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Deuteronomy 32-34
THE DIVINE SONG OF MOSES
Deuteronomy 32
And hear, O earth [hear shall the earth] the words of my mouth.
2My doctrine shall drop [Let my doctrine drop] as the rain,
My speech [words] shall distil [flow] as the dew,
As the small rain [showers] upon the tender herb [grass],
And as the showers [rain-drops] upon the grass [herb];
3Because [For] I will publish the name of the Lord:
Ascribe [give] ye greatness unto our God.
4He is the rock, his work is perfect [The rock, perfect is his work];
For all his ways are judgment [right];
A God of truth [faithfulness] and without iniquity [deceit],
Just and right is he.
5They have corrupted themselves [corruptly act against him],
Their spot is not the spot of his children [sons]:
They are a perverse and crooked generation.
6Do ye thus requite the Lord,
O foolish people and unwise?
Is not he thy father [?] that hath bought thee?
Hath he not made and established [prepared] thee?
7Remember the days of old,
Consider the years of many generations [of generation and generation]:
Ask thy father—and he will show thee;
Thy elders [thine old men] and they will tell thee.
8When the Most High divided to the nations [Gentiles] their inheritance,
When he separated the sons of Adam [men],
He set [firm] the bounds of the people
According to [with reference to] the number of the children of Israel.
9For the Lord’s portion is his people;
Jacob is the lot [cord] of his inheritance.
10He found him in a [the] desert land [land of the desert],
And in the waste [waste, the] howling [of the steppe] wilderness;
He led him about [surrounded him], he instructed him,
He kept him as the apple of his eye.
11As an [As the] eagle [, he] stirreth up her [his] nest,
Fluttereth [settles] over her [his] young,
Spreadeth abroad her [his] wings,
Taketh them, beareth them on her [his] wings [pinions]:
12So [om. So] the Lord alone did lead him,
And there was no strange God with him.
13He made him ride [drive] on [over] the high places of the earth,
That he might eat [And eat] the increase [fruits] of the fields;
And he made him to suck honey out of the rock,
And oil out of the flinty rock;
14Butter [cream] of kine, and milk of sheep [the flock],
With [the] fat of lambs,
And rams of the breed [sons] of Bashan, and goats [bucks],
With the fat of the kidneys of wheat;
And thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape [blood of the grape, even wine].
15But Jeshurun waxed [was] fat, and kicked.
Thou art waxen [Thou becamest] fat, thou art grown thick,
Thou art covered with fatness [art full, gross];
Then he forsook [And forsookest, rejected] God, which made him,
And lightly esteemed [despised] the Rock of his salvation.
16They provoked him to jealousy, with [through] strange gods,
With abominations provoked they him to anger.
17They sacrificed to devils [shedim], not to God [which were not God],
To gods whom they knew not,
To new gods that came newly up [from near at hand],
Whom your fathers feared not [did not shudder at].
18Of the Rock that begat thee [The Rock, he bare thee] thou art unmindful [thou forsookest],
And hast forgotten God that formed thee [turned thee round].
19And when the Lord saw it, he abhorred them,
Because of the provoking of his sons and of his daughters,
20And he said, I will hide my face from them,
I will see what their end [their last] shall be,
For they are a very froward [a generation of perversities] generation,
Children [sons] in whom is no [faithfulness] faith.
21They have moved me to jealousy, with that which is not God [through no God];
They have provoked me to anger [angered me] with their vanities;
And I will move them to jealousy, with those which are not a people [a no people].
22For a fire is kindled [burns] in [through] mine anger,
And shall burn [burns] unto the lowest hell [Sheol],
And shall consume [consumes] the earth with [and] its increase,
And sets on fire [devours] the foundations of the mountains.
23I will heap mischiefs [evils] upon them;
I will spend mine arrows upon [against] them.
24They shall be [or are] burnt [wasted, made lean] with [by] hunger,
And devoured with burning heat [fever heat], and with bitter [poisonous sting] destruction:
I will also send the teeth of beasts [wild animals] upon them,
With the poison of serpents [the creeping] of the dust.
25The sword without [From without the sword shall sweep thee away],
And terror within [From within—from the chambers of terror]
Shall destroy both the young man and the virgin,
The suckling also, with the man of gray hairs.
26I said, I would scatter them into corners [will blow them away],
I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men:
27Were it not that I feared the wrath of [upon] the enemy,
Lest [That] their adversaries should behave themselves strangely,
And lest [that] they should say, Our hand is high,
And the Lord hath not done all this.
28For they are a nation void [ruined as to counsel];
Neither is there any understanding [judgment] in them.
29O that they were wise, that [If they were yet wise, they would] they understood this,
That they [They] would consider their latter end!
30How should one [yet] chase a thousand,
And two put ten thousand to flight,
Except their Rock had sold them,
And the Lord had shut [delivered] them up?
31For their rock is. not as our Rock,
Even our enemies themselves being [And our enemies are] judges.
32For their vine is of the vine of Sodom,
And of the fields of Gomorrah:
Their grapes are grapes of gall [poisonous grapes],
Their clusters are bitter [Bitter clusters have they]:
33Their wine is the poison of dragons,
And the cruel venom [gall] of asps.
