DEUTERONOMY 32

 

W.F. Albright called the Song of Moses "one of the most impressive religious poems in the entire Old Testament." It contrasts the faithfulness and loyal love of God with the unfaithfulness and perversity of His people.

The congregation that Moses had been leading would rebel against The Lord after his departure. Knowing full well that this would happen, God instructs Moses to write this song and teach it to the people so that when they go through times of tribulation and adversity, they would remember these words and return to The Lord in a spirit of humility and brokenness.

 

1 ¶ Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

• Give ear, O heavens . . . and hear, O earth: Moses begins this song of instruction by asking for attention, not only from Israel, but from all of creation.

 

2 My doctrine (message, teaching) shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:

• Rain and dew were major sources of blessing in the Promised Land, and their absence created serious problems for the inhabitants.
• By comparing the doctrine of teaching of God to rain and dew, Moses was saying that when His people would receive His word in a spirit of obedience and humility, it would be a life-giving blessing to the Israelites. If they refused to listen to Him, it would be a cause of problems and pain.

 

3 Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God.

• Why the people who heard and obeyed the doctrine would be blessed was because it was a proclamation of The Name of The Lord, which is a proclamation of the sum of His character.
• When we proclaim The Name of The Lord, we ascribe His greatness.

 

 

4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect (without blemish; sound): for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

• The description of God as the Rock (vv. 4, 15, 18, 30, 31) occurs for the first time here in Scripture. This metaphor of God being a Rock pictures Him as a strong, unmovable refuge for His people upon Whom they could build their lives.
• Beloved, we can only experience stability in our lives by clinging to our Solid Rock, Jesus Christ and by building our lives upon His Word. Our circumstances are changeable; our financial and health conditions are changeable. Our God changes not.
• When it says that He is the God or truth and without iniquity, that means that He is faithful and can be trusted.

 

5 They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse (distorted) and crooked generation.

• By their frequent lapses and their chronic attachment to idolatry, they corrupted themselves.

 

6 Do ye thus requite the LORD (is this the way that you repay The Lord), O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?

• I am Your Creator, Your Father, The One that has redeemed you out of bondage and slavery and you repay Me by worshipping false gods and bowing down to idols?

 

7 ¶ Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.

• This is the last of 16 times that God calls Israel to remember in this book. Considering that this song was meant to be a witness against a rebellious Israel, Moses reminded Israel of all God’s goodness to them. This was to both bring a greater conviction of sin, and to remind them of God’s love and grace they could return to.

 

8 When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.

9 For the LORD'S portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.

• God in His sovereign will chose the nation of Israel to be His inheritance.

 

10 He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

• The "apple of the eye" is an English idiom meaning anything that one holds very dear or cherishes greatly.
• Let’s not miss that it is God that finds us! Every single born again Christian was lost in a desert and howling wilderness of the soul when The Spirit of God quickened our souls and brought us to Christ for salvation. That’s outrageous grace beloved.
• Also note that the theological order of salvation here is that God finds us, leads us (sanctification) and keeps us (assurance).

 

11 As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth (hoveers) over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh (catches) them, beareth (carries) them on her wings:

• The Holy Spirit uses a mother eagle as an analogy for The Father love of God. The Father’s love is tender beloved and gentle.

 

12 So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.

• God lead His children prophetically and personally by the Spirit of God. He also leads us daily and practically by the Word of God.

 

13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase (fruit, produce) of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;

• Honey from the rock and oil out of the flinty rock was a demonstration of the power of God to take things that are barren and make them fertile. Saints, I truly believe that God delights in taking those areas of our lives that are barren and make them fertile and fruitful for His Name sake.
• In Israel, bees make their honeycombs and olive trees take their root in crevasses in the rocks. What would seem to be an unproductive place actually is a place that produced sweetness. Beloved, if there is an area of your life tonight that is “on the rocks”, instead of giving over despairing and glooming, realizing afresh tonight that the “hard places” in life are oftentimes the very places where we develop that sweet fellowship with The Lord.

 

14 Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.

• More demonstrations of the goodness of God towards His people. But as we will see in the vey next verse, for some people, prosperity and abundance can be more dangerous to ones spiritual life than adversity.
• Generally, in adversity, we are reminded of how desperately we need The Lord’s help and grace. In prosperity, we tend to find it easy to forget God.

 

15 ¶ But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.

• Jeshurun means the upright one, a poetic name for Israel used sarcastically here (Isa 44.1,2). The metaphor of an animal kicking it’s owner reveals Israel’s rebellious nature against The Rock of their salvation.When Jeshurun was fat and living in abundance, they no longer sensed their need for God, and took for granted His blessing and mighty deliverance out of Egypt and other enemies.

 

16 They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger.

17 They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.

• In forsaking God, Israel turned to the pagan idols of the nations around them and actually worshipped demons. This act of idolatry provoked God to jealousy and anger.
• Any kind of “deity” or “god” other than the True and Living God of Scripture is a false god, or as we read here a new god. Our religious culture is filled with many false gods….the god of health and wealth….the god of my self esteem….the god of positive thinking….the “all inclusive” god.
  • Ps 115:1 ¶ Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake. 2 Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God? 3 But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.

 

18 Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.

19 ¶ And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.

20 And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith (unfaithful).

• Hide My face- Often God's punishment of sin is the withdrawal of His presence.

