Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 32:14
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.
14. Curd of kine ] Fermented milk, Ar. leben.
fat of lambs and of rams ] So LXX, bringing forward rams from next line.
Bulls of Bashn ] Lit. the sons, or breed, of Bashn (Deu 3:1), celebrated for its steers, Psa 22:12 (13), etc.
fat of the kidneys ] The richest fat, Lev 3:4, Isa 34:6; here figuratively of the richest wheat.
blood of the grape thou drankest in foam ] There is no need to read with the LXX he drank (so Steuern. to harmonise with the next line), nor to take the line as a gloss (Marti), though it be an odd line and not one of a couplet. This is the climax of the passage of Israel from the nomadic to the agricultural stage of life, and is still regarded as the last distinction of the fella from the Bedawee; cp. Deu 33:28, Gen 49:11 f. Foam (EVV. wine), Heb. emer from root mr, to ferment or foam; cp. Psa 46:3 (4), Psa 75:8 (9).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 14. Fat of kidneys of wheat] Almost every person knows that the kidney is enveloped in a coat of the purest fat in the body of the animal, for which several anatomical reasons might be given. As the kidney itself is to the abundantly surrounding fat, so is the germ of the grain to the lobes or farinaceous parts. The expression here may be considered as a very strong and peculiarly happy figure to point out the finest wheat, containing the healthiest and most vigorous germ, growing in a very large and nutritive grain; and consequently the whole figure points out to us a species of wheat, equally excellent both for seed and bread. This beautiful metaphor seems to have escaped the notice of every commentator.
Pure blood of the grape.] Red wine, or the pure juice of whatever colour, expressed from the grapes, without any adulteration or mixture with water: blood here is synonymous with juice. This intimates that their vines should be of the best kind, and their wine in abundance, and of the most delicious flavour.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
With fat of lambs; for though the fat wherewith the inward parts were covered was not to be eaten by them, but offered to God, Lev 3:9,10, yet that fat which was fast joined to and mixed with the flesh they might eat, as the Jewish doctors note.
Bashan; a place famous for excellent cattle, Num 32:4,33.
With the fat of kidneys of wheat, i.e. with the finest of the grains or kernels of wheat, compared to kidneys for their shape, and plumpness, and largeness. Compare Psa 81:16; 147:14.
The pure blood of the grape; wine not mixed with water, but pure as it comes from the grape, which was of a red or bloody colour. See Psa 75:8; Isa 27:2.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Butter of kine,…. Made of milk, which kine or cows give; Jarchi says, this is the fat that is gathered on the top of milk, he means cream, and which indeed was the butter of the ancients, and is here meant:
and milk of sheep: which they give, though not in such plenty as the kine, yet what is very wholesome and nourishing: the philosopher b observes, that sheep give more milk in proportion to the size of their bodies than cows: and Pliny c says their milk is sweeter and more nourishing, and the butter made of it is the fattest:
with fat of lambs; or fat lambs, rich and delicious food:
and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats; a fruitful country abounding with pasturage, where rams and goats of the best sort were and the breed of them was coveted and had in the land of Canaan; the kine of Bashan are mentioned elsewhere, Ps 22:12;
with the fat of kidneys of wheat: that is, the best wheat, the grains are plump and full; and Aben Ezra observes, that a grain of wheat has some likeness to a kidney, see Ps 81:16;
and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape; wine which comes from the grape, red wine, pure and unmixed, see Ge 40:11; the land of Canaan was a land of vines, and abounded with good wine, De 8:8; which the Israelites, when they came into it, drank of in common, who had only drank water in the wilderness, and had but little flesh, and lived on manna, and now abounded with plenty of all good things; all which are observed as instances of divine goodness, and to aggravate their ingratitude in rejecting the Messiah, they then enjoying all these good things, the land being alike fertile and affluent then, as appears from Isa 7:14; Jarchi applies this fruitfulness to the times of Solomon, as the butter of kine, and the kidneys of wheat, 1Ki 4:22; and fat of lambs, and the blood of the grape, to the times of the ten tribes, Am 6:4; but this was the constant fertility of the land, and lasted to the times of the Messiah: now all these may be expressive of the blessings of grace, and the spiritual food of the Gospel: Ainsworth very prettily remarks, that here is both food for babes and for grown persons, butter and milk for the one, and meat for the other, and drink for them both: the plain truths of the Gospel are like butter, soft and easy to be taken in, and like milk, easy of digestion, cooling, nourishing, sweet, and pleasant; the more sublime truths of the Gospel are meat for strong men, signified by the flesh of fat lambs, rams, and goats; which all being used in sacrifices were typical of Christ; as also the finest of wheat is an emblem of him the bread of life, on whom the weakest believer lives by faith; and the drink for both, the wine the blood of the grape, may signify the love of Christ, the Gospel and the truths of it, and the blessings of grace, which come through the everlasting covenant.
