Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 32:35
To me [belongeth] vengeance, and recompense; 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.
35. Mine are vengeance, etc.] Sam. and LXX read for the day of vengeance, etc.; and perhaps rightly, see Ginsburg, Intr. p. 168. Here intended as an assurance to Israel, but in Rom 12:19 as a warning against undertaking revenge oneself, cp. Heb 10:30.
day of their disaster ] Jer 18:17; Jer 46:21, Oba 1:13, Psa 18:18 (19).
things destined for them ] A late expression.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Deu 32:35
Their foot shall slide in due time.
The awakening of sinners
This is the culmination of the most dreadful denunciation of sinners to be found in the Bible.
I. The insecurity of the sinner.
A sense of sin and impending punishment is ever present in mans heart. Heathen nations of the old and of the new world recognised it, and established forms of religious worship in order to avoid it, But the Bible makes assurance doubly sure, and issues solemn warnings of the fact.
II. The certainty of the result. Human life knows no such thing as remaining in one place. Man is ever going forward or backward–which depends upon himself. Men shut their eyes and fancy themselves secure, None plunge headlong into the extremities of sin at once. Nearly everyone can recollect the first falsehood, the first profane word, the first dishonest act, after they have reached depths of depravity of which they never dreamed. They took the devil for their master, and he presses them hard at every turn. The down-slide is governed by an inexorable law.
III. Consider where they are sliding. Away from virtue, away from peace, away from good company, away from God! Men watch the downward progress of the drunkard with pity and disgust. The wilful wrecking of all that is noble in man seems incomprehensible. (J. O. Peck, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 35. Their foot shall slide in due time, &c.] But Calmet thinks that this verse is spoken against the Canaanites, the enemies of the Jewish people.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
It is my office to punish sin, and therefore as I know their sins, so I will assuredly punish them. Their feet shall slide; they who now think they stand fast and unmovable, they shall fall into utter destruction.
In due time; though not so soon as some may expect it, yet in that time when it shall be most proper and seasonable, when they have filled up the measure of their sins. This due time may be the same with that fulness of time, Gal 4:4, when Christ came into the world, whom this people by wicked hands crucified and slew, Act 2:23, for which wrath came upon them to the uttermost, 1Th 2:15,16.
Is at hand, Heb. is near. So the Scripture oft speaks of those things which are at many hundred years distance, to meet with objections arising in mens minds from the delays of them, and to signify, that though they may be afar off as to our measures of time and expectation of the things, yet in Gods account they are near, they are as near as may be; as soon as ever the fit and the full time is come, they come instantly, they are nearer than sinners would have them; when the measure of their sins is once full, the judgment shall not be deferred.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
To me [belongeth] vengeance and recompense,…. Or, I will repay, or recompence, as it is quoted in Ro 12:19; and so all the three Targums, the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions, here, and so Jarchi interprets it. Vengeance belongs only to a divine Person, not to an Heathen deity called Dice, or vengeance, Ac 28:4; nor to Satan and his spiteful angels, nor to any of the sons of men in a private capacity; though magistrates, being in public office, and representing God, are revengers to execute wrath on them that do evil, Ro 13:4; otherwise it is peculiar to God; and there is a great deal of reason to believe he will recompence it, as it may be concluded from his hatred of sin, his strict justice, and his faithfulness to his threatenings as well as his promises; from the instances of his vengeance on the old world, on Sodom and Gomorrah, and others; and from his taking vengeance on the inventions even of good men, whose sins he pardons, and especially from his sparing his own Son, when standing in the legal place and, stead of sinners: and this is applicable to Christ, who not only in the days of his flesh took vengeance Satan, and his principalities and powers; and, when he came in his kingdom and power, took vengeance on the Jews his enemies, who would not have him to rule over them; but also, at his spiritual coming, he will take vengeance on antichrist, whom he will destroy with the breath of his mouth, and send that son of perdition into the perdition appointed for him; and pour out the vials of his wrath on all the antichristian states, the time of which is next pointed at:
their foot shall slide in [due] time; there is a time fixed for the reign of antichrist, when it will end, forty two months, or 1260 days; that is, so many years; see Re 11:2; and a little before the expiration of them, his foot will begin to slide, as the slipping of the foot is just before a fall; and then will the foot of antichrist slip and slide, when the witnesses slain by him shall revive and stand upon their feet, and cause fear to fall on them that are on the earth; and when they shall ascend up into heaven, or rise to superior power and authority, greatness and splendour, than they formerly had, and this in the sight of their enemies; and when there will be earthquakes and revolutions in the several antichristian states; and the tenth part of the great city shall fall, and many persons of renown be slain, and others frightened, and will give glory to the God of heaven; when an angel, or a set of Gospel ministers, shall fly in the midst of heaven, with the everlasting Gospel, to preach to all nations; which will be immediately followed by another, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; when the kings of the earth will dislike and resent various things done by the pope of Rome, and shall hate him, and meditate his ruin, and then may his foot be said to slide; see. Re 11:11;
