Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 32:19
And when the LORD saw [it], he abhorred [them], because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.
19. abhorred ] Spurned, contemned, discarded, Deu 31:20, Jer 14:21. The next line gives the motive, not as in R.V., but from grief with his sons, etc.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
19 25. God’s Vengeance
19 But the Lord saw and He spurned,
From grief with His sons and His daughters.
20 ‘Let me hide my countenance from them,
I will see what their end shall be.
For an upsetting race are they,
Sons without steadfastness in them.
21 They moved me to jealousy with a n-god,
With their vanities vexed me
And I make them jealous with a no-people,
With an infidel nation will vex them.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 19. When the Lord saw it, &c.] More literally, And the Lord saw it, and through indignation he reprobated his sons and his daughters. That is, When the Lord shall see such conduct, he shall be justly incensed, and so reject and deliver up to captivity his sons and daughters.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Because of their sins, whereby they provoked him to anger. Or, by reason of his great and just anger against them he abhorred, or reprobated, or cast off his sons and his
daughters, for such they were by calling and profession, but not in truth and reality, Deu 32:5.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And when the Lord saw [it],…. The disregard of the Jews to Christ, their forgetfulness of him, their disesteem and rejection of him; their continuance of sacrifices, when the great sacrifice was offered up; their setting up other messiahs and saviours, and the idol of their own righteousness, in opposition to the righteousness of Christ; all which not only as the omniscient God he saw, but took notice of, and considered, and did not at once pass judgment on them, at least did not immediately execute it, but waited some time to see how they would afterwards behave; for it was thirty years or more after the crucifixion of Christ that the utter destruction of the Jews came upon them:
he abhorred [them]; in his heart, despised them, and at last rejected them with contempt and abhorrence, very righteously and in just retaliation, see Zec 11:8; as for what before observed, so for what follows:
because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters; which is not to be understood of the Lord being provoked to wrath by the sins of those who called themselves or were called his sons and daughters; for these are such who were truly his sons and daughters, and different from those in De 32:20, said to be “children in whom [is] no faith”: these are no other than the disciples and followers of Christ, that believed in him, both men and women, and so the children of God, his sons and his daughters by special grace; and the “provoking” of them is the wrath of the enemy against them, as the same word is used and rendered in De 32:27; and should be here, “because of wrath”, or “indignation against his sons and his daughters” m; meaning the affliction, distress, and persecution of them, through the wrath of the unbelieving Jews; for after the death of Christ they persecuted his apostles, they beat them and cast them into prison, and put some to death; a persecution was raised against the church at Jerusalem, in which Saul was concerned, who breathed out threatenings and slaughters against the disciples of the Lord, and haled men and women, the sons and daughters of God, and committed them to prison, and persecuted them to strange cities, and gave his voice to put them to death; and in the Gentile world, when the Gospel was carried there, the Jews stirred up the Gentiles everywhere against the followers of Christ, to harass and distress them; and this the Lord saw, and he abhorred them for it, and rejected them.
m “prae ira in filios suos”, Pagninus; “propter iram in filios suos”, Van Till; so Maimon. Moreh Nevochim, par. 1. c. 36.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
19 And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters. 20 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. 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 people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. 22 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. 23 I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them. 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. 25 The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.
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 Deu 32:15; Deu 32:16, here follow immediately the resolves of divine Justice concerning them; we deceive ourselves if we think that God will be thus mocked by a foolish faithless people, that play fast and loose with him.
I. He had delighted in them, but now he would reject them with detestation and disdain, v. 19. When the Lord saw their treachery, and folly, and base ingratitude, he abhorred them, he despised them, so some read it. Sin makes us odious in the sight of the holy God; and no sinners are so loathsome to him as those that he has called, and that have called themselves, his sons and his daughters, and yet have been provoking to him. Note, The nearer any are to God in profession the more noisome are they to him if they are defiled in a sinful way, Psa 106:39; Psa 106:40.
