Commentary

The Song of Moses

Two times in the Bible, we read that Moses sang a song. The first - when the whole nationNation (not nations) refers to any kind of people on the whole earth. This term is used to describe both Jews (John 11:51; Acts 10:22) and all other tribes. The... joined in - was the song of deliverance in Exodus 15. The people of Israel had just been rescued from the army of the Egyptian ruler. So, they sang about God's great acts. Almost 40 years later, when the people were about to enter the land of Canaan, Moses sang another song (Deuteronomy 32). But now only his voice is heard; the people of Israel are listening. The difference between these two songs could not be more significant…

God Himself explains to Moses the purpose of this song: "Put it (the song) in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for Me against the children of Israel […] for it will not be forgotten in the mouths of their descendants, for I know the inclination of their behavior today, even before I have brought them to the land of which I swore to give them” (Deut 31:19, 21). The Israelites were to hear this song because it testified to how they would behave toward God in the future.

The song covers several thousand years. It begins when God's dealings with His earthly people began, then deals with the people's unfaithfulness and God's reaction, and ends with the millennial kingdom, when God will finally have reached His goal with His people.

The central part of the song is written in a depressive setting, gloomy and sad. It tells of the people's bitter failure and unfaithfulness. But in all this, we also learn who God is in His unwavering faithfulness.

Moses' Song can be broken down chronologically:

V. 1-14: God's care for His people (from the beginning to the time of Deut 32)
V. 15-42: God's dealings with His people in discipline (from Deut 32 to the millennial kingdom)
Verse 43: Looking forward to the millennial kingdom

We will now consider some of these points and try to learn something for us as God's heavenly people in the 21st century.

God's Care for His People

God uses several comparisons in this song to describe His care:

V. 4: "Rock." This term automatically recalls a firm foundation that is not shaken by the transience and fickleness of people. God, the Rock, remains faithful (cf. Ps 18:2; 94:22; 1 Cor 10:4)!
V. 6: "Father". Although the eternal God only revealed Himself as Father to the individual believer through the Lord Jesus in the New Testament (Jn 14:9; 20:17), He often compared His dealings with His people in the Old Testament to those of a loving Father (Deut. 1:31; Ps. 103:13; Isa. 63:16; 64:8).
V. 11, 12: "Eagle". This majestic bird represents strength and power in the Bible (Ps 103:5; Isa 40:31). God compares His care for His people to the strong wings of the eagle (Ex 19:4).

Something for us today to think about:
-> Are you always aware that God is always faithful to his people - and that his actions as the Rock are always perfect (v. 4b)?
-> Are you aware that God is your Father (1 John 3:1)? There can be no more intimate relationship!
-> Are you aware that God cares for his children - even more sacrificially than an eagle cares for its young?

2. The Reaction of the People

In this song, we see the humiliating behavior of the people:

V. 5: "A perverse and crooked generation.” The apostleApostle (Greek) means "sent one." Today, we are "messengers" for Christ when we pass on the gospel (2 Cor. 5:20). But the highest-ranking messenger is Jesus Christ himself (Heb 3:1;... Paul used this expression in Philippians 2:15 to describe unbelievers, and Peter used it to describe the unconverted Jews with their pious facade (Acts 2:40). This is what the people had come to.
V. 6: Lack of gratitude. God accuses His people of not giving Him an adequate response for His care. Had they forgotten the 40 years in the wilderness?
V. 15: "You grew fat." This somewhat unusual phrase indicates that the people had become complacent, thinking they were no longer dependent on God. Because they were prosperous, they thought they no longer needed God - and rejected Him.
V. 16: "Foreign gods." To make matters worse, they practiced idolatry (even though this was still in the future at the time of the song). Could God be more dishonored?

