Ver. 11-14. This commandment—is not hidden from thee, &c.— i.e. Is not abstruse and hard to be understood, but easy to be known and comprehended: neither is it far off; so that they needed not to travel into distant countries to learn their duty; as the Greek philosophers and others used to travel into Egypt, and the eastern parts of the world, to gain wisdom. It is not in heaven:—neither—beyond the sea: in which words, Moses, according to Houbigant, alludes to the law delivered from heaven on mount Sinai, and to the passage of the Red Sea; two things peculiarly infixed in the minds of the Israelites: others, however, think, that the phrases are proverbial, signifying that no hard, or rather impossible, labour was required from them to arrive at the knowledge of God's will. So, Grotius observes, the Greeks express things very difficult, by going up to heaven: and Philo thus explains the words, neither is it beyond the sea, &c. "Neither is it so distant as to need long and tedious voyages to fetch it from remote countries." But the word is very nigh unto thee, continues the sacred writer; that is, made so familiar, that thou mayest always have it in thy common discourse; in thy mouth: and now so often repeated, that it may well and easily be laid up in thy memory; in thy heart. See chap. Deuteronomy 6:9 Deuteronomy 11:18; Deuteronomy 11:20. In Moses's law there were no mysteries known only to a few, and which were to be kept secret from the vulgar, as was the case in the Egyptian wisdom. Houbigant well observes, that these words clearly prove to us, that the precepts, commonly called legal, are not meant by THE WORD here; for Moses would not say, that it was in the mouth and heart of man to slay sacrifices, pay tithes, and celebrate annual festivals: therefore St. Paul, with great propriety, understood THE WORD for the word of faith, and as pointing out their faith in the word of that Redeemer, whose future coming upon the earth the whole ancient law foretold and prefigured. See Romans 10:6.
Note; The doctrine of grace in a Redeemer is clearly revealed, and easily comprehended by the enlightened mind, brought nigh to us by the ministry of the word: we need not climb the skies to inquire; Jesus incarnate is come down to teach us; nor need we go down to the deep in search for him, who has arisen from the dead, and has accomplished the work of redemption: so that, if with our mouth we confess him as our only hope, and in our heart cleave to him as our only Lord, we shall infallibly be saved.