Psalm 19 offers a hymn that connects nature in verses 1-6 to the law in verses 7-14. The date is during the divided monarchy. Some think an editor joined to psalms that originally had a separate existence. Yet, the combination of creation and law is not unique to this Psalm. Psalm 119:73 ties together God’s creation and God’s law, where the writer affirms the Lord has fashioned him and given him understanding so that he can learn the commandments of the Lord. The ordered universe and the order provided by Torah receive praise.
Psalm 19:1-6 emphasizes the beauty and order of nature as wordless testimony to the excellence of God. The same experience that inspired Psalm 8 inspired verses 1-6. Psalm 8 begins by declaring the majesty of the Lord from among all the earth. The Lord has set the divine glory about the heavens. This leads to reflection on the dignity of humanity. Here, the focus is on the peculiar character of the revelation of God in nature. These verses join other passages of the Bible that speak of the creative work of God.[1] 1 The heavens (exemplifying all of creation) are telling the glory of God;(connected poetically in Hebrew with God’s handiwork) and the firmament proclaims the handiwork of God. The contemplation of nature leads the author to see that it serves God. The works of the master reveal the master. The destiny of creatures is to praise and honor God and extol divine glory.[2] For the psalmist, while nature is an inanimate object, human beings still approach it with wonder. 2 Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. 3 There is no speech, nor are there words; people do not hear their voice; 4 yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. Even though nature is speaking, people do not hear its voice. For that reason, then, we cannot read nature as a plain or obvious witness that leads to the praise of God. The claim that nature is the work of God is always debatable.[3] Yet, when we join the psalmist in such praise of God, we anticipate the eschatological praising of God. The wonders of the universe can reveal the excellence and beauty of God for those who have eyes to see.[4] For this poet, then, the contemplation of nature leads him to see that even nature serves God. The works of the master reveal the master. The destiny of all creatures is to offer praise and honor to God and extol divine glory.[5] The divine ordering of nature speaks in a language everyone can understand. Nature gives knowledge of God to the world. Many persons in the ancient world sing the praise of objects in nature. For this author, human beings approach nature, which includes a large number of inanimate objects, with wonder. In the heavens, God has set a tent for the sun. Nature is not just an inanimate object, but he approaches it with wonder. The sun, 5 which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy, and like a strong man runs its course with joy. 6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them; and nothing can hide from its heat. Many cultures in the ancient world worshipped sun and moon. Part of the myth of that world was the sun-god rested during the night and the day welcomed him into the arms of the beloved. Thus, we see the poet uses the myth to refer to the sun as a bridegroom and the coming daylight as his wedding canopy. While other peoples may praise the creation, the Psalmist declares that the creation sings the Creator’s praise. As in Genesis 1, God created sun, moon, and stars and their movement. The word “create” does not occur, but God “set a tent for the sun.” As powerful and pervasive as is the light and heat of the sun, it belongs to God. Creation is voiceless. Yet, it resonates universal praise back to its creator.[6]
Science is our attempt to decipher the mystery that God has placed in nature. The pursuit of truth is what ought to animate us. If one believes that God is the author of all truth, then the pursuit of scientific truth is not something to fear, but rather pursued with joy and delight in the discoveries that will render the manifold splendor of God’s truth. Truth is truth; therefore, we do not need to hold scientific truth in opposition to revealed, or religious, truth. They are different aspects of the truth that leads us to knowledge of God. The praise offering we find here is not a scientific assertion. Rather, it arises from an affirmation of faith.
