Deuteronomy 32:37

37 et dicet ubi sunt dii eorum in quibus habebant fiduciam

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?


FOOTNOTES:

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

Deuteronomy 32:37 In-Context

35 mea est ultio et ego retribuam in tempore ut labatur pes eorum iuxta est dies perditionis et adesse festinant tempora
36 iudicabit Dominus populum suum et in servis suis miserebitur videbit quod infirmata sit manus et clausi quoque defecerint residuique consumpti sint
37 et dicet ubi sunt dii eorum in quibus habebant fiduciam
38 de quorum victimis comedebant adipes et bibebant vinum libaminum surgant et opitulentur vobis et in necessitate vos protegant
39 videte quod ego sim solus et non sit alius deus praeter me ego occidam et ego vivere faciam percutiam et ego sanabo et non est qui de manu mea possit eruere
The Latin Vulgate is in the public domain.