XXXII.(1) Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.—Comp. the opening of Isaiah 1:2, which is almost identical, excepting that the two words for “hearing” are transposed. read more
(2) My doctrine.—Or, my learning, that which I receive—a not very common, but beautiful expression in the Hebrew. Everything that comes down from the “Father of lights” is handed on by one heavenly messenger to another, until it falls upon the heart of man, in just that form in which he can best receive it. The Son of God says,” My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me.” “I speak that which I have seen with my Father.” Of the Holy Spirit He says, “He shall receive of Mine and shall show it... read more
(3)—“For (or when) it is the Name JEHOVAH that I utter; Give ye greatness to our God.” read more
(4) He is the rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.—No such combination of all the words for uprightness, sincerity, equity, and reliability is to be found elsewhere in all Scripture. This is the character of the Rock. This name of God ( Tzur) is one of the characteristics of the song. The word occurs first in Exodus 17:0, where the Rock in Horeb was smitten; “and that Rock was Christ.” From that time we find that... read more
(5)—“He (Israel) hath destroyed himself.Their undutifulness,[5] that is their blot,[5] Literally, they are no sons to him. (Comp. Deuteronomy 32:20.)A froward and crooked generation !”These first two lines are given up as hopeless by many interpreters, not because the words are difficult of translation, but from the great variety of possible interpretations. After careful consideration of the passage with a learned Christian Hebrew,[6] I venture to propound this as the true translation. It is... read more
(6)“It is Jehovah that ye requite thus!A people foolish and unwise!Is not He thy Father that hath gotten thee?He made thee and establisheth thee.”The first line is an exclamatory question. A question and an exclamation have the same name in the Rabbinical writings. “Hath gotten” in the third line is the same expression which Eve used (in Genesis 4:1) at the birth of Cain, and occurs also in that magnificent saying in the history of Wisdom, Proverbs 8:22, “The Lord begat me (as) the beginning of... read more
(7) The fourfold division of this verse is manifest. read more
(8, 9) Comp. Deuteronomy 21:16.“when the Most High made nations to inherit,When He parted the sons of Adam,He set the bounds of the peoples,According to the number of the sons of Israel.For the portion of Jehovah is His people,Jacob the cord [7] of His inheritance”[7] i.e., limit.The allusion is to the dispersion from Babel (Genesis 10:11). The Jews were accustomed to reckon seventy nations and languages in that dispersion. Seventy members of Jacob’s household went down into Egypt. And... read more
(10) The whole of this verse is in the pictorial present in the Hebrew—“He findeth him in a desert land, In a waste howling wilderness;He compasseth him about, He instructeth him,He guardeth him as the apple of his eye.”He found him.—This beautiful expression is common to the Old and New Testaments as a description of God’s first revelation of Himself to man. In the case of Hagar it is written (Genesis 16:7), “the angel of Jehovah found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness.” Concerning... read more
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John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Deuteronomy 32:1-52
The Song of MosesThe theme of this noble Song is the goodness of Jehovah in choosing Israel and bringing them into a rich land. When they provoke Him with their forgetfulness and unfaithfulness, He disciplines them. But He does not utterly reject them; when they repent He takes part with them against their enemies and delivers them. It will be observed that the exodus begins and concludes with a Song of Moses: see Exodus 15:1-18. Psalms 90 is also attributed to him.1-6. Heaven and earth are... read more