Deuteronomychapter 32
52 verses · BSBDeuteronomy book hub →
Key verse
Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
It stands in Hear, O heavens: doctrine dropping like rain, verses 1 to 6.
The chapter
Chapter summary
The song of Moses. ‘Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth’. A covenant lawsuit in verse. The Rock of Israel; his work is perfect; his ways are judgment. Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked. The LORD will provoke them with a foolish nation; fire kindled to the lowest hell; arrows drunk with blood. ‘See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal’ (32:39). Vengeance is mine, and recompence. ‘Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people’. Cited in Rom 15:10. Moses teaches the song so that Israel cannot unlearn it. ‘Get thee up into this mountain … and die in the mount’.
Context
Law · Moses · Deuteronomy overview
Where the chapter sits
Deuteronomy 32 falls in Final words, song, blessing, death (chapters 31–34). Joshua commissioned; the song of Moses (ch. 32); the blessing of the tribes (ch. 33); Moses' death on Nebo and his burial by God (ch. 34).
The song of Moses. A covenant lawsuit in verse, heaven and earth called to witness.
Before it: Third sermon, blessings and curses, chapters 27–30.
The whole shape of Deuteronomy→The world behind this chapter
Deuteronomy 32The history
This is poetry, and old poetry. The Hebrew here uses forms and vocabulary that are noticeably more archaic than the prose around it, which is one of the reasons even scholars who date the book late usually grant that the song is very early.
Its central image for God is the Rock, used repeatedly, and set against the 'rock' of the nations, which is no rock at all. In hill country where cliffs and caves were where you actually went to survive a raid, calling God your Rock was not decoration.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
The eagle picture is drawn from watching birds: stirring up the nest, hovering over the young, spreading its wings, catching them and carrying them on its pinions. That is what God did in the wilderness. And Jeshurun, an affectionate name meaning something like 'the upright one', grew fat and kicked.
One line in the song is textually contested and worth naming. Where many older English Bibles read that God set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the 'sons of Israel,' the Dead Sea scroll evidence and the ancient Greek translation read 'sons of God', heavenly beings set over the nations, with Israel kept as the LORD's own portion. The house reading takes the divine-council sense seriously, and the rest of the song supports it: Israel is later charged with sacrificing to shedim, spirit beings, new gods their fathers had not known.
What it meant to them
The song told the first hearers who they were in the plainest terms available: a people God found in a desert land, guarded like the pupil of his eye, and likely to forget it once they were fed.
It also ends with mercy inside the judgment. God vindicates his people and has compassion on his servants when their strength is gone. Then Moses is told to climb Mount Nebo and see the land he will not enter.
Sources cited
- Carl Friedrich Keil & Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament
- K. A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament
The structure of this chapter
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. Hear, O heavens: doctrine dropping like rain
1. (vv. 1-3)
Deuteronomy 32:1
“Song of Moses If Deu 32:1-3 be regarded as the introduction, and Deu 32:43 as the conclusion, the main contents of the song may be grouped under three heads, namely, (1) Deu 32:4-18, the faithfulness of God, the faithlessness of Israel; (2) Deu 32:19-33, the chastisement and the need of its infliction by God; (3) Deu 32:34-42…”
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God’s compassion upon the low and humbled state of His people.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· Deuteronomy 32:1evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:2
“Therefore let us seek in the Scriptures what is "the rain" which is given only to the saints and concerning which "it is commanded to the clouds that they do not pour their rain" upon the unjust. Therefore Moses and the Lawgiver himself teach us what this rain is.”
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For he himself says in Deuteronomy, "Consider, O heaven, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words from my mouth; let my speech be awaited like rain." Are these words my speech? Do we pervert violently the meaning of divine law by arguments of rhetoric?
Origen of Alexandria· written before 253· HOMILIES ON LEVITICUS 16.2.3.See also AMBROSE ON DEUTERONOMY 28:12· Deuteronomy 32:2patristic
Deuteronomy 32:2, 2 more voices
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 moral conduct such, properly, are the sayings in this inimitable ode.”
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Shall drop as the rain - It shall come drop by drop as the shower, beginning slowly and distinctly, but increasing more and more till the plenitude of righteousness is poured down, and the whole canon of Divine revelation completed.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 32:2evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:2
"It shall be a beating sweeping rain to the rebellious;" so one of the Chaldee paraphrasts expounds the first clause.
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Rain is sometimes sent for judgment, witness that with which the world was deluged; and so the word of God, while to some it is reviving and refreshing--a savour of life unto life, is to others terrifying and killing--a savour of death unto death.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· Deuteronomy 32:2puritan
Deuteronomy 32:3
“The name of the Lord - His glorious excellencies and righteous actions, by which he hath made himself known as a man is known by his name, and by which it will appear both that there is no blame to be laid upon him whatsoever befalls you…”
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and that it is gross madness to forsake such a God for dumb idols.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)· Deuteronomy 32:3evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:3, 4 more voices
Deuteronomy 32:3
“I shall use the text, first, as a caution; secondly, as a command. I shall be but brief upon each particular, for my strength I feel may speedily fail me, but I trust in God to make some impressions on our hearts. I. First, then, I shall use it as A CAUTION.”
