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Deuteronomy Chapter
Thirty-two
New King James Version (NKJV)
INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 32
This
chapter contains the song mentioned and referred to in the former
the preface
to it
Deuteronomy 32:1;
the character of the divine and illustrious Person it chiefly respects
Deuteronomy 32:4;
the ingratitude of the people of the Jews to him
who were a crooked and
perverse generation
aggravated by his having bought
made
and established
them
Deuteronomy 32:5;
and which is further aggravated by various instances of divine goodness to
them
first in providing and reserving a suitable country for them
at the time
of the division of the earth to the sons of men
with the reason of it
Deuteronomy 32:7;
then by what the Lord did for them in the wilderness
Deuteronomy 32:10;
after that in the land of Canaan
where they enjoyed plenty of all good things
and in the possession of which they were
when the illustrious Person described
appeared among them
Deuteronomy 32:13;
and then the sin of ingratitude to him
before hinted at
is fully expressed
namely
lightly esteeming the rock of salvation
the Messiah
Deuteronomy 32:15;
nor could they stop here
but proceed to more ungodliness
setting up other
messiahs and saviours
which were an abomination to the Lord
Deuteronomy 32:16;
continuing sacrifices when they should not
which were therefore reckoned no
other than sacrifices to demons
and especially the setting up of their new
idol
their own righteousness
was highly provoking; and by all this they
clearly showed they had forgot the rock
the Saviour
Deuteronomy 32:17;
wherefore
for the rejection of the Messiah and the
persecution of his
followers
they would be abhorred of God
Deuteronomy 32:19;
who would show his resentment by the rejection of them
by the calling of the
Gentiles
and by bringing the nation of the Romans upon them
Deuteronomy 32:20;
whereby utter ruin and destruction in all its shapes would be brought upon
them
Deuteronomy 32:22;
and
were it not for the insolence of their adversaries
would be entirely
destroyed
being such a foolish and unwise people
which appears by not
observing what the enemies of the Messiah themselves allow
that there is no
rock like him
whom they despised
Deuteronomy 32:26;
which enemies are described
and the vengeance reserved for them pointed out
Deuteronomy 32:32;
and the song closed with promises of grace and mercy to the Lord's people
and
wrath and ruin to his and their enemies
on which account all are called upon
to rejoice in the latter day
Deuteronomy 32:36;
and this song being delivered by Moses
the people of Israel are exhorted
seriously to attend to it
it being of the utmost importance to them
Deuteronomy 32:44;
and the chapter is concluded with a relation of Moses being ordered to go up to
Mount Nebo and die
with the reason of it
Deuteronomy 32:48.
Deuteronomy 32:1 “Give ear
O
heavens
and I will speak; And hear
O earth
the words of my mouth.
YLT
1`Give ear
O heavens
and I
speak; And thou dost hear
O earth
sayings of my mouth!
Give ear
O ye heavens
and I will speak; and hear
O earth
the words of my mouth. This song is prefaced and
introduced in a very grand and pompous manner
calling on the heavens and earth
to give attention; by which they themselves may be meant
by a
"prosopopaeia"
a figure frequently used in Scripture
when things of
great moment and importance are spoken of; and these are called upon to
hearken
either to rebuke the stupidity and inattention of men
or to show that
these would shed or withhold their influences
their good things
according to
the obedience or disobedience of Israel; or because these are durable and
lasting
and so would ever be witnesses for God and against his people: Gaon
as Aben Ezra observes
by the heavens understands the angels
and by the earth
the men of the earth
the inhabitants of both worlds
which is not amiss: and
by these words of Moses are meant the words of the song
referred to in Deuteronomy 31:29;
here called his words
not because they were of him
but because they were put
into his mouth
and about to be expressed by him
not in his own name
but in
the name of the Lord; and not as the words of the law
which came by him
but
as the words and doctrines of the Gospel concerning Christ
of whom Moses here
writes; whose character he gives
and whose person and office he vindicates
against the Jews
whom he accuses and brings a charge of ingratitude against
for rejecting him
to which our Lord seems to refer
John 5:45; the
prophecies of their rejection
the calling of the Gentiles
the destruction of
the Jews by the Romans
and the miseries they should undergo
and yet should
not be wholly extirpated out of the world
but continue a people
who in the
latter days would be converted
return to their own land
and their enemies be
destroyed; which are some of the principal things in this song
and which make
it worthy of attention and observation.
Deuteronomy 32:2 2 Let
my teaching drop as the rain
My speech distill as the dew
As raindrops on the
tender herb
And as showers on the grass.
YLT
2Drop as rain doth My
doctrine; Flow as dew doth My sayings; As storms on the tender grass
And as
showers on the herb
My doctrine shall drop as the rain
my speech shall distil as the
dew
.... Which some
as Aben Ezra
take to be a prayer or wish
that
the doctrine spoken by him might fall upon men like rain and dew on the earth
penetrate into their hearts
and influence them
and produce good effects there;
but the words rather seem to be a prophecy of what would be: and by his
"doctrine" and "speech"
which signify the same thing
is
meant
not his law
which was fiery
this cooling
like rain and dew; that was
like a storm
this as a gentle rain; that was terrible
this desirable; that
was distressing
this refreshing
this no other than the Gospel
the speech of
God
the doctrine of Christ
the doctrine of grace
and mercy through him
and
of life and salvation by him: it has its name from a word
which signifies to
"receive"F6לקחי a לקח "accepit". ; for it was received from God by
Moses
and by the prophets after him
by Christ himself
as Mediator
and by
the apostles from him
and is worthy of the acceptation of all: this is
comparable to "rain"
because
like that
it comes from heaven
is
the gift of God
tarries not for man
but comes without any desert of man
and
often without his desire; falls by divine direction in places and on persons
as the Lord's will and pleasure is
and that in great plenty
with a fulness of
spiritual blessings
and precious promises; and for its effects
it cools the
conscience
filled with fiery wrath and indignation
moistens and softens the
hard heart
like the dry and parched earth
refreshes and revives the drooping
spirit
and makes barren souls fruitful in grace and good works: and it is like
"dew"
which also is from heaven
and of God
fell in the night of
the world; and as that falls in a temperate air
so this
when the stormy
dispensation of the law was over; and though but a small thing in the eyes of
the world
is of great influence
the power of God unto salvation
very
grateful and delightful
and of great moment and importance; hereby the love
and favour of God is diffused
the blessings of grace dispensed
the heavenly
manna communicated
and the Spirit and his graces received: and this
like rain
and dew
"drops" and "distils" silently
not in a noisy
manner as the law; insensibly
falling on persons at an unawares
in great
abundance
like the drops of rain and dew; and effectually
working in all that
believe: dew was a symbol of doctrine with the EgyptiansF7Hor.
Hieroglyph. l. 1. c. 26. : this is further illustrated:
as the small rain upon the tender herb
and as the showers upon
the grass: the first of those words for "rain"
according to
Jarchi
has the signification of a stormy wind
but that seems to contradict
the gentle dropping and distilling of it; rather it signifies "hairs"F8שעירם a שער "pilus"
Lev. xiii. 10.
and denotes
as our version
the smallness of the rain
being
as small
thin
and light as hairs; and the latter wordF9רביבים a רבב "multum"
see Psal. cxliv. 13. has the signification of millions and thousands
there
being such vast
numbers as those in a shower of rain: the "tender
herb" and "grass" may denote the multitude of persons to whom
the Gospel would come
and be made useful; and may describe sensible sinners
tender consciences
such as are weak in themselves
with whom it is the day of
small things
are newborn babes
little children; who are just springing up in
grace
as among the grass
and as willows by the water courses: now all this is
said by Moses
to recommend his doctrine
as well as what follows.
Deuteronomy 32:3 3 For
I proclaim the name of the Lord: Ascribe
greatness to our God.
YLT
3For the Name of Jehovah I
proclaim
Ascribe ye greatness to our God!
Because I will publish the name of the Lord
.... Not call
on his name
as some
nor call to the heaven and earth in his name
as others
but proclaim his name
even the same that was proclaimed before Moses
Exodus 34:6; and
this is to be understood
not of Jehovah the Father
nor of Jehovah the Spirit
but of Jehovah the Son
the rock whose work is perfect
and the rock of
salvation
Deuteronomy 32:4;
and not of any particular name of his
unless any of those mentioned can be
thought to be intended; rather his perfections and attributes
or his Gospel
called his name
Acts 9:15; though
his name may signify no other than himself
who is the sum and substance of the
Gospel
and who
in his person
office
grace
and salvation
is to be
published and proclaimed
openly and publicly
constantly and faithfully
and
his name only; for there is no other under heaven whereby man can be saved:
ascribe ye greatness unto our God; to Christ
the rock of
salvation
who is truly God
our God
God in our nature
God manifest in the
flesh
and who is the great God
and our Saviour
and therefore greatness is to
be ascribed to him: he is great in his person and perfections; his works are
great
those of creation and providence
and particularly of redemption and
salvation; he is great in his offices
a great Saviour
a great High priest
a
great Prophet
a great King
and the great Shepherd of the sheep: those that
are called upon to give greatness to him
which is his due
are the heavens and
the earth
Deuteronomy 32:1;
and both have
literally and figuratively considered
bore a testimony to his
greatness; the heavens
at his birth a wonderful star appeared
directing the
wise men to him; at his death the sun was darkened; at his ascension the
heavens were opened and received him
and still retain him; even God in heaven
by a voice from thence
bore witness of him as his beloved Son
in whom he was
well pleased; also by raising him from the dead
declaring him to be the Son of
God with power
and by exalting him at his right hand as a Saviour
and by the
effusion of the Spirit on his apostles
to preach and spread his Gospel; the
angels in heaven ascribed greatness to him
by their worship of him when he
came into the world
by the declaration they made of him at his incarnation
and by the testimony they bore to his resurrection
and by their subjection to
him in all things: the church below
sometimes called heaven
in the book of
the Revelation
ascribe all honour
glory
and greatness to him: the earth
the
whole terraqueous globe
in it have been displayed the greatness of Christ
the
power and glory of his divinity; in the sea by becoming a calm at his word of
command
in the rocks by being rent at his death
and will be in both by
delivering up the dead in them
at the last day: the inhabitants of the earth
especially the redeemed from among men
ascribe greatness to him
by
attributing daily to him all the perfections of the Godhead
and the glory of
their salvation: Aben Ezra says
Moses refers to the heavens and the earth
or
respects them
and compares with this Psalm 19:1.
Deuteronomy 32:4 4 He
is the Rock
His work is perfect; For all His ways are
justice
A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is
He.
YLT
4The Rock! -- perfect [is]
His work
For all His ways [are] just; God of stedfastness
and without
iniquity: Righteous and upright [is] He.
He is the rock
.... That is
Jehovah is the rock
whose name Moses proposed to publish; and our God
to whom
the heavens and the earth are called upon to ascribe greatness
even Christ the
rock of salvation: here begins the song; the first word in it is very emphatic;
it has a letter in it larger than usual
to denote the greatness of this
Person
and to make it observable; he is "this" or "that
rock"F11הצור "quod attinet ad
rupem illam"
Piscator; "rupes illa"
Van Till; "rupes
illa"
Vitringa.
by way of eminence
that rock and stone of Israel
Jacob prophesied of
which was typified by the rock Moses had smitten in the
wilderness
and which
no doubt
he knew
as the Apostle Paul did
that it was
a type of Christ
and had taught the Israelites so to understand it; and
therefore this epithet of a divine Person would not seem strange to them
and
yet is that rock the unbelieving Jews would and did stumble at
and the rock of
salvation they lightly esteemed and rejected; the rock of refuge for sensible
sinners to flee unto for shelter and safety from the wrath and justice of God
and from every enemy; the rock the church of God and every believer are built
upon
and in which they dwell; and who is the rock of ages that will endure
forever
as the Saviour of his people
and the foundation of their faith and
hope:
his work is perfect; not so much the work of
creation or of providence
which are both the works of Christ
but that of
redemption and salvation
in which there is not only a display of all the
divine perfections
but is complete in all its parts; the law is perfectly
fulfilled
justice is fully satisfied
a perfect righteousness is wrought out
a complete pardon is procured
perfect peace is made
full atonement of sins
obtained
and the whole work is finished; and is so perfect that nothing is
wanting in it
or can be added to it
nor can it be unravelled or undone again:
likewise the work of building the church on this rock is carrying on
and will
be perfected when all the elect of God
all given to Christ and redeemed by his
blood
shall be called by grace and gathered in; when the last of the chosen
ones
and redeemed of the Lamb
is brought in and laid in the building; when
Christ shall deliver up the kingdom to the Father complete
and God shall be
all in all
and his church and people will be in a perfect state to all
eternity:
for all his ways are judgment; his ways
which he himself has taken and walked in; his ways of providence are according
to the best judgment and highest wisdom
and according to the strictest justice
and equity; his ways of grace towards the salvation of his people
and the
building up his church on himself
the rock; all the methods he took in
eternity and time were all formed according to the counsel of God
and planned
with the greatest wisdom
founded in his righteous nature
and according to
covenant compact with his Father
and entered into in the most honourable
manner; and in which he brought about the salvation of his people
in perfect
consistence with the justice and holiness of God
and to the honour of them and
his holy law: and he has executed all his offices of prophet
priest
and King
in the most just and righteous manner: the ways which he has prescribed his
people to walk in
and in which he leads them
are ways of truth
righteousness
and holiness; such are all his ordinances and commandments:
a God of truth; so Christ is called; see Gill on Isaiah 65:16; or
the true God
which also is his name
1 John 5:20; and is
so called in opposition to fictitious deities
and such who are only so by name
or office
but not by nature; whereas he is truly and properly God
as appears
from his names and nature
from his perfections
works
and worship
ascribed
to him: or "God the truth"F12אל אמונה "Deus veritas"
Pagninus
Montanus.
for
he is "the truth"
John 14:6; the
truth of all types
promises
and prophecies
which all have their accomplishment
in him; the sum and substance of all truths and doctrines
from whom they all
come
and in whom they all centre: or "the God of faith" or
"faithfulness"F13"Deus fidei"
Vatablus
Cocceius; "Deus veritatis sive fidei"
Vitringa. ; the object of
faith
and the author and finisher of it; and who is faithful
as the God-man
and Mediator
to him that appointed him
being intrusted with all the elect of
God
with all promises and blessings of grace for them
with the fulness of
grace to communicate unto them
with the glory of God in their salvation
and
with their future and final happiness; and is faithful in the discharge of his
offices of prophet
priest
and King:
and without iniquity; in his nature
in his
heart
in his lips
and in his life; nor was ever any committed by him:
just and right is he; just
both as a divine
Person
and as man and Mediator; a lover and doer of righteousness
a worker
out of righteousness for his people
and the justifier of them by it; just and
righteous
as the
servant of God
as King of saints
and Judge of the whole
world; "right" or "upright"
which is the character of a
divine Person
agrees with Christ
and may denote his sincerity
uprightness
and faithfulness.
Deuteronomy 32:5 5 “They
have corrupted themselves; They are not His children
Because of their
blemish: A perverse and crooked generation.
YLT
5It hath done corruptly to
Him; Their blemish is not His sons'
A generation perverse and crooked!
