Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 32:30
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?
30. How could one, etc.] Some ignominious rout of Israel.
delivered them up ] Cp. Deu 23:15 (16).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 30. How should one chase a thousand] If therefore they had not forgotten their Rock, God their author and defence, it could not possibly have come to pass that a thousand of them should flee before one of their enemies.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
How should one chase a thousand? whence should this miraculous change come, that whereas God had promised that five Israelites should chase an hundred of their enemies, &c., Deu 26:8, now, on the contrary,
one enemy
should chase a thousand Israelites?
Their Rock, i.e. their God, as before, Deu 32:4,18, who was their only refuge and defence; had sold them, to wit, for bond-slaves, had quitted his right and relation to them, and given them up into their enemies hands.
Shut them up, as it were, in the net which their enemies had laid for them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight,…. This is said for the conviction of the Pagan Romans of their folly in behaving strangely, attributing to their gods what belonged to the true God; for since the Jews were more numerous than they, both in Judea, in the times of Titus Vespasian, when the country was subdued by him; and in other parts of the world, in the times of Adrian, when the Jews rose up in vast numbers, greatly superior to the Romans, and yet were conquered; which, allowing the phrase to be hyperbolical, was like one to a thousand, and two to ten thousand: now since this was what was promised to the Jews in case of obedience, that they should in this manner chase their enemies, Le 26:8; it cannot be accounted for that they should in like manner be chased by their enemies, as threatened Isa 30:17;
except their rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up; that is, unless the Lord, who was their rock and fortress, and in whom they should have trusted as such, had forsaken them, and given them up into their enemies’ hands, shut up as they were in the city of Jerusalem in the times of Titus, and afterwards in Bither in the times of Adrian; it is a plain case that this was of God, and not owing to the idols of the Gentiles; see Ps 44:9; Cocceius and Van Till interpret this of Constantine overcoming Maxentius, Licinius, and Maximinius, whereby the whole Roman empire on a sudden became Christian nominally, when but a little before Dioclesian had erected a trophy with this inscription on it,
“the Christian name blotted out;”
so that the odds between the Christians and Pagans were as one to a thousand, and two to ten thousand, and the victory therefore must be ascribed to God; this could never have been unless Satan, the great red dragon, had given his kingdom to the beast, which was done by the permission and sovereign will of God; see Re 6:14; so those interpreters, but the former sense seems best.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
30. How should one chase a thousand. Of all the many tokens of God’s wrath, he selects one which was peculiarly striking; for as long as God was on their side, they had put to flight mighty armies, nor had they been supported by any multitude of forces. Now, when, though in great numbers, they are conquered by a few, this change plainly shows that they are deprived of God’s aid, especially when a thousand, who were wont before, with a little band, to rout the greatest armies, gave way before ten men. Moses, therefore, condemns the stupidity of the people, in that it does not occur to their minds that they are rejected by God, when they are so easily overcome by a few enemies, whom they far exceed in numbers. Moses, however, goes still further, and says, that they were sold and betrayed; (279) inasmuch as God, having so often found them to be unworthy of His aid, not only deserted them, but made them subject to heathen nations, and, as it were, sold them to be their slaves. This threat is often repeated by the prophets: and Isaiah, desiring to awake in them a hope of deliverance, tells them that God would redeem the people whom He had sold. (280) But, in case any should object that it was no matter of wonder, if the uncertain chance of war should confer on others the victory which often, as a profane poet says,
“
Hovers between the two on doubtful wings,” (281)
Moses anticipates the objection by declaring that, unless the people should be deprived of God’s aid, they could not be otherwise than successful. A comparison is therefore instituted between the true God and false gods: as though Moses had said that, where the God of hosts presides, the issue of war can never be doubtful. Hence it follows, that God’s elect and peculiar people are exempted from the ordinary condition of nations, except in so far as it deserves to be rejected on the score of its ingratitude. He calls the unbelievers themselves to be the arbiters and witnesses of this, inasmuch as they had often experienced the formidable power of God, and knew assuredly that the God of Israel was unlike their idols. It is, then, just as if he had said, that this was conspicuous even to the blind, or were to cite as witnesses those who are blessed with no light from on high. In thus inviting unbelievers to be judges, it is not as if he supposed that they would pronounce what was true, and thoroughly understood by them, but because they must needs be convinced by experience: for, if any one had asked the heathen whether the supreme government and power of heaven and earth were in the hands of the One God of Israel, they never would have confessed that their idols were mere vanity. Still, however malignantly they might detract from God’s glory, Moses does not hesitate to boast, even themselves being judges, that God had magnificently exerted His unconquered might; although he refers rather to the experience of facts themselves, than to their feelings. Other commentators extract a different meaning, viz., that although unbelievers might be victorious, still God remained unaffected by it: neither was his arm broken, because he permitted them to afflict the apostate Israelites: (282) the former exposition, however, is the more appropriate one.
(279) “Shut them up.” — A. V.
(280) The reference is here generally to Isa 52:3, however, to which C. probably alludes, hardly bears out the statement in the text: “Ye have sold yourselves for nought, etc. The Fr. stands thus, ”Isaie, en parlant du retour de la captivite de Babylone, dit que Dieu rachetera le peuple qu’il a vendu.”
(281)
diuque Inter utrumque volat dubiis Victoria pennis. Ovid, Metam. viii. 11, 12.
(282) This is the view of S.M. “Although our enemies now be our judges, this they have not from their own gods, but from our God, who has delivered us into their hands.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(30) How should one (of their enemies) chase a thousand (of them).Comp. the verse in Deu. 28:25, and more especially Lev. 26:8; Lev. 26:17; Lev. 26:36.