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Inasmuch as Moses has said, "Ascribe you greatness to our God," we believe that he intended thereby to hint to us that we ought to ascribe greatness to none else. If greatness is to be ascribed to God, then none of God's creatures may in the least share the honor of that mighty attribute of greatness! Now as there are many who violate this Truth of God, and need this caution, they must allow me, if any of them are here, to caution them. First, then, the man who trusts his salvation in the least degree to priests or pope, or any dignitary of any church, violates this great command—"Ascribe you greatness to our God." If I bow my knee before a saint; if I worship a created being; if I seek the intercession of any save the one Person who is ordained to be the Mediator between God and man, the Man, Christ Jesus, I do in that degree derogate from the greatness of God! Some think not. They suppose that by using some influence with the Virgin Mary, or with the saints, these may also be induced to plead with God.
Charles Spurgeon· The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 367: “The Great Supreme” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1856)· Deuteronomy 32:3Particular Baptist
Deuteronomy 32:3
“I shall use the text, first, as a caution; secondly, as a command. I shall be but brief upon each particular, for my strength I feel may speedily fail me, but I trust in God to make some impressions on our hearts. I. First, then, I shall use it as A CAUTION.”
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Inasmuch as Moses has said, "Ascribe you greatness to our God," we believe that he intended thereby to hint to us that we ought to ascribe greatness to none else.
Charles Spurgeon· The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 367: “The Great Supreme” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1856)· Deuteronomy 32:3Particular Baptist
Deuteronomy 32:3
“Because I will publish the name of the Lord,....”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 32:3reformed
Deuteronomy 32:3
“It will be of great use to us for the preventing of sin, and the preserving of us in the way of our duty, always to keep up high and honourable thoughts of God, and to take all occasions to express them: Ascribe greatness to our God.”
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We cannot add to his greatness, for it is infinite; but we must acknowledge it, and give him the glory of it.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· Deuteronomy 32:3puritan
a.Heaven and earth are summoned as witnesses, which is what Moses did the day before at 31:28 and twice earlier at 4:26 and 30:19. Isaiah 1:2 opens his own prophecy with the same summons, so the form outlived the man using it here. Verse 2 asks for the words to fall as rain on grass rather than as a sentence read out, and verse 3 names the subject before the song starts.
2. (vv. 4-6)
Deuteronomy 32:4
“But he who is on the white horse is called "faithful," not so much because he trusts as because he is trustworthy, that is, he is worthy of being trusted. According to Moses, the Lord is faithful and true.”
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For he is also true in contradistinction to a shadow and a type and an image, since the Word that powers from heaven is true. For the Word on earth is not like the Word in heaven, inasmuch as he has become flesh and is expressed by means of a shadow and types and images.
Origen of Alexandria· written before 253· COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 2.49· Deuteronomy 32:4patristic
Deuteronomy 32:4, 1 more voice
Deuteronomy 32:4
“He is the Rock - The word צור tsur is rendered Creator by some eminent critics; and khalyk is the reading in the Arabic Version. Rab.”
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Moses ben Maimon, in his valuable work, Moreh Nebochim, observes that the word צור tsur, which is ordinarily translated rock, signifies origin, fountain, first cause, etc., and in this way it should be translated here: “He is the first principle, his work is perfect.” As he is the cause of all things, he must be infinitely perfect; and consequently all his works must be perfect in their respective kinds.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 32:4evangelical
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 according to the Samaritan.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 32:5evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:5, 1 more voice
Deuteronomy 32:5
“They have corrupted themselves--that is, the Israelites by their frequent lapses and their inveterate attachment to idolatry.”
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their spot is not the spot of his children--This is an allusion to the marks which idolaters inscribe on their foreheads or their arms with paint or other substances, in various colors and forms--straight, oval, or circular, according to the favorite idol of their worship.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)· Deuteronomy 32:5reformed
Deuteronomy 32:6
“But if the Lord himself is Creator of all things, we must consider in what manner he is said "to have acquired" what is without doubt his own. It is said also in another song in Deuteronomy: "Is not he himself your God who made you and created you and acquired you?"”
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For each one appears to acquire that which was not his own. Indeed, on this basis the heretics also say of the Savior that he "acquired" those who were not his; for with the price which was paid he purchased men whom the Creator had made.
Origen of Alexandria· written before 253· HOMILIES ON EXODUS 6:9· Deuteronomy 32:6patristic
a.He is the Rock, His work is perfect: This is where God is given the name Rock, and the song then uses it at verses 15, 18, 30 and 31, with the enemies' rock set against it at verse 37. Numbers 20:7-11 has Moses striking a rock for water inside the forty years he is retelling, and 1 Corinthians 10:4 says of that rock that it was Christ. Verse 6 asks whether this is how a father is repaid, and it lists three things done for the people, bought, made and established.
B. He found him in a desert land
1. (v. 7)
Deuteronomy 32:7
Who then would be so presumptuous and blind as to dare to trust in his own judgment and discretion when the vessel of election testifies that he needed to confer with his fellow apostles?
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From this it is clearly proven that the Lord shows the way of perfection to no one who has the means of being educated but who disdains the teaching and the instruction of the elders and who considers as insignificant that saying which ought to be diligently observed: "Ask your father, and he will declare it to you, your elders, and they will tell you."
