Deuteronomy 32:1-43 - The Song of Moses

Introduction

     Deuteronomy 32:1-43 presents the Song of Moses and Joshua (Deut 31:30; 32:44), which was communicated to Israel on the plains of Moab just prior to Moses’ death. Though it’s commonly called the Song of Moses, it was communicated by God and might also be called the Song of Yahweh. The song recorded in Deuteronomy 32:1-43 is didactic, revealing the rebellious hearts of the Israelites, not just in the moment, but in the years that would follow. As the nation would experience blessing and prosperity in Canaan, they would turn away from the Lord and pursue idols, and God would enter into judgment with them. However, when they cried out for mercy, He would deliver them and judge their enemies instead. The song emphasizes God’s just character, Israel’s duty to serve the Lord, and judgment upon them if they disobeyed. The song represents, in condensed form, what Moses taught through the years he’d been with his people. Daniel Block notes the “song serves as a sort of national anthem, intended to function as a ‘witness’ in perpetuity (Deut 31:21) by reminding the people that they owed their existence to Yahweh and warning against abandoning Him in favor of other gods. Moses had personally performed these functions for the past forty years, but once he is gone, the Song must take over and keep the people on spiritual course.”[1] According to Warren Wiersbe, “The song has four major divisions: the character of God (Deut 32:1–4); the kindness of God to His people (Deut 32:5–14); the faithfulness of God to chasten His people (Deut 32:15–25); and the vengeance of God against His adversaries (Deut 32:26–43).[2]

Text

     Moses opens his song, saying, “Give ear, O heavens, and let me speak; and let the earth hear the words of my mouth” (Deut 32:1). The heavens is likely a reference to the angelic host; those spirit beings who operate in the presence of God and in an unseen realm. The earth would be the realm of mankind. Together, they would serve as a witness to God’s character (cf., Deut 4:26; 30:19; Isa 1:2; Jer 6:19; Mic 1:2), Israel’s obligations, and the judgments that would follow if the nation turned away from the Lord. The song served as a reminder of the legal contract Israel had with Yahweh. Throughout, God is seen as righteous and just, whereas Israel is seen as being in violation of God’s laws.

     Using picturesque language, Moses said, “Let my teaching drop as the rain, My speech distill as the dew, as the droplets on the fresh grass and as the showers on the herb” (Deut 32:2). The similes of rain, dew, droplets and showers, speak of the refreshing qualities of Moses’ teaching that would invigorate them if their hearts were open to it. Pointing the Israelites to God, he declared, “For I proclaim the name of the LORD; ascribe greatness to our God! 4 The Rock! His work is perfect, for all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is He” (Deut 32:3-4). The “name of the LORD” ( שֵׁ֥ם יְהוָ֖ה shem Yahweh) refers to His character and reputation. Whereas the gods of the pagan nations were fickle and impotent, God was stable, perfect, and just in all His ways, which meant He was predictable and could be relied upon. Those who cling to Him will find stability in an unstable world.

     Describing Israel, Moses said, “They have acted corruptly toward Him, they are not His children, because of their defect; but are a perverse and crooked generation. 6 Do you thus repay the LORD, O foolish and unwise people? Is not He your Father who has bought you? He has made you and established you” (Deut 32:5-6). In contrast to God, Israel would act in a corrupt and perverse manner. Such behavior would be foolish, considering it was God who purchased their freedom from slavery in Egypt and established them as His people. According to Eugene Merrill, “Yahweh’s charges against Israel were that they had become so disobedient that they no longer acted like his children but, to the contrary, had repudiated him as their Father and Creator.”[3]

