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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Deuteronomy 32:19 - 32:43
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Jehovah's Sentence and its Execution
v. 19. And when the Lord saw it, by the testimony of His own personal observation, He abhorred them, He rejected them with a feeling of bitterness, because of the provoking, the vexation, the grief, of His sons and of His daughters. The behavior of the children of Israel caused the Lord to plan their rejection with a severe punishment.
v. 20. And He said, I will hide My face from them, withdraw His mercy, be inaccessible to all their pleading for mercy. I will see what their end shall be, for their apostasy was bound to bring them everlasting destruction; for they are a very froward generation, perverse, wicked, children in whom is no faith, upon whom one cannot depend.
v. 21. They have moved Me to jealousy with that which is not God, by turning and clinging to idols of men's imagination; they have provoked Me to anger with their vanities, literally, "their nothingnesses," Lev_19:4; and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people, by turning in mercy to such as did not belong to the chosen nation; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation, by laying the blessing rejected by Israel upon a people who till then were godless. Cf Rom_10:19.
v. 22. For a fire is kindled in Mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains; for the judgment of God, as realized in the course of the centuries, not only upon Israel, but upon all those that rejected Him, in every form of severe punishment, extends beyond the earthly life and continues throughout eternity.
v. 23. I will heap mischiefs upon them, evils of every kind; I will send Mine arrows upon them, use them up in bringing retribution upon them.
v. 24. They shall be burned with hunger, become thin for lack of food, and devoured with burning heat, with a consuming pestilence, and with bitter destruction, an infectious epidemic; I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, raging beasts of prey, with the poison of serpents of the dust. Cf Lev_26:22.
v. 25. The sword without and terror within, on account of the utter helplessness and the terrible fate which would await them in the hands of the victorious and cruel enemy, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, cutting them off in the bloom of their youth, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs, the land thus being bereaved of its inhabitants.
v. 26. I said I would scatter them into corners, blow them away, exterminate them, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men;
v. 27. were it not that I feared the wrath of, that is, over, the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, misunderstanding or ignoring the fact that Jehovah's interference and not their power had destroyed Israel, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, has shown itself mighty, and the Lord hath not done all this. The transgression of Israel would be such as to merit annihilation, and it would be only the probable arrogance of the enemy in ascribing to themselves the punishment which was God's alone that would prevent His carrying out that intention.
v. 28. For they, Israel, are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them; they were utterly lacking in spiritual insight and wisdom.
v. 29. O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end! Complete destruction is their inevitable lot if Jehovah for His name's sake does not turn away His wrath.
v. 30. how should one chase a thousand and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up? If they would only cling to Jehovah, the Rock of their salvation, then it would be a small matter for them to overthrow all their enemies; but now their apostasy would result in their being sold into the power of their enemies, deprived of all their strength by the Lord.
v. 31. For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges. The heathen themselves were obliged to confess that the gods in whom they put their trust could not really be compared with Jehovah, the true God.
v. 32. For their vine, that upon which Israel was placing its trust, is the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah, Isa_1:10; Isaiah 3-9; Jer_23:14; their grapes are grapes of gall, on account of the bitterness of their transgressions, their clusters are bitter;
v. 33. their wine is the poison of dragons, of serpents, and the cruel venom of asps, of a very poisonous, deadly snake. Thus the vine and its fruits are a picture of the people and of its works. Cf Isa_5:2-4. In this entire section the punishment upon Sodom is suggested, as the formal announcement of the coming judgment, which now follows, indicates.
v. 34. Is not this laid up in store with Me, both the sins of the people and the judgments of God, and sealed up among my treasures? The registers of guilt were still secret, but would be opened in due time.
v. 35. To Me belongeth vengeance and recompense; their foot shall slide in due time, at that time, when the foot would begin to be uncertain, when their fall would be imminent, then God would prove Himself the avenger, the rewarder, then the secrets with regard to their punishment, which He had kept hidden, would be revealed. For the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste; then the judgment, the vengeance of God, would strike Israel, bringing them to the verge of destruction.
v. 36. For the Lord shall judge His people, and repent Himself for (comfort) His servants, by punishing those who are only outward members of His people, and by saving those who are found true worshipers of Jehovah, when He seeth that their power is gone, when all the earthly props of Israel's power upon which it relied are taken away, and there is none shut up or left, that is, all men, all defenders, both married and single, are taken away.
v. 37. And He shall say, when He has thus brought punishment upon His people and avenged Himself upon His enemies in their midst, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted,
v. 38. which, namely, the idols of the false Israelites, did eat the fat of their sacrifices, accepting what the foolish Israelites consecrated to them, and drank the wine of their drink-offerings? Let them rise up and help you, and be your protection. Thus the helplessness and vanity of the idols are brought out.
v. 39. See now, by contemplating the fate which struck the foolish idolaters, that I, even I, am He, and there is no god with Me; Jehovah alone is the true God. I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal; neither is there any that can deliver out of My hand. To Him, as the almighty God, pertains the absolute power over the creatures of His hand.
v. 40. For I lift up My hand to heaven, in the gesture of one swearing a solemn oath, and say, I live forever.
v. 41. if I whet My glittering sword, in the capacity of champion of His people, and Mine hand take hold on judgment, namely, for the purpose of carrying it out, I will render vengeance to Mine enemies, and will reward them that hate Me, punish all the godless, not only among the heathen, but also among the Israelites.
v. 42. I will make Mine arrows drunk with blood, and My sword shall devour flesh, a very strong figure denoting the complete overthrow of the enemies; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy, literally, "from the unbarbered head of the enemy," said of one possessing vigorous strength and exhibiting proud arrogance.
v. 43. Rejoice, O ye nations, with His people, since all men are included in God's love; for He will avenge the blood of His servants, and will render vengeance to His adversaries, and will be merciful unto His land and to His people. By the punishment of the bold offenders and by the extirpation of idolatry God intended to expiate the guilt resting upon His people and their country, and thus to consecrate and sanctify both the land and the people, His congregation of believers. Thus Moses, at the end of his song, prophesies of the Church of the New Testament, which will serve the Lord in righteousness and holiness.