John Cassian· written before 435· CONFERENCE 2.15.3· Deuteronomy 32:7patristic
a.Remember the days of old; consider the years: This is the last of the fourteen places where Deuteronomy says remember, and nine occurrences of forget stand against them across the book. What is to be held on to is an event rather than a doctrine, and the method given is to ask thy father and thy elders. The men being addressed were children or unborn when Egypt happened, so the song lays on them a duty to question the generation that was there.
2. (vv. 8-9)
Deuteronomy 32:8
“When the Most High divided to the nations, etc. - Deu 32:8 and Deu 32:9, says Dr.”
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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 Act 17:26); and as Africa is called the land of Ham, (Psa 78:51; Psa 105:23, Psa 105:27; Psa 106:22), probably that country fell to him and to his descendants, at the same time that Europe fell to Japheth, and Asia to Shem, with a particular reserve of Palestine to be the Lord’s portion, for some one peculiar people.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 32:8evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:9
As God shall help me, and relying only on His Divine assistance, I shall try to work out these two texts at some length. We shall commence with, "The Lord's portion.''" We will then proceed to the second, "His people's portion.''" I. "THE LORD'S PORTION IS HIS PEOPLE." 1.
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The text teaches us that the Church of God is the Lord's own peculiar and special property. "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. The world and they that dwell therein."
Charles Spurgeon· The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 451: “Choice Portions” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1862)· Deuteronomy 32:9Particular Baptist
Deuteronomy 32:9, 4 more voices
Deuteronomy 32:9
“As God shall help me, and relying only on His Divine assistance, I shall try to work out these two texts at some length. We shall commence with, "The Lord's portion.''" We will then proceed to the second, "His people's portion.''" I. "THE LORD'S PORTION IS HIS PEOPLE." 1.”
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The text teaches us that the Church of God is the Lord's own peculiar and special property. "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. The world and they that dwell therein." By creation, as well as by Providence, Jehovah is the liege Lord and Sovereign possessor of the entire universe. Let none venture to dispute His claims, or say that He is not the great Owner of all things, for thus says the Lord, "Behold, all souls are Mine." But He has a special property in His Church. As a king may have ample possessions, to all of which he has undoubted right, still he has royal mansions and crown lands which are in a very special sense his own. So has the Lord of All a peculiar interest in His saints. As Osborne and Balmoral and Windsor belong to our sovereign by a tenure which differs from her title and claim to the United Kingdom, so the Church is the peculiar heritage of the King of kings. The whole world is God's by common right. He is Lord of the manor of the universe. But His Church is His garden, His cultivated and fenced field, and if He should give up His rights to all the rest of the wide earth, yet He never could relinquish His rights to His separated inheritance. "The Lord's portion is His people." How are they His? We answer, first, by His own sovereign choice. Before they were fashioned, all creatures lay in His mind's eye in the mass of creatureship, and it was in His power to make whom He would as vessels unto honor. He did so ordain to make His chosen and set His love upon them.
Charles Spurgeon· The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 451: “Choice Portions” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1862)· Deuteronomy 32:9Particular Baptist
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. This is what is implied in being a saint.”
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He who is seeking for an earthly portion, has little commerce with the Most High.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 32:9evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:9
“For the Lord's portion is his people, Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 32:9reformed
Deuteronomy 32:9
“He has a particular delight in it: it is the beloved of his soul, in it he walks, he dwells, it is his rest for ever. He has a particular concern for it, keeps it as the apple of his eye.”
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He has particular expectations from it, as a man has from his portion, has a much greater rent of honour, glory, and worship, from that distinguished remnant, than from all the world besides.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· Deuteronomy 32:9puritan
a.The King James follows the Masoretic text here, according to the number of the children of Israel, which older writers tie to the seventy nations of Genesis 10 and the seventy souls of Genesis 46:27. The Septuagint reads angels of God, other Greek witnesses read sons of God, and a Deuteronomy scroll from Qumran supports that second reading. Michael Heiser is the best known modern advocate of the sons of God reading and builds a divine council understanding of the Old Testament on it, while Keil and Delitzsch defend the Masoretic text and read the division through Genesis 10. Verse 9 states what the division left, that the Lord's portion is his people and Jacob the lot of his inheritance.
3. (vv. 10-12)
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, Deu 8:2, or יסבבנהו yesobebenhu, he compassed him about, i. e., God defended them on all hands, and in all places.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 32:10evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:11
“Finally, listen to Moses saying: He spread his wings and took them, and carried them on his shoulders (Deuteronomy 32:11): just as an eagle carries its offspring, which it is accustomed to examine; in order to hold and nurture those who have the true nature of birth, and to observe the grace of incorruptible nature…”
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or to reject those in whom it has detected the weakness of a degenerate origin at a tender age.
Ambrose of Milan· written before 397· Interrogation of Job and David, Chapter V· Deuteronomy 32:11patristic
Deuteronomy 32:11, 2 more voices
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 by his judgments to have devoted to destruction.”
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Fluttereth over her young - ירחף yeracheph, broodeth over them, communicating to them a portion of her own vital warmth: so did God, by the influences of his Spirit, enlighten, encourage, and strengthen their minds.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 32:11evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:11
“Her nest - Her young ones in the nest; which she by her cry and motion provoketh to fly. Her wings - As preparing herself to fly.”