34Is not this laid up in store with me,
And sealed up among my treasures [in my treasure-chambers]?
35To me belongeth vengeance and recompense [retribution for the time],
Their foot shall slide [When their foot shall slide] in due time,
For the day of their calamity [destruction] is at hand,
And the things that shall come upon them [prepared for them] make haste.
36For the Lord shall judge his people,
And repent himself for [have compassion upon] his servants,
When [For] he seeth that their power [hand] is gone [vanished],
And there is none shut up, or left [set free].
37And he shall say, Where are their gods, [?]
Their rock [?] in whom they trusted [they trusted on him],
38Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices,
And drank the wine of their drink-offerings?
Let them rise up and help you,
And be your protection [covering upon you].
39See now that I, even I [for I, I] am he,
And there is no God with [besides] me;
I kill, and I make alive, I wound [crush] and I heal;
Neither is there any that can deliver [any deliverer] out of my hand.
40For I lift up my hand to heaven,
And say, I live forever!
41If I whet my glittering sword,
And mine hand take hold on judgment,
I will render vengeance to mine enemies [adversaries],
And will reward [requite] them that hate me.
42I will make mine arrows drunk with blood,
And my sword shall devour [eat] flesh;
And that with [From] the blood of the slain and the captives,
From the beginning [the head] of revenges [of the hairy] upon the enemy.
43Rejoice [Praise], O ye nations, with his people [Schroeder: om. with]].
For he will avenge the blood of his servants,
And will render [repay] vengeance to his adversaries,
And will be merciful unto his land, and to his people [expiate his land, his people].
44And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he and Hoshea the son of Nun. 45And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel: 46And he said unto them, Set [place, direct] your hearts unto all the words which I testify among [against] you this day, which ye shall command your 47children to observe to do, all the words of this law. For it is not a vain thing [word] for you: because it is your life; and through [in] this thing [word] ye shall 48prolong your days in the land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it. And the Lord spake unto Moses that self-same day, saying, 49Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against [before the face of] Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession: 50And die in [upon] 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: 51Because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel. 52Yet thou shalt see the land before thee, but thou shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel.
Criticism.—Knobel: “The hints as to the religious and political condition of the people leave no doubt that it belongs to the post-Mosaic time. So also Vater, Gesenius, De Wette, Ewald, Bleek, and others. Fundamentally out of the assumption that there is no prophecy, and out of dogmatic prejudices (comp. Deu_31:16 sq.; Introd. §4, I. 18; Hengstenberg, Chris., 2d Ed., II., p. 196 sq.). The particulars cited by V. Lengerke, Ewald, and others, are either to be understood generally, or are directly a misunderstanding. For the rest, the striking remark of Lange upon the blessings of Jacob (Genesis, p. 650), as to “the reckless disposition of our time,” is of force here also. Knobel supposes it to be a remodelling; by the second Jehovist author, in the Syrian time, of a song found by him, and held to be Mosaic. Bunsen (Bibelwerk V.): “It is an address at the time of the Mesopotamian captivity (Jdg_3:7 sq.).” Bleek: “The Deuteronomist has first given to this song, not originally published as Mosaic, its present relation and position.” Comp. further Introd. § 3.
The Mosaic Authorship.—“The most important thing here is that it breathes throughout the spirit of Moses, and in a measure seems to exclude any imitation. The manifold coincidences in the manner of representation, and in style with Deuteronomy are very noticeable—not indeed for those who believe that the authorship of this book by Moses must be rejected on independent grounds, but for those to whom these grounds or reasons are not satisfactory, and who find in the similarity as to style between this book and this song a proof of the Mosaic origin of Deuteronomy, while the Mosaic authorship of the song is not indeed for them conditioned or determined through that of the book, since that speaks indeed for itself.” Sack. The ever-recurring figure which rules the whole song is that of the Rock, the firm, the faithful; without a figure, Jehovah (Exo_3:13 sq.; Deu_6:3 sq.). It is thus throughout, as is fitting the Song of God, as it were, a self-revelation of Jehovah. But that which thus corresponds to the divine origin testifies not less to the Mosaic authorship. The unity and simplicity of this fundamental thought, in the first place, guarantees the great antiquity of the song. With the sacred “earnestnestness, to which nothing in the world approaches, save one only,” the “fitting yet overwhelming energy,” the “profound losing of himself in God and his glory” (Schultz), appear precisely in the second place, as specifically Mosaic. Herder: “No shepherd people, no mere shepherd ideas of God and the circle of life; a man born and educated in Egypt, to whom Arabia is a second fatherland, the scene of his preparation, deeds, journey, and wonders, stands out clearly before us. The spirit of poetry takes from thence also its form and imagery. No one can mistake the altered style compared with the patriarchal history. The desert of Arabia gives the tone throughout: God is a rock—a burning, consuming fire. He whets the glittering of His sword—He shoots his arrows, which thirst for blood—His angry messengers are serpents, etc. The poetry of Moses is stern, earnest, simple, as were also his life and character. It gleams as his countenance, but a veil hangs before it. The spirit is widely different from that of Job, David and Solomon. Here the rugged, zealous soul of Moses, vexed even unto death, reveals itself in his last flaming song. In this poem appear the flaming mountain, the pillar of fire and cloud which went before Israel, and in if, the angel of his face.” The “rock” is his dwelling-place (Deu_33:27), Psa_90:1. “The long residence of Moses upon the lofty rocks of Horeb, and the finding of his God upon it, is urged by Schultz in favor of this Mosaic authorship. Comp. also further Schultz, p. 648–650. Lastly, the fact that this song, with its peculiar, fixed, and very perfect method, remains and gives tone to the post-Mosaic poetry, speaks in favor of its Mosaic authorship. “The highest poetic images in the Psalms and the Prophets,” says Herder, “are derived especially from this last song of Moses; for this is, as the primitive prophecy, the type and canon of all the prophets.”
