Deuteronomy 32:30

Deu 32:30 How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up?

Ver. 30. How should one chase a thousand?] i.e., How should one of the enemies chase a thousand Israelites, who had a promise of better things, {Lev 26:8} but that having first sold themselves for nought, {Isa 52:3} they were now sold by God, who would own them no longer? {Psa 31:7-8}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

32:30 How could one person chase a thousand: When God gives his people over to destruction, they are vulnerable against all odds. • their Rock: Here the metaphor is used ironically. The very one upon whom Israel should stand as the source of their strength will desert them because of their own wickedness and unfaithfulness (see 32:4).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Or, delivered them to their enemies.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 30. How should one chase a thousand] If therefore they had not forgotten their Rock, God their author and defence, it could not possibly have come to pass that a thousand of them should flee before one of their enemies.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(30) How should one (of their enemies) chase a thousand (of them).—Comp. the verse in Deu_28:25, and more especially Lev_26:8; Lev_26:17; Lev_26:36.

Had sold them.—Here first used of Jehovah. It is a common expression in the book of Judges (Deu_2:14; Deu_3:8; Deu_4:2; Deu_10:7; 1Sa_12:9).

Had shut them up (into the hand of their enemies).—Comp. Psa_78:62, “He shut up His people also unto the sword.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

30. How could one, etc.] Some ignominious rout of Israel.

delivered them up] Cp. Deu_23:15 (16).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For their rock is not as our rock,.... That is, the gods of the Heathens, the rock in which they trusted, are not like the God of Israel, the rock of salvation, in which all true believers, whether Jews or Gentiles, place their confidence; and indeed let that be what it will, that is short of Christ the rock, men lay the stress of their salvation on, it is no rock, but sand, and will stand them in no stead; see Mat 7:24,

even our enemies themselves being judges; as has been confessed of the God of Israel by the Heathens; see Exo 14:25; and was by Titus with respect to the destruction of Jerusalem; See Gill on Deu 32:27; and by the Roman emperors when conquered by the Christians, who asked pardon of the God of the Christians, and owned that the God of Constantine was the true God; See Gill on Rev 6:16.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Thousand. In the battles which the Israelites had fought, the hand of God had appeared so visibly in their defence, giving them the victory over nations much more numerous, (Calmet) that all must confess their defeat must be in punishment of some former transgression, and that it is not the mighty hand of the enemy, but God himself, who chastises his people, as he had foretold, chap. xxviii. 7, 25, 49. (Haydock) --- Of this the neighbouring nations were convinced, as Achior declared to the Holofernes, Judith v. 17. When the Hebrews neglected the law of God they were oppressed, and their conversion was presently rewarded with liberty, (Calmet) and a profusion of blessings.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

How should one chase a thousand? whence should this miraculous change come, that whereas God had promised that five Israelites should chase an hundred of their enemies, &c., Deu 26:8, now, on the contrary,

one enemy

should chase a thousand Israelites?

Their Rock, i.e. their God, as before, Deu 32:4,18, who was their only refuge and defence; had sold them, to wit, for bond-slaves, had quitted his right and relation to them, and given them up into their enemies’ hands.

Shut them up, as it were, in the net which their enemies had laid for them.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

If Israel were wise, they could easily overcome all their foes through the help of the Almighty; (Lev_26:8) but having forsaken him, they were left by him, and so came under the power of the enemy.

Vers. 30-35. The devil"s counterfeit coin.

It is not in the power of Satan to originate any new thing. Knowing that his power is restricted, the utmost he can do is to make spurious imitations of God"s good things. His base purpose is to deceive man with spectral illusions. His nefarious design is to raise before the world"s eye an empty mirage of a carnal paradise.

I EVERY MAN CRAVES FOR SOME GROUND OF CONFIDENCE, EXTERNAL TO HIMSELF. To the men of the East, this external foundation of trust was best described as a rock. What the solid rock is amid the loose alluvial soil of Egypt, or amid the shifting sand of the desert, that God is designed to be unto every man. Complete independence is impossible to created man. He can never be self-contained nor self-nourished. Pure atheism has never been a permanent resting-place for the human heart. When the invisible God is forsaken, the human mind swings toward idolatry. The carnal mind finds delight in a ground of confidence that is visible and tangible. Some god we must have, if it be only the shadowy deity named Fate, or Law, or Chance.