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On her wings - Or, as on her wings, that is, gently, and tenderly and safely too, as if she carried them not in her claws for fear of hurting them, but upon her wings.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)· Deuteronomy 32:11evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:12
“With him - To assist him at that work or to deliver them. The more unworthy they in giving to idols a share in that worship which they owe to God only.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)· Deuteronomy 32:12evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:12, 2 more voices
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.”
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The Egyptian idols were not able to save their own votaries; but God not only saved his people, but destroyed the Egyptians.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 32:12evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:12
“So the Lord alone did lead him,....”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 32:12reformed
a.He found him in a desert land: The eagle stirring her nest is the second use of that image for the exodus, after Exodus 19:4, where God tells Israel he bare them on eagles' wings. Apple of his eye is the pupil, the part of a man that is guarded without any decision to guard it, and Psalm 17:8 and Zechariah 2:8 use the phrase the same way. Verse 12 shuts the door on any partner in the rescue, so sole authorship is settled before the song turns to the charge.
4. (vv. 13-14)
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.”
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The Israelites were to ride - exult, on the high places, the mountains and hills of their land, in which they are promised the highest degrees of prosperity; as even the rocky part of the country should be rendered fertile by the peculiar benediction of God.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 32:13evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:13, 1 more voice
Deuteronomy 32:13
“The high places - To conquer their strongest holds, which often are in the mountains, and their cities fenced with walls of greatest height and strength. To ride upon, in scripture phrase, is to subdue or conquer.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)· Deuteronomy 32:13evangelical
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 grain to the lobes or farinaceous parts.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 32:14evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:14, 1 more voice
Deuteronomy 32:14
“Fat of lambs - For though the fat wherewith the inward parts were covered was not to be eaten by them, but offered to God, yet that fat which was mixed with the flesh they might eat, as the Jewish doctors note.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)· Deuteronomy 32:14evangelical
a.Honey out of the rock and oil out of the flinty rock give the chapter's name for God a second use, since the rock that is his title is also what food is drawn from. Psalm 81:16 repeats the honey out of the rock in a psalm about the same period. Verse 14 is a catalogue of settled produce, butter, milk, lambs, rams of Bashan, wheat and wine, set down as gifts immediately before verse 15 says what was done with them.
C. Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked
1. (vv. 15-16)
Deuteronomy 32:15
“Every kind of honour and happiness was bestowed upon you, and then was fulfilled that which is written, "My beloved ate and drank, and was enlarged and became fat, and kicked." [Deuteronomy 32:15] Hence flowed emulation and envy, strife and sedition, persecution and disorder, war and captivity.”
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So the worthless rose up against the honoured, those of no reputation against such as were renowned, the foolish against the wise, the young against those advanced in years.
Clement of Rome· written before 99· Clement's First Letter to the Corinthians, Chapters 3-4· Deuteronomy 32:15patristic
Deuteronomy 32:15, 1 more voice
Deuteronomy 32:15
“Jeshurun - ישרון the upright.”
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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, should, in the time signified by the prophet, not only revolt from God, but actually fight against him; like a full fed horse, who not only will not bear the harness, but breaks away from his master, and endeavors to kick him as he struggles to get loose.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 32:15evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:16
“To jealousy - To anger and fury, for jealousy is the rage of a man. And withall it implies the ground of his anger, their falseness to God whom they had accepted as their husband, and their spiritual whoredom with other gods.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)· Deuteronomy 32:16evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:16, 4 more voices
Deuteronomy 32:16
“They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods,....”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 32:16reformed
Deuteronomy 32:16
“20 And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith.”
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21 They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people;
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· Deuteronomy 32:16puritan
Deuteronomy 32:16
“If there were any spirits or invisible powers that possessed their idol-temples and images, they were evil spirits and malignant powers, whom yet they did not need to worship for fear they should hurt them, as they say the Indians do; for those that faithfully worship God are out of the devil's reach: nay…”
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the devil can destroy those only that sacrifice to him.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· Deuteronomy 32:16puritan
Deuteronomy 32:16
“In the first word: You shall not have strange gods before me, all profane pacts with demons are prohibited, whether they be made through incantations of words, or through inscriptions of characters or images, or through immolations of sacrifices. All these Augustine calls pacts with …”
Bonaventure· written before 1257· Collationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 2· Deuteronomy 32:16patristic
a.Jeshurun stands four times in Scripture, here and at 33:5 and 33:26 and again at Isaiah 44:2, and commentators take it from the root for upright, which makes the name affectionate and its use here bitter. What ruins Jeshurun is the danger 6:10-12 and 8:11-14 already named, which is having enough. Lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation sets the failure directly against the name given at verse 4.
2. (vv. 17-18)
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 devils or demons.”
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The Septuagint has εθυσαν δαιμονιοις, they sacrificed to demons: the Vulgate copies the Septuagint: the Arabic has sheeateen, the plural of Sheetan, Satan, by which the rebellious angels appear to be intended, as the word comes from the root shatana, he was obstinate, proud, refractory, went far away.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 32:17evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:17, 1 more voice
Deuteronomy 32:17
“They knew not - Or, who never knew them, that is, never shewed any kindness to them, or did them any good: New gods - Not simply or absolutely, for some of these had been worshipped for many generations, but comparatively to the true God, who is the ancient of days, chap.”
