Deuteronomy 32:14

32:7-14 Moses gives particular instances of God's kindness and concern for them. The eagle's care for her young is a beautiful emblem of Christ's love, who came between Divine justice and our guilty souls, and bare our sins in his own body on the tree. And by the preached gospel, and the influences of the Holy Spirit, He stirs up and prevails upon sinners to leave Satan's bondage. In ver. 13,14, are emblems of the conquest believers have over their spiritual enemies, sin, Satan, and the world, in and through Christ. Also of their safety and triumph in him; of their happy frames of soul, when they are above the world, and the things of it. This will be the blessed case of spiritual Israel in every sense in the latter day.

Made of milk, which kine or cows give; Jarchi says, this is the fat that is gathered on the top of milk, he means cream, and which indeed was the butter of the ancients, and is here meant: and milk of sheep: which they give, though not in such plenty as the kine, yet what is very wholesome and nourishing: the philosopher (b) observes, that sheep give more milk in proportion to the size of their bodies than cows: and Pliny (c) says their milk is sweeter and more nourishing, and the butter made of it is the fattest: with fat of lambs; or fat lambs, rich and delicious food: and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats; a fruitful country abounding with pasturage, where rams and goats of the best sort were and the breed of them was coveted and had in the land of Canaan; the kine of Bashan are mentioned elsewhere, Psalm 22:12, with the fat of kidneys of wheat: that is, the best wheat, the grains are plump and full; and Aben Ezra observes, that a grain of wheat has some likeness to a kidney, see Psalm 81:16, and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape; wine which comes from the grape, red wine, pure and unmixed, see Genesis 40:11; the land of Canaan was a land of vines, and abounded with good wine, Deuteronomy 8:8; which the Israelites, when they came into it, drank of in common, who had only drank water in the wilderness, and had but little flesh, and lived on manna, and now abounded with plenty of all good things; all which are observed as instances of divine goodness, and to

Deuteronomy 32:14 . Milk of sheep — Le Clerc renders it, Milk of sheep and goats; the Hebrew word signifying both. With fat of lambs — Or, lambs well fatted. The fat, indeed, wherewith the inwards were covered was not to be eaten by them, but offered to God; yet that fat which was mixed with the flesh they might eat. Bashan — A place famous for excellent cattle. Fat of kidneys of wheat — With the finest of the grains of wheat, compared to kidneys in their shape and colour; or with large and plump corn, affording a plenty of flour. The pure blood of the grape — This metaphor, as well as the preceding, is very elegant and natural, on account of the great resemblance between red wine and blood; and it is also a very animated expression.

Verse 14. - Butter of kine. The Hebrew word ( חֶמְאָה ) here used designates milk in a solid or semi-solid state, as thick cream, curd, or butter. As distinguished from this is the milk of sheep ; where the word used ( חָלָב ) properly denotes fresh milk, milk in a fluid state, and with all its richness ( חֶלֶב , fatness) in it (cf. Genesis 18:8 ; Isaiah 7:22 ). Fat of lambs ; lambs of the best, "fat" being a figurative expression for the best ( Numbers 18:12 ). Rams of the breed of Bashan ; literally, rams , sons of Bashan ; i . e . reared in Bashan, a district famous for its cattle. With the fat of kidneys of wheat ; with the kidney-fat of wheat ; i . e . the richest fat, the best and most nutritious wheat. And thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape. The blood of the grape is the expressed juice of the grape, which, being red, is compared to blood. The rendering "pure" here is not inapt. The original word ( חֶמֶר , from חָמַר , to boil up, to foam, to rise in bubbles) describes this juice as it appears when pressed into a vessel, when the surface of the liquid is covered with froth or foam. There is no ground for the explanation "fery wine" (Keil); wine in such a state was never among the Hebrews counted a blessing. That they had and used fermented wine is certain; but what they specially esteemed as a luxury was the pure unadulterated juice of the grape freshly pressed out and drunk with the foam on it. Deuteronomy 32:14

With fat of lambs; for though the fat wherewith the inward parts were covered was not to be eaten by them, but offered to God, Leviticus 3:9,10 , yet that fat which was fast joined to and mixed with the flesh they might eat, as the Jewish doctors note. Bashan; a place famous for excellent cattle, Numbers 32:4,33 . With the fat of kidneys of wheat, i.e. with the finest of the grains or kernels of wheat, compared to kidneys for their shape, and plumpness, and largeness. Compare Psalm 81:16 147:14 . The pure blood of the grape; wine not mixed with water, but pure as it comes from the grape, which was of a red or bloody colour. See Psalm 75:8 Isaiah 27:2 .

Breed of Bashan - Bashan was famous for its cattle. Compare Psalm 22:12 ; Ezekiel 39:18 . Fat of kidneys of wheat - i. e., the finest and most nutritious wheat. The fat of the kidneys was regarded as being the finest and tenderest, and was therefore specified as a part of the sacrificial animals which was to be offered to the Lord: compare Exodus 29:13, etc. The pure blood of the qrape - Render, the blood of the grape, even wine. The Hebrew word seems (compare Isaiah 27:2) a poetical term for wine.

13, 14. He made him ride on the high places, &c.—All these expressions seem to have peculiar reference to their home in the trans-jordanic territory, that being the extent of Palestine that they had seen at the time when Moses is represented as uttering these words. "The high places" and "the fields" are specially applicable to the tablelands of Gilead as are the allusions to the herds and flocks, the honey of the wild bees which hive in the crevices of the rocks, the oil from the olive as it grew singly or in small clumps on the tops of hills where scarcely anything else would grow, the finest wheat (Ps 81:16; 147:14), and the prolific vintage.

14 . Curd of kine ] Fermented milk, Ar. leben . fat of lambs and of rams ] So LXX, bringing forward rams from next line. Bulls of Bashán ] Lit. the sons , or breed , of Bashán ( Deuteronomy 3:1 ), celebrated for its steers, Psalm 22:12 (13), etc. fat of the kidneys ] The richest fat, Leviticus 3:4 , Isaiah 34:6 ; here figuratively of the richest wheat. blood of the grape thou drankest in foam ] There is no need to read with the LXX he drank (so Steuern. to harmonise with the next line), nor to take the line as a gloss (Marti), though it be an odd line and not one of a couplet. This is the climax of the passage of Israel from the nomadic to the agricultural stage of life, and is still regarded as the last distinction of the fellaḥ from the Bedawee; cp. Deuteronomy 33:28 , Genesis 49:11 f. Foam (EVV. wine ), Heb. ḥemer from root ḥmr , to ferment or foam ; cp. Psalm 46:3 (4), Psalm 75:8 (9).