Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. Ver. 1. _Give ear, O ye heavens,_] _q.d._, Such is this people's stupidity and obstinacy, that I may as soon gain audience of these inanimate creatures as of them. See Isa 1:2 Jos 24:27 Jeremiah 22:29. We may cry ti... [ Continue Reading ]
My 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: Ver. 2. _My doctrine._] Heb., My taking or winning doctrine: according to that in Proverbs 11:30. "He that winneth" (Heb., taketh) "souls" - as fowlers d... [ Continue Reading ]
Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God. Ver. 3. _Ascribe ye greatness,_] _i.e., _ Tremble at his word, and take it to heart. See 1 Thessalonians 2:13 .... [ Continue Reading ]
Deuteronomy 32:4 [He is] the Rock, his work [is] perfect: for all his ways [are] judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right [is] he. Ver. 4. _He is the rock._] A firm and everlasting refuge, a "Rock of Ages." Isa 26:4 One age passeth away, and another, and a third, &c., but the r... [ Continue Reading ]
They have corrupted themselves, their spot [is] not [the spot] of his children: [they are] a perverse and crooked generation. Ver. 5. _Their spot is not the spot._] Saints also have their spots, but not ingrained; not leopards' spots, that are not in the skin only, but the flesh and bones, in the s... [ Continue Reading ]
Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? [is] not he thy father [that] hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee? Ver. 6. _Do ye thus requite the Lord?_] Good turns aggravate unkindnesses, and our guilt is increased by our obligations. Solomon's idolatry was far... [ Continue Reading ]
Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee. Ver. 7. _And they will tell thee._] And so they did. Jdg 6:13 Psa 44:1-2... [ Continue Reading ]
When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. Ver. 8. _He set the bounds of the people._] Of the seventy nations reckoned, Gen 10:1-32 and the seventy souls of Israe... [ Continue Reading ]
For the LORD'S portion [is] his people; Jacob [is] the lot of his inheritance. Ver. 9. For the Lord's portion.] Dear to God, though despised of the world. They are the Lord's "inheritance," Isa 19:25 "peculiar" ones, Exo 19:5 the people of his purchase, that comprehended all his gettings, 1Pe 2:9 h... [ Continue Reading ]
He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. Ver. 10. _And in the waste howling wilderness._] A figure of the cries of a thirsty and troubled conscience, and of infernal horrors. See Ezekiel 16:4, &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: Ver. 11. _As an eagle stirreth up her nest._] So doth God stir up his people by his word of promise. _ Fluttereth over them._] By the motions of his Spirit, as Genesis 1... [ Continue Reading ]
Deuteronomy 32:12 [So] the LORD alone did lead him, and [there was] no strange god with him. Ver. 12. _And there was no strange god with him._] Why, then, should any share with him in his service? Be the gods of the heathen good fellows? saith one. The true God will endure no co-rival.... [ Continue Reading ]
He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock; Ver. 13. _To suck honey out of the rock._] Water as sweet as honey in that necessity; so doth every worthy receiver by faith... [ Continue Reading ]
Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape. Ver. 14. _With the fat of kidneys of wheat._] With the very best of the best; figuring heavenly dainties, that full f... [ Continue Reading ]
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. Ver. 15. _But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked._] Jeshurun, _hoc est Integellus,_ saith one, as Shimshon... [ Continue Reading ]
They provoked him to jealousy with strange [gods], with abominations provoked they him to anger. Ver. 16. _They provoked him to jealousy._] _See Trapp on "_ Deu 31:29 _"_... [ Continue Reading ]
They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new [gods that] came newly up, whom your fathers feared not. Ver. 17. _They sacrificed unto devils._] _See Trapp on "_ Lev 17:7 _"_ To new gods that came newly up.] Such as are all Popish he-saints and she-saints; concerning w... [ Continue Reading ]
Of the Rock [that] begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee. Ver. 18. _And hast forgotten God that formed thee._] Or, That brought thee forth. Here God is compared to a mother, as in the former clause to a father. So James 1:18, "Of his own will begat he us," - απεκυησ... [ Continue Reading ]
And when the LORD saw [it], he abhorred [them], because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters. Ver. 19. _Of his sons and of his daughters._] Titular at least; wherefore their sin was the greater. "What? Thou, my son Brutus?" _a_ This cut Caesar to the heart. _ a_ Kαι συ τεκνον Bρουτε... [ Continue Reading ]
And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end [shall be]: for they [are] a very froward generation, children in whom [is] no faith. Ver. 20. _I will see what their end shall be._] This is spoken after the manner of men; as likewise that in Deuteronomy 32:27 . _ In whom is n... [ Continue Reading ]
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 people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. Ver. 21. _And I will move them to jealousy._] Thus God delights... [ Continue Reading ]
For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains. Ver. 22. _For a fire._] _See Trapp on "_ Deu 10:4 _"_... [ Continue Reading ]
I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them. Ver. 23. _I will spend mine arrows._] Which yet cannot be all spent up, as he feared of his Jupiter, _Si quoties peccent heroines, &c._... [ Continue Reading ]
__ Deuteronomy 32:24 _[They shall be] burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust._ Ver. 24. _Burnt with hunger._] Which makes men's visages blacker than a coal. Lam 4:8 _ W... [ Continue Reading ]
The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling [also] with the man of gray hairs. Ver. 25. _And terror within._] Warring times are terrible times. By the civil dissensions here in King John's time, all the kingdom became like a general shambles,... [ Continue Reading ]
