Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 32:26
I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men:
26. I would have said, I will ] The meaning of the ensuing vb pa’ah is uncertain: cleave them in pieces (Dri. and the Oxf. Heb. Lex.) is hardly justified by the Ar. fa‘a, which means only to split; A.V., scatter them into corners, is founded on a doubtful etymology; R.V., scatter them afar, is due to the LXX , which probably read another vb. The meaning adopted since Gesenius by most moderns, will blow them away, is, in view of the parallel line, the most probable.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
26 33. The Stay of God’s Vengeance
26 ‘I had said, “I will blow them away (?)
And still among men their remembrance,”
27 Had I feared not the taunt of the foe,
Lest their enemies misconstrue,
And should say, “Our hand was high,
Nor was this the work of Jehovah!”
28 For a rede-lorn people are they,
And among them insight is not.
29 Were they wise this would they ken,
See through to their fate at the last.’
30 How could one have chased a thousand,
Or two put ten thousand to flight,
Were it not that their Rock had sold them
And the Lord had given them up!
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I said,…. Or could have said, or might have said; that is, determined and resolved, as it was in his power, and in right and justice might have done what follows:
I would scatter them into corners; which does not fitly express the sense of the word used, and besides this was what was done; it is notorious that the Jews were and are scattered into the several corners of the world, and there is no corner where they are not; whereas the phrase is expressive of something that could and might have been done, but was not: moreover, to disperse them into the several parts of the world does not agree with what follows; for that, instead of making their remembrance to cease, would make them the more known, and the more to be remembered. But the word literally taken may be rendered, “I will corner them” f; drive them up into a corner, and cut them off together, or search for them in, and ferret them out of, every corner in which they should get, and destroy them all: agreeably to which is the Targum of Onkelos,
“mine anger shall rest upon them, and I will destroy them;”
and so Aben Ezra interprets it of the destruction of them, and observes, that otherwise it would not agree with what follows. There may be an allusion in it to the corner of the field, which was ordered to be left to the poor, and not reaped, Le 19:9; and so the sense is, I could and might have determined when the harvest of this land and people was come, or the time of wrath upon them, to cut down every corner, and leave none, no, not one standing stalk of corn, but make clean riddance of them:
I would make the remembrance of them cease from among men; as of the Amalekites, Moabites, Midianites, Edomites, Chaldeans, and others, whose names as well as nations are no more. This is what the enemies of the Jews plotted and conspired to do, Ps 83:4; and what God could and might have done, but has not; the Jews continue to this day a distinct people, though it is now near 1900 years since the destruction of their city and temple, and their dispersion in the various parts of the world; which is what was never known of any other people in the like circumstances, and which is a most amazing and surprising event; the reasons of it follow.
f “angulabo illos”, Oleaster, Vitringa; “ad angulos usque quaeram ipsos, seu ad verbum, angulabo ipsos”, Van Till; “ab angulo succidam ipsos”, Cocceius. Vid. Gusset. Ebr. Comment. p. 661.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
26 I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men: 27 Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the LORD hath not done all this. 28 For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them. 29 O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end! 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? 31 For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges. 32 For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter: 33 Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps. 34 Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures? 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. 36 For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left. 37 And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted, 38 Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? let them rise up and help you, and be your protection.
After many terrible threatenings of deserved wrath and vengeance, we have here surprising intimations of mercy, undeserved mercy, which rejoices against judgment, and by which it appears that God has no pleasure in the death of sinners, but would rather they should turn and live.
