Deuteronomy 30:13

not beyond the sea: God’s purposes are not controlled by distant nations. They are not kept far away from his people.

Instead, God has made his will known to his people. They can receive it and obey it (see Romans 10:6–8).

Obeying the covenant commands that Moses gave would lead to life. Disobeying them would lead to death.

Here, life and death refer to physical life in the land. This applied both to individual people and to the whole community of Israel.

THE COMMANDMENT IS MANIFEST. (Deu 30:11-14)

For this commandment . . . is not hidden . . . neither is it far off--That law of loving and obeying God, which was the subject of Moses' discourse, was well known to the Israelites. They could not plead ignorance of its existence and requirements. It was not concealed as an impenetrable mystery in heaven, for it had been revealed; nor was it carefully withheld from the people as a dangerous discovery; for the youngest and humblest of them were instructed in those truths, which were subjects of earnest study and research among the wisest and greatest of other nations. They were not under a necessity of undertaking long journeys or distant voyages, as many ancient sages did in quest of knowledge. They enjoyed the peculiar privilege of a familiar acquaintance with it. It was with them a subject of common conversation, engraven on their memories, and frequently explained and inculcated on their hearts. The apostle Paul (Rom 10:6-8) has applied this passage to the Gospel, for the law of Christ is substantially the same as that of Moses, only exhibited more clearly in its spiritual nature and extensive application; and, accompanied with the advantages of Gospel grace, it is practicable and easy.

Moses here urges them to obedience from the consideration of the plainness and easiness of the command.
I. This is true of the law of Moses. They could never plead in excuse of their disobedience that God had enjoined them that which was either unintelligible or impracticable, impossible to be known or to be done (Deu 30:11): It is not hidden from thee. That is, not send messengers to heaven (Deu 30:12), to enquire what thou must do to please God; nor needest thou go beyond sea (Deu 30:13), as the philosophers did, that travelled through many and distant regions in pursuit of learning; no, thou art not put to that labour and expense; nor is the commandment within the reach of those only that have a great estate or a refined genius, but it is very nigh unto thee, Deu 30:14. It is written in thy books, made plain upon tables, so that he that runs may read it; thy priests' lips keep this knowledge, and, when any difficulty arises, thou mayest ask the law at their mouth, Mal 2:7. It is not communicated in a strange language; but it is in thy mouth, that is, in the vulgar tongue that is commonly used by thee, in which thou mayest hear it read, and talk of it familiarly among thy children. It is not wrapped up in obscure phrases or figures to puzzle and amuse thee, or in hieroglyphics, but it is in thy heart; it is delivered in such a manner as that it is level to thy capacity, even to the capacity of the meanest." 2. "It is not too hard nor heavy for thee:" so the Septuagint reads it, Deu 30:11. Thou needest not say, "As good attempt to climb to heaven, or flee upon the wings of the morning to the uttermost part of the sea, as go about to do all the words of this law:" no, the matter is not so; it is no such intolerable yoke as some ill-minded people represent it. It was indeed a heavy yoke in comparison with that of Christ (Act 15:10), but not in comparison with the idolatrous services of the neighbouring nations. God appeals to themselves that he had not made them to serve with an offering, nor wearied them with incense, Isa 43:23; Mic 6:3. But he speaks especially of the moral law, and its precepts: "That is very nigh thee, consonant to the law of nature, which would have been found in every man's heart, and every man's mouth, if he would but have attended to it. There is that in thee which consents to the law that it is good, Rom 7:16. Thou hast therefore no reason to complain of any insuperable difficulty in the observance of it."
II. This is true of the gospel of Christ, to which the apostle applies it, and makes it the language of the righteousness which is of faith, Rom 10:6-8. And many think this is principally intended by Moses here; for he wrote of Christ, Joh 5:46. This is God's commandment now under the gospel that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, Jo1 3:23. If we ask, as the blind man did, Lord, who is he? or where is he, that we may believe on him? (Joh 9:36), this scripture gives an answer, We need not go up to heaven, to fetch him thence, for he has come down thence in his incarnation; nor down to the deep, to fetch him thence, for thence he has come up in his resurrection. But the word is nigh us, and Christ in that word; so that if we believe with the heart that the promises of the incarnation and resurrection of the Messiah are fulfilled in our Lord Jesus, and receive him accordingly, and confess him with our mouth, we have then Christ with us, and we shall be saved. He is near, very near, that justifies us. The law was plain and easy, but the gospel much more so.

