Deuteronomy 30:11 - Meaning and Application

Moses urges them to obey by pointing to how clear and accessible God’s command is.

This is true of the law of Moses. They could not excuse their disobedience by saying that God had commanded something they could not understand or do, something hidden from them (Deuteronomy 30:11). They did not need to send messengers to heaven to ask what they must do to please God (Deuteronomy 30:12). They did not need to cross the sea, as philosophers did when they traveled far and wide in search of learning (Deuteronomy 30:13). God had not placed his command beyond the reach of ordinary people, or only within the grasp of the wealthy or highly educated. It was very near them, Deuteronomy 30:14.

It was written in their books and made clear on tablets, so plain that anyone running past could read it. Their priests kept this knowledge, and if any question came up, they could ask the law from the priests’ mouth (Malachi 2:7). It was not given in a strange language. It was in their mouth, in the common speech they used every day, so they could hear it read and speak of it naturally with their children. It was not wrapped in dark sayings or pictures to confuse them. It was in their heart, given in a way that matched their understanding, even the understanding of the simplest person.

It was also not too hard or heavy for them, as the Greek Old Testament reads here, Deuteronomy 30:11. They did not need to say, “Trying to keep all the words of this law is as impossible as climbing to heaven or traveling to the far side of the sea.” No, it was not like that. It was not the unbearable burden some hostile people made it out to be. It was indeed a heavy burden compared with Christ’s yoke (Acts 15:10), but not compared with the cruel idol worship of the nations around them.

God even appeals to them, saying that he had not made them serve with an offering or wearied them with incense (Isaiah 43:23; Micah 6:3). But Moses is speaking especially about the moral law and its commands. These were very near to them and in line with the law of nature, the basic sense of right and wrong placed in human hearts. If they had paid attention, they would have found this law in every person’s heart and mouth. There was something in them that agreed the law was good (Romans 7:16). So they had no reason to complain that obeying it was impossibly difficult.

This is also true of the gospel of Christ, and the apostle applies these words to it, calling it the message of righteousness that comes by faith (Romans 10:6-8). Many think Moses meant this mainly, since he wrote about Christ (John 5:46). Under the gospel, God’s command is that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ (1 John 3:23). If we ask, like the blind man, “Lord, who is he, or where is he, that I may believe in him?” (John 9:36), this passage gives the answer.

We do not need to go up to heaven to bring him down, for he has already come down in his incarnation. We do not need to go down into the deep to bring him up, for he has already come up in his resurrection. The word is near us, and Christ is in that word. So if we believe in our hearts that the promises about the Messiah’s coming and rising have been fulfilled in our Lord Jesus, and if we receive him and confess him with our mouths, then Christ is with us, and we will be saved. He is near, very near, the one who makes us right with God. The law was plain and easy, but the gospel is even more so.