Is the Law Difficult?
Modern readers often envision the Torah as an onerous or impossible standard. However, several English translations of Deuteronomy 30:11 explicate that the Law is not “too difficult” to take on. While this rendition of the Hebrew affirms one's ability to observe the Mosaic commands, it is also an imprecise translation in that it depicts the Torah in terms of “difficulty”—i.e., the Law is difficult, but not too difficult. The problem with this phrasing is that the Torah’s supposed difficulty level is not part of the discussion in Deuteronomy. Instead of dispelling the problem of the Law’s difficulty, Moses underscores its accessibility.
Many English renderings of Deuteronomy 30:11 have Moses assuring his people that the Torah is not impossible to follow. The NIV states, “Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.” The CEB has Moses say that the Law “is definitely not too difficult for you. It isn’t unreachable.” These translations make it seem like the problem Moses combats is a misapprehension of the Torah as arduous to the point of unattainability (see also ASV, CSB, ESV, NET). On one hand, these versions do well to clarify that the Torah has never been impossible to observe—a point that opposes the later Christian misunderstanding of the Law as overly onerous. On the other hand, it implies that the Law, though not too hard, is still a real bear. According to this rendering, Israel needed a reminder—for those days when the Torah would become a slog—that the completion of God’s commands was possible.
Yet the original Hebrew of Deuteronomy 30:11 says nothing about difficulty. Instead, the text states, “For this commandment that I command you today, it is not hidden from you (לֹא־נִפְלֵאת הִוא מִמְּךָ; lo-niflet hi mimkha), nor is it far away.” In Deuteronomy, the word פָּלָא (pala)—often translated “too difficult” in 30:11—means either “hidden” from one’s purview (i.e., unknowable) or something so “marvelous” or “extraordinary” that humans are astonished or baffled by it. Moses says that God will “make marvelous” (הִפְלָא; hiphla) the plagues for disobedience (Deut 28:15), and he provides Israel’s judges with direction should the correct verdict in a criminal case be “hidden from you” (יִפָּלֵא מִמְּךָ; yiphla mimkha)—i.e., obscure to the point of being baffling for the judge. The context of 30:11 clarifies that the Torah is not “hidden” from the Israelites’ view. Moses tells them, “For this commandment that I command you today is not hidden from you, neither is it far away. It is not in heaven… nor is it beyond the sea…. But the word is very close to you” (Deut 30:11-14). Rather than suggesting that the Law is difficult but doable, Moses stresses that the Torah is not hidden from its readers. On the contrary, the commandment is “in your mouth and in your heart, in order to do it” (Deut 30:14).
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