Deuteronomy 32:23

I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(23) Mischiefs.—Literally, ills. Comp. Ezekiel 5:16 : “I will send upon them the evil arrows of famine . . . I will increase the famine upon them.”

Benson Commentary

Deuteronomy 32:23-25. I will spend mine arrows upon them — Even empty my quiver, and send upon them all my plagues, which, like arrows shot by a skilful and strong hand, shall speedily reach, and certainly hit and mortally wound them. The judgments of God are often compared to arrows, Job 6:4; Psalm 38:2; Psalm 91:5. They shall be burnt with hunger — Here these arrows or plagues are enumerated; the first of them is famine, with which they are therefore said to be burnt; because it burns and parches the inward parts of the body. This threatening was awfully fulfilled in their destruction by the Chaldeans, when, according to Jeremiah, their visages became black as a coal, through famine; and their skin withered like a stick, Lamentations 4:8. And devoured with burning heat — From fevers, or carbuncles, or other inflaming distempers. Destruction by wild beasts and poisonous serpents is threatened in the next clause, and Deuteronomy 32:25, by the sword. So that all God’s four sore judgments were to be employed against them. Serpents of the dust — That creep upon and eat the dust, (Genesis 3:14,) and lurk in it, that they may surprise unwary passengers, Genesis 49:17. The sword without, and terror within — In the field they shall be exposed to the sword of their enemies, and at home shall die with fear, or shall destroy their own lives lest they should fall into the hands of their destroyers.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

32:19-25 The revolt of Israel was described in the foregoing verses, and here follow the resolves of Divine justice as to them. We deceive ourselves, if we think that God will be mocked by a faithless people. Sin makes us hateful in the sight of the holy God. See what mischief sin does, and reckon those to be fools that mock at it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

God would mete out to them the same measure as they had done to Him. Through chosen by the one God to be His own, they had preferred idols, which were no gods. So therefore would He prefer to His people that which was no people. As they had angered Him with their vanities, so would He provoke them by adopting in their stead those whom they counted as nothing. The terms, "not a people," and "a foolish nation," mean such a people as, not being God's, would not be accounted a people at all (compare Ephesians 2:12; 1 Peter 2:10), and such a nation as is destitute of that which alone can make a really "wise and understanding people" Deuteronomy 4:6, namely, the knowledge of the revealed word and will of God (compare 1 Corinthians 1:18-28).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

23. I will spend mine arrows upon them—War, famine, pestilence (Ps 77:17) are called in Scripture the arrows of the Almighty.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

i.e. Even empty my quiver, and send upon them all my plagues, which, like arrows shot by a skilful and strong hand, shall speedily reach, and certainly hit, and mortally wound them. Compare Zechariah 9:14.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

I will heap mischief upon them,.... One calamity upon another, which are after particularly mentioned:

I will spewed mine arrows upon them; God is here represented as an enemy to the Jews, as having bent his bow against them like an enemy, Lamentations 2:4; and as having a quiver, and that full of arrows, and as determined to draw out and spend everyone of them, in taking vengeance upon them; which arrows are his four sore judgments mentioned Ezekiel 14:21; and expressed in Deuteronomy 32:24.

Geneva Study Bible

I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

23. heap] According as we point the consonants of this vb., it may mean add, or gather, or sweep up; evils, Deuteronomy 31:17.

24, 25 define the arrows of Deuteronomy 32:23—famine, fever, plague, wild beasts and poisonous, and war.

24 a. The rhythm is irregular whether for a line or couplet, and the text uncertain, the first and last words are only found here and their sense is conjectural.

From Sam. it is possible to read the first word mizzĕh, on this side, and to reconstruct the whole as a regular couplet yielding the kind of antithesis beloved by the writer (Deuteronomy 32:21; Deuteronomy 32:25) and free of the ἄπαξ λεγόμενα

mizzeh rá‘ab yilham  On this side famine devours,

mizzeh rĕshĕph We kétĕl  On this side fever and plague.

Wasted is a meaning drawn from a doubtful Ar. analogy; burning heat, Heb. resheph, fire-bolt or flame as God’s instrument of fever, in Habakkuk 3:5 parallel to pestilence.

24 b. beasts] Heb. Behemôth. For this natural curse of the East cp. Deuteronomy 7:22, Hosea 2:12. The contrast in Isaiah 11:6-9.

crawling things] Micah 7:17, cp. Isaiah 11:8, Jeremiah 8:17.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 23. - I will spend mine arrows upon them; I will inflict on them so many calamities that none shall remain. The evils sent on men by God are represented as arrows shot on them from above. (Cf. ver. 42; Job 6:4; Psalm 7:13; Psalm 38:2; Psalm 45:5; Psalm 58:7; Zechariah 9:14; Homer, 'Iliad,' 1:45, etc.) Deuteronomy 32:23

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"I will heap up evils upon them, use up My arrows against them." The evils threatened against the despisers of the Lord and His commandments would be poured out in great abundance by the Lord upon the foolish generation. ספה, to add one upon the other (vid., Numbers 32:14); hence in Hiphil to heap up, sweep together. These evils are represented in the second clause of the verse as arrows, which the Lord as a warrior would shoot away at his foes (as in Deuteronomy 32:42; cf. Psalm 38:3; Psalm 91:6; Job 6:4). כּלּה, to bring to an end, to use up to the very last.