Albert Barnes Commentary Deuteronomy 32
Albert Barnes Commentary
Deuteronomy 32
Albert Barnes Commentary
Deuteronomy 32
"Give ear, ye heavens, and I will speak; And let the earth hear the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain; My speech shall distil as the dew, As the small rain upon the tender grass, And as the showers upon the herb. For I will proclaim the name of Jehovah: Ascribe ye greatness unto our God. The Rock, his work is perfect; For all his ways are justice: A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, Just and right is he. They have dealt corruptly with him, [they are] not his children, [it is] their blemish; [They are] a perverse and crooked generation. Do ye thus requite Jehovah, O foolish people and unwise? Is not he thy father that hath bought thee? He hath made thee, and established thee. Remember the days of old, Consider the years of many generations: Ask thy father, and he will show thee; Thine elders, and they will tell thee. When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, When he separated the children of men, He set the bounds of the peoples According to the number of the children of Israel. For Jehovah`s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land, And in the waste howling wilderness; He compassed him about, he cared for him, He kept him as the apple of his eye. As an eagle that stirreth up her nest, That fluttereth over her young, He spread abroad his wings, he took them, He bare them on his pinions. Jehovah alone did lead him, And there was no foreign god with him. He made him ride on the high places of the earth, And he did eat the increase of the field; And he made him to suck honey out of the rock, And oil out of the flinty rock; Butter of the herd, and milk of the flock, With fat of lambs, And rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, With the finest of the wheat; And of the blood of the grape thou drankest wine. 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. They moved him to jealousy with strange [gods]; With abominations provoked they him to anger. They sacrificed unto demons, [which were] no God, To gods that they knew not, To new [gods] that came up of late, Which your fathers dreaded not. Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, And hast forgotten God that gave thee birth. And Jehovah saw [it], and abhorred [them], Because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters. And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: For they are a very perverse generation, Children in whom is no faithfulness. 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 that are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. For a fire is kindled in mine anger, And burneth unto the lowest Sheol, And devoureth the earth with its increase, And setteth on fire the foundations of the mountains. I will heap evils upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them: [They shall be] wasted with hunger, and devoured with burning heat And bitter destruction; And the teeth of beasts will I send upon them, With the poison of crawling things of the dust. Without shall the sword bereave, And in the chambers terror; [It shall destroy] both young man and virgin, The suckling with the man of gray hairs. I said, I would scatter them afar, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men; Were it not that I feared the provocation of the enemy, Lest their adversaries should judge amiss, Lest they should say, Our hand is exalted, And Jehovah hath not done all this. For they are a nation void of counsel, And there is no understanding in them. Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, That they would consider their latter end! How should one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Except their Rock had sold them, And Jehovah had delivered them up? For their rock is not as our Rock, Even our enemies themselves being judges. For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, And of the fields of Gomorrah: Their grapes are grapes of gall, Their clusters are bitter: Their wine is the poison of serpents, And the cruel venom of asps. Is not this laid up in store with me, Sealed up among my treasures? Vengeance is mine, and recompense, At the time when their foot shall slide: For the day of their calamity is at hand, And the things that are to come upon them shall make haste. For Jehovah will judge his people, And repent himself for his servants; When he seeth that [their] power is gone, And there is none [remaining], shut up or left at large. And he will say, Where are their gods, The rock in which they took refuge; Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, [And] drank the wine of their drink-offering? Let them rise up and help you, Let them be your protection. 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; And there is none that can deliver out of my hand. For I lift up my hand to heaven, And say, As I live for ever, If I whet my glittering sword, And my hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine adversaries, And will recompense them that hate me. I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, And my sword shall devour flesh; With the blood of the slain and the captives, From the head of the leaders of the enemy." — Deuteronomy 32:1-42 (ASV)
Song of Moses
If (Deuteronomy 32:1–3) is regarded as the introduction, and (Deuteronomy 32:43) as the conclusion, the main contents of the song may be grouped under three heads, namely:
- (Deuteronomy 32:4–18), the faithfulness of God, the faithlessness of Israel;
- (Deuteronomy 32:19–33), the chastisement and the need of its infliction by God;
- (Deuteronomy 32:34–42), God’s compassion upon the low and humbled state of His people.
The Song differs significantly in diction and idiom from the preceding chapters, just as a lyrical passage is conceived in modes of thought wholly unlike those which belong to narrative or exhortation and is uttered in different phraseology.
There are, however, in the Song numerous coincidences both in thoughts and words with other parts of the Pentateuch, and especially with Deuteronomy; while the resemblances between it and Psalm 90, “A Prayer of Moses,” have been rightly regarded as important.
The Song has reference to a state of things which did not occur until long after the days of Moses. In this it resembles other parts of Deuteronomy and the Pentateuch which also distinctly contemplate an apostasy (for example, Deuteronomy 28:15; Leviticus 26:14) and describe it in general terms.
If we once admit the possibility that Moses might foresee the future apostasy of Israel, it is scarcely possible to conceive how he could have used such foresight to better advantage than by writing this Song.