They have corrupted themselves
.... This and what
follows may seem to be the characters of the enemies of Christ
who lightly
esteemed and rejected him
set in a contrast with him; who were not only
corrupt by nature
as all men are
but were men of corrupt minds in their
tenets and principles; who corrupted the word of God by their traditions
in
the times of Christ; and were men of corrupt practices themselves
and
corrupters of others:
their spot is not the spot of his children; of the
children of the divine Person before described; Christ the rock has
"children" given him by his Father
in whose adoption he has a
concern
and by whose Spirit they are regenerated: these have their "spots";
by which are meant sins
and by those men are stained and polluted; so called
in allusion to the spots of animals
as leopards; or to spots in faces and
garments
through dirt and the like: by nature they are as others
and while in
an unregenerate estate
and indeed after conversion; though they are washed
from their sins by the blood of Christ
and are justified by his righteousness
and so without spot
yet in themselves they are not without spots or sins
as
their confessions and complaints
and all experience testify: but the spots or
sins of wicked men are not like theirs; the children of Christ sin through
infirmity of the flesh
and the force of temptation
but wicked men through the
malignity of their hearts
willingly and purposely; what good men do of this
kind they hate
but what Christless and graceless sinners do they love; saints
do not continue in sin
but ungodly men do
and proceed to more ungodliness
and wax worse and worse; gracious souls when they sin
are sorry for it
repent
of it
are melted for it
and take shame to themselves on account of it; but
unconverted men repent not of their wickedness
are hardened in it
and glory
of it; see the character of the Jews in Christ's time
to which this song
refers
John 8:44; though
these clauses may be rendered to another sense
more agreeably to the context
and to the Hebrew accents
as they are by some; "is there any corruption
in him? no"F14שחת לו
לא "an est ipsi corruptio? non"
Cocceius
van Till
Vitringa.
that is
is there any corruption in the illustrious
Person before described
as without iniquity
just
and right? no
none at all
in his nature
divine or human; not in his divine nature
being the
incorruptible God; nor in his human nature
which is entirely free from that
corruption by sin
common to all that des
tend from Adam by natural
generation
he being conceived under the power of the Holy Ghost; nor any in
his life and conversation
being perfectly agreeable to the pure and holy law
of God; nor any in his doctrines
however they may be charged by ignorant and
malicious men
a proof of which follows: or "his children are their
spot"F15בניו מומם
"filii ejus macula eorum"
Van Till; "filii ejus labes
ipsorum"
Cocceius. ; so the clause may be rendered; the spots of the
Jewish nation
the most wicked and vilest among them
became his children; not
only the lowest and meanest of them
as to civil and worldly things
but the
more ignorant and the more wicked
even publicans and harlots; these
and not
the righteous
he came to call and save
and did receive; these were
regenerated by his grace
and they believed in him; and to them gave he power
to become his children: but then did they remain the wicked persons they had
been? no
they were made new creatures
they were internally sanctified
and
lived holy lives and conversations; a clear proof this
that there was no
corruption in Christ
nor in his doctrine
and that he neither by his tenets
nor example encouraged sin
but all the reverse; Wisdom is justified of her
children
Matthew 11:19; but
then the rest
and the far greater part of the Jewish nation
in his time
have
their character truly drawn
as follows:
they are a perverse and
crooked generation; men of perverse and crooked natures
tempers
dispositions
ways
and works; who walked contrary to the will and law of God
and were
indeed contrary to all men
1 Thessalonians 2:15;
this is the very character that is given of them
Matthew 17:17.
Deuteronomy 32:6 6 Do
you thus deal with the Lord
O foolish and unwise people? Is
He not your Father
who bought you? Has He not made you and established
you?
YLT
6To Jehovah do ye act thus
O people foolish and not wise? Is not He thy father -- thy possessor? He made
thee
and doth establish thee.
Do you thus requite the Lord
O foolish people and unwise
.... This is
also a proper character of the Jews in the times of Christ
who are often by
him called "fools"
Matthew 23:17;
being very ignorant of the Scriptures
and of the prophecies in them respecting
him
setting up their own traditions on a level with the word of God
or above
it; they were ignorant of the law of God
and the meaning of it; of the
righteousness of God
of the righteousness of his nature
and of what the law
required
as well as of the righteousness of Christ
and of him as a spiritual
Redeemer
and of salvation by him; and a most egregious instance of their
folly
and of want of wisdom
was their ingratitude to him
in disesteeming and
rejecting him; which is what is here referred to and meant by ill-requiting
him
though not expressed till Deuteronomy 32:15;
and a most sad requital of him it was indeed
that he should come to them
his
own
in so kind and gracious a manner
and yet be rejected by them; that he
should become man
and yet for that reason be charged with blasphemy
for
making himself God; horrid ingratitude
to infer the one from the other! and
because he appeared as a servant
disowned him as the Son of God; and because
he came in the likeness of sinful flesh to take away sin
they traduced him as
a sinner:
is not he thy Father
that
hath bought thee? hath he not made thee
and established thee? Moses
in order to
aggravate this their ingratitude
rehearses the various instances of divine
goodness to them
from the beginning of them as nation; it was the Lord that
was the founder of them as a nation
whose Son
when sent unto them
was
rejected by them; it was he that bought them
or redeemed them from Egyptian
bondage
that made or formed them into a body politic
or civil commonwealth
that established and settled them in the land of Canaan: this is expressed in
general terms; particular instances of the goodness of God to them are after
enumerated: or if this is to be understood of Christ himself
who was rejected
by them
it is true of some among them
in a spiritual and evangelic sense
and
so
by a figure
the whole is put for a part
as sometimes the part is for the
whole: Christ
the everlasting Father of the world to come
had many children
in the Jewish nation
for whose sake he became incarnate
and whom he came to
seek and to save; and whom he "bought" with his precious blood
and
whom
by his Spirit and grace
he "made" new creatures
the children
of God
kings and priests unto God; and "established" them in the
faith of him
and upon him
the sure foundation; or whom he fashioned
beautified
and adorned with his righteousness
and with the graces of his
Spirit.
Deuteronomy 32:7 7 “Remember
the days of old
Consider the years of many generations. Ask your father
and
he will show you; Your elders
and they will tell you:
YLT
7Remember days of old --
Understand the years of many generations -- Ask thy father
and he doth tell
thee; Thine elders
and they say to thee:
Remember the days of old
consider the years of many generations
.... That went
before the times of Christ
and the Jews' rejection of him
and observe the
instances of divine goodness to them; as in the time of the Maccabees
whom God
raised up as deliverers of them
when oppressed by the Syrians and others; and
in the time of the Babylonish captivity
how they were delivered out of it; in
the times of David and Solomon
when they enjoyed great prosperity; and in the
times of the judges
by whom they were often saved out of the hands of their
enemies; and in the times of Moses and Joshua
how they were led
by the one
out of Egypt and through the wilderness
and by the other into the land of
Canaan; and thus might they be led on higher
to the provision and reservation
of the good land for them in the times of Noah and his sons
which they are
referred to in Deuteronomy 32:8
and in all these times
days
years
and generations
they might consider what
notices were given of the Messiah
the rock of salvation
rejected by them; not
only by the prophets since the captivity of Babylon and in it; but before it by
Isaiah and others
and before them by David
and Solomon his son
by Moses and
by all the prophets
from the beginning of the world; all which would serve to
aggravate their sin in refusing him: Jarchi's note on the passage
is
""remember"--"consider"--to know what is to come;
for it is in his hand (or power) to do you good
and cause you to inherit the
days of the Messiah
and the world to come:"
ask thy father
and he will show thee; either their
immediate parents
father for fathers
or such as were their seniors
or rather
Abraham
their father
is meant; whom they might inquire of
not by personal
application to him
but by consulting the writings of Moses
and observe what
is there related of him; how he was called out of Chaldea to go into the land
of Canaan
his seed was after to inherit; and how he had an express grant of
that land to his posterity
and where they might be shown and see the prophecy
delivered to him of their being in Egypt
and coming out from thence; and what
he knew of the Messiah
whose day he saw
and rejoiced at
now rejected by them
his offspring:
thy elders
and they will tell thee; not their present elders
who rejected the Messiah
but those in ages past; the elders of Israel
who saw
the glory of the God of Israel
and were present at the covenant made at Horeb
Exodus 24:9; or
rather the sons of Noah
by whom the earth was divided
to which Deuteronomy 32:8
refers; or the ancient writers
the writers of the Scriptures: Jarchi
by
"father"
understands the prophets
and by "elders"
the
wise men: the Targum of Jonathan is
"read in the books of the law and they
will teach you
and in the books of the prophets and they will tell you.'
Deuteronomy 32:8
8 When
the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations
When He separated the
sons of Adam
He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of
the children of Israel.
YLT
8In the Most High causing
nations to inherit
In His separating sons of Adam -- He setteth up the borders
of the peoples By the number of the sons of Israel.
When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance
.... In the
times of Noah and his sons
in the days of Peleg
who had his name (that is
"Division") from thence
Genesis 10:25;
"the Most High" is a well known and proper
epithet of God; the
dividing of the earth to the several nations of it
and giving to everyone
their part and portion to possess and inherit
was the work of God; for though
it was done by the sons of Noah
yet by the order
appointment
and direction
of the Most High
who rules in heaven and in earth
Genesis 10:32; men
might not and did not take what they pleased
or seize on as much as they
could
but each had their parcel allotted and portioned out to them
by the
Lord himself; so the Targum of Jonathan."when by lot the Most High divided
the world to the people that sprung from the sons of Noah:"
when he separated the sons of Adam; one from another;
distinguished by the persons from whom they descended
by the tribes and
nations to which they belonged
and by the countries they inhabited; for though
they descended from Noah and his sons
they were the sons of Adam
the first
man: or rather "the children of men"
as the wicked of that
generation were called
in distinction from the sons of God
or his people and
worshippers; and may have respect to the separation of them at Babel
where
their languages were confounded
and they were scattered about
and some went
into one part of the world
and some into another
according to the appointment
and direction of divine Providence; so the builders of Babel are called
and
this was what befell them
Genesis 11:5; which
sense the above Targum confirms
"when he separated the writings
the
languages of the children of men in the generation of the division:'
he set the bounds of the people; or nations
the seven
nations of the land of Canaan; he pitched upon and fixed the land they should
inherit
and settled the bounds of it
how far it should reach
east
west
north and south:
according to the number of the children of Israel: the sense is
that such a country was measured out and bounded
as would be sufficient to
hold the twelve tribes of Israel
when numerous
and their time was come to
inhabit it; and which
in the mean while was put into the hands of Canaan and
his eleven sons to possess; not as their proper inheritance
but as tenants at
will
until the proper heirs existed
and were at an age
and of a sufficient
number to inherit; in which may be observed the wise disposition of divine
Providence
to put it into the hands of a people cursed of God
so that to take
it from them at any time could not have the appearance of any injustice in it;
and their enjoying it so long as they did was a mercy to them
for so long they
had a reprieve: now here was an early instance of the goodness of God to
Israel
that he should make such an early provision of the land flowing with
milk and honey for them
even before they were in being
yea
before their
ancestors
Abraham
Isaac
and Jacob
existed; as early as the days of Noah;
and yet
ungrateful as they were despised and set at nought his Son
the rock
of salvation
when sent unto them: thus the heavenly inheritance
typified by
the land of Canaan
was not only promised
but prepared
provided
secured
and
reserved for the spiritual Israel of God
before the foundation of the world
from all eternity
and which is appointed according to their number; there is room
enough in it for them all
though they are many; in it are many mansions for
the many sons to be brought to glory.
Deuteronomy 32:9 9 For
the Lord’s portion is His people; Jacob is the place of His
inheritance.
YLT
9For Jehovah's portion [is]
His people
Jacob [is] the line of His inheritance.
For the Lord's portion is his people
Jacob is the
lot of his inheritance. This is the reason why the Lord so early provided a portion or
inheritance for the children of Israel in the land of Canaan; because they were
his part
his portion
his inheritance
which he chose by lot for himself
or
allotted to himself; whom he chose to be his special and peculiar people; for
though all the world is his
he only reserved a part for himself
which he
separated from all the rest
and considers as his portion and inheritance
see Psalm 33:12; thus
the spiritual Israel of God
as they are his people
whom he has chosen
taken
into covenant
given to Christ
and are redeemed and saved by him; they are his
part or portion
separated by distinguishing grace from the rest of the world;
and are the inheritance of Christ
who is appointed heir of all things
and is
an unalienable inheritance; and is obtained by lot
or rather is measured out
by a rod or line; by the line of electing grace
by which the church and people
of God are circumscribed
marked out
and distinguished from others; and by the
line and rule of the sacred Scriptures
which are the measure and standard of
faith and practice
of worship and discipline to them.
Deuteronomy 32:10 10 “He
found him in a desert land And in the wasteland
a howling wilderness; He
encircled him
He instructed him
He kept him as the apple of His eye.
YLT
10He findeth him in a land --
a desert
And in a void -- a howling wilderness
He turneth him round -- He
causeth him to understand -- He keepeth him as the apple of His eye.
He found him in a desert land
and in the waste howling wilderness
.... In Deuteronomy 32:10
instances are given of the goodness of God to the people of Israel
when in the
wilderness; by which is meant
either "the wilderness of the land of
Egypt"
as it is called
Ezekiel 20:36;
where they were in a most miserable and forlorn condition
in which the Lord
found them
and out of which he brought them; or rather the desert of Arabia
a
waste place
where no provisions could be had; a howling wilderness
through
the blowing of the winds
the cries of wild creatures
as dragons
owls
ostriches
and the like
as the Targum of Jonathan
Jarchi
and Aben Ezra
and
the howling of passengers lost
or for want of provisions; here the Lord found
them
and they were as acceptable to him as grapes to a traveller in a
wilderness; see Gill on Hosea 9:10
this is
an emblem of the world
in which the spiritual Israel are
when called by grace
out of it; or of an unregenerate state
in which they are found
and out of
which they are brought: the phrase sometimes signifies sufficing
or finding
with everything sufficient; see Numbers 11:22; so
Onkelos renders it here; which is true of the Lord's dealing with this people;
he supplied them with manna
the corn of heaven
angels' food
and with water
out of the rock
and flesh to eat in fulness
yea
with raiment as well as
food; with everything convenient for them: so the Lord does for his spiritual Israel
feeding them with his word and ordinances
clothing them with the righteousness
of his Son
giving them fresh supplies of grace
and withholding no good thing
from them; so that they have enough
having all things richly to enjoy:
he led him about; when he brought the people of Israel out of
Egypt
he did not lead them the nearest way to the land of Canaan
through the
the land of the Philistines
but he led them about the way of the wilderness of
the Red sea; and when they were come to the borders of the land
because of
their murmurings
and disobedience
they were ordered back into the wilderness
again; nor were they suffered to go through the land of Edom when on the
confines of it
which would have been a shorter way; but they were obliged to
go round that land
which was very discouraging to them
see Exodus 13:17; and
thus the Lord
though he could if he would
bring his people at once to heaven;
he could sanctify them at once
as well as justify them; he could take them the
moment he regenerates them into his kingdom
as the thief on the cross; yet
this is not his usual way: though he calls them out from among the men of the
world
he continues them in it
having something for them to do or suffer for
his name's sake; he indeed leads them soon into the right and plain way of
salvation
and not in a roundabout way of duties; yet he leads them in many
roundabout ways in Providence
which are all right
though sometimes rough;
they seem at times to be near to heaven
and then they are turned into the
world again; nay
the Apostle Paul was in heaven
and yet sent into the
wilderness of the Gentiles again
for the good of souls and the interest of a
Redeemer; however
they all at last come safe to heaven and happiness: the
words may be rendered
"he surrounded" or "compassed him
about"F16יסבבנהו "circumdedit
eum"
Piscator; so Cocceius
Van Till
Vitringa.
and the rather
since
leading them about seems to be by way of resentment or punishment
whereas
Moses is enumerating instances of goodness and kindness
as this was one; he
covered them with the clouds of glory
so the Targums of Jonathan and
Jerusalem
Jarchi and Aben Ezra: he protected them with his power and
providence
and preserved them from serpents and scorpions
and the wild beasts
of the wilderness
as well as from all their enemies: and the Lord surrounds
his spiritual Israel with angels
who encamp about them; with himself
who is a
wall of fire round about them; with his power
in which they are kept as in a
garrison; and with his love
which encompasses them as a shield:
he instructed him; he taught him the law
as the Targum of
Jonathan; so Jarchi and Aben Ezra; or the decalogue
as the Jerusalem Targum;
he instructed him in the knowledge of the true God and his worship; in the
knowledge of the Messiah
and of his righteousness
and salvation by him; for
he instructed him by his good Spirit
Nehemiah 9:20; so
the Lord instructs his spiritual Israel
by his Spirit
his ministers
his word
and ordinances
in the knowledge of themselves
and of himself in Christ
and
of Christ and the way of life by him; and this being joined with the Lord's
leading about his people
may suggest that he instructs them by adverse
dispensations of Providence: the wordF17יבוננהו
"intelligere fecit eum"
Pagninus
Cocceius. signifies causing to
understand; and God only can teach and instruct in such sense as to give men an
understanding of the things they are taught and instructed in:
he kept him as the apple of his eye; in the most careful and
tender manner: the apple of the eye is an aperture in it
which lets in rays of
light into the "retina" or chamber where the images of things are
formed; this is wonderfully guarded in nature
for
besides the orbit of the
eye
which is strong and bony
and the eyelids
which in sleep are closed
to
prevent anything falling into the eye to disturb it; and the eyebrows
which
are fringed with hair to break off the rays of light
which sometimes would be
too strong for it; besides all these
there are no less than six tunics or
coats to keep and preserve it: and in like manner did the Lord keep and guard
Israel
while passing through the wilderness
from fiery serpents
scorpions
and the nations
that none might hurt
as Jarchi; and especially thus he keeps
his spiritual Israel
who are parts of himself
one with him
near and dear to
him; and about whom he sets guard upon guard
employs all his perfections to
secure them
and constantly watches over them night and day
and keeps them from
all evil and every enemy
and preserves them safe to his kingdom and glory.
