INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 32 This chapter contains the song mentioned and referred to in the former, the preface to it, Deuteronomy 32:1; the character of the divine and illustrious Person it chiefly respects, Deuteronomy 32:4; the ingratitude of the people of the Jews to him, who were a crooked... [ Continue Reading ]
GIVE EAR, O YE HEAVENS, AND I WILL SPEAK; AND HEAR, O EARTH, THE WORDS OF MY MOUTH. This song is prefaced and introduced in a very grand and pompous manner, calling on the heavens and earth to give attention; by which they themselves may be meant, by a "prosopopaeia", a figure frequently used in Sc... [ Continue Reading ]
MY DOCTRINE SHALL DROP AS THE RAIN, MY SPEECH SHALL DISTIL AS THE DEW,.... Which some, as Aben Ezra, take to be a prayer or wish, that the doctrine spoken by him might fall upon men like rain and dew on the earth, penetrate into their hearts, and influence them, and produce good effects there; but t... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE I WILL PUBLISH THE NAME OF THE LORD,.... Not call on his name, as some, nor call to the heaven and earth in his name, as others, but proclaim his name, even the same that was proclaimed before Moses, Exodus 34:6; and this is to be understood, not of Jehovah the Father, nor of Jehovah the Spi... [ Continue Reading ]
[HE IS] THE ROCK,.... That is, Jehovah is the rock, whose name Moses proposed to publish; and our God, to whom the heavens and the earth are called upon to ascribe greatness, even Christ the rock of salvation: here begins the song; the first word in it is very emphatic; it has a letter in it larger... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY HAVE CORRUPTED THEMSELVES,.... This and what follows may seem to be the characters of the enemies of Christ, who lightly esteemed and rejected him, set in a contrast with him; who were not only corrupt by nature, as all men are, but were men of corrupt minds in their tenets and principles; who... [ Continue Reading ]
DO YOU THUS REQUITE THE LORD, O FOOLISH PEOPLE AND UNWISE,.... This is also a proper character of the Jews in the times of Christ, who are often by him called "fools", Matthew 23:17; being very ignorant of the Scriptures, and of the prophecies in them respecting him, setting up their own traditions... [ Continue Reading ]
REMEMBER THE DAYS OF OLD, CONSIDER THE YEARS OF MANY GENERATIONS,.... That went before the times of Christ, and the Jews' rejection of him, and observe the instances of divine goodness to them; as in the time of the Maccabees, whom God raised up as deliverers of them, when oppressed by the Syrians a... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THE MOST HIGH DIVIDED TO THE NATIONS THEIR INHERITANCE,.... In the times of Noah and his sons, in the days of Peleg, who had his name (that is "Division") from thence, Genesis 10:25; "the Most High" is a well known and proper, epithet of God; the dividing of the earth to the several nations of... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE LORD'S PORTION [IS] HIS PEOPLE, JACOB [IS] THE LOT OF HIS INHERITANCE. This is the reason why the Lord so early provided a portion or inheritance for the children of Israel in the land of Canaan; because they were his part, his portion, his inheritance, which he chose by lot for himself, or... [ Continue Reading ]
HE FOUND HIM IN A DESERT LAND, AND IN THE WASTE HOWLING WILDERNESS,.... In Deuteronomy 32:10 instances are given of the goodness of God to the people of Israel, when in the wilderness; by which is meant, either "the wilderness of the land of Egypt", as it is called, Ezekiel 20:36; where they were in... [ Continue Reading ]
AS AN EAGLE STIRRETH UP HER NEST,.... Her young ones in it, to get them out of it: Jarchi says the eagle is merciful to its young, and does not go into its nest suddenly, but first makes a noise, and disturbs them with her wings, striking them against a tree or its branches, that so they being awake... [ Continue Reading ]
[SO] THE LORD ALONE DID LEAD HIM,.... Out of Egypt, through the wilderness, to the land of Canaan, going before them in a pillar of fire and cloud; though this is not to be understood to the exclusion of the ministry of Moses and Aaron, by whom he led them, Psalms 77:20; it may be interpreted of the... [ Continue Reading ]
