Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary: Deuteronomy
Chapter 32
Ver. 1. Speak. Hebrew and Septuagint, "Heaven attend, and I will speak." (Haydock) --- Never was there an exordium more pompous, or better adapted to the subject. Moses calls those who never die to witness what he asserts, as if to insinuate that these truths ought never to be forgotten. See Numbers iv. 6. Virgil (Æneid xii.) imitates this style, Esto nunc sol testis & hæc mihi terra precanti, (Calmet) which he puts in the mouth of Æneas, to whom Latinus replies, Hæc eadem Ænea, terram, mare, sidera juro.
Ver. 2. Gather, as rain does from vapours; (Menochius) so let the sum of what I have taught you be collected into this short canticle, and penetrate your hearts. (Haydock) --- Chaldean, "may my discourse be as delightful as the rain." Septuagint, "may my apophthegm (or sententious discourse, Calmet) be expected with earnestness, like rain," when the soil is thirsty. (Haydock) --- Preachers are compared to clouds, and their speech to rain, Isaias lx. 8., and Ecclesiasticus xxxix. 4. --- Drops. Some explain this and the former term in the original, of "a stormy and vehement shower," while others attach this idea only to the last part of the sentence. (Calmet) --- The lawgiver wishes to engage the hearts of his audience by mildness, though he is forced also to thunder, in order to rouse their attention, ver. 15. (Haydock) --- Sound doctrine produces much fruit in good dispositions, as rain causeth the seed to push forth which has been sown in an excellent soil. (Worthington)
Ver. 3. Invoke, or praise. (Vatable) --- Magnificence; admire and fear his greatness. (Calmet) --- The first duty of men is to praise God, the next to confess their sins, ver. 5. (Worthington)
Ver. 4. Right. You cannot complain of having been first abandoned by God. All his works and proceedings are entitled to praise. Hebrew, "This rock, (hatsur) his works are perfect." (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "God, his works are true." (Haydock) --- God is often styled a rock, to denote this strength, ver. 18., and Psalm lxii. 8.
Ver. 5. Filth, or idolatry. The fidelity of God is contrasted with the infidelity of his people, who deserve not to be called his children. The Septuagint, Chaldean, Syriac, and Arabic, seem to have read in a different manner from what the Hebrew does at present. (Calmet) --- As it stands it is quite unintelligible: Corrupit, non filii ejus, macula eorum. Two letters have been carelessly inserted, and la has been placed after lu, contrary to the Samaritan text, which is perfectly clear: "They are corrupted, they are not his, but filii maculæ, children defiled." (Houbigant, prol. 75.) --- Capellus (p. 288,) condemns the Septuagint as he follows a wrong punctuation, and translates, "they did not sin against him, reprehensible children;" whereas, it more properly signifies, "they sinned, not his, but children deserving reprehension, (or children of blame, they did not belong or stick close to him) being a crooked and perverse generation." (Haydock) --- Their wickedness cannot be attributed to God. He is no less powerful and holy, though they have given themselves up to the service of idols. (St. Augustine, q. 55.) (Calmet) --- He had given them all necessary instructions and assistance; so that, finding them always prone to evil, the more favours he heaped upon them, he was on the point of exterminating all the guilty at once, ver. 26. (Haydock)
Ver. 6. Possessed thee, as his peculiar inheritance. (Menochius) --- Hebrew, "has purchased thee, made thee, and established thee." The Septuagint render this last word like the Vulgate as they seem to have read, ibnoc. (Calmet)
Ver. 8. Israel. He suffered the people of Chanaan to occupy as much land as would be requisite for the Israelites. Septuagint, "according to the number of the angels of God." Hence many of the ancients gathered that there were seventy angel guardians of provinces, and as many languages; while others did not pretend to determine the exact number. But the version which they have followed, is in opposition to all the rest. (Calmet) --- They have also disputed on this occasion, whether the elect will be equal in number to the good angels, as St. Gregory thinks; (hom. 34, in Luke xv.) or they will only fill up the places of those who have fallen. See Mag. Sent. ii. 9. Abenezra observes, that interpreters understand this text as alluding to the dispersion of nations, (Genesis xi.) when God decreed that the land of the seven nations should belong to and be sufficient for the Israelites. (Amama) (Haydock) --- The Hebrew may be rendered, "He fixed the limits of each people. At that time the children of Israel were few in number, (9) when the Lord chose his people," &c. Long after the division of the earth, (which the Lord had ordered, Acts xvii. 26,) the Israelites were very few in number, as Jacob observes, Genesis xxxiv. 30. See chap. xxvi. 5., and Psalm civ. 9, 12. (Calmet) --- But this explication does not satisfy Houbigant, (p. 76, Prol.) no more than that of Le Clerc. He is convinced that a word has been transposed, and another left out, as the Samaritan copy has Israel twice, and he would therefore translate, "He divided his people according to the number of the sons of Israel." In his eternal decrees, He allotted twelve portions of land in Chanaan to the descendants of Jacob, and these Josue was ordered to mark out for them. See Josue iv. 5. (Haydock)
Ver. 9. Lot. Hebrew literally, "the cord," in allusion to the ancient method of dividing lands with a cord. Herodotus (ii. 6,) observes, that the length of one, in the Upper Egypt, was 60 stadia, or 7700 paces, while it was only half as much in the Lower Egypt.
