Charles Ellicott Commentary Deuteronomy 30:11-14

"For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not too hard for thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it." — Deuteronomy 30:11-14 (ASV)

Deuteronomy 30:11–14. THE LAW OF THE RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH IS OF FAITH.

For this commandment. —Hebrew, Mitzvah. This duty, this form of obedience to the law.

Is not hidden from you — that is, not too hard. Literally, too wonderful for you. (Psalms 139:6.)

It is not in heaven. —St. Paul cites the words as follows: “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).

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 Septuagint 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.

But the word is very near to you. —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 as follows: “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. The new covenant not only asserts the relationship, but provides the means whereby men may walk worthy of it: “I will put my laws in their mind, and write them in their heart.” (See Note on Deuteronomy 29:13.)

It is only in the power of this principle that Moses, in the exhortation which he founds on this statement of the way of righteousness through faith, could say as he did in Deuteronomy 30:19, “therefore choose life.”