II. He had given them the tokens of his presence with them and his favour to them; but now he would withdraw and hide his face from them, v. 20. His hiding his face signifies his great displeasure; they had turned their back upon God, and now God would turn his back upon them (compare Jer 18:17; Jer 2:27); but here it denotes also the slowness of God’s proceedings against them in a way of judgment. They began in their apostasy with omissions of good, and so proceeded to commissions of evil. In like manner God will first suspend his favours, and let them see what the issue of that will be, what a friend they lose when they provoke God to depart, and will try whether this will bring them to repentance. Thus we find God hiding himself, as it were, in expectation of the event, Isa. lvii. 17. To justify himself in leaving them he shows that they were such as there was no dealing with; for, 1. They were froward and a people that could not be pleased, or obstinate in sin, and that could not be convinced and reclaimed. 2. They were faithless, and a people that could not be trusted. When he saved them, and took them into covenant, he said, Surely they are children that will not lie (Isa. lxiii. 8); but when they proved otherwise, children in whom is no faith, they deserved to be abandoned, and that the God of truth should have no more to do with them.
III. He had done every thing to make them easy and to please them, but now he would do that against them which should be most vexatious to them. The punishment here answers the sin, v. 21. 1. They had provoked God with despicable deities which were not gods at all, but vanities, creatures of their own imagination, that could not pretend either to merit or to repay the respects of their worshippers; the more vain and vile the gods were after which they went a whoring the greater was the offence to that great and good God whom they set them up in competition with and contradiction to. This put two great evils into their idolatry, Jer. ii. 13. 2. God would therefore plague them with despicable enemies, that were worthless, weak, and inconsiderable, and not deserving the name of a people, which was a great mortification to them, and aggravated the oppressions they groaned under The more base the people were that tyrannised over them the more barbarous they would be (none so insolent as a beggar on horseback), besides that it would be infamous to Israel, who had so often triumphed over great and mighty nations, to be themselves trampled upon by the weak and foolish, and to come under the curse of Canaan, who was to be a servant of servants. But God can make the weakest instrument a scourge to the strongest sinner; and those that by sin insult their might Creator are justly insulted by the meanest of their fellow-creatures. This was remarkably fulfilled in the days of the judges, when they were sometimes oppressed by the very Canaanites themselves, whom they had subdued, Judg. iv. 2. But the apostle applies it to the conversion of the Gentiles, who had been a people not in covenant with God, and foolish in divine things, yet were brought into the church, sorely to the grief of the Jews, who upon all occasions showed a great indignation at it, which was both their sin and their punishment, as envy always is, Rom. x. 19.
IV. He had planted them in a good land, and replenished them with all good things; but now he would strip them of all their comforts, and bring them to ruin. The judgments threatened are very terrible, v. 22-25. 1. The fire of God’s anger shall consume them, v. 22. Are they proud of their plenty? It shall burn up the increase of the earth. Are they confident of their strength? It shall destroy the very foundations of their mountains: there is no fence against the judgments of God when they come with commission to lay all waste. It shall burn to the lowest hell, that is, it shall bring them to the very depth of misery in this world, which yet would be but a faint resemblance of the complete and endless misery of sinners in the other world. The damnation of hell (as our Saviour calls it) is the fire of God’s anger, fastening upon the guilty conscience of a sinner, to its inexpressible and everlasting torment, Isa. xxx. 33. 2. The arrows of God’s judgments shall be spent upon them, till his quiver is quite exhausted, v. 23. The judgments of God, like arrows, fly swiftly (Ps. lxiv. 7), reaching those at a distance who flatter themselves with hopes of escaping them, Psa 21:8; Psa 21:12. They come from an unseen hand, but wound mortally, for God never misses his mark, 1 Kings xxii. 34. The particular judgments here threatened are, (1.) Famine: they shall be burnt, or parched, with hunger. (2.) Pestilence and other diseases, here called burning heat and bitter destruction. (3.) The insults of the inferior creatures: the teeth of beasts and the poison of serpents, v. 24. (4.) War and the fatal consequences of it, v. 25. [1.] Perpetual frights. When the sword is without, there cannot but be terror within. 2 Cor. vii. 5, Without were fightings, within were fears. Those who cast off the fear of God are justly exposed to the fear of enemies. [2.] Universal deaths. The sword of the Lord, when it is sent to lay all waste, will destroy without distinction; neither the strength of the young man nor the beauty of the virgin, neither the innocency of the suckling nor the gravity or infirmity of the man of gray hairs, will be their security from the sword when it devours one as well as another. Such devastation does war make, especially when it is pushed on by men as ravenous as wild beasts and as venomous as serpents, v. 24. See here what mischief sin does, and reckon those fools that make a mock at it.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Verses 19-25:
“Abhorred,” naats, “despise, pierce, sting.” Israel’s perversity and rebellion pierced the heart of God. He despised what they were doing; He did not despise the people themselves.