The beauty of creation has stimulated this offering of praise. Praise takes us beyond the ambiguity of empirical evidence. The discoveries of science and the method of logic are ambiguous in what they yield concerning knowledge of God. Nature is beautiful and ugly at the same time. Divine revelation has the ambiguity of multiple and differing claims to reveal God. Yet, behind it all is our desire for truth. Human beings have a unique place in creation as those created in the image of God and therefore with dignity and honor (Psalm 8:5).[7] We can observe a certain type of logic here. The movement of the objects we see in space can make us puzzle about how such movement began. Such reflections can lead us from the contingency of all finite things to the notion of a necessary Being, which we might call God, who is behind all that we see and study in nature. While many things have being, this would suggest the Greatest Being of all, which we would call God. Each part of creation seems uniquely fitted for its purpose. Each part of our bodies has their purpose that could not exist apart from its participation in the body. This fact may make it appear that an intelligent being designed it this way, which we would call God. The wonderfully complex diversity of creation seems to demand one who designed it.[8] Yet, evidence does not demand such a conclusion. For one thing, the knowledge of nature comes by looking at nature.[9] After all, nature inflicts plenty of suffering upon us all, including the children. What kind of designer would design something that included so much evil and suffering? Yet, for many of us, the sight of a towering mountain or the beauty of the beach will make us wonder how anyone could refuse to believe that God is behind it. The best one might say, though, is that such reasoning may provide a hint of the divine, but the hint is ambiguous, given the resistance we see in suffering and evil. Even Charles Darwin and Thomas Henry Huxley described themselves as agnostic regarding the divine and ultimate matters.[10] Some scientists will always stand amazement at how an educated person could cling to beliefs based upon testimony from thousands of years ago.[11] The deeper point is that neither the scientist nor the Christian has anything to fear from the other. We have a common drive toward truth. We are trying to put it together, even if we do so in distinctly different ways.[12] The psalmist who surveyed the heavens, praised God for its wonders, and gave thanks for the place of humanity in it, was hardly thinking of the details of how such wonders occurred. Something within him knew he needed to express gratitude. Science explores how things are. We need to rely upon other intellectual pursuits, such as philosophy, religion, aesthetics, and morality, to answer questions regarding our why questions. Pursuit of ultimate questions will have a dimension of faith, hope, and love that are beyond what science will yield. For science to demand scientific proof of our ultimate questions is for it to step beyond its purpose. For religion to demand scientific evidence for its belief in God is to make a demand science cannot give.[13] Yet, behind the intellectual pursuit of both is our desire for genuine beauty, goodness, and truth.[14]
Maybe the real question is not so much whether you believe God exists, but does it make a difference in your life. Does our behavior change depending upon our answer to that question? If it would not, then we can forget the question. If it would change, then we enter into a wonderful and beautiful home of the traditions of the church that will offer plenty of guidance as to why believing in God needs to make a difference.[15] Through the ambiguities of life, maybe we can affirm, with Emerson, that all we have seen teaches us to trust our creator for all we have not seen.[16] The believer will need to learn to live with the truth that scientific data brings while offering praise and gratitude to God. To live otherwise would be to set to truths against each other. Such opposition is unnecessary. Let us join the psalmist in singing, “Alleluia.”
Many composers and hymn writers have written settings to biblical and other words of praise for and by God’s creation. One thinks of Haydn’s “The Heavens Are Telling,” from The Creation. One also thinks of such hymns as “All Creatures of our God and King” (which tracks the words of a prayer by St. Francis of Assisi). Its refrain of “Praise Him” and “Alleluia” summarizes well the spirit of these verses. It invites nature to lift its voice with us as believers as we offer this praise to God. It begins with inviting sun and moon to do so. It invites them to “find a voice” and “Make music for the Lord to hear.” Mother earth also unfolds blessings toward humanity, including flowers and fruits. It then invites human beings “of tender heart, forgiving others,” to take its part in offering such praise in song. Even those who bear “pain and sorrow” are to offer their praise to God on whom they case their care. Even Death is “kind and gentle” as it leads us home in the way Christ has led. All things worship the Creator with humbleness. I think of “How Great Thou Art,” which invites us to consider the worlds and stars the hand of God has made. They display the power of God. His soul sings of the greatness of God. “This Is My Father’s World” that to his “listening ears, All nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres.” Rocks, trees, skies, and seas are wonders from the hand of God. Birds raise carols and lilies declare the praise of their Maker. He hears the Father pass “in the rustling grass” and “speaks to me everywhere.” “Morning Has Broken” offers praise for the singing and morning, “God’s recreation of the new day.” “Cantemos al Señor” (“Let’s Sing unto the Lord”) invites us to sing praise “at the new day’s fresh beginning.” God made sky, stars, sun, and oceans filled with beauty. The hymn of adoration is to show the love, faith, and hope of all creation. Through all the Lord has made, we praise the greatness of the Lord. Finally, the last verse of “Love Divine, all Loves Excelling” reminds us that creation is imperfect enough that we have the hope of a new creation, as we pray that God would finish the new creation so that we might see salvation and find our restoration in God.