Deuteronomy 32:11 11 As
an eagle stirs up its nest
Hovers over its young
Spreading out its wings
taking them up
Carrying them on its wings
YLT
11As an eagle waketh up its
nest
Over its young ones fluttereth
Spreadeth its wings -- taketh them
Beareth them on its pinions; --
As an eagle stirreth up her nest
.... Her young ones in
it
to get them out of it: Jarchi says the eagle is merciful to its young
and
does not go into its nest suddenly
but first makes a noise
and disturbs them
with her wings
striking them against a tree or its branches
that so they
being awakened may be fitter to receive her: with respect to literal Israel
Egypt was their nest
where they were who were then in their infant state
lay
like young birds in a nest; and though it was a filthy one and where they were
confined
yet they seemed sometimes as if they did not care to come out of it;
until the Lord made use of means to get them out
by the ministry of Moses and
Aaron
by suffering their taskmasters to make their bondage heavier
and by
judgments inflicted on the Egyptians
which made them urgent upon them to
depart: with respect to spiritual Israel
their nest is a state of
unregeneracy
in which they are at ease
and do not care to be awakened and
stirred out of it; but the Lord
in love to them
awakens them
stirs them up
and gets them out
by sending his ministers to arouse them
by letting in the
law into their consciences
which works a sense of wrath
by convincing them by
his Spirit of their sin and danger
opening their eyes to see their wretched and
miserable estate and condition
and by exerting his almighty power
plucking
them as brands out of the burning:
fluttereth over her young; by that means to get
them out of the nest
and teach them to fly
as well as to preserve them from
the attempts of any to take them away; for though some writers represent the
eagle as hardhearted to its young
casting them out of the nest
when they are
taken care of by the offifrage; yet this is to be understood of it when tired
with nursing
and when its young are capable of taking care of themselves; or
of some sort of eagles; for AelianusF18Hist. Animal. l. 2. c. 40.
testifies
that of all animals the eagle is most affectionate to its young
and
most studiously careful of them; when it sees anyone coming to them
it will
not suffer them to go away unpunished
but will beat them with its wings and
tear them with its nails: Jarchi thinks this phrase is expressive of the manner
of its incubation on its young; it does not
he says
lie heavy upon them
but
lifts up herself
and touches them as if she did not touch them; but it rather
signifies the motion she makes with her wings to get her young
when fledged
out of the nest
and to teach them to make use of their wings
as she does; and
we are told that young eagles
when their wings are weak
will fly about their
dams and learn of them to flyF19Suidas
vol. 1. p. 89. ; and hence
it is that young eagles while they are eating flutter their wings
that motion
being so natural to them
and seeing their dams do so likewiseF20Bochart.
Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 2. c. 3. col. 178. : this passage seems to contradict a
notion that has obtained with some
that an eagle only breeds one at a time;
the philosopher saysF21Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 6. c. 6.
the
eagle lays three eggs and casts out two of them; according to the verse of
Musaeus
it lays three
casts out two
and brings up one; and so
he says
it
commonly is the case: but sometimes three young ones are seen together; and the
black eagles are more kind to their young
and careful in the nourishment of
them; and the same says PlinyF23Nat Hist. l. 10. c. 3. ; yea we are
told
that sometimes seven are seen in a nestF24:
spreadeth abroad her wings taketh them
beareth them on her wings; that is
spreads forth her wings when she flutters over her young to instruct them; or
she does this in order to take up her young and carry them on them: it is said
that eagles fly round their nest
and vary the flights for the instruction of
their young; and afterwards taking them on their backs
they soar with them
aloft
in order to try their strength
shaking them off into the air: and if
they perceive them too weak to sustain themselves
they with surprising
dexterity fly under them again
and receive them on their wings to prevent
their fallF25See Harris's Voyages
vol. 1. B. 1. c. 2. sect. 14. p.
486. ; See Gill on Exodus 19:4; thus
the Lord
comparable to this creature for his affection to the people of
Israel
his care of them
and his strength to bear and carry them
did bear
them as on eagles' wings
and carried and saved them all the days of old; even
Christ
the Angel of Jehovah's presence
the rock of salvation they rejected
see Exodus 19:4; and
all this in a spiritual and evangelic sense may be expressive of the gracious
dealings of God with his spiritual Israel; teaching and enabling them to mount
up with wings as eagles
to soar aloft in the exercise of faith
hope
and
love
entering thereby within the vail into the holiest of all
and living in
the constant and comfortable expectation of heaven and happiness; and of the
Lord's taking his people up from the low estate in which they are
and raising
them up to near communion with himself
bearing them on his heart
in his
hands
and on his arm
supporting them under all their afflictions
and
carrying them
through all their troubles and difficulties
safe to eternal
glory and happiness.
Deuteronomy 32:12 12 So
the Lord alone led him
And there was no foreign god with him.
YLT
12Jehovah alone doth lead
him
And there is no strange god with him.
So the Lord alone did lead
him
.... Out of Egypt
through the wilderness
to the land of Canaan
going before them in a pillar of fire and cloud; though this is not to be understood
to the exclusion of the ministry of Moses and Aaron
by whom he led them
Psalm 77:20; it may
be interpreted of the people being alone in the wilderness when led:
and there was no strange god with him; with Israel;
so Aben Ezra
no idolatry among them then; to which sense are the Targums of
Jerusalem and Jonathan; but it may rather signify that the Lord alone was the
leader of his people
and he had no assistant in that work
and therefore all
the glory should be given to him: he is the leader of his people
in a
spiritual sense
out of a state of unregeneracy
which is a state of darkness
and bondage; out of the ways of sin
and from the pastures of their own
righteousness
into an open state of grace
which is a state of light and
liberty; in Christ the way
and in the paths of faith
truth
holiness
and
righteousness
unto the heavenly glory
typified by the land of Canaan
the
blessings of which are next described: the Jews sayF26Tikkune Zohar
Correct. 18. fol. 32. 2. 36. 2.
this will be in the days of the King Messiah;
when there will be no abominable thing in Israel
the Lord alone shall lead
him.
Deuteronomy 32:13 13 “He
made him ride in the heights of the earth
That he might eat the produce of the
fields; He made him draw honey from the rock
And oil from the flinty rock;
YLT
13He maketh him ride on high
places of earth
And he eateth increase of the fields
And He maketh him suck
honey from a rock
And oil out of the flint of a rock;
He made him to ride on the high places of the earth
.... Or land
the land of Canaan; by which are meant the towers
castles
and fortified
places in it
some of which might be built on hills and mountains; and being
made to ride on them may denote the delivery of them into their hands
their
conquests and possession of them
and triumph in them; see Isaiah 58:14; so
the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases
it
"made him to dwell in the towers of
the land of Israel
'those high walled and strongly fenced cities which they
dreaded; this may be an emblem of the conquest believers have of their
spiritual enemies
sin. Satan
and the world
in and through Christ; of their
safety and triumph in him; of their high and elevated frames of soul
when they
have got above the world and the things of it; this will be the case of
spiritual Israel in every sense in the latter day
when the mountain of the
Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains:
that he might eat the increase of the fields: the produce
of them
particularly corn for bread
and which the Israelites ate of as soon
as they came into the land of Canaan
Joshua 5:11; an
emblem of the Gospel
and the truths of it
which are salutary
nourishing
strengthening
reviving
and cheering
and of Christ the bread of life
which
believers by faith eat of
and feed upon and live:
and he made him to suck honey out of the rock; not water out
of the rock
as sweet to them as honey
that they had in the wilderness; but
either the honey of bees that made their nests in rocks
as a swarm of them did
in the carcass of a lion; and so in like manner as honey came out of the lion
it may be said to be sucked out of the rock: so HomerF1Iliad. 2. l.
87
88. speaks of swarms of bees out of a hollow rock: or this was the honey of
palm trees
as Aben Ezra observes
some say
which might grow on rocks; see
Gill on Deuteronomy 8:8;
and this is favoured by the Targum of Jonathan
which paraphrases the
words
"honey from those fruits which grow on the rocks
'unless it means
honey gathered by bees from such fruits; the rock may typify Christ
and the
honey out of it the Gospel
which is from him and concerning him; comparable to
honey for the manner of its production and gathering
by the laborious
ministers of the word; for its nourishment
and especially for its sweetness
its
precious promises
and pleasant doctrines:
and oil out of the flinty rock; that is
oil out of the
olives
which grow on rocks
and these delight to grow on hills and mountains;
hence we read of the mount of Olives
see Job 29:6; and so
the Targum of Jonathan
"and oil out of the olives and suckers which grow
on the strong rocks;'this may signify the Spirit and his graces
the unction
which comes from Christ the Holy One
and the blessings of grace had from him
and the Gospel and its truths; which are cheering and refreshing
mollifying
and healing
feeding and fattening
pure and unmixed
and useful for light
as
oil is.
Deuteronomy 32:14 14 Curds
from the cattle
and milk of the flock
With fat of lambs; And rams of the
breed of Bashan
and goats
With the choicest wheat; And you drank wine
the
blood of the grapes.
YLT
14Butter of the herd
and
milk of the flock
With fat of lambs
and rams
sons of Bashan
And he-goats
with fat of kidneys of wheat; And of the blood of the grape thou dost drink
wine!
Butter of kine
.... Made of milk
which kine or cows give;
Jarchi says
this is the fat that is gathered on the top of milk
he means
cream
and which indeed was the butter of the ancients
and is here meant:
and milk of sheep: which they give
though not in such plenty
as the kine
yet what is very wholesome and nourishing: the philosopherF2Aristot.
Problem. sect. 10. qu. 6. observes
that sheep give more milk in proportion to
the size of their bodies than cows: and PlinyF3Nat. Hist. l. 28. c.
9. says their milk is sweeter and more nourishing
and the butter made of it is
the fattest:
with fat of lambs; or fat lambs
rich and delicious food:
and rams of the breed of Bashan
and goats; a fruitful
country abounding with pasturage
where rams and goats of the best sort were
and the breed of them was coveted and had in the land of Canaan; the kine of
Bashan are mentioned elsewhere
Psalm 22:12
with the fat of kidneys of wheat: that is
the best wheat
the grains are plump and full; and Aben Ezra observes
that a grain of wheat
has some likeness to a kidney
see Psalm 81:16
and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape; wine which
comes from the grape
red wine
pure and unmixed
see Genesis 40:11; the
land of Canaan was a land of vines
and abounded with good wine
Deuteronomy 8:8;
which the Israelites
when they came into it
drank of in common
who had only
drank water in the wilderness
and had but little flesh
and lived on manna
and now abounded with plenty of all good things; all which are observed as
instances of divine goodness
and to aggravate their ingratitude in rejecting
the Messiah
they then enjoying all these good things
the land being alike
fertile and affluent then
as appears from Isaiah 7:14; Jarchi
applies this fruitfulness to the times of Solomon
as the butter of kine
and
the kidneys of wheat
1 Kings 4:22; and
fat of lambs
and the blood of the grape
to the times of the ten tribes
Amos 6:4; but this
was the constant fertility of the land
and lasted to the times of the Messiah:
now all these may be expressive of the blessings of grace
and the spiritual
food of the Gospel: Ainsworth very prettily remarks
that here is both food for
babes and for grown persons
butter and milk for the one
and meat for the
other
and drink for them both: the plain truths of the Gospel are like butter
soft and easy to be taken in
and like milk
easy of digestion
cooling
nourishing
sweet
and pleasant; the more sublime truths of the Gospel are meat for strong
men
signified by the flesh of fat lambs
rams
and goats; which all being used
in sacrifices were typical of Christ; as also the finest of wheat is an emblem
of him the bread of life
on whom the weakest believer lives by faith; and the
drink for both
the wine the blood of the grape
may signify the love of
Christ
the Gospel and the truths of it
and the blessings of grace
which come
through the everlasting covenant.
Deuteronomy 32:15 15 “But
Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; You grew fat
you grew thick
You are obese! Then
he forsook God who made him
And scornfully esteemed the Rock of his
salvation.
YLT
15And Jeshurun waxeth fat
and doth kick: Thou hast been fat -- thou hast been thick
Thou hast been
covered. And he leaveth God who made him
And dishonoureth the Rock of his
salvation.