As the consequence of their apostasy, Jehovah promised to withdraw His favor from Israel, and chasten them. He would no longer grant His protection from their enemies; then they would see how they would fare when left alone.
“Froward,” tahpukoth, “perverseness,” see also Pro 2:12; Pro 8:13; Pro 10:31; Pro 16:28; Pro 16:30. The term means “willfully wrong, set against doing right; wayward, petulant; obstinate, usually in a wrong action.” This is Jehovah’s assessment of the “generation” or race of Israel.
Israel’s flirtations and affairs with the gods of the nations moved Jehovah to jealousy, see comments on verse 16.
“Lowest hell,” tachti sheol. The term sheol denotes the state of the dead, and corresponds to hades (LXX).
The first of Divine wrath burn to the very depths of the lowest state of the unseen, the dead, and consumes all the earth’s produce. The reference in the text is not to a specific judgment, but to the general effects of God’s, judgment poured out upon rebellious mankind.
God threatened Israel, with famine; pestilence, plague, wild’ beasts, poison snakes, and war, as the consequence of rebellion
and apostasy.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
19. And when the Lord saw it. The seeing of God, which is mentioned here, has reference to His forbearance in judgment: as if it were said, that He does not act hastily, and is not alienated from His children, without having duly weighed their case; in the same way as it is said elsewhere: “Because the cry of Sodom is great, I will go down now and see whether” it is so, and “I will know.” (Gen 18:20) Assuredly God has no need to make any examination, since nothing escapes His eyes, however hidden it may be; but this going down and inquiring is contrasted with preposterous haste. Thus in this passage Moses shows that God was wroth, when he saw His sons and His daughters drawn away so faithlessly after their idols. Again, when he calls them God’s children, he does not judge them to be so on account of their merits, but in reference to God’s adoption, which, although it was canceled as regarded themselves, still had the effect of aggravating the guilt of their ingratitude. And for the same reason that he had just. said that God saw them, Moses introduces Him deliberating, as it were, that the time for punishing them might be perceived to be fully come. But we must notice the degrees; for God does not at once break forth into extreme severity, but is said to hide His face, that He might secretly consider what they would do: since this is a middle course between the manifest exhibition of His grace and favor, and the tokens of His wrath. God is, indeed, elsewhere said, in many passages, to hide His face, when He rejects men’s prayers, and withdraws His aid; but here He assumes the character of a man who, when he sees that he produces no effect by acting, (269) goes aside to some place, from whence he may quietly contemplate the result, And thus God’s weariness of them is expressed; for when He at length saw that His efforts to control them were thrown away, He abandoned the care of them. It is a false inference, which some draw from hence, that men, when forsaken by God, recover themselves by the exercise of their own free-will; as if God sat calmly and inactively in a watch-tower expecting what they may do; inasmuch as this hiding of Himself has reference only to the outward manifestation of His grace. In a word, it is a similitude taken from the conduct of men, whereby God signifies that He is overcome with weariness, and will no more be the leader and guardian of the people, until it shall effectually appear that they are altogether intractable. And this is gathered from the reason, which is presently added, wherein He censures their forward nature and want of faith, as much as to say, that, after long trial, nothing remained for Him but to abandon them.
(269) ’Voyant qu’il ne profite rien en advertissant son ami qu’il se pert;’ seeing that he does not at all profit his friend by warning him against selfdestruction. — Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THOUGHT QUESTIONS 32:1933
556.
What is meant by the use of the word provocation?
557.
What foreign people are meant in Deu. 32:21?
558.
Where is Sheol? Explain the use of this term here.
559.
Something will restrain Gods wrath as mentioned in Deu. 32:26-27. What is it?
560.
Itemize what Israel was as contrasted with what they should have been.
AMPLIFIED TRANSLATION 32:1933
19 And the Lord saw it, He spurned and rejected them, from indignation with His sons and His daughters.
20 And He said, I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end will be. For they are a perverse generation, children in whom is no faithfulness.