[The objections urged against the Mosaic authorship rest either upon the style, or the ideas of the song. The differences in style between this song and the preceding chapters in Deuteronomy are obvious and striking, but they prove nothing as to its authorship. They are just such differences as would be natural in a passage of this kind, and which appear in all languages between the prose and lyrical passages of the same writer. They may fairly be urged in favor of the Mosaic authorship, since they indicate, as the critics themselves concede, a very great antiquity. In many cases, too, these peculiarities point back to similar expressions in other parts of the Pentateuch. Thus, as Keil says, “The figure of the eagle, Deu_32:11, refers to Exo_19:4; the description of God as a Rock in Deu_32:4; Deu_32:15; Deu_32:18; Deu_32:30-31; Deu_32:37, recalls Gen_49:24; the fire of the wrath of God, Deu_32:22, points to Deu_4:24; the expression “move to jealousy” in Deu_32:16; Deu_32:21, recalls the jealous God, Deu_4:24; Deu_6:15; Exo_20:5; Exo_34:14, etc.” The obvious similarity between this song and the 90th Psalm also confirms its Mosaic authorship. The Psalm claims to be the prayer of Moses, and in the judgment of the critics themselves there is no sufficient reason for denying the validity of this claim. Kamphausen indeed admits “that if it were really certain that Deuteronomy was composed b]bout the authenticity of the song would be decided in the traditional way.”
The objection drawn from the ideas taught in the song rests mainly upon the assumption that any foreknowledge and prediction of the future is impossible, and therefore does not lie against this part of Deuteronomy any more than against those other passages, both of this book and the other books of the Pentateuch, which so distinctly contemplate the apostacy of Israel, its fearful punishments, and its ultimate return and blessedness. These are more vividly set forth in this song, as its poetical character demanded; but they are no less certainly predicted elsewhere. And the question therefore, so far forth, as to the Mosaic authorship of the song, resolves itself into the wider question, whether predictions of the future are possible. The fitness of the song in its style and character, its imagery and ideas to the person, position and life of Moses; its relation to the later poetry of the Bible; its adaptedness to the end sought, i.e. to protest vividly and impressively against apostacy, and to testify to the faithfulness of God; and still more the divine seal set upon this song as the work of Moses, Rom_10:19, place its Mosaic authorship beyond reasonable question.—A. G.]
The poetical form is in general the symmetry of the so-called parallelism of the clauses. This simple and elevated rhythm of the thought, as it was suited to the Hebrew poetry, was well calculated in the case before us to make a strong impression, to fasten on the memory, and also to aid to a better understanding, and on the other hand also fitted for the enunciation in song and with music. But in particular, three words (feet, îãåú ) nearly always form a clause, the small words, or those joined by Makkeph, not being reckoned; the two-membered strophes are partly used as grace-notes (Deu_32:1; Deu_32:3), and partly (Deu_32:9; Deu_32:12) they alternate parenthetically with the doubled four-membered strophes. The whole is arranged as a double song or dialogue between Moses and Jehovah. Comp. Deu_32:20; Deu_32:34; Deu_32:37.
The prophetical character. “The song is poetry in this highest style, only possible in Israel” (Sack), i.e. it has a prophetic character. If Genesis 49 is “the prophetic life-picture of the future of Israel” (Lange), so here Israel as a nation; the patriarchal family-prophecy gives place to the legal national prophecy. Israel’s position in the world is the prophetic element in this song, i.e. in particular, his being set for the world, his introduction into the world (Deu_32:6 sq.), his appearance in the world, his position yet to be presented to the world; the future position of the world to Israel in respect to retribution and promise (Deu_32:26 sq.). As in the succeeding prophets, the final judgment upon all the enemies of God is perfectly clear, so here already the prospect of it dawns upon us (Deu_32:34-35; Deu_32:41 sq.)—personally presented here, because as to form, the fundamental tone of the song is Jehovah, and as to substance the realization of the idea of God through the kingdom of God in Israel was assigned to the following prophecies (at the same time there is a progress here in comparison with chap. 30)—and this final judgment concerns every enemy both inward (Deu_32:35 sq.) and external (Deu_32:41 sq.), and is partly a retributory sifting, and partly a retributory destruction. The prophetic contents of the song close with this horizon, not avowedly, but essentially Messianic, namely, in the wider sense of that word.