Exhibiting as it does God’s preventing mercies, His people’s faithlessness and ingratitude, God’s consequent judgments, and the final and complete triumph of the divine counsels of grace, it forms the summary of all later Old Testament prophecies and provides, as it were, the framework upon which they are laid out.
Here, as elsewhere, the Pentateuch presents itself as the foundation of the religious life of Israel in later times.
The prevalence of the Song would be a standing protest against apostasy—a protest which might well check those who waver and warn the faithful that the revolt of others was neither unforeseen nor unprovided for by Him in whom they trusted.
That this Ode must on all accounts take the very first rank in Hebrew poetry is universally acknowledged.
Introduction. Heaven and earth are invoked here, as elsewhere (see related passages), to impress upon the hearers the importance of what is to follow.
He is the Rock, his work is perfect — Rather, the Rock, perfect is His work. This epithet, repeated no less than five times in the Song (Deuteronomy 32:15, 18, 30-31), represents those attributes of God which Moses is seeking to emphasize: immutability and impregnable strength. Compare the expression the stone of Israel in (Genesis 49:24); and see (1 Samuel 2:2); (Psalms 18:2); (Matthew 16:18); (John 1:42).
Zur, the original word for “Rock,” frequently enters into the composition of proper names of the Mosaic era (for example, Numbers 1:5–6, 10; Numbers 2:12; Numbers 3:35, etc.). Our translators have elsewhere rendered it according to its sense as “everlasting strength” (Isaiah 26:4) or “the Mighty One” (Isaiah 30:29); in this chapter, they have rightly adhered to the literal meaning throughout.
Render: “It (that is, ‘the perverse and crooked generation’) has corrupted itself before Him ; they are not His children, but their blemish:” that is, the generation of evildoers cannot be called God’s children, but rather the shame and disgrace of God’s children. The other side of the picture is thus brought forward with a brevity and abruptness that strikingly enforces the contrast.
Hath bought thee — Rather perhaps, “has acquired you for His own,” or “possessed you:” compare the expression a peculiar people (margin: “a purchased people”) in (1 Peter 2:9).
That is, while nations were being constituted under God’s providence, and the bounds of their habitation determined under His government , He had even then in view the interests of His elect and reserved a fitting inheritance according to the number of the children of Israel; that is, proportionate to the needs of their population.
Some texts of the Greek version have according to the number of the Angels of God; apparently following not a different reading, but the Jewish notion that the nations of the earth are seventy in number (compare Genesis 10:1 note) and that each has its own guardian angel . This was possibly suggested by a concern that the literal rendering might prove invidious to the many Gentiles who would read the Greek version.
These verses describe in figurative language the helpless and hopeless state of the nation when God took pity on it, and the love and care which He bestowed on it.
In the waste howling wilderness — literally, “in a waste, the howling of a wilderness,” that is, a wilderness in which wild beasts howl. The word for “waste” is that used in (Genesis 1:2), and there rendered without form.
Compare (Exodus 19:4). The “so,” which the King James Version supplies in the next verse, should be inserted before “spreadeth,” and omitted from (Deuteronomy 32:12). The sense is, “so He spread out His wings, took them up,” etc.
With him — that is, with God. The Lord alone delivered Israel; Israel therefore ought to have served only Him.
That is, God gave Israel possession of those commanding positions which carry with them dominion over the whole land and enabled him to draw the richest provision from spots naturally unproductive.
Breed of Bashan — Bashan was famous for its cattle. Compare (Psalms 22:12); (Ezekiel 39:18).
Fat of kidneys of wheat — that is, the finest and most nutritious wheat. The fat of the kidneys was regarded as being the finest and tenderest and was therefore specified as a part of the sacrificial animals that were to be offered to the Lord (compare Exodus 29:13, etc.).
The pure blood of the grape — Render: the blood of the grape, even wine. The Hebrew word seems to be a poetical term for wine.
Jeshurun — This word, found again only in (Deuteronomy 33:5, 26) and (Isaiah 44:2), is not a diminutive but an appellative (containing an allusion to the root, “to be righteous”); and describes not the character that belonged to Israel in fact, but that to which Israel was called. Compare (Numbers 23:21). Placing this epithet before the description of Israel’s apostasy contained in the following words is full of keen reproof.
They provoked him to jealousy — The language is borrowed from the matrimonial relationship, as in (Deuteronomy 31:16).
Devils — Render: destroyers. The application of the word to the false gods points to the characteristic so deeply engraved in all pagan worship: that of regarding the deities as malignant and needing to be propitiated by human sufferings.
Not to God — Rather, “not God,” that is, which were not God; see the margin and (Deuteronomy 32:21). Compare (Deuteronomy 13:7); (Deuteronomy 29:25).
The anger of God at the apostasy of His people is stated in general terms in this verse; and its results are described, in words as if from God Himself, in the next and following verses. These results consisted negatively in the withdrawal of God’s favor (Deuteronomy 32:20) and positively in the infliction of a righteous retribution.