I. In jealousy for his own honour, he will not make a full end of them, v. 26-28. 1. It cannot be denied but that they deserved to be utterly ruined, and that their remembrance should be made to cease from among men, so that the name of an Israelite should never be known but in history; for they were a nation void of counsel (v. 28), the most sottish inconsiderate people that ever were, that would not believe the gory of God, though they saw it, nor understand his loving kindness, though they tasted it and lived upon it. Of those who could cast off such a God, such a law, such a covenant, for vain and dunghill-deities, it might truly be said, There is no understanding in them. 2. It would have been an easy thing with God to ruin them and blot out the remembrance of them; when the greatest part of them were cut off by the sword, it was but scattering the remnant into some remote obscure corners of the earth, where they should never have been heard of any more, and the thing had been done. See Ezek. v. 12. God can destroy those that are most strongly fortified, disperse those that are most closely united, and bury those names in perpetual oblivion that have been most celebrated. 3. Justice demanded it: I said I would scatter them. It is fit those should be cut off from the earth that have cut themselves off from their God; why should they not be dealt with according to their deserts? 4. Wisdom considered the pride and insolence of the enemy, which would take occasion from the ruin of a people that had been so dear to God, and for whom he had done such great things, to reflect upon God and to imagine that because they had got the better of Israel they had carried the day against the God of Israel: The adversaries will say, Our hand is high, high indeed, when it has been too high for those whom God himself fought for; nor will they consider that the Lord has done all this, but will dream that they have done it in despite of him, as if the God of Israel were as weak and impotent, and as easily run down, as the pretended deities of other nations. 5. In consideration of this, Mercy prevails for the sparing of a remnant and the saving of that unworthy people from utter ruin: I feared the wrath of the enemy. It is an expression after the manner of men; it is certain that God fears no man’s wrath, but he acted in this matter as if he had feared it. Those few good people in Israel that had a concern for the honour of God’s name feared the wrath of the enemy in this instance more than in any other, as Joshua (Josh. vii. 9), and David often; and, because they feared it, God himself is said to fear it. He needed not Moses to plead it with him, but reminded himself of it: What will the Egyptians say? Let all those whose hearts tremble for the ark of God and his Israel comfort themselves with this, that God will work for his own name, and will not suffer it to be profaned and polluted: how much soever we deserve to be disgraced, God will never disgrace the throne of his glory.
II. In concern for their welfare, he earnestly desires their conversion; and, in order to that, their serious consideration of their latter end, v. 29. Observe, 1. Though God had pronounced them a foolish people and of no understanding, yet he wishes they were wise, as Deut. v. 29, O that there were such a heart in them! and Ps. xciv. 8, You fools, when will you be wise? God delights not to see sinners ruin themselves, but desires they will help themselves; and, if they will, he is ready to help them. 2. It is a great piece of wisdom, and will contribute much to the return of sinners to God, seriously to consider the latter end, or the future state. It is here meant particularly of that which God by Moses had foretold concerning this people in the latter days: but it may be applied more generally. We ought to understand and consider, (1.) The latter end of life, and the future state of the soul. To think of death as our removal from a world of sense to a world of spirits, the final period of our state of trial and probation, and our entrance upon an unchangeable state of recompence and retribution. (2.) The latter end of sin, and the future state of those that live and die in it. O that men would consider the happiness they will lose, and the misery they will certainly plunge themselves into, if they go on still in their trespasses, what will be in the end thereof, Jer. v. 31. Jerusalem forgot this, and therefore came down wonderfully, Lam. i. 9.
III. He calls to mind the great things he had done for them formerly, as a reason why he should not quite cast them off. This seems to be the meaning of that (Deu 32:30; Deu 32:31), “How should one Israelite have been too hard for a thousand Canaanites, as they have been many a time, but that God, who is greater than all gods, fought for them!” And so it corresponds with that, Isa 63:10; Isa 63:11. When he was turned to be their enemy, as here, and fought against them for their sins, then he remembered the days of old, saying, Where is he that brought them out of the sea? So here, his arm begins to awake as in the days of old against the wrath of the enemy, Ps. cxxxviii. 7. There was a time when the enemies of Israel were sold by their own rock, that is, their own idol-gods, who could not help them, but betrayed them, because Jehovah, the God of Israel, had shut them up as sheep for the slaughter. For the enemies themselves must own that their gods were a very unequal match for the God of Israel. For their vine is of the vine of Sodom,Deu 32:32; Deu 32:33. This must be meant of the enemies of Israel, who fell so easily before the sword of Israel because they were ripe for ruin, and the measure of their iniquity was full. Yet these verses may be understood of the strange prevalency of the enemies of Israel against them, when God made use of them as the rod of his anger,Isa 10:5; Isa 10:6. “How should one Canaanite chase a thousand Israelites” (as it is threatened against those that trust to Egypt for help, Isa. xxx. 17, One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one) “unless Israel’s rock had deserted them and given them up.” For otherwise, however they may impute their power to their gods (Hab. i. 11), as the Philistines imputed their victory to Dagon, it is certain the enemies’ rock could not have prevailed against the rock of Israel; God would soon have subdued their enemies (Ps. lxxxi. 14), but that the wickedness of Israel delivered them into their hands. For their vine, that is, Israel’s, is of the vine of Sodom,Deu 32:32; Deu 32:33. They were planted a choice vine, wholly a right seed, but by sin had become the degenerate plant of a strange vine (Jer. ii. 21), and not only transcribed the iniquity of Sodom, but outdid it, Ezek. xvi. 48. God called them his vineyard, his pleasant plant, Isa. v. 7. But their fruits were, 1. Very offensive, and displeasing to God, bitter as gall. 2 Very malignant, and pernicious one to another, like the cruel venom of asps. Some understand this of their punishment; their sin would be bitterness in the latter end (2 Sam. ii. 26), it would bite like a serpent and sting like an adder,Job 20:14; Pro 23:32.