for the day of their calamity [is] at hand; a cloudy day, as the word signifies, when the kingdom of the beast will be full of darkness and confusion, Re 16:10; and when all those calamities shall come upon Babylon, expressed in Re 14:8;
and the things that shall come upon them make haste; even all those evil things God has determined in his counsels and purposes, and which are foretold in prophecy, these shall come upon antichrist in haste; for, though his judgment and damnation may seem to linger and slumber, it shall not; God will hasten it in his due time, and all his judgments will come on Babylon in one day, Re 18:8.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
35 To me belongeth vengeance. This passage is quoted to different purposes by Paul, and by the author (283) of the Epistle to the Hebrews, (Rom 12:19; Heb 10:30😉 for Paul, with a view of persuading believers to bear injuries patiently, admonishes them to “give place unto wrath,” inasmuch as God declares vengeance to be His; but the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, proclaiming that God will be the avenger of impiety, confirms his declaration by this testimony. Hence it is that part of the commentators suppose that punishment is here denounced against heathen nations because they have cruelly afflicted God’s elect people. And, indeed, this appears to be the meaning of Paul’s words, that injuries should be patiently endured, since God claims for Himself the office of Avenger; but there is nothing to prevent the same statement from being accommodated to different uses, and therefore Paul did not irrelevantly confirm his exhortation by this saying of Moses, although it literally refers to the internal chastisements of the Church. Besides, the apostles are not in the habit of quoting every word from the testimonies which they adduce, but briefly remind their readers to examine more closely the passages quoted. But, since God here joins the two things together, that He will punish the sins of His people, and at the same time be the avenger of their oppressions, there will be nothing absurd in saying that Paul, as it were, points his finger at this passage; (284) still, the simple explanation will be, that the general declaration is accommodated to a special case, in order that believers should bear their injuries patiently, and leave to God the office which He pronounces to appertain to Himself. In my judgment, indeed, these words are connected with the preceding verse; for God pertinently confirms His statement, that he takes account of the number of men’s sins, and has them stored among His treasures, by adding that the power and office of judging rests with Himself; inasmuch as these two things are contrary to each other, that He should be cognizant of whatever is done unrighteously and amiss, and still leave it unpunished. Not that it is opposed to God’s justice to pardon sinners when they repent, but because this principle always continues firm, that God is the judge of the world, for the punishment of all iniquities. Thus the confidence of hypocrites is destroyed, who flatter themselves with the hope of impunity, unless they are overtaken by immediate punishment.
The clause which follows some interpreters pervert by supplying the relative, “in the time in which their foot shall slide;” whereas Moses simply concludes that they will fall in their due time, or that, although they may think they stand, their ruin or fall was not far off; and this is further confirmed by what he adds, viz., that their day of calamity was at hand. This statement, as I have before said, often occurs in the Prophets, that there is with God a fit time, (285) in which to punish the sins which He has appeared to overlook, and therefore His long-suffering detracts nothing from the judgment which He delays. In this doctrine there is a twofold moral; first, that those whom God spares for a time, should not give way to self-indulgence; and, secondly, that the prosperity of the wicked should not disturb the minds of believers, but that they should allow God to decide the time and the place of executing vengeance. Inasmuch, however, as God’s delay renders hypocrites secure, so that they lull themselves to sleep in their vices, and, although they hear that they will have to render account of them, thoughtlessly indulge themselves during (286) their period of enjoyment, Moses declares that the day is near, and makes haste; for, if God does not openly alarm them, and reduce them to straits, they exult in their immunity. Hence those blasphemous sayings recorded by Isaiah, (Isa 5:19,) “Let him make speed, and hasten his work that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One draw nigh and come, that we may know it! “Meanwhile we must bear in mind the words of Habakkuk, (Hab 2:3,) “Though the prophecy tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”
(283) It is notorious that C. adopted the opinion of the Western Church in the third and fourth centuries, and did not admit St. Paul to be the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews: see the Argument to his Commentary, (C., Soc. Edit.,) p. 27. This discrepancy is noticed, ibid, p. 249, and in Mr. Owen’s additional note, p. 394.
(284) “Sans l’alleguer au long;” without adducing it in full. — Fr.
(285) “Son temps et saison determinee;” his time and determined season. — Fr.