Deuteronomy 30:11-14

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

11. Praeceptum hoc quod praecipio tibi hodie, non est absconditam a to, nec procul remotum.

12. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?

12. Non est in coelis ut dicas, Quis nobis ascendet in coelum, ut deferat illud ad nos, et annuntiet nobis, ut ipsum faciamus?

13. Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?

13. Nec est ultra mare, ut dicas, Quis nobis trajiciet mare ut deferat iliud ad nos, et annuntiet nobis, ut ipsum faciamus?

14. But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.

14. Certe valde propinquns est tibi sermo in ore tuo, et in corde tuo, ut facias ipsum.

11. For this commandment, which I command thee. This declaration is like the preceding, and tends to the same end; for Moses commends in it the Law, on account of its easiness; because God does not propound to us obscure enigmas to keep our minds in suspense, and to torment us with difficulties, but teaches familiarly whatever is necessary, according to the capacity, and consequently the ignorance of the people. Therefore, in Isaiah 45:19 He reproves the Jews for having wandered in darkness through their own depravity and folly; because He had not spoken to them in secret, nor said in vain [275] to the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me. But Moses here invites them to learn, because they had an easy and clear method of instruction set before their eyes, and would not lose their labor; for we know that it is very often made an excuse for idleness, if great labor without much profit is to be applied to deep and difficult studies. Moses, therefore, declares that the Law is not hard to be understood, so as to demand inordinate fatigue in its study; but that God there speaks distinctly and explicitly, and that nothing is required of them but diligent application. More-over, he thus takes away from them every pretext for ignorance, since, with so much light, they cannot err, except by wilfully blinding themselves, or shutting their eyes. Whence, also, we gather, how impious are the babblings of the Papists that the Scripture is beset by thick darkness, and how wicked is their driving away the people from approaching it, as if it were some labyrinth. Surely they thus must needs accuse the Holy Spirit of falsehood, who so abundantly asserts its comprehensibleness, (claritatem,) or else they malign itself by their blasphemous taunts. But if the ancient people were left without excuse, unless they kept in the right way, when they had the Law for their mistress and director, our stupidity must be worthy of double and triple condemnation, if we do not make progress in the Gospel, wherein God has opened all the treasures of His wisdom, as far as is sufficient for salvation. The Sophists [276] improperly and ignorantly wrest this passage to prove the freedom of the will. (They allege [277] ) that Moses here declares the precepts of the Law not to be above our reach. What? Does he state that the keeping of them is within the compass of our strength? Surely the words convey nothing of the sort; neither can this sense be elicited from them, if his intention be duly weighed. For he merely encourages the Jews, and commands them to be diligent disciples of the Law, because they will easily understand whatever is enjoined by God therein. But the power of performance is a very different thing from understanding. Besides, Paul, with very good reason, accommodates this passage to the Gospel, (Romans 10:8;) because it would profit nothing to comprehend the doctrine itself in the mind, unless reverence and a serious disposition to obey be superadded. But he takes it for granted, that to have a good will is so far from being in our own power, that we are not even competent to think aright. Hence it follows, that what is here stated falls to the ground as frivolous, and spoken to no purpose, if it be applied simply to the Law. Paul also considers another thing, viz., that because the Law requires a perfect righteousness, it cannot be received by any mortal fruitfully; for however any one may study to obey God, yet he will still be far from perfection; and, therefore, it is necessary to come to the Gospel, wherein that rigorous requirement is relaxed, because, through the interposition of pardon, the will to obey is pleasing to God instead of perfect obedience. For Paul insists on the latter verse, "The word is nigh in the mouth, and in the heart, that the people may do it." Now, it is clear that men's hearts are strongly and obstinately opposed to the Law; and that in the Law itself is contained only a dead and deadly letter; how then could the literal doctrine have a place in the heart? But if God, by the Spirit of regeneration, corrects the depravity of the heart and softens its hardness, this is not the property of the Law, but of the Gospel. Again, because in the children of God, even after they are regenerated, there always abide the remainders of carnal desires, no mortal will be found who can perform the Law. But in the Gospel God receives, with fatherly indulgence, what is not absolutely perfect. The word of God, therefore, does not begin to penetrate into the heart, and to produce its proper fruit in the lips, until Christ shines upon us with His Spirit and gratuitous pardon. Wherefore Paul most truly concludes that this is the word of faith which is preached in the Gospel; both because the Law does not efficaciously lead men to God, and because the keeping of it is impossible, on account of its extreme rigor. But this is the peculiar blessing of the new covenant, that the Law is written on men's hearts, and engraven on their inward parts; whilst that severe requirement is relaxed, so that the vices under which believers still labor are no obstacle to their partial and imperfect obedience being pleasant to God.