     Moses gave the people the key to avoiding foolishness and future judgment by the Lord. Moses said, “Remember the days of old, consider the years of all generations. Ask your father, and he will inform you, your elders, and they will tell you” (Deut 32:7). As in previous comments by Moses, Israelites were directed by God to remember their heritage and that they were once an oppressed people. The word remember translates the Hebrew verb זָכַר zakar, which means to call to mind, and implies intentionality. God’s people were commanded to remember their past servitude in Egypt, and that memory was to have a positive influence on of their behavior (Deut 5:15; 15:15; 16:3; 24:22). Israel’s special relationship with Yahweh was a part of His master plan. Moses alludes to the Tower of Babel, “When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of man” (Deut 32:8a); cf., Gen 11:8-9). He then references the land of Canaan which the Lord had portioned off for His people, Israel, as “He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel” (Deut 32:8b). Eugene Merrill states, “God from the beginning carved out a geographical inheritance for his elect people and arranged the allotments of all other nations, especially those of Canaan, to accommodate that purpose. Not only was Canaan itself, then, set apart from the beginning to be the land of promise, but its very extent was established on the basis of Israel’s ‘number,’ that is, their population and other requirements (v. 8b).”[4] Furthermore, Israel was selected for God Himself, as Moses wrote, “For the LORD’S portion is His people; Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance” (Deut 32:9). Earl Radmacher notes, “This designation for God’s supremacy is unique to Deuteronomy. He is the sovereign God over all, even the boundaries of the nations. the Lord’s portion: While it is the Lord’s will for many nations to exist, He has favored Israel with His special grace, promises, and covenant.”[5] Moses highlights God’s selection of Israel, saying:

• He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of a wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye. 11 Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions. 12 The LORD alone guided him, and there was no foreign god with him. 13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth, and he ate the produce of the field; and He made him suck honey from the rock, and oil from the flinty rock, 14 curds of cows, and milk of the flock, with fat of lambs, and rams, the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the finest of the wheat-- and of the blood of grapes you drank wine (Deut 32:10-14).

     God had not only delivered His people from bondage, but He also cared for them and provided great blessings. Jack Deere explains this beautiful passage, saying, “The metaphor of the eagle speaks of God’s wise and loving parental care. As an eagle must force its young out of the nest if they are to learn to fly and fend for themselves so the Lord led His people into the harsh life of Egyptian bondage and afterward through wilderness wanderings that they might become strong. And like an eagle, the Lord remained ready to ‘catch them’ when necessary.”[6] The references to honey and oil from the rocks meant that God would bless His people, even in barren places that appeared to lack bountiful resources. Other blessings included curds, milk, lambs, rams, goats, wheat, grapes and wine. With God’s blessings, Israel should have stayed close to the Lord, which would have provided security in a hostile world. But in a great act of stupidity, His people would turn away from the Lord, as Moses wrote:

• But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked—you are grown fat, thick, and sleek—then he forsook God who made him, and scorned the Rock of his salvation. 16 They made Him jealous with strange gods; with abominations they provoked Him to anger. 17 They sacrificed to demons who were not God, to gods whom they have not known, new gods who came lately, whom your fathers did not dread. 18 You neglected the Rock who begot you, and forgot the God who gave you birth. 19 The LORD saw this, and spurned them because of the provocation of His sons and daughters” (Deut 32:15-19).

     The term Jeshurun (יְשֻׁרוּן Yeshurun) means upright one, and is probably used here with a touch of irony. When Israel would grow fat, thick, and sleek, they would turn away from the Lord and forsake Him. Only the wisest and most mature believers can handle prosperity without compromising their walk with the Lord. Most believers can handle the adversity tests, but few past the test of prosperity. Jack Deere correctly states, “Many believers learn that prosperity is a more dangerous trial than adversity. In adverse circumstances a believer is reminded of how desperately he needs God’s help, but in time of prosperity he may easily forget God.”[7] Israel’s future infidelity would provoke God’s anger as they would turn to strange gods. But turning to the idols and offering sacrifices was actually an act of demon worship. This shows the corrupting influence that demons—which operate in the unseen realm—have upon the religions and cultural norms of the world. Because God’s people would neglect Him and embrace pagan values, this would provoke Him to anger. Moses described God’s response, saying:

• Then He said, “I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end shall be; for they are a perverse generation, sons in whom is no faithfulness. 21 They have made Me jealous with what is not God; they have provoked Me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. 22 For a fire is kindled in My anger, and burns to the lowest part of Sheol, and consumes the earth with its yield, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains” (Deut 32:20-22).