(286) “Usura.” — Lat. “Ils ne laissent pas de se donner bon temps, suyvant le proverbe diabolique, Que le terme vaut l’argent;” they cease not to indulge themselves, according to the diabolical proverb, that the delay is worth the money. — Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(35) To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence.In the Epistle to the Hebrews (Heb. 10:30) this sentence is quoted with the first clause of Deu. 32:36, For we know Him that said, Vengeance belongeth unto me. I will recompense, saith the Lord. And so in Rom. 12:19.
Their foot shall slide in due time.Rather, for the time when their foot shall slide.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
35. To me belongeth vengeance, and recompense; their foot shall slide in due time More literally, vengeance and retribution is mine when their foot shall shake. “The shaking of the foot is a figure representing the commencement of a fall or of stumbling.” Keil. Comp. Psa 38:16; Psa 94:18. The first part of this verse is quoted in Rom 12:19, and Heb 10:30. It is to be impressed upon the nation that when disasters come to them they are not fortuitous, but inflicted by Jehovah as the punishment for their sins.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Deu 32:35 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, , signifies comfort also; for God will be comforted in the execution of his wrath. Eze 5:13 See Trapp on “ Deu 28:63 “ He shows such severity sometimes as if he had blotted that out of his title, Exo 34:6 and now took up that Emperor’s motto, Fiat iustitia, pereat mundus.
Their foot shall slide in due time.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
To Me. Hebrew text is li = “to Me”, but Dr. Ginsburg thinks it is an abbreviation for liyom, “for the day”, as seems evident from Samaritan Pentateuch, Targum of Onkelos, and Septuagint, and from agreeing with the next line. So that verses: Deu 32:34, Deu 32:35 will read: “Is not this laid up in store with Me, Sealed up in My treasuries? For the day of vengeance and recompence, For the time when their foot shall slip? “This shows that the Ellipsis is wrongly supplied in the Authorized Version; and that the Revised Version misses the point
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
To me: Deu 32:43, Psa 94:1, Nah 1:2, Nah 1:6, Rom 12:19, Rom 13:4, Heb 10:30
their foot: Psa 73:17-19, Pro 4:19, Isa 8:15, Jer 6:21, Jer 13:16, 1Pe 2:8
for the day: 2Pe 2:3
the things: Isa 5:19, Isa 30:12, Isa 30:13, Isa 60:22, Hab 2:3, Luk 18:7, Luk 18:8, 2Pe 2:3, 2Pe 3:8-10
Reciprocal: Gen 50:19 – for am I Exo 32:34 – the day Exo 34:7 – that will by no means clear the guilty Lev 26:25 – avenge Num 31:2 – Avenge Deu 7:10 – repayeth Deu 32:41 – I will 1Sa 26:10 – he shall descend 2Sa 18:31 – the Lord 1Ki 2:28 – Joab had 1Ki 15:28 – General 2Ki 9:7 – I may avenge 2Ch 22:7 – was of God 2Ch 24:23 – the host Est 6:14 – hasted to bring Job 12:5 – ready Psa 18:18 – me in Psa 18:47 – avengeth Psa 38:16 – foot Psa 73:18 – Surely Psa 94:15 – But Pro 20:22 – I Isa 13:22 – her time Isa 34:8 – General Isa 35:4 – behold Isa 47:3 – I will take Isa 59:17 – the garments Jer 1:12 – I will Jer 5:9 – and shall Jer 8:12 – in the Jer 18:17 – the day Jer 20:11 – my Jer 25:12 – that I Jer 48:16 – near Jer 50:15 – for it Jer 51:36 – take Jer 51:56 – the Lord Eze 25:14 – and they shall know Hos 13:12 – General Joe 3:4 – swiftly Amo 1:7 – I will Rom 11:9 – a recompense 1Th 4:6 – the Lord 2Th 1:8 – taking 2Th 2:12 – they 1Pe 5:6 – in Rev 19:2 – and hath
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Deu 32:35. To me belongeth vengeance As the supreme Lord and Judge of the world, whose power no force can resist, from whose knowledge no secret can be concealed, and from whose justice no art can escape. Their feet shall slide Though they think themselves immoveably fixed in their power and prosperity, they shall certainly be visited with national judgments, and overthrown. In due time Though not so soon as some may expect, yet in that time when it shall be thought most proper, when they have filled up the measure of their sins. At hand Hebrew, is near. So the Scripture often speaks of those things which are at many hundred years distance, to signify, that though they may be afar off as to our measures of time, yet in Gods account they are near, they are as near as may be; when the measure of their sins is once full, the judgment shall not be deferred.