But Jeshurun waxed fat
and kicked
.... This is undoubtedly
a name of the people of Israel; it is to be met with only in three places more
in Deuteronomy 33:5;
it is generally thought to come from a wordF4ישר
"rectum esse". which signifies upright and righteous
such these
people ought to have been
and some among them were; and they generally
professed themselves
and outwardly appeared to be upright
just
and righteous
persons
and were desirous of being reckoned so; which was their character in
the times of Christ
when they rejected him: others derive it from a wordF5שור "cernere
intueri"
Cocceius
Van Till. which
signifies to behold
to see
and so describes them as seeing ones; and such
they had been in the times of Moses
saw extraordinary sights and wonders in
Egypt
the great salvation at the Red sea
the Lord going before them in a
pillar of cloud and life; the manna every day falling about their tents; twice
rocks smitten
and waters flowing from them
and had often very uncommon sights
of the glory of God: and in the times of Christ
to which this song refers
they saw him in the flesh
preaching in their synagogues
doing miracles
riding on an ass to Jerusalem
according to one of their prophecies
and
expiring on the cross
and yet rejected him. They are said to "wax
fat"
enjoy great outward prosperity
to abound in temporal good things
as they also did in spiritual
privileges; enjoying
or they might have
enjoyed
such a ministry of the word
as never was before or since
the
ministry of John the Baptist
the forerunner of Christ
of Christ himself
and
of his apostles
yet they "kicked"; which may denote their
disobedience to the laws of God
moral and ceremonial
see 1 Samuel 2:29; and
particularly the introduction of idolatry among them
which was kicking against
God
and his worship; first among the ten tribes
in the times of Jeroboam
and
among the two tribes
more especially in the times of Manasseh; and this
kicking was particularly verified in Judas's lifting up his heel against
Christ
and betraying him; which was not merely the sin of him only
but what
the whole body of the people were involved in
see Psalm 41:9
thou art waxen fat
thou art grown thick
thou art covered with
fatness; which is repeated and expressed by different words
both for the
certainty of it
and to denote their great affluence of good things
and so the
more to aggravate their impiety and ingratitude
next observed:
then he forsook God which made him; the worship
of God
as the Targum of Jonathan
giving into idolatry in times past; and the
written word of God
by giving heed to the traditions of the elders
to the
making void and of none effect the word of God; or Christ
the essential Word
of God; so the Targum of Jonathan
"and left the Word of God
who created
them;'that Word of God which was in the beginning of all things
and by whom
all things were made
and they also; who in the fulness of time was made flesh
and dwelt among men
John 1:1
and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation; the same
divine Person
described in Deuteronomy 32:4;
and there called "the Rock"; see Gill on Deuteronomy 32:4;
here "the rock of salvation"; because salvation flows from him: he is
the author of it
and it is to be had of him
and no other; and this epithet
shows not only his ability and strength to effect it
but the security of it in
him
which being wrought out is an everlasting one. He is said to be the rock
of "his" salvation
Jeshurun or Israel
he being of the Jews
raised
up among them
and sent unto them
and was the Saviour of some of them
actually
even of the lost sheep of the house of Israel
and on account of his
salvation deserving of universal esteem. But the Jews "lightly esteemed"
him
had no value for him
set this rock and stone at nought; he was refused
and rejected by the builders
who is now the head of the corner; they despised
him
mocked at him
and treated him with the utmost contempt and disdain
yea
with abhorrence; all which
and more
is signified by the word here used: they
traduced him as a vile and wicked person
and charged and
treated him as such
so some render the wordF6ינבל "pro
scelerato tractavit"
Cocceius. ; and
as othersF7"Cadaver
fecit"
Van Till.
they made a dead carcass of him
they crucified and
slew him; this is the crime of ingratitude hinted at in Deuteronomy 32:6;
and all between is an enumeration of instances of divine goodness to this
people
mentioned with a view to aggravate this unheard of sin.
Deuteronomy 32:16 16 They
provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods; With abominations they
provoked Him to anger.
YLT
16They make Him zealous with
strangers
With abominations they make Him angry.
They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods
.... Or
"with others"F8בזרים "per
alios"
Cocceius. ; the word "gods" is not in the text
nor were
the Jews guilty of worshipping strange gods or idols in the times of Christ
nor had they been from the time of their coming out of the Babylonish
captivity; but the word
as Cocceius observes
is used for "another"
as in Job 19:27; and
signifies other saviours
other messiahs
whom the Jews set up when they
rejected Christ
the rock of salvation; and it is observable
that before the
coming of Christ
they never attempted to set up any; but
after they had
rejected him
were ready to embrace everyone that offered
of which one
called
Bar Cochab
the son of a star
in allusion to Numbers 24:17; is a
flagrant instance; and whom
when they found themselves deceived
they called
Bar Cozba
the son of a lie
or a lying fellow; to whom our Lord may be thought
to have respect
John 5:43; and
where he expressly calls him another. Now
not only to reject Jesus
the true
Messiah
but to set up others in his room
false Christs
was highly provoking
to God
who is a jealous God
and will not give his glory to another:
with abominations provoked they him to anger; by advancing
the traditions of the elders to an equality with
and above the word of God;
and by continuing sacrifices
after the great sacrifice was offered up
when
they ought to have ceased; for
by continuing them
it was saying Christ was
not come in the flesh
nor his sacrifice offered up; it was trampling under
foot the Son of God
and treating his blood and sacrifice with contempt; which
must be an abomination to God
and highly provoking of his anger
when that
sacrifice was of a sweet smelling savour to him; and especially what was
abominable to him
and grievously provoked him to anger and wrath
was their
setting up the idol of their own righteousness
refusing to submit to the
righteousness of Christ
Romans 10:3; and
indeed
whenever anything is set up in competition with him
or in opposition
to him
be it what it will
it must be an abomination to God; because it
opposes his purposes and resolutions of saving men by Christ alone
reflects on
his wisdom in the scheme of salvation
flies in the face of his love
grace
and mercy
makes the death of Christ of none effect
advances pride in the
creature
gives God the lie
who says there is no other Saviour
and is a total
slight and neglect of his Gospel; all which must be abominable
and dreadfully
provoking to him; see Isaiah 65:5;
Deuteronomy 32:17 17 They
sacrificed to demons
not to God
To gods they did not know
To new gods
new arrivals That your fathers did not fear.
YLT
17They sacrifice to demons --
no god! Gods they have not known -- New ones -- from the vicinity they came;
Not feared them have your fathers!
They sacrificed to devils
not to God
.... Their
sacrifices being continued
when it was the will of God they should cease
were
reckoned by him not as
offered to him
but to demons
and to such that were
not God; they being therein under the instigation of Satan
and doing his
lusts
John 8:44; just as
Pagans and Papists
worshipping idols under the influence and direction of
Satan
are said to worship devils
and sacrifice to them
1 Corinthians 10:20;
and indeed setting up their own righteousness was sacrificing to their own net
and burning incense to their own drag
to an idol
and not to God: to which may
be added
that whereas they trampled under foot the Son of God
and did despite
to the Spirit of grace
by which Christ cast out devils
and offered himself
without spot
they excluded two of the divine Persons in the Deity
and so
worshipped not the true God
Father
Son
and Spirit:
to gods whom they knew not
to gods that came newly up; such as
angels
into the worship of which they fell
as their writings testifyF9Vid.
Van Till in loc.
and to which the apostle seems to have respect
Colossians 2:18
whom your fathers feared not; paid no regard unto
put
no trust or confidence in; or
as the Targum of Jonathan
"with whom your
fathers had nothing to do:'as they had not with the idol of man's
righteousness
but wholly looked unto and trusted in the grace and
righteousness of Christ
and expected salvation alone by him: the Gospel of
righteousness and salvation by Christ was preached to our first parents in
Eden's garden
which they embraced and believed in; Noah was an heir and preacher
of the righteousness of faith
that is
of the righteousness of Christ
received by faith; that righteousness
which was what Abraham believed in
was
imputed to him for his justifying righteousness; and Jacob waited for the
Messiah
the salvation of God; in short all the Old Testament saints were saved
by the grace of Christ
as we are; the idols
the works of men's own
righteousness
are new deities they paid no deference to
placed no confidence
in.
Deuteronomy 32:18 18 Of
the Rock who begot you
you are unmindful
And have forgotten the God
who fathered you.
YLT
18The Rock that begat thee
thou forgettest
And neglectest God who formeth thee.
Of the rock that begat thee thou art unmindful
.... The same
with the rock of salvation
Deuteronomy 32:15;
repeated and expressed in different words
that their wretched ingratitude
might be taken notice of and observed: begetting is ascribed to this rock
as
regeneration is to Christ
1 John 2:29; and
was true of some among the Jews: some choose to render the words
"the
rock of thy kindred"F11צור ילדך "rupem cognationis tuae"
i.e. "fratrum
tuorum"
Van Till; see Rom. ix. 4
5. ; being a near kinsman
a brother
through his incarnation
which aggravated their unmindfulness of him:
and hast forgotten God that formed thee: for the rock
they were unmindful of and forgot is the true God and eternal life
the
essential Word of God
as both the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem interpret
it; him the Jewish nation forgot; they forgot the characters given of him in
the promises and prophecies of the Old Testament; and therefore they knew him
not when he came and fulfilled the voices of the prophets they were ignorant of
in condemning him: hence they were unmindful of his person
his offices
his
works
his benefits
and the great salvation by him; as indeed too many are
that call themselves Christians: some observe that the word here used signifies
bringing forth children with pain
and so way respect the bitter sorrows and
sufferings of Christ
sometimes expressed by a wordF12מחללך "parturientis te"
Montanus;
"parturitorem tuum"
Van Till. which signifies the pains of women in
childbirth
Acts 2:24; and
called the travail of his soul
Isaiah 53:11; and
so a further aggravation of their ingratitude
that they should forget him that
suffered so much
at least on account of some of them; for
those he endured to
bring forth children unto God
or to gather together the children of God
scattered abroad both in Judea and in the whole world
John 11:51.
Deuteronomy 32:19 19 “And
when the Lord saw it
He spurned them
Because of the provocation
of His sons and His daughters.
YLT
19And Jehovah seeth and despiseth
-- For the provocation of His sons and His daughters.
And when the Lord saw it
.... The disregard of the
Jews to Christ
their forgetfulness of him
their disesteem and rejection of
him; their continuance of sacrifices
when the great sacrifice was offered up;
their setting up other messiahs and saviours
and the idol of their own
righteousness
in opposition to the righteousness of Christ; all which not only
as the omniscient God he saw
but took notice of
and considered
and did not
at once pass judgment on them
at least did not immediately execute it
but
waited some time to see how they would afterwards behave; for it was thirty
years or more after the crucifixion of Christ that the utter destruction of the
Jews came upon them:
he abhorred them; in his heart
despised
them
and at last rejected them with contempt and abhorrence
very righteously
and in just retaliation
see Zechariah 11:8; as
for what before observed
so for what follows:
because of the provoking of his sons
and of his daughters; which is not
to be understood of the Lord being provoked to wrath by the sins of those who
called themselves or were called his sons and daughters; for these are such who
were truly his sons and daughters
and different from those in Deuteronomy 32:20
said to be "children in whom is no faith": these are no other
than the disciples and followers of Christ
that believed in him
both men and
women
and so the children of God
his sons and his daughters by special grace;
and the "provoking" of them is the wrath of the enemy against them
as the same word is used and rendered in Deuteronomy 32:27;
and should be here
"because of wrath"
or "indignation against
his sons and his daughters"F13מכעס בניו "prae ira in filios suos"
Pagninus;
"propter iram in filios suos"
Van Till; so Maimon. Moreh Nevochim
par. 1. c. 36. ; meaning the affliction
distress
and persecution of them
through the wrath of the unbelieving Jews; for after the death of Christ they
persecuted his apostles
they beat them and cast them into prison
and put some
to death; a persecution was raised against the church at Jerusalem
in which
Saul was concerned
who breathed out threatenings and slaughters against the
disciples of the Lord
and haled men and women
the sons and daughters of God
and committed them to prison
and persecuted them to strange cities
and gave
his voice to put them to death; and in the Gentile world
when the Gospel was
carried there
the Jews stirred up the Gentiles everywhere against the
followers of Christ
to harass and distress them; and this the Lord saw
and he
abhorred them for it
and rejected them.
Deuteronomy 32:20 20 And
He said: ‘I will hide My face from them
I will see what their end will be
For
they are a perverse generation
Children in whom is no faith.
YLT
20And He saith: I hide My
face from them
I see what [is] their latter end; For a froward generation
[are] they
Sons in whom is no stedfastness.
And he said
I will hide my face from them
.... Now the
Lord proceeds to pass sentence on the Jews for their ill treatment of his Son
and of his followers; which respects judgments that should come upon them
both
spiritual and temporal
or corporeal; the former lies in Deuteronomy 32:20
and the latter in Deuteronomy 32:22;
and this the Lord said in his own heart and mind
decreed and determined it
within himself
and declared it in his word by his prophets
as here and in
other places: and this first part of the sentence denotes the withdrawing of
the gracious presence of God
and the manifestation of his favour
from the
people of the Jews
his dislike and contempt of them
having taken out from
among them the remnant according to the election of grace
the disciples and
followers of Christ; and the removal of the Gospel
and the ordinances of it
from them
the means of light and knowledge
joy and comfort
and the giving of
them up to blindness and hardness of heart
which continues to this day; they
have a vail of darkness and ignorance upon their hearts while reading the books
of the Old Testament
which will be done away when they turn to the Lord
and
not before; likewise this was fulfilled when all the symbols of the divine
Presence were removed
when the temple was destroyed
and all things in it
or
carried away; and this house
which was formerly the house of God
and where he
dwelt
was left desolate by him; and it is remarkable
that a little before the
destruction of Jerusalem
a voice was heard in the temple
"let us go
hence"
as Josephus relatesF26De Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 5. sect.
3. :
I will see what their end shall be: their
destruction
called in the New Testament "the end of the world"; the end
of the Jewish church state and commonwealth: this the Lord said
not as
ignorant what it should be
or when it would be; but the sense is
either that
he would cause them and others to see it
when he should bring wrath upon them
to the uttermost; or that he would look upon it with pleasure and delight
which would be an aggravation of their punishment
Proverbs 1:26
for they are a very froward generation; men of
perverse spirits
of a contrary and contradictory temper and disposition
who
pleased not God
and were contrary to all men; as well as contradicted and
blasphemed the Gospel of Christ
were men of distorted principles in religion
implicated and inconsistent
they wresting the Scriptures to their own
destruction; and were obstinate
stubborn
and inflexible in their notions and
practices
and that to the last
which was their ruin:
children in whom is no faith; for though they had
faith in one God
in the Scriptures of the Old Testament as the word of God
in
the law of Moses
and in a future state
the resurrection of the dead
and
judgment to come; especially the Pharisees
the greater part of the Jews; yet
though they were the children of Abraham
and would be thought to be the
children of God
they had no faith in Jesus
the true Messiah; him they
disbelieved and rejected; and as their fathers could not enter into the land of
Canaan
whose carcasses fell in the wilderness
because of unbelief; so these
were cast out of the land
and from the Lord
because of their unbelief in the
rejection of the Messiah. Aben Ezra observes
that it may be interpreted there
is no men of faithfulness
or no faithful men among them
as in Psalm 12:1; they
were a faithless generation
covenant breakers
broke their covenant with God
and therefore he rejected them.
Deuteronomy 32:21 21 They
have provoked Me to jealousy by what is not God; They have moved Me to
anger by their foolish idols. But I will provoke them to jealousy by those
who are not a nation; I will move them to anger by a foolish nation.
YLT
21They have made Me zealous
by `no-god
' They made Me angry by their vanities; And I make them zealous by
`no-people
' By a foolish nation I make them angry.