Considering all this, I invite you to ponder the following, in the light of the entirety of Psalm 19. God created human beings as the culmination of creation, as Psalm 8:5 makes clear in the light of Genesis 1:26-31. Such a standing in creation gives humanity the special purpose of reflecting and expressing divine glory. Question 1 of the Westminster Larger Catechism reads, “What is the chief and highest end of man?” The answer: “Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever.” We follow Jesus Christ, the one who fully reflects the imago dei. Do we glorify God by our own words, lives and ministries?
Psalm 19: 7-10 has a close relationship to Psalm 119. In fact, Psalm 119:73,[17] ties together creation and Torah as coming from the Lord, as does this Psalm. We find they share many of the same words as synonyms for Torah: law, decrees, precepts, commandments or instruction. They revive the soul, make wise the simple, rejoice the heart, and enlighten the eyes. 7 The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the decrees of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple; 8 the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eyes; 9 the fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. It reminds us of the power of Torah to bring joy and purpose to a human life. We can see the delight in the Torah and the benefits of following it. It brings joy and blessing to those who obey it. Those who turn away from the way the Lord will receive the reverse, as we find in Psalm 1, 111-112, and Deuteronomy 30. Torah is a revelation of the will of the Lord. He has such a joyful confidence in the Torah that it has become higher than all earthly values. 10 More to be desired are they (the revelation of God) than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey, and drippings of the honeycomb. Here is a question I raise for today. Do we have a similar view to the psalmist who declares that knowing and following instructions from the Lord and the ways of the Lord is more valuable even than having a lot of money or indulging in tasty goodies? Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work” (John 4:34). In Isaiah 55:1-3, the prophet invites those thirsty, even those who have no money, to come to the “waters,” and to “buy and eat” that which the Lord gives freely. He invites people not to spend money or labor on that which is not bread and does not satisfy. He invites us to eat what is good. He defines this as listening to the Lord so that we might live.
Psalm 19:11-14 are a prayer of supplication. We learn that the chief reward of holding the revelation of Torah as precious is spiritual and focuses upon forgiveness. 11 Moreover by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. 12 But who can detect their errors? We do not have such wisdom on our own to detect our errors. Torah points them out. Yet is the statement true? I would suggest that only from a certain perspective. Human beings naturally detect error in self and others. We naturally develop a conscience through our interactions with others. The conscience detects right and wrong in our behavior and in the behavior of others. One brand of psychology calls this the “superego.” The point is, each culture detects varying behaviors as right and wrong, but human beings are naturally aware of the need to discern the difference between right and wrong. Thus, without Torah, yes, we would still detect error. Yet, we are also naturally aware of our capacity for self-deception. In this sense, revelation provides a reference point outside us by which we can detect right and wrong. To put the matter bluntly, we may wonder if God exists and whether we are to live lives accountable to God, but Torah does not wonder. Torah commands honor of God in our worship, speech, and use of our time. We may wonder if respecting parents, the property of others, telling the truth, faithfulness to a spouse or other matters, are right, good, and moral. Torah does not wonder. Torah says Yes, such behavior deserves respect and fulfillment in our lives. Torah will not tell us everything we are to do with our lives, and Torah will not tell unambiguously what to do in every situation. However, Torah will provide broad knowledge of the type of person we are to become and discern what that type of person would do in this situation. Clear (or free) me from hidden faults, something which only the Lord can do.
