6 Is this your answer to the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? Is he not your father who has given you life? He has made you and given you your place.
For you are our father, though Abraham has no knowledge of us, and Israel gives no thought to us: you, O Lord, are our father; from the earliest days you have taken up our cause.
Keep in mind your band of worshippers, for whom you gave payment in the days which are past, whom you took for yourself as the people of your heritage; even this mountain of Zion, which has been your resting-place.
The Lord who made you, forming you in your mother's body, the Lord, your helper, says, Have no fear, O Jacob my servant, and you, Jeshurun, whom I have taken for myself.
But Jeshurun became fat and would not be controlled: you have become fat, you are thick and full of food: then he was untrue to the God who made him, giving no honour to the Rock of his salvation.
You have no thought for the Rock, your father, you have no memory of the God who gave you birth.
Be certain that the Lord is God; it is he who has made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep to whom he gives food.
Every one who is named by my name, and whom I have made for my glory, who has been formed and designed by me.
Be not very angry, O Lord, and do not keep our sins in mind for ever: give ear to our prayer, for we are all your people.
Give attention to yourselves, and to all the flock which the Holy Spirit has given into your care, to give food to the church of God, for which he gave his blood.
For you did not get the spirit of servants again to put you in fear, but the spirit of sons was given to you, by which we say, Abba, Father.
Because you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
And because you are sons, God has sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, saying, Abba, Father.
But there were false prophets among the people, as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly put forward wrong teachings for your destruction, even turning away from the Lord who gave himself for them; whose destruction will come quickly, and they themselves will be the cause of it.
For the grace of God has come, giving salvation to all men, Training us so that, turning away from evil and the desires of this world, we may be living wisely and uprightly in the knowledge of God in this present life; Looking for the glad hope, the revelation of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, so that he might make us free from all wrongdoing, and make for himself a people clean in heart and on fire with good works.
O foolish Galatians, by what strange powers have you been tricked, to whom it was made clear that Jesus Christ was put to death on the cross? Give me an answer to this one question, Did the Spirit come to you through the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? having made a start in the Spirit, will you now be made complete in the flesh?
For it is the love of Christ which is moving us; because we are of the opinion that if one was put to death for all, then all have undergone death; And that he underwent death for all, so that the living might no longer be living to themselves, but to him who underwent death for them and came back from the dead.
I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, Father, I have done wrong, against heaven and in your eyes: I am no longer good enough to be named your son: make me like one of your servants. And he got up and went to his father. But while he was still far away, his father saw him and was moved with pity for him and went quickly and took him in his arms and gave him a kiss.
For my people are foolish, they have no knowledge of me; they are evil-minded children, without sense, all of them: they are wise in evil-doing, but have no knowledge of doing good.
For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your saviour; I have given Egypt as a price for you, Ethiopia and Seba for you. Because of your value in my eyes, you have been honoured, and loved by me; so I will give men for you, and peoples for your life.
Give ear, O heavens, and you, O earth, to the word which the Lord has said: I have taken care of my children till they became men, but their hearts have been turned away from me.
What may I give to the Lord for all the good things which he has done for me?
Keep this in mind, O Lord, that your haters have said cruel things, and that your name has been looked down on by a people of evil behaviour.
Your hands made me, and I was formed by you, but then, changing your purpose, you gave me up to destruction.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Deuteronomy 32
Commentary on Deuteronomy 32 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 32
In this chapter we have,
Deu 32:1-6
Here is,
Deu 32:7-14
Moses, having in general represented God to them as their great benefactor, whom they were bound in gratitude to observe and obey, in these verses gives particular instances of God's kindness to them and concern for them.
Three things are here enlarged upon as instances of God's kindness to his people Israel, and strong obligations upon them never to forsake him:-
Deu 32:15-18
We have here a description of the apostasy of Israel from God, which would shortly come to pass, and to which already they had a disposition. One would have thought that a people under so many obligations to their God, in duty, gratitude, and interest, would never have turned from him; but, alas! they turned aside quickly. Here are two great instances of their wickedness, and each of them amounted to an apostasy from God:-
Deu 32:19-25
The method of this song follows the method of the predictions in the foregoing chapter, and therefore, after the revolt of Israel from God, described in the foregoing verses, here follow immediately the resolves of divine Justice concerning them; we deceive ourselves if we think that God will be thus mocked by a foolish faithless people, that play fast and loose with him.
Deu 32:26-38
After many terrible threatenings of deserved wrath and vengeance, we have here surprising intimations of mercy, undeserved mercy, which rejoices against judgment, and by which it appears that God has no pleasure in the death of sinners, but would rather they should turn and live.
Deu 32:39-43
This conclusion of the song speaks three things:
Deu 32:44-52
Here is,