Deuteronomy 32 – The Song of Moses

A. The song of Moses.

1. (1-4) Introduction: Praise to Yahweh.

“Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak;
And hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
Let my teaching drop as the rain,
My speech distill as the dew,
As raindrops on the tender herb,
And as showers on the grass.
For I proclaim the name of the LORD:
Ascribe greatness to our God.
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.

a. Give ear, O heavens…and hear, O earth: Moses began by asking for attention, not only from Israel, but from all of creation. Moses previously appealed to creation as his witness to the covenant with Israel (Deuteronomy 30:19, 31:28), not to a supposed divine council.

b. Let my teaching drop as the rain: Moses prayed that his words, his teaching, would be as helpful and nourishing to Israel as the rain and dew are to vegetation. This is a good prayer for any preacher and follows along God’s promise later stated in Isaiah 55:10-11.

i. “Like rain, dew, showers, and abundant rain bringing fertility to the new grass and tender plants, Moses hoped that his teaching—his words—would prove pleasant and beneficial.” (Kalland)

ii. “It is good preaching, and good hearing too, when the gospel comes like a gentle shower which saturates and soaks into the soil, and refreshes and makes it fruitful; may God the Holy Spirit make it to be so whenever we gather together for worship!” (Spurgeon)

c. Ascribe greatness to our God: As Moses proclaimed the name of Yahweh, he gave Him praise. This praise was given for who God is (the Rock, Righteous, and upright) and for what God does (His work is perfect, and all His ways are justice).

i. He is the Rock: “In those lands, rocks were the ordinary places of defense and security, God may be metaphorically represented thus, to signify his protection of his followers.” (Clarke)

2. (5-6) The accusation: The children have forsaken their father.

“They have corrupted themselves;
They are not His children,
Because of their blemish:
A perverse and crooked generation.
Do you thus deal with the LORD,
O foolish and unwise people?
Is He not your Father, who bought you?
Has He not made you and established you?

a. They have corrupted themselves: The Song of Moses speaks prophetically about Israel’s future (Deuteronomy 31:19-22). The deep corruption Moses spoke of in this song was not among Israel in the days of Moses or his immediate successor Joshua, but afterward. Looking to the future, Moses spoke as a witness against a rebellious Israel.

i. These were strong words but deserved. “Preachers should take the same liberty to cry down sins that men take to commit them.” (Trapp)

b. Is He not your Father, who bought you? Moses made a fascinating poetic contrast. Israel acted as if they were not God’s children (32:5), yet Moses could still appeal to God as their Father. Because God had made and established Israel, it was foolish and unwise for them to rebel against the God who did so much for them.

i. “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.” (Merrill)

3. (7-14) Moses remembers God’s past faithfulness to Israel.

“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:
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.
For the LORD’s portion is His people;
Jacob is the place of His inheritance.

“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.
As an eagle stirs up its nest,
Hovers over its young,
Spreading out its wings, taking them up,
Carrying them on its wings,
So the LORD alone led him,
And there was no foreign god with him.

“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;
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.

a. Remember the days of old: Considering that this song was meant to be a witness against a future rebellious Israel, it is surprising that 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.

b. He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel: Going back to the separation of the nations at the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9), God had a plan for Israel, choosing them as His portion and valuing Israel as His inheritance. God’s call of Abraham and His covenant with him (Genesis 11:27-12:4) appear in the Genesis record shortly after the Tower of Babel account.

i. According to the number of the children of Israel: “The meaning of the passage seems to be, that when God divided the earth among mankind, he reserved twelve lots, according to the number of the sons of Jacob, which he was now about to give to their descendants, according to his promise.” (Clarke)

ii. He set the boundaries of the peoples: “Not only did the Lord give Canaan to Israel, he also gave certain lands to other nations. While this reference probably falls back on Genesis 10, that does not suggest that this division was made all at once in the distant past. It suggests, rather, that the Lord rules over the disposition of land to all nations in the sovereign exercise of his will in every generation.” (Kalland)

iii. The LORD’s portion is His people: “What an astonishing saying! As holy souls take GOD for their portion, so GOD takes them for his portion. He represents himself as happy in his followers; and they are infinitely happy in, and satisfied with, God as their portion.” (Clarke)

c. The LORD alone led him: God cared for Israel in the desert land, in the howling wilderness. He valued and protected Israel in the wilderness as a man cares for the pupil of his eye (the apple of His eye), and as an eagle protects and cares for its young (Exodus 19:4). God provided for Israel, and brought them to Bashan, part of the land on the eastern side of the Jordan River that became the territory of Israel. All this was the generous gift of Yahweh alone, with no foreign god with Him.