Think about all the tools that are available now to see stuff that is hidden, and to do it in a way that does not violate the integrity of the object. Think of a possible blood splatter on the floor. The CSI agent will spray some luminol on it, and there it is! Does the doctor need to see a bone fracture? An X-ray will provide a great photo. Do you need proof that you need a root canal? No problem. Dentists can show you the abscess in your molar. How do the TSA people screen for weapons and find out that you’re carrying too much shampoo in the bottle? They have their ways. How does a treasure hunter on the beach find a quarter someone dropped the day before? He uses a metal detector. Hidden fractures, hidden abscesses, hidden contraband, hidden tumors … hidden sins. How do you discover if you are harboring hidden sins? The psalmist asks for forgiveness. But would it not be great if we were better at self-assessment? We need a tool or tools like the doctors and CSI people use. The great philosophical and spiritual goal is to know oneself. If we read the Bible rightly, it will lead to greater self-knowledge. Partners in the spiritual journey can help us see faults that are hidden from us. An honest relationship with a spouse can help greatly here. Prayers of examination in the Christian tradition would be another good place to help expose hidden sins. For this poet, the chief reward is spiritual and focuses on forgiveness. Humility moves this writer when he seeks freedom from sin. The focus is not on an act, but a heart poured out before the Lord. The writer now shifts to offering a prayer. 13 Keep back your servant (referring to himself) also from the insolent (those of proud thought); do not let them have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and innocent (the New Testament using such words to refer to the cleansing God brings through Jesus Christ) of great transgression. 14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. His reference to the heart reminds us that obedience to Torah is not simply an outward matter. Obedience is a matter of the heart. In Deuteronomy 6:1-6, they are to teach the decrees and commandments so that they will fear the Lord and have a long life. In Deuteronomy 30:11-14, the commandments are not too hard for them and are not far away, but in their mouths and hearts. Jeremiah 31:31-34 will promise a new covenant with the law put within them, writing it on their hearts.[18] His heart meditation is that the Lord will find in the words of his mouth and the meditations of his heart an acceptable offering.[19]He regards the Lord as his rock and redeemer. The Lord is the one who protects and delivers him. Even today, preachers, poets, and musicians will wisely pray this portion of the psalm as they prepare and join their congregations in presenting the offering of this day to the Lord.
[1] Psalm 8; Psalm 89:5 ff.; Psalm 104; Genesis 1-2; Isaiah 40:26-31; 42:5; chapters 43 and 45 passim; Amos 4:12-13; Job 38-41; Romans 1:19-20, 25. Several NT passages declare that all creation is through Jesus Christ, God’s creating embodied Word: John 1:1-5, 14; Hebrews 1:1-4; Colossians 1:15-23; Revelation 3:14. Creation yearns for redemption in Romans 8:18-23, 38-39. For “new heavens and a new earth” see Isaiah 65:17 ff.; Isaiah 66:22; 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1; for further passages about new creation see 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15; Ephesians 4:24 (= Colossians 3:10).
[2] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 56.
[3] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 162.
[4] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, Volume 3, 646.
[5] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 56.
[6] See similarly
Psalm 98:4-9
4 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;
break forth into joyous song and sing praises.
5 Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,
with the lyre and the sound of melody.
6 With trumpets and the sound of the horn
make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord.
7 Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
the world and those who live in it.
8 Let the floods clap their hands;
let the hills sing together for joy
9 at the presence of the Lord, for he is coming
to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
and the peoples with equity.
and Isaiah 55:12.
12 For you shall go out in joy,
and be led back in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
shall burst into song,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
[7] Darwin’s theory of evolution has had Christians grinding their teeth for almost 150 years. It seems to fly in the face of the Genesis account of the origin of life and the natural world. This is particularly troubling if Genesis is read as a scientific journal rather than a theological document that explores how humans are in relationship with God their Creator. The latest version of this argument against the theory of evolution comes from proponents of Intelligent Design. This is not a new proof, or argument, but an old one repackaged and significantly more sophisticated than earlier versions of creationism.
[8] Aquinas’ Five Proofs (or Arguments) for the Existence of God
The first three are often lumped together in what scholars call the Cosmological Argument:
1. First Mover: Creation is the result of things being set in motion, anything moved is moved by another, and there can’t be an infinite series of movers. So there must be a first mover (a mover that is not itself moved by another). This is God.