21 They have moved Me to jealousy with what is not God; they have angered Me with their idols; so I will move them to jealousy with those not a people; I will anger them with a foolish nation.
22 For a fire is kindled by My anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol, devours the earth with its increase, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.
23 And I will heap evils upon them; I will spend My arrows upon them.
24 They shall be wasted with hunger, and devoured with burning heat and poisonous pestilence; and the teeth of beasts will I send against them, with the poison of crawling things of the dust.
25 From without the sword shall bereave, and in the chambers shall be terror, destroying both young man and virgin, the sucking child with the man of gray hairs.
26 I said, I would scatter them afar, and I would have made the remembrance of them to cease from among men,
27 Had I not feared the provocation of the foe, lest their enemies misconstrue it, and lest they should say, Our own hand has prevailed; all this was not the work of the Lord.
28 For they are a nation void of counsel, and there is no understanding in them.
29 O that they were wise, and would see through this [present triumph] to their ultimate fate!
30 How could one have chased 1,000 and two put 10,000 to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had delivered them up?
31 For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.
32 For their vine comes from the vine of Sodom, and from the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of (poisonous) gall, their clusters are bitter;
33 Their wine is the (furious) venom of serpents, and the pitiless poison of vipers;
COMMENT 32:1933
AND I WILL MOVE THEM TO JEALOUSY WITH THOSE THAT ARE NOT A PEOPLE . . . A FOOLISH NATION (Deu. 32:21)See also Rom. 10:16-19. Those not in Gods service are important as eternal souls, but if they are not in fact his children, they are a foolish nationeven as we were no people (1Pe. 2:10) before coming to Christ. They are those having no hope and without God in the world. (Eph. 2:12).
What nation is referred to here? It is hard to say which of the many invaders of Israel (if a specific one is indeed being referred to) the Holy Spirit intends. Both Assyria and Babylon attacked while Israel was filled with idolatry (note Deu. 32:16-17).
. . . FIRE . . . BURNETH UNTO THE LOWEST SHEOL (Deu. 32:22)The A. V. has unto the lowest hell, but in either case the reader might be mislead. the word sheol literally signifies the unseen state, or the unseen place. Baumgartner defines it here, waste, no-country, underworld. The present passage could be a general description of God as a consuming fire. But it seems better to apply it to the immediate case: Gods wrath would be upon their whole land when they were disobedient: Their crops, fields, houses, grain-storage binsall would be destroyed; Clarke remarks on this phrase, . . . the very deepest destruction; a total extermination, so that the earththeir land and its increase, and all their property should be seized; and the foundations of their mountains [Deu. 32:22]their strongest fortresses, should be razed to the ground. All this was fulfilled in a most remarkable manner in the last destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, so that of the fortifications of that city not one stone was left on another.
AND THE TEETH OF BEASTS WILL I SEND UPON THEM (Deu. 32:24)See also Lev. 26:22. In Deu. 7:22 we saw the strategy of defeating Israels enemies was to be little by little lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee. But disobedience would also bring them. We do not have a recorded instance of this as far as the Israelites themselves are concerned. But in 2Ki. 17:24-26 we have such an act of God toward the foreign occupants of Samaria brought in by the Assyrians.
I SAID, I WOULD SCATTER THEM AFAR, I WOULD MAKE THE REMEMBRANCE OF THEM TO CEASE (Deu. 32:26)See Exo. 32:9-14, Deu. 9:13-14; Deuteronomy 25-29. The wrath of God was stayed, not because of a deserving Israel, but Lest their adversaries should judge amiss, etc. (Deu. 32:27). . . . lest their enemies misconstrue it (Amplified).
The translation of The Torah is helpful from Deu. 32:26-30 :
26
I might have reduced them to naught,
Made their memory cease among men,
27
But for fear of the taunts of the foe,
Their enemies who might misjudge
And say, Our own hand has prevailed;
None of this was wrought by the Lord!
28
For they [the heathen nations] are a folk
void of sense,
Lacking in all discernment.
29
Were they wise, they would think upon this,
Gain insight into their future:
30
How could one have routed a thousand,
Or two put ten thousand to flight,
Unless their rock had sold them,
The Lord had given them up?