Its character as to its contents. The point of departure, the basis in the present, that which Moses had sufficiently experienced, namely, the apostacy of the people still for the last time proclaimed, more especially the rejection of the first generation, is recalled to mind. Next follows the picture of the future. The approaching already manifoldly described enjoyment of the promised land, with its results in pride and idolatry, also already frequently repeated, is spoken of in the most fearful and monitory method, a real prophecy from Israel’s nature and way. The time of the judges gives already a satisfactory commentary upon it. The symbolical significance of this picture of the future for the wider history of salvation. The entire rejection, but also the restoration of an Israel, which shall be the true Israel, and indeed out of the Gentiles. Comp. Doctrinal and Ethical.
Deuteronomy 32 and Exodus 15. The distinction: here upon the threshold of Canaan, there upon that of the desert; there at the morning after the night filled with salvation, here with the look at the night, approaching with Canaan, of the corruption of Israel; there pre-eminently the subjection and terror of the heathen, here the judgment upon Israel and its consequences. The unity: as there so here, the rejoicing at the close of the song, because in both Jehovah is the fundamental thought (comp. Deu_32:3 and Exo_15:1 sq.). As “the hallelujah has passed from Exodus 15 over to the Psalms” (Herder), so the succeeding prophecy of Israel from Deuteronomy 32. If the song of Moses, Rev_15:3, has its bud and blossom in Exodus 15, the song of the Lamb finds the same in Deuteronomy 32. (We might say with Ziegler in reference to Exodus 15 and Deuteronomy 32 : “that the latter is to the former as the old wine is better than the new.”)
The Division.
Deu_32:1-5, the introduction and theme; Deu_32:6-14, Israel’s position through Jehovah; Deu_32:15-18, Israel’s apostacy; Deu_32:19-25, Jehovah’s sentence; Deu_32:26-43, the execution of the judgment in vengeance and mercy.
2. Deu_32:6-14. Upon the ground of such a theme, of this opposite actual character, there is raised for the future, as the present, the question in Deu_32:6. âîì , to show, to cause, do, with reference to the recompense, retribution. ðáì , as the following context shows (Deu_32:29), is foolish. Gesenius, Hupfeld, of the insipid, stale conduct, wanting the salt of divine wisdom, here used of the forgetfulness of God, godlessness. The derivation from, to swell, distend, and hence to be haughty, arrogant, agrees well also with the context. Comp. Deu_1:13; Deu_4:6. The fatherhood of Jehovah is set over against the not His children, Deu_32:5 (comp. Deu_32:20; Deu_14:1; Exo_4:22 sq.). The thought that Abraham was only their father in the beneficent strength of the divine promise, seems apparent from the emphasis placed upon äåà (see Genesis 17). ÷ðä combines the ideas, to prepare, to form (not precisely, create, Gen_14:19; Gen_14:22), to acquire, possess. If ÷ðä marks the descent from Abraham, then òùä denotes fitly the constituting of the people in Egypt, and ëåï , the forming or preparation in the wilderness. Comp. upon the verse Isa_63:16; Isa_64:8; Isa_1:2; Mal_2:10. In the éְîåֹú òåìí , Deu_32:7 (this form occurs only here as the similar poetical term, ùׁðåֹú , Psa_90:15, agreeing with it), the òåìí designates the covered time either before or behind the speaker (Deu_4:32). From the hoary antiquity the tradition here comes down through generation and generation (the repetition used poetically for the plural), forming the revolution or succession of old men ( ãåּø , the circle or revolving period), Psa_90:1. Thus it comes to the fathers and elders (from the bowed, decrepid age, æָ÷ֵï ). òí in Deu_32:6 is collective, and hence the alternating singular and plural verbs. áִּéðåּ (to separate, distinguish and understand). ðâã , in Hiph.: to bring near, to bring over, to point out, declare. Deu_32:8 contains the result of the tradition; a retrospect to Genesis. The separation of the people as described Genesis 11 òìéåï occurs constantly without the article, and here used instead of Jehovah, and equivalent to the Exalted One, the Highest. When He divided to the nations all their inheritance determined in Genesis 10; when He, the sons of Adam, (comp. Gen_10:1; Gen_10:32) dispersed, separated, Genesis 11 (Act_17:26), He did so ìîñôø according to the number, sq., i.e., so that Israel should possess a land corresponding to its population. Comp. also Gen_9:25 sq.; Deuteronomy 2. Baumgarten combines the number seventy of the genealogical table, with the seventy ancestors of Israel, (Deu_10:22). [So Wordsworth also.—A. G.]