the Week of Christ the King / Proper 29 / Ordinary 34
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Deuteronomy 32:11
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Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions,
As an eagle that stirs up her nest, That hovers over her young, He spread abroad his wings, he took them, He bore them on his pinions.
As an eagle that stirreth up her nest, That fluttereth over her young, He spread abroad his wings, he took them, He bare them on his pinions:
He was like an eagle building its nest that flutters over its young. It spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its feathers.
Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that hovers over its young, so the Lord spread out his wings and took him, he lifted him up on his pinions.
As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings;
As an eagle that stirs up her nest, That flutters over her young, He spread abroad his wings, he took them, He bore them on his pinions.
As an egle stirynge his briddis to fle, and fleynge on hem, he spredde forth his wyngis, and took hem, and bar in hise schuldris.
As an eagle waketh up its nest, Over its young ones fluttereth, Spreadeth its wings -- taketh them, Beareth them on its pinions; --
As an eagle stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, He spread His wings to catch them; He carried them on His pinions.
The Lord was like an eagle teaching its young to fly, always ready to swoop down and catch them on its back.
As an eagle that stirreth up her nest, That fluttereth over her young, He spread abroad his wings, he took them, He bare them on his pinions.
As an eagle, teaching her young to make their flight, with her wings outstretched over them, takes them up on her strong feathers:
As an Egle that stirreth vp her nest, and flittereth ouer her young, & spreadeth her wynges, taketh them, and beareth them on her wynges:
like an eagle that stirs up her nest, hovers over her young, spreads out her wings, takes them and carries them as she flies.
As the eagle stirreth up its nest, Hovereth over its young, Spreadeth out its wings, Taketh them, beareth them on its feathers,
like an eagle when she makes her young leave the nest to fly. She stays close to them, ready to help. She spreads her wings to catch them when they fall and carries them to a safe place.
As an eagle that stirreth up her nest, hovereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her pinions--
As an Eagle stirreth vp her nest, fluttereth ouer her yong, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:
Like an eagle that shakes its nest, that flies over its young, He spread His wings and caught them. He carried them on His wings.
As an eagle stirs up its nest, and hovers over its young; as it spreads its wings, takes them up, and bears them aloft on its pinions,
As, an eagle, stirreth up his nest, Over his young ones, fluttereth, Spreadeth abroad his wings, taketh one, Beareth it up on his pinions,
As an eagle stereth vp her nest, flootereth ouer her birdes, stretcheth out her wings, taketh them, and beareth them on her wings,
As an eagle encircles his nest, fluttering over his young, spreading out its wings, taking them, bearing them on the strength of his wings;
Like an eagle teaching its young to fly, catching them safely on its spreading wings, the Lord kept Israel from falling.
As the eagle enticing her young to fly, and hovering over them, he spread his wings, and hath taken him and carried him on his shoulders.
Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions,
As an eagle would watch over his brood, and yearns over his young, receives them having spread his wings, and takes them up on his back:
He watches over his nest like an eagleand hovers over his young;he spreads his wings, catches him,and carries him on his feathers.
As an eagle that stirs up her nest, That flutters over her young, He spread abroad his wings, he took them, He bore them on his pinions.
As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:
As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreads out its wings, takes them, carries them on its pinions,
As the eagle stirs up its nest; it hovers over its young; it spreads out its wings and takes it, and bears it on its wing.
As an Aegle stereth vp hir nest, and flotereth ouer hir yonge: Euen so stretched he out his fethers, and toke him and bare him on his wynges.
"As an eagle stirs up its nest, And hovers over its young, He spread His wings, He caught them, He carried them on His pinions.
As an eagle stirs up its nest, Hovers over its young, Spreading out its wings, taking them up, Carrying them on its wings,
Like an eagle that rouses her chicks and hovers over her young, so he spread his wings to take them up and carried them safely on his pinions.
"Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, That hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions.
Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,That hovers over its young,He spread His wings and caught them;He carried them on His pinions.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
Exodus 19:4, Isaiah 31:5, Isaiah 40:31, Isaiah 46:4, Isaiah 63:9, Hebrews 11:3, Revelation 12:4
Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 1:31 - bare thee Joshua 24:17 - General Psalms 91:4 - cover Isaiah 46:3 - borne Matthew 23:37 - even Luke 13:34 - as Revelation 12:14 - to the
Cross-References
So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him; and Esau said in his heart, "The days of mourning for my father are very near; then I will kill my brother Jacob."
Then as Jacob went on his way, the angels of God met him [to reassure and protect him].