HE MADE HIM TO RIDE ON THE HIGH PLACES OF THE EARTH,.... Or land, the land of Canaan; by which are meant the towers, castles, and fortified places in it, some of which might be built on hills and mountains; and being made to ride on them may denote the delivery of them into their hands, their conque... [ Continue Reading ]
BUTTER OF KINE,.... Made of milk, which kine or cows give; Jarchi says, this is the fat that is gathered on the top of milk, he means cream, and which indeed was the butter of the ancients, and is here meant: AND MILK OF SHEEP: which they give, though not in such plenty as the kine, yet what is ver... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT JESHURUN WAXED FAT, AND KICKED,.... This is undoubtedly a name of the people of Israel; it is to be met with only in three places more, in Deuteronomy 33:5; it is generally thought to come from a word d which signifies upright and righteous, such these people ought to have been, and some among t... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY PROVOKED HIM TO JEALOUSY WITH STRANGE [GODS],.... Or "with others" h; the word "gods" is not in the text, nor were the Jews guilty of worshipping strange gods or idols in the times of Christ, nor had they been from the time of their coming out of the Babylonish captivity; but the word, as Cocce... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SACRIFICED TO DEVILS, NOT TO GOD,.... Their sacrifices being continued, when it was the will of God they should cease, were reckoned by him not as, offered to him, but to demons, and to such that were not God; they being therein under the instigation of Satan, and doing his lusts, John 8:44; ju... [ Continue Reading ]
OF THE ROCK [THAT] BEGAT THEE THOU ART UNMINDFUL,.... The same with the rock of salvation, Deuteronomy 32:15; repeated and expressed in different words, that their wretched ingratitude might be taken notice of and observed: begetting is ascribed to this rock, as regeneration is to Christ, 1 John 2:2... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THE LORD SAW [IT],.... The disregard of the Jews to Christ, their forgetfulness of him, their disesteem and rejection of him; their continuance of sacrifices, when the great sacrifice was offered up; their setting up other messiahs and saviours, and the idol of their own righteousness, in o... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SAID, I WILL HIDE MY FACE FROM THEM,.... Now the Lord proceeds to pass sentence on the Jews for their ill treatment of his Son, and of his followers; which respects judgments that should come upon them, both spiritual and temporal, or corporeal; the former lies in Deuteronomy 32:20, and the l... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY HAVE MOVED ME TO JEALOUSY WITH [THAT WHICH IS] NOT GOD,.... With a false messiah; for after the death of Jesus, the true Messiah, God as well as man, many false Christs arose, as he predicted, and were received for a time, who were mere men, and deceivers; and their now vainly expected messiah,... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR A FIRE IS KINDLED IN MINE ANGER,.... Here begins the account of temporal and corporeal judgments inflicted on the Jews for their disbelief and rejection of the Messiah, their contempt of his Gospel, and ill treatment of his followers; and this here respects the destruction of the land of Judea i... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL HEAP MISCHIEF UPON THEM,.... One calamity upon another, which are after particularly mentioned: I WILL SPEWED MINE ARROWS UPON THEM; God is here represented as an enemy to the Jews, as having bent his bow against them like an enemy, Lamentations 2:4; and as having a quiver, and that full of... [ Continue Reading ]
[THEY SHALL BE] BURNT WITH HUNGER,.... This is the arrow of famine, Ezekiel 5:16; the force of which is such that it makes the skin black as if burnt, Lamentations 5:10; Onkelos paraphrases it, "inflated or swelled with famine,'' which is a phrase Josephus b makes use of in describing the famine a... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SWORD WITHOUT,.... Either without the city, the sword of the Roman army besieging it, which destroyed all that came out or attempted to go in; or in the streets of the city, the sword of the seditious, which destroyed multitudes among themselves: AND TERROR WITHIN; within the city, on account o... [ Continue Reading ]
