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27,299 commentary entries
The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:15-18
Jeshurun. I. A GOOD NAME BELIED. Jeshurun, equivalent to righteous. An honorable name, but sadly falsified by the conduct described. How many Jeshuruns have thus forsaken the God of their early vows! Notice, a good name…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:15
Jeshurun. This name, formed from יָשַׂר, righteous, designates Israel as chosen to be a righteous nation; and in the use of it here lies the keenest reproach of apostate Israel, as fallen into a state the opposite of th…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:15-25
Sowing and reaping. The connection between sin and suffering is natural, organic, and universal. Suffering, in some form, is the proper development of sin. Like the plants of nature, sin has its seed within itself. I. W…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:15-18
The damager of worldly success. Success, when granted, bids for men's trust. They begin accordingly to insinuate that the reliable Rock who begat them is not the source of all success, and that the rill may be tracked t…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:16
They provoked him to jealousy. God had bound Israel to himself as by the marriage bond, and they by their unfaithfulness had incited him to jealousy (cf. Deuteronomy 31:16; Exodus 34:15; Isaiah 54:5; Hosea 1:1-11; etc.)…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:17
Devils; shedim, a word which occurs only here and Psalms 106:37. It stands connected with the verb שׁוּד, to rule, and means primarily "lords." The LXX. render by δαιμόνια, demons. In Assyrian it is said to be a name f…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:18
Moses here returns to the thought of Deuteronomy 32:15, for the purpose of expressing it with greater force, and also of leading on to the description he is about to give of the Lord's acts towards the nation who had so…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:19-47
Vengeance and recompense. The reasonableness of the Divine jealousy being shown already, we can have little difficulty in recognizing the further reasonableness of the Divine vengeance. Paul's treatment of the question…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:19-33
Because of their rebellion. God would cast them off and visit them with terrible calamities.
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:19
When the Lord saw how they had departed from him to serve idols, he abhorred (rather, spurned or rejected) them in consequence of the provocation which their unworthy conduct had given him.
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:19-25
An unfaithful people provoked to jealousy by God. This paragraph is the antithesis of the preceding one. In form the expressions are archaic. The principles underlying these ancient forms of expression are for all the a…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:19-27
A God provoked. Consider here— I. THE REALITY OF WRATH IN GOD. Let it not be minimized or explained away. "Instead of being shocked at the thought that God is wrathful, we should rather ask, With whom? and For what? A G…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:20
God himself comes forth to announce his resolution to withdraw his favor from them, and to inflict chastisement upon them; he would withdraw his protecting care of them, and see how they would fare without that; and he…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:20-29
The pleading of Divine wisdom. The judicial anger of God is not an uncontrollable passion; it acts in harmony with infinite wisdom. The vast and varied interests of all God's creatures are tenderly considered in the act…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:20-28
The Divine mind influenced by reasons. Moses, in uttering this song, is "borne along" (2 Peter 1:21) by a power working through him and yet not of him, to make a most remarkable assertion in the Name of Jehovah; viz. th…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:21
(Cf. Deuteronomy 5:16.) Because they had moved God to jealousy and provoked him to anger by their vanities, their nothingnesses, mere vapors and empty exhalations ( הִבְלָים; cf. Jeremiah 10:6; John 2:8; 1 Corinthians 8…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:22
(Cf. Jeremiah 15:14; Jeremiah 17:4; Lamentations 4:11.) The lowest hell; the lowest sheol, the uttermost depth of the under-world. The Hebrew sheol ( שְׁאוֹל) answering to the Greek ἅδης, by which it is usually render…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:23
I will spend mine arrows upon them; I will inflict on them so many calamities that none shall remain. The evils sent on men by God are represented as arrows shot on them from above. (Cf. Deuteronomy 32:42; Job 6:4; Psal…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:28-33
The cause of Israel's rejection was that they were a people utterly destitute of counsel and without understanding. Had they been wise, they would have looked to the end, and acted in a way conducive to their own welfar…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:29
Oh that they were wise, that they understood this; rather, If they were wise they would understand this. They would consider their latter end! i.e. the end to which they were going, the inevitable issue of the course th…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:29
God's pathetic appeal to men. Wisdom is far-seeing. Not content with estimating present experiences and fortunes, it embraces the remoter issues of our choice; it takes in all the possibilities of the future. I. AS THER…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:29-35
The short-sightedness of sinners. "Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!" Such is the moan with which this paragraph begins. By "this" is meant the consequence whi…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:30-35
The devil's counterfeit coin. It is not in the power of Satan to originate any new thing. Knowing that his power is restricted, the utmost he can do is to make spurious imitations of God's good things. His base purpose…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:30
If Israel were wise, they could easily overcome all their foes through the help of the Almighty (Le Deuteronomy 26:8); but having forsaken him, they were left by him, and so came under the power of the enemy.