V. The revolt of the next generation from God, by which they also made themselves obnoxious to the wrath of God (v. 21): The children rebelled against me too. And the same that was said of the fathers' rebellion is here said of the children's, for they were a seed of evil-doers. Moses told them that he knew their rebellion and their stiff neck, Deut. xxxi. 27. And Deut. ix. 24, You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you. They walked not in my statutes (v. 21); nay, they despised my statutes, v. 24. Those who disobey God's statutes despise them, they show that they have a mean opinion of them and of him whose statutes they are. They polluted God's sabbaths, as their fathers. Note, The profanation of the sabbath day is an inlet to all impiety; those who pollute holy time will keep nothing pure. It was said of the fathers (v. 16) that their heart went after their idols; they worshipped idols because they had an affection for them. It is said of the children (v. 24) that their eyes went after their fathers' idols; they had grown atheistical, and had no affection for any gods at all, but they worshipped their fathers' idols because they were their fathers' and they had them before their eyes. They were used to them; and, if they must have gods, they would have such as they could see, such as they could manage. And that which aggravated their disobedience to God's statutes was that, if they had done them, they might have lived in them (v. 21), might have been a happy thriving people. Note, Those that go contrary to their duty go contrary to their interest; they will not obey, will not come to Christ, that they may have life, John v. 40. And it is therefore just that those who will not live and flourish as they might in their obedience should die and perish in their disobedience. Now the great instance of that generation's rebellion and inclination to idolatry was the iniquity of Peor, as that of their fathers was the golden calf. Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, Num. xxv. 3. Then there was a plague in the congregation of the Lord, which, if it had not been seasonably stayed by Phinehas's zeal, had cut them all off; and yet they owned, in Joshua's time, We were not cleansed from that iniquity unto this day, Josh. xxii. 17; Ps. cvi. 29. Then it was that God said he would pour out his fury upon them (v. 21), that he lifted up his hand unto them in the wilderness, when they were a second time just ready to enter Canaan, that he would scatter them among the heathen. This very thing he said to them by Moses in his parting song, Deut. xxxii. 20. Because they provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, he said, I will hide my face from them; and (v. 26, 27) he said, I would scatter them into corners, were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, which explains this (v. 21, 22), I said I would pour out my fury upon them, but I withdrew my hand for my name's sake. Note, When the corruptions of the visible church are such, and so provoking, that we have reason to fear its total extirpation, yet then we may be confident of this, to our comfort, that God will secure his own honour, by making good his purpose, that while the world stands he will have a church in it.