Deu. 32:30 shows the weakness of Israel without Jehovah, No foe can stand before him, but enemies can overrun his own people if he has abandoned them,
Oh! how would one have chased a thousand,
And two put ten thousand to flight,
Were it not that their Rock had sold them,
And Yahweh had abandoned them;
(Rotherham)
The idea, of course, is that Israels defeat at the hand of their enemies would have been impossible unless God had abandoned his people.
FOR THEIR ROCK IS NOT AS OUR ROCK (Deu. 32:31)a statement equivalent of saying, For their god(s) are not as our God. To foreign nations, whose god (rock) was powerless and dead, his physical presence or non-presence made no actual difference in the outcome of battlesor any other event for that matter. But Israel lost no battles unless their Rock had sold them. The powerless rock of the heathen is not as our Rock, who is omnipotent.
EVEN OUR ENEMIES THEMSELVES BEING JUDGES (Deu. 32:31)i.e., Israels enemies can testify to the above truth. The Egyptians, for example, were helpless before Israels God, shouting, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for Jehovah fighteth for them against the Egyptians (Exo. 14:25). See also Exo. 15:14-16, Deu. 2:25.
VINE OF SODOM . . . FIELDS OF GOMORRAH (Deu. 32:32)To become like these became (Gen. 19:23-28) would be to become a desolate waste, unproductive and sterile. See Deu. 29:22-28, notes. Whatever would be produced in Israel, as in Deu. 32:32-33 would be of the poorest quality. But it is possible that this picturesque phrase means more. Sodom and Gomorrah are here advanced as types of what is depraved, and to the moral taste nauseous (cf. Isa. 1:10; Jer. 23:14). (Pulpit)
GRAPES OF GALL (Deu. 32:32)See Deu. 29:18-20, notes. Deu. 32:32-33 could be taken to describe a degenerate people as well as a degenerate land.
34
Is not this laid up in store with me,
Sealed up among my treasures?
35
Vengeance is mine, and recompense,
At the time when their foot shall slide:
For the day of their calamity is at hand,
And the things that are to come upon them shall make haste.
36
For Jehovah will judge his people,
And repent himself for his servants;
When he seeth that their power is gone,
And there is none remaining, shut up or left at large.
37
And he will say, Where are their gods,
The rock in which they took refuge;
38
Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices,
And drank the wine of their drink-offering?
Let them rise up and help you,
Let them be your protection.
39
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;
And there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
40
For I lift up my hand to heaven,
And say, As I live for ever,
41
If I whet my glittering sword,
And my hand take hold on judgment;
I will render vengeance to mine adversaries,
And will recompense them that hate me.
52
I will make mine arrows drunk with blood,
And my sword shall devour flesh;
With the blood of the slain and the captives,
From the head of the leaders of the enemy.
43
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 make expiation for his land, for his people.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(19) The Lord saw . . . abhorred.Comp. Jer. 14:21.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
19. The Lord abhorred them And Jehovah saw it and rejected them, because he was angry with his sons and his daughters. Jehovah saw their idolatry. In the apostasy of Israel the women became luxurious and corrupt. See Isa 3:16, and the following verses; also Isa 32:9; Jer 7:18; Jer 44:15.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Overlord’s Verdict Is Pronounced ( Deu 32:19-25 ).
Deu 32:19-20
‘And Yahweh saw, and abhorred,
Because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.
And he said, I will hide my face from them,
I will see what their end shall be,
For they are a very perverse generation,
Children in whom is no faithfulness.’
Yahweh’s response was horror at what they were doing and hatred of what they were doing it with. His very children were provoking Him with their behaviour, and He declared His determination to hide His face from them and watch over them no more. Then He would see what their end would be (compare Psa 73:17). They were like unruly children who were perverse and totally lacking in loyalty.
There is nothing more sad than a people forsaken because of their own folly. Can we not remember our first love when all that we desired was to please Him? But now like the Laodiceans many of us have grown lukewarm. And thus God has become very distant.
Deu 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 that are not a people,
I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.”
Indeed with their ‘no gods’ they had made Him intolerant of their disloyalty, and they had provoked Him to anger with the vain things that they had to do with. Thus He will bring against them another people, an unchosen people, a no-people, and He will favour those people and make His people jealous of them and angry in their hearts. There are probably no particular people in mind here. The point is simply that for a while He will favour their enemies, who are not a chosen people.
