Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee,
&c] They wanted not clothes all the forty years they were in
the wilderness; which some account for by the rising generation
being supplied with the clothes of those that died in the
wilderness, and with the spoils they took from Amalek, ( Exodus 17:1 ) and
others, as Aben Ezra observes, remark that they brought much
clothes with them out of Egypt, which no doubt they did; see (
Exodus
12:35 ) and he adds, as worthy of notice, that the manna they
lived upon did not produce sweat, which is prejudicial to
clothes; but be it so, that they were sufficiently provided with
clothes, it must be miraculous that these clothes they wore
should not wax old. This, in a spiritual sense, may denote the
righteousness of Christ, which is often compared to raiment, the
property of which is, that it never waxes old, wears out, or
decays; it is an everlasting righteousness, and will never be
abolished, but will answer for the saints in a time to come; see
( Isaiah
51:6 Isaiah 51:8 ) (
Daniel 9:24 )
neither did thy foot swell these forty years; or puff up like
paste, as Jarchi explains it, which is often the case in long
journeys; the Septuagint version is, "did not become callous"; a
callousness or hardness is frequently produced by travelling; in
( Deuteronomy 29:5 ) it
is explained of the shoes on their feet not waxing old; so Ben
Melech, and the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, and the Syriac
and Arabic versions here, "thy feet were not naked", were not
without shoes; these were no more wore out by travel than their
clothes upon their backs, and this was equally as miraculous: the
Gibeonites, pretending to come from a far country, and to have
travelled much and long, put on old garments and old shoes, to
make it probable and plausible, ( Joshua 9:5 Joshua 9:13 ) . This
may be an emblem of the perseverance of the saints in faith and
holiness: shoes upon the feet denote a Gospel conversation, which
is very beautiful, ( Song of
Solomon 7:1 ) the feet of saints being shod with the
preparation of the Gospel of peace; which, as shoes to the feet,
guides and directs the Christian walk, strengthens and makes fit
for walking, keeps tight and preserves from slipping and falling,
and protects from what is harmful, accompanied by the power and
grace of God.