He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.
He is the Rock - a word expressive of power and stability. The application of it in this passage is to declare He is the Rock - a word expressive of power and stability. The application of it in this passage is to declare that God had been true to His covenant with their fathers and them. Nothing that He had promised had failed; so that if their national experience had been painfully chequered by severe and protracted trials, notwithstanding the brightest promises, that result was traceable to their own undutiful and perverse conduct; not to any vacillation or unfaithfulness on the part of God (James 1:17), whose procedure was marked by justice and judgment, whether they had been exalted to prosperity or plunged into the depths of affliction. х Ha-Tsuwr (H6697). Houbigant, deriving this word from the Hebrew verb tsuwr (H6697), to carve, renders the passage, 'He is the Creator;' and so also does the Septuagint, which has: Theos]. But the metaphor of a "rock" as a refuge, or to represent the divine faithfulness and stability of purpose, occurs more than once in this song (Deuteronomy 32:15; Deuteronomy 32:31; Deuteronomy 32:37) and frequently in other parts of Scripture (cf. Psalms 18:3; Psalms 18:11; Psalms 31:3; Psalms 73:26; Psalms 89:27; Psalms 94:22; Isaiah 17:10; Isaiah 30:29).
It accords with the design of the song to render this word by "Rock," as descriptive of His righteous dealings toward Israel, and His faithfulness to His promises. This exordium places in striking contrast the moral perfections of Yahweh with the unworthy requital made to Him for all His distinguishing goodness by the people of Israel, whose perverse character and gross corruptions are, by a sudden transition common in sacred poetry, forthwith spoken of.