. Deu_32:9 gives the reason for this earliest provision and care. Comp. Deu_7:6; Deu_10:15; (Act_14:16). çëì a cord, measure, then that which is measured by it. Comp. Deu_3:13. This two-membered strophe forms a beautiful pause or interruption. Thus it is from the beginning placed for the world, Exo_19:5 sq. It follows now, Deu_32:10, how it was introduced into the world, to the ideal follows the real provision on the part of God. The connection is directly with Deu_32:6. The words form a description of that frequently enforced (Deu_1:27; Num_14:11; Num_14:4; Exo_16:2) helpless condition of Israel. Thus even after the redemption from Egypt, thus always indeed with respect to Israel. Instead of Canaan, to which Deu_32:8 points, the land of the desert was the land where He found Israel. The reference to Egypt, with Keil, is artificial. As àøö is clearly defined from the preceding, so it is placed also in reference to what follows, e.g., Deu_32:13. Tha prominence given to the leading through the wilderness is genuinely Deuteronomic. Comp. Deu_8:2 sq., 15 sq.; Deu_11:5; Deu_29:4 sq.; Deu_1:1. As the deliverance from Egypt was evidently presupposed, it is the more readily passed over here in silence because Israel is here spoken of as a nation, and Israel’s national existence dates from Sinai, from the wilderness. Found either after he had sought him in Egypt, the one that was lost (Luk_15:4) without him, or had found out, selected (Psa_89:20) since he had closed the covenant with him at Sinai, or simply met with him; thus Israel found itself, began its conscious existence, when Jehovah took it into His school, to train and educate it to a people, (Hos_9:10, a description as to the other side). Schultz emphasizes the fact that the Lord first appeared to Israel in the pillar of fire and cloud in the desert, Exo_13:20 sq. The emphasis, he remarks correctly, does not lie upon the finding, but upon the desert land, which is made still more explicit by the ( åְ ). The waste (Gen_1:2), from úää literally; the dense, close wilderness, where no way is, Psa_107:40. Comp. upon Deu_1:1; Deu_1:31. Howling: emphasizes the horrible howling of the beasts of the desert, especially in the early part of the night. Led him (compassed him) about—near Him in his love, to care for, (Psa_26:6) but also to protect as a shield; (the pillar of fire and cloud, Zec_2:8). ðöø ; to keep, watch, preserve. àִéùׁåֹï Gesen.: the pupil (of the well-known little man, pet, the daughter, for the miniature image of him who looks in the eyes of another), literally the man ( àéù ) of the eye. Or should one go back to the signification of àָðֵùׁ from which àéùׂ is derived to bend, thus the arched eye-ball. Others: the eye-lid. Generally the comparison intimates that Jehovah had not left Israel out of His sight; the most careful, thoughtful protection, Psa_17:8; Zec_2:12. On account of the desert, of the hostile nations, but especially after the rejection of the old, for preservation of the new generation. The first and second, and third and fourth clauses are parallel to each other, as also in Deu_32:7. [“The whole description of what the Lord did for Israel, Deu_32:10-14, is figurative.” Israel is represented as a man ready to perish in the wilderness, and so found and rescued by God. But there is no design or attempt to bring out in their succession, the events in Israel’s history, or what God had done for them. Only those are selected which bear upon the general theme and purpose of the song.—A. G.]. Deu_32:11 gives the desert figure of the eagle. Israel is the eagle’s brood in the nest ( ÷ֵï a separated mountainous place) in the rocks at Sinai. Jehovah stirs it up, as He came down over it in the giving of the law (her young, from âæì , the stripped, naked, featherless young). Farther: the pillar of fire and cloud was like the outspread wings! Indeed He took it and bare it in His power and love, and with what patience? As the eagle is the subject, the suffixes refer to the nest, or to each individual one of the young. Deu_32:12 is a continuous exposition of the figure used. (Others refer alone and with him to Israel). For the rest comp. Exo_19:4. (As out of Egypt so in the way to Canaan), Gen_1:2; Deu_1:31. It is only a two-membered strophe, as Deu_32:9. [Keil: “If no other god stood by the Lord to help Him, He thereby laid Israel under the obligation to serve Him alone as its God.”—A. G.]. Deu_32:13 treats of the partly begun and partly approaching occupation of the mountainous Canaan. With the high places was the “earth,” (land) promised to Israel, assured. The occupation of Gilead was the beginning of the victorious dominion (chap. 3). So the enjoyment of Canaan is described with prophetic foresight, as in Deu_8:7-10. Comp. upon Deu_6:3. Palms, date trees growing upon the mountains, as well as bees building their hives in the rocks introduce honey into Palestine; olive trees are found in apparently the most unproductive places. A pleasant, childlike enjoyment, because throughout a blessing. Deu_32:14 is a continuation. The specification “testifies to the general faithfulness of the song,” (Herder) the East Jordan land was an earnest of the farther side. çָìָá : that which is drawn out through strokes or rubbing, the milk from the milking. çֵìֶá the selected, picked out; hence the fat, generally the best, (Num_18:12) here strengthened still further by the kidneys, the very finest wheat (in reference to the flour) or in the size of the grains. Lastly the bubbling, foaming red wine (Gen_49:11). The last clause here, as in Deu_32:7, takes the form of an address. The five-membered strophe also shows the poetic fervor. For the rest comp. Num_32:1; Eze_39:18. (It may be regarded as a four-membered strophe thus: butter of kine and milk of sheep with the fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat. And thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape). [Fat of kidneys was, as the best fat, specified as a part of the sacrificial animals which were to be presented to the Lord, and hence the figure here—for the finest, most nutritious wheat.—A. G.].