2. First Cause: Creation is caused by that which causes it, and there cannot be an infinite series of causes. So there must be a first cause (a cause that is not itself caused by another). This is God.
3. Necessary Being: This argument suggests that every contingent being at some time fails to exist. So if everything were contingent, then at some time there would have been nothing — and so there would be nothing now — which is clearly false. So not everything is contingent. So there is a necessary being. This is God.
4. Greatest Being: Some things are greater than others. Whatever is great to any degree gets its greatness from that which is the greatest. So there is a greatest being, which is the source of all greatness. This is God.
5. Design: Sometimes called the Teleological Argument. The created world could not have acted on its own to achieve its end, therefore an intelligence must have been behind its creation, “as the arrow is shot to its mark by the archer.” Whatever acts for an end must be directed by an intelligent being. So the world must have an intelligent designer. This is God
ID argues that Darwin’s theory of evolution is not adequate to describe the wonderfully complex diversity of creation. Such complexity (the human eye being the most common example given), demands an unseen Designer an assertion that evolutionary biologists, and other scientists, are unwilling to make. The evidence might suggest an unseen Designer, especially if you are a person of faith and have certain spiritual pre-sets that make it easier for you to make that leap, but the evidence does not demand an unseen Designer, scientists say, because that would assume that the evidence has been subject to rigorous scientific methodology. There is no scientific test for the existence of God or the origins of human life that “demands” the answer ID people want.
Still, Intelligent Design is a strong and powerful proof, or argument, even though it is a proof that does not prove. It is so strong, that most of us, when we stand before a towering mountain, or approach a foaming ocean, or watch the sunrise or sunset, wonder how anyone in their right minds can refuse to acknowledge the existence of the Creator.
However, we can only do so much with ID. Many scientists, including the one who led the devotions for his church board, see the Intelligent Design movement, however sophisticated it might be packaged, as a distinct undermining of scientific research that has been tested numerous times and a severing of the once peaceful alliance of science and faith, each grounded in the pursuit of truth. Such a severance would be most unfortunate, and certainly not one anticipated by the historic faith of Christians and Jews.
[9] “The knowledge of God,” as the editors of Christian Century recently stated, “cannot be gleaned simply by looking at nature.” Surely even Darwin would agree with this assertion. The knowledge of nature comes by looking at nature, and even then, there are mysteries that remain beyond our understanding.
[10] Lyanda Lynn Haupt, writing in the journal Image, says that even Darwin did not believe such a radical bifurcation of faith and scientific discovery was necessary for those who trust the data of evolution. While unwilling to embrace any traditional Christian belief, with regard to theological assertions about God’s presence in creation, Darwin happily described himself as agnostic.
Haupt points out, “Darwin’s intent has been distorted. His agnosticism was always centered on the limits of human knowledge, rather than an outright rejection of engagement with theological questions. Darwin wrote, “The mystery of the beginning of all things is insoluble by us; and I for one must be content to remain an agnostic.”
According to Haupt, it was Thomas Henry Huxley, a friend and defender of Darwin, who in 1869 best described this middle position. “He was an a-gnostic, a non-knower, one who could not claim to know ultimate matters with rational certainty or through the empirical processes of modern science. Huxley disdained the arrogance of popular theologians who claimed to explain the ways of God in the world, but he was likewise critical of atheists who doffed the significance of theological questioning altogether.”
[11] “[Carl] Sagan was fascinated by the phenomenon that educated adults, with the wonders of science manifest all around them, could cling to beliefs based on the unverifiable testimony of observers dead for 2,000 years.” So says Jerry Adler who wrote a piece in Newsweek (March 31, 1997, 64-65) about the famous astronomer. He cites Sagan as once accosting [cleric Joan Brown] Campbell and saying, “You’re so smart; why do you believe in God?” Adler says that “she found this a surprising question from someone who had no trouble accepting the existence of black holes, which no one has ever observed. ‘You’re so smart; why don’t you believe in God?’ she answered.”
