Deuteronomy 32:35

_TO ME BELONGETH VENGEANCE, AND RECOMPENCE; THEIR FOOT SHALL SLIDE IN DUE TIME: FOR THE DAY OF THEIR CALAMITY IS AT HAND, AND THE THINGS THAT SHALL COME UPON THEM MAKE HASTE._ To me belongeth vengeance and recompense. It is my office, in the course of my providential government, to punish; and as I am well acquainted with all their sins, shall visit them in righteous retribution. THEIR FOOT SHALL SLIDE IN DUE TIME. Though they now fancy themselves secure, firm, and immovable, they shall ere long totter to their fall. The phraseology was founded on the difficulty of walking in a hill-country along narrow footpaths. 'Ours,' says Dr. Thomson ('Land and Book,' 1:, p. 106), 'has frequently been not more than a foot wide, of hard, smooth rock, and with a profound gorge yawning beneath. To slide and fall is, in a thousand places, certain destruction; and no threatenings against the workers of...

35_To me belongeth vengeance. _This passage is quoted to different purposes by Paul, and by the author (283) of the Epistle to the Hebrews, (Romans 12:19; Hebrews 10:30;) for Paul, with a view of persuading believers to bear injuries patiently, admonishes them to “give place unto wrath,” inasmuch as God declares vengeance to be His; but the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, proclaiming that God will be the avenger of impiety, confirms his declaration by this testimony. Hence it is that part of the commentators suppose that punishment is here denounced against heathen nations because they have cruelly afflicted God’s elect people. And, indeed, this appears to be the meaning of Paul’s words, that injuries should be patiently endured, since God claims for Himself the office of Avenger; b

26-38 The idolatry and rebellions of Israel deserved, and the justice of God seemed to demand, that they should be rooted out. But He spared Israel, and continues them still to be living witnesses of the truth of the Bible, and to silence unbelievers. They are preserved for wise and holy purposes and the prophecies give us some idea what those purposes are. The Lord will never disgrace the throne of his glory. It is great wisdom, and will help much to the return of sinners to God, seriously to consider their latter end, or the future state. It is here meant particularly of what God foretold by Moses, about this people in the latter days; but it may be applied generally. Oh that men would consider the happiness they will lose, and the misery they will certainly plunge into, if they go on in their trespasses! What will be in the end thereof? Jeremiah 5:31. For the Lord will in due time br...

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....

SONG OF MOSES If Deuteronomy 32:1 be regarded as the introduction, and Deuteronomy 32:43 as the conclusion, the main contents of the song may be grouped under three heads, namely, (1) Deuteronomy 32:4, the faithfulness of God, the faithlessness of Israel; (2) Deuteronomy 32:19, the chastisement and the need of its infliction by God; (3) Deuteronomy 32:34, God’

EXPOSITION SONG OF MOSES AND ANNOUNCEMENT OF HIS DEATH. In accordance with the Divine injunction, Moses composed an ode, which he recited in the hearing of the people, and committed to writing, to remain with them as a witness for God against them. With this end in view, the ode is directed principally to a contrasting of the unchanging faithfulness of the Almighty with the anticipated perversity and unfaithfulness of his people. The poem may be divided into six parts. 1. An introduction (Deuteronomy 32:1), in which the importance of the doctrine to be delivered is announced. 2. The blamelessness and excellency of Jehovah are placed in contrast with the corruptness and perversity of

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, or vengeance, Acts 28:4; nor to Satan and his spiteful angels, nor to any of the sons of men in a private capacity; though magistrates, being in public office, and representing God, are revengers to execute wrath on them that do evil, Romans 13:4; otherwise it is peculiar to God; and there is a great deal of reason to believe he will recompence it, as it may be concluded from his hatred of sin, his strict justice, and his faithfulness t

2. THE SONG OF MOSES CHAPTER 32:1-43 _ 1. The introduction and the theme (Deuteronomy 32:1)_ 2. The foolish people (Deuteronomy 32:5) 3. How Jehovah loved them (Deuteronomy 32:7) 4. Their apostasy (Deuteronomy 32:15) 5. The results of the apostasy (Deuteronomy 32:19) 6. Jehovah's final dealing with Israel (Deuteronomy 32:34) 7. The glorious consummatio

Moses'song is a didactic poem, a theodicy in which Yahweh's ways are vindicated. In its sentiments and artistic form it is unsurpassed in the poetry of the OT. Its dominant theme is Yahweh's justice and lovingkindness to Israel notwithstanding the nation's sinfulness. It is impossible to fix the date of this poem with any confidence. But points of contact with Jer., Isaiah 40-55, Ezek., and the Wisdom literature suggest the closing years of the Exile (say 550 B.C.). Moses is certainly not the author, for to the latter the Exodus belongs to his distant past (Deuteronomy 32:7), and the Israelites are already in Canaan (Deuteronomy 32:13 f.). The words translated doctrine (Deuteronomy 32:2), abominations ...

TO ME. Hebrew text is _li_. "to Me", but Dr. Ginsburg thinks it is an abbreviation for _liyom,_ "for the day", as seems evident from Samaritan Pentateuch, Targum of Onkelos, and Septuagint, and from agreeing with the next line. So that verses: Deuteronomy 32:34; Deuteronomy 32:35 will read: "Is not this laid up in store with Me, Sealed up in My treasuries? For the day of vengeance and recompence, For the time when their foot shall slip? "This shows that the _Ellips_ is is wrongly supplied in the Authorized Version; and that the Revised Version misses the point...