i. “Three great facts are stated: the election of Israel (Deuteronomy 32:8-9), their deliverance at the time of the exodus (Deuteronomy 32:10–12), and Yahweh’s gift of Canaan to his people (Deuteronomy 32:13-14).” (Thompson)

ii. “The ‘apple of his eye’ (Deuteronomy 32:10) is an English idiom for ‘anything held extremely dear’ or ‘much cherished’ and is a fitting translation for the Hebrew ‘the little man of his eye,’ that is, the pupil.” (Kalland)

iii. He made him ride in the heights of the earth: “Israel was able to scale the heights (lit., ‘ride the backs’) of the desert land (Deuteronomy 32:13a). This connotes Israel’s dominion as well, for elsewhere they are described as walking ‘on the heights’ (bamot, as here), a figure of speech suggesting strength and triumph (Habakkuk 3:19; cf. Deuteronomy 33:29).” (Merrill)

4. (15-18) Israel responds to God’s kindness with apostasy.

“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.
They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods;
With abominations they provoked Him to anger.
They sacrificed to demons, not to God,
To gods they did not know,
To new gods, new arrivals
That your fathers did not fear.
Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful,
And have forgotten the God who fathered you.

a. Jeshurun: This is a title for Israel, which literally means the upright one (Isaiah 44:2). Israel took the many blessings described in the previous section and grew fat, and then forsook God. Their devotion to foreign gods was to treat God scornfully.

i. There is a shocking contrast between the generous blessings of God in 32:7-14 and the ungrateful rebellion in 32:15-18. “In all her well-being Israel forsook God her Creator and the ground of her salvation. ‘A full stomach does not promote piety, for it stands secure and neglects God’ (Luther).” (Thompson)

ii. “Many can endure the trials of adversity who cannot escape the perils of prosperity…. many a man has failed in that time of testing. When you come to be wealthy, to be admired, to receive honour among men, then is the time of your severest trial.” (Spurgeon)

iii. Kicked: “In the only other place where this verb is used, the Lord says to Eli, the high priest, ‘Why do you kick at my sacrifice?’ which the NIV meaningfully translates ‘Why do you scorn my sacrifice?’ (1 Sam 2:29).” (Kalland)

b. They sacrificed to demons: As Israel forsook God and honored idols, their devotion was not directed to merely imaginary beings, beings that did not actually exist. There were demons behind the foreign gods. Their idolatry was worse than useless; it gave honor to demonic spirits. There was a dark spiritual reality behind the idols of the nations, and Israel embraced that dark spiritual reality.

5. (19-27) Yahweh’s reaction would be to withdraw from Israel and to punish them.

“And when the LORD saw it, He spurned them,
Because of the provocation of His sons and His daughters.
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.
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.
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.

‘I will heap disasters on them;
I will spend My arrows on them.
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.
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.
I would have said, “I will dash them in pieces,
I will make the memory of them to cease from among men,”
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.”’

a. I will hide My face from them: When God’s people forsake Him, He withdraws the closeness of His presence. This is the opposite of the favor of God expressed in His face shining upon His people (Numbers 6:25).

b. Children in whom is no faith: Israel’s embrace of foolish idols was a denial of true faith in Yahweh. Idolatry proved they did not truly trust in and rely on Yahweh, which are marks of true faith.

