Teks -- Deuteronomy 4:32 (NET)

The Uniqueness of Israel’s God

4:32 Indeed, ask about the distant past, starting from the day God created humankind on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether there has ever been such a great thing as this, or even a rumor of it.

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

Wesley: Deu 4:32 - The one side of heaven

That is, of the earth under heaven. Ask all the inhabitants of the world.

Calvin: Deu 4:32 - For ask now

32.For ask now Moses here more forcibly extols and pronounces magnificent praises upon the miracles which he had before more simply related to have taken place at the promulgation of the Law, his object being to produce a fuller conviction of its dignity. He magnifies, too, by comparison, the testimonies whereby its authority had been ratified, viz., because nothing like it had ever occurred; for if any such instance had previously taken place, some portion of its preciousness or honor would have been taken from it. But since from the beginning of the world only one such illustrious manifestation of His power had been given by God, it afforded the greater sanction to the Law. He adds, too, that if they were to search over the whole world they would nowhere find anything similar. For I do not approve of the more refined exposition which some give of this clause, as if he said that all creatures above and below were witnesses that God’s might had never been manifested by so many and such illustrious miracles; as also the sense appears too restricted which others give, understanding “the days that are past” to mean annals or chronicles; for I make no question that Moses simply desires them to inquire and to examine whether from the creation of the world, or in any most remote region, any such thing had come to pass.

Defender: Deu 4:32 - God created man

"The days that are past," to which Moses referred, "since the day that God created man upon the earth," had been some 2500 years (assuming no gaps in the received chronological genealogies of Genesis 5 and 11). That was a long time, of course, but was at least a reasonable point of reference to which the people could relate - nothing like the eternal evolutionary ages postulated by the Egyptians, Canaanites and other ancient pagan nations."

TSK: Deu 4:32 - ask now // from the one

ask now : Job 8:8; Psa 44:1; Joe 1:2

from the one : Deu 30:4; Mat 24:31; Mar 13:27

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: Deu 4:32 - From the one side of heaven

From the one side of heaven i.e. of the earth under heaven. Ask all the inhabitants of the world. Compare Mat 24:31 , with Mar 13:27 .

Haydock: Deu 4:32 - Heaven

Heaven. To our senses the sky seems to rest upon the horizon. So Jesus says, Then he....shall gather....his elect....from the uttermost part of earth, to the uttermost part of heaven, Matthew xxiv. 31. Vatable translates, "from the east to the west." In no age or place did God ever declare his will, as he had done at Sinai. (Calmet)

Gill: Deu 4:32 - For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee // since the day that God created man upon the earth // and ask from the one side of heaven to the other // whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it

For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee,.... Inquire into and consult the annals of former times, of ages past:

since the day that God created man upon the earth; trace them quite up to the creation of the world, and men in it:

and ask from the one side of heaven to the other; traverse the whole globe, and examine the records of every nation in it in both hemispheres:

whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it? whether they can give any account of anything seen, heard, or done like what follows; suggesting that they cannot furnish out an instance to be mentioned with it.