Deuteronomy 32:15

But the house of Israel grew rich and wicked; they prospered much and possessed wealth, and forsook the worship of Eloah who created them, and provoked Him to anger who redeemed them.

Yeshurun grew fat i.e., Israel. Most likely the name is derived from the word “upright” [Hebrew: yashar], and the meaning of the verse is that he who had once been upright has become fat. Another opinion is that the name is related to “I gaze at it” [Hebrew: ashurennu] [Numbers 24: 17]; but the former explanation, in my opinion, is the more just of the two, as evidenced by the verb’s being in the singular [since the latter explanation implies that the reason for the yod in Yeshurun is to indicate the third person masculine plural — Translator].

and kicked from “why do you kick” [I Samuel 2: 29], where the meaning of the word can be understood from context.

You grew fat and did not take it to heart.

you thickened as in “my little finger will be thicker” [I Kings 12: 10].

you became covered [Hebrew: kas̀ita] Some say that the word is related to “he has covered [Hebrew: khissah] his face with his fat” [Job 15: 27], since the verb also appears in the qal form [e.g., Proverbs 12: 23]. Others say that it is from “I wandered like a lamb [Hebrew: kes̀eh] gone astray” [Psalms 119: 176] — except that there is no verbal form that uses an auxiliary kaf. The correct interpretation, in my opinion, is that this word has no cognate, and that its meaning is similar to “you kicked”.

He abandoned the precepts of his God.

debased in thought, and in word. Scripture says the Rock of his salvation, in all likelihood, to indicate that he desecrated the Name of the One Who, for that reason, did not confer upon him salvation. One can also apply the interpration of “The Rock Whose acts are perfect” [comment on 32: 4] to the current passage.

VAYENABEIL’ THE ROCK OF HIS SALVATION — “he showed contempt for Him and disregarded Him, just as it is said, with their backs towards the Temple of the Eternal, and their faces toward the east. There is no greater contempt than this.” This is Rashi’s language. And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra commented: “Vayenabeil — that he caused ‘the profaning’ of G-d’s Name so that He would no longer help him.” This interpretation, too, does not appear to me to be correct, for it is not within the context of this place [i.e., this section of the Song], for he is still narrating [here] their sins, and will not state their punishment and vengeance that He would inflict upon them until [further on in the verse], And He said: ‘I will hide My face from them.’ The correct interpretation appears to me to be what I have mentioned above, that the term n’valah is used to describe repaying evil for good. The verse thus states that the people of Israel abandoned the G-d Who created them in favor of strange gods and, in utterance and thought, showed disregard for the Rock Who helped them. [Israel] said “In return for serving Him, there is nothing but repayment of evil. By worshipping the strange gods he shall have plenty of bread; but when worshipping the Rock they will be contemptible and base before all the people.” As our fools said, It is vain to serve G-d; and what profit is it that we have kept His charge, and that we have walked mournfully because of the Eternal of hosts? And now we call the proud happy etc.,, 3:14-15. and as the accursed women said [to Jeremiah], But since we let off to offer to the queen of heaven etc., we have wanted all things. Similarly [the prophet Jeremiah prayed], Do not abhor us, for Thy Name’s sake, do not dishonor the throne of Thy glory, 14:21. because they will say of Him that He repays His people with evil for good, just as [the prophet] said, Break not Thy covenant with us., 14:21.

עבית, related to the expression במעבה האדמה, “in earthen moulds” where the root letters עב have also been reversed, the normal order being עב. (Kings I 7,46) The disappearance of the third root letter ה is similar to such disappearances in ראית, “you saw,” from the root ראה, and עשית, “you have done,” from the root עשה. The construction מעבה in the verse from Kings we quoted parallels the word מראה from the root ראה. Similarly, the noun מעשה parallels the root עשה.

וישמן ישורון ויבעט, however, even the most erudite of them, the ones known admiringly as Yeshurun, (based on Bileam’s prophecy of אשורנו ולא קרוב, in Numbers 24,17) acted as if they were animals, kicking the very people who give them food.

שמנת עבית כשית, you, the elite of the people, preferred to concentrate on the physical enjoyments offered by a life of leisure, and by doing so עבית, you became too gross to understand the finer points of the teachings of the Torah, the only truth. Isaiah 28,7 describes the conduct of the spiritual elite of the people when he writes: “but these are also so muddled by wine, and dazed by liquor, Priest and Prophet are muddled by wine;“

כשית, compare what Isaiah 44,18 writes, “they have no wit or judgment, their eyes are besmeared and they see not;”

ויטוש אלו-ה עושהו, so that, following the example of their elite, the people at large abandoned G’d the One Who had made them;

וינבל צור ישועתו, despising the Rock of its salvation, i.e. sliding from bad to worse in their lifestyles.