IV. He resolves upon the destruction of those at last that had been their persecutors and oppressors. When the cup of trembling goes round, the king of Babel shall pledge it at last, Jer. xxv. 26, and see Isa 51:22; Isa 51:23. The day is coming when the judgment that began at the house of God shall end with the sinner and ungodly, 1Pe 4:17; 1Pe 4:18. God will in due time bring down the church’s enemies.
1. In displeasure against their wickedness, which he takes notice of, and keeps an account of, Deu 32:34; Deu 32:35. “Is not this implacable fury of theirs against Israel laid up in store with me, to be reckoned for hereafter, when it shall be made to appear that to me belongs vengeance?” Some understand it of the sin of Israel, especially their persecuting the prophets, which was laid up in store against them from the blood of righteous Abel, Matt. xxiii. 35. However it teaches us that the wickedness of the wicked is all laid up in store with God. (1.) He observes it, Ps. xc. 8. He knows both what the vine is and what the grapes are, what is the temper of the mind and what are the actions of life. (2.) He keeps a record of it both in his own omniscience and in the sinner’s conscience; and this is sealed up among his treasures, which denotes both safety and secresy: these books cannot be lost, nor will they be opened till the great day. See Hos. xiii. 12. (3.) He often delays the punishment of sin for a great while; it is laid up in store, till the measure be full, and the day of divine patience has expired. See Job xxi. 28-30. (4.) There is a day of reckoning coming, when all the treasures of guilt and wrath will be broken up, and the sin of sinners shall surely find them out. [1.] The thing itself will certainly be done, for the Lord is a God to whom vengeance belongs, and therefore he will repay, Isa. lix. 18. This is quoted by the apostle to show the severity of God’s wrath against those that revolt from the faith of Christ, Heb. x. 30. [2.] It will be done in due time, in the best time; nay, it will be done in a short time. The day of their calamity is at hand; and, though it may seem to tarry, it lingers not, it slumbers not, but makes haste. In one hour, shall the judgment of Babylon come.
2. He will do it in compassion to his own people, who, though they had greatly provoked him, yet stood in relation to him, and their misery appealed to his mercy (v. 36): The Lord shall judge his people,. that is, judge for them against their enemies, plead their cause, and break the yoke of oppression under which they had long groaned, repenting himself for his servants; not changing his mind, but changing his way, and fighting for them, as he had fought against them, when he sees that their power is gone. This plainly points at the deliverances God wrought for Israel by the judges out of the hands of those to whom he had sold them for their sins (see Judg. ii. 11-18), and how his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel (Judg. x. 16), and this when they were reduced to the last extremity. God helped them when they could not help themselves; for there was none shut up or left; that is, none that dwelt either in cities or walled towns, in which they were shut up, nor any that dwelt in scattered houses in the country, in which they were left at a distance from neighbours. Note, God’s time to appear for the deliverance of his people is when things are at the worst with them. God tries his people’s faith, and stirs up prayer, by letting things go to the worst, and then magnifies his own power, and fills the faces of his enemies with shame and the hearts of his people with so much the greater joy, by rescuing them out of extremity as brands out of the burning.
