Deuteronomy 32:37-39 Additions

"And he said, 'Where is their God, the Rock in which they trusted?'" (Deuteronomy 32:37) This is [referring to] Titus, who cursed and blasphemed towards Heaven.

(37) ואמר AND HE, the Omnipresent, WILL SAY with regard to them אי אלהימו WHERE ARE THEIR GODS which they served.

(37) צור חסיו בו THE ROCK IN WHOM THEY TRUSTED — i.e. the rock beneath which they sought shelter (more lit., with which they covered themselves) from the heat and the cold; that is to say, “in which they trusted” that it would protect them against evil.

(37) ואמר, at that point G’d will say to Israel

(37) אי אלוהימו, where is now this god of the gentile nations upon whom you have relied, spurning Me? This is the period when all of G’d’s agents who had been assigned as protective forces for the gentile nations will be simultaneously removed from their function. Compare Isaiah 24,21.

(38) 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.

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

(38) יקומו ויעזרכם, “let them arise now and help you!” G’d will follow up by mockingly telling the Jewish people that now the time had come for them to appeal to the gentile nations whose lifestyles they had shared to help them against the judgment being visited upon them by the G’d, the One whom they had forsaken. They had assumed that by assimilating during their exile, these host nations as well as their gods would protect them.

(38) יקומו ויעזרכם, “Let them rise up and help you!” (This is a sarcastic comment, including all the gentiles’ various deities.)

(38) אשר חלב זבחימו יאכלו, the deities whom the Israelites worshipped and to whom they presented their offerings.

(38) סתרה, let these deities hide you and protect you, if they indeed possess such power. Now that you know they are unable to help you, G’d will once again take you under His protective shadow.

(38) אשר חלב זבחימו יאכלו, “the fat of whose offerings they would eat, etc.” Nachmanides writes that the reason that Moses employs the plural mode is that the nations of the world are numerous, so that when the Jews ate of the offerings presented to the various deities of the nations, they ate of a whole variety of such offerings. This made their sins even worse

(undefined) 194 Not to drink wine that was given as a libation [for a false worship] as it says “that the milk of their offerings you will eat and drink their libations” (Devarim 32:38)

(39) ראו עתה SEE NOW — Realise now from the punishment which I have brought upon you and from which there was no one to save you, and, on the other hand, from the help which I will render you and there will be none who can prevent Me,

(39) ואין אלהים עמדי AND THERE IS NO GOD WITH ME — i.e. standing against Me to prevent this.

(39) עמדי means, who is my equal and like Me.

(39) ואין מידי מציל AND THERE IS NONE WHO CAN DELIVER OUT OF MY HAND those who rebel against Me.

(39) ראו עתה כי אני אני הוא, realise now that it had been I Who had brought disaster in exile upon you!

(39) ואין אלוהים עמדי, I had not required the assistance of any other deity. Your misfortune was not due to any celestial forces appointed by Me.

(39) אני אמית ואחיה, only I decree death and resurrection.(compare Ezekiel 37,12)

(39) מחצתי, I have smashed, by decreeing your unsettled condition, forcing you to move from one country to another without taking permanent root in any of them. (compare Kings I 14,15) where the prophet compares the existence of the Jewish people after G’d has chastised them as similar to that of a reed which is constantly moving.

(39) ואני ארפא, and only I can bring healing, as described in Isaiah 30,26.

(39) ראו עתה כי אני אני הוא, “See, now, that I, I am He;” As to those who had mockingly asked where the Israelites’ G–d was when they were in exile and persecuted, now they would see that He is not only the G–d of the Israelites but the G–d over the whole universe and what it contains. He is about to demonstrate this. And as far as considering themselves as His junior partners,

(39) ואין אלהים עמדי, “there is no other deity beside Me.”
אני אתית ואני אחיה, “I cause death, and I resurrect (exclusively).” I alone possess this power, and only I am able to resurrect the dead.

(39) מחצתי ואני ארפא, “I have wounded and I am able to heal.” I will heal them, (My people). Concerning what you gentiles have said sarcastically: יקומו ויעזרכם, “let them arise and help you,” there is no one who can help other than I who can help you. By the same token, no one can save you from Me. (if I decide your destruction).

(39) ראו עתה כי אני אני הוא, G’d addresses the nations of the earth who have said: ”where is their G’d?,” that when they would now experience G’d’s judgment and how He avenges the injustice done to His people, that He is very much around, notwithstanding their mockery of Him.

(39) ראו, “See!” Moses addresses the nations collectively, hence the plural mode.

(39) כי אני אני הוא, “that I, I am He;” I am unique, have no duplicate.

(39) ואין אלוהים עמדי, “and no deity is with Me.” I do not have nor need any helper. There is no one who can effectively oppose Me, and prevent Me from carrying out anything I have set My mind to do. Ibn Ezra says that the meaning of the repetition in the phrase אני אני הוא, is that G’d announces that He is constant and will not undergo any change. I am the G’d, Who, when the need arises brings death to Israel, and I am the same G’d, Who, when the situation warrants it, brings this people back to life. They will be saved, but from no other source than Myself. Many commentators say that the concept of a future world, one beyond death, is derived plainly from this verse. They prove this from G’d saying first: “I will kill,” and then “I will revive,” and not the reverse order according to which physical death is the end of the human existence. The same thought is expressed in the same sequence as מוריד שאול ויעל, ”He brings death and gives life.“ (Samuel I 2,6 Channah’s prayer of thanksgiving.)

(39) אני אני הוא [THAT] IT IS I, EVEN I — I am He Who have the power to abase (make low) and it is I who have the power to raise,