3. Deu_32:15-18. The apostacy of Israel comes to pass as was already foreseen, Deu_6:11; Deu_8:12 sq.; Deu_31:20. Deu_32:15. Jeshurun, found twice elsewhere in Deut. (Deu_33:5; Deu_33:26) and in Isa_44:2. Beyond question from éùׂø ; comp. Jesharim, Num_23:10 (Jos_10:13; 2Sa_1:18). It is not a diminutive (Gesenius: the pious, precise, blameless little people), which is destitute of philological (comp. Hengst.: Balaam, p. 98), proof (the àִéùׁåֹï , Deu_32:10, referred to, is correctly with (Delitzsch) rather: the man, if not man-like), and an appellatio blanda et charititiva does not accord well with the serious character of the passage in which “a loving being, but no mere lover speaks,” but is perhaps a nomen proprium; the just, honorable man, the just, the righteous; but by no means the happy or the like, not even the justified (Calvin) although that is nearer the truth. The legal character, the national essence or nature of Israel was expressed in this term. (Comp. Deu_32:4). Over against the idea of the nation, as it rests in Jehovah, enters so much more offensively the character in which Israel actually appears in the world. A prophetic preterite. Johlson sees in Jeshurun a pun, which the figure of the fat and kicking ox ( ùåø ) completes. Comp. Act_9:5 (Hos_4:16; Hos_13:6). The direct address in the second person vividly interrupts, and gives greater energy to the statement begun in the third person. It is not jocosely spoken, as Ewald, but the keenest sacred irony. [By reminding them of what they were in idea, of what they were called to in character and dignity, he censures more severely their guilt and perfidy.—A. G.]. àֱìåֹäַּ is the pathetic form for àìäéí both in the old and in the later Aramaic Hebrew. Comp. Deu_32:6; Deu_32:4. [Lightly esteemed, from ðָëָì to treat as a fool.—A. G.]. Deu_32:16. The plural form, which gives the poetical coloring, occurs instead of the previously used singular, as in Deu_32:7. Upon the provocation of the divine zeal (jealousy), comp. Deu_4:24-25; Deu_5:9; Deu_6:15. The covenant is a marriage covenant, (Deu_31:16). æøéí , “those standing beyond marriage, and the relationship effected by it, Deu_25:5,” Schultz. For the rest comp. Deu_7:25; Deu_27:15. A two-membered strophe, as Deu_32:9; Deu_32:12. Deu_32:17. ùֵׁùãִéí . Baalim, lords (1Co_8:5), Demons? Further comp. Deu_11:28; Deu_13:7; Deu_29:25. [Wordsworth: “Wasters, destroyers” Bib.Com: “As indicating the malignant character of the deities in heathen worship”—A. G.]. New.—Lately risen in a temporal, as the following clause in a local sense. In both references not God, Jer_23:23 sq. (Schultz figuratively; not worth much). Baumgarten: Israel had no historical relations with them. To understand the second clause, came newly up, temporally also, is tautological, and is not demanded by the parallelism. The third member is parallel to the first, the fourth to the second. In Deu_32:18 he renews at the close what was said in Deu_32:15; there using the masculine, and here the feminine termination. öåø , as: to make thick is also to form ( öéø in the plural: birth-throes) thus in a verbal way reconciling the figure of bearing ( éìã to break through, of the birth) with the rock; with respect to its source, e.g., the noble metal, may be actually said to be born of the iron stone of the rock. úùׁé from ðùׁä , to forsake, forget, Knobel, Schultz, Keil; from ùéä , to neglect. The direct address appears again as at the close of Deu_32:14. God as the woman in birth throes (Psa_2:7; Psa_90:2; Isa_49:15; Gal_4:19). [“To bring out more prominently the base ingratitude of the people, he represents the creation of Israel by Jehovah, the Rock of its salvation, under the figure of generation and birth, in which the paternal and maternal love of the Lord to His people had manifested itself.” Keil.—A. G.]
4. Deu_32:19-25. The judgment of Jehovah upon His apostate people, proceeds upon a personal observation. He needs no testimony, Deu_32:19. A comprehensive two-membered strophe, as Deu_32:16; Deu_32:9; Deu_32:12. (Comp. Deu_1:34). Schultz: “From indignation at, sq.” Herxheimer: “On account of the provocation of, sq.” [Our version brings out the force of the preposition as well, and is equally as intelligible as those suggested.—A. G.]. Deu_32:20. The declaration of the judgment. Comp. Deu_31:17-18. He speaks after the manner of men (Gen_37:20). They are no more regarded with favor; He will only see what their end, their last sins and last punishments will be. The reason is their wicked and faithless (Deu_32:4) way, which with them comes to the uttermost (1Th_2:16). Deu_32:21. The retribution will at last correspond to the offence. Not God, is not a monster (1Co_8:4 sq.; Deu_10:19 sq.), to which in a corresponding way “not people,” would signify “an inhuman people, repulsive and frightful,” (Ewald, in order to bring into the text in a historical way the Assyrians), but: as idols to which the heathen correspond. Moreover the no-gods are explained through the term vanities (nothingness); they are as the breath of men, fugitive human forms (Mat_15:9); and no-people through âåֹé , and the alliteration between ðáì and äáì The designation occurs with more express reference to Israel, and is thus, as even Knobel concedes, “not to be pressed,” not even “to the Syrians under Baasha and Ahab,” generally not to any particular nation. No-people in the view of Israel, a foolish nation according to Israel’s own conscience, is a godless nation, one which has gone hitherto its own way, etc. (Eph_2:12). The Acts of the Apostles is a biblical commentary upon this passage. Comp. also Deu_32:6; thus it is such a nation or people, who (notwithstanding all the grace they had received) are, as they are by nature (comp. Deu_4:6 sq.). The emphasizing of the Gentile world for the end of Israel, Rom_10:19 (1Th_2:15-16). The reception of the Gentiles in the place of Israel is certainly and literally contained in this verse. [No-people is not a people which does not deserve to be called a people, because it is behind the Israelites in its outward organization, or in its culture and general civilization, but because it does not rest as to its existence and growth upon the choice of God, because it does not “recognize Him as its Head and King,” because it does not submit itself to His statutes and judgments, (Deu_4:6) which alone make a wise or understanding people. The designation does not imply any inferiority in worldly or secular respects on the part of those to whom it is applied.
The Apostle Paul, quoting (Rom_10:19), the precise words of the Sept. here, gives the true interpretation, and puts their significance, as teaching the adoption of the Gentiles in the place of the Jews beyond question, by any one who accepts the teaching of the Apostle as inspired. His use of this passage, too, ought to settle the question as to the inspiration of this song, and as to its Mosaic authorship.—A. G.]. It is nowhere said in Deu_32:22 sq., that the Lord would use the Gentiles only as a rod against Israel comp. Deu_32:31, as Kamphausen asserts;and what else is “the provoking and angering,” (Deu_32:16) in this connection, than what J. H. Michaelis “illustrates metaphorically by the spirit of a loving husband, who sees himself scorned by his wife, and takes some poor maiden in her place, as Ahasuerus Esther in the place of Vashti.” The description which underlies and grounds the judicial sentence, Deu_32:22, corresponds to these awful extremities (Deu_4:24; Deu_6:15). Comp. upon Deu_29:19. The dimension even to the lowest (sheol) hell (the chasm, abyss; see Hupfeld upon Psalms 66) according to which this stands as the underworld in opposition to heaven,—here the lowest depth (Deu_30:13) may be intended,—presents the judgment first of all as a destruction reaching beyond the earthly life, and continuing in Sheol, (Num_16:30 sq.). The intensive extent or compass in the next place, when the fire which is kindled (Deu_11:17) consumes indeed the foundations of the earth, expresses the judgment, as in the analogy of Sodom (Deu_29:22 sq.), extending from Palestine, and spreading out to one which concerns the whole world. [The judgment thus described was not to fall upon Israel alone. It was first to suffer. “But the words were not intended to foretell one particular judgment, but refer to judgment in its totality and universality, as realized in the course of centuries in different judgments upon the nations, and only to be completely fulfilled at the end of the world.” Keil.—A. G.]. (2Pe_3:7). Thus only does it correspond with the universal idea of Israel. Since the land of promise loses its peculiar significance through the curse of God, the heaven of Israel passed away with the temple, there exists in Christ with the new Israel, which is entirely, completely spiritual, already a new heaven and a new earth, according to the Spirit. Israel is the nearest object of the Divine love-judgment, Deu_32:23 sq. The transition to another figure, comp. Deu_31:11; Deu_31:21. In masses one upon another; as a warrior against his enemies, exhausting his arrows to the very last one in his quiver, heaps them together around the enemy. Deu_32:24. îָæָä , to draw, exhaust, or simply to extend, make thin. øֶùֶׁó the licking, lapping flame, used of fever, burning pestilence. ÷èá , cut, thrust, blow. Comp. Lev_26:22. [Keil paraphrases “when hunger, pestilence, plague, have brought them to the verge of destruction I will send, sq”.—A. G.]. Deu_32:25. ùׁëì in Piel: lonely, bereaved, made childless, (Gen_43:14). çֶãֶø the closed, within the tent, house, where especially are the wives and children. áָçåּø , the chosen, manly youth, especially soldiers. ùׂéá to have gray hairs, (Lev_19:32).
