Deuteronomy 32:2 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Deuteronomy 32:1-6

Here is, I. A commanding preface or introduction to this song of Moses, Deut. 32:1, 2. He begins, 1. With a solemn appeal to heaven and earth concerning the truth and importance of what he was about to say, and the justice of the divine proceedings against a rebellious and backsliding people, for he had said (Deut. 31:28) that he would in this song call heaven and earth to record against them. Heaven and earth would sooner hear than this perverse and unthinking people; for they revolt not from... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 32:2

My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew ,.... Which some, as Aben Ezra, take to be a prayer or wish, that the doctrine spoken by him might fall upon men like rain and dew on the earth, penetrate into their hearts, and influence them, and produce good effects there; but the words rather seem to be a prophecy of what would be: and by his "doctrine" and "speech", which signify the same thing, is meant, not his law, which was fiery, this cooling, like rain and dew;... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Deuteronomy 32:2

My doctrine - לקחי likchi , from לקח lakach , to take, carry away; to attract or gain over the heart by eloquence or persuasive speech. Hence the Septuagint translate the word αποφθεγμα , an apophthegm , a sententious and weighty saying, for the regulation of the moral conduct such, properly, are the sayings in this inimitable ode. Shall drop as the rain - It shall come drop by drop as the shower, beginning slowly and distinctly, but increasing more and more till the... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Deuteronomy 32:2

Verse 2 2My doctrine shall drop as the rain. Some, as I think improperly, here resolve the future tense into the optative mood, (248) for in this splendid eulogium he rather celebrates, in order to commend his doctrine, the fruitfulness (249) which is actually imparted to it by the Holy Spirit, than asks for it to be given to him; and my readers must at once perceive that such a request would have been by no means seasonable. He therefore compares his speech to rain or dew, as if he had said... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 32:1-3

Beneficial teaching. Moses was directed to instruct the people by composing for their use a song ( Deuteronomy 31:19 , Deuteronomy 31:21 ). A song is: 1. Memorable. 2. Easily handed down from mouth to mouth. 3. Of singular power to awaken sympathetic feeling (cf. influence of ballads, of Jacobite songs, of the 'Marseillaise,' of popular hymns). The action of song is not violent, but gentle and persuasive. It steals about the heart like rippling water or like sunlight,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 32:1-4

God the believer's Rock. "Forms change: principles neverse" So have we had often to remark in discovering in and developing from this book the everlasting principles which are therein set in archaic forms. The song of Moses here recorded will yield us many illustrations of this kind of teaching. Its first four versos suggest three lines of thought. I. THERE IS HERE A REVEALED DOCTRINE CONCERNING GOD . In the last song which the old man utters ere he climbs the mount of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 32:1-6

God's vicegerent as poet. The true poet is God's messenger. He that sings not of truth and goodness is not a genuine poet; he is but a rhymester. As the swan is said to sing sweetly only in the act of dying, so, on the eve of his departure, Moses sings his noblest strains. I. OBSERVE THE POET 'S AUDITORY . He summons heaven and earth to hear. We read in ancient story that when Orpheus made music with his lyre, the wild beasts listened, and the trees and rocks of Olympus... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 32:1-14

The fatherhood of God. In this first section of the Divine song, the predominating idea is God's fatherhood. It comes out in Deuteronomy 32:6 in express terms; it is implied in the care that is attributed to him for his children of Israel; it passes into the still tenderer idea of motherhood in the illustration of the eagle ( Deuteronomy 32:11 ); and may fairly be taken as the idea dominating the whole. It has been thought that the fatherhood of God is almost altogether a New Testament... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 32:2

My doctrine shall drop as the rain. The Hebrew verb here and in Deuteronomy 33:28 is properly rendered by" drop;" it expresses the gentle falling of a genial shower or the soft distillation of dew. The clause is best taken imperatively, as it is by the LXX ; the Vulgate, and Onkelos: Let my doctrine drop as the rain , let my speech distil , etc. The point of comparison hero is not the quickening, fructifying, vivifying influence of the rain and dew, so much as the effective force... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Deuteronomy 32:1-42

Song of MosesIf Deuteronomy 32:1-3 be regarded as the introduction, and Deuteronomy 32:43 as the conclusion, the main contents of the song may be grouped under three heads, namely,(1) Deuteronomy 32:4-18, the faithfulness of God, the faithlessness of Israel;(2) Deuteronomy 32:19-33, the chastisement and the need of its infliction by God;(3) Deuteronomy 32:34-42, God’s compassion upon the low and humbled state of His people.The Song differs signally in diction and idiom from the preceding... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Deuteronomy 32:1-6

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 32:2

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Deuteronomy 32:2

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Deuteronomy 32:2

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 32:1-3

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 32:1-4

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 32:1-6

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 32:1-14

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 32:2

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Deuteronomy 32:1-42

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