Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 32:23
I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.
23. heap ] According as we point the consonants of this vb., it may mean add, or gather, or sweep up; evils, Deu 31:17.
24, 25 define the arrows of Deu 32:23 famine, fever, plague, wild beasts and poisonous, and war.
24 a. The rhythm is irregular whether for a line or couplet, and the text uncertain, the first and last words are only found here and their sense is conjectural.
From Sam. it is possible to read the first word mizzh, on this side, and to reconstruct the whole as a regular couplet yielding the kind of antithesis beloved by the writer ( Deu 32:21 ; Deu 32:25) and free of the
mizzeh r‘ab yilham On this side famine devours, mizzeh rshph W e ktl On this side fever and plague. Wasted is a meaning drawn from a doubtful Ar. analogy; burning heat, Heb. resheph, fire-bolt or flame as God’s instrument of fever, in Hab 3:5 parallel to pestilence.
24 b. beasts ] Heb. B e hemth. For this natural curse of the East cp. Deu 7:22, Hos 2:12. The contrast in Isa 11:6-9.
crawling things ] Mic 7:17, cp. Isa 11:8, Jer 8:17.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 23. I will spend mine arrows upon them.] The judgments of God in general are termed the arrows of God, Job 6:4; Ps 38:2-3; Ps 91:5; see also Eze 5:16; Jer 50:14; 2Sa 22:14-15. In this and the following verses, to the 28th inclusive (De 32:23-28), God threatens this people with every species of calamity that could possibly fall upon man. How strange it is that, having this law continually in their hands, they should not discern those threatened judgments, and cleave to the Lord that they might be averted!
It was customary among the heathens to represent any judgment from their gods under the notion of arrows, especially a pestilence; and one of their greatest deities, Apollo, is ever represented as bearing a bow and quiver full of deadly arrows; so Homer, Il. i., ver. 43, where he represents him, in answer to the prayer of his priest Chryses, coming to smite the Greeks with the pestilence: –
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“Thus Chryses pray’d; the favouring power attends,
And from Olympus’ lofty tops descends.
Bent was his bow the Grecian hearts to wound;
Fierce as he moved, his silver shafts resound;—
The fleet in view, he twang’d his deadly’ bow,
And hissing fly the feather’d fates below.
On mules and dogs the infection first began;
And last the vengeful arrows fix’d in man.”
How frequently the same figure is employed in the sacred writings, every careful reader knows; and quotations need not be multiplied.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
i.e. Even empty my quiver, and send upon them all my plagues, which, like arrows shot by a skilful and strong hand, shall speedily reach, and certainly hit, and mortally wound them. Compare Zec 9:14.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
23. I will spend mine arrows uponthemWar, famine, pestilence (Ps77:17) are called in Scripture the arrows of the Almighty.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I will heap mischief upon them,…. One calamity upon another, which are after particularly mentioned:
I will spewed mine arrows upon them; God is here represented as an enemy to the Jews, as having bent his bow against them like an enemy, La 2:4; and as having a quiver, and that full of arrows, and as determined to draw out and spend everyone of them, in taking vengeance upon them; which arrows are his four sore judgments mentioned
Eze 14:21; and expressed in De 32:24.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(23) Mischiefs.Literally, ills. Comp. Eze. 5:16 : I will send upon them the evil arrows of famine . . . I will increase the famine upon them.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
23. I will heap mischiefs upon them Here follows a dread array of disasters and judgments that will come upon the rebellious nation. Hunger, pestilence, plague, wild beasts, poisonous serpents, and war are to afflict them.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Ver. 23-25. I will spend mine arrows upon them The judgments of God, enumerated in these verses, are often compared to arrows. Job 6:4. Psa 38:2; Psa 91:5. So Homer describes the pestilence in the Grecian camp, under the image of a deadly arrow, shot at the Greeks by Apollo; Iliad 1: ver. 51. The first of these arrows or plagues, is famine, (ver. 24.) with which they are threatened to be burnt or consumed: this was dreadfully fulfilled in their destruction by the Chaldeans, when they were so burnt with famine, that their visages were black as a coal, and their skin withered like a stick. Lam 4:8. What we render burning heat, is in the Margin of our Bibles, burning coals; or, as some, a burning carbuncle; a fiery, pestilential ulcer in the body. See Hab 3:5. Venema inclines to their opinion, who would render it, they shall be consumed by lightning, which the original signifies in many places. Psa 76:4; Psa 78:48. Job 5:7. It seems to me most probable, that this first clause of the 24th verse denounces upon them the plagues of famine and its certain concomitants, pestilence and death. In the next clause, wild beasts and poisonous serpents are threatened to destroy and devour them; and, to complete their desolation, the unrelenting sword, ver. 25 is commissioned to make fearful havoc amongst them. Thus God here threatens his four sore judgments, as in Eze 14:21. The sword and the famine, evil beasts, and the pestilence: See Rev 6:8. We refer to the commentary on chap. 28: for the completion of these terrible denunciations.
