Deuteronomy 32:15
in Deuteronomy 32But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked—becoming fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: Thou art waxed fat, thou art grown thick, thou art become sleek; Then he forsook God who made him, And lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
KJV
But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
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This verse in Deuteronomy 32
Commentary
13 notes on this verseA commentator
Clement of RomeClement's First Letter to the Corinthians, Chapters 3-4 · Written before 99.
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. 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.
This site's exposition
But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked
on Deuteronomy 32:15-16
Commentators take Jeshurun 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.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
A commentator
Philoxenus of Mabbug13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 10 -- On Gluttony · Written before 523.
proposed
Even as also the prophet Moses hath taught us that through this cause the people forgot their God, and that through the lust of the belly they went forth unto idolatry, and from eating meat they were led into blasphemies, and from dainty foods they …
A commentator
Philoxenus of Mabbug13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 11 -- On Abstinence · Written before 523.
proposed
Now this is the first lust which conquered the world, and because of it the first transgression of the law took place. Incited thereby they were ungrateful for all the acts of grace which had been shewn unto them, for Israel had waxed fat and …
One must not so much admire those saints who in the height of sorrow were so pious and lovers of wisdom as those who, even when the turbulence subsided and tranquility ensued, remained in the same goodness and earnestness.
"They ate," and drank, "and kicked." When fed with their manna they ought not to have asked for luxury, seeing they had known the evils which proceed from it. And they acted precisely as if a free child, when sent to school, should ask to be reckoned with the slaves, and to wait on them,-so did these also in seeking Egypt-and when receiving all needful sustenance, and such as becomes a free person, and sitting at his father's table, should have a longing for the ill-savored and noisy one of the servants.
For we have continuous need for a curb to keep us walking straight on the path, since even the Jews wandered from the path and drew down upon themselves the anger of heaven. When they enjoyed considerable ease and had become free after their harsh bondage in Egypt, they should have given greater thanks and been more eager to offer their praise to the Master. They should have been better disposed toward him who had bestowed such benefits upon them. But they did quite the opposite and were ruined by the ease which was theirs in abundance. On this account the Holy Scripture accuses them and says, "Jacob ate his fill; the darling became fat and frisky."
6 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
Jeshurun - Israel whom he calls right or upright, (as the word signifies) partly by way of instruction to mind them what they professed and ought to be; and partly by way of exprobration, to shew them what a shame it was to degenerate so much from their name and profession.
But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked,....
A prediction of the wasting destroying judgments which God would bring upon them for their sins, in which God is here justified by the many aggravations of their impieties,
They grew fat, that is, they grew big and unwieldy, unmindful of business, and unfit for it; dull and stupid, careless and senseless; and this was the effect of their plenty. Thus the prosperity of fools destroys them, Prov. i. Yet this was not the worst of it.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
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, 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.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked--This is a poetical name for Israel. The metaphor here used is derived from a pampered animal, which, instead of being tame and gentle, becomes mischievous and vicious, in consequence of good living and kind treatment.
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּשְׁמַ֤ן | vaiyishman | and he grew fat | H8080 → | |
| יְשֻׁרוּן֙ | yeshurun | Jeshurun | H3484 → | 4 times |
| וַיִּבְעָ֔ט | vaiyivat | and he kicked | H1163 → | |
| שָׁמַ֖נְתָּ | shamanta | you have grown fat | H8080 → | |
| עָבִ֣יתָ | ʾavita | you have become bloated | H5666 → | |
| כָּשִׂ֑יתָ | kasita | you have become gorged | H3780 → | |
| וַיִּטֹּשׁ֙ | vaiyitosh | and he abandoned | H5203 → | |
| אֱל֣וֹהַ | ʾeloha | God | H433 → | |
| עָשָׂ֔הוּ | ʾasahu | [who] he made him | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| וַיְנַבֵּ֖ל | vaynabel | and he treated with contempt | H5034 → | |
| צ֥וּר | tzur | [the] rock of | H6697 → | 78 times |
| יְשֻׁעָתֽוֹ׃ | yeshuato | salvation his | H3444 → |
וַיִּשְׁמַ֤ןand he grew fat
vaiyishmanH8080 →
יְשֻׁרוּן֙Jeshurun
yeshurunH3484 →4 times
וַיִּבְעָ֔טand he kicked
vaiyivatH1163 →
שָׁמַ֖נְתָּyou have grown fat
shamantaH8080 →
עָבִ֣יתָyou have become bloated
ʾavitaH5666 →
כָּשִׂ֑יתָyou have become gorged
kasitaH3780 →
וַיִּטֹּשׁ֙and he abandoned
vaiyitoshH5203 →
אֱל֣וֹהַGod
ʾelohaH433 →
עָשָׂ֔הוּ[who] he made him
ʾasahuH6213 →2628 times
וַיְנַבֵּ֖לand he treated with contempt
vaynabelH5034 →
צ֥וּר[the] rock of
tzurH6697 →78 times
יְשֻׁעָתֽוֹ׃salvation his
yeshuatoH3444 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Acts 28:27For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts,…
it leads to
- Isaiah 6:10
Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
- Isaiah 6:10
Through
Deuteronomy 31:20When I have brought them into the land that I swore to give their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey, they will eat their fill and prosper. Then they will turn to…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 6:10–12
And when the LORD your God brings you into the land He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that He would give you—a land with great and splendid cities that you…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Hosea 13:6
When they had pasture, they became satisfied; when they were satisfied, their hearts became proud, and as a result they forgot Me.
- Nehemiah 9:25–26
They captured fortified cities and fertile land and took houses full of all goods, wells already dug, vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled; they grew fat…
- Exodus 3:8
I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and…
- Deuteronomy 6:10–12
Through
1 Samuel 2:29Why then do you kick at My sacrifice and offering that I have prescribed for My dwelling place? You have honored your sons more than Me by fattening yourselves with the best of all…
it leads to
- Matthew 10:37
Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me;
- 1 Samuel 2:13–17
or for the custom of the priests with the people. When any man offered a sacrifice, the servant of the priest would come with a three-pronged meat fork while the meat was boiling
- Matthew 10:37
Through
Hosea 13:6When they had pasture, they became satisfied; when they were satisfied, their hearts became proud, and as a result they forgot Me.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 32:13–15
He made him ride on the heights of the land and fed him the produce of the field. He nourished him with honey from the rock and oil from the flinty crag,
- Deuteronomy 32:13–15
Where this verse is studied
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About Deuteronomy
This page draws on 13 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Clement of Rome, Clement's First Letter to the Corinthians, Chapters 3-4; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON REPENTANCE AND ALMSGIVING 4.8; John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS 4; John Chrysostom, BAPTISMAL INSTRUCTIONS 5.16; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Philoxenus of Mabbug, 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 10 -- On Gluttony and Philoxenus of Mabbug, 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 11 -- On Abstinence.