5. Deu_32:26-43. In such a position to the world would God bring them, but they should not disappear entirely from the race. In Deu_32:26, in which he passes from the sentence to its execution. I said occurs as “he said“(Deu_32:20) and with a similar purport. ôàä , used only here, may mean: to drive into every corner, or: to cast out from every corner (Schultz); the last signification may agree with the connection, but not the first.—To blow away agrees still better, so that they are dispersed. Vulg., Luther, according to the Rabbinical solution àôּ àé äí : where are they? i.e., destroyed beyond any trace, so that one seeks after them in vain. Others: to make an end. Others still: they are exposed, abandoned as the corners of the fields to the poor. Or deriving it from àó anger, to let this have success or control). ùׁáú in Hiphil: remove the Sabbath from their memory (Lev_26:43). Comp. Deu_25:19. Once more a two-membered strophe. Deu_32:27. What restrains Jehovah from this utter destruction is not anything in Israel, not even anything in Him in reference to Israel,—this is the icy character of the passage,—but Jehovah fears His wrath of (upon) the enemy, i.e., because the oppressors of Israel, if they should ignore (misunderstand) the fact, that Jehovah and not their power (Isa_26:11) had destroyed Israel, would excite His wrath. Comp. Cicero; pro Flacco, c. 28, cited by Baumgarten. The impeachment of His honor or glory through the enemy is to be explained perhaps as Deu_9:28. There may, however, be an intimation also of the gracious purpose of God toward the Gentiles. The blessedness of all is indeed the glory of God. The world should not occupy such a position to Israel on its own account; it should execute and recognize the judgment of God upon Israel; therefore it is arrested, however little the nation deserves it. As Israel, e.g., Deu_9:4 sq., could not assert its own goodness as a motive, so with the gentile world its power; there the heart, here the hand. In what follows, the correct reasons are presented against these possible false reasons: not the gentile power, but Israel’s corruption, which presents it as ripe for overthrow, is the reason, for its destruction by Jehovah. Thus Deu_32:28 gives the reasons for Deu_32:26, so that Deu_32:27 forms the conclusion to Deu_32:26. We have still the words of God, as also in the reasons given for the declaration of the judgment (Deu_32:20); Knobel: “the author here proceeds with his own words.” That the discourse treats of Israel is not doubtful, as Sack thinks, because the âåֹé , which is more commonly used for the gentiles, occurs here. It stands for Israel also, e.g., Deu_4:6 sq., agrees well with the more general style here, and moreover when emphasized could well serve to present the equality of Israel and the Gentiles. Void of counsel, generally; not knowing what to advise, they have lost the power of wise consideration, counsels, or: lost, ruined, truly with respect to that with which they might consult; they do not take advice from the law of God (Deu_4:6 sq.). úáåðä , comp. with áéðå Deu_32:7. The moral corruption has wrought intellectual. With reference to this sign of deserved destruction, Moses breaks out, Deu_32:29, in a sad lamentation: ìåּ ! (it will not be so, surely not in the whole people). [The particle expresses here the simple condition without any wish, implying that the condition does not exist, or is uncertain.—A. G.]. Luk_19:42. Comp. Deu_32:6-7, and upon Deu_32:20. æàú especially what follows, that Israel could not have the victory, but that its end was near. Deu_32:30 is usually understood of the unsuccessful wars of Israel, from which either the Gentiles could perceive (this is expressed Deu_32:27 sq.), how Jehovah gave over His people, or that Israel should perceive and consider. More correctly: the review of the earlier history, which they were not considering (Deu_32:29 comp. with Deu_32:7) would prove to them how mighty Israel could be, (Lev_26:8; comp. Jos_23:10). But, since the actual case is altogether the reverse, the self-judgment of their end must follow upon this review, ( àé , how would it still ëä thus be, namely: it would, sq. àîÎìà ëéÎ except (according to the usual interpretation) their Rock, sq., or: the actual case was that, sq.). Their Rock, as is clear from the parallel clause, is Jehovah (Deu_32:4). Deu_32:31 gives the proof through a comparison of Jehovah with that which the Gentiles call their rock. Their gods could only be called rock, never be so, (Deu_32:21). Moses includes himself with his people (according to the idea, [i.e., the true Israel]). ôìéìéí Schultz: Against the faithless ones who had proved the vanity of idols. Most: Since they even had experienced the omnipotence of Jehovah, and the weakness of all gods besides Him, as e.g., of Egypt, Moab, Midian. (Num_23:24). Perhaps still more simply:—And our enemies are judges. Israel’s judges (Exo_21:22) instead of Jehovah, carry out His judicial sentence, and do nothing more. Thus Deu_32:31 connects itself with the close of Deu_32:30 : because the rock of the heathen, the gods whom they worship, are not as Jehovah, so the Rock of Israel must have given it into their power. Otherwise Israel would, as of old, have been victorious in the field, instead of as now recognizing its enemies as its judges. Deu_32:32 holds a similar relation to Deu_32:31, and Deu_32:30, as Deu_32:28, to Deu_32:26-27. Israel had placed itself on an equality, in pleasure and pride (Deu_32:15), with the Gentiles, and indeed with those of Canaan, against whom a previous judgment of God had long ago warned, and is soon therefore to be upon an equality with them, in punishment likewise, (Deu_29:22). Against Sack and those who with him apply Deu_32:32-33 to the Gentiles, Keil asserts “that throughout the Old Testament the corruption of the lsraelites, and never that of the Gentiles, is compared with that of Sodom, sq.; Isa_1:10; Isa_3:9; Jer_23:14; Eze_16:46 sq.” Their vine, so far as it is to be compared with any such, is of the vine of Sodom, is a scion from that, ( øåֹù as Deu_29:17). Deu_32:33. “The sweetness of the luxuries was a bitter, fatal poison to the dwellers in the garden of God”. Baumgarten. As Deu_32:29 Moses, so now Deu_32:34 Jehovah breaks up the thought into the form of a dramatic dialogue. The position of the world to Israel should thus not be for the glory of its power, but for the glory of the Lord; Israel should be judged through the world, but from the Lord. äåà