     Seeing the foolishness of Israel, God would show His disapproval by hiding His face from them, which meant His blessings would cease. And though His people have no integrity and are faithless, yet He regards them as His children, in whom He has great love. God’s anger is a reflection of His righteousness, for He expects His people to be holy in conduct. Being provoked Himself, God will in turn “provoke them to anger with a foolish nation” (Deut 32:21b). This implies Israel would be harmed by a pagan nation, which would have never happened if they’d been faithful to the Lord. Moses describes some of the Lord’s judgments as follows, saying:

• I will heap misfortunes on them; I will use My arrows on them. 24 They will be wasted by famine, and consumed by plague and bitter destruction; and the teeth of beasts I will send upon them, with the venom of crawling things of the dust. 25 Outside the sword will bereave, and inside terror-- both young man and virgin, the nursling with the man of gray hair. 26 I would have said, “I will cut them to pieces, I will remove the memory of them from men. 27 Had I not feared the provocation by the enemy, that their adversaries would misjudge, that they would say, ‘Our hand is triumphant, and the LORD has not done all this’” (Deut 32:23-27).

     Here we see God promising to implement the cursing aspects of the Mosaic covenant spelled out in Deuteronomy 28:15-68. Famine, plagues, attacks by wild beasts, and military defeat will come upon young and old alike, “Both young man and virgin, the nursling with the man of gray hair” (Deut 32:25). The judgments would be so severe that the nation would come to the brink of destruction (Deut 32:26), but God will not destroy them, lest His reputation become tarnished, as the pagan nations would misjudge their military success over Israel, and say to themselves, “Our hand is triumphant, and the LORD has not done all this” (Deut 32:27). By sparing them, God will protect His reputation.

• For they are a nation lacking in counsel, and there is no understanding in them. 29 Would that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would discern their future! 30 How could one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had given them up? 31 Indeed their rock is not like our Rock, even our enemies themselves judge this. 32 For their vine is from the vine of Sodom, and from the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of poison, their clusters, bitter. 33 Their wine is the venom of serpents, and the deadly poison of cobras. (Deut 32:28-33)

     Because Israel lacked wise counsel and understanding, this made them vulnerable to all sorts of troubles which they would bring upon themselves. God desired that they would be wise and discerning about their future and would make good choices to mitigate their harm. If God had remained as their Rock, then they would be able to perform impossible tasks, such as a single person putting an army of a thousand to flight, and two persons putting ten thousand to flight. But their failure to have military success over their enemies was because God had given them over to their sinful ways. By their own choices they made themselves weak and vulnerable to the dangers of this world. And God would use the pagan nations, who were as evil and hostile as Sodom and Gomorrah, to judge and humble His people.  

     Though God would punish His people for their sin by using Gentile nations, He would also judge those foreign nations for their sins as well. Moses said, “Is it not laid up in store with Me, sealed up in My treasuries? 35 ‘Vengeance is Mine, and retribution, in due time their foot will slip; for the day of their calamity is near, and the impending things are hastening upon them.” (Deut 32:34-35). As the “Judge of all the earth” (Gen 18:25), God stands ready to render punishment upon all who transgress His righteousness.

     God promises to have compassion on His people, but only after their human strength was gone and there was no other place to turn. Moses said, “For the LORD will vindicate His people, and will have compassion on His servants, when He sees that their strength is gone, and there is none remaining, bond or free” (Deut 32:36). And then, in a mocking manner, the Lord will ridicule the pagan idols Israel had been worshipping. Moses wrote, “And He will say, ‘where are their gods, the rock in which they sought refuge? 38 Who ate the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offering? Let them rise up and help you, let them be your hiding place!’” (Deut 32:37-38).

     There are no gods besides the God (Isa 45:5-6), and He is sovereign over all His creation (Psa 135:6; 115:3; Dan 4:35). Moses wrote, “See now that I, I am He, and there is no god besides Me; it is I who put to death and give life. I have wounded and it is I who heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand” (Deut 32:39). And then, in anthropomorphic language, God is pictured as swearing an oath, saying, “Indeed, I lift up My hand to heaven, and say, as I live forever” (Deut 32:40). God is Spirit and does not have human hands (John 4:24); however, this is language of accommodation to help us understand the legal aspects of the Mosaic covenant and that God Himself swears an oath to keep His Word. And since God cannot lie (Tit 1:2; Heb 6:18), He will do what He has promised.

