lest there should be among you man, woman, family, or tribe whose heart turns away today from the LORD our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should be among you a root that produces bitter poison;
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 18. Bitterness; an Israelite, who cherishes now in his heart any idol, ( Bible.) and who may draw God’s judgments upon the people, ( Calmet.) or induce them to follow his wicked example. Bible.—Let all watch over their children, lest they fall off. Chaldee, “Let there be none among you now whose heart may be filled with the sin of pride.” See Acts 8:13 and Hebrews 12:15, where this text is cited. The Hebrew seems to allude to some very bitter herbs. Rass is mentioned as growing in the ground, and the juice of it is often alluded to. Ose. 10:4. Jeremiah 8:13. Psalms 68:22. Lane is generally joined with the former term, and God threatens to make the faithless Israelites eat of it. Jeremiah 9:15. Proverbs 5:4. It may denote a poisonous bitter herb, as well as rass, which signifies “the head, gall, wormwood, aconite,” and so forth Calmet.—The root designates a mind secretly infected with idolatry, and the appetite, being once drunken with pleasures, thirsteth still more. Worthington.