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vii, 9, and who was worshipped from the beginning of the world. Feared not - Served not, worshipped not.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)· Deuteronomy 32:17evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:18
“Of the rock - Of God, one of whose titles this is, or of Christ, who is called the rock, 1 Cor. x, 4, whom the Israelites tempted.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)· Deuteronomy 32:18evangelical
a.The Hebrew word behind devils here stands twice in the Old Testament, at this verse and at Psalm 106:37, where it describes sacrificing sons and daughters. Paul writes at 1 Corinthians 10:20 that what the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to devils and not to God, which is this clause carried into a letter about meat offered to idols. Verse 18 puts the charge as forgetting, one of the two commands the whole book runs on, and what is forgotten is the Rock that begat thee.
3. (vv. 19-21)
Deuteronomy 32:19
“When the Lord saw it, etc. - 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 daughters.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 32:19evangelical
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.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 32:20evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:20, 1 more voice
Deuteronomy 32:20
“They were faithless, and a people that could not be trusted. When he saved them, and took them into covenant, he said, Surely they are children that will not lie ( Isa. lxiii.”
Read the whole quotation
8 ); but when they proved otherwise, children in whom is no faith, they deserved to be abandoned, and that the God of truth should have no more to do with them.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· Deuteronomy 32:20puritan
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 Deu 32:19; and to this great event it is applied by St. Paul, Rom 10:19.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 32:21evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:21, 1 more voice
Deuteronomy 32:21
“But God can make the weakest instrument a scourge to the strongest sinner; and those that by sin insult their might Creator are justly insulted by the meanest of their fellow-creatures. This was remarkably fulfilled in the days of the judges, when they were sometimes oppressed by the very Canaanites themselves, whom they had subdued, Judg. iv.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· Deuteronomy 32:21puritan
Deuteronomy 32:21
- Quoted inRomans 10:19I ask instead, did Israel not understand? First, Moses says: “I will make you jealous by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation without understanding.”
'I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people' ('Moses saith')
a.Verse 21 is built as an exchange, a no-god answered by a no-people, with the same two verbs used on both sides of it. Paul quotes the second half at Romans 10:19 to account for the Gentiles hearing what Israel did not, and he takes the jealousy up again at Romans 11:11 and 11:14. Not a people is the phrase Hosea 1:9-10 turns over and 1 Peter 2:10 applies to the church. Verse 20 gives the sentence as a hiding of the face, which Isaiah 8:17 and 54:8 both take up.
4. (vv. 22-23)
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, should be razed to the ground.”
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All this was fulfilled in a most remarkable manner in the last destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, so that of the fortifications of that city not one stone was left on another. See the notes on Matthew 24 (note).
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 32:22evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:23
“The Divinity is not angry, as some suppose, but when he makes so many threats he is only making an appeal and showing humankind the things that are to be accomplished. Such a procedure is surely good, for it instills fear to keep us away from sin.”
Clement of Alexandria· written before 215· The Instructor Book 1· Deuteronomy 32:23patristic
a.The word rendered hell here is sheol, the place of the dead, and the fire is said to burn to its lowest part, so what is described has no floor under it. Chapter 28 gave these same judgments as the consequences of a broken covenant, and the song gives them as the act of a person who is angry. Arrows spent upon them makes God the archer, and verse 42 comes back to that image at the end.
5. (vv. 24-25)
Deuteronomy 32:24
“They shall be burnt with hunger,.... This is the arrow of famine, Eze 5:16; the force of which is such that it makes the skin black as if burnt, Lam 5:10; Onkelos paraphrases it,"inflated or swelled with famine,''which is a phrase Josephus (b) makes use of in describing the famine at the siege of Jerusalem.”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 32:24reformed
Deuteronomy 32:24, 1 more voice
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 plague; this was a third.”
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Teeth of beasts - with the poison of serpents - The beast of the field should multiply upon and destroy them; this was a fourth: and poisonous serpents, infesting all their steps, and whose mortal bite should produce the utmost anguish, were to be a fifth arrow.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 32:24evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:25
“The sword without,....”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 32:25reformed
Deuteronomy 32:25, 1 more voice
Deuteronomy 32:25
“When the sword is without, there cannot but be terror within. 5 , Without were fightings, within were fears. Those who cast off the fear of God are justly exposed to the fear of enemies. [2.] Universal deaths.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· Deuteronomy 32:25puritan
a.The list runs through famine, fever, wild beasts and serpents, which is close to the covenant curse of Leviticus 26:22 and 26:25. Verse 25 names four ages in a single line, the young man, the virgin, the suckling and the man of gray hairs, so nobody stands outside the sentence. Lamentations 1:20 describes Jerusalem in the same two halves, the sword abroad and death at home.
D. Vengeance is mine: and mercy to his land
1. (vv. 26-27)
Deuteronomy 32:26
“I said,....”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 32:26reformed
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, The strength of our hands, and not of the Lord’s…”
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hath done this.” Had not God punished them in such a way as proved that his hand and not the hand of man had done it, the heathens would have boasted of their prowess, and Jehovah would have been blasphemed, as not being able to protect his worshippers, or to punish their infidelities.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 32:27evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:27, 1 more voice
Deuteronomy 32:27
“The wrath - Their rage against me, as it is expressed, Isaiah xxxvii, 28, 29, their furious reproaches against my name, as if I were cruel to my people or unable to deliver them. The fear hereof is ascribed to God after the manner of men.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)· Deuteronomy 32:27evangelical
a.The judgment stops short, and the reason given is what the enemy would conclude, that their own hand was high and the Lord had not done any of it. Moses had used that argument in prayer at Exodus 32:12 and Numbers 14:13-16, and Ezekiel 20:9 and 20:14 have God give it as his own reason for holding back. Israel's survival is therefore grounded in the name of God rather than in anything Israel is at that point.