Footnotes:

[275] In A. V., it will be remembered, the words, "in vain," are connected with "Seek ye me." "I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain."

[276] Les Theologiens de la Papaute. -- Fr.

[277] Added from the French.

Neither is it beyond the sea,.... There is no need to travel into foreign parts, into transmarine countries for it, as the Heathen philosophers did to get knowledge; for the Gospel is ordered to be preached to all the world, and sent into all nations; and at the time of the conversion of the Jews the earth will be filled with the knowledge of it, as the waters cover the sea; so that there will be no need to go into distant countries for it; nor any occasion

that thou shouldest say, who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? which would be all one as to desire "to bring up Christ again from the dead"; when he is already risen, and is gone to heaven, where he ever lives to make intercession for us; is thereby declared to be the Son of God with power, and is discharged as the surety of his people, having done completely what he engaged to do; and is risen for their justification, and become the firstfruits of the resurrection of the dead; wherefore whoever confesses with his mouth, and believes with his heart, that God has raised him from the dead, that is enough, he shall be saved: what a sublime sense of the words is this the apostle gives and how puerile is that of the Chaldee paraphrast in comparison of it! See Gill on Romans 10:6.

Neither is it beyond the sea: the knowledge of this commandment is not to be fetched from far distant places, to which divers of the wise heathens travelled for their wisdom, but it was brought to thy very doors and ears, and declared to thee in this wilderness.

The fulfilment of this condition is not impossible, nor really very difficult. This natural though leads to the motive, which Moses impresses upon the hearts of the people in Deu 30:11-14, viz., that He might turn the blessing to them. God had done everything to render the observance of His commandments possible to Israel. "This commandment" (used as in Deu 6:1 to denote the whole law) is "not too wonderful for thee," i.e., is not too hard to grasp, or unintelligible (vid., Deu 17:8), nor is it too far off: it is neither in heaven, i.e., at an inaccessible height; nor beyond the sea, i.e., at an unattainable distance, at the end of the world, so that any one could say, Who is able to fetch it thence? but it is very near thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart to do it. It not only lay before the people in writing, but it was also preached to them by word of mouth, and thus brought to their knowledge, so that it had become a subject of conversation as well as of reflection and careful examination. But however near the law had thus been brought to man, sin had so estranged the human heart from the word of God, that doing and keeping the law had become invariably difficult, and in fact impossible; so that the declaration, "the word is in thy heart," only attains its full realization through the preaching of the gospel of the grace of God, and the righteousness that is by faith; and to this the Apostle Paul applies the passage in Rom 10:8.