     And what has God promised? He has promised that He will execute just vengeance on the enemies of His people, rendering judgment upon the nations for their wickedness. God said, “If I sharpen My flashing sword, and My hand takes hold on justice, I will render vengeance on My adversaries, and I will repay those who hate Me. 42 I will make My arrows drunk with blood, and My sword will devour flesh, with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the long-haired leaders of the enemy” (Deut 32:41-42). Here, God is talking about those nations who are hostile to Him and His people. But for those Gentile nations who are positive to God and His people, the Lord says, “Rejoice, O nations, with His people; for He will avenge the blood of His servants, and will render vengeance on His adversaries, and will atone for His land and His people” (Deut 32:43). Those who are positive to God and His people, Israel, should celebrate when He judges and punishes those wicked nations for their wickedness.

Summary

     The Song of Moses, in Deuteronomy 32:1-43, was to be taught to the Israelites—both present and future generations—to serve as a perpetual reminder of their covenant relationship with Yahweh. The song reveals God’s kindness toward His people, the prediction that Israel would turn away from the Lord and pursue idols, His just character to punish them for their disobedience, and His integrity and compassion to preserve His people, and to execute vengeance on their enemies. By memorizing and singing this song, the Israelites would acknowledge their duty to obey Yahweh and the just and certain punishment that would come upon them if they turned away from Him and pursued idols.

Present Application

     As God’s people, we are greatly blessed by the Lord (Eph 1:3). In Christ, we have been rescued “from the domain of darkness, and transferred to the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Col 1:13). In Jesus we have forgiveness of sins (Eph 1:7), eternal life (John 10:28), the gift of righteousness (Rom 5:17; Phil 3:9), and will never face eternal condemnation (Rom 8:1).  As God’s children, He calls us to live by the “law of Christ” (1 Cor 9:21; Gal 6:2), and to pursue biblical virtues such as righteousness, goodness, humility, and love. Peter says, “like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior” (1 Pet 1:15). And Paul instructs us “to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love” (Eph 4:1-2). Such a life does not happen automatically in the believer, but comes as we devote ourselves to the Lord (Rom 12:1-2), schedule regular time to study His Word (Psa 1:2; Jer 15:16; 2 Tim 2:15; 3:16-17; 1 Pet 2:2), and apply it by faith to every aspect of our lives (Heb 10:38; 11:6). Discipline of mind and will leads to good habits, good habits produce godly character, and godly character  glorifies God, edifies others, and creates stability in our souls. And we can expect heavenly rewards when we are obedient to the Lord (1 Cor 3:10-15; 2 John 1:8). But, there is a real danger to us if we fail to learn and live God’s Word (Heb 4:1-2; Jam 1:22), and He will discipline us if we turn away from Him and live like the world (Heb 12:5-11). Such discipline is borne out of the heart of a Father who loves us and wants our best. He wants us to become spiritually mature Christians who are governed by biblical virtues, not worldly values or sinful passions. Those who are positive to God will advance spiritually, operate by divine viewpoint, live by faith, develop cognitive and emotional stability, and model the best virtues of biblical Christianity.  

 

[1] Daniel I. Block, The NIV Application Commentary: Deuteronomy, ed. Terry Muck (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012), 748.

[2] Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Equipped, “Be” Commentary Series (Colorado Springs, CO: Chariot Victor Pub., 1999), 182.

[3] Eugene H. Merrill, Deuteronomy, vol. 4, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 410.

[4] Ibid., 413.

[5] Earl D. Radmacher, Ronald Barclay Allen, and H. Wayne House, Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Commentary (Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers, 1999), 266.

[6] Jack S. Deere, “Deuteronomy,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 318.

[7] Jack S. Deere, “Deuteronomy,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary, 319.