Jewish Interpretations
The Torah explains "not in Heaven" understood justifies man's authority to interpret the Torah. The Talmud explains, "(The Torah) is not in Heaven" means that the meaning of the Torah itself is to be uncovered not by prophets, or even God's miracles or words, but by man's interpretation and decision-making. In the story of the Oven of Akhnai, "Rabbi Yehoshua affirmed the independence of man's interpretation from divine intervention since this is what God wills. In support he adduces the biblical statement that the Torah is 'not in heaven' (Deuteronomy 30:12)."
In the academic study of Jewish law, the verse "not in Heaven" serves as the Biblical grounding for the jurisprudential structure of halakhah (Jewish law). The source for Rabbinic authority is really from Deuteronomy 17:11 (According to the law which they shall teach you, and according to the judgment which they shall tell you, you shall do). As one author explains, thanks to the midrashic reading of the verse, "...God himself acquiesced in His exclusion from the halakhic process. Having revealed His will in Sinai in the grundnorm, He Himself, according to the Rabbinic explanation, entrusted the interpretation of His will to the Sages."
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