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| 1 Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak, And let the earth hear the sayings of my mouth: |
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| 2 Let my teaching drop as the rain, Let my speech distil as the dew,–As copious rains on tender grass, As myriad drops on seeding plants. |
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
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| 3 When, the name of Yahweh, I proclaim, Ascribe ye greatness unto our God:– |
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| 4 A Rock! faultless his work, For, all his ways, are just,–A GOD of faithfulness and without perversity, Right and fair, 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
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| 5 They have broken faith with him, to be no sons of his–their fault,–A generation twisted and crooked. |
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| 6 Is it, Yahweh, ye thus requite, O impious people and unwise? Is not, he, thy father who begat thee? He, that made thee, and established thee? |
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| 7 Remember the days of age-past times, Remark the years of many generations,–Ask thy father, and he will tell thee, Thine elders, and they will say to thee:– |
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| 8 When the Most High gave inheritances unto the nations, When he spread abroad the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the peoples, According to the number of the sons of Israel. |
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| 9 For, Yahweh's portion, is his people,–Jacob, his inherited possession. |
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| 10 He met him in a desert land, And in the howling waste of a wilderness,–He encompassed him, watched over him, Shielded him, as the pupil of his own eye. |
The apple of his eye – Nothing shall by any means injure these. R4462:5
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| 11 As, an eagle, stirreth up his nest, Over his young ones, fluttereth,–Spreadeth abroad his wings, taketh one, Beareth it up on his 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
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| 12 Yahweh alone, did lead him,–And there was with him no GOD of a stranger. |
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| 13 He made him ride on the high places of the land, Caused him to eat the increase of the fields,–And gave him to suck honey out of the cliff, And oil out of the rock of flint: |
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| 14 Curds of kine and milk of sheep,–With fat of well-fed lambs, Yea rams bred in Bashan and he-goats, With the white of the kernels of wheat,–And, the blood of the grape, thou didst drink as it foamed. |
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| 15 Then Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: Thou wast fat, Thou wast thick, Thou wast gorged,–So he forsook the GOD who made him, And treated as foolish his Rock of salvation. |
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| 16 They moved him to jealousy with foreign [gods],–With abominations, angered they him: |
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| 17 They sacrificed to mischievous demons, to a No-GOD, Gods whom they knew not,–New ones lately come in, Your fathers never shuddered at them! |
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
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| 18 Of the Rock who had begotten thee, thou wast unmindful,–And didst forget GOD who had given thee birth. |
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| 19 When Yahweh saw, he derided,–Because his sons and his daughters gave provocation. |
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| 20 So he said:–I will hide any face from them, I will see, what will be their hereafter,–For, a generation given to intrigue, they are, Sons, whom there is no trusting; |
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| 21 They, have moved me to jealousy with a No-GOD, They have angered me with their vanities: I, therefore, will move them to jealousy, with a No-people, With an impious nation, will I anger them. |
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
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| 22 For, a fire, is kindled in mine anger, And shall burn as far as hades beneath,–And consume the earth with her produce, And set ablaze the foundations of the 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*
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| 23 I will heap on them, calamities,–Mine arrows, will I spend upon them: |
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| 24 The meltings of hunger, The devourings of fever, And the dangerous pestilence,–And, the tooth of beasts, will I send among them, With the poison of crawlers of the dust: |
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| 25 Without, shall the sword bereave, In the inmost recesses, terror,–[To] both young man and virgin, Suckling, with man of grey hairs. |
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| 26 I said, I would puff them away, I would destroy from mortals, their memory; |
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
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| 27 Were it not that, the taunt of the foe, I feared, Lest their adversaries should mistake,–Lest they should say–Our own hand, is exalted, It is, not Yahweh, therefore, who hath wrought all this! |
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| 28 For, a nation of vanished sagacity, they are,–And there is in them no understanding. |
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| 29 If they had been wise, they would have understood this,–They would have given heed to their hereafter! |
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| 30 Oh! how would, one, have chased, a thousand! And, two, put, ten thousand, to flight,–Were it not that, their Rock, had sold them, And, Yahweh, had abandoned them; |
One chase a thousand – Harvest laborers, though few in number, accomplish the harvest work. R1349:5, R6023:1
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| 31 For, not like our Rock, is their rock,–Our enemies themselves, being judges; |
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| 32 For, of the vine of Sodom, is their vine, And of the vineyards of Gomorrah,–Their grapes, are grapes of gall, Clusters of bitter things, are theirs: |
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| 33 The poison of large serpents, is their wine,–Yea the fierce venom of asps. |
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| 34 Is not, that, stored up with me,–Sealed up amongst my treasures; |
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| 35 Unto the days of vengeance and requital: Unto the time their foot shall totter? For, near, is the day of their fate, And their destiny speedeth on. |
Vengeance – The time of trouble. D73, D549
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| 36 For Yahweh will vindicate his people, And, upon his servants, will have compassion,–When he seeth that strength is exhausted, And there is no one shut up or at large, |
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
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| 37 Then will he say, Where are their gods, The rock, in whom they have trusted;
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| 38 Who used to eat, the fat of their sacrifices, To drink the wine of their libations? Let them rise up, and help you, Let them be over you for a coveting! |
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| 39 See, now, that, I, I, am, he that is, And there are no gods with me,–I, kill–and make alive, I wound, and, I, heal, And there, is none, who, from my hand, can deliver, |
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
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| 40 For I lift up unto the heavens my hand,–And say, Living, am, I, unto times age-abiding: |
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| 41 If I whet my flashing sword, And my hand take hold on justice, I will return vengeance unto mine adversaries, And, them who hate me, will I requite: |
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| 42 I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, And, my sword, shall devour flesh,–With, the blood of the slain, and the captive, With [the flesh of] the chief leader of the foe. |
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| 43 Shout for joy O ye nations [with] his people, For, the blood of his servants, he avengeth,–And, vengeance, he returneth unto his adversaries, And is propitious unto the soil of 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
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| 44 So Moses came in and spake all the words of this Song in the hearing of the people,–he and Hoshea, son of Nun. |
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| 45 And, when, Moses, made an end of speaking all these words unto all Israel, |
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| 46 he said unto them–Apply your hearts unto all the words which I am witnessing against you, today,–how that ye must command your sons to observe to do all the words of this law; |
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| 47 for it is not, too small a thing, for you, for, it, is your life,–and, hereby, shall ye prolong your days upon the soil whereunto ye are passing over the Jordan to possess it. |
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| 48 And Yahweh spake unto Moses, on this selfsame day, saying: |
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| 49 Get thee up into this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, which is over against Jericho–and behold the land of Canaan, which I, am giving unto the sons of Israel, for a possession; |
Mount Nebo – It is quite possible that Elijah was taken from this same mountain. R3416:3
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| 50 and die thou in the mount whither thou art going up, and be withdrawn unto thy kinsfolk,–as Aaron thy brother died, in Mount Hor, and was withdrawn unto his kinsfolk; |
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
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| 51 for that ye acted unfaithfully against me, in the midst of the sons of Israel, regarding the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the desert of Zin,–for that ye hallowed me not in the midst of the sons of Israel. |
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| 52 Yet, over against thee, shalt thou behold the land,–but, thereinto, shalt thou not enter, into the land which I am giving unto 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
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