Deuteronomy 32:37

37 And he will say, Where are their gods, The rock in which they took refuge;

Deuteronomy 32:37 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 32:37

And he shall say, where [are] their gods?
&c.] 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 ^F23; 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, ( Psalms 42:3 Psalms 42:10 ) ( 79:10 ) ( Micah 7:9 ) . 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", ( Revelation 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?

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FOOTNOTES:

F23 Aben Ezra & R. Nehemiah in Jarchi in loc.

Deuteronomy 32:37 In-Context

35 Vengeance is mine, and recompense, At the time when their foot shall slide: For the day of their calamity is at hand, And the things that are to come upon them shall make haste.

36 For Jehovah will judge his people, And repent himself for his servants; When he seeth that [their] power is gone, And there is none [remaining], shut up or left at large.

37 And he will say, Where are their gods, The rock in which they took refuge;

38 Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, [And] drank the wine of their drink-offering? Let them rise up and help you, Let them be your protection.

39 See now that I, even I, am he, And there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal; And there is none that can deliver out of my hand.