Had sold them.Here first used of Jehovah. It is a common expression in the book of Judges (Deu. 2:14; Deu. 3:8; Deu. 4:2; Deu. 10:7; 1Sa. 12:9).
Had shut them up (into the hand of their enemies).Comp. Psa. 78:62, He shut up His people also unto the sword.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Ver. 30-33. How should one chase a thousand i.e. Would they but wisely reflect, and be moved by the terror of these punishments upon their posterity, to a different conduct, how flourishing should be their estate at home, how victorious their arms abroad! The sacred writer adds, how certainly should they do this, if their Rock had not sold them; i.e. entirely given them up, and quitted his protection of them! For their god is not as our God, &c. Their god, or rock, means here the idol gods, the dependance of the rebellious Israelites; (see ver. 37.) which idols, Moses asserts, even their very enemies being judges, were not to be compared with the God of Israel; for those enemies were often forced to acknowledge the over-ruling power of Jehovah, controuling all their designs, and all the efforts of their gods, though they considered him only as the local tutelary God of the Jews. See Exo 8:19; Exo 14:25. Num 23:23. 1Sa 4:7-8. Dan 3:29. Perhaps the reader will think this whole clause from ver. 28 not improperly connected thus: Having in ver. 28 declared them to be a nation void of counsel and understanding, the sacred writer, in the 29th verse, bursts forth into a pathetic wish, saying, “O that they were wise! then they would understand this: they would understand what would happen to them hereafter; how one should chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight; if it was not because their Creator had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up. For, not as our God is their god, even our enemies being judges: for of the vine of Sodom is their vine, and of the fields of Gomorrah are their grapes; grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter.” So the 32nd verse should be translated. It is observed, that the soil about Sodom and Gomorrah produced nothing but blasted fruits of a black hue, without substance; and so dry and sapless, that when pressed they would crumble as it were into ashes! Acra & inania velut in cinerem vanescunt, says Tacitus, Hist. lib. 5: cap. 6. In allusion hereto, the vine of Sodom became a metaphorical expression for depraved works; and this allusion is carried on in the next clause, as well as in the 33rd verse; where, when it is said their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter, it is meant, that their actions or fruits are most wicked and distasteful. See Isa 5:4 compared with the 7th verse; and so Josephus describes them before their last destruction, saying remarkably in the sixth Book of his Jewish War, that their city was so wicked, that if the Romans had not fallen upon them, he verily believes the earth would have opened its mouth and swallowed them up; or thunder and lightning from heaven must have destroyed them, as it did Sodom and Gomorrah; for they were a more atheistical nation than those who suffered such things. The corresponding clause to this in the 33rd verse, their wine is the poison of dragons, &c. is of the same import; signifying their fruits or works to be most pernicious and depraved, and so resembling the poison of dragons; Rev 17:2. The Hebrew word tanim, rendered dragons, signifies a kind of large serpents, which make a doleful and horrid noise and hissing. This property of theirs is observed by AElian; and to this Job alludes, chap. Job 30:29 and Mic 1:8. See Boch. vol. 3: p. 437. Lucan, lib. 9: ver. 727 and Parkhurst on the word. The poison of asps is called cruel, because it is accounted the subtilest of all, penetrating instantly into the vital parts. Hence the proverb , the biting of asps, for an incurable wound. See Scheuchzer on the place.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
There are two ways of reading those verses. If we consider the words, How should one Israelite chase a thousand? we must then view the salvation of Israel, as effected by GOD. But if we consider the words, rather as corresponding to a deserted state by reason of Israel’s sin, it will then appear; that the timidity of Israel ariseth, in that the LORD hath given them into the hands of their enemies. See Isa 30:17 . The contrast drawn between the confidence of GOD’S enemies, and the GOD of his people’s confidence in those verses is beautiful. But Reader, remark with me, the graciousness of GOD, and the LORD’S pity over his people, when they are brought down to a low estate. See Lev 26:40-43 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Deu 32:30 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?
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 that having first sold themselves for nought, Isa 52:3 they were now sold by God, who would own them no longer? Psa 31:7-8
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
one chase, &c. Compare Lev 26:8. Jos 23:10. 2Ch 24:24. Isa 30:17.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
one chase: Lev 26:8, Jos 23:10, Jdg 7:22, Jdg 7:23, 1Sa 14:15-17, 2Ch 24:24, Isa 30:17
sold them: Jdg 2:14, Jdg 3:8, Psa 44:12, Isa 50:1, Isa 52:3, Mat 18:25
shut them: Job 11:10, Job 16:11, Psa 31:8
Reciprocal: Exo 34:10 – I will do marvels Num 14:45 – the Amalekites Deu 1:44 – chased you Deu 5:29 – O that there Deu 20:4 – to fight Deu 28:7 – shall cause Deu 28:25 – cause thee Deu 32:4 – the Rock Jos 7:4 – fled Jdg 16:20 – I will go 1Sa 4:7 – were afraid 1Sa 12:9 – he sold 1Sa 14:6 – for there is no restraint 1Sa 14:13 – fell 1Sa 17:24 – sore 1Sa 26:8 – delivered 2Sa 23:3 – the Rock 1Ki 20:27 – like two 2Ki 7:5 – behold 2Ki 25:4 – fled 1Ch 12:14 – General 2Ch 14:11 – nothing Ezr 5:12 – he gave Psa 62:2 – He only Psa 78:35 – God was Psa 91:2 – I will Psa 106:41 – he gave Psa 144:1 – my strength Isa 10:4 – Without me Isa 31:3 – the Egyptians Isa 42:24 – General Jer 52:7 – all the men Lam 1:6 – her princes Eze 39:23 – gave them Dan 1:2 – the Lord Joe 3:8 – I will Hab 1:12 – mighty God