When Jacob saw them, he said, "This is God's camp." So he named that place Mahanaim (double camps).
"If you happen to come upon a bird's nest along the road, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the mother [bird] is sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young.
"They cried out to the LORD, saying, 'We have sinned because we have abandoned (rejected) the Lord and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth; but now rescue us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve You.'
"May the LORD be the judge and render judgment between me and you; and may He see and plead my cause and vindicate me by saving me from your hand."
Keep and protect me, O God, for in You I have placed my trust and found refuge.
Guard my soul and rescue me; Do not let me be ashamed or disappointed, For I have taken refuge in You.
Incline Your ear to me, deliver me quickly; Be my rock of refuge, And a strong fortress to save me.
Judge and vindicate me, O God; plead my case against an ungodly nation. O rescue me from the deceitful and unjust man!
Gill's Notes on the Bible
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 Aelianus r 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 fly s; 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 likewise t: this passage seems to contradict a notion that has obtained with some, that an eagle only breeds one at a time; the philosopher says u, 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 Pliny w; yea we are told, that sometimes seven are seen in a nest x:
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 fall y;
:-; 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.
r Hist. Animal. l. 2. c. 40. s Suidas, vol. 1. p. 89. t Bochart. Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 2. c. 3. col. 178. u Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 6. c. 6. w Nat Hist. l. 10. c. 3. x Vid. Bochart ut supra. (t) y See Harris's Voyages, vol. 1. B. 1. c. 2. sect. 14. p. 486.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Song of Moses
If Deuteronomy 32:1-3 be regarded as the introduction, and Deuteronomy 32:43 as the conclusion, the main contents of the song may be grouped under three heads, namely,
(1) Deuteronomy 32:4-18, the faithfulness of God, the faithlessness of Israel;
(2) Deuteronomy 32:19-33, the chastisement and the need of its infliction by God;
(3) Deuteronomy 32:34-42, God’s compassion upon the low and humbled state of His people.
The Song differs signally in diction and idiom from the preceding chapters; just as a lyrical passage is conceived in modes of thought wholly unlike those which belong to narrative or exhortation, and is uttered in different phraseology.
There are, however, in the Song numerous coincidences both in thoughts and words with other parts of the Pentateuch, and especially with Deuteronomy; while the resemblances between it and Psalms 90:0: “A Prayer of Moses,” have been rightly regarded as important.
The Song has reference to a state of things which did not ensue until long after the days of Moses. In this it resembles other parts of Deuteronomy and the Pentateuch which no less distinctly contemplate an apostasy (e. g. Deuteronomy 28:15; Leviticus 26:14), and describe it in general terms. If once we admit the possibility that Moses might foresee the future apostasy of Israel, it is scarcely possible to conceive how such foresight could be turned to better account by him than by the writing of this Song. Exhibiting as it does God’s preventing mercies, His people’s faithlessness and ingratitude, God’s consequent judgments, and the final and complete triumph of the divine counsels of grace, it forms the summary of all later Old Testament prophecies, and gives as it were the framework upon which they are laid out. Here as elsewhere the Pentateuch presents itself as the foundation of the religious life of Israel in after times. The currency of the Song would be a standing protest against apostasy; a protest which might well check waverers, and warn the faithful that the revolt of others was neither unforeseen nor unprovided for by Him in whom they trusted.
That this Ode must on every ground take the very first rank in Hebrew poetry is universally allowed.
Deuteronomy 32:1-3
Introduction. Heaven and earth are here invoked, as elsewhere (see the marginal references), in order to impress on the hearers the importance of what is to follow.
Deuteronomy 32:4
He is the Rock, his work is perfect - Rather, the Rock, perfect is his work. This epithet, repeated no less than five times in the Song Deuteronomy 32:15, Deuteronomy 32:18, Deuteronomy 32:30-31, represents those attributes of God which Moses is seeking to enforce, immutability and impregnable strength. Compare the expression “the stone of Israel” in Genesis 49:24; and see 1 Samuel 2:2; Psalms 18:2; Matthew 16:18; John 1:42. Zur, the original of “Rock,” enters frequently into the composition of proper names of the Mosaic time, e. g., Numbers 1:5-6, Numbers 1:10; Numbers 2:12; Numbers 3:35, etc. Our translators have elsewhere rendered it according to the sense “everlasting strength” Isaiah 26:4, “the Mighty One” Isaiah 30:29; in this chapter they have rightly adhered to the letter throughout.
