Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Deuteronomy · About this commentary
Choose Life
Deuteronomy 30:11-20
11 For this commandment which I command you today is not too hard for you or too distant. · WEB
The command is not hidden in heaven or across the sea but already in the mouth and the heart, and the book's last request is a decision.
This commandment which I command you today is not too hard for you or too distant Deuteronomy 30:11.
Two excuses are then quoted and dismissed, and both are about access rather than difficulty.
It is not in heaven, that you should say, "Who will go up for us to heaven, bring it to us, and proclaim it to us, that we may do it?" Deuteronomy 30:12. And: neither is it beyond the sea Deuteronomy 30:13.
The imagined objection is that somebody would have to fetch it — that the requirement is stored somewhere unreachable and the ordinary person cannot be expected to act until an expert brings it down. Both versions of the excuse are put in the mouth of the person making them, which is how this book handles self-deception throughout.
The answer is one line: the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it Deuteronomy 30:14.
It has already been delivered. It is in their mouths because they have been reciting it and talking of it at home and on the road Deuteronomy 6:7; it is in their hearts because it was put there. Nothing further is awaited. Paul takes this passage and applies its logic to the gospel, arguing that the word of faith is equally near and equally unfetched Romans 10:6–8.
Then the alternatives are laid out plainly: life and prosperity, and death and evil Deuteronomy 30:15, and what each consists of. Life is loving God, walking in his ways and keeping his commandments Deuteronomy 30:16. Death is a heart that turns away.
And the book calls its witnesses for the second and last time.
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse Deuteronomy 30:19.
The same seven words opened the covenant address twenty-six chapters ago, and there they introduced a warning Deuteronomy 4:26. Here they introduce an offer, and the sentence does not stop at the alternatives.
Therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your descendants.
The witnesses are called and then the outcome is recommended. A judge summoning heaven and earth to a covenant execution tells the defendant which way to answer, which is not how any court works and is exactly how this book ends its argument.
And the last verse says what choosing life consists of, and it is a person rather than a policy: for he is your life, and the length of your days Deuteronomy 30:20.
settled What this mark means