Something for us today to think about:
-> God told his people several times that they should never forget him (Deut.4:9; 6:12; 8:11) - and yet they quickly forgot him (Ps 78:11). Are you grateful for everything God gives you - or do you also forget (cf. Lk 17:17)?
-> Does it also happen in your life that you are self-satisfied (perhaps also with your own spiritual level), and therefore, God slips more into the background (Rev 3:17)?
-> Is idolatry still practiced today? The Israelites were particularly prone to two idols: Baal (="Lord") and Astarte (="bringer of good luck"). The meanings of the names show us that idolatry still exists today: Whenever something takes possession of us (i.e., takes the place of the Lord Jesus as a "new lord") or when we promise ourselves happiness from a substitute god, we are engaging in idolatry. The Lord Jesus himself alludes to this danger - read Mt 6:24; 10:37; Lk 14:33. This is why the topic of idolatry is highly topical (1 John 5:21; 1 Cor 10:14). Concrete idols in the Bible are self-will (1 Sa 15:23), pleasure (Phil 3:19) and greed (Phil 3:19).

3. God's Response to the People's Reaction

We see that God does not stand idly by in the face of these sins:

V. 20: "I will hide my face from them." Because of the unfaithful people's behavior, God could no longer have fellowship with them.
vv. 21-42: God had to use various nations as a rod of discipline for His people. On the one hand, this prophecyProphecy includes any message that God saw fit to pass on to his people or anyone from the nations. Romans 16:26 speaks of the New Testament Scriptures as "prophetic writings."... was fulfilled in 722 and 586 B.C., when Israel and Judah were taken into captivity by the Assyrians and Babylonians, respectively. It will also be fulfilled in the future when the nations (especially the king of the north) will seek to destroy Israel and Jerusalem.

Something for us today to think about:
-> Are you always aware that unfaithfulness and sinThe Bible carefully differentiates between sin and sins. • Sin: the evil power at work in man that causes him to engage in sinful activities (Rom 7:17, 18). God pronounced... burden our fellowship with God?
-> Are you always aware that the Lord can chastise us for this even today (Deut 8:5; Prov 13:24; Heb 12:6)? - Always with the goal of restorationWhen a believer turns away from God, He works on them so that they turn back to God through repentance and confession. Then, the believer can once again honor God..., of course!

4. God Achieves His Goal

After the depressing central part of this song, God shows us His greatness again. We can know that God always accomplishes His purpose:

vv. 28-35: The turning point in the judgment of Israel. In the future, God will judge the nations, His rod of discipline, and turn to His people (Joel 4:1, 2). In the minor prophets, one can almost sense the Lord waiting to restore His relationship with Israel. Despite all man's unfaithfulness and failures, God stands by His Word!
vv. 37-38: God has won the "contest" with the dead idols (reminiscent of Elijah on Mount Carmel in 1 Ki 18 and Ps 115:1-7).
V. 43a: In the future, the faithful remnantWe speak of a remnant when the majority of God's people have become apostates and have turned away from God. God calls the remnant the few who remain faithful to... of Israel and the Gentiles will rejoice in God together! When Paul quotes this verse in Romans 15:10, he considers the scene when the worldThe word is used with different meanings. It can mean the whole of humanity (Gen 41:57) or the created world (Rom 1:20), but also a moral system that is opposed... will accept the Lord Jesus as ruler.
V. 43b: God will forgive his people. Can this be understood considering the terrible sins of which this song speaks?

After all, this sad song ends in a good way. We learn that the failure of God's people does not embarrass Him. He consistently achieves His goal – whether in the past, today, or in the future.