They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God
.... With a
false messiah; for after the death of Jesus
the true Messiah
God as well as
man
many false Christs arose
as he predicted
and were received for a time
who were mere men
and deceivers; and their now vainly expected messiah
or
whom they look for
according to their own sense of him
is no other than a
mere creature
and not God: or with the idol of their own righteousness; which
as an idol is nothing in the world
that is
nothing in the business of
justification
and put in the room of Christ highly provokes the Lord to
jealousy:
they have provoked me to anger with their vanities; such were
their false Christs they in vain trusted in
and such the idol of their own
righteousness they set up
but could not make to stand; and such were the
traditions of their elders; they put upon an equality with
or above the word
of God; all which stirred up the wrath and anger of God against them:
and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a
people: this is not to be understood of any particular nation
but of
the Gentiles in general
and of God's elect among them
and of the calling of
them; which would be provoking to the Jews
as the Apostle Paul has taught us
to understand it
Romans 10:19. These
were not the people of God
or not my people
as he says Romans 9:25; In
some sense indeed they were his people
being chosen by him
and taken into
covenant with him; for he is God not of the Jews only
but of the Gentiles
also; and those were given to Christ as his people
and are his other sheep
which were not of the Jewish fold; and who were redeemed by him to be a
peculiar people out of every kindred
tongue
people
and nation
all which was
before their calling: yet
in another sense they were not his people; they were
without any spiritual privileges
the word and ordinances
without the
knowledge of God and Christ
without communion with them; they were not a
people near unto the Lord
he had not laid hold on and formed them for himself
in regeneration and conversion; they were not reckoned the people of God
nor
called so
and especially by the Jews
who accounted themselves to be the only
people of God; see Ephesians 2:11
I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation; either the
Romans in particular are meant
so called because of their gross idolatry
to
which they were addicted
who otherwise in their political affairs were a wise
and understanding people; to these Judea became a province
and were subject to
tribute; and by the exactions of the Romans
and their ill usage of them
they
were provoked to rise against them
which issued in their ruin: or rather the
Gentiles in general
who might be called foolish because of their superstition
and idolatry
ignorance
and blindness in religious matters
and especially
were so in the account of the Jews; and the elect of God among them in
particular
who in their state of unregeneracy were foolish
as all
unregenerate men are; both their principles and practices were foolish
and they
were the foolish things of the Gentile world that God chose and called: and the
calling of them was exceedingly provoking to the Jews; which was as if a man
moved to jealousy by the behaviour of his wife
should strip her of her
ornaments and jewels
and reject her as his wife; and take another before her
eyes of mean estate
and marry her
and put her ornaments on her
to which the
allusion is; for the Lord
being moved to jealousy by the conduct of the Jewish
nation towards him
rejected them from being his people
and stripped them of
all their privileges
civil and religious
and took the Gentiles in the room of
them
and so in just retaliation moved them to jealousy and wrath. It was
displeasing to the carnal Jews to hear of the prophecies of the calling of the
Gentiles
Romans 10:20; and
the first display of grace to them was resented even by believing Jews
themselves at first
Acts 11:2. The
anger of the Scribes and Pharisees on this account is thought by some to be
hinted at in the parable of the two sons
Luke 15:27. The
Jews were offended with Christ for eating with publicans
the Roman tax
gatherers
and were greatly displeased when he told them the kingdom of God
would be taken from them
and given to another nation
Matthew 9:10 Matthew 21:43.
Their rage and envy were very great when the Gospel was first preached to the
Gentiles
Acts 13:41; and
there is such an extraordinary instance of their spite and malice to the
Gentiles
and of their jealousy and anger they were moved unto
as is not to be
paralleled
1 Thessalonians 2:15.
Deuteronomy 32:22 22 For
a fire is kindled in My anger
And shall burn to the lowest hell; It shall
consume the earth with her increase
And set on fire the foundations of the
mountains.
YLT
22For a fire hath been
kindled in Mine anger
And it burneth unto Sheol -- the lowest
And consumeth
earth and its increase
And setteth on fire foundations of mountains.
For a fire is kindled in mine anger
.... Here begins the
account of temporal and corporeal judgments inflicted on the Jews for their
disbelief and rejection of the Messiah
their contempt of his Gospel
and ill
treatment of his followers; and this here respects the destruction of the land
of Judea in general
and the burning of the city and temple of Jerusalem in
particular
as the effect of the wrath and anger of God like fire kindled
against them:
and shall burn unto the lowest hell; which denotes an entire
destruction
like that of the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and
brimstone from heaven; which issued in a sulphurous lake
and which sulphureous
matter sunk to the bottom of the Dead Sea; and to that destruction is this of
the land of Judea compared
Deuteronomy 29:23
and shall consume the earth with her increase: the land of
Judea
with the cities and towns in it
and buildings on it
and the fruits of
the earth; which were either gathered into their barns and storehouses
or were
growing in their fields
and vineyards
and oliveyards; all were destroyed and
consumed at or before the destruction of Jerusalem
or quickly after it:
and set on fire the foundations of the mountains; the city of
Jerusalem
as Jarchi himself interprets it
whose foundations were by the
mountains
according to Psalm 125:2; and
the temple of Jerusalem particularly was built on Mount Moriah
and that as
well as the city was utterly consumed by fire: and it is remarkable that when
Julian the apostate attempted to rebuild it
as is related even by an Heathen
historianF1Ammian. Marcellin. l. 23. in initio.
that flames of
fire burst out from the foundations
and burnt the workmen; so that he was
obliged to desist from his rash undertaking.
Deuteronomy 32:23 23 ‘I
will heap disasters on them; I will spend My arrows on them.
YLT
23I gather upon them evils
Mine arrows I consume upon them.
I will heap mischief upon them
.... One calamity upon
another
which are after particularly mentioned:
I will spewed mine arrows upon them; God is here represented
as an enemy to the Jews
as having bent his bow against them like an enemy
Lamentations 2:4;
and as having a quiver
and that full of arrows
and as determined to draw out
and spend everyone of them
in taking vengeance upon them; which arrows are his
four sore judgments mentioned Ezekiel 14:21; and
expressed in Deuteronomy 32:24.
Deuteronomy 32:24 24 They
shall be wasted with hunger
Devoured by pestilence and bitter destruction;
I will also send against them the teeth of beasts
With the poison of serpents
of the dust.
YLT
24Exhausted by famine
And consumed
by heat
and bitter destruction. And the teeth of beasts I send upon them
With
poison of fearful things of the dust.
They shall be burnt with
hunger
.... This is the arrow of famine
Ezekiel 5:16; the
force of which is such that it makes the skin black as if burnt
Lamentations 5:10;
Onkelos paraphrases it
"inflated or swelled with famine
'which is a phrase
JosephusF2 απο της
ενδειας πεφυσημενοι
de Bello Jud. l. 5. c. 23. sect. 4. makes use of in describing
the famine at the siege of Jerusalem. Jarchi observes
that one of their
writersF3R. Moses Hadarsan. interprets the words "hairs of
hunger"
because he says that a man that is famishing and pining
his hair
grows
and he becomes hairy: this judgment was notorious among the Jews
at the
siege of Jerusalem
and was very sore and dreadful: See Gill on Deuteronomy 28:53
and devoured with burning heat
and with bitter destruction; with burning
fevers
pestilential ones
with the plague
the arrow of the Lord that flies by
day
the pestilence that walks in darkness
and the destruction that wastes at
noonday
Psalm 91:5; and
which also raged at the siege of Jerusalem
arising from the stench of dead
bodies
which lay in all parts of the city
and is one of the signs of the
destruction of it given by our Lord
Matthew 24:7
I will also send the teeth
of beasts upon them
with the poison
of serpents of the dust; another of the arrows in the quiver of the Lord of hosts
or of
his four judgments
and which he used to threaten the people of the Jews with
in case of disobedience
Leviticus 26:22.
And such of the Jews who fled to deserts
and caves and dens of the earth
for
shelter
could not escape falling into the hands of wild beasts
and of meeting
with poisonous serpents that go upon their bellies
and feed on the dust of the
earth; and besides
when Titus had taken Jerusalem
he disposed of his captives
some one way and some another; and
among the rest
many were cast to the wild
beasts in the theatre
as Josephus relatesF4De Bello Jud. l. 6. c.
9. sect. 2. & l. 7. c. 3. sect. 1. ; add to this
that both Rome Pagan
and
Roman Papal
are called beasts
Revelation 13:1;
into both whose hands the Jews fell
and from whom they have suffered much;
with which in part agrees the Targum of Jerusalem
"the
teeth of the four monarchies
which are like to wild beasts
I will send upon
them;'and particularly the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it
"and the
Greeks
who bite with their teeth like wild beasts
I will send upon them;'but
it would have been much better to have interpreted it of the Romans.
Deuteronomy 32:25 25 The
sword shall destroy outside; There shall be terror within For the young
man and virgin
The nursing child with the man of gray hairs.
YLT
25Without bereave doth the
sword
And at the inner-chambers -- fear
Both youth and virgin
Suckling with
man of grey hair.
The sword without
.... Either without the city
the sword of
the Roman army besieging it
which destroyed all that came out or attempted to
go in; or in the streets of the city
the sword of the seditious
which
destroyed multitudes among themselves:
and terror within; within the city
on account of the sword of
the Romans
and the close siege they made of it; and on account of the famine
and pestilence which raged in it
and the cruelty of the seditious persons
among themselves; all these filled the people with horror and terror in their
houses; and even in their bedchambers
as the word signifies
they were not
free from terror; yea
from the temple
and inward parts
and chambers of that
which may be referred to
terror came
that being in the hands of the
seditious; they sallied out from thence
and ravaged the city
and filled all
places with the dread of them; and many
no doubt
through fear died
as well
as by the sword and other judgments; which it is threatened
shall destroy both the young man and the virgin
the suckling also
with the man of gray hairs; none of any age or sex
were spared
even those unarmed; not the young man
for his strength and
promising usefulness; nor the virgin for her beauty and comeliness; nor the
suckling for its innocence and tenderness; nor the aged man through any
reverence of his gray hairs
or on account of the infirmities of old age
but
all would be destroyed; and never was such a carnage made at the siege of
anyone city in the world before or since; no less than 1
100
000 persons
perished in it
as Josephus relatesF5De Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 9. sect.
3. .
Deuteronomy 32:26 26 I
would have said
“I will dash them in pieces
I will make the memory of them to
cease from among men
”
YLT
26I have said: I blow them
away
I cause their remembrance to cease from man;
I said
.... Or could have said
or might have said; that is
determined
and resolved
as it was in his power
and in right and justice might have done
what follows:
I would scatter them into corners; which does not fitly
express the sense of the word used
and besides this was what was done; it is
notorious that the Jews were and are scattered into the several corners of the
world
and there is no corner where they are not; whereas the phrase is
expressive of something that could and might have been done
but was not: moreover
to disperse them into the several parts of the world does not agree with what
follows; for that
instead of making their remembrance to cease
would make
them the more known
and the more to be remembered. But the word literally
taken may be rendered
"I will corner them"F6אפאיהם "angulabo illos"
Oleaster
Vitringa;
"ad angulos usque quaeram ipsos
seu ad verbum
angulabo ipsos"
Van
Till; "ab angulo succidam ipsos"
Cocceius. Vid. Gusset. Ebr.
Comment. p. 661. ; drive them up into a corner
and cut them off together
or
search for them in
and ferret them out of
every corner in which they should
get
and destroy them all: agreeably to which is the Targum of
Onkelos
"mine anger shall rest upon them
and I will destroy them;'and so
Aben Ezra interprets it of the destruction of them
and observes
that
otherwise it would not agree with what follows. There may be an allusion in it
to the corner of the field
which was ordered to be left to the poor
and not
reaped
Leviticus 19:9; and
so the sense is
I could and might have determined when the harvest of this
land and people was come
or the time of wrath upon them
to cut down every
corner
and leave none
no
not one standing stalk of corn
but make clean
riddance of them:
I would make the remembrance of them cease from among men; as of the
Amalekites
Moabites
Midianites
Edomites
Chaldeans
and others
whose names
as well as nations are no more. This is what the enemies of the Jews plotted
and conspired to do
Psalm 83:4; and
what God could and might have done
but has not; the Jews continue to this day
a distinct people
though it is now near 1900 years since the destruction of
their city and temple
and their dispersion in the various parts of the world;
which is what was never known of any other people in the like circumstances
and which is a most amazing and surprising event; the reasons of it follow.
Deuteronomy 32:27 27 Had
I not feared the wrath of the enemy
Lest their adversaries should
misunderstand
Lest they should say
“Our hand is high; And it is not
the Lord who has done all this.”’
YLT
27If not -- the anger of an
enemy I fear
Lest their adversaries know -- Lest they say
Our hand is high
And Jehovah hath not wrought all this.
Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy
.... Satan
the enemy of mankind in general
of the people of God in particular
and
especially of the Messiah
the seed of the woman
and of God himself
whom he
would dethrone
or at least place himself on an equality with him; this enemy
is full of wrath
enmity
and blasphemy
against God
and stirs up all of this
kind in the hearts of men
and instigates them to persecute the people of God;
and does all he can to obscure the glory of God
and lessens his own
"grief"
as the word signifies
occasioned by it: and now though God
has nothing to fear
either from the power and policy of the devil
being
infinitely mightier and wiser than he; yet as Moses expressed his concern
if
God should cut off the people of Israel as one man
that the Egyptians would
say he brought them out of Egypt for mischief
or that he was not able to bring
them into the land of Canaan
Exodus 32:12; so
the Lord
speaking after the manner of men
as Aben Ezra observes
expresses
his fears of the wrath of the enemy; not properly
but it denotes his
precaution
provision
and preparation he made to put a check upon it
and a
stop to it
that he might not have the opportunity of instilling it into the
minds of men
that God was cruel to his people
or had not ability to save them
from their enemies
or was unfaithful to his promises; and therefore he did not
entirely cut them off
as he could and might have done
but made a reserve of
them
as a standing proof to the contrary:
lest their adversaries; the Romans
who fought
against them
took them
and carried them captive:
should behave themselves strangely; alienate the glory of God
from him
and give it to their strange gods; which the Romans were wont to do
when they obtained victories
and did do something of this kind to Jupiter
Capitolinus
when they carried the Jews captive
and their trophies in triumph
to Rome: yet there was such an apparent hand of God in this affair
that the
Heathens were obliged to own it. Titus the conqueror himself confessed that it
was God that favoured him
and that it was he that brought the Jews out of the
fortresses and fastnesses in which they were; and that no hands of men
or
machines
were anything against such towers as they hadF7Joseph. de
Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 9. sect. 1. : and when some neighbouring nations would have
crowned him because of his victories over the Jews
he refused it
saying
he
was unworthy of it
he had not done this of himself
but had only lent an hand
to God that was angry with themF8Philostrat. Vit. Apolion. l. 6. c.
14. . Cicero also observesF9Orat. 24. pro Flacco. the hand of God in
the conquest
captivity
and servitude of the Jewish nation; moreover
a
remnant was preserved to be to the Romans
as the Canaanites were to the
Israelites
thorns in their sides
and pricks in their eyes; to be a burden to
them
a dead weight upon them
and to check their ovations and triumphs over
them; for
that people conquered gave them great trouble
raised commotions and
insurrections in many places
which obliged the emperors in succeeding reigns
to come from distant parts
and quell them
and were the occasion of vast
quantities of blood being shed; insomuch that one of their poetsF11"Atque
utinam nunquam Judaea subacta fuisset"
Rutilius. wishes Judea had never
been subdued by them: likewise a number of them was preserved to prevent the
growth and spread of idolatry
and that they might be a standing example and
caution to Christians among the Gentiles not to give into it
when they should
observe what they suffered on the account of it
as their prophecies
extant in
their sacred books preserved
abundantly testified and declared:
and lest they should say
our
hand is high
and the Lord hath not done all this; lest anyone
should say among the Gentiles
as particularly deists
lest they should lift up
their horn on high
and speak with a stiff neck
and deny that ever any such
things were done for this people the Scriptures speak of
as the miracles in
the land of Egypt
at the Red sea
and in the wilderness; and confidently
affirm there never was any such people
and defy Christians to show them a Jew
if they could: now here was a reserve made of them
to be a standing proof of
the truth of divine revelation against such infidels; as also that they might
be a check unto all false teachers
and leave them inexcusable who embrace the
same errors that have been condemned in them
and God has shown his displeasure
at
and which they still retain; such as the doctrines of freewill
of
justification by a man's own righteousness
of salvation not being wholly by
the Messiah
and of his being non-Jehovah
or only a mere creature; for the
words may be rendered
"non-Jehovah hath done all this"F12ולא יהוה "et non Jehovah
operatus est omne hoc"
Cocceius; so Van Till
Vitringa. ; or he that is
not Jehovah hath done all that is done for the people of the Jews; and say
all
that the Messiah hath done
with respect to salvation
is done by him that is not
Jehovah
or God
but a creature. These were the doctrines of the Jews in
Christ's time; the Pharisees
the prevailing sect among them
were freewillers
as Josephus relatesF13Antiqu. l. 18. c. 1. sect. 3. ; and the whole
nation were self-justiciaries
as the Apostle Paul assures us
and sought for
righteousness not by faith
but as it were by the works of the law
Romans 9:31; and
such they are to this day
as well as Unitarians to a man; now Arians
Socinians
Pelagians
and Arminians
may look upon these people
who are
continued
as having imbibed the same errors; and may read theirs in them
and
God's displeasure at them.