Deuteronomy 32:5
Render: “It” (i. e. “the perverse and crooked generation”) “hath corrupted itself before Him (compare Isaiah 1:4); they are not His children, but their blemish:” i. e., the generation of evil-doers cannot be styled God’s children, but rather the shame and disgrace of God’s children. The other side of the picture is thus brought forward with a brevity and abruptness which strikingly enforces the contrast.
Deuteronomy 32:6
Hath bought thee - Rather perhaps, “hath acquired thee for His own,” or “possessed thee:” compare the expression “a peculiar people,” margin “a purchased people,” in 1 Peter 2:9.
Deuteronomy 32:8
That is, while nations were being constituted under God’s providence, and the bounds of their habitation determined under His government (compare Acts 17:26), He had even then in view the interests of His elect, and reserved a fitting inheritance “according to the number of the children of Israel;” i. e., proportionate to the wants of their population. Some texts of the Greek version have “according to the number of the Angels of God;” following apparently not a different reading, but the Jewish notion that the nations of the earth are seventy in number (compare Genesis 10:1 note), and that each has its own guardian Angel (compare Ecclus. 17:17). This was possibly suggested by an apprehension that the literal rendering might prove invidious to the many Gentiles who would read the Greek version.
Deuteronomy 32:9-14
These verses set forth in figurative language the helpless and hopeless state of the nation when God took pity on it, and the love and care which He bestowed on it.
Deuteronomy 32:10
In the waste howling wilderness - literally, “in a waste, the howling of a wilderness,” i. e., a wilderness in which wild beasts howl. The word for “waste” is that used in Genesis 1:2, and there rendered “without form.”
Deuteronomy 32:11
Compare Exodus 19:4. The “so,” which the King James Version supplies in the next verse, should he inserted before “spreadeth,” and omitted from Deuteronomy 32:12. The sense is, “so He spread out His wings, took them up,” etc.
Deuteronomy 32:12
With him - i. e., with God. The Lord alone delivered Israel; Israel therefore ought to have served none other but Him.
Deuteronomy 32:13
i. e., God gave Israel possession of those commanding positions which carry with them dominion over the whole land (compare Deuteronomy 33:29), and enabled him to draw the richest provision out of spots naturally unproductive.
Deuteronomy 32:14
Breed of Bashan - Bashan was famous for its cattle. Compare Psalms 22:12; Ezekiel 39:18.
Fat of kidneys of wheat - i. e., the finest and most nutritious wheat. The fat of the kidneys was regarded as being the finest and tenderest, and was therefore specified as a part of the sacrificial animals which was to be offered to the Lord: compare Exodus 29:13, etc.
The pure blood of the qrape - Render, the blood of the grape, even wine. The Hebrew word seems (compare Isaiah 27:2) a poetical term for wine.
Deuteronomy 32:15
Jesbarun - This word, found again only in Deuteronomy 33:5, Deuteronomy 33:26, and Isaiah 44:2, is not a diminutive but an appellative (containing an allusion to the root, “to be righteous”); and describes not the character which belonged to Israel in fact, but that to which Israel was called. Compare Numbers 23:21. The prefixing of this epithet to the description of Israel’s apostasy contained in the words next following is full of keen reproof.
Deuteronomy 32:16
They provoked him to jealousy - The language is borrowed from the matrimonial relationship, as in Deuteronomy 31:16.
Deuteronomy 32:17
Devils - Render, destroyers. The application of the word to the false gods points to the trait so deeply graven in all pagan worship, that of regarding the deities as malignant, and needing to be propitiated by human sufferings.
Not to God - Rather, “not God,” i. e., which were not God; see the margin and Deuteronomy 32:21. Compare Deuteronomy 13:7; Deuteronomy 29:25.
Deuteronomy 32:19
The anger of God at the apostasy of His people is stated in general terms in this verse; and the results of it are described, in words as of God Himself, in the next and following verses. These results consisted negatively in the withdrawal of God’s favor Deuteronomy 32:20, and positively in the infliction of a righteous retribution.
Daughters - The women had their full share in the sins of the people. Compare Isaiah 3:16 ff; Isaiah 32:9 ff; Jeremiah 7:18; Jeremiah 44:15 ff.
Deuteronomy 32:20
I will see what their end shall be - Compare the similar expression in Genesis 37:20.