I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men: Ver. 26. _I said I will scatter them._] See a like text, Ezekiel 20:8,9. We are sometimes safe by our enemies' insolences, and as much beholden to their blasphemies as to our own prayers.... [ Continue Reading ]
Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, [and] lest they should say, Our hand [is] high, and the LORD hath not done all this. Ver. 27. _Were it not that I feared._] See Deuteronomy 32:20 . _ Lest their adversaries._] This is that,... [ Continue Reading ]
For they [are] a nation void of counsel, neither [is there any] understanding in them. Ver. 28. _For they are a nation._] _See Trapp on "_ Deu 4:6 _"_ was Chrysippus that offered that strict and tetrical division to the world, _Aut mentem aut restim comparandum._... [ Continue Reading ]
_O that they were wise, [that] they understood this, [that] they would consider their latter end!_ Ver. 29. _Oh that this people were wise._] _Sapiens est, cui res sapiunt prout sunt,_ saith Bernard. _ That they would consider their latter end._] This is a high point of heavenly wisdom. Moses himse... [ Continue Reading ]
_How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up?_ Ver. 30. _How should one chase a thousand?_] _i.e., _ How should one of the enemies chase a thousand Israelites, who had a promise of better things, Lev 26:8 but th... [ Continue Reading ]
For their rock [is] not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves [being] judges. Ver. 31. _For their rock is not as our rock._] We may well say, Who is a God like unto thee? Mic 7:18 _Contemno minutulos istos deos, mode Iovem (Iehovam) mihi propitium habeam; _ I care not for those dunghill deities,... [ Continue Reading ]
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: Ver. 32. _For their vine is of the vine._] _Vitis non vinifera, sed venenifera._ The vine is the wicked nature, the grapes are the evil works. So Isaiah 59:5; - ... [ Continue Reading ]
Their wine [is] the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps. Ver. 33. _Their wine,_] _i.e., _ Their works, yea, their best works, prove pernicious to them; not their own table only, but God's table becomes a snare to the unprepared communicant; he sucks there the poison of asps, &c., Job 20:... [ Continue Reading ]
Deuteronomy 32:34 [Is] not this laid up in store with me, [and] sealed up among my treasures? Ver. 34. _Is not this laid up in store?_] To wit, for just punishment, though for a while I forbear them. The wicked man is like a thief, which having stolen a horse, rides away well mounted, till, overtak... [ Continue Reading ]
_To me [belongeth] vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in [due] time: for the day of their calamity [is] at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste._ Ver. 35. _To me belongeth vengeance and recompense._] The Hebrew word for vengeance, זהם, signifies comfort also; for... [ Continue Reading ]
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 shut up, or left. Ver. 36. _And repent himself for his servants._] Thus God mingleth and allayeth the rigour of his justice with the vigour of his mercy.... [ Continue Reading ]
And he shall say, Where [are] their gods, [their] rock in whom they trusted, Ver. 37. _And he shall say,_] _i.e., _ He shall upbraid them with the inability of their idols to do for them.... [ Continue Reading ]
Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, [and] drank the wine of their drink offerings? let them rise up and help you, [and] be your protection. Ver. 38. _Which did eat._] Put them to a great deal of charge, but for no profit.... [ Continue Reading ]
See now that I, [even] I, [am] he, and [there is] no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither [is there any] that can deliver out of my hand. Ver. 39. _I, even I am he._] I is emphatical and exclusive.... [ Continue Reading ]
For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever. Ver. 40. _And say, I live forever._] God can swear by no greater than himself. Heb 6:13... [ Continue Reading ]
If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me. Ver. 41. _If I whet my glittering sword._] God first whets, before he smites; and first takes hold on judgment, before his judgments take hold on men. _Est... [ Continue Reading ]
I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; [and that] with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy. Ver. 42. _From the beginning of revenges._] I will begin my revenges at the beginning of theirs. Esau began early wit... [ Continue Reading ]
Rejoice, O ye nations, [with] his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, [and] to his people. Ver. 43. _Rejoice, O ye nations._] Give God the glory of his just severity, which is no less commendable in... [ Continue Reading ]
And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun. Ver. 44. _Of this song._] The Seventy render it, Of this law, as in Deuteronomy 32:46. So Asaph called his song "a law." Psa 78:1... [ Continue Reading ]
And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel: Ver. 45. _And Moses made an end._] He did, and yet he did not, for he had yet still something more to say to them out of his great desire to speak home to their hearts. So the apostle, in 2 Corinthians 13:11, and elsewhere, comes in w... [ Continue Reading ]
And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law. Ver. 46. _Set your hearts._] And pray God to fix your quicksilver, to put his holy finger upon the hole that is in the bott... [ Continue Reading ]
For it [is] not a 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. Ver. 47. _For it is not a vain thing._] God's favour is no empty favour, it is not like the winter sun, that casts a goodly coun... [ Continue Reading ]