Deuteronomy 32:28 28 “For
they are a nation void of counsel
Nor is there any understanding
in them.
YLT
28For a nation lost to
counsels [are] they
And there is no understanding in them.
For they are a nation void of counsel
.... This is
said not of the Jews
whose character is given
Deuteronomy 32:6;
and instances of their ingratitude
folly
and want of counsel and
understanding
have been already mentioned
and punishment for the same
inflicted on them
according to this prophetic song; so that the prophecy
respecting them is issued
and another people are taken notice of
even their
enemies
of whom the Jewish writers in general interpret these words
and what
follows; and was true of the Gentiles
both of the Pagan sort of them
who took
too much to themselves
and ascribed the destruction of the Jews
and their
conquest of them
to themselves
and their idols; and of false Christians among
them
when the Roman empire became Christian
such as expressed themselves in
the language of the latter part Deuteronomy 32:27
"our hand is high"
&c. which plainly showed them to be a people
devoid of the true knowledge of the Scriptures
they should have made the men
of their counsel
and have consulted; and of the Gospel of Christ
which is the
counsel of God
as the Arians
Pelagians
&c. must be
or they would never
imbibe and advance tenets so diametrically opposite thereunto:
neither is there any understanding is them; of divine and
spiritual things
of the Scriptures
and the doctrines of them; of the person
of Christ
and his divine perfections
or they would never deny his deity; of
the righteousness of God
of that which is required in the law
and revealed in
the Gospel
or they would never set up a righteousness of their own for
justification; and of themselves
their unrighteousness
impurity
and
impotence to that which is good; or they would never so strongly assert the
purity of human nature
and the power of man's freewill: God foreseeing all the
folly
and want of counsel and understanding in the Gentile world
under
different characters
preserved a remnant of the Jews as a standing admonition
to them.
Deuteronomy 32:29 29 Oh
that they were wise
that they understood this
That they would
consider their latter end!
YLT
29If they were wise -- They
deal wisely [with] this; They attend to their latter end:
O that they were wise
.... These are not the
words of God
and so no instances of mere velleities
and unsuccessful wishes
in him
and as arguing a power in man to make himself wise if he would; but of
Moses
under a spirit of prophecy
foreseeing the ignorance and stupidity of
the above persons; or as representing a true believer in Christ
in the times
in which such men should live; for the person speaking is one that had faith in
Christ
the rock of salvation
and built upon him alone for it; and who had
enemies on that account
as appears from Deuteronomy 32:31
and these words are spoken not of the Jews
with whom this song has no more
concern
unless it be in what respects
their conversion in the latter day; but
of false Christians
Pelagians
Arians
&c. whose language and character
are expressed in Deuteronomy 32:28
and contain a pathetic wish that they might have wisdom to see their follies
errors
and mistakes
and renounce them: or
"if they were wise"F11לו חכמו "o si
sapcrent"
Tigurine version; "si sapuissent"
Vatablus; "si
saperent"
Cocceius. ; as they are not
and their tenets show it:
that they would
understand this; namely what follows:
that they would
consider their latter end; either the latter end of the Jews; had they
wisdom
they would understand and observe that the displeasure of God against
them
and his destruction of them
was for their lightly esteeming the rock of
salvation
as Arians do; and for setting up their own righteousness
in
opposition to the righteousness of Christ
as do Pelagians and Arminians; and
were they wise
they would be hereby cautioned against such notions; and though
imbibed by them
would relinquish them; as they may justly fear some such like
end will be theirs: for if God does not give them repentance to the
acknowledging of the truth their end must be miserable; since the errors they
embrace and profess are what the apostle calls "damnable heresies";
who
denying the Lord that bought them
bring on themselves swift destruction;
and whose judgment
he says
lingers not
and their damnation slumbers not
2 Peter 2:1.
Deuteronomy 32:30 30 How
could one chase a thousand
And two put ten thousand to flight
Unless their
Rock had sold them
And the Lord had
surrendered them?
YLT
30How doth one pursue a
thousand
And two cause a myriad to flee! If not -- that their rock hath sold
them
And Jehovah hath shut them up?
How should one chase a thousand
and two put ten thousand to
flight
.... This is said for the conviction of the Pagan Romans of their
folly in behaving strangely
attributing to their gods what belonged to the
true God; for since the Jews were more numerous than they
both in Judea
in
the times of Titus Vespasian
when the country was subdued by him; and in other
parts of the world
in the times of Adrian
when the Jews rose up in vast
numbers
greatly superior to the Romans
and yet were conquered; which
allowing the phrase to be hyperbolical
was like one to a thousand
and two to
ten thousand: now since this was what was promised to the Jews in case of
obedience
that they should in this manner chase their enemies
Leviticus 26:8; it
cannot be accounted for that they should in like manner be chased by their
enemies
as threatened Isaiah 30:17
except their rock had sold them
and the Lord had shut them up; that is
unless the Lord
who was their rock and fortress
and in whom they should have
trusted as such
had forsaken them
and given them up into their enemies'
hands
shut up as they were in the city of Jerusalem in the times of Titus
and
afterwards in Bither in the times of Adrian; it is a plain case that this was
of God
and not owing to the idols of the Gentiles; see Psalm 44:9;
Cocceius and Van Till interpret this of Constantine overcoming Maxentius
Licinius
and Maximinius
whereby the whole Roman empire on a sudden became
Christian nominally
when but a little before Dioclesian had erected a trophy
with this inscription on it
"the Christian name blotted out;'so that the
odds between the Christians and Pagans were as one to a thousand
and two to
ten thousand
and the victory therefore must be ascribed to God; this could
never have been unless Satan
the great red dragon
had given his kingdom to
the beast
which was done by the permission and sovereign will of God; see Revelation 6:14; so
those interpreters
but the former sense seems best.
Deuteronomy 32:31 31 For
their rock is not like our Rock
Even our enemies themselves being
judges.
YLT
31For not as our Rock [is]
their rock
(And our enemies [are] judges!)
For their rock is not as our rock
.... That is
the gods of the Heathens
the rock in which they trusted
are not like the God
of Israel
the rock of salvation
in which all true believers
whether Jews or
Gentiles
place their confidence; and indeed let that be what it will
that is
short of Christ the rock
men lay the stress of their salvation on
it is no rock
but sand
and will stand them in no stead; see Matthew 7:24
even our enemies themselves being judges; as has been
confessed of the God of Israel by the Heathens; see Exodus 14:25; and
was by Titus with respect to the destruction of Jerusalem; See Gill on Deuteronomy 32:27;
and by the Roman emperors when conquered by the Christians
who asked pardon of
the God of the Christians
and owned that the God of Constantine was the true
God; See Gill on Revelation 6:16.
Deuteronomy 32:32 32 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.
YLT
32For of the vine of Sodom
their vine [is]
And of the fields of Gomorrah; Their grapes [are] grapes of
gall -- They have bitter clusters;
For their vine is of the vine of Sodom
and of the fields
of Gomorrah
.... This respects the false Christians in the Roman empire
who
should have taken warning by the Jews
and not have embraced such sentiments of
theirs
which had been resented by the Lord
and condemned in them; such as the
doctrines of man's freewill
of justification and salvation not alone by
Christ
but by their own works of righteousness
saying
"our hand is
high
and the Lord hath not done all this"
Deuteronomy 32:27.
Now out of the errors and heresies which arose in the primitive Christian
church sprung the man of sin
the son of perdition
antichrist
or the
antichristian and apostate church of Rome
the degenerate plant of a strange
vine; and is here described as "of the vine of Sodom"
a slip from
that
transplanted from Judea
and from the worse part of it
Sodom; bearing a
resemblance to the old Jewish church in its more degenerate state
reviving
many of its antiquated rites and ceremonies
and embracing its unsound
doctrines; especially which relate to justification
and salvation by the works
of men; and having such a likeness to Sodom in its abominable practices
that
it is even called Sodom itself
Revelation 11:8;
particularly for pride
luxury
idleness
idolatry
profaneness
contempt of
serious religion
and for bodily uncleanness; even for that sin which has its
name from Sodom
which has not only been frequently committed by the popes and
other great personages among their
and connived at; but praised and commended
in printed books
published and sheltered under public authority; See Gill on Revelation 11:8;
and with this compare Ezekiel 16:49;
"and of the fields of Gomorrah"; another city of the plain
destroyed
for the same sins that Sodom was; the phrase signifies the same as before; who
has not heard of the apples and fruits of Gomorrah
which are said to look very
fair and beautiful without
but when touched into ashes? a fit emblem of the
fair show of religion and devotion
and the many outward works of piety in the
Romish church they pretend to perform
but when examined are "lies in
hypocrisy"
1 Timothy 4:2
their grapes are grapes of gall
their clusters are
bitter; which may denote the large number of the members of this church
clustered together
and the many religious orders in it; which make a fair show
in the flesh
but are in the gall of bitterness
and bond of iniquity; and the
variety of ordinances and institutions of man's devising: so as the ordinances
of the true church of Christ are compared to clusters of grapes
Song of Solomon 7:7;
the ordinances of the false church are like clusters of bitter grapes
both for
their quantity and quality; and may mean also their many evil works and
actions
especially their oppression and cruelty in persecuting the saints
and
shedding their blood; just as the wild grapes of the vine of Judah are
interpreted of oppression and a cry
Isaiah 5:4.
Deuteronomy 32:33 33 Their
wine is the poison of serpents
And the cruel venom of cobras.
YLT
33The poison of dragons [is]
their wine And the fierce venom of asps.
Their wine is the poison of dragons
.... Of these
creatures
both land and sea dragons; see Gill on Micah 1:8; See Gill
on Malachi 1:3; Pliny
saysF12Nat. Hist. l. 29. c. 4. the dragon has no poison in it; yet
as Dalechamp
in his notes on that writer observes
he in many places
prescribes remedies against the bite of the dragon; but HeliodorusF13Ethiopic.
l. 9. c. 19. p. 438. expressly speaks of some archers
whose arrows were
infected with the poison of dragons; and Leo AfricanusF14Descriptio
Africae
l. 9. p. 763. says
the Atlantic dragons are exceeding poisonous: and
yet other writersF15Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 8. c. 4. Plin. Nat.
Hist. l. 10. c. 72. besides Pliny have asserted that they are free from poison.
It seems the dragons of Greece are without
but not those of Africa and Arabia;
and to these Moses has respect
as being well known to him. The Targum of
Jerusalem is
"the
poison of this people is like the poison of dragons as they drink wine;'and the
Targum of Jonathan
"as the poison of dragons
when they are at or from
their wine;'that is
after and as soon as they have drank it; for
according to
natural historians
serpents
though they need and use but little drink
yet
are very fond of wine: and it seems that thereby their poison becomes more
sharp and intense
as BochartF16Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 3. c. 14. col.
438
439. observes; wherefore the allusion is very proper and pertinent
and
denotes the wine of fornication of the apostate church of Rome
frequently
spoken of Revelation 14:8;
which is no other than her corrupt doctrines
intoxicating
enticing
and
leading to idolatry and superstition; and as the true Gospel of Christ is
sometimes compared to wine
so the false doctrines of this church; but then it
is such that is not only loathsome and abominable
but poisonous and pernicious
to the souls of men
damnable and ruinous
and brings upon them swift destruction
2 Peter 2:1; and
may well be compared to the poison of dragons for such reasons; as also because
they are doctrines of devils
and come from the great dragon
that old serpent
called the devil and Satan
2 Timothy 4:1
and the cruel venom of asps; which
of all kind of
serpents
PlinyF17Nat. Hist. l. 29. c. 4. says is the least curable;
nay
according to the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions of this clause
it
is incurable; and so Aristotle saysF18Hist. Animal. l. 8. c. 29.
there is no remedy for it; and so says AelianusF19De Animal. l. 1.
c. 54. & l. 6. c. 38.
who also observesF20Ibid. l. 9. c. 61.
that the mark it makes is so small
that it is scarcely discerned by the
sharpest eye. PlinyF21Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 23. represents it as a
most revengeful creature; when its mate is killed by any
it will pursue the
slayer
flee where he will
and as far and fast as he can: it breaks through
all difficulties
and is not to be stopped by rivers
or any obstacles
and
will attack the person
whom it presently knows
let him be in ever such a
crowd: and therefore it and its poison may well be called cruel; and as the
poison of this creature lies under its tongue
this is a fit simile to express
the poisonous and pernicious doctrines of the apostate church.
Deuteronomy 32:34 34 ‘Is
this not laid up in store with Me
Sealed up among My treasures?
YLT
34Is it not laid up with Me?
Sealed among My treasures?
Is not this laid up in store
with me
.... The fruit of the degenerate vine
its bitter clusters of
grapes
and poisonous wine; meaning the evil principles and practices of the
apostate church
well known to God
taken notice of by him
and laid up in his
mind and memory; for both she and her sins will come in remembrance before God
and will be brought to open view
and appear to have been laid up by him
in
order to be exposed at a proper time; see Revelation 16:19;
and so the Targums interpret it of evil works: or this may be understood of the
punishment of the evil doctrines and practices of the antichristian church
the
sentence of which God had secretly passed in his eternal mind
and which he had
in reserve
and in due time would execute; it was drawn and signed by him
and
as he says:
and sealed up among my
treasures; his treasures of wrath
denoting the secrecy of it
and the sure
and certain performance of it
and the authority of Christ to execute it; to
whom this sealed diploma is given
and all judgment committed; and particularly
this to judge the whore of Rome; and who
is able to open the sealed book of
God's purposes and decrees
and to accomplish them; and among the rest those
which relate to the utter ruin of antichrist
and the antichristian states: so
the Targum of Jerusalem
interprets it of the vengeance of the Lord
laid up
for the wicked;"is not the cup of the judgment of vengeance mixed and
prepared for the ungodly sealed up among my treasures
to the day of the great
judgment?'it is true of the cup of the wine of the fierceness of the wrath of
God
or of the wine of the wrath of God poured out without mixture into the cup
of his indignation
which he will make great Babylon
and all the worshippers
of the beast
drink of
Revelation 14:9.
Deuteronomy 32:35 35 Vengeance
is Mine
and recompense; Their foot shall slip in due time; For the day
of their calamity is at hand
And the things to come hasten upon them.’
YLT
35Mine [are] vengeance and
recompense
At the due time -- doth their foot slide; For near is a day of
their calamity
And haste do things prepared for them.