Deuteronomy 32:21
God would mete out to them the same measure as they had done to Him. Through chosen by the one God to be His own, they had preferred idols, which were no gods. So therefore would He prefer to His people that which was no people. As they had angered Him with their vanities, so would He provoke them by adopting in their stead those whom they counted as nothing. The terms, “not a people,” and “a foolish nation,” mean such a people as, not being God’s, would not be accounted a people at all (compare Ephesians 2:12; 1 Peter 2:10), and such a nation as is destitute of that which alone can make a really “wise and understanding people” Deuteronomy 4:6, namely, the knowledge of the revealed word and will of God (compare 1 Corinthians 1:18-28).
Deuteronomy 32:24
Burning heat - i. e., the fear of a pestilential disease. On the “four sore judgments,” famine, plague, noisome beasts, the sword, compare Leviticus 26:22; Jeremiah 15:2; Ezekiel 5:17; Ezekiel 14:21.
Deuteronomy 32:26, Deuteronomy 32:27
Rather, I would utterly disperse them, etc., were it not that I apprehended the provocation of the enemy, i. e., that I should be provoked to wrath when the enemy ascribed the overthrow of Israel to his own prowess and not to my judgments. Compare Deuteronomy 9:28-29; Ezekiel 20:9, Ezekiel 20:14, Ezekiel 20:22.
Behave themselves strangely - Rather, misunderstand it, i. e., mistake the cause of Israel’s ruin.
Deuteronomy 32:30
The defeat of Israel would be due to the fact that God, their strength, had abandoned them because of their apostasy.
Deuteronomy 32:31
Our enemies - i. e., the enemies of Moses and the faithful Israelites; the pagan, more especially those with whom Israel was brought into collision, whom Israel was commissioned to “chase,” but to whom, as a punishment for faithlessness, Israel was “sold,” Deuteronomy 32:30. Moses leaves the decision, whether “their rock” (i. e. the false gods of the pagan to which the apostate Israelites had fallen away) or “our Rock” is superior, to be determined by the unbelievers themselves. For example, see Exodus 14:25; Numbers 23:0; Numbers 24:0; Joshua 2:9 ff; 1 Samuel 4:8; 1 Samuel 5:7 ff; 1 Kings 20:28. That the pagan should thus be constrained to bear witness to the supremacy of Israel’s God heightened the folly of Israel’s apostasy.
Deuteronomy 32:32
Their vine - i. e., the nature and character of Israel: compare for similar expressions Psalms 80:8, Psalms 80:14; Jeremiah 2:21; Hosea 10:1.
Sodom ... Gomorrah - Here, as elsewhere, and often in the prophets, emblems of utter depravity: compare Isaiah 1:10; Jeremiah 23:14,
Gall - Compare Deuteronomy 29:18 note.
Deuteronomy 32:35
Rather: “Vengeance is mine and recompence, at the time when their foot slideth.
Deuteronomy 32:36
Repent himself for - Rather, have compassion upon. The verse declares that God’s judgment of His people would issue at once in the punishment of the wicked, and in the comfort of the righteous.
None shut up, or left - A proverbial phrase (compare 1 Kings 14:10) meaning perhaps “married and single,” or “guarded and forsaken,” but signifying generally “all men of all sorts.”
Deuteronomy 32:40-42
Render: For I lift up my hand to heaven and say, As I live forever, if I whet, etc. On Deuteronomy 32:40, in which God is described as swearing by Himself, compare Isaiah 45:23; Jeremiah 22:5; Hebrews 6:17. The lifting up of the hand was a gesture used in making oath (compare Genesis 14:22; Revelation 10:5).
Deuteronomy 32:42
From the beginning of revenges upon the enemy - Render, (drunk with blood) from the head (i. e. the chief) of the princes of the enemy.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Deuteronomy 32:11. As an eagle stirreth up her nest — Flutters over her brood to excite them to fly; or, as some think, disturbs her nest to oblige the young ones to leave it; so God by his plagues in Egypt obliged the Israelites, otherwise very reluctant, to leave a place which he appeared by his judgments to have devoted to destruction.
Fluttereth over her young — ירחף yeracheph, broodeth over them, communicating to them a portion of her own vital warmth: so did God, by the influences of his Spirit, enlighten, encourage, and strengthen their minds. It is the same word which is used in Genesis 1:2.
Spreadeth abroad her wings, c. — In order, not only to teach them how to fly, but to bear them when weary. For to this fact there seems an allusion, it having been generally believed that the eagle, through extraordinary affection for her young, takes them upon her back when they are weary of flying, so that the archers cannot injure them but by piercing the body of the mother. The same figure is used Genesis 1:2- : in the note. The nesher, which we translate eagle, is supposed by Mr. Bruce to mean the rachama, a bird remarkable for its affection to its young, which it is known actually to bear on its back when they are weary.