But in the end it would result in the responsive among the no-people, the Gentiles, being united with the faithful in Israel in forming the new Israel, the true church of God, which would indeed make unfaithful Israel jealous (compare 1Pe 2:10).
For the provocation see Deu 29:22-28. For the contrast between no-gods and no-people compare Hos 1:9; Hos 2:23.
Deu 32:22
“For a fire is kindled in my anger,
And burns to the lowest Sheol,
And devours the earth with its increase,
And sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.”
Few will escape. This introduction of a ‘favoured’ enemy will be like a fire kindled by Yahweh (compare Deu 4:24) which will even burn their dead, (for even they will not escape), will destroy their crops and trees and the land (compare Jdg 6:4-5), and set on fire the lower parts of the mountains. The picture is one of ultimate devastation.
Deu 32:23-24
“I will heap evils upon them,
I will spend mine arrows on them,
Wasted with hunger, and devoured
With burning heat and bitter destruction,
And the teeth of beasts will I send on them,
With the poison of crawling things of the dust.”
So will He heap evil circumstances on His people and strike them with His arrows, wasting them with hunger, striking them with plague and pestilence (‘burning heat’, compare Deu 28:22), letting them endure the burning and destruction of their land, its devastation by wild beasts and its being overcome with poisonous crawling things. All the curses of Deuteronomy 28 will come on them.
When we have backslidden we too experience the awfulness of His seeming abandonment. And then what is important is that we respond immediately, otherwise it will only get worse. For whom God loves, He chastens.
Deu 32:25
“Outside will the sword bereave,
And in the chambers terror,
For both the young man and the maiden,
For the suckling with the man of grey hairs.”
When they dare to go outside the sword will slay them and bereave their families, and if they hide within their dwellings terror will enter both for young men and maidens, for grandfathers and grandchildren. None will be safe.
The verdict having been given at this point, the likeness to the treaty indictment ceases, for having obtained his vengeance the ordinary overlord would pass on having destroyed his enemies, while Yahweh cannot do so. For He is faithful even to those who are unfaithful.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jehovah’s Sentence and its Execution
v. 19. And when the Lord saw it, v. 20. And He said, I will hide My face from them, v. 21. They have moved Me to jealousy with that which is not God, v. 22. 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; v. 23. I will heap mischiefs upon them, v. 24. They shall be burned with hunger, v. 25. The sword without and terror within, v. 26. I said I would scatter them into corners, v. 27. were it not that I feared the wrath of, v. 28. For they, v. 29. O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end! v. 30. 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? v. 31. For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges. v. 32. For their vine, v. 33. their wine is the poison of dragons, v. 34. Is not this laid up in store with Me, v. 35. To Me belongeth vengeance and recompense; their foot shall slide in due time, v. 36. For the Lord shall judge His people, and repent Himself for v. 37. And He shall say, v. 38. which, v. 39. See now, v. 40. For I lift up My hand to heaven, v. 41. if I whet My glittering sword, v. 42. I will make Mine arrows drunk with blood, and My sword shall devour flesh, v. 43. Rejoice, O ye nations, with His people,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Ver. 19. When the Lord saw it, he abhorred them, &c. This might be rendered more emphatically and nearer to the Hebrew, and the Lord saw, and through indignation rejected his sons and daughters. Moses still speaks in the prophetic style: the daughters are here particularly mentioned, because the women were notoriously guilty of provoking God by their idolatry: in proof of which, see Jer 7:8; Jer 44:15. Eze 8:14.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Of all sin, and sinners, nothing is so aggravated as in those instances, where a nearness of affection should have induced the reverse. An holy GOD must hate sin, as sin, wherever it be found. But in his children, it appears in the strongest colors. Psa 55:12-13 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Deu 32:19 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 K B .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Deu 32:19-22
19The Lord saw this, and spurned them
Because of the provocation of His sons and daughters.
20Then He said, ‘I will hide My face from them,
I will see what their end shall be;
For they are a perverse generation,
Sons in whom is no faithfulness.
21They have made Me jealous with what is not God;
They have provoked Me to anger with their idols.
So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people;
I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation,
22For a fire is kindled in My anger,
And burns to the lowest part of Sheol,
And consumes the earth with its yield,
And sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.
