Deuteronomy 32:7-17

7 Remember the days of old; consider the years long past. Ask your father, and he will tell you, your elders, and they will teach you.
8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance[a] and divided the human race,[b] He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the people of Israel.[c]
9 But the Lord's portion is His people, Jacob, His own inheritance.
10 He found him in a desolate land, in a barren, howling wilderness; He surrounded him, cared for him, and guarded him as the pupil of His eye.[d]
11 He watches over His nest like an eagle and hovers over His young; He spreads His wings, catches him, and lifts him up on His pinions.[e]
12 The Lord alone led him, with no help from a foreign god.[f]
13 He made him ride on the heights of the land[g] and eat the produce of the field. He nourished him with honey from the rock and oil from flintlike rock,
14 cream from the herd and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs, rams from Bashan, and goats, with the choicest grains of wheat; you drank wine from the finest grapes.[h]
15 Then[i] Jeshurun[j] [k] became fat and rebelled- you became fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.
16 They provoked His jealousy with foreign gods; they enraged Him with detestable practices.[l]
17 They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods they had not known, new gods that had just arrived, which your fathers did not fear.[m]

Deuteronomy 32:7-17 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 32

This chapter contains the song mentioned and referred to in the former, the preface to it, De 32:1-3; the character of the divine and illustrious Person it chiefly respects, De 32:4; the ingratitude of the people of the Jews to him, who were a crooked and perverse generation, aggravated by his having bought, made, and established them, De 32:5,6; and which is further aggravated by various instances of divine goodness to them, first in providing and reserving a suitable country for them, at the time of the division of the earth to the sons of men, with the reason of it, De 32:7-9; then by what the Lord did for them in the wilderness, De 32:10-12; after that in the land of Canaan, where they enjoyed plenty of all good things, and in the possession of which they were, when the illustrious Person described appeared among them, De 32:13,14; and then the sin of ingratitude to him, before hinted at, is fully expressed, namely, lightly esteeming the rock of salvation, the Messiah, De 32:15; nor could they stop here, but proceed to more ungodliness, setting up other messiahs and saviours, which were an abomination to the Lord, De 32:16; continuing sacrifices when they should not, which were therefore reckoned no other than sacrifices to demons, and especially the setting up of their new idol, their own righteousness, was highly provoking; and by all this they clearly showed they had forgot the rock, the Saviour, De 32:17,18; wherefore, for the rejection of the Messiah and the, persecution of his followers, they would be abhorred of God, De 32:19; who would show his resentment by the rejection of them, by the calling of the Gentiles, and by bringing the nation of the Romans upon them, De 32:20,21; whereby utter ruin and destruction in all its shapes would be brought upon them, De 32:22-25; and, were it not for the insolence of their adversaries, would be entirely destroyed, being such a foolish and unwise people, which appears by not observing what the enemies of the Messiah themselves allow, that there is no rock like him, whom they despised, De 32:26-31; which enemies are described, and the vengeance reserved for them pointed out, De 32:32-35; and the song closed with promises of grace and mercy to the Lord's people, and wrath and ruin to his and their enemies, on which account all are called upon to rejoice in the latter day, De 32:36-43; and this song being delivered by Moses, the people of Israel are exhorted seriously to attend to it, it being of the utmost importance to them, De 32:44-47; and the chapter is concluded with a relation of Moses being ordered to go up to Mount Nebo and die, with the reason of it, De 32:48-52.

Footnotes 13

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