2. (vv. 28-30)
Deuteronomy 32:28
“For they are a nation void of counsel,....”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 32:28reformed
Deuteronomy 32:28, 2 more voices
Deuteronomy 32:28
“In consideration of this, Mercy prevails for the sparing of a remnant and the saving of that unworthy people from utter ruin: I feared the wrath of the enemy. It is an expression after the manner of men; it is certain that God fears no man's wrath, but he acted in this matter as if he had feared it.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· Deuteronomy 32:28puritan
Deuteronomy 32:28
"It is a nation without counsel and without prudence: would that they were wise and understood and foresaw their last things." He touches upon the three parts of intelligence, namely memory of things past, understanding of things present, and circumspection regarding things future. Whoever does …
Bonaventure· written before 1257· Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 8· Deuteronomy 32:28patristic
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.”
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Should they carefully consider this subject, and receive the promised Savior, they would consequently act as persons under infinite obligations to God; his strength would be their shield, and then: -
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 32:29evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:29, 1 more voice
Deuteronomy 32:29
“Oh, . . . that they would consider their latter end--The terrible judgments, which, in the event of their continued and incorrigible disobedience, would impart so awful a character to the close of their national history.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)· Deuteronomy 32:29reformed
Deuteronomy 32:30
“Their rock - Their God, who was their refuge and defense. Sold them - Namely, for bond-slaves, had given themselves up into their enemies hands. Shut them up - As it were in the net which their enemies had laid for them.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)· Deuteronomy 32:30evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:30, 3 more voices
Deuteronomy 32:30
“How should one chase a thousand - If therefore they had not forgotten their Rock, God their author and defense, it could not possibly have come to pass that a thousand of them should flee before one of their enemies.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 32:30evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:30
“How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight,....”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 32:30reformed
Deuteronomy 32:30
“When he was turned to be their enemy, as here, and fought against them for their sins, then he remembered the days of old, saying, Where is he that brought them out of the sea?”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· Deuteronomy 32:30puritan
a.One chasing a thousand is the promise of Leviticus 26:8 and Joshua 23:10 run backwards, since there Israel does the chasing and here it is the one chased. Sold them is the word Judges 2:14 and 3:8 use for what God does with Israel when it turns, so the defeat is put as a transaction rather than a failure of strength. Their latter end in verse 29 is the thing the song says they will not consider, and the whole chapter was given at 31:19 as a witness for the day they do.
3. (vv. 31-33)
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 Exo 14:25; Num 23:8-12, Num 23:19-21; 1Sa 4:”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 32:31evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:32
“They were planted a choice vine, wholly a right seed, but by sin had become the degenerate plant of a strange vine ( Jer. ii. 21 ), and not only transcribed the iniquity of Sodom, but outdid it, Ezek. xvi.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· Deuteronomy 32:32puritan
Deuteronomy 32:33
“Their wine is the poison of dragons,....”
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Of these creatures, both land and sea dragons; see Gill on Mic 1:8; See Gill on Mal 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 Heliodorus (m) expressly speaks of some archers, whose arrows were infected with the poison of dragons; and Leo Africanus (n) says, the Atlantic dragons are exceeding poisonous: and yet other writers (o) besides Pliny have asserted that they are free from poison.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 32:33reformed
a.Verse 31 makes the enemies the judges of the comparison between the two rocks, which is a court the song does not have to convene for itself. The vine of Sodom sends a reader back to Genesis 19, and Isaiah 5:1-7 works the vineyard image the same way against Judah. Commentators divide over whose vine verses 32 and 33 describe, since verse 31 has been speaking of the adversaries while the surrounding song is charging Israel, and Gill and Keil take opposite sides of it.
4. (vv. 34-35)
Deuteronomy 32:34
“Sealed up among my treasures?”
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- Deeds or engagements by which persons were bound at a specified time to fulfill 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 Jews, but the time and manner were sealed in his treasures, and known only to himself. Hence it is said: -
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 32:34evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:35
But what better pattern can there be than that of Divine justice? For the Son of God says: "Love your enemies;" and again: "Pray for those that persecute you and speak against you." So far does He remove the desire of vengeance from the perfect that He commands charity towards those who injure them.
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And since He had said in the Old Testament: "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay."
Ambrose of Milan· written before 397· Epistle 63, Section 84· Deuteronomy 32:35patristic
Deuteronomy 32:35, 2 more voices
Deuteronomy 32:35
“To me belongeth vengeance and recompense,.... Or, I will repay, or recompence, as it is quoted in Rom 12:19; and so all the three Targums, the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions, here, and so Jarchi interprets it.”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 32:35reformed
Deuteronomy 32:35
“Their foot shall slide in due time, etc. - But Calmet thinks that this verse is spoken against the Canaanites, the enemies of the Jewish people.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 32:35evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:35
- Quoted inHebrews 10:30For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge His people.”
'Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense'
- Quoted inRomans 12:19Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.”