I SAID,.... Or could have said, or might have said; that is, determined and resolved, as it was in his power, and in right and justice might have done what follows: I WOULD SCATTER THEM INTO CORNERS; which does not fitly express the sense of the word used, and besides this was what was done; it is... [ Continue Reading ]
WERE IT NOT THAT I FEARED THE WRATH OF THE ENEMY,.... Satan, the enemy of mankind in general, of the people of God in particular, and especially of the Messiah, the seed of the woman, and of God himself, whom he would dethrone, or at least place himself on an equality with him; this enemy is full of... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THEY [ARE] A NATION VOID OF COUNSEL,.... This is said not of the Jews, whose character is given, Deuteronomy 32:6; and instances of their ingratitude, folly, and want of counsel and understanding, have been already mentioned, and punishment for the same inflicted on them, according to this proph... [ Continue Reading ]
O THAT THEY WERE WISE,.... These are not the words of God, and so no instances of mere velleities, and unsuccessful wishes in him, and as arguing a power in man to make himself wise if he would; but of Moses, under a spirit of prophecy, foreseeing the ignorance and stupidity of the above persons; or... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW SHOULD ONE CHASE A THOUSAND, AND TWO PUT TEN THOUSAND TO FLIGHT,.... This is said for the conviction of the Pagan Romans of their folly in behaving strangely, attributing to their gods what belonged to the true God; for since the Jews were more numerous than they, both in Judea, in the times of... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THEIR ROCK [IS] NOT AS OUR ROCK,.... That is, the gods of the Heathens, the rock in which they trusted, are not like the God of Israel, the rock of salvation, in which all true believers, whether Jews or Gentiles, place their confidence; and indeed let that be what it will, that is short of Chri... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THEIR VINE [IS] OF THE VINE OF SODOM, AND OF THE FIELDS OF GOMORRAH,.... This respects the false Christians in the Roman empire, who should have taken warning by the Jews, and not have embraced such sentiments of theirs, which had been resented by the Lord, and condemned in them; such as the doc... [ Continue Reading ]
THEIR WINE [IS] THE POISON OF DRAGONS,.... Of these creatures, both land and sea dragons, Micah 1:8; Malachi 1:3; Pliny says l the dragon has no poison in it; yet, as Dalechamp, in his notes on that writer observes, he in many places prescribes remedies against the bite of the dragon; but Heliodoru... [ Continue Reading ]
[IS] NOT THIS LAID UP IN STORE WITH ME,.... The fruit of the degenerate vine, its bitter clusters of grapes, and poisonous wine; meaning the evil principles and practices of the apostate church, well known to God, taken notice of by him, and laid up in his mind and memory; for both she and her sins... [ Continue Reading ]
TO ME [BELONGETH] VENGEANCE AND RECOMPENSE,.... Or, I will repay, or recompence, as it is quoted in Romans 12:19; and so all the three Targums, the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions, here, and so Jarchi interprets it. Vengeance belongs only to a divine Person, not to an Heathen deity called Dice... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE LORD SHALL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE,.... The true church and members of it, in opposition to the false and apostate church; his chosen and covenant people, whom he gave to Christ, and who are redeemed by his blood, and effectually called by his grace; the people he shall call out of Babylon, or pres... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SHALL SAY, WHERE [ARE] THEIR GODS?.... Not the Lord shall say to Israel, upbraiding them with their idols and their idolatries; but, as the Targum of Jonathan, "the enemy shall say, where is the God of Israel?'' and to the same purpose is, the Jerusalem Targum, and which is the sense of oth... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH DID EAT THE FAT OF THEIR SACRIFICES, [AND] DRANK THE WINE OF THEIR DRINK OFFERINGS,.... Alluding to the fat of the sacrifices under the law, which was claimed by the Lord as his, and represented as his food, Leviticus 3:11; and to the drink offerings of wine, which were of a sweet savour to Go... [ Continue Reading ]
