CHAPTER XXXII _The prophetical and historical song of Moses, showing forth the_ _nature of God's doctrine_, 1-3. _The character of God_, 4. _The corruption of the people_, 5, 6. _They are called to remember God's kindness_, 7, _and his dealings with them during their travels in the_ _wilderne... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 32:2. _MY DOCTRINE_] לקחי _likchi_, from לקח _lakach_, to _take, carry away_; to _attract_ or _gain over_ the _heart_ by eloquence or persuasive speech. Hence the Septuagint translate the word αποφθεγμα, an _apophthegm_, a sententious and weighty saying, for the regulation of the m... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 32:4. _HE IS THE ROCK_] The word צור _tsur_ is rendered _Creator_ by some eminent critics; and [Arabic] _khalyk_ is the reading in the Arabic Version. Rab. Moses ben Maimon, in his valuable work, _Moreh Nebochim_, observes that the word צור _tsur_, which is ordinarily translated _... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 32:5. _THEIR SPOT_ IS _NOT_ THE SPOT _OF HIS CHILDREN_] This verse is variously translated and variously understood. _They are_ _corrupted, not his, children of pollution_. - KENNICOTT. _They are_ _corrupt, they are not his children, they are blotted_. - HOUBIGANT. This is accordi... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 32:8. _WHEN THE MOST HIGH DIVIDED TO THE NATIONS, C._] Verses Deuteronomy 32:8 and Deuteronomy 32:9, says Dr. Kennicott, give us express authority for believing that the earth was very early divided in consequence of a Divine command, and probably by _lot_, (see Acts 17:26) and as... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 32:9. _THE LORD'S PORTION IS HIS PEOPLE_] What an astonishing saying! As _holy souls_ take GOD for _their portion_, so GOD takes _them_ for _his portion_. He represents himself as happy in his followers; and they are infinitely happy in, and satisfied with, God as their _portion_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 32:10. _He _- the Lord, _found him _- Jacob, in his descendants, _in_ _a desert land _- the wilderness. _He led him about_ forty years in this wilderness, Deuteronomy 8:2, or יסבבנהו _yesobebenhu, he compassed him about_, i. e., God defended them on all hands, and in all places. _... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 32:11. _AS AN EAGLE STIRRETH UP HER NEST_] Flutters over her brood to excite them to fly; or, as some think, _disturbs her nest_ to oblige the young ones to leave it; so God by his plagues in Egypt obliged the Israelites, otherwise very reluctant, to leave a place which he appeared... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 32:12. SO _THE LORD ALONE DID LEAD HIM_] By his power, and by his only, were they brought out of Egypt, and supported in the wilderness. _AND_ THERE WAS _NO STRANGE GOD_] They had help from no other quarter. The Egyptian idols were not able to save their own votaries; but God not... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 32:13. _HE MADE HIM RIDE_] ירכבהו _yarkibehu, he will cause_ _him to ride_. All the verbs here are in the future tense, because this is a prophecy of the prosperity they should possess in the promised land. The Israelites were to _ride _- exult, on the high places, the mountains an... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 32:14. _FAT OF KIDNEYS OF WHEAT_] Almost every person knows that the kidney is enveloped in a coat of the purest fat in the body of the animal, for which several anatomical reasons might be given. As the kidney itself is to the abundantly surrounding fat, so is the _germ_ of the gr... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 32:15. _JESHURUN_] ישרון the _upright_. This appellative is here put for Israel, and as it comes from ישר _yashar_, he was _right, straight_, may be intended to show that the people who once not only promised fair, but were really _upright_, walking in the paths of _righteousness_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 32:17. _THEY SACRIFICED UNTO DEVILS_] The original word שדים _shedim_ has been variously understood. The Syriac, Chaldee, Targums of Jerusalem and Jonathan, and the Samaritan, retain the original word: the _Vulgate, Septuagint, Arabic, Persic, Coptic_, and _Anglo-Saxon_, have devi... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 32:18. _OF THE ROCK_ THAT _BEGAT THEE_] צור _tsur_, the _first cause_, the _fountain_ of thy being. Deuteronomy 32:4.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 32:19. _WHEN THE LORD SAW IT, C._] More literally, _And the_ _Lord saw it, and through indignation he reprobated his sons and_ _his daughters_. That is, When the Lord shall see such conduct, he shall be justly incensed, and so reject and deliver up to captivity his sons and daughte... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 32:20. _CHILDREN IN WHOM IS NO FAITH_] לא אמן בם _lo emon bam,_ "There is no _steadfastness_ in them," they can never be depended on. They are _fickle_, because they are _faithless_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 32:21. _THEY HAVE MOVED ME TO JEALOUSY_] This verse contains a very pointed promise of the calling of the Gentiles, in consequence of the rejection of the Jews, threatened Deuteronomy 32:19; and to this great event it is applied by St. Paul, Romans 10:19.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 32:22. _THE LOWEST HELL_] שאול תחתית _sheol tachtith_, the very deepest destruction; a total extermination, so that _the_ _earth _- their land, and _its increase_, and all their property, should be seized; and the _foundations of their mountains _- their strongest fortresses, shoul... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 32:23. _I WILL SPEND MINE ARROWS UPON THEM._] The judgments of God in general are termed the _arrows of God_, Job 6:4; Psalms 38:2; Psalms 91:5; see also Ezekiel 5:16; Jeremiah 50:14; 2 Samuel 22:14-10. In this and the following verses, to the _28_th inclusive ... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 32:24. THEY SHALL BE _BURNT WITH HUNGER_] Their land shall be cursed, and _famine_ shall prevail. This is _one_ of the arrows. _BURNING HEAT_] No showers to cool the atmosphere; or rather boils, blains, and pestilential fevers; this was a _second_. _BITTER DESTRUCTION_] The plagu... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 32:27. _WERE IT NOT THAT I FEARED THE WRATH OF THE ENEMY_] Houbigant and others contend that _wrath_ here refers not to the _enemy_, but to God; and that the passage should be thus translated: "Indignation for the adversary deters me, lest their enemies should be alienated, and say... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 32:29. That _THEY WOULD CONSIDER THEIR LATTER END!_] אחריתם _archaritham_, properly, _their latter times_-the glorious days of the Messiah, who, according to the flesh, should spring up among them. Should they carefully consider this subject, and receive the promised Saviour, they... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 32:30. _HOW SHOULD ONE CHASE A THOUSAND_] If therefore they had not forgotten their _Rock_, God their _author_ and _defence_, it could not possibly have come to pass that a thousand of them should flee before _one_ of their enemies.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 32:31. _FOR THEIR ROCK_] The gods and pretended protectors of the Romans. Is _NOT AS OUR ROCK_] Have neither power nor influence like our God. _OUR ENEMIES THEMSELVES_ BEING _JUDGES._] For they often acknowledged the irresistible power of that God who fought for Israel. See Exodu... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 32:32. _FOR THEIR VINE IS OF THE VINE OF SODOM_] The Jews are as wicked and rebellious as the Sodomites; for by the vine the inhabitants of the land are signified; see Isaiah 5:2; Isaiah 5:7. _THEIR GRAPES_] Their actions, are _gall and worm-wood_-producing nothing but mischief an... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 32:33. _THEIR WINE_] Their system of doctrines and teaching, is _the poison of dragons_, c., fatal and destructive to all them who follow it.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 32:34. _SEALED UP AMONG MY TREASURES?_] Deeds or engagements by which persons were bound at a specified time to fulfil certain conditions, were _sealed_ and laid up in places of safety; so here God's justice is pledged to avenge the quarrel of his broken covenant on the disobedient... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 35. _THEIR FOOT SHALL SLIDE IN_ DUE _TIME, C._] But Calmet thinks that this verse is spoken against the Canaanites, the enemies of the Jewish people.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 36. _THE LORD SHALL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE_] He has an absolute right over them as their _Creator_, and authority to punish them for their rebellions as their _Sovereign_; yet he will _repent himself _- he will change his manner of conduct towards them, _when he seeth that_ their _power is gone _- w... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 37. _HE SHALL SAY_] He shall begin to expostulate with them, to awaken them to a due sense of their ingratitude and rebellion. This may refer to the preaching of the Gospel to them in the latter days.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 39. _SEE NOW THAT I _- AM _HE_] Be convinced that God alone can save, and God alone can destroy, and that your idols can neither _hurt_ nor _help_ you. _I KILL, AND I MAKE ALIVE, C._] My mercy is as great as my justice, for I am as ready to save the penitent as I was to punish the rebellious.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 40. _FOR I LIFT UP MY HAND TO HEAVEN_] See concerning oaths and appeals to God in _Clarke's note on "_Deuteronomy 6:13_"_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 42. _FROM THE BEGINNING OF REVENGES_] The word פרעות _paroth_, rendered _revenges_, a sense in which it never appears to be taken, has rendered this place very perplexed and obscure. Mr. _Parkhurst_ has rendered the whole passage thus: - I will make my arrows drunk with blood; And my sword s... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 43. _REJOICE, O YE NATIONS_] Ye Gentiles, for the casting off of the Jews shall be the means of your ingathering with _his_ _people_, for they shall not be utterly cast off. (See Romans 15:9, for in this way the apostle applies it.) But how shall the Gentiles be called, and the Jews have their... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 44. _AND MOSES CAME_] Probably from the tabernacle, where God had given him this prophetic ode, and he rehearsed it in the ears of the people.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 46. _SET YOUR HEARTS UNTO ALL THE WORDS_] Another proof that all these awful denunciations of Divine wrath, though delivered in an _absolute_ form, were only _declaratory_ of what God would do IF they rebelled against him.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 32:47. _THROUGH THIS THING YE SHALL PROLONG_ YOUR _DAYS_] Instead of being cut off, as God here threatens, ye shall be preserved and rendered prosperous in the land which, when they passed over Jordan, they should possess.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 32:49. _GET THEE UP INTO THIS MOUNTAIN ABARIM_] The mount of the _passages_, i. e., of the Israelites when they entered into the promised land. Numbers 27:12.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 32:50. _AND DIE IN THE MOUNT - AS AARON_] Some have supposed that Moses was translated; but if so, then Aaron was translated, for what is said of the death of the one is said of the death of the other.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 32:51. _YE TRESPASSED AGAINST ME - AT THE WATERS OF MERIBAH_] Numbers 20:12.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 32:52. _THOU SHALT SEE THE LAND BEFORE THEE_] See Numbers 27:12, c. How glorious to depart out of this life with God in his heart and heaven in his eye! his work, his great, unparalleled usefulness, ending only with his life. The serious reader will surely join in the following pio... [ Continue Reading ]