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The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:10-14
A panorama of grace. How Israel was found, led, taught, kept. I. WHERE GOD FOUND HIM. (Deuteronomy 32:10.) Partly metaphorical—the state of Israel in Egypt being likened to that of a man perishing in the desert; partly…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:11
The eagle. "The description is of a female eagle exciting her young ones in teaching them to fly, and afterwards guarding with the greatest care lest the weak should receive harm" (Gesenius). In this picture of the eagl…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:11
God's treatment of his people is compared to that of an eagle towards its young (cf. Exodus 19:4). In the Authorized Version, the apodosis of the sentence is made to begin at Deuteronomy 32:12, and Deuteronomy 32:11 is…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:12
The Lord alone did lead him (cf. Exodus 13:21; Exodus 15:13). With him; i.e. along with Jehovah, as aiding him.
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:13
He made him ride on the high places of the earth. To ride over or drive over the heights of a country is figuratively to subjugate and take possession of that country (cf. Deuteronomy 33:29; Isaiah 58:14). Israel, havin…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:14
Butter of kine. The Hebrew word ( חֶמְאָה) here used designates milk in a solid or semi-solid state, as thick cream, curd, or butter. As distinguished from this is the milk of sheep; where the word used ( חָלָב) properl…
Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 32:15-18
Here are two instances of the wickedness of Israel, each was apostacy from God. These people were called Jeshurun, “an upright people,” so some; “a seeing people,” so others: but they soon lost the reputation both of th…
Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 32:15-18
We have here a description of the apostasy of Israel from God, which would shortly come to pass, and to which already they had a disposition. One would have thought that a people under so many obligations to their God,…
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
Israel's ungrateful return for the Lord's benefits.
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 32:15-18
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 32:15-18
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…
Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 32:19-25
The revolt of Israel was described in the foregoing verses, and here follow the resolves of Divine justice as to them. We deceive ourselves, if we think that God will be mocked by a faithless people. Sin makes us hatefu…
Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 32:19-25
The method of this song follows the method of the predictions in the foregoing chapter, and therefore, after the revolt of Israel from God, described in the Deuteronomy 32:15-16, here follow immediately the resolves of…
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 32:19-47
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 32:19-27
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 32:19-25
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
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 32:20
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…