 

21 They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities (worthless idols): and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

• The 'jealousy' of God is not a spirit of pettiness prompted by his insecurity, but righteous indignation caused by the disloyalty of his people to his covenant grace.
• False gods are vanities. People who devote their live to the false gods and goddesses of this fallen world’s culture are in fact worshipping gods that really do not exist.
• Paul referred to the 2^nd part of this verse Ro 10:19 But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you. This was a reference to the conversion of the Gentile nations and how it would provoke the Jewish people to anger.

 

22 For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.

23 I will heap mischiefs (calamaties) upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.

24 They shall be burnt with hunger (famine), and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.

• I will heap disasters upon them: When the hiding of His face does not draw God’s people into repentance, God then sends His hand of correction, and allows calamity to bring the attention of His people back upon Him.
• Some commentators see the Holocaust as a part of this horrible prophecy of things to come.

 

25 The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.

26 ¶ I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men:

27 Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the LORD hath not done all this.

• While conquering nations would erroneously think that it was their own strength that defeated Israel, Israel’s defeat would have nothing to do with the strength of other nations and everything to do with the chastening hand of God.
• Though the nation of Israel deserved to be wiped out, The Lord would not allow it, for it be a cause her enemies to take credit for defeating the nation of Israel, and by doing so, question His sovereignty and power.

 

28 For they are a nation void of counsel (without sense), neither is there any understanding (discernment) in them.

• A nation or person that turns away from God has lost all sense of discernment and judgment. They can even deceive themselves into thinking that everything is right between them and God in spite of their obvious rebellion against His Word and authority.

 

29 O that (if only) they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!

• Consider their end- God calls Israel to consider the end result of their decision to turn away from Him. When a person falls into a deep backslidden state, it is because we have ignored the repeated warnings of God and failed to consider where it would eventually lead us.
• When the people of God were making it a priority to build their own homes, but were hesitant to rebuild the house of God after their return from captivity, God told the nation of Israel through the prophet Haggai these words….consider your ways.
• I think it is good for us to set aside times when we are quiet and alone before The Lord and honestly consider our ways. The things that are most important in our lives…..

 

30 How should (could) one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut (given) them up?

• They were so far gone from The Lord that they completely forgot the fact that when they engaged in battle against nations mightier than themselves, a man could not possibly defeat 1,000 soldiers singlehandedly or 2 put 10,000 to flight unless The Lord had empowered them to do so. Oh the supernatural power that God gives to us beloved when we cling to Him and obey Him unreservedly.

 

31 For their rock (false gods of the enemies of God) is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.

• Even Israel’s enemies conceded that the God of Israel was the True and Living God.

 

32 For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter:

33 Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.

• Note the words used to describe the “fruit” of believing in false gods or idolatry; poison, bitterness, venom of serpents. Beloved, that is the fruit of falling prey to the gods of this world system.

 

34 Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures?

35 To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.

• This was the text that was used by Jonathan Edwards in his powerful message, sinners in the hands of an angry God. He declared that fallen man was like men walking over a fiery pit on an icy plank, dangling by a thread over the fires of hell. Our only hope beloved is the grace of God through His Son Jesus Christ.
• The people that ignore God and His cry to repent and believe in His Son do so to their own destruction.

 

36 For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants (have compassion on His servants), when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.

37 And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted,

38 Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? let them rise up and help you, and be your protection.

39 ¶ See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.

• The emphasis on the personal pronoun “I” highlights the absolute sovereignty of God. God’s objective in chastening His people was to bring them to repentance and to a simple life of faith and trust in Him.

 

40 For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.

• God’s gesture of lifting up of His hand was meant to convey the idea that He was making a pledge to fulfill all of His purposes and nothing could stop Him.

 

41 If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me.

42 I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.

• Though The Lord would use the enemies of the nation of Israel to be instruments of divine judgment (Babylonians, Assyrians), in His fatherly compassion, He would deliver His people and take vengeance on them.

 

43 Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people (atone for His land and His people).

• The verse brings the song to a triumphant conclusion affirming that, despite Israel's sin and exile, God will ultimately restore them. The quotation from this verse in Rom. 15:10 uses a phrase found only in the Septuagint, “Rejoice O Gentiles, with his people,” to convey the expectation that God would one day bring the light to the entire Gentile world.
• I’m glad that this song ends with vengeance for God’s enemies and mercy for God’s people.

 

44 ¶ And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun.

45 And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel:

46 And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law.

• The ultimate purpose of this song was that Israel would hear the warning of God and set their hearts to all the words and command their children to observe and obey them.
• Mom and Dad, redeem the times that God gives you to share the truth of His Word with your children and grandchildren. Tell them to set their affections of things above, not glamour, not fame, not fortune.

 

47 For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life (they are not just idle words for you; they are your life): and through this thing (by faith and obedience to these words) ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.

• It is not a vain (futile) thing: One of Satan’s great lies to us is that it is a futile thing to serve God and obey His word. It often seems that those who are against God prosper more than those who are for Him. Yet, we need to see and understand - from an eternal perspective - that it is not a futile thing to love and obey God.

 

48 And the LORD spake unto Moses that selfsame day, saying,

49 Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession:

50 And die in the mount whither thou goest up (climb up), and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people:

• Note that when a child of God dies, he or she is gathered unto His people. Jesus used the term, sleep to describe the believers death.

 

51 Because ye trespassed against me (broke aith with Me) among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not (did not treat Me as holy) in the midst of the children of Israel (Numbers 20).

52 Yet thou shalt see the land before thee; but thou shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel.

• While Moses didn’t get to enter the Promised Land with the children of Israel, he did, in fact make it there. In Matthew 17, we The Lord Jesus was transfigured there on Mount Hermon, Moses and Elijah was right there with Him.