3. He will do it in contempt and to the reproach of idol-gods, Deu 32:37; Deu 32:38. Where are their gods? Two ways it may be understood: (1.) That God would do that for his people which the idols they had served could not do for them. They had forsaken God, and been very liberal in their sacrifices to idols, had brought to their altars the fat of their sacrifices and the wine of their drink-offerings, which they supposed their deities to feed upon and on which they feasted with them. “Now,” says God, “will these gods you have made your court to, at so great an expense, help you in your distress, and so repay you for all your charges in their service? Go get you to the gods you have served, and let them deliver you, Judg. x. 14. This is intended to convince them of their folly in forsaking a God that could help them for gods that could not, and so to bring them to repentance and qualify them for deliverance. When the adulteress shall follow after her lovers and not overtake them, pray to her idols and receive no kindness from them, then she shall say, I will go and return to my first husband, Hos. ii. 7. See Isa 16:12; Jer 2:27; Jer 2:28. Or, (2.) That God would do that against his enemies which the idols they had served could not save them from, Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar boldly challenged the God of Israel to deliver his worshippers (Isa 37:10; Dan 3:15), and he did deliver them, to the confusion of their enemies. But the God of Israel challenged Bel and Nebo to deliver their worshippers, to rise up and help them, and to be their protection (Isa 47:12; Isa 47:13); but they were so far from helping them that they themselves, that is, their images, which was all that was of them, went into captivity,Isa 46:1; Isa 46:2. Note, Those who trust to any rock but God will find it sand in the day of their distress; it will fail them when they most need it.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Verses 26-33:
“Scatter into corners,” paah, the verb (hiph.) occurs only here in the OT, and means, “I will blow them away.” The meaning: utter destruction.
The text (verse 27) gives the reason God will not utterly destroy Israel: He did not fear the enemies: He was concerned or feared that the enemies should think they were the ones responsible for Israel’s destruction. God wanted it clearly understood that the calamities which would befall Israel were His chastisement for their sins, and not because of the strength of their enemies or God’s inability to protect them.
If Israel were wise, they would consider the consequences of their actions, and return to Jehovah, thereby preventing their further chastening. If they were wise, they would know that their only hope of victory over impossible odds was in the strength of Jehovah.
The heathen also have a rock in whom they trust: their gods. But the God of Israel is the true Rock, the only sure defense against all foes.
“Wine” is a symbol of joy and prosperity. The joy and prosperity of the heathen are bitter in the end, and doomed to destruction.
“Dragon,” tannin, “sea-serpent.” The term is translated “serpent,” Exo 7:9-10; Exo 7:12.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
26. I said, I would scatter them. God again represents Himself in the character of a man, as if He were meditating opposite determinations, and restrained His vehemence in consideration of the impediments He encountered. What it amounts to, however, is this, that God suspended His final judgment upon them for no other reason but because He had regard to His own glory, which would else have been subjected to the taunts of the Gentiles. Hence the Jews were reminded that, whereas they had deserved certain destruction, they were preserved on no other grounds but because God was unwilling to give the reins to the insolence of the Gentiles. The expression wrath, is here used for arrogant boasting, because in their prosperity ungodly and profane men burst forth into cruelty; unless it be preferred to render it simply irritation, (273) in which sense it is used in 2Kg 23:0 Immediately afterwards it is explained, “lest the adversaries should behave themselves strangely.” נכר, nacar, signifies sometimes to be strange, sometimes to put on a different face, sometimes to acknowledge. Thus I do not doubt but that Moses meant to express the arrogance of those who in a manner transform themselves that they may dazzle the eyes of the simple by their pomp and empty exaltation. If any approve of a different sense, i.e., lest they should separate themselves from God, and arrogate to themselves what belongs to Him alone, I make no objection: and this, indeed, seems to agree with what follows, (274) “Our high hand, and not the Lord, has done this:” for when men indulge in such unbridled license, they go so far astray as to have nothing in common with God. Thus the judgment of God, which should have been conspicuous in these punishments, would have been put out of sight, when the enemies appropriated to themselves the glory of the people’s destruction. Nevertheless the ungodly did not cease to pride themselves on their victories, (as God complains by Isaiah, and Habakkuk confirms;) (275) although their insolence was in some measure repressed, as long as there were some remnants of the elect people preserved. (276)
It is only figuratively that God says, he feared this insolence, which He might have easily remedied and restrained: but I have already stated, that He speaks after the manner of men, to show the Israelites that they escaped rather on account of their enemies, than by their own merits. The question, however, arises, how such a consultation as this could have taken place after God had determined to consume them with the fire of His wrath; (277) I reply, that the consump tion there indicated was not such as totally to annihilate the nation, so that no ruins should remain as witnesses of their former state; whereas He now speaks of the destruction, which should altogether blot out the name of the nation, as if it had never been chosen by God.
(273) Hebr., כעס , cagnas, used in the plural number in 2Kg 23:26, and translated in A. V. provocations; margin, “ Heb. angers.”
(274) See Margin, A.V.
(275) The references in the original to both these passages are obviously incorrect; it is probable, however, that Marckius in loco supplies them aright, viz., Isa 10:12, etc. and Hab 1:16.
