Deuteronomy 32:1–43

Two songs are attributed to Moses. He and the children of Israel sang the first at the start of his forty years of ministry, just after they had crossed the Red Sea (Exodus 15:1-18)… He composed the second at the end, just before he died. There is no sign that anyone ever sang it. The instructions were, "Now therefore write this song and teach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the people of Israel" (Deuteronomy 31:19).

They are now to hear in the words of his closing song the testimony to their treachery and God's faithfulness. He proclaims it in the form of a song, because the spirit of praise must run through even the most solemn condemnation of evil… It is as though we are not to dwell on evil in a way that crushes the soul — on the degradation of man, his rebellion and hostility to God, and the foolishness and waywardness of His own people. Instead we are to view it all with Moses in song, celebrating and declaring God's victory over all evil, and His final triumph for His people as well.

Moses began his song by calling heaven and earth to hear the words of his mouth. What he was about to say concerned indeed heaven and earth. Isaiah too began his book with the same call (Isaiah 1:2).

Moses calls the heavens to hear, at the opening of his majestic song. He calls not only the material heavens, but the intelligent heavens, to hear something about Jehovah. The great theme is not the people and their failures, but the faithfulness of God.

These four verses open the song of Moses, and they are both magnificent and beautiful. He calls the heavens and the earth to hear the faithful words from the mouth of the Lord. His teaching drops as the rain. It falls not like a cloudburst, but as the refreshing, nourishing dew on the land, or as showers on the grass. How well it would be with us if we received it as such, appreciating its living value and refreshment. For it begins, not with what we may selfishly desire for our advantage, but with proclaiming the name of the Lord.

Because he would publish the name of Jehovah, they were to ascribe greatness to their God. He is the rock abiding in unshakeable strength for His people. Not they, but He, is this tower of strength… As for the people, it was clear what they were. The corruption was theirs, not His; it is that of His children, theirs is the blemish — a perverse and crooked generation.

The song of Moses (Deuteronomy 32 and Revelation 15:3) is a wonderful summary of God's ways with Israel. It gives God's sovereign call of that nation, their perverseness, their defeat by enemies as a result, and their scattering. Then it gives the final overthrow of those enemies, and the recovery of both land and people through sovereign mercy, to enjoy the favour of Jehovah along with the spared nations.

Scripture uses this word for "rain," as in Judges 5:4: "The clouds also dropped water"; and, "He draws up the drops of water" (Job 36:27). Growing out of this, the same word describes speech flowing out, or distilling: "My speech dropped upon them; and they waited for me as for the rain" (Job 29:22); "Your lips drop as the honeycomb." This last might well find its explanation in the direct language of the New Testament: "All bore Him witness, and wondered at the gracious words that proceeded out of His mouth" (Luke 4:22).

His teaching drops as the rain, not like a cloudburst, but as the refreshing, nourishing dew on the land or as showers on the grass. How well it would be with us if we received it as such, appreciating its living value and refreshment. For it begins, not with what we may selfishly desire for our advantage, but with proclaiming the name of the Lord. The honor of His name is far above every other consideration.

The great theme is not the people and their failures, but the faithfulness of God... In a drought everything looks burnt up and lifeless. Then a shower of rain brings life and strength to the earth. In the same way, proclaiming the name of Jehovah revives His people and makes them like a well-watered garden. When we hear what God is for us through the risen Christ, it should have the same effect. It should refresh us and cheer us in all the care, discouragement and distress of these days. Nothing in God's universe can lift our heads like the knowledge of God.

Come what may, the Name of our God shall stand for ever. No power of earth or hell can possibly counter the divine purpose, or hinder the outshining of the divine glory. What sweet rest this gives the heart, in the middle of this dark, sorrowful, sin-stricken world... Proclaiming that blessed Name must always be like refreshing dew and tender rain falling on the heart.

Strong warnings were needed for this murmuring, disobedient people. What was the best way to present them? He composed the song! But he did not begin with the warnings. He began by inviting heaven and earth to hear the words of his mouth. His words were not ordinary words. They were pure words of instruction that would fall as rain, heavy at times, but they were also gentle words.

Leaders could fail. Moses had. His failure had painful consequences. He had once spoken badly and called God's people "rebels." He had not set God apart before the eyes of the people. And God denied him the privilege of bringing His people into the Promised Land. Even the meekest man in all the earth had used hard words, but now at the end of his life his speech could distil as the dew.

Moses might proclaim the name of Jehovah, but here was the One who revealed the Father; he might ascribe greatness to God, but here was the One who unfