Bible Commentaries
Deuteronomy 32

Verse 1

32:1 Give ear, O ye {a} heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

(a) As witness of this people’s ingratitude.

Verse 2

32:2 My {b} doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:

(b) He desires that he may speak to God’s glory and that the people, as the green grass, may receive the dew of his doctrine.

Verse 4

32:4 [He is] the {c} Rock, his work [is] perfect: for all his ways [are] judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right [is] he.

(c) Or mighty God; noting that only God is mighty, faithful and constant in his promise.

Verse 6

32:6 Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? [is] not he thy father [that] hath bought thee? hath he not {d} made thee, and established thee?

(d) Not according to the common creation, but he has made you a new creature by his Spirit.

Verse 8

32:8 When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the {e} people according to the number of the children of Israel.

(e) When God by his providence divided the world, he lent for a time that portion to the Canaanites, which would later be an inheritance for all his people Israel.

Verse 11

32:11 As an eagle stirreth up her nest, {f} fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:

(f) To teach them to fly.

Verse 13

32:13 He made him ride on the high places of the {g} earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck {h} honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;

(g) Meaning, of the land of Canaan, which was high in respect to Egypt.

(h) That is, abundance of all things even in the very rocks.

Verse 15

32:15 {i} But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered [with fatness]; then he forsook God [which] made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.

(i) He shows what is the principal end of our vocation.

Verse 16

32:16 They provoked him to jealousy with {k} strange [gods], with abominations provoked they him to anger.

(k) By changing his service for their superstitions.

Verse 17

32:17 They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to {l} new [gods that] came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.

(l) Scripture calls new, whatever man invents, be the error ever so old.

Verse 19

32:19 And when the LORD saw [it], he abhorred [them], because of the provoking of his {m} sons, and of his daughters.

(m) He calls them God’s children, not to honour them, but to show them from what dignity they are fallen.

Verse 21

32:21 They have moved me to jealousy with [that which is] not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with [those which are] not a {n} people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

(n) Which I have not favoured, nor given my law to them.

Verse 25

32:25 The sword {o} without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling [also] with the man of gray hairs.

(o) They shall be slain both in the field and at home.

Verse 27

32:27 Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should {p} behave themselves strangely, [and] lest they should say, Our hand [is] high, and the LORD hath not done all this. {p} Rejoicing to see the godly afflicted, and attributing to themselves that which is wrought by God’s hand.

Verse 29

32:29 O that they were wise, [that] they understood this, [that] they would {q} consider their latter end!

(q) They would consider the happiness that was prepared for them, if they had obeyed God.

Verse 33

32:33 Their {r} wine [is] the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.

(r) The fruit of the wicked are as poison, detestable to God, and dangerous for man.

Verse 36

32:36 For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that [their] power is gone, and [there is] none {s} shut up, or left.

(s) When neither strong nor weak in a manner remain.

Verse 40

32:40 For I {t} lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.

(t) That is, I swear, read Genesis 14:22.

Verse 43

32:43 Rejoice, O ye nations, [with] his people: for he will avenge the {u} blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, [and] to his people.

(u) Where the blood of God’s people is shed for their sins or trial of their faith, he promises to avenge it.

Verse 47

32:47 For it [is] not a {x} vain thing for you; because it [is] your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong [your] days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.

(x) For I will perform my promise to you, Isaiah 55:10.

Verse 51

32:51 Because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye {y} sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel.

(y) You were not earnest and constant to maintain my honour.