Daughters — The women had their full share in the sins of the people. Compare (Isaiah 3:16 and following); (Isaiah 32:9 and following); (Jeremiah 7:18); (Jeremiah 44:15 and following).
I will see what their end shall be — Compare the similar expression in (Genesis 37:20).
God would mete out to them the same measure as they had done to Him. Though chosen by the one God to be His own, they had preferred idols, which were no gods. So therefore He would prefer to His people those which are not a people. As they had angered Him with their vanities, so He would provoke them by adopting in their place those whom they counted as nothing.
The terms not a people and a foolish nation mean a people who, not being God’s, would not be considered a people at all (1 Peter 2:10), and a nation that is destitute of that which alone can make a truly wise and understanding people (Deuteronomy 4:6), namely, the knowledge of the revealed word and will of God (compare 1 Corinthians 1:18–28).
Burning heat — that is, the fear of a pestilential disease. On the four sore judgments—famine, plague, noisome beasts, the sword—compare (Leviticus 26:22); (Jeremiah 15:2); (Ezekiel 5:17); (Ezekiel 14:21).
Rather, “I would utterly disperse them, etc., were it not that I feared the enemy’s provocation;” that is, that I would be provoked to wrath when the enemy ascribed the overthrow of Israel to his own prowess and not to My judgments. Compare (Deuteronomy 9:28–29); (Ezekiel 20:9, 14, 22).
Behave themselves strangely — Rather, misunderstand it; that is, mistake the cause of Israel’s ruin.
The defeat of Israel would be due to the fact that God, their strength, had abandoned them because of their apostasy.
Our enemies — that is, the enemies of Moses and the faithful Israelites; the pagans, more especially those with whom Israel was brought into collision, whom Israel was commissioned to chase, but to whom, as a punishment for faithlessness, Israel was sold (Deuteronomy 32:30). Moses leaves the decision, whether their rock (that is, the false gods of the pagans to whom the apostate Israelites had fallen away) or our Rock is superior, to be determined by the unbelievers themselves.
For example, see (Exodus 14:25); (Numbers 23); (Numbers 24); (Joshua 2:9 and following); (1 Samuel 4:8); (1 Samuel 5:7 and following); (1 Kings 20:28). That the pagans should thus be constrained to bear witness to the supremacy of Israel’s God heightened the folly of Israel’s apostasy.
Their vine — that is, the nature and character of Israel: compare for similar expressions (Psalms 80:8, 14); (Jeremiah 2:21); (Hosea 10:1).
Sodom ... Gomorrah — Here, as elsewhere, and often in the prophets, emblems of utter depravity: compare (Isaiah 1:10); (Jeremiah 23:14).
Gall — Compare (Deuteronomy 29:18 note).
Rather: “Vengeance is Mine and recompense, at the time when their foot slides.”
Repent himself for — Rather, have compassion upon. The verse declares that God’s judgment of His people would result at once in the punishment of the wicked and in the comfort of the righteous.
None shut up, or left — A proverbial phrase (compare 1 Kings 14:10) meaning perhaps “married and single,” or “guarded and forsaken,” but generally signifying “all people of all sorts.”
Render: For I lift up my hand to heaven and say, As I live forever, if I whet, etc. On (Deuteronomy 32:40), in which God is described as swearing by Himself, compare (Isaiah 45:23); (Jeremiah 22:5); (Hebrews 6:17). The lifting up of the hand was a gesture used in taking an oath (Revelation 10:5).
From the beginning of revenges upon the enemy — Render: (drunk with blood) from the head (that is, the chief) of the princes of the enemy.
"Rejoice, O ye nations, [with] his people: For he will avenge the blood of his servants, And will render vengeance to his adversaries, And will make expiation for his land, for his people." — Deuteronomy 32:43 (ASV)
Rejoice, O you nations, with His people - Some prefer the marginal rendering.
In this profound passage, there is foreshadowed the purpose of God to overrule:
- the unbelief of the Jews to the bringing in of the Gentiles; and
- the mercy shown to the Gentiles to the eventual restoration of the Jews .
The Song closes as it began (Deuteronomy 32:1–3), with an invitation to praise. It has reached, through a long series of divine interpositions, its grandest theme in this call to the Gentiles, now pagan no more, to rejoice over God’s restored people, the Jews.
"And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun. And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel; And he said unto them, Set your heart unto all the words which I testify unto you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, [even] all the words of this law. For it is no vain thing for you; because it is your life, and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over the Jordan to possess it. And Jehovah spake unto Moses that selfsame day, saying, Get thee up into this mountain of Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession; and die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people: because ye trespassed against me in the midst of the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah of Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel. For thou shalt see the land before thee; but thou shalt not go thither into the land which I give the children of Israel." — Deuteronomy 32:44-52 (ASV)
These verses were, no doubt, added by the author of the supplement to Deuteronomy. For the statements contained in them, consult the marginal references.
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