Deuteronomy 30:14

But the word [is] very nigh unto thee,.... In the ministration of it by those who clearly, plainly, and faithfully preach it, and in the application of it by the Spirit of God to the heart; and in

For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. For this commandment ... is not hidden ... neither ... far off.

In thy mouth; thou knowest it so well, that it is the matter of thy common discourse; thou professest thy knowledge and belief of it: or, in the months of thy priests and Levites, who are daily preaching of it, and instructing thee in it. In thy heart, i.e. in thy mind, (as the heart is very commonly taken,) to understand and believe it.

Deuteronomy 30:14 But the word [is] very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.Ver. 14. Very nigh.] Nigher than the skin is to the flesh, or the flesh to the bones; it is within thy nature, and shall be in thy heart, λογοςεμφυτος, an inbred or indwelling word. That thou mayest do it,] sc., By believing in Christ, and yielding the obedience of faith.

Deuteronomy 30:11-14. THE LAW OF THE WHICH is OF FAITH.(11) For this commandment.—Heb., Mitzvah. This duty, this form of obedience to the law. Is not hidden from thee—i.e., not too hard. Literally, too wonderful for thee. (Comp. Deuteronomy 17:8; Psalms 139:6.) (12) It is not in heaven.—St. Paul cites the words thus: “The righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? that is, to bring Christ down from above” (Romans 10:6-7). (13) Neither is it beyond the sea.—St. Paul continues, “Or (say not), Who shall descend into the deep? that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.” The alteration here is remarkable. The LXX. will not account for it. “Beyond the sea” generally suggests the idea of a land on the other side of the surface of the ocean. But a descent into the “abyss,” which is what St. Paul indicates, means a passage through the sea to that which is beneath it, “beyond the sea “in a very different sense. No one but Jonah ever went beyond the sea in this way, as he says, “Out of the belly of hell cried I . . . Thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the heart of the seas . . . I went down to the bottoms of the mountains . . . The deep (abyss) closed me about.” And this descent of Jonah is chosen as the “sign” of Christ’s descent into hell. (14) But the word is very nigh unto thee.—Here the difference between the Jewish and the Christian commentator is very striking. “The Law is given you in Scripture and in tradition” (written and orally), says Rashi on this place. But St. Paul continues thus: “But what saith it (the righteousness of faith)? The word is nigh thee, in thy mouth, and in thine heart, that is, the word of faith which we preach; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” It is worthy of notice that St. Paul in this place contrasts the righteousness of faith with the righteousness of the law, and describes both alike in the words of the Pentateuch. Concerning the righteousness of the law, he says, Moses describeth it, “The man which doeth those things shall live by them.” The citation is from Leviticus 18:5. And there is a similar passage in Deuteronomy 6:25. What could more clearly prove that the covenant of Deuteronomy 28, 29 was meant to present the way of salvation from a different point of view to the Sinaitic covenant, and was “beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb.” Not that we are to suppose there was ever a different way of salvation. The Decalogue itself begins (like the new covenant) with “I am the Lord thy God.” But, unlike the new covenant, it makes no provision whereby Israel may keep the laws arising out of the relationship.

Verse 14. But the word is very nigh unto thee] The doctrine of salvation preached by the apostles; in thy mouth, the promises of redemption made by the prophets forming a part of every Jew's creed; in thy heart - the power to believe with the heart unto righteousness, that the tongue may make confession unto salvation. In this way, it is evident, St. Paul understood these passages; see Romans 10:6-8, &c.

14. But the word is very nigh unto thee] So of God Himself, Deuteronomy 4:7, q.v., explained by what follows, in thy mouth and in thy heart (cp. Deuteronomy 6:6 f., Deuteronomy 11:18 f.), articulate, understood and familiar (especially after so much exposition of it!). The speaker does not add that it is ‘easy,’ but more justly and finely that it carries with it the conscience and provocation to its fulfilment by man: that thou mayest do it! (Cp. Isaiah 45:19 on the clearness, straightforwardness, and efficiency of God’s Word.) Cp. Jeremiah 2:31. Another thought suggests itself. The local and domestic altars had been removed and God’s Presence fixed at the One Sanctuary. But in the Law Israel had received that which they could carry everywhere with them, and which touched their lives—and touched them to the quick—at all points. On St Paul’s application of these words in the Law, to the Gospel in contrast with the Law, Romans 10:6-8, see Sanday and Headlam, Romans (Intern. Crit. Comm.) 286–290 and Denney’s Romans (Expositor’s Gk Test.) 670 f.: ‘It is irrelevant to point out that what the writer in Deut. means is that the law is not oppressive nor impracticable (as Paul in Deuteronomy 30:5 tacitly assumes it to be); the Apostle is not thinking in the least what the writer of Deut. meant; as the representative of the righteousness of faith he is putting his own thought—his inspired conviction and experience of the Gospel—into a free reproduction of these ancient inspired words.… There is no impossible preliminary to be accomplished before the true religion is got under way … The whole idea of the verses is that righteousness has not to be achieved but to be appropriated’ (Denney).

14. Nigh unto thee — Augustine says these words direct our eyes to the New Testament. Compare Paul’s application of the passage in Romans 10:8.