled.  

So what God is saying is that life and death are a blessing and a curse. We can choose, do we want to live “the life” one that is fulfilling and joyful here on earth and in eternity or we can choose the curse a life that is dead here on earth, meaningless and unfulfilling and an eternity in meaninglessness and unfulfillment. Then God tells us “choose life” singularly, choose to live a life that is fulfilling, meaningful and joyful. 

Now the question remains how do we choose this meaningful life?  The next verse tells us: “That you may love the LORD your God, [and] that you may obey His voice and that you may cleave unto him: for He [is] your life…”  

Here is the crux of the whole thing.  Life used in verse 20 which says; “He is your life…” is in a singular form. In other words, true fulfillment, meaning, and joy is found in this physical life only when we recognize that our life is God’s life.  We live our life always recognizing that we are in the presence of God and whatever we do we do as unto God. Jewish men wear a skull cap to remind them that they are always in the presence of God and whatever they do they do as unto God. I am not Jewish but I have my own way to remind myself. I wear a baseball cap as often as I am allowed to remind myself that I am always in the presence of God and whatever I do I do as unto God. It doesn’t have to be a hat, it could be a little cross you wear around your next or keep in your pocket something to remind you that you are in God’s presence.  You see, for me at least, it takes discipline to remind myself and the enemy is always ready to make me forget it.  

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