i. It is a dangerous and dreadful thing to be counted among those in whom is no faith. “I beg you to lay to heart this fact, that unless you have faith in Jesus you will perish just as surely as if you were an open denier of the word of God and a reviler of his Son. There are, doubtless, degrees in the terribleness of the punishment, but there are no degrees in the certainty of the fact that every unbeliever will be shut out from the blessing of the gospel of Christ.” (Spurgeon)

c. I will heap disasters on them: Using poetic images and repetition to express intensity, God described the judgments He would bring upon a disobedient, idol-worshipping Israel. The judgment would come as fire and God would shoot all His arrows against Israel. Hunger and disease would make God’s people waste away.

i. “Their life of covenant rebellion would lead to bitter consequences that they appeared unable to foresee.” (Merrill)

ii. Shall burn to the lowest hell: “The very deepest destruction; a total extermination, so that the earth—their land, and its increase, and all their property, should be seized; and the foundations of their mountains—their strongest fortresses, should be razed to the ground.” (Clarke)

iii. My arrows: “The judgments of God in general are termed the arrows of God, Job 6:4; Psalm 38:2-3; 91:5; see also Ezekiel 5:16; Jeremiah 50:14; 2 Samuel 22:14, 15.” (Clarke)

d. Lest their adversaries should misunderstand: One thing that would soften the judgment of Yahweh against Israel would be the pride and arrogance of the other nations God would use to punish Israel. If not for their arrogant claim that their hand was high and that they had done this against Israel and not the LORD, then God might have made the memory of Israel to cease. One reason God would spare and restore Israel was because the pride of their adversaries.

6. (28-35) The LORD warns Israel of coming judgment.

“For they are a nation void of counsel,
Nor is there any understanding in them.
Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this,
That they would consider their latter end!
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?
For their rock is not like our Rock,
Even our enemies themselves being judges.
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.
Their wine is the poison of serpents,
And the cruel venom of cobras.

‘Is this not laid up in store with Me,
Sealed up among My treasures?
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.’

a. Oh…that they would consider their latter end: God wanted Israel to think about where their backsliding would lead them, what the end of their path would be. For Israel, it would lead them to defeat, disaster, and disgrace before enemies God appointed for their judgment. This is something that the disobedient and backslidden should consider.

b. One chase a thousand…two put ten thousand to flight: This was the opposite of the blessing God promised to an obedient Israel (Leviticus 26:8). God would not fight for a disobedient Israel. When Israel was unfaithful to their covenant with Yahweh, He would give them to their enemies, who would bring bitter defeat to Israel.

i. “Under the figure of vines, grapes, and wine, the wickedness of Israel’s enemies is described. Their vine (character) has its source in the vine of Sodom and Gomorrah—those cities so wicked that they were annihilated by the Lord with cataclysmic force (Genesis 19:24–25). The grapes from their vine were filled with poison, bitterness, and snake venom—synonyms significant of their patently evil and dangerous nature.” (Kalland)

c. Their foot shall slip in due time: In their seasons of disobedience, Israel often was arrogantly confident. Yet God’s vengeance could come against them at any moment, even if the vengeance of God came through Israel’s enemies.

i. One of the most famous sermons preached from an American pulpit was based on this line from Deuteronomy 32:35, their foot shall slip in due time. This sermon by Jonathan Edwards was titled Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God and was mightily used by God. Edwards began by developing the following ideas:

· Sinners are always in danger of judgment; they presently stand in a slippery place.

· Sinners are in danger of sudden judgment; slips come suddenly.

· Sinners are to be blamed for their fall; when one slips, no other person throws them down – they fall of themselves.

· Sinners who have not yet slipped and fallen into God’s judgment have their fall delayed only by God’s mercy. Their judgment will come in due time.

ii. “The enemies may think that it was their decision and their strength that brought terrible punishment on the Lord’s people (Deuteronomy 32:27), but that was not really so. They were only the instruments of God’s punishment.” (Kalland)

iii. Vengeance is Mine: “Verse 35 is quoted in the New Testament in Romans 12:19 and Hebrews 10:30…. There may be occasions when God’s wrath is carried into effect by human agency (Romans 13:4), but even then it is by divine appointment (Romans 13:1). No individual should assume that he can carry out the divine sentence by the exercise of his own vengeful feelings.” (Thompson)

7. (36-43) Hope for Israel under Yahweh’s judgment, and hope for the Gentiles.