Adler says that Sagan never had doubts about his agnosticism. His wife, Ann Druyan, told him that “there was no deathbed conversion … no appeals to God, no hope for an afterlife, no pretending that he and I, who had been inseparable for 20 years, were not saying goodbye forever.” Didn’t he want to believe? she was asked. “Carl never wanted to believe,” she replies fiercely. “He wanted to know.”
[12] Christians, believing that all creation coheres in Christ, in whom the fullness of God dwells, are free to explore all the wonders of the natural world using the tools of science for learning and more complete understanding. We can join the psalmist who rejoices in the wonders of creation. The work of science does not diminish such wonders, but they do illuminate them.
[13] Here is one way to think of this struggle: The How questions are for science. The Why questions are for faith.
Did the psalmist ever consider the question of how? As a human being, most likely he did. Yet, how many of the millions of believers who joyfully give praise to God at the birth of their child consider the issues of chance, randomness and natural selection? For many, these matters are part of the fabric of life explained by science and affirmed by faith and pose no threat to their theology or to their spiritual practice.
Perhaps, this is where people of faith should let things rest. Matters of science, including the theories of the origins of life, are to be pursued by way of the standard forms of scientific research. Matters of science when in dispute, including theories about the origins of life, cannot be solved by theology, nor can matters of theological dispute be solved by the scientific method. To insist on empirical evidence for the existence of God or the origins of life would be to eviscerate the need for faith at all.
[14] Theology has to do with the pursuit of God and doxological practice that flow from our understanding and experience of God. This is the path of the psalmist and it has been the path of Christians and Jews for generations. Holy Scripture offers a window into the exploration of God and a view into what it means for human beings to live in profound relationship with the Giver of all good gifts. Christians explore the New Testament assertion that God has been revealed in Jesus Christ, who is the One in whom all things hold together (Colossians 1:17).
[15] Theologian Karl Rahner cites Bertolt Brecht who tells this story in his Stories of Mr. Keuner: “Someone asked Mr. Keuner whether God existed. Mr. Keuner said: ‘I suggest that you consider whether your behavior would change depending on the answer to this question. If it would not change then we can forget the question. If it would change then I can help you at least to the point of saying that you have already decided: You need a God.’”
[16] —Ralph Waldo Emerson. Complete Works, Vol. VIII. Letters and Social Aims XI. Immortality All the comfort I have found teaches me to confide that I shall not have less in times and places that I do not yet know. I have known admirable persons, without feeling that they exhaust the possibilities of virtue and talent. I have seen what glories of climate, of summer mornings and evenings, of midnight sky; I have enjoyed the benefits of all this complex machinery of arts and civilization, and its results of comfort. The good Power can easily provide me millions more as good. Shall I hold on with both hands to every paltry possession? All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen. Whatever it be which the great Providence prepares for us, it must be something large and generous, and in the great style of his works. The future must be up to the style of our faculties,—of memory, of hope, of imagination, of reason. I have a house, a closet which holds my books, a table, a garden, a field: are these, any or all, a reason for refusing the angel who beckons me away,—as if there were no room or skill elsewhere that could reproduce for me as my like or my enlarging wants may require? We wish to live for what is great, not for what is mean. I do not wish to live for the sake of my warm house, my orchard, or my pictures. I do not wish to live to wear out my boots.
[17] Your hands have made and fashioned me;
give me understanding that I may learn your commandments.
[18] Deuteronomy 6:1-6;
Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the ordinances—that the Lord your God charged me to teach you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy, 2 so that you and your children and your children’s children may fear the Lord your God all the days of your life, and keep all his decrees and his commandments that I am commanding you, so that your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe them diligently, so that it may go well with you, and so that you may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you.
4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.[a] 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. 6 Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart.
Deuteronomy 30:11-14
11 Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?” 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?” 14 No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.
and Jeremiah 31:31-34 and frequently elsewhere in Jeremiah.
31 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
[19] [James L. Mays, Psalms Interpretation commentary, 100].
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