Deuteronomy 32:1

Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

XXXII.

(1) Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.—Comp. the opening of Isaiah 1:2, which is almost identical, excepting that the two words for “hearing” are transposed.

Benson Commentary

Deuteronomy 32:1. “This very sublime ode,” says Dr. Kennicott, “is distinguished even by the Jews, both in their manuscripts and printed copies, as being poetry. In our present translation it would appear to much greater advantage if it were printed hemistically: and the translation of some parts of it may be much improved.” We subjoin his translation of the following verses as a specimen.

“1. Let the heavens give ear, and I will speak; and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.

2. My doctrine shall drop, as the rain; my speech shall distil, as the dew, as the small rains upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass.

3. Verily, the name of JEHOVAH will I proclaim; ascribe ye greatness unto our God.

4. He is the rock, perfect is his work; for all his ways are judgment; a God of truth, and without iniquity: just and right is he.

5. They are corrupted, not his, children of pollution, a generation perverse and crooked!

6. Is this the return which ye make to JEHOVAH?

O people foolish and unwise!

Is not he thy Father, thy Redeemer?

He who made thee, and established thee?”

Give ear, O ye heavens — hear, O earth — By appealing, in this solemn manner, to the heavens and the earth in the beginning of this song, Moses intended to signify, 1st, The truth and importance of its contents, which were such as deserved to be known by all the world: and, 2d, The stupidity of that perverse and unthinking people, who were less likely to hearken and obey than the heavens and the earth themselves. 3d, He hereby declares also the justice of the divine proceedings toward them, according to what he had said, Deuteronomy 31:28. See Job 20:27. Or, heaven and earth are here put for the inhabitants of both, angels and men: both will agree to justify God in his proceedings against Israel, and to declare his righteousness, Psalm 50:6; Revelation 19:1-2.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

32:1,2 Moses begins with a solemn appeal to heaven and earth, concerning the truth and importance of what he was about to say. His doctrine is the gospel, the speech of God, the doctrine of Christ; the doctrine of grace and mercy through him, and of life and salvation by him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Song of Moses

If 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,

-1Deu 32:4-18, the faithfulness of God, the faithlessness of Israel;

-2Deu 32:19-33, the chastisement and the need of its infliction by God;

-3Deu 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 chapters; just as a lyrical passage is conceived in modes of thought wholly unlike those which belong to narrative or exhortation, and is uttered in different phraseology.

There are, however, in the Song numerous coincidences both in thoughts and words with other parts of the Pentateuch, and especially with Deuteronomy; while the resemblances between it and Psalm 90:"A Prayer of Moses," have been rightly regarded as important.

The Song has reference to a state of things which did not ensue until long after the days of Moses. In this it resembles other parts of Deuteronomy and the Pentateuch which no less distinctly contemplate an apostasy (e. g. Deuteronomy 28:15; Leviticus 26:14), and describe it in general terms. If once we admit the possibility that Moses might foresee the future apostasy of Israel, it is scarcely possible to conceive how such foresight could be turned to better account by him than by the writing of this Song. Exhibiting as it does God's preventing mercies, His people's faithlessness and ingratitude, God's consequent judgments, and the final and complete triumph of the divine counsels of grace, it forms the summary of all later Old Testament prophecies, and gives as it were the framework upon which they are laid out. Here as elsewhere the Pentateuch presents itself as the foundation of the religious life of Israel in after times. The currency of the Song would be a standing protest against apostasy; a protest which might well check waverers, and warn the faithful that the revolt of others was neither unforeseen nor unprovided for by Him in whom they trusted.

That this Ode must on every ground take the very first rank in Hebrew poetry is universally allowed.

Deuteronomy 32:1-3

Introduction. Heaven and earth are here invoked, as elsewhere (see the marginal references), in order to impress on the hearers the importance of what is to follow.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 32

De 32:1-43. Moses' Song, Which Sets Forth the Perfections of God.

1. Give ear, O ye heavens; … hear, O earth—The magnificence of the exordium, the grandeur of the theme, the frequent and sudden transitions, the elevated strain of the sentiments and language, entitle this song to be ranked amongst the noblest specimens of poetry to be found in the Scriptures.The Divine song, in which God’s power, mercy to his people, and vengeance on his enemies exalted, their ingratitude is rebuked, Deu 32:1-18. God’s wrath and future judgments, Deu 32:19-26. Yet the idolatrous nations to be destroyed, and they at last to be enlarged, Deu 32:27-43. He exhorts them to set their hearts on these words for their good, Deu 32:41-47. God sendeth him up to Mount Nebo, there to see the promised land and die, Deu 32:48-52.