'Vengeance is mine; I will repay ('it is written')
a.Romans 12:19 and Hebrews 10:30 both quote verse 35, and both read vengeance is mine, I will repay, which follows the Hebrew more closely than the Septuagint does at this point. Paul uses it to forbid private revenge and Hebrews uses it to warn a church, so one line does two different pieces of work in the New Testament. Jonathan Edwards took the clause their foot shall slide in due time as the text of his 1741 sermon at Enfield, which is how most English readers have met the verse since.
5. (vv. 36-38)
Deuteronomy 32:36
“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 - when they are entirely subjugated by their adversaries…”
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so that their political power is entirely destroyed; and there is none shut up or left - not one strong place untaken, and not one family left, all being carried into captivity, or scattered into strange lands.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 32:36evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:37
“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.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 32:37evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:37, 1 more voice
Deuteronomy 32:37
“And he shall say, where are their gods?....”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 32:37reformed
Deuteronomy 32:38
“Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings,....”
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Alluding to the fat of the sacrifices under the law, which was claimed by the Lord as his, and represented as his food, Lev 3:11; and to the drink offerings of wine, which were of a sweet savour to God, and with respect to which wine is said to cheer him, Num 15:
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 32:38reformed
a.Hebrews 10:30 quotes this clause immediately after quoting verse 35, so the two halves of that argument come out of two consecutive verses of the song. Psalm 135:14 repeats the same line. The turn happens here, because judging his people is followed at once by repenting himself for his servants, and the trigger given is that their power is gone. Verses 37 and 38 then put the question to the gods that had been fed, let them rise up and help you.
6. (vv. 39-40)
Deuteronomy 32:39
“He himself permits the suffering which he again restores. The One who strikes is the One who heals. The afflictions precede in order that the graces may be lasting. Only then do we exert ourselves exceedingly for the preservation of what has been given.”
Basil of Caesarea· written before 379· HOMILY ON PSALM 29:4· Deuteronomy 32:39patristic
Deuteronomy 32:40
“For I lift up my hand to heaven - See concerning oaths and appeals to God in the note on Deu 6:13 (note).”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 32:40evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:40, 1 more voice
Deuteronomy 32:40
“For I lift up my hand to heaven,....”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 32:40reformed
a.Hannah says the same thing at 1 Samuel 2:6, the Lord killeth and maketh alive, and Isaiah 45:7 states it in the same shape. The lifted hand is the gesture of an oath, used by Abram at Genesis 14:22, and here God swears by his own life because there is nothing higher to swear by, which is the point Hebrews 6:13 makes of the promise to Abraham. Revelation 10:5-6 has an angel lift a hand and swear by him that liveth for ever and ever.
7. (vv. 41-42)
Deuteronomy 32:41
“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.”
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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 easily penetrate and pierce; and this, being brandished, glitters like lightning, as the word used signifies.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 32:41reformed
Deuteronomy 32:42
“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.”
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Parkhurst has rendered the whole passage thus: - I will make my arrows drunk with blood; And my sword shall devour flesh, With the blood of the slain and captive From the hairy head of the enemy.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 32:42evangelical
a.The last clause of verse 42 is hard in Hebrew, and the King James reads from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy where other translators give the long haired heads of the enemy, taking the word for the hair of a man under a vow. Isaiah 34:5-6 and 63:1-6 work the same picture of a sword and a stained garment, and Revelation 19:11-15 hands it to the rider on the white horse. The judgment in these two verses falls on the adversaries rather than on Israel, which is the hinge into verse 43.
8. (v. 43)
Deuteronomy 32:43
“Rejoice, O ye nations, with His people - Some prefer the marginal rendering. In this profound passage, there is shadowed forth the purpose of God to overrule: (1) the unbelief of the Jews to the bringing in of the Gentiles; and (2) the mercy shown to the Gentries to the eventual restoration of the Jews (compare Rom 11:25-36).”
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The Song closes as it began Deu 32:1-3, with an invitation to praise.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· Deuteronomy 32:43evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:43
- Quoted inHebrews 1:6And again, when God brings His firstborn into the world, He says: “Let all God’s angels worship Him.”
'Let all the angels of God worship him'
- Quoted inRomans 15:10Again, it says: “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people.”
'Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people'
a.Paul quotes this line at Romans 15:10 as one of four texts for Gentiles praising God alongside Israel. The Septuagint of this verse is longer than the Hebrew and carries the clause let all the angels of God worship him, a Deuteronomy scroll from Qumran carries a form of it too, and Hebrews 1:6 quotes that clause. Other readers take Hebrews 1:6 from Psalm 97:7 instead, where the Septuagint also has angels worshipping, and the standard commentaries name both sources without deciding between them. The song ends on mercy to his land and to his people.
E. It is not a vain thing; it is your life
1. (vv. 44-45)
Deuteronomy 32:44
“Moses . . . spake all the words of this song in the ears, &c.--It has been beautifully styled "the Song of the Dying Swan" [LOWTH].”
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It was designed to be a national anthem, which it should be the duty and care of magistrates to make well known by frequent repetition, to animate the people to right sentiments towards a steadfast adherence to His service.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)· Deuteronomy 32:44reformed
Deuteronomy 32:45
“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.”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 32:45reformed
a.Joshua is given his older name here, Hoshea the son of Nun, which Numbers 13:16 says Moses changed to Jehoshua when the spies were sent out. This is the one place after that change where the earlier form comes back, and the text gives no reason for it. The song is delivered aloud to the whole assembly, which is what 31:19 and 31:22 required, so words written the day before are now in the people's ears.