REFLECTIONS.It is the folly of sinners, that they often say, Tush, God shall not see: but his eyes run to and fro in the earth, and there is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where any of the workers of iniquity can hide themselves. We hear, therefore, the wrath of God denounced upon them, 1. In his abhorrence of them. They had once borne the character of children in profession at least; now that they act so undutifully, it is but justice to disinherit them. Note; Sin makes us odious in the sight of divine purity, and no sin can be so offensive as theirs, who make profession of religion. 2. In his hiding his face from them: not that he ceased to minute their iniquities, but he withdrew every token of his favour from them, to try whether they would seek after him; but they continued perverse and obstinate, and faithless to all their vows and engagements. Note; Their sin is greatly aggravated, who not only transgress the law they are under, but violate the covenant they once entered into. 3. As they had treated God with such contempt, he will punish them in kind, making them a prey to blind and idolatrous nations, and obliging them to serve those whom they regarded as vile and despicable: such were the Babylonians and Romans, who subdued them; and such were all those Gentiles, who, on their rejection of Christ and his gospel, were admitted into covenant with God, from which by their wickedness they were excluded. 4. Their terrible end is foretold. The fire of God shall burn up their pleasant land and goodly cities; God’s bow shall be bent, and his quiver emptied with repeated strokes of judgment; the famine shall devour, the pestilence consume them; the beasts of the field and poisonous serpents shall fix their envenomed fangs upon them, whilst the sword of the enemy, merciless and drenched in blood, shall spare neither young nor old, till they are destroyed. Note; God’s plagues will overtake the sinner sooner or later; at least, if not before, in the everlasting burnings of hell.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Deu 32:23 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.
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Deu 32:23-27
23’I will heap misfortunes on them; I will use My arrows on them.
24They will be wasted by famine, and consumed by plague
And bitter destruction;
And the teeth of beasts I will send upon them,
With the venom of crawling things of the dust.
25Outside the sword will bereave,
And inside terror –
Both young man and virgin,
The nursling with the man of gray hair.
26I would have said, I will cut them to pieces,
I will remove the memory of them from men,
27Had I not feared the provocation by the enemy,
That their adversaries would misjudge,
That they would say, Our hand is triumphant,
And the Lord has not done all this.’
Deu 32:23-25 This paragraph describes metaphorically YHWH’s judgment on Israel:
1. I will heap misfortunes on them – BDB 705, KB 763, Hiphil IMPERFECT, found only here. The Qal means to sweep away or snatch away.
2. I will use My arrows on them – BDB 477, KB 476, Piel IMPERFECT. This VERB’S basic meaning is to bring something to completion, i.e., totally destroy (cf. Deu 32:22).
a. wasted by famine, Deu 32:24, cf. Deu 28:22
b. consumed by plague, Deu 32:24 (or famine, BDB 536 II, burning heat)
c. bitter destruction, Deu 32:24 (or poisonous pestilence, cf. #e)
d. the teeth of beasts, Deu 32:24, cf. Lev 26:22
e. venom of crawling things, Deu 32:24, cf. Amo 5:18-19
f. sword (outside), Deu 32:25
g. terror (inside), Deu 32:25
(1) young men (of marriageable age)
(2) young women (virgin of marriageable age)
(3) children (nursing)
(4) elderly (man of gray hair)
Deu 32:26-27 YHWH would have destroyed them:
1. cut them to pieces, Deu 32:26 – BDB 802, KB 907, Hiphil IMPERFECT, but COHORTATIVE in meaning to match the next VERB (only here, LXX has scattered them)
2. remove the memory of them, Deu 32:26 – BDB 991, KB 1407, Hiphil COHORTATIVE (i.e., totally exterminate)
3. This is only one of several texts which assert Israel’s complete annihilation if they disobey the covenant (cf. Deu 4:26; Deu 28:20-22; Deu 30:19).
But to do so would thwart His purpose for Israel. Israel’s enemies would claim victory and attribute it to YHWH (cf. Deu 32:27).
mischiefs. See App-44.
arrows. Figure of speech Anthropopatheia. App-6. They are named in Deu 32:24.
heap mischiefs: Deu 28:15, Lev 26:18, Lev 26:24, Isa 24:17, Isa 24:18, Isa 26:15, Jer 15:2, Jer 15:3, Eze 14:21, Mat 24:7, Mat 24:8
spend: Psa 7:12, Psa 7:13, Lam 3:13, Eze 5:16
Reciprocal: Num 24:8 – pierce Deu 4:35 – none else Deu 32:42 – make mine 2Sa 22:15 – arrows Job 6:4 – the arrows Job 27:22 – For God Psa 18:14 – Yea Psa 64:7 – God Psa 120:4 – arrows Psa 144:6 – shoot out Jer 48:43 – General Eze 7:15 – General Eze 7:26 – Mischief shall Nah 1:6 – his fury Hab 3:9 – bow
Deu 32:23-25. I will spend mine arrows upon them Even empty my quiver, and send upon them all my plagues, which, like arrows shot by a skilful and strong hand, shall speedily reach, and certainly hit and mortally wound them. The judgments of God are often compared to arrows, Job 6:4; Psa 38:2; Psa 91:5. They shall be burnt with hunger Here these arrows or plagues are enumerated; the first of them is famine, with which they are therefore said to be burnt; because it burns and parches the inward parts of the body. This threatening was awfully fulfilled in their destruction by the Chaldeans, when, according to Jeremiah, their visages became black as a coal, through famine; and their skin withered like a stick, Lam 4:8. And devoured with burning heat From fevers, or carbuncles, or other inflaming distempers. Destruction by wild beasts and poisonous serpents is threatened in the next clause, and Deu 32:25, by the sword. So that all Gods four sore judgments were to be employed against them. Serpents of the dust That creep upon and eat the dust, (Gen 3:14,) and lurk in it, that they may surprise unwary passengers, Gen 49:17. The sword without, and terror within In the field they shall be exposed to the sword of their enemies, and at home shall die with fear, or shall destroy their own lives lest they should fall into the hands of their destroyers.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments