Deuteronomy 32:15-18

15 "1But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked - You are grown fat, thick, and sleek - 2Then he forsook God 3who made him, And scorned 4the Rock of his salvation.
16 "5They made Him jealous with strange gods; 6With abominations they provoked Him to anger.
17 "7They sacrificed to demons who were not God, 8To gods whom they have not known, 9New gods who came lately, Whom your fathers did not dread.
18 "You neglected 10the Rock who begot you, 11And forgot the God who gave you birth.

Deuteronomy 32:15-18 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 11

  • 1. Deuteronomy 31:20
  • 2. Judges 10:6
  • 3. Deuteronomy 32:6
  • 4. Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalms 89:26
  • 5. Psalms 78:58
  • 6. Psalms 106:29
  • 7. Leviticus 17:7; 1 Corinthians 10:20
  • 8. Deuteronomy 28:64
  • 9. Judges 5:8
  • 10. Deuteronomy 32:4
  • 11. Psalms 106:21

Footnotes 1

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