(276) “Quand il y est tousjours demeure quelque reserve du peuple eleu;” since some remains of the elect people always existed. — Fr.
(277) See ante on ver 23.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(26, 27) The argument of these verses is such as no man would dare to put into the mouth of the Most High. Moses had pleaded it (in Num. 14:13-16; Exo. 32:12), but none but Jehovah Himself would say for Himself, I feared the wrath of the enemy.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
26. I said, I would scatter them into corners The word which our translators render scatter into corners rather means, I will blow them away, so as to effectually disperse them.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
His Verdict Is Withdrawn For The Sake of His Name ( Deu 32:26-27 ).
Yahweh is now seen as hesitating at the thought of destroying His people completely. Not because they do not deserve it but lest their enemies think that they have defeated them rather than it being due to His activity.
Deu 32:26-27
“I said, I would cut them in pieces,
I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men,
Were it not that I feared the provocation of the enemy,
Lest their adversaries should judge amiss,
Lest they should say, Our hand is exalted,
And Yahweh has not done all this.”
He had determined to destroy them, to cut them in pieces, to so deal with them that they vanished for ever from people’s memories. The only thing that prevented Him was that their enemies would take the credit for themselves. Instead of recognising that it was Yahweh’s work they would claim that they had done it themselves, and would preen themselves (compare Deu 9:28). They would put it down to their own doing.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Here is a little brightening up in those verses. But Reader! pause, to remark with me, how our GOD over-rules the malice of their enemies, to work for his people’s good. We have striking examples in holy writ, where GOD’S people make use of this plea to find GOD’S favor. See Exo 32:11-12 ; Jos 7:9 . And may we not from hence, and from our own experience, draw this certain conclusion, that the LORD absolutely lays the foundation, sometimes, of the peculiar mercies he manifests to his hidden ones, on the very malice of their enemies! That is a very strong passage in the Psalms in proof: Psa 105:25 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Deu 32:26 I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men:
Ver. 26. I said I will scatter them. ] See a like text, Eze 20:8-9 . We are sometimes safe by our enemies’ insolences, and as much beholden to their blasphemies as to our own prayers.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
scatter them into corners = disperse them, scatter as with the wind. The verb pa’ah occurs only here. The Severus Codex (App-34) divides the one word ‘aph’eyhem (disperse them) into the three words ‘aph, ‘ey, hem, “[I said] in anger, Where are they? “
men. Hebrew. ‘enosh = mortals. App-14.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Deu 28:25, Deu 28:37, Deu 28:64, Lev 26:33, Lev 26:38, Isa 63:16, Luk 21:24
Reciprocal: Exo 32:12 – should Exo 32:14 – General Exo 33:3 – for I Num 14:16 – General Deu 9:28 – Because Deu 28:59 – General Jos 7:9 – what wilt thou Jdg 10:14 – General 1Sa 12:22 – for his great 2Sa 1:20 – Tell 2Sa 22:43 – did spread Ezr 9:14 – no remnant Neh 1:8 – If ye transgress Neh 9:22 – divide Est 3:8 – scattered abroad Est 4:14 – then shall Psa 106:8 – he saved Psa 106:27 – to scatter Psa 115:2 – General Isa 11:12 – shall assemble Isa 24:1 – scattereth Isa 26:15 – thou hadst Isa 48:11 – for how Jer 9:16 – scatter Jer 13:24 – will Jer 31:10 – He Jer 31:36 – cease Lam 4:16 – hath Eze 5:10 – the whole Eze 20:9 – I wrought Eze 20:23 – that I Eze 36:21 – General Hos 9:17 – and Hos 11:9 – not execute Act 7:21 – when Act 12:6 – the same Jam 1:1 – scattered 1Pe 1:1 – scattered
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Israel’s unfaithfulness would not thwart God’s purposes for her, however. God would use other nations to discipline His people, but He would judge them too (cf. Habakkuk 1-2). The Old Testament writers compared Israel to Sodom and Gomorrah many times (Deu 32:32), but they never compared the heathen nations to those wicked cities.
"One of the well-known sermons in American history was preached by Jonathan Edwards in 1741 from this verse [Deu 32:35] and particularly from this clause: ’In due time their foot will slip.’ The sermon subject was ’Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.’ Edwards thought that the verse was directed at the unbelieving Israelites, but his application of it reached to all wicked people." [Note: Kalland, p. 212.]