Deuteronomy 30:14

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

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

30:11-14 The law is not too high for thee. It is not only known afar off; it is not confined to men of learning. It is written in thy books, made plain, so that he who runs may read it. It is in thy mouth, in the tongue commonly used by thee, in which thou mayest hear it read, and talk of it among thy children. It is delivered so that it is level to the understanding of the meanest. This is especially true of the gospel of Christ, to which the apostle applies it. But the word is nigh us, and Christ in that word; so that if we believe with the heart, that the promises of the Messiah are fulfilled in our Lord Jesus, and confess them with our mouth, we then have Christ with us.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

In thy mouth, and in, thy heart - Compare Deuteronomy 6:6; Deuteronomy 11:18-20.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

De 30:11-14. The Commandment Is Manifest.

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 (Ro 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.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

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.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

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 the gracious experience converted persons have of the power and efficacy of it in them, and of the comfort they receive from it:

in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it; in the mouth by confession, being not ashamed to own it, and profess it before men; and in the heart, where it is come with power, has a place, and works effectually, and is cordially believed, and comfortably experienced; and when this is the case, its ordinances will be faithfully kept as delivered, and cheerfully submitted to.

Geneva Study Bible

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

(k) Even the law and the gospel.

(l) By faith in Christ.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

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).

Deuteronomy 30:14

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

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 Deuteronomy 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 Deuteronomy 6:1 to denote the whole law) is "not too wonderful for thee," i.e., is not too hard to grasp, or unintelligible (vid., Deuteronomy 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 Romans 10:8.