Deuteronomy 32:12-22

12 "1The LORD alone guided him, 2And there was no foreign god with him.
13 "3He made him ride on the high places of the earth, And he ate the produce of the field; 4And He made him suck honey from the rock, And 5oil from the flinty rock,
14 Curds of cows, and milk of the flock, With fat of lambs, And rams, the breed of Bashan, and goats, 6With the finest * of the wheat - And of the 7blood of grapes you drank wine.
15 "8But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked - You are grown fat, thick, and sleek - 9Then he forsook God 10who made him, And scorned 11the Rock of his salvation.
16 "12They made Him jealous with strange gods; 13With abominations they provoked Him to anger.
17 "14They sacrificed to demons who were not God, 15To gods whom they have not known, 16New gods who came lately, Whom your fathers did not dread.
18 "You neglected 17the Rock who begot you, 18And forgot the God who gave you birth.
19 "19The LORD saw this, and spurned them 20Because of the provocation of His sons and daughters.
20 "Then He said, 'I will hide My face from them, 21I will see what their end shall be; 22For they are a perverse generation, 23Sons in whom is no faithfulness.
21 '24They have made Me jealous with what is not God; They have provoked Me to anger with their 25idols. 26So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation,
22 27For a fire is kindled in My anger, And burns to the lowest part of Sheol, 28And consumes the earth with its yield, And sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.

Deuteronomy 32:12-22 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.

Cross References 28

  • 1. Deuteronomy 4:35, 39
  • 2. Deuteronomy 32:39; Isaiah 43:12
  • 3. Isaiah 58:14
  • 4. Deuteronomy 8:8; Psalms 81:16
  • 5. Job 29:6
  • 6. Psalms 81:16; Psalms 147:14
  • 7. Genesis 49:11
  • 8. Deuteronomy 31:20
  • 9. Judges 10:6
  • 10. Deuteronomy 32:6
  • 11. Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalms 89:26
  • 12. Psalms 78:58
  • 13. Psalms 106:29
  • 14. Leviticus 17:7; 1 Corinthians 10:20
  • 15. Deuteronomy 28:64
  • 16. Judges 5:8
  • 17. Deuteronomy 32:4
  • 18. Psalms 106:21
  • 19. Leviticus 26:30; Psalms 106:40
  • 20. Jeremiah 44:21-23
  • 21. Deuteronomy 31:29
  • 22. Deuteronomy 32:5
  • 23. Deuteronomy 9:23
  • 24. Deuteronomy 32:16; 1 Corinthians 10:22
  • 25. Deuteronomy 32:17; 1 Kings 16:13, 26
  • 26. Romans 10:19
  • 27. Numbers 16:33-35; Psalms 18:7, 8; Lamentations 4:11
  • 28. Leviticus 26:20

Footnotes 3

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