Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 32:28

For they [are] a nation void of counsel, neither [is there any] understanding in them.

28. void ] More exactly forlorn, Heb. ’obed, cp. Deu 22:3, Deu 26:5.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

28 33. It is doubtful whether these vv. relate to Israel or its arrogant foes. The latter I deem the more probable. So already Geddes.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

They; either,

1. The enemies last mentioned, who are foolish people, and therefore make so false and foolish a judgment upon things. Or rather,

2. The Israelites themselves, of whom he speaks both in the foregoing Deu 32:26, and in the whole foregoing chapter, and in the next verse Deu 32:29, and afterwards.

Void of counsel; that have not wisdom to direct themselves, nor discretion to desire and receive counsel from others, but rashly and madly go on in those courses which will certainly ruin them.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

For they [are] a nation void of counsel,…. This is said not of the Jews, whose character is given, De 32:6; and instances of their ingratitude, folly, and want of counsel and understanding, have been already mentioned, and punishment for the same inflicted on them, according to this prophetic song; so that the prophecy respecting them is issued, and another people are taken notice of, even their enemies, of whom the Jewish writers in general interpret these words, and what follows; and was true of the Gentiles, both of the Pagan sort of them, who took too much to themselves, and ascribed the destruction of the Jews, and their conquest of them, to themselves, and their idols; and of false Christians among them, when the Roman empire became Christian, such as expressed themselves in the language of the latter part

De 32:27, “our hand is high”, c. which plainly showed them to be a people devoid of the true knowledge of the Scriptures, they should have made the men of their counsel, and have consulted and of the Gospel of Christ, which is the counsel of God, as the Arians, Pelagians, c. must be, or they would never imbibe and advance tenets so diametrically opposite thereunto:

neither [is there any] understanding is them of divine and spiritual things, of the Scriptures, and the doctrines of them; of the person of Christ, and his divine perfections, or they would never deny his deity; of the righteousness of God, of that which is required in the law, and revealed in the Gospel, or they would never set up a righteousness of their own for justification; and of themselves, their unrighteousness, impurity, and impotence to that which is good; or they would never so strongly assert the purity of human nature, and the power of man’s freewill: God foreseeing all the folly, and want of counsel and understanding in the Gentile world, under different characters, preserved a remnant of the Jews as a standing admonition to them.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

28. For they are a nation void of counsel. The cause is assigned why God had almost blotted out altogether the memory of the people, viz., because their faculty was incurable: for He does not merely indicate that their conduct was rash and inconsiderate, because they lacked reason mid discretion: but that they could be by no means brought to their senses, and, in fact, that not one drop of sagacity existed in them. The proof of this immediately follows, viz., that the tokens of God’s wrath were too clearly set before their eyes to escape their notice, unless they were utterly blind and stupid. The word לו, lu, which they render, “Would that” (278) ( utinam,) denotes commiseration rather than desire; and therefore it may be properly translated, “Oh, if they understood,” etc.

By the expression, “latter, ” their exceeding stupidity is censured: since not even by many and long experiences were they aroused to reflect on the causes of their calamities; whereas length of time extorts some sense at last from the very dullest, and almost idiotic persons. It was, therefore, a sign of desperate stupidity that they were still without understanding after so many years; as if by experience itself they had grown callous, when they ought to have shaken off their lethargy, and to have bestirred themselves to earnest inquiry. Justly, then, does Moses reproach them with not having considered even at the latter end; for not once only, nor in a single year, but by constant inflictions of punishment during a long series of years, had they been instructed without profit.

(278) So S.M. “O that.” — A. V.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(28) Void of counsel.Literally, perishing in counsels, or, perhaps, spoiling the plans of Jehovah. Yet they said, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet (Jer. 18:18).

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

He Declares Their Hopeless State Without Him ( Deu 32:28-30 ).

Deu 32:28-29

“For they are a nation void of counsel,

And there is no understanding in them.

Oh that they were wise, that they understood this,

That they would consider their latter end!’

He declares Israel’s folly. They lack wise guidance, and are lacking in understanding. They are ignoring the lessons of history which might turn them back to Him, and they were forgetting His Instruction (contrast Deu 4:6). He longs that they might just be sensible and consider where what they were doing would take them in the end (compare Deu 4:6 where such wisdom would come from considering his God-given words).

Of how many of us can it be said that we are without understanding? If we had even a glimmer of the truth about life and about eternity what different people we would be.

Deu 32:30

How should one chase a thousand,

And two put ten thousand to flight,

Except their Rock had sold them,

And Yahweh had delivered them up?’

How was it that they could not even stand up against the weakest of their enemies? How was it that a single soldier of their enemies could put a whole regiment of them to flight, and two could put a brigade to flight (contrast Lev 26:8; Isa 30:17). It was because they had become weak and unable to defend themselves. This could only be because He, their Rock, had sold them (contrast Deu 32:6, where their Father had bought them, and Deu 32:18 where their Rock had begotten them), because He, Yahweh, had delivered them up. It was because He no longer treated them as His redeemed people.

How often we have to look around and see that all that is spiritual is dying around us. We have no impact because we have gone so far from God. Our only hope too is to return to Him with strong crying and tears, but we do not do so because we have grown complacent.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Ver. 28. For they are a nation void of counsel This verse connects very properly with the 26th, and the meaning is, I said I would scatter them, &c. were it not for the sake of mine honour; for they justly deserve such a punishment, as they are a nation void of counsel, &c. To have a clear idea of the discourse thus far explained, nothing appears more simple and more proper than the supposition of Mr. Venema, namely, that all that has been said, from the 22nd verse to the present passage, principally regards the times preceding the Babylonish captivity, and, if we may so say, the prelude of the terrible judgment which is threatened in the 20th and 21st verses, and which was executed against the Jews by the Romans.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Even people void of understanding, in divine truths, may consider the sure consequence of sin. The wages of sin is, and must be death. Rom 6:23 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Deu 32:28 For they [are] a nation void of counsel, neither [is there any] understanding in them.

Ver. 28. For they are a nation. ] See Trapp on “ Deu 4:6 “ was Chrysippus that offered that strict and tetrical division to the world, Aut mentem aut restim comparandum.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)