O ye heavens, and, O earth: either,

1. Angels and men; or,

2. You lifeless and senseless creatures, heaven and earth, which he calls upon partly to accuse the stupidity of Israel, that were more dull of hearing than these; and partly as witnesses of the truth of his sayings, and the justice of God’s proceedings against them.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth,

the words of my mouth. This song is prefaced and introduced in a very grand and pompous manner, calling on the heavens and earth to give attention; by which they themselves may be meant, by a "prosopopaeia", a figure frequently used in Scripture, when things of great moment and importance are spoken of; and these are called upon to hearken, either to rebuke the stupidity and inattention of men, or to show that these would shed or withhold their influences, their good things, according to the obedience or disobedience of Israel; or because these are durable and lasting, and so would ever be witnesses for God and against his people: Gaon, as Aben Ezra observes, by the heavens understands the angels, and by the earth the men of the earth, the inhabitants of both worlds, which is not amiss: and by these words of Moses are meant the words of the song, referred to in Deuteronomy 31:29; here called his words, not because they were of him, but because they were put into his mouth, and about to be expressed by him, not in his own name, but in the name of the Lord; and not as the words of the law, which came by him, but as the words and doctrines of the Gospel concerning Christ, of whom Moses here writes; whose character he gives, and whose person and office he vindicates against the Jews, whom he accuses and brings a charge of ingratitude against for rejecting him, to which our Lord seems to refer, John 5:45; the prophecies of their rejection, the calling of the Gentiles, the destruction of the Jews by the Romans, and the miseries they should undergo, and yet should not be wholly extirpated out of the world, but continue a people, who in the latter days would be converted, return to their own land, and their enemies be destroyed; which are some of the principal things in this song, and which make it worthy of attention and observation.

Geneva Study Bible

Give ear, O ye {a} heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

(a) As witness of this people's ingratitude.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

1. heavens … earth] To these he appeals, not as witnesses of the divine events which he is about to declare (so Deuteronomy 4:26; Deuteronomy 31:28), nor as proofs of the regularity or goodness of the divine action (so frequently in the Prophets and Psalms 1[150]), but in the feeling that so great a theme—God’s dealings with His people—demands no less an auditory! The faith of the prophets (of so small and so irresponsive a people) in the infinite interest of their message, in its power of reverberating through the universe, is very striking. And such an assurance, because spiritual and not material, remains steadfast (Carlyle in some of his moods notwithstanding) whatever views be taken of the Universe, whether pre-Copernican or post-Copernican. It is the conviction of man which commands Nature, and not Nature which crushes the conviction. The Universe cannot silence, but must listen to, the spiritual truth. M. Henry interprets less probably: Heaven and Earth will listen sooner than this unthinking people, for they revolt not from their obedience to their Creator, Psalm 119:90 f.

[150] Cp. Carlyle: ‘The stars in the heavens and the blue-bells by the wayside shew forth the handiwork of Him who is Almighty, who is All Good. In a bad weak world what would become of us did not our hearts understand at all times that this is even so?’ (Life i. 338).

1–3. The Exordium

1 Give ear, O Heavens, let me speak,

And let Earth hear the words of my mouth.

2 May my message drop as the rain,

My speech distil as the dew,

Like mists on the grass,

And like showers on the herb.

3 For the name of the Lord I proclaim,

To our God give the greatness!

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 1. - Heaven and earth are summoned to hearken to his words, both because of their importance, and because heaven and earth were interested, so to speak, as witnesses of the manifestation of God's righteousness and faithfulness about to be celebrated (cf. Deuteronomy 4:26; Deuteronomy 30:19; Deuteronomy 31:28, 29; Isaiah 1:2; Jeremiah 2:12; Jeremiah 22:29). Deuteronomy 32:1

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"Introduction and Theme. - in the introduction (Deuteronomy 32:1-3), - "Give ear, O ye heavens, I will speak; and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. Let my doctrine drop as the rain, let my speech fall as the dew; as showers upon green, and rain-drops upon herb, for I will publish the name of the Lord; give ye greatness to our God," - Moses summons heaven and earth to hearken to his words, because the instruction which he was about to proclaim concerned both heaven and earth, i.e., the whole universe. It did so, however, not merely as treating of the honour of its Creator, which was disregarded by the murmuring people (Kamphausen), or to justify God, as the witness of the righteousness of His doings, in opposition to the faithless nation, when He punished it for its apostasy (just as in Deuteronomy 4:26; Deuteronomy 30:19; Deuteronomy 31:28-29, heaven and earth are appealed to as witnesses against rebellious Israel), but also inasmuch as heaven and earth would be affected by the judgment which God poured out upon faithless Israel and the nations, to avenge the blood of His servants (Deuteronomy 32:43); since the faithfulness and righteousness of God would thus become manifest in heaven and on earth, and the universe be sanctified and glorified thereby. The vav consec. before אדבּרה expresses the desired or intended sequel: so that I may then speak, or "so will I then speak" (vid., Khler on Hagg. p. 44, note).