Deuteronomy 32:38

Deu 32:38 Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, [and] drank the wine of their drink offerings? let them rise up and help you, [and] be your protection.

Ver. 38. Which did eat.] Put them to a great deal of charge, but for no profit.

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.

32:38 ate the fat . . . drank the wine: Most polytheistic religious systems that practice sacrifice include the notion that the gods find nourishment in the sacrifices made to them. Israel fell victim to this superstitious belief for a time before the Lord graciously taught them otherwise and restored them to himself (32:36).

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

38. Let them be a covert above you] So LXX, etc.; Heb. let it.

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.

See now that I, even I, am he,.... Which words are directed to the people of God in their low estate, to look to Christ, and expect deliverance and salvation from him; or to their enemies that insult them, to the despisers, to look, and wonder, and perish, as they will, when the witnesses slain by them shall arise, and go up to heaven in their sight, Rev 11:11; they are spoken by the Word and Son of God, to whom the Father has committed all judgment, and who will now rise up and execute it; so the Targum of Jonathan,"when the Word of the Lord shall reveal himself to redeem his people, he will say to all people, see now, &c.''and who will declare himself to be the great Jehovah, the self-existent Being, the eternal and immutable I AM; for this phrase is expressive of his existence, eternity, immutability, and sovereignty; and which the above Targum paraphrases thus,"see now that I am he that have been, and am, and I am he that shall be,''which, as it is a deciphering the word "Jehovah", is what is applied to Christ, Rev 1:8. The repeating the word "I", as it may denote the strong affection of the speaker, and the certainty of what he would do, so it may have respect to both sorts of persons the words are directed to, and to the several sorts of things to be done, hereafter related; signifying that it is the same I, that does the one, does also the other, kills and makes alive, &c.

and there is no god with me; this the Redeemer and Saviour says elsewhere, Isa 44:6; see Deu 32:12; there is but one God, and Christ the Word, with the Father and the Spirit, are that one God, Jo1 5:7; and there is no other with him; he is the true God, in opposition to all factitious and fictitious gods; he is not a made god, nor a god by office, nor by name and title only, but by nature the one, true, only, and living God; and so it may be most truly believed of him, that he is able to do, and will do, what he next says:

I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: Christ is the sovereign disposer of life and death, of sickness and health, in a temporal sense; and in a spiritual sense he wounds and kills, by the law in the hand of his Spirit; and he heals and makes alive by his Gospel, as it is accompanied by his Spirit and grace also: this is by some referred to the resurrection from the dead, which will be by Christ the resurrection and the life, the earnest, exemplar, and efficient cause of it; so the Targum of Jerusalem,"I am he that kills the living in this world, and quickens the dead in the world to come:''but it refers to another resurrection previous to that, namely, the reviving of the witnesses after they have been slain three days; who, as they will be killed in a civil sense, in the same sense they will be quickened by the Spirit of life from Christ; that is, they will be raised from that very low estate into which they will be brought, into a glorious one, signified by their ascending up into heaven; which will be done by Christ when he takes to himself his great power, and reigns; then as he suffered his witnesses and people to be wounded and killed, he will make them alive, and heal them, and restore comforts and happiness to them, see Rev 11:11,

neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand; for, at the same time that he saves his people, he will take their enemies into his hands, out of which there will be no escape; at this time seven thousand names of men, or men of name, will be slain; see Gill on Rev 11:13.

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

Wine. Hence the Jews abhor the wine of Christians, whom they consider as the greatest enemies of God. The pagans were accustomed to make libations to their idols, even in their ordinary repasts. (Calmet) --- The fat was always sacred to God, Leviticus iii. 17. (Menochius)

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).

i.e. To whom you offered sacrifices and oblations after the manner of the Gentiles. See Exo 34:13; Psa 106:28; 1Co 10:20.

Let them help you, if they can do it. Compare Jdg 10:14; Jer 2:28.

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

38. Let them rise up — Comp. Jer_2:28 : “But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? Let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of the trouble.” Men need divine protection. It is natural for them to look to those they have worshipped for help.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Which did eat - That is, to whom you offered sacrifices and oblations after the manner of the Gentiles. Help you - If they can.

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

אשר חלב זבחימו THE FAT OF WHOSE SACRIFICES THEY, i.e. these gods — used to eat, which they offered to them, and which used to drink יין נסיכם THE WINE OF THEIR DRINK OFFERING.

יהי עליכם סתרה LET IT BE YOUR PROTECTION — i.e., let that rock (v. 37) be a refuge and shelter to you.

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.

WHO ‘YOCHEILU’ (DID EAT) THE FAT OF THEIR SACRIFICES — for Israel was more constant in the service of offerings and drink-offerings than any other nation to its gods. He mentions the plural: ‘yocheilu’ (‘they’ did eat), ‘yishthu’ (‘they’ did drink), and their ‘gods’ which are in the plural [although referring to G-d Who is One] because according to the nations [whose words He is now citing] there are many deities. Therefore He turns [to Israel] and says, See now all My people, that I, even I, am He, One, and there is no god with Me to assist Me, and there is no one to oppose Me, to deliver out of My hand or object to My doing whatever I wish — to kill, to wound, to make alive and to heal.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.