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Deuteronomy

About this book
Chapter 30

1 “When you have experienced all these things, both the blessings and the curses⁠ I have set before you, you will reflect upon them in all the nations where the Lord your God has banished you. 2 Then if you and your descendants turn to the Lord your God⁠ and obey him with your whole mind and being just as I am commanding you today,⁠ 3 the Lord your God will reverse your captivity and have pity on you. He will turn and gather you from all the peoples among whom he has scattered you.⁠ 4 Even if your exiles are in the most distant land, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back.⁠ 5 Then he will bring you to the land your ancestors possessed and you also will possess it; he will do better for you and multiply you more than he did your ancestors.⁠ 6 The Lord your God will also cleanse your heart, and the hearts of your descendants so that you may love him with all your mind and being and so that you may live. 7 Then the Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies, on those who hate you and persecute you. 8 You will return and obey the Lord, keeping all his commandments I am giving you today. 9 The Lord your God will make the labor of your hands abundantly successful and multiply your children, the offspring of your cattle, and the produce of your soil. For the Lord will once more rejoice over you to make you prosperous just as he rejoiced over your ancestors,⁠ 10 if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commandments and statutes that are written in this scroll of the law. But you must turn to him with your whole mind and being. 11 “This commandment I am giving you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it too remote.⁠ 12 It is not in heaven, as though one must say, ‘Who will go up to heaven to get it for us and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’⁠ 13 And it is not across the sea,⁠ as though one must say, ‘Who will cross over to the other side of the sea and get it for us and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’ 14 For the thing is very near you—it is in your mouth and in your mind so that you can do it. 15 “Look! I have set before you today life and prosperity on the one hand, and death and disaster on the other.⁠ 16 What I am commanding you today is to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to obey his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances. Then you will live and become numerous and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are about to possess. 17 However, if you turn aside and do not obey, but are lured away to worship and serve other gods, 18 I declare to you this very day that you will certainly perish! You will not extend your time in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess. 19 Today I invoke heaven and earth as witnesses against you⁠ that I have set life and death, blessing and curse, before you. Therefore choose life so that you and your descendants may live! 20 I also call on you to love the Lord your God, to obey him and be loyal to him, for he gives you life and enables you to live continually in the land the Lord promised to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

Texts in conversation

Compare Deuteronomy 30:11 and Shepherd of Hermas 46:5

Hebrew Bible · Early Christian

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Summary

In Deuteronomy, Israel is told the commandment is not too difficult or far away. In the Shepherd of Hermas, when Hermas says the twelve commandments are too hard, the Shepherd answers similarly that anyone who decides to obey them can do so easily.

Passages

Deuteronomy 30:11

Hebrew Bible
10 if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commandments and statutes that are written in this scroll of the law. But you must turn to him with your whole mind and being. 11 “This commandment I am giving you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it too remote. 12 It is not in heaven, as though one must say, ‘Who will go up to heaven to get it for us and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’ 13 And it is not across the sea, as though one must say, ‘Who will cross over to the other side of the sea and get it for us and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’ 14 For the thing is very near you—it is in your mouth and in your mind so that you can do it. 15 “Look! I have set before you today life and prosperity on the one hand, and death and disaster on the other. 16 What I am commanding you today is to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to obey his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances. Then you will live and become numerous and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are about to possess.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Deuteronomy

Shepherd of Hermas 46:5

Early Christian
4 I said to him: “Sir, these commandments are great and beautiful and glorious, and they can delight the heart of anyone who can keep them. But I do not know whether these commandments can be kept by any person, for they are very hard.” 5 He answered me: “If you decide that they can be kept, you will easily keep them, and they will not be hard; but if you get it into your heart that no one can keep them, you will not keep them. 6 But now I say to you: if you do not keep them, but neglect them, you will not have salvation—neither you nor your children nor your household, since you have already condemned yourself by saying that no one can keep these commandments.”
90–140 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Shepherd of Hermas

References

“... Hermas' very query about the difficulty of keeping the commandments (v. 4) shows his own incipient doublemindedness, which explains why it causes such a dramatic reaction on the part of the Shepherd (4.1-2). The reference to "gladdening the human heart" is applied to the Law in the Psalms, and the allusion here suggests a relationship between the two realms of commandments. In fact, the whole approach to the commandments in this chapter, though different in terminology, is reminiscent of Deuteronomy 30. [...] The answer to Hermas' objection (v. 5) is a piece of psychological wisdom whose language may be inspired by Stoicism, but whose lesson is universal: preconceptions determine outcome. [...] Especially Deut 30:6, 11, 15, 17-18, 20. ...”
Carolyn Osiek, The Shepherd of Hermas: A Commentary, Herm (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1999), 152.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Deuteronomy 30:11 and Shepherd of Hermas 46:5

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