Deu 32:19-22 This paragraph is repetitious of preceding themes. Poetry is very repetitious. God’s covenant people reject Him and He rejects them (cf. Hos 1:9; Hos 2:23; Rom 9:25). His rejection (i.e., anger) is for the purpose of reconciliation. He will use a people to provoke Israel to jealousy (and hopefully faith, cf. Rom 11:11; Rom 11:14). This sounds very much to me like Paul’s discussion in Romans 9-11. Paul even quotes Deu 32:21 in Rom 10:19!
The added irony is that Israel left YHWH for non-existent gods (i.e., vanities, cf. Jer 2:13). Oh, the stupidity of human idolatry (cf. Isa 40:19-20; Isa 44:9-20; Jer 10:3-5; Jer 10:14)!
Deu 32:20 I will hide My face from them This is a metaphor for the cessation of YHWH’s personal care and attention (cf. Deu 31:17-18).
For they are a perverse generation, Sons in whom is no faithfulness These two lines of poetry describe the tragedy of Israel who had YHWH’s special care and presence (cf. Rom 9:4-5). They are characterized as:
1. perverse (BDB 246) – a term usually used in Proverbs (cf. Pro 2:12; Pro 2:14; Pro 6:14; Pro 8:13; Pro 10:31; Pro 10:31; Pro 16:30; Pro 23:33). It is related to the Hebrew word for stocks (BDB 246), which put one’s body into a crooked or twisted posture.
2. no faithfulness (BDB 53 negated) – a term also common to Proverbs (cf. Deu 13:17; Deu 20:6; also note Psa 31:23; Isa 26:3; see Special Topic at Deu 1:32).
3. This characterization is parallel to Deu 32:5 :
a. perverse (BDB 786 I)
b. crooked (BDB 836)
YHWH is the true standard or rule (see Special Topic: Righteousness ). His covenant people have deviated from the standard.
I will see what their end shall be YHWH had previously shown Moses the future of Israel in Deu 31:29, as He will later do Joshua in Deu 24:19.
Deu 32:21 idols This is literally vapor or vanity (BDB 210) and represents that which is worthless or non-existent. Here, like Jer 2:5; Jer 8:19; Jer 10:14-15; Jer 16:19-20, it is used of idols. See a play on the word in Isa 57:13.
Deu 32:22 This verse is metaphorical of the complete destruction and judgment that God will bring on rebellious Israel (cf. Jer 15:14; Jer 17:4). All of God’s creation (i.e., earth, sheol) are affected! This is not a reference to the place of eternal punishment.
SPECIAL TOPIC: THE DEAD, WHERE ARE THEY? (SHEOL/HADES, GEHENNA, TARTARUS)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
abhorred. Compare Psa 106:40.
of. Genitive of origin = the provocation produced by the conduct of His People.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
And when: Lev 26:11, Jdg 2:14, Psa 5:4, Psa 10:3, Psa 78:59, Psa 106:40, Amo 3:2, Amo 3:3, Zec 11:8, Rev 3:16
abhorred them: or, despised, Lam 2:6
of his sons: Psa 82:6, Psa 82:7, Isa 1:2, Jer 11:15
Reciprocal: Psa 89:38 – and Pro 22:14 – abhorred Isa 1:4 – provoked Isa 5:25 – the anger Isa 59:2 – your iniquities Isa 63:10 – he was Isa 64:7 – hast hid Jer 2:17 – when he Jer 14:21 – not abhor Jer 23:33 – I Eze 23:18 – then Dan 9:11 – the curse Dan 9:27 – that determined Mic 3:4 – he will even
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
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.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
"The ’jealousy’ of God [Deu 32:21] is not a spirit of pettiness prompted by his insecurity, but righteous indignation caused by the disloyalty of his people to his covenant grace . . . The jealousy of Israel, however (see next line), will be envy because of God’s lavish attention to another nation [cf. Rom 11:11]." [Note: The NET Bible note on 32:21.]
God would discipline Israel because of her rebellion. He would make the punishment fit the crime (Deu 32:21). The nations referred to as being "not a people" (Deu 32:21) are those that had no divine calling as a people as Israel did. There is no other nation like Israel in the sense that it is the people of God. Fire (Deu 32:22) is the symbol of God’s wrath and judgment (cf. Deu 4:24; Exo 3:2; Heb 12:29).