Deuteronomy 32:10

He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness,.... In Deuteronomy 32:10 instances are given of the goodness of God to the people of Israel, when in the wilderness; by which is

He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

He found him, not by chance but as it were looking out and seeking for him, He met with him there. He did indeed manifest himself to him in Egypt, but it was in the wilderness at Sinai; where he found God, and God found him in an eminent manner, and revealed his mind and will to him, and entered into covenant with him, and imparted himself and his grace and blessing to him, that being the place appointed in Egypt for God and Israel to meet together, . By this word he also signifies both their lost condition in themselves, and that their recovery was not from themselves, but only from God, who sought and found them out by his grace. In a desert land; in a place destitute of all the necessaries and comforts of life, which also was a type of that desolate and comfortless condition in which all men are before the grace of God finds them out. See 8:5 13:9. In the waste howling wilderness, where instead of the voices of men, is nothing heard but the howlings, and yellings, and screeches of ravenous birds and beasts. See . He led him about; he conducted them from place to place by his cloudy pillar and providence. See , &c. Or, he compassed him about, by his provident care over him, watching over him and preserving him on every side. Compare . As the apple of his eye; as men use to keep the apple of their eye, i.e. with singular care and diligence, this being, as a most tender, so a most useful part. Compare .

Deuteronomy 32:10 He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.Ver. 10. And in the waste howling wilderness.] A figure of the cries of a thirsty and troubled conscience, and of infernal horrors. See Ezekiel 16:4, &c. He instructed him.] Both by his word and works, both of mercy and justice; for God’ s rods also are vocal. His house of correction is his school of instruction. He kept him as the apple of his eye.] The tenderest piece of the tenderest part. The crystal humour, as the philosophers call it. Heb., Ishon, of Ish, as Pupilla of Pupa, because therein appears the likeness of a little man; or because a man is to be prized above all other creatures: so God esteemeth his people above all the world.

(10) The whole of this verse is in the pictorial present in the Hebrew— “He findeth him in a desert land, In a waste howling wilderness; He compasseth him about, He instructeth him, He guardeth him as the apple of his eye.” He found him.—This beautiful expression is common to the Old and New Testaments as a description of God’s first revelation of Himself to man. In the case of Hagar it is written (Genesis 16:7), “the angel of Jehovah found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness.” Concerning Jacob, that “He found him in Bethel,” when Jacob said “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not” (Hosea 12:4; Genesis 28:16). A series of similar passages is closed by the three examples of the lost sheep, the lost money, and the son that had been lost, and was found (Luke 15). He led him about.—The commoner meaning is given in the margin. Rashi has this remark: “He caused them to abide round about His glory (Shechinah), the tent of the congregation in the middle, and four standards on the four sides.”

Verse 10. He - the Lord, found him - Jacob, in his descendants, in a desert land - the wilderness. He led him about forty years in this wilderness, Deuteronomy 8:2, or יסבבנהו yesobebenhu, he compassed him about, i. e., God defended them on all hands, and in all places. He instructed him - taught them that astonishing law through which we have now almost passed, giving them statutes and judgments which, for depth of wisdom, and correct political adaptation to times, places, and circumstances, are so wondrously constructed, as essentially to secure the comfort, peace, and happiness of the individual, and the prosperity and permanency of the moral system. Laws so excellent that they have met with the approbation of the wise and good in all countries, and formed the basis of the political institutions of all the civilized nations in the universe. Notwithstanding the above gives the passage a good sense, yet probably the whole verse should be considered more literally. It is certain that in the same country travellers are often obliged to go about in order to find proper passes between the mountains, and the following extracts from Mr. Harmer well illustrate this point. "Irwin farther describes the mountains of the desert of Thebais (Upper Egypt) as sometimes so steep and dangerous as to induce even very bold and hardy travellers to avoid them by taking a large circuit; and that for want of proper knowledge of the way, such a wrong path may be taken as may on a sudden bring them into the greatest dangers, while at other times a dreary waste may extend itself so prodigiously as to make it difficult, without assistance, to find the way to a proper outlet. All which show us the meaning of those words of the song of Moses, Deuteronomy 32:10: He led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. "Jehovah certainly instructed Israel in religion by delivering to him his law in this wilderness; but it is not, I presume, of this kind of teaching Moses speaks, as Bishop Patrick supposes, but God's instructing Israel how to avoid the dangers of the journey, by leading the people about this and that dangerous, precipitous hill, directing them to proper passes through the mountains, and guiding them through the intricacies of that difficult journey which might, and probably would, have confounded the most consummate Arab guides. They that could have safely enough conducted a small caravan of travellers through this desert, might have been very unequal to the task of directing such an enormous multitude, encumbered with cattle, women, children, and utensils. The passages of Irwin, that establish the observation I have been making, follow here: 'At half past eleven we resumed our march, and soon came to the foot of a prodigious hill, which we unexpectedly found we were to ascend.

10In a desert land He found him, In the void and howl of the waste. He swept around him, He scanned him, As the pupil of His eye He watched him. 11As an eagle stirreth his nest, Fluttereth over his young, Spreadeth his wings, doth catch them, Beareth them up on his pinions, 12The Lord alone was his leader, And never a strange god with Him. 10. found him] This and the following vbs. are in the Heb. imperf.; this for the sake of vividness, the rest expressive of iteration. On Israel being found in the desert, cp. Hosea 9:10, Jeremiah 2:2. The O.T. tradition is constant that the Hebrews were originally nomad, desert tribes (see the present writer’s Early Poetry of Israel, 39 ff., 56 ff.; and above on Deuteronomy 1:28). void and howl] Or the void of the howl = howling void. compassed him about] Rather keeps circling around him. cared] Rather regarded or scanned him penetratingly. kept] Better watched or guarded. apple of his eye] Pupil is a happier rendering of the Heb. ’îshôn (Ar. ’insân), mannikin, the image reflected in the centre of the eye.

10. Found him in a desert land — This entire passage (10-14) is a highly poetical description of Jehovah’s deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage and of the divine care and guidance. He finds Israel as a man ready to perish.