Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 32:37
And he shall say, Where [are] their gods, [their] rock in whom they trusted,
37. took refuge ] As in R.V. marg., so often in the Pss., e.g. Psa 2:12, Psa 46:2.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 37. He shall say] He shall begin to expostulate with them, to awaken them to a due sense of their ingratitude and rebellion. This may refer to the preaching of the Gospel to them in the latter days.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He shall say: the Lord, before he deliver his people, will first convince them of their former folly in forsaking him and following idols; he will find an occasion from that miserable and hopeless condition into which their idols have brought them, to upbraid them with it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And he shall say, where [are] their gods?…. Not the Lord shall say to Israel, upbraiding them with their idols and their idolatries; but, as the Targum of Jonathan,
“the enemy shall say, where is the God of Israel?”
and to the same purpose is, the Jerusalem Targum, and which is the sense of other Jewish writers w; and the words may be rendered impersonally, and in the singular number, “and it shall be said, where is their God?” as it follows,
[their] rock in whom they trusted? that is, it shall be said to the people of God, when in the low estate before described, and which will make it still more distressing; it shall be said to them by their enemies in a sneering way, where is the Lord their God they boasted of, and the rock of salvation in whom they trusted? which agrees with other passages of Scripture, Ps 42:3. The persons insulted and upbraided are the Protestant witnesses at the time of their being slain; when “they that dwell upon the earth”, the Papists, “shall rejoice over them”, Re 11:10; they are such who are true believers in the God and Father of Christ, as their God and Father in Christ, who of his own free grace has blessed them with all spiritual blessings in him; and who trust in Christ the rock alone for justification before God, for acceptance with him, and for their whole salvation; rejecting the Popish notion of justification by works, the doctrines of merit, and of works of supererogation, and the like; who now will be taunted at, and triumphed over, saying, where is the God of the Protestants they gloried in, as being on their side? and where is their rock on which they say the church is built, and not on Peter?
w Aben Ezra & R. Nehemiah in Jarchi in loc.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
37. And he shall say, Where are their gods? Commentators are here at issue, for some continue the paragraph, as if Moses were reporting the boastings and insults of their enemies in the afflicted state of the Church; whilst others consider it to be a pious exultation, wherein the faithful will celebrate the deliverance of the Church. If we suppose the enemies to be here speaking, it will be inconsistent that the word “gods” should be used in the plural number: besides, what follows will proceed from their mistake and ignorance, that the Israelites “did eat the fat,” which was not lawful for them even in their common food, and much less in the sacrifices wherein the fat was burnt. The other exposition, however, is that which I rather approve of, viz., that when the tables were turned, and God should have shown Himself as the avenger of the unbelievers cruel injustice, — God’s children would be at liberty to upbraid them. The word “he shall say,” (292) is used indefinitely for “It shall be said by any or all of God’s children.” Just, then, as unbelievers, when they see the saints afflicted, impudently ridicule their faith, so on the other side Moses, when God comes to the help of His Church, introduces the saints derisively inquiring, where are the gods of the Gentiles, and where are all their patrons? since all of them, as is well known, had their tutelary gods. Thus their impure and spurious sacrifices are satirized in which they ate the fat, and drank the libations of wine. In short, Moses intimates that, when God succors His people, their mouth is opened to sing the song of triumph to the glory of the true God, and to upbraid unbelievers with the false confidence whereby they are deceived.
(292) This sentence is omitted in the Fr., but implied in the translation, “On dira.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
37. Where are their gods Here Jehovah is represented as showing his people the folly of idol-worship, the helplessness of the false gods.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Yahweh Compares Himself With The Gods That They Have Worshipped ( Deu 32:37-40 ).
Deu 32:37-38
“And he will say, Where are their gods,
The rock in which they took refuge,
Which ate the fat of their sacrifices,
Drank the wine of their drink-offering?
Let them rise up and help you,
Let them be your protection.”
But first He will face them up to what these gods in whom they had trusted were like. He asks them, where are they now? They had taken refuge in them, and these gods had been given the fat of their sacrifices as food, and had drunk their drink offerings. Why then did these gods not rise up and help them? Why were they therefore not their protection? If they were able, let them see to their situation, and help them and protect them. So Israel must see that unless they turned from these gods there was no help for them. Deliverance could only be for those who truly sought Him.
Note the sarcastic description. These gods could supposedly eat the fat of the sacrifices and drink the wine of drink offerings. Was it not strange that they could do nothing else?
The point for us is that anything that we trust in other than Christ will finally let us down. There is no one and nothing else which is totally dependable.
Deu 32:39-40
“See now that I, even I, am he,
And there is no god with me,
I kill, and make alive; I wound, and heal,
And there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
For I lift up my hand to heaven,
And say, As I live for ever.”
Yahweh provides His own answer to His question about these gods. It is because they are powerless. He alone can do these things. He alone can protect His people. He is the great “I am”, the One Who is, besides Whom no other can compare. He alone has the power of life and death. He alone performs His own will, wounding and healing as He will, with none being able to deliver from His hand. For He raises His hand to heaven with the purpose of making an oath, and can only swear by Himself, for there is none other. Thus He declares, ‘As I live for ever’.
The greeting to great kings was, ‘may the king live for ever’. But Yahweh declares this of Himself, for He, and He alone, is truly the Everlasting One. In the same vein a common oath was, ‘As Yahweh lives’, and we may see here Yahweh taking the idea to Himself because there is no other to swear by.
In these verses the greatness of Yahweh is emphasised. He is ‘the One Who is’, the only One, with power of life and death, and sickness and health, the One so supreme that there is none greater to swear by than Himself as the living God (compare Isa 45:23; Jer 22:5; Heb 6:17).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Deu 32:37 And he shall say, Where [are] their gods, [their] rock in whom they trusted,
Ver. 37. And he shall say, ] i.e., He shall upbraid them with the inability of their idols to do for them.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Where . . . ? Figure of speech Erotesis. App-6.
trusted. Hebrew. hasa. See App-69.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
trusted
(See Scofield “Psa 2:12”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Jdg 10:14, 2Ki 3:13, Jer 2:28
Reciprocal: Isa 57:6 – to them Jer 7:18 – to pour Jer 11:12 – go Jer 13:25 – trusted Jer 37:19 – Where Eze 13:12 – Where Hos 13:10 – where 1Co 10:21 – cannot drink
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Deu 32:37-38. He shall say The Lord, before he deliver his people, will first convince them of their former folly in forsaking him for idols. Which did eat That is, to whom you offered sacrifices and oblations, after the manner of the Gentiles. Let them rise up and help you If they can. Or, perhaps, instead of He shall say, (Deu 32:37,) it may be better rendered, One shall say; or, It shall be said. And then the meaning will be, Whoever beholds these judgments with due consideration will be convinced of the vanity and unprofitableness of these imaginary deities, to whom they offered their sacrifices, without receiving the least benefit from them.