b Aristot. Problem. sect. 10. qu. 6. c Nat. Hist. l. 28. c. 9.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(14) Kidneys of wheat.The metaphor is literally translated from the Hebrew. The kidneys are enclosed in the very best of the fat of the animal, fat that was strictly reserved for Gods altar by the Levitical Law.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
14. Of the breed of Bashan . This expression is used for the best kind. Bashan was celebrated not merely for its oxen, but for all other cattle used for food by the Hebrews. Comp. Eze 39:18.
In Deu 32:15-18 Moses turns again to the time of the nation’s apostasy, when with base ingratitude they will forsake the worship of Jehovah and bow down to the gods of the nations.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Ver. 14. And goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat And goats, with the fat of kidneys, and with wheat. Waterland and Le Clerc. Houbigant renders it, and goats with the marrow of the seed of wheat; deriving the word kelaioth, from the Arabic kelar, to germinate; a germ or seed: and he observes, that all the nouns in this verse may very properly depend upon the verb, he made him to suck, vaianikehu, in the former verse. But it is probable (and Scheuchzer seems to prove that the metaphor is founded in the nature of things,) that our’s is the proper translation. The Hebrews called the best of every thing by the name of fat; and the kidneys of wheat signify large and plump corn, affording plenty of flour; so that the fat of kidneys of wheat, means no more than wheat resembling the kidneys of animals in fatness, shape, and size. So, Psa 81:16. The finest of the wheat is, in the Hebrew, the fat of the wheat: and it appears to me that the pure blood of the grape, in the next clause, immediately and properly corresponds to the fat of the kidneys of wheat in this.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Deu 32:14 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 feast. Isa 25:6 Judea, for its admirable fertility, is called, Sumen totius orbis: how basely soever Strabo speaks of it, as of a dry barren country, wherein he shows less ingenuity than railing Rabshakeh did.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Bashan. Confirming the promise of Deu 32:13 as to high or mountainous places.
fat of kidneys = white of the kernels.
pure = unmixed.
blood. Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Adjunct) for red juice, blood of grapes. Figure of speech Catachresis. App-6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Butter: Gen 18:8, Jdg 5:25, 2Sa 17:29, Job 20:17, Isa 7:15, Isa 7:22
of Bashan: Psa 22:12, Eze 39:18, Amo 4:1, Mic 7:14
the fat: Psa 81:16, Psa 147:14
blood: Gen 49:11, Mat 26:28, Mat 26:29, Joh 6:55, Joh 6:56
Reciprocal: Gen 41:5 – rank Gen 45:18 – the fat Lev 3:17 – eat neither Num 21:33 – Bashan Deu 8:8 – wheat 2Ki 4:42 – of barley 2Ki 18:32 – like your own Isa 34:5 – my sword Isa 34:6 – the fat Eze 16:13 – thou didst Eze 16:19 – meat Eze 20:6 – flowing Eze 27:17 – wheat Eze 39:26 – when they Joh 6:9 – barley
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Deu 32:14. Milk of sheep Le Clerc renders it, Milk of sheep and goats; the Hebrew word signifying both. With fat of lambs Or, lambs well fatted. The fat, indeed, wherewith the inwards were covered was not to be eaten by them, but offered to God; yet that fat which was mixed with the flesh they might eat. Bashan A place famous for excellent cattle. Fat of kidneys of wheat With the finest of the grains of wheat, compared to kidneys in their shape and colour; or with large and plump corn, affording a plenty of flour. The pure blood of the grape This metaphor, as well as the preceding, is very elegant and natural, on account of the great resemblance between red wine and blood; and it is also a very animated expression.