“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.
He will say: ‘Where are their gods,
The rock in which they sought refuge?
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.

‘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.
For I raise My hand to heaven,
And say, “As I live forever,
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.
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.”’

“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.”

a. The LORD will judge His people and have compassion on His servants: God’s judgment of His people is an expression of His compassion. He judges them to discipline them, to train them, to purify them. God would put the severe judgments described in the previous verses to a good purpose: to destroy Israel’s confidence in the gods of the nations. They would be of no help to Israel.

i. It is also possible to understand the phrase the LORD will judge His people in the sense of, “the LORD will vindicate His people.” There is a true application in either sense. This second sense matches well with the next phrase and have compassion on His servants.

ii. “In the Hebrew, the first two lines of Deuteronomy 32:36 are quoted verbatim in Psalm 135:14—a psalm that has other likenesses to Deuteronomy. The Lord’s vindication comes when his people have no more strength and, hyperbolically, no longer exist.” (Kalland)

b. There is no God besides Me: Backslidden Israel could be brought to understand this. God alone has power to kill and make alive, not the idols of the pagan nations. Only Yahweh has the power of judgment.

i. For Yahweh to raise His hand to heaven and to say, “As I live forever,” was for God Himself to take an oath. This puts the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount regarding oaths (Matthew 5:33-37) in perspective. Jesus did not mean that there is never a good or appropriate time to make an oath; He meant that our daily speech should be so marked by integrity that such oaths are unnecessary.

ii. My glittering sword: “The expression my glittering sword means literally ‘the lightning of my sword’ and may be translated ‘my flashing blade’ (cf. Nahum 3:3; Habakkuk 3:11; Ezekiel 21:9f.). Yahweh is pictured as a warrior arming himself for battle (Exodus 15:3; Isaiah 42:13; 59:17).” (Thompson)

c. Rejoice, O Gentiles: The Gentiles could come to understand what Israel came to know through the judgments of God against them. They could rejoice as they understood that God will defend His servants and came to know that God will provide atonement. This atonement would be ultimately provided in Jesus Christ, who is the Savior not only of Israel, but of the whole world (John 4:42).

8. (44-47) Moses encourages Israel.

So Moses came with Joshua the son of Nun and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people. 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, and by this word you shall prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess.”

a. Spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people: The Song of Moses was presented to all Israel so they could learn from it and be warned by it.

b. Set your hearts on all the words which I testify among you today: As Israel received and responded to the word of God through Moses, their departure from Yahweh and His judgment following it would be delayed. If they and their children would observe God’s law, they would be blessed and not cursed.

i. It is not a futile thing: One of Satan’s great lies is that it is a futile thing to serve God and obey His word. It sometimes seems that those who are against God prosper more than those who are for Him. It should be seen and understood – from an eternal perspective – that it is not a futile thing to love and obey God.

ii. Not a futile thing: “God’s favour is no empty favour; it is not like the winter sun, that casts a godly countenance when it shines, but gives little comfort and heat.” (Trapp)

9. (48-52) God’s final command to Moses.

Then the LORD spoke to Moses that very same day, saying: “Go up this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, across from Jericho; view the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel as a possession; and die on the mountain which you ascend, and be gathered to your people, just as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people; because you trespassed against Me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the Wilderness of Zin, because you did not hallow Me in the midst of the children of Israel. Yet you shall see the land before you, though you shall not go there, into the land which I am giving to the children of Israel.”

a. Go up this mountain…and die on the mountain: Moses, as the last act of his 120 years, would climb Mount Nebo, and die at the summit of the mountain.

i. “The modern Mount Nebo provides a fine view over the Jordan valley and is traditionally identified with the site.” (Thompson)

b. You shall see the land before you, though you shall not go there: Though because he trespassed against the LORD (Numbers 20:2-13) Moses was not allowed to cross the Jordan and enter the Promised Land, yet he would view the land of Canaan.

i. The ministry of Moses was now over. Only two more things remained before his death: to bless the tribes, and to see Canaan from the summit of Mount Nebo.

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