SEE NOW THAT I, [EVEN] I, [AM] HE,.... Which words are directed to the people of God in their low estate, to look to Christ, and expect deliverance and salvation from him; or to their enemies that insult them, to the despisers, to look, and wonder, and perish, as they will, when the witnesses slain... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR I LIFT UP MY HAND TO HEAVEN,.... Which is a gesture used in swearing, Genesis 14:22, and is ascribed to a divine Person, Ezekiel 20:5; and particularly to Christ the angel, that is so wonderfully described, Revelation 10:1; though sometimes it is used, as Aben Ezra observes, to excite the attent... [ Continue Reading ]
IF I WHET MY GLITTERING SWORD,.... That is, I will do it as sure as I live, if I do not, be it so and so; what that is is not said, but left to be concluded. A glittering sword is a sword drawn, the blade of it drawn out of the scabbard, cleaned and polished, whetted and made sharp, that it may more... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL MAKE MINE ARROWS DRUNK WITH BLOOD,.... Signifying, that by various judgments he would bring upon them, which, like arrows, would come suddenly, fly swiftly, and pierce deeply, there would be a prodigious effusion of blood like that in Revelation 14:20; so that these arrows, which cause it, be... [ Continue Reading ]
REJOICE, O YE NATIONS, [WITH] HIS PEOPLE,.... Or, "rejoice, ye nations", who are "his" people; so Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it; the Gentiles, who are the Lord's chosen and covenant people, redeemed and called, and the fulness of them now brought in, and so matter of great rejoicing; or rather,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND MOSES CAME,.... To the people, as the Greek version, the heads of the people being gathered together according to his order, Deuteronomy 31:28; The Targum of Jonathan says, he came from the tabernacle, the house of instruction: AND SPAKE ALL THE WORDS OF THIS SONG IN THE EARS OF THE PEOPLE; whi... [ Continue Reading ]
AND MOSES MADE AN END OF SPEAKING ALL THESE WORDS TO ALL ISRAEL. Finished all he had to say to them from the Lord, whether by way of precept, moral, civil, and ceremonial or in the form of a song.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SAID UNTO THEM,.... By way of exhortation: SET YOUR HEARTS TO ALL THE WORDS WHICH I TESTIFY AMONG YOU THIS DAY; it was not enough to hear them, but they were to lay them up in their hearts, and retain them in their memories; and not only so, but reflect on them in their minds, and closely ap... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR IT [IS] NOT A VAIN THING FOR YOU,.... That is, the law is not, and the observance of it in them and their children; it was no light and trifling matter, but of great importance and consequence, obedience to it being attended with rewards, and disobedience with punishment: BECAUSE IT [IS] YOUR L... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD SPAKE UNTO MOSES THE SELFSAME DAY,.... On which he finished the reading of the law, and the above song, which was the seventh of Adar or February; according to the Targum of Jonathan, the day he died on; according to the Egyptian Calendar a, it was the sixteenth of that month, see Deute... [ Continue Reading ]
GET THEE UP INTO THIS MOUNTAIN ABARIM,.... Which was near in sight, and pointed at; it was a range of mountains, of which see Numbers 21:11; [UNTO] MOUNT NEBO; which was one of the mountains of Abarim, and had its name either from its height, or a city of this name, to which it was near, see Numbe... [ Continue Reading ]
AND DIE IN THE MOUNT WHITHER THOU GOEST UP,.... Immediately after having taken a view of the land, expect to die, prepare for it, and willingly and cheerfully submit to it: AND BE GATHERED UNTO THY PEOPLE; to the spirits of just men made perfect in heaven, his more immediate and more remote ancesto... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE YE TRESPASSED AGAINST ME AMONG THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL,.... By their unbelief, doubting whether God would give water or no to such a rebellious people, and by giving way to passion and wrathful expressions: and this was done AT THE WATERS OF MERIBAHKADESH; so called, to distinguish it from a... [ Continue Reading ]
YET THOU SHALT SEE THE LAND BEFORE [THEE],.... Which Jarchi interprets, afar off; and so does Noldius c; he saw it at a distance, as the Old Testament saints saw the things promised afar off, and were persuaded of them, though they did not enjoy them, Hebrews 11:13: BUT THOU SHALT NOT GO THITHER UN... [ Continue Reading ]