Ver. 10. He found. Septuagint and Chaldean, "he gave him what was sufficient, in the desert land." God made a choice of a nation destitute of every thing, that they might confess with gratitude that they had received all from him. (Calmet) --- "Taught him" both by "instructions," and by various "chastisements." Septuagint, epaideusen. (Haydock) --- The space of forty years was necessary (Calmet) to eradicate the propensity to evil, and the corrupt manners of the Hebrews, who were therefore conducted through a wilderness, where they might not be contaminated by the company of other nations, (Haydock) but might have leisure to meditate on the law of God. (Calmet) --- Eye, with the utmost care. (Menochius) --- He protected those whom he had chosen out of pure mercy. (Worthington)
Ver. 11. Shoulders, as (Exodus xix. 4,) upon the wings of eagles. It is said that the eagle hovers over the nest, to encourage her young ones to fly, and when she sees them exhausted, she takes them upon her back. This similitude shews the extreme affection of God towards his people. Hebrew and Chaldean may also be, "as an eagle makes (Calmet; or stirs up) her nest, hatches her young, spreads her wings over them, and bears them upon her wings, so the Lord alone was his leader." (Haydock)
Ver. 12. With him, to stand up in their defence, though the Israelites adored but too many others in the desert.
Ver. 13. High land, in a place of safety, both against the enemy, and the inundations of water. The Nile renders Egypt like one continued sea for about 80 days, in the summer season. (Calmet) --- God had already begun to put the Israelites in possession of the fertile countries east of the Jordan, where there were several high mountains. (Haydock) --- But when this canticle should be recited, in after ages, they would also enjoy the other regions, which had been promised unto them, on the west. Moses speaks, like a prophet, of things to come, as if they were already past. (Menochius) --- Stone. Bees make honey in such places, and olive trees flourish on the side of a hill. Vestiges still remain of the industry with which the Jews have formerly cultivated their territory, supporting the earth with walls (Calmet) when it was in danger of falling down, or of becoming barren, for want of moisture. (Haydock)
Ver. 14. Butter or "cream," as the former article was probably not yet discovered, Genesis xviii. 8. (Calmet) --- The proofs of this assertion, from the original, chemath, and from the Scripture, frequently representing butter as a liquid, seem not, however, very solid. See Judges v. 25., and Proverbs xxx. 33. The Septuagint have literally, "the butter of oxen," but the latter name includes all of the species. (Haydock) --- Basan. The Septuagint have, "the young of bulls and of he-goats;" though they generally translate "fat sheep." See St. Jerome in Isaias liii. --- Wheat. Hebrew, "fat of the kidneys of wheat." --- Grape. See Genesis xlix. 11. Androcides wrote to Alexander, who loved wine too much, "when thou art about to drink wine, remember, O king, that thou art drinking the blood of the earth." (Pliny, [Natural History?] xiv. 15.)
Ver. 15. Beloved. Hebrew yeshurun, is supposed to be a diminutive of Israel, chap. xxxiii. 5., and 26. (Calmet) --- Protestants, "Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked; thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God, which made him, and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation." This sudden change of persons is not found in the Septuagint. "And Jacob eat, and was filled, and the beloved kicked; he grew fat, thick, and broad, and he abandoned God....and revolted from God his Saviour." (Haydock) --- Temporal prosperity occasioned the revolt of the Jews against their benefactor. (Worthington)
Ver. 17. Devils. Hebrew, "to the destroyers, or to those of the fields." See Leviticus xvii. 7., and Baruch iv. 7, 35. (Calmet) --- Knew not. Septuagint, "revered not." (Haydock) --- Hebrew may be, "who knew them not," who had bestowed nothing upon them, chap. xxix. 26. --- Come up. Hebrew, "of the neighbourhood;" gods whose origin they knew, (Calmet) as well as the people who had given them that title; (Haydock) gods of human invention. (Menochius) --- Novelty allureth to the worship of idols and to heresy. (Worthington)