To me belongeth vengeance and recompense
.... Or
I
will repay
or recompence
as it is quoted in Romans 12:19; and
so all the three Targums
the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions
here
and
so Jarchi interprets it. Vengeance belongs only to a divine Person
not to an Heathen
deity called Dice
or vengeance
Acts 28:4; nor to
Satan and his spiteful angels
nor to any of the sons of men in a private
capacity; though magistrates
being in public office
and representing God
are
revengers to execute wrath on them that do evil
Romans 13:4;
otherwise it is peculiar to God; and there is a great deal of reason to believe
he will recompence it
as it may be concluded from his hatred of sin
his
strict justice
and his faithfulness to his threatenings as well as his
promises; from the instances of his vengeance on the old world
on Sodom and
Gomorrah
and others; and from his taking vengeance on the inventions even of
good men
whose sins he pardons
and especially from his sparing his own Son
when standing in the legal place and
stead of sinners: and this is applicable
to Christ
who not only in the days of his flesh took vengeance Satan
and his
principalities and powers; and
when he came in his kingdom and power
took
vengeance on the Jews his enemies
who would not have him to rule over them;
but also
at his spiritual coming
he will take vengeance on antichrist
whom
he will destroy with the breath of his mouth
and send that son of perdition
into the perdition appointed for him; and pour out the vials of his wrath on
all the antichristian states
the time of which is next pointed at:
their foot shall slide in due time; there is a
time fixed for the reign of antichrist
when it will end
forty two months
or
1260 days; that is
so many years; see Revelation 11:2;
and a little before the expiration of them
his foot will begin to slide
as
the slipping of the foot is just before a fall; and then will the foot of
antichrist slip and slide
when the witnesses slain by him shall revive and
stand upon their feet
and cause fear to fall on them that are on the earth;
and when they shall ascend up into heaven
or rise to superior power and
authority
greatness and splendour
than they formerly had
and this in the
sight of their enemies; and when there will be earthquakes and revolutions in
the several antichristian states; and the tenth part of the great city shall
fall
and many persons of renown be slain
and others frightened
and will give
glory to the God of heaven; when an angel
or a set of Gospel ministers
shall
fly in the midst of heaven
with the everlasting Gospel
to preach to all
nations; which will be immediately followed by another
saying
Babylon is
fallen
is fallen; when the kings of the earth will dislike and resent various
things done by the pope of Rome
and shall hate him
and meditate his ruin
and
then may his foot be said to slide; see. Revelation 11:11
for the day of their calamity is at hand; a cloudy day
as the word signifies
when the kingdom of the beast will be full of darkness
and confusion
Revelation 16:10;
and when all those calamities shall come upon Babylon
expressed in Revelation 14:8
and the things that shall come upon them make haste; even all
those evil things God has determined in his counsels and purposes
and which
are foretold in prophecy
these shall come upon antichrist in haste; for
though his judgment and damnation may seem to linger and slumber
it shall not;
God will hasten it in his due time
and all his judgments will come on Babylon
in one day
Revelation 18:8.
Deuteronomy 32:36 36 “For
the Lord will judge His people And have compassion on His servants
When He
sees that their power is gone
And there is no one remaining
bond or free.
YLT
36For Jehovah doth judge His
people
And for His servants doth repent Himself. For He seeth -- the going
away of power
And none is restrained and left.
For the Lord shall judge his people
.... The true church and
members of it
in opposition to the false and apostate church; his chosen and
covenant people
whom he gave to Christ
and who are redeemed by his blood
and
effectually called by his grace; the people he shall call out of Babylon
or
preserve from the corruptions of it before its fall; and who are the objects of
his love and delight; a distinct
peculiar
and special people
near unto him
and all righteous: these he will judge at this time
distinguish between them
and the followers of antichrist; he will take their cause in hand
and plead
it
and do justice to them; he will right their wrongs and injuries
and take
vengeance on their enemies; he will protect and defend them
reign and rule
over them. Now will be the time
when the witnesses slain are raised
that he
will take to himself his great power and reign
and the time of the dead when
they will be judged
and a reward given to his servants and prophets
to his
saints
and all that fear his name; and when he will destroy them that have
destroyed the earth
Revelation 11:17;
so the Targum of Jonathan interprets this of the word of the Lord that shall
judge his people in mercy:
and repent himself for his servants; by whom are meant not
only the ministers of the Gospel
his witnesses that prophesy in sackcloth
and
who will be slain when they have finished their testimony; but all that are
effectually called by grace
who though they have been the servants of sin
and
the vassals of Satan
yet by the grace of God become the servants of God and of
righteousness; dislike and cast off their old masters; readily
willingly
and
cheerfully
take upon them the yoke of Christ
and freely obey him
constrained
by his love
and influenced by views of interest in him: and so serve him
without any selfish views
owning that
when they have done all they can
they
are but unprofitable servants: now for or on account of these he will repent
himself
because of the evils he has suffered to come upon them
being moved
with pity
and compassion to them in their miserable circumstances
as they
will be in when the witnesses his servants will be slain; not that
properly
speaking
repentance is in God; he never changes his mind
counsel
and
purposes; he never alters his love
his choice
nor his covenant; or repents of
his gifts
and calling of special grace; though he is sometimes said to repent
of outward good things he has bestowed
or promised to bestow conditionality;
and of evils he has threatened or inflicted; yet this is only to be understood
of a change of his outward dealings and dispensations with men
according to
his changeable will; and this will be the case now with respect to his
servants
whom he will have suffered to be slain
and lie unburied; but
repenting or changing his manner of conduct to them will revive them
and cause
them to ascend to heaven; see Revelation 11:11
when he seeth that their power is gone; not the hand
and power of the enemy
going and prevailing over them
and strong upon them
as the Targum of Jonathan and Jarchi; but rather the hand and power of the
righteous
as the Targum of Jerusalem; and respects not their internal power
and strength
which they have not in themselves
but in Christ; though the
exertion of that power
and the exercise of their graces
as faith
and hope
and love
will be greatly declined; but their external power
and protection
which they had from Protestant princes; they being removed
and others not like
them succeeding
or apostatizing to the church of Rome: the outward court or
national establishments are a fence and protection to the inward court
worshippers
or servants of God; when that shall be given to the Gentiles
the
Papists
as it will
Revelation 11:2;
the power or hand
the protecting sheltering hand of the saints
will be gone
and they will become a prey to their adversaries:
and there is none shut up or left; a phrase used
to express the miserable state and condition of a people
when none are left
but all are carried off
or cut off
and destroyed
and there is none to help
them; see 1 Kings 14:10; when
there are none shut up in garrisons
and left there to defend a people; or
there are none shut up in prison
or any left to till the ground; which is
sometimes the case when a nation is conquered
and the greater part are carried
captives; but it denotes such a general destruction
that there are none
remaining any where
and thus it will be at the slaying of the witnesses. This
passage has respect to their dead bodies
which will not be shut up in graves
nor any left to bury them
Revelation 11:9.
There will scarcely be a professor of religion
or any that will appear to
favour the witnesses slain in any respect; there will be"none to support
and uphold
'as the Targum of Jerusalem; not to support and uphold the true
religion
or to help the people of God in these their distresses: and when the
Lord shall see all this
he will look upon them with an eye of pity and
compassion; he will repent for his servants
according to the multitude of his
tender mercies; and will plead their cause
and judge them
and will put on the
garments of vengeance
and repay fury and recompense to his and their enemies
Isaiah 59:15; who
will insultingly say as follows.
Deuteronomy 32:37 37 He
will say: ‘Where are their gods
The rock in which they sought refuge?
YLT
37And He hath said
Where
[are] their gods -- The rock in which they trusted;
And he shall say
where are their gods?.... Not the
Lord shall say to Israel
upbraiding them with their idols and their
idolatries; but
as the Targum of Jonathan
"the enemy shall say
where is
the God of Israel?'and to the same purpose is
the Jerusalem Targum
and which
is the sense of other Jewish writersF23Aben Ezra & R. Nehemiah
in Jarchi in loc. ; and the words may be rendered impersonally
and in the
singular number
"and it shall be said
where is their God?" as it
follows:
their rock in whom
they trusted? that is
it shall be said to the people of God
when in the low
estate before described
and which will make it still more distressing; it
shall be said to them by their enemies in a sneering way
where is the Lord
their God they boasted of
and the rock of salvation in whom they trusted? which
agrees with other passages of Scripture
Psalm 42:3. The
persons insulted and upbraided are the Protestant witnesses at the time of
their being slain; when "they that dwell upon the earth"
the
Papists
"shall rejoice over them"
Revelation 11:10;
they are such who are true believers in the God and Father of Christ
as their
God and Father in Christ
who of his own free grace has blessed them with all
spiritual blessings in him; and who trust in Christ the rock alone for
justification before God
for acceptance with him
and for their whole
salvation; rejecting the Popish notion of justification by works
the doctrines
of merit
and of works of supererogation
and the like; who now will be taunted
at
and triumphed over
saying
where is the God of the Protestants they
gloried in
as being on their side? and where is their rock on which they say
the church is built
and not on Peter?
Deuteronomy 32:38 38 Who
ate the fat of their sacrifices
And drank the wine of their drink
offering? Let them rise and help you
And be your refuge.
YLT
38Which the fat of their
sacrifices do eat
They drink the wine of their libation! Let them arise and
help you
Let it be for you a hiding-place!
Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices
and drank the
wine of their drink offerings
.... Alluding to the fat of the sacrifices
under the law
which was claimed by the Lord as his
and represented as his
food
Leviticus 3:11; and
to the drink offerings of wine
which were of a sweet savour to God
and with
respect to which wine is said to cheer him
Numbers 15:7. Now
New Testament worship and services are here expressed in Old Testament
language
which is not unusual; see Isaiah 56:7; and
signify the best of the sacrifices and services of true believers in Christ
presenting their souls and bodies unto him as a holy
living
acceptable
sacrifice
which is but their reasonable service; offering their sacrifices of
prayer and praise unto him through Christ; doing all good works in his name and
strength
and all acts of beneficence in love to him and his people
with which
sacrifices he is well pleased; yea
cheerfully laying down their lives as
victims in his cause
when called unto it. Now these words are a taunt at the
Protestant doctrine of the acceptance of the service and sacrifices of
believers in Christ
through him
and for his sake
and not for any merit or
worthiness in them:
let them rise up and help you; their God and their
rock
Jehovah the Father
their covenant God
and his Son the rock of their
salvation
in whom they trust; and so they will arise and help them in this
time of extreme distress; though they may seem as asleep
and to take no notice
of the sad estate of saints
they will arise in wrath and indignation at their
enemies
and deliver them out of their hands; the Spirit of life from God shall
be sent to bring to life the slain witnesses
and Christ will rise up in the
exertion of his kingly power; he will take to himself his great power
and
reign
and destroy them that destroyeth the earth
Revelation 11:11
and be your protection; or "let
him be your hiding place"F24סתרה
"absconsio"
Pagninus
Montanus; "latibulum"
Tigurine
version; "latebra"
Junius & Tremellius
Piscator. ; that is
the
rock in whom they trusted
and so he is
and will be "an hiding place the
wind
and a covert from the storm"
Isaiah 32:2; not
only from the wrath and justice of God
but from the rage and fury of men;
Christ will protect and defend his people against all their enemies
and in his
own time will deliver them from them; who
in answer to these taunts and
derisions
rises up
and thus he says
as follows.
Deuteronomy 32:39 39 ‘Now
see that I
even I
am He
And there is no God besides Me;
I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; Nor is there any who can
deliver from My hand.
YLT
39See ye
now
that I -- I
[am] He
And there is no god with Me: I put to death
and I keep alive; I have
smitten
and I heal; And there is not from My hand a deliverer
See now that I
even I
am he
.... Which
words are directed to the people of God in their low estate
to look to Christ
and expect deliverance and salvation from him; or to their enemies that insult
them
to the despisers
to look
and wonder
and perish
as they will
when the
witnesses slain by them shall arise
and go up to heaven in their sight
Revelation 11:11;
they are spoken by the Word and Son of God
to whom the Father has committed
all judgment
and who will now rise up and execute it; so the Targum of
Jonathan
"when the Word of the Lord shall reveal himself to redeem his
people
he will say to all people
see now
&c.'and who will declare
himself to be the great Jehovah
the self-existent Being
the eternal and
immutable I AM; for this phrase is expressive of his existence
eternity
immutability
and sovereignty; and which the above Targum paraphrases
thus
"see now that I am he that have been
and am
and I am he that shall
be
'which
as it is a deciphering the word "Jehovah"
is what is
applied to Christ
Revelation 1:8. The
repeating the word "I"
as it may denote the strong affection of the
speaker
and the certainty of what he would do
so it may have respect to both
sorts of persons the words are directed to
and to the several sorts of things
to be done
hereafter related; signifying that it is the same I
that does the
one
does also the other
kills and makes alive
&c.
and there is no god with me; this the Redeemer and
Saviour says elsewhere
Isaiah 44:6; see Deuteronomy 32:12;
there is but one God
and Christ the Word
with the Father and the Spirit
are
that one God
1 John 5:7; and
there is no other with him; he is the true God
in opposition to all factitious
and fictitious gods; he is not a made god
nor a god by office
nor by name and
title only
but by nature the one
true
only
and living God; and so it may be
most truly believed of him
that he is able to do
and will do
what he next
says:
I kill
and I make alive; I wound
and I heal:
Christ is the sovereign disposer of life and death
of sickness and health
in
a temporal sense; and in a spiritual sense he wounds and kills
by the law in
the hand of his Spirit; and he heals and makes alive by his Gospel
as it is
accompanied by his Spirit and grace also: this is by some referred to the
resurrection from the dead
which will be by Christ the resurrection and the
life
the earnest
exemplar
and efficient cause of it; so the Targum of
Jerusalem
"I am he that kills the living in this world
and quickens the
dead in the world to come:'but it refers to another resurrection previous to
that
namely
the reviving of the witnesses after they have been slain three
days; who
as they will be killed in a civil sense
in the same sense they will
be quickened by the Spirit of life from Christ; that is
they will be raised
from that very low estate into which they will be brought
into a glorious one
signified by their ascending up into heaven; which will be done by Christ when he
takes to himself his great power
and reigns; then as he suffered his witnesses
and people to be wounded and killed
he will make them alive
and heal them
and restore comforts and happiness to them
see Revelation 11:11
neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand; for
at the
same time that he saves his people
he will take their enemies into his hands
out of which there will be no escape; at this time seven thousand names of men
or men of name
will be slain; see Gill on Revelation 11:13.
Deuteronomy 32:40 40 For
I raise My hand to heaven
And say
“As I live forever
YLT
40For I lift up unto the
heavens My hand
And have said
I live -- to the age!
For I lift up my hand to heaven
.... Which is a gesture
used in swearing
Genesis 14:22
and
is ascribed to a divine Person
Ezekiel 20:5; and
particularly to Christ the angel
that is so wonderfully described
Revelation 10:1;
though sometimes it is used
as Aben Ezra observes
to excite the attention of
hearers
but here it signifies swearing; and so the Targums of Jonathan and
Jerusalem paraphrase it
"I have lift up my hands with an oath to
heaven;'and to the same sense is the Septuagint version:
and say
I live for ever; which is the form of an
oath; when men swear
they are to swear
the Lord liveth
or to swear by the
living God
and him only
Jeremiah 4:2; and
when the Lord swears in this manner
he swears by his life
by himself
because
he can swear by no greater; and his form of swearing is
"as truly as I
live
saith the Lord"
Numbers 14:21; so
the above angel is said to swear by him that liveth for ever and ever
Revelation 10:6;
and since Christ is the living God
without beginning of days
and end of life
and lives for evermore
he may be thought to swear by himself
by his own life
which is for ever; and as the oath of the Lord is used in condescension by him
to confirm the faith of his people in the immutability of his counsel and
promises
and to ascertain unto them the sure performance of them; so it is
also used to assure wicked men of the certain performance of his threatenings;
and it is as if Christ here said
as sure as I am the living God
and do and
shall live for ever
I will most certainly do the things which next follow.
Deuteronomy 32:41 41 If
I whet My glittering sword
And My hand takes hold on judgment
I will render
vengeance to My enemies
And repay those who hate Me.