2. (vv. 46-47)
Deuteronomy 32:46
“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.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 32:46evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:47
“IT APPEARS from this closing remark of Moses, that there were men in his time who thought religion to be vain, although, under the system which then existed, there were many plain proofs of its usefulness: for they who served God in those days prospered, and national advantages always followed nation obedience to God.”
Charles Spurgeon· The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 457: “Religion—a Reality” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1862)· Deuteronomy 32:47Particular Baptist
Deuteronomy 32:47, 3 more voices
Deuteronomy 32:47
“IT APPEARS from this closing remark of Moses, that there were men in his time who thought religion to be vain, although, under the system which then existed, there were many plain proofs of its usefulness: for they who served God in those days prospered, and national advantages always followed nation obedience to God.”
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Under the theocratic government of the Israelites in the wilderness, and in their early history when established in Canaan, their offences against God's law brought upon them famine, plague, or the scourge of marauding hosts; while repentance and a return to allegiance always brought them a deliverer, and a restoration of peace and plenty. They had visibly before their eyes proofs that God did reward virtue; and yet, notwithstanding this, there were some so besotted against God, that they said, "It is a vain thing to serve the Lord." Do you wonder, therefore, that there should be many such under the gospel? It would, indeed, be marvellous if there were not many more, for the gospel is a far more spiritual system than the Jewish dispensation, and its blessings are not of a carnal order. No blessing apparent to carnal eyes rests upon the godly, but sometimes the case appears to be reversed: we see the wicked prosper, and the righteous are trodden under foot. The Christian dispensation is one which requires much faith to receive it. We walk not by sight, but by faith alone; and it is little marvel that when ungodly men see the righteous afflicted, and discover that their comfort lies in matters which only faith can apprehend, they should cry out, "It is a vain thing," and should turn aside from the ordinances of God. Besides, to confess the truth, there have been so many counterfeits of true religion, that it is not remarkable that unconverted men should consider even the genuine article to be but a vain thing.
Charles Spurgeon· The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 457: “Religion—a Reality” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1862)· Deuteronomy 32:47Particular Baptist
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.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 32:47evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:47
“For it is not a vain thing for you,....”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 32:47reformed
a.This day falls seventy times in Deuteronomy, and it falls again here in the last thing Moses says to the assembly. What the fathers are told to do with the words is what 6:6-7 told them, take them into the heart and command them to the children. It is your life repeats the terms of 30:19-20, where life and death were set before the people and they were told to choose life.
F. Climb Nebo and see the land you may not enter
1. (vv. 48-50)
Deuteronomy 32:48
“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 Deu 34:5, saying; as follows.”
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(a) Apud Ludolf. Lex. Ethiop. p. 537.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 32:48reformed
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. See the notes on Num 27:12.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 32:49evangelical
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.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 32:50evangelical
a.The order had already been given at Numbers 27:12-14, in nearly the same words and without the name Nebo, and here it comes again on the day the song was sung. Gathered unto thy people is the phrase used of Abraham at Genesis 25:8 and of Isaac at Genesis 35:29, and in each place the text keeps it distinct from burial. Aaron is held up as the pattern, and Numbers 20:28 and 33:38 record his death on mount Hor in the fortieth year.
2. (vv. 51-52)
Deuteronomy 32:51
“Because ye trespassed - God reminds him of the sin he had committed long before. It is good for the holiest of men to die repenting, even of their early sins.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)· Deuteronomy 32:51evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:51, 2 more voices
Deuteronomy 32:51
“Ye trespassed against me - at the waters of Meribah - See the note on Num 20:12.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 32:51evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:51
“Because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel,....”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 32:51reformed
Deuteronomy 32:52
“Yet thou shalt see the land - And see it as the earnest of that better country, which is only seen with the eye of faith. What is death to him who has a believing prospect and a steadfast hope of eternal life?”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)· Deuteronomy 32:52evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:52, 2 more voices
Deuteronomy 32:52
“Thou shalt see the land before thee - See Num 27:12, etc. 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.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 32:52evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:52
“Yet thou shalt see the land before thee,....”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 32:52reformed
a.Three times earlier in this book Moses gives the reason as the people, at 1:37, 3:26 and 4:21, where the Lord was angry with him for your sakes. Here and at Numbers 20:12 the reason is his own act at the waters of Meribah, that he sanctified God not in the midst of the children of Israel. Both accounts stand in the canon, and the last word spoken to Moses in this chapter sets the second beside the first without softening either. The sight of the land is granted and the entry refused, and chapter 34 carries that out.
This page carries no textual note on Deuteronomy 32. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
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This page draws on Adam Clarke; Albert Barnes; Ambrose of Milan; Basil of Caesarea, HOMILY ON PSALM 29:4; Bonaventure; Charles Spurgeon; Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor Book 1; Clement of Rome, Clement's First Letter to the Corinthians, Chapters 3-4; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871); John Cassian, CONFERENCE 2.15.3; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch; Matthew Henry; Michael Heiser, The Unseen Realm and Origen of Alexandria.
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