II COMPLETE CONTRAST EXISTS BETWEEN THE OBJECTS OF HUMAN TRUST. The only point of similarity is the name. The devil borrows this, so as the better to throw dust in the eyes of his followers. Our God is a Rock; the world also has its counterfeit rock. By the judgments and verdict of worldly men, our Rock differs in tote from theirs. Their rock, they acknowledge, is unstable and unreliable. They trust it simply because they know not a better. It is misnamed a rock. Their rock ofttimes deserts them in the hour of greatest need. Ah! fortune, say they, is fickle. Very tyrannical and self-willed is fate. But our God is a Rock in very deed. He never forsakes his liege disciples. In the darkest hour he is nearest the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." Their misnamed rock encourages them to enter the battle-field, and then forsakes them. They are "sold to the enemy.

III NOTWITHSTANDING THE CONTRAST IN THESE OBJECTS OF TRUST, THE FALSE IS A CLEVER IMITATION OF THE TRUE. All through life, we find that the false counterfeits the true. The thief puts on the pretence of honesty. The villain trains himself to use fair speech. The adulterer wears the garb of virtue. Beauty is the robe of God, but the devil fabricates meretricious tinsel. He, too, has his "Promised Land," but it is a fool"s paradise. He has his vine, but his vine is the vine of Sodom, which generates drunkenness and unchastity. He also has his fields, but they are fields of Gomorrah. The fruits are pleasant to the eye, but they turn to ashes in the mouth. There is the appearance of grapes, but lo! the juice is gall the clusters are bitterness itself. And not only is the experience disappointing, it is even disastrous and deadly. This pretended wine is only poison, it is a gilded pill. Cruel deceit has provided this counterfeit banquet. Beneath the glamour of a fair exterior, there is the "serpent"s venom." Thus fares it with all who leave their God. They find out the bitter mistake at last. So sang Byron in his last days

The worm, the canker, and the grief Are mine alone.

IV SUCH HUMAN EXPERIENCES OF THE FALSE, GOD USES IN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE WORLD. "Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures?" God knew well what the effects of an idolatrous course would be, what bitter vexation and disaster would come at last. But he foresaw that it was better for men that they should pass through this experience than that he should remove the possibility of it. He might have prevented, by exercise of power, the stratagems of the tempter. He might have curtailed Satan"s freedom, and put on him chains of darkness from the first. But his infinite wisdom has decided otherwise. He foresees more glorious results from this method, so he patiently waits; he calmly watches the stages of the process. "Their foot," says he, "shall slide in due time." "The day of their calamity is at hand." Now, it is difficult to discern between a grain of living seed and a grain of dead sand; but put both into the furrowed field, and give them time, so when the day of harvest comes, the man who sowed the sand will be covered with shame, while he who sowed good seed will bear gladly his sheaves into the heavenly garner. Our business now is to discriminate between God"s corn and the devil"s chaff. "The day will declare it. D.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

One - Israelite. Their rock - Their God, who was their refuge and defense. Sold them - Namely, for bond-slaves, had given themselves up into their enemies hands. Shut them up - As it were in the net which their enemies had laid for them.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

General Information:

Moses speaks a poetic song to the people of Israel. He continues to quote Yahweh's words and tell them more of what they would have understood if they were wise (Deuteronomy 32:29). (See: Parallelism)

How could one chase a thousand ... Yahweh had given them up?

Moses uses a question to scold the people for not being wise enough to understand why their enemies are defeating them. This question can be translated as a statement as in the UDB. (See: Rhetorical Question)

How could one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight

You can make clear the understood information. AT: "How could 1 enemy soldier chase 1,000 of your men, and 2 enemy soldiers cause 10,000 of your men to run away" (See: Numbers and Ellipsis)

unless their Rock had sold them

The word "Rock" refers to Yahweh who is strong and able to protect his people. AT: "unless Yahweh, their Rock, had handed them over" (See: Metaphor)

their Rock ... our Rock

"The Rock" here is a proper name that Moses gives to Yahweh, who, like a rock, is strong and able to protect his people. Translate "Rock" as in Deuteronomy 32:4. (See: Metaphor)

our enemies' rock is not like our Rock

The enemies' idols and false gods are not powerful like Yahweh.

just as even our enemies admit

"not only do we say so, but our enemies say so also"

translationWords

Yahweh

adversary

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

איכה ירדף אחד HOW ONE MAN of the nations COULD PURSUE אלף A THOUSAND of the Israelites.

אם לא כי צורם מכרם EXCEPT THAT THEIR ROCK HAD DELIVERED THEM — sold them and delivered them into our hands, 'delivrer' in old French (Eng. = deliver).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.