YLT
41If I have sharpened the
brightness of My sword
And My hand doth lay hold on judgment
I turn back
vengeance to Mine adversaries
And to those hating Me -- I repay!
If I whet my glittering sword
.... That is
I will do
it as sure as I live
if I do not
be it so and so; what that is is not said
but left to be concluded. A glittering sword is a sword drawn
the blade of it
drawn out of the scabbard
cleaned and polished
whetted and made sharp
that
it may more easily penetrate and pierce; and this
being brandished
glitters
like lightning
as the word used signifies. Whetting the sword is a preparation
for doing execution with it; and is a warning
a giving notice of it
as
girding: the sword on the thigh also is ascribed to Christ
Psalm 45:3. This
sword intends a sword of justice
the sharp sword said to proceed out of the
mouth of Christ
the judiciary sentence which he will pronounce and execute on
antichrist
and all his followers
Revelation 19:15
and my hand take hold on judgment: in order to execute it;
the allusion is to the laying hold on the instruments of justice and death
as
the glittering sword before mentioned
and arrows afterwards; and may have
respect to the four sore judgments
or at least to some of them
which the Lord
will execute on mystical Babylon
Ezekiel 14:21; and
particularly to the seven vials of God's wrath
which will be poured out on the
antichristian states
Revelation 16:1
I will render vengeance to mine enemies
and I will reward them
that hate me; his enemies that hate him
and will not have him to rule over
them
are the followers of antichrist
who has his name from his opposition to
Christ
his hatred of him
and enmity against him; opposing him in his kingly
office
taking upon him to exercise dominion and tyranny over the consciences
of men
making new laws
and imposing them on them
and dispensing with the
laws of Christ; and setting aside his priestly office by the sacrifice of the
Mass
granting pardons and indulgences
and advancing the works and merits of
men
in opposition to the righteousness of Christ
and pretending even to works
of supererogation; making of none effect
as much as in him lies
his prophetic
office
by setting up unwritten traditions before the word of God
and making
them the rule of faith and practice
and assuming to himself an infallible
interpretation of the sense of Scripture. The vengeance Christ will render
as
a righteous reward to those his enemies
is expressed by destroying antichrist
with the breath of his mouth; by the beast going into perdition; by leading
them captive who have led others; by killing them with the sword who have
killed others with it; by pouring out the vials of his wrath on them; by giving
them the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath; by smiting them with
the sword that comes out of his mouth
and by bringing upon them death
mourning
and famine
and burning them with fire; all which he will most surely
render unto them
2 Thessalonians 2:8
Revelation 19:15.
Deuteronomy 32:42 42 I
will make My arrows drunk with blood
And My sword shall devour flesh
With the
blood of the slain and the captives
From the heads of the leaders of the
enemy.”’
YLT
42I make drunk Mine arrows
with blood
And My sword devoureth flesh
From the blood of the pierced and
captive
From the head of the freemen of the enemy.
I will make mine arrows drunk with blood
....
Signifying
that by various judgments he would bring upon them
which
like
arrows
would come suddenly
fly swiftly
and pierce deeply
there would be a
prodigious effusion of blood like that in Revelation 14:20;
so that these arrows
which cause it
being plunged and soaked
and covered in
it
may be said to be inebriated with it
just as the sword is said to be
bathed and filled with blood
Isaiah 34:5; which
prophecy respects the same vengeance of Christ on the selfsame enemies of his
as here; and as the whore of Rome is said to be drunken with the blood of the
saints and martyrs of Jesus
the arrows of her destruction are represented in
just retaliation as drunk with her blood
Revelation 17:6
and my sword shall devour flesh: the flesh of kings
of
captains
of mighty men
of horses
and of them that sit on them the flesh of
all men
bond and free
small and great
Revelation 19:18;
that is
shall destroy great multitudes of men:
and that with the blood
of the slain
and of the captives; that is
his arrows
should be drunk not only with the blood of these that were wounded and killed
but of the captives; who commonly are spared
but in this case should not
their blood should be shed: it may be rendered
"because of the blood of
the slain"
&c.F25מדם
"propter sanguinem"
Pagninus
Tigurine version. ; because of the
blood of the saints whom they have killed
and carried captive
and who have
died in prisons:
from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy; or "of
the enemy"; that is
from the time the enemy began to oppress the saints
and take revenge on them
and shed their blood; all that blood shall be found
in them that has been from the beginning shed
and charged to their account
and revenged on them; just as the blood of all the righteous
from the
beginning of the world
was brought upon the Jews
Matthew 23:35. The
Targum of Jerusalem is
"from the heads of their mighty men
the generals
of their armies;'to
which agrees the Septuagint version
"from the head of
the princes of the enemies;'and so may refer to the head or heads of the
antichristian people
the pope of Rome
and his princes
the cardinals
and all
the antichristian kings and states
the captains and generals of their armies
which will be brought to Armageddon
and there destroyed
see Psalm 68:21.
Deuteronomy 32:43 43 “Rejoice
O Gentiles
with His people;[a] For He
will avenge the blood of His servants
And render vengeance to His adversaries;
He will provide atonement for His land and His people.”
YLT
43Sing ye nations -- [with]
his people
For the blood of His servants He avengeth
And vengeance He turneth
back on His adversaries
And hath pardoned His land -- His people.'
Rejoice
O ye nations
with his people
.... Or
"rejoice
ye nations"
who are "his" people; so Kimchi and
Ben Melech interpret it; the Gentiles
who are the Lord's chosen and covenant
people
redeemed and called
and the fulness of them now brought in
and so
matter of great rejoicing; or rather
as the Septuagint
which is approved and
confirmed by the Apostle Paul
"rejoice
ye Gentiles
with his people"
Romans 15:10; and
as it is there applied to the then state of the Christian church
when Jews and
Gentiles were incorporated and united together; so here it respects future
time
when
as the fulness of the Gentiles will be brought in
so the Jews will
be converted
and the "loammi"
Hosea 1:9
will be
taken off from them
and they will be reckoned among the people of God; and
Jews and Gentiles will be joined together in the same Gospel church state
and
so are called upon to rejoice in their common salvation
and in their common
blessings and privileges
and particularly for what follows:
for he will avenge the blood of his servants
and will render
vengeance to his adversaries; by his servants are meant the martyrs of
Jesus
whose blood has been shed by antichrist
and the antichristian powers
his adversaries; as the blood of the Waldenses in the valleys of Piedmont
the
Albigenses in Spain
and the Petrobrussians in France
the Bohemians in
Germany
the Wickliffites
Lollards and the "martyrs" in Queen Mary's
days in England
with many others; and when inquisition is made for blood
the
blood of those will be found out
and vengeance rendered for it:
and will be merciful unto his land
and to his people: or "will
atone for"F26כפר
"propitiabitur"
Pagninus
Montanus; "expiabit"
Vatablus;
"expiat"
Junius & Tremellius.
expiate
cleanse
and purge both
land and people; clear the whole earth
which is the Lord's
from Mahometanism
Paganism
and Popery
and cover it with the knowledge of the Lord by the
everlasting Gospel
which will be preached to all nations; and particularly the
land of Canaan
laid under an anathema or curse
as threatened
Malachi 4:6; under
which it has lain ever since the destruction of it by the Romans
and has ever
since been inhabited by Pagans
Mahometans
and Papists; and
though once a
land flowing with milk and honey
has been turned into a barren wilderness
and
will thus remain
and Jerusalem
its metropolis
trodden down by the Gentiles
until their times are fulfilled; which now will be
and then it will be
restored to its former fruitfulness and fertility
Luke 21:24; and
will be inhabited by the converted Jews
to whom the Lord will be pacified
upon the foot or Christ's atonement
which now will be made known and applied
unto them
with the full and free pardon of all their sins
Romans 11:25; and
thus ends this most excellent and wonderful song
which is of such a large
extent and compass
as to reach from the beginning of the Jewish nation
and
before it
to the conversion of the Jews in the latter day; an history of more
than four thousand years already; and how long more is yet to come before all
in it is fulfilled no man call say.
Deuteronomy 32:44 44 So
Moses came with Joshua[b] the son of
Nun and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people.
YLT
44And Moses cometh and
speaketh all the words of this song in the ears of the people
he and Hoshea
son of Nun;
And Moses came
.... To the people
as the Greek version
the heads of the people being gathered together according to his order
Deuteronomy 31:28;
The Targum of Jonathan says
he came from the tabernacle
the house of
instruction:
and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people; which is
observed both before and after the reading of it
to show the certainty of it
and how punctually and faithfully he had delivered it:
he
and Hoshea the son of Nun; the same with Joshua
whose name at first was Hoshea
Numbers 13:16
probably Joshua read the song to one part of the people
while Moses read it to
the other.
Deuteronomy 32:45 45 Moses
finished speaking all these words to all Israel
YLT
45and Moses finisheth to
speak all these words unto all Israel
And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel. Finished all
he had to say to them from the Lord
whether by way of precept
moral
civil
and ceremonial or in the form of a song.
Deuteronomy 32:46 46 and
he said to them: “Set your hearts on all the words which I testify among you
today
which you shall command your children to be careful to observe—all the
words of this law.
YLT
46and saith unto them
`Set
your heart to all the words which I am testifying against you to-day
that ye
command your sons to observe to do all the words of this law
And he said unto them
.... By way of
exhortation:
set your hearts to all the words which I testify among you this
day; it was not enough to hear them
but they were to lay them up in
their hearts
and retain them in their memories; and not only so
but reflect on
them in their minds
and closely apply to the consideration of them
and get
the true knowledge and sense of them
and put it in practice:
which ye shall command your children to observe
to do all the
words of this law; which shows that the exhortation does not respect the song only
but the whole law delivered in this book; which they were not only to attend to
themselves
but to transmit to their children
and enjoin them the observance
of
that so religion might be perpetuated in their posterity.
Deuteronomy 32:47 47 For
it is not a futile thing for you
because it is your life
and by
this word you shall prolong your days in the land which you cross over
the Jordan to possess.”
YLT
47for it [is] not a vain
thing for you
for it [is] your life
and by this thing ye prolong days on the
ground whither ye are passing over the Jordan to possess it.'
For it is not a vain thing for you
.... That is
the law is not
and the observance of it in them and their children; it was no
light and trifling matter
but of great importance and consequence
obedience
to it being attended with rewards
and disobedience with punishment:
because it is your life: if obeyed
the means of
a comfortable and happy life
in the enjoyment of all good things
of the
preservation and continuance of it to a length of time; and long life was
always reckoned a great temporal mercy:
and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the
land whither you go over Jordan to possess it; that is
through their
obedience to the law they should live long in the land of Canaan
which they
were just going to possess; which explains what is meant by its being their
life; their comfortable living and continuance in the land depended on their
obedience to the law; see Isaiah 1:19.
Deuteronomy 32:48 48 Then
the Lord spoke to Moses that very same day
saying:
YLT
48And Jehovah speaketh unto
Moses
in this self-same day
saying
And the Lord spake unto Moses the selfsame day
.... On which
he finished the reading of the law
and the above song
which was the seventh
of Adar or February; according to the Targum of Jonathan
the day he died on;
according to the Egyptian CalendarF1Apud Ludolf. Lex. Ethiop. p.
537.
it was the sixteenth of that month
see Deuteronomy 34:5
saying; as follows.
Deuteronomy 32:49 49 “Go
up this mountain of the Abarim
Mount Nebo
which is in the land of
Moab
across from Jericho; view the land of Canaan
which I give to the children
of Israel as a possession;
YLT
49`Go up unto this mount
Abarim
mount Nebo
which [is] in the land of Moab
which [is] on the front of
Jericho
and see the land of Canaan which I am giving to the sons of Israel for
a possession;
Get thee up into this mountain Abarim
.... Which was
near in sight
and pointed at; it was a range of mountains
of which see Numbers 21:11
unto Mount Nebo; which was one
of the mountains of Abarim
and had its name either from its height
or a city
of this name
to which it was near
see Numbers 32:38;
Jerom saysF2De loc. Heb. fol. 93. N.
in his lays it was shown six
miles from Heshbon to the east; it should be read
to the west:
which is in the land of Moab; it formerly belonged to
it
but was taken from he Moabites by Sihon
and now possessed by Israel:
that is over against Jericho; which lay on the other
side of Jordan
in the land of Canaan:
and behold the land of Canaan
which I give unto the children of
Israel for a possession; which he might take a view of from the high mountain of Nebo
especially his sight being strengthened by the Lord
as no doubt it was; and
this would give him a pleasure to behold
though he might not go into it
and
confirm his faith that Israel would possess it
as well as be an emblem to him
of the heavenly Canaan he was going to inherit.
Deuteronomy 32:50 50 and
die on the mountain which you ascend
and be gathered to your people
just as
Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people;
YLT
50and die in the mount
whither thou art going up
and be gathered unto thy people
as Aaron thy
brother hath died in the mount Hor
and is gathered unto his people:
And die in the mount whither thou goest up
....
Immediately after having taken a view of the land
expect to die
prepare for
it
and willingly and cheerfully submit to it:
and be gathered unto thy people; to the spirits of just
men made perfect in heaven
his more immediate and more remote ancestors
the
souls of good men; for otherwise there were none that died
and were buried
here
before him
and therefore can have no respect to the buryingplace of his
people:
as Aaron thy brother died in Mount Hor
and was gathered unto his
people; of which Moses was an eyewitness; and which is observed
because
there was a great likeness between the death of him
and what Moses was now
called to
both as to the place and manner of it; and likewise the cause of it
later mentioned; as also to make death more easy and familiar
and less
terrible to him
when he cared to mind how calmly
cheerfully
and comfortably
his brother Aaron died; see Numbers 20:25.
Deuteronomy 32:51 51 because
you trespassed against Me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah
Kadesh
in the Wilderness of Zin
because you did not hallow Me in the midst of
the children of Israel.
YLT
51`Because ye trespassed
against me in the midst of the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribath-Kadesh
the wilderness of Zin -- because ye sanctified Me not in the midst of the sons
of Israel;
Because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel
.... By their
unbelief
doubting whether God would give water or no to such a rebellious
people
and by giving way to passion and wrathful expressions: and this was
done
at the waters of Meribahkadesh; so called
to
distinguish it from another Meribah
where also there was a contention on
account of water
Numbers 20:13
in the wilderness of Zin; where Kadesh was
and
further describes and distinguishes this place; of the one we read in Exodus 17:7; and of
the other
which is here referred to
in Numbers 20:1
because ye sanctified me not in
the midst of the children of
Israel; through their unbelief and disagreeable behaviour
they
sanctified him not themselves
and gave no honour to him
nor were the cause of
his being sanctified by the Israelites; and this was the reason why Moses and
Aaron might not enter into the land of Canaan
Numbers 20:12.
Deuteronomy 32:52 52 Yet
you shall see the land before you
though you shall not go there
into
the land which I am giving to the children of Israel.”
YLT
52but over-against thou seest
the land
and thither thou dost not go in
unto the land which I am giving to
the sons of Israel.'
Yet thou shalt see the land before thee
.... Which
Jarchi interprets
afar off; and so does NoldiusF3Ebr. part.
Concord. p. 626. so Ainsworth. ; he saw it at a distance
as the Old Testament
saints saw the things promised afar off
and were persuaded of them
though
they did not enjoy them
Hebrews 11:13
but thou shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the
children of Israel; the land of Canaan was a gift of God to Israel
into which they
were not to be introduced by Moses
but by Joshua; signifying that eternal
life
or the heavenly Canaan
is the gift of God through Christ
the antitype
of Joshua
and not to obtained by the works of the law.
──《John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible》
New King James
Version (NKJV)