Charles Spurgeon Commentary Deuteronomy 32:9-12

"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." — Deuteronomy 32:9-12 (ASV)

For the LORD'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 led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.

This is the history of the tutoring of Israel in the wilderness.

When they came out of Egypt, they were a mere mob of slaves, degenerate by the debasing influence of long bondage. They had to be trained before they were fit to be a nation.

Now in all this, let us try to see ourselves. What has God accomplished for those of us who are His people in bringing us out from the bondage of sin? And how graciously He preserves us today, just as a man guards the apple of his eye!

No sooner does anything come near the eye than the hand instinctively goes up to shield it. Similarly, if anything happens to the people of God, the power of God is ready at once for their defense.

An eagle has to teach her young eaglets to fly. She will take them on her wings, so they say, cast them off, and let them flutter. Then she will dash down, come under them, and bear them up again until she has taught them to use their wings.

The Lord has been doing this with many here—apparently casting them off, only so that when they fall, underneath them may be the everlasting arms. We have to be trained to faith. It is a difficult exercise for such poor creatures as we are, and we are being trained for it today.

After they had been tutored in this way, they were brought into the promised land, which Moses never entered, yet in his vision of prophecy he sees it all.