A final appeal to reflect on for us: "Moses finished speaking all these words to all Israel, and he said to them: ‘Set your hearts on all the words which I testify among you today, which you shall command your children to be careful to observe—all the words of this law.For it is not a futile thing for you because it is your life.’" (Deut 32:45-47)

Published since 30. Sep. 2024

Bible passages:

Deut 31:30-32:45

Categories:

Bible Study

Then Moses spoke in the hearing of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song until they were ended: “1 Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; And hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. 2 Let my [a]teaching drop as the rain, My speech distill as the dew, As raindrops on the tender herb, And as showers on the grass. 3 For I proclaim the name of the Lord: Ascribe greatness to our God. 4 He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He. 5 “They have corrupted themselves; They are not His children, Because of their blemish: A perverse and crooked generation. 6 Do you thus deal[b] with the Lord, O foolish and unwise people? Is He not your Father, who bought you? Has He not made you and established you? 7 “Remember the days of old, Consider the years of many generations. Ask your father, and he will show you; Your elders, and they will tell you: 8 When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, When He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the children of Israel. 9 For the Lord’s portion is His people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance. 10 “He found him in a desert land And in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye. 11 As an eagle stirs up its nest, Hovers over its young, Spreading out its wings, taking them up, Carrying them on its wings, 12 So the Lord alone led him, And there was no foreign god with him. 13 “He made him ride in the heights of the earth, That he might eat the produce of the fields; He made him draw honey from the rock, And oil from the flinty rock; 14 Curds from the cattle, and milk of the flock, With fat of lambs; And rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, With the choicest wheat; And you drank wine, the blood of the grapes. 15 But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; You grew fat, you grew thick, You are obese! Then he forsook God who made him, And scornfully esteemed the Rock of his salvation. 16 They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods; With abominations they provoked Him to anger. 17 They sacrificed to demons, not to God, To gods they did not know, To new gods, new arrivals That your fathers did not fear. 18 Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful, And have forgotten the God who fathered you. 19 And when the Lord saw it, He spurned them, Because of the provocation of His sons and His daughters. 20 And He said: ‘I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end will be, For they are a perverse generation, Children in whom is no faith. 21 They have provoked Me to jealousy by what is not God; They have moved Me to anger by their foolish idols. But I will provoke them to jealousy by those who are not a nation; I will move them to anger by a foolish nation. 22 For a fire is kindled in My anger, And shall burn to the lowest hell; It shall consume the earth with her increase, And set on fire the foundations of the mountains. 23 ‘I will heap disasters on them; I will spend My arrows on them. 24 They shall be wasted with hunger, Devoured by pestilence and bitter destruction; I will also send against them the teeth of beasts, With the poison of serpents of the dust. 25 The sword shall destroy outside; There shall be terror within For the young man and virgin, The nursing child with the man of gray hairs. 26 I would have said, “I will dash them in pieces, I will make the memory of them to cease from among men,” 27 Had I not feared the wrath of the enemy, Lest their adversaries should misunderstand, Lest they should say, “Our hand is high; And it is not the Lord who has done all this.” 28 For they are a nation void of counsel, Nor is there any understanding in them. 29 Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, That they would consider their latter end! 30 How could one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Unless their Rock had sold them, And the Lord had surrendered them? 31 For their rock is not like our Rock, Even our enemies themselves being judges. 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 serpents, And the cruel venom of cobras. 34 ‘Is this not laid up in store with Me, Sealed up among My treasures? 35 Vengeance is Mine, and recompense; Their foot shall slip in due time; For the day of their calamity is at hand, And the things to come hasten upon them.’ 36 “For the Lord will judge His people And have compassion on His servants, When He sees that their power is gone, And there is no one remaining, bond or free. 37 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 and help you, And be your refuge. 39 ‘Now see that I, even I, am He, And there is no God besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; Nor is there any who can deliver from My hand. 40 For I raise My hand to heaven, And say, “As I live forever, 41 If I whet My glittering sword, And My hand takes hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to My enemies, And repay those who hate Me. 42 I will make My arrows drunk with blood, And My sword shall devour flesh, With the blood of the slain and the captives, From the heads of the leaders of the enemy.” 43 “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people; For He will avenge the blood of His servants, And render vengeance to His adversaries; He will provide atonement for His land and His people.” 44 So Moses came with [k]Joshua the son of Nun and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people." (Deuteronomy 31:30-32:43)