| Scripture |
Expanded Comments |
| 1 'Give ear, O heavens, and I speak; And thou dost hear, O earth, sayings of my mouth! |
|
| 2 Drop as rain doth My doctrine; Flow as dew doth My sayings; As storms on the tender grass, And as showers on the herb, |
Drop as the rain – "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life." (John 6:63) R1937:2
My speech – "Never man spake like this man" (John 7:46); "Grace is poured into thy lips." (Psa. 45:2)
Distil as the dew – "All bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth." (Luke 4:22) R1937:2
As the showers – "They could not take hold of his words ... before the people; and they marveled at his answers and held their peace." (Luke 20:26) R1937:2
|
| 3 For the Name of Jehovah I proclaim, Ascribe ye greatness to our God! |
|
| 4 The Rock! perfect [is] His work, For all His ways [are] just; God of stedfastness, and without iniquity: Righteous and upright [is] He. |
His work is perfect – Even though he may temporarily permit evil angels and evil men to pervert and misuse it. F17
Therefore God's law is perfect. R386:5
Therefore God is not the author of sin. R1225:2, R870:3; Q359:5
He does not do evil so that good may follow. R3145:4
The mentally, physically and morally blemished are not God's workmanship. E309; R2912:1, R2285:1, R5360:5
Adam was physically and morally perfect. E406; R2394:5, R1719:4, R386:5; Q741:2
Thus man will be perfect at the end of the Millennium. R5167:2
Satan was created perfect but fell by ambition. F612; SM95:1
|
| 5 It hath done corruptly to Him; Their blemish is not His sons', A generation perverse and crooked! |
|
| 6 To Jehovah do ye act thus, O people foolish and not wise Is not He thy father thy possessor He made thee, and doth establish thee. |
|
| 7 Remember days of old Understand the years of many generations Ask thy father, and he doth tell thee; Thine elders, and they say to thee: |
|
| 8 In the Most High causing nations to inherit, In His separating sons of Adam He setteth up the borders of the peoples By the number of the sons of Israel. |
|
| 9 For Jehovah's portion [is] His people, Jacob [is] the line of His inheritance. |
|
| 10 He findeth him in a land a desert, And in a void a howling wilderness, He turneth him round He causeth him to understand He keepeth him as the apple of His eye. |
The apple of his eye – Nothing shall by any means injure these. R4462:5
|
| 11 As an eagle waketh up its nest, Over its young ones fluttereth, Spreadeth its wings taketh them, Beareth them on its pinions; |
Stirreth up her nest – Mixes the thorny outside with the downy inside so the young will leave the nest and learn to fly. R3351:4*
The Lord permits trials, persecutions, etc.--for strengthening and helping his people. R4335:2
|
| 12 Jehovah alone doth lead him, And there is no strange god with him. |
|
| 13 He maketh him ride on high places of earth, And he eateth increase of the fields, And He maketh him suck honey from a rock, And oil out of the flint of a rock; |
|
| 14 Butter of the herd, and milk of the flock, With fat of lambs, and rams, sons of Bashan, And he-goats, with fat of kidneys of wheat; And of the blood of the grape thou dost drink wine! |
|
| 15 And Jeshurun waxeth fat, and doth kick: Thou hast been fat thou hast been thick, Thou hast been covered. And he leaveth God who made him, And dishonoureth the Rock of his salvation. |
|
| 16 They make Him zealous with strangers, With abominations they make Him angry. |
|
| 17 They sacrifice to demons no god! Gods they have not known New ones from the vicinity they came; Not feared them have your fathers! |
Unto devils – Ritualism in the Christian church is of pagan origin. R1991:4*
Mediums of the fallen spirits. God commanded that any amongst them who became such a medium should be put to death. R5910:2; PD42/52
Not to God – To whom the ransom was paid. R685:4
|
| 18 The Rock that begat thee thou forgettest, And neglectest God who formeth thee. |
|
| 19 And Jehovah seeth and despiseth For the provocation of His sons and His daughters. |
|
| 20 And He saith: I hide My face from them, I see what [is] their latter end; For a froward generation [are] they, Sons in whom is no stedfastness. |
|
| 21 They have made Me zealous by 'no-god,' They made Me angry by their vanities; And I make them zealous by 'no-people,' By a foolish nation I make them angry. |
They – Paul quotes part of this prophecy and applies it to "all the house of Israel" living in his day, both in Jerusalem and scattered throughout the world. (Rom. 10:19-21) R2125:3
|
| 22 For a fire hath been kindled in Mine anger, And it burneth unto Sheol the lowest, And consumeth earth and its increase, And setteth on fire foundations of mountains. |
For a fire – The fire of God's jealousy. E357
And shall burn – "They shall be burnt with hunger." (vs. 24) E357
The lowest hell – Sheol, oblivion, the tomb, the state of death--a figurative representation of the utter ruin of Israel as a nation. R2599:3; E357; R5154:2
Sheol, admitted by Pastor L. S. White simply to denote the world of departed spirits and not of itself to teach anything about the punishment of the wicked. HG209:3*
|
| 23 I gather upon them evils, Mine arrows I consume upon them. |
|
| 24 Exhausted by famine, And consumed by heat, and bitter destruction. And the teeth of beasts I send upon them, With poison of fearful things of the dust. |
|
| 25 Without bereave doth the sword, And at the inner-chambers fear, Both youth and virgin, Suckling with man of grey hair. |
|
| 26 I have said: I blow them away, I cause their remembrance to cease from man; |
Scatter them – The whole house of Israel. R2125:2
The remembrance – The same Hebrew word is rendered "scent" in Hos. 14:7 and "memorial" in Esther 9: R2125:2
|
| 27 If not the anger of an enemy I fear, Lest their adversaries know Lest they say, Our hand is high, And Jehovah hath not wrought all this. |
|
| 28 For a nation lost to counsels [are] they, And there is no understanding in them. |
|
| 29 If they were wise They deal wisely [with] this; They attend to their latter end: |
|
| 30 How doth one pursue a thousand, And two cause a myriad to flee! If not that their rock hath sold them, And Jehovah hath shut them up |
One chase a thousand – Harvest laborers, though few in number, accomplish the harvest work. R1349:5, R6023:1
|
| 31 For not as our Rock [is] their rock, (And our enemies [are] judges!) |
|
| 32 For of the vine of Sodom their vine [is], And of the fields of Gomorrah; Their grapes [are] grapes of gall They have bitter clusters; |
|
| 33 The poison of dragons [is] their wine And the fierce venom of asps. |
|
| 34 Is it not laid up with Me Sealed among My treasures |
|
| 35 Mine [are] vengeance and recompense, At the due time doth their foot slide; For near is a day of their calamity, And haste do things prepared for them. |
Vengeance – The time of trouble. D73, D549
|
| 36 For Jehovah doth judge His people, And for His servants doth repent Himself. For He seeth the going away of power, And none is restrained and left. |
The LORD shall judge – Jehovah himself is the supreme Judge, yet the "Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son." (John 5:22) F396
Punish--perhaps chasten an individual with business reverses or with physical disease. R5957:2
|
| 37 And He hath said, Where [are] their gods The rock in which they trusted; |
|
| 38 Which the fat of their sacrifices do eat, They drink the wine of their libation! Let them arise and help you, Let it be for you a hiding-place! |
|
| 39 See ye, now, that I I [am] He, And there is no god with Me: I put to death, and I keep alive; I have smitten, and I heal; And there is not from My hand a deliverer, |
No god with me – Not triune. R1052:5*
I wound, and I heal – It is the wounded heart that is ready to be bound up and to be healed and to be transformed. HG270:3
|
| 40 For I lift up unto the heavens My hand, And have said, I live to the age! |
|
| 41 If I have sharpened the brightness of My sword, And My hand doth lay hold on judgment, I turn back vengeance to Mine adversaries, And to those hating Me I repay! |
|
| 42 I make drunk Mine arrows with blood, And My sword devoureth flesh, From the blood of the pierced and captive, From the head of the freemen of the enemy. |
|
| 43 Sing ye nations [with] his people, For the blood of His servants He avengeth, And vengeance He turneth back on His adversaries, And hath pardoned His land His people.' |
Rejoice – These victories shall ultimately be attained by all the Israel of God--the Jew first and also the Gentile, during the Millennial age. R3078:2
O ye nations – All the true Israel of God, all who shall become Israelites according to the faith and obedience of Abraham. R3078:3
And to his people – --after divine wrath has burned out their national transgression the Lord will speak peaceably toward Israel. E357
|
| |
|
| 44 And Moses cometh and speaketh all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he and Hoshea son of Nun; |
|
| 45 and Moses finisheth to speak all these words unto all Israel, |
|
| 46 and saith unto them, 'Set your heart to all the words which I am testifying against you to-day, that ye command your sons to observe to do all the words of this law, |
|
| 47 for it [is] not a vain thing for you, for it [is] your life, and by this thing ye prolong days on the ground whither ye are passing over the Jordan to possess it.' |
|
| 48 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, in this self-same day, saying, |
|
| 49 'Go up unto this mount Abarim, mount Nebo, which [is] in the land of Moab, which [is] on the front of Jericho, and see the land of Canaan which I am giving to the sons of Israel for a possession; |
Mount Nebo – It is quite possible that Elijah was taken from this same mountain. R3416:3
|
| 50 and die in the mount whither thou art going up, and be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother hath died in the mount Hor, and is gathered unto his people: |
Die in the mount – Mount Nebo. PD37/48
If the meekest man in all the earth was overcome by the circumstances of his position, it should not surprise us if we find that in spiritual Israel some who start out meek and humble become more or less arrogant. R3866:4
|
| 51 'Because ye trespassed against me in the midst of the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribath-Kadesh, the wilderness of Zin because ye sanctified Me not in the midst of the sons of Israel; |
|
| 52 but over-against thou seest the land, and thither thou dost not go in, unto the land which I am giving to the sons of Israel.' |
Thou shalt not go – Although usually a type of Christ-in the one instance of disobediently smiting the rock Moses became a type of Christ's followers who put him to open shame and who, in consequence, will die the Second Death. (Heb. 10:29) R4058:1, R3077:4, R5333:3
|