20 Yahweh will not pardon him, but then the anger of Yahweh and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and all the curse that is written in this book shall lie on him, and Yahweh will blot out his name from under the sky.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
The Lord will not spare him. Moses here teaches us that the obstinacy in which the wicked are willfully hardened, shuts against them the door of hope, so that they will find that God is not to be appeased. And assuredly it is the climax of all sins that a wretched man, who is abandoned to vice, should extinguish the light of his own reason, and destroy the image of God within him, so as to degenerate into a beast: and not only so, but also that he should dethrone God, as if He were not the Judge of the world. And this is the insult which they put upon Him who abandon themselves to sin in the confident expectation of impunity. [1] Thus, by Isaiah, God swears that this was an inexpiable crime, that, when He called them to baldness and to mourning, the Israelites encouraged each other to gladness; and, whilst feasting luxuriously, said in ridicule, "Tomorrow we shall die." (Isaiah 22:12, 13.) By the word, 'vh, ahab, Moses altogether shuts out the grace of God. [2] Meanwhile he contrasts God's fixed purpose, -- that He will not be willing to pardon, -- with the depraved pleasures of those who take too much delight in their sins. Behold, then, what poor sinners gain by their proud contempt when they endeavor to cast off God's judgment together with His fear! Further, in order the better to express that God will be irreconcilable to such great perversity, he declares that He will exterminate from the earth those who have so wantonly exulted in iniquity; and finally adds, that He will give them up to be accursed (in anathemata,) so that they shall no longer hold a place among the people of Israel. Now, it is a much more grievous thing to be cut off from the elect people, and to be set apart unto evil, as it is here said, than to be deprived of natural life.
1 - "Car ceux qui sous ombre d'eschapper son jugement s'abandonnent a pecher, luy font ce dishonneur de le despouiller de son empire;" for those who abandon themselves to sin under cover of escaping His judgment, do him this dishonor of despoiling him of his empire. -- Fr.
2 - "Le verbe que nous avons translate condescendre, signifie venir a gre. Ainsi Moyse exclud toutes graces de Dieu;" the verb which we have translated condescend, (the Lord will not condescend to spare him,) signifies to consent. Thus Moses shuts out all the graces of God. -- Fr y'vh, acquiescet. -- Taylor.
3 - "Car ceux qui sous ombre d'eschapper son jugement s'abandonnent a pecher, luy font ce dishonneur de le despouiller de son empire;" for those who abandon themselves to sin under cover of escaping His judgment, do him this dishonor of despoiling him of his empire. -- Fr.
4 - "Le verbe que nous avons translate condescendre, signifie venir a gre. Ainsi Moyse exclud toutes graces de Dieu;" the verb which we have translated condescend, (the Lord will not condescend to spare him,) signifies to consent. Thus Moses shuts out all the graces of God. -- Fr y'vh, acquiescet. -- Taylor.
Then the Lord will not spare him,.... Have no mercy upon him, nor forgive him, being an hardhearted, impenitent, stubborn, and obstinate sinner, as well as guilty of the grossest and most provoking sin, as idolatry is:
but then the anger of the Lord, and his jealousy, shall smoke against that man; or, "the nose of the Lord shall smoke" (f); alluding to an angry, wrathful, furious man, whose brain being heated, and his passions inflamed, his breath steams through his nostrils like smoke; it denotes the vehement anger, the greatness of God's wrath and indignation against such a person, and his burning zeal or jealousy for his own honour and glory injured by the idolater:
and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him: for as he that offends in one point is guilty of all, and especially in such a principal point as this, which concerns the being and worship of God; so he makes himself liable to all the curses of the law, which shall not only come upon him, but abide on him; and there is no person clear of them but by redemption through Christ, who, by being made a curse for his people, has redeemed them from the curse of the law:
and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven; he shall have no name in Israel, not in the church, and among the people of God, from whom he is to be excommunicated; shall have no name and place in the earth, being cut off from the land of the living; and shall have no name or fame after his death, his memory shall rot and perish; and he shall appear to have no name in the book of life; see Psalm 69:28.
(f) "fumabit nasus Domini", Montanus.
"For the Lord will not forgive him (who thinks or speaks in this way); but then will His anger smoke (break forth in fire; vid., (Psalm 74:1), and His jealousy against that man, and the whole curse of the law will lie upon him, that his name may be blotted out under heaven (vid., Deuteronomy 25:19; Exodus 17:14). "The Lord will separate him unto evil from all the tribes, - so that he will be shut out from the covenant nation, and from its salvation, and be exposed to destruction - according to all the curses of the covenant." Although the pronominal suffix refers primarily to the man, it also applies, according to Deuteronomy 29:18, to the woman, the family, and the tribe. "That is written," etc., as in Deuteronomy 28:58, Deuteronomy 28:61.
Shall smoke - Shall burn and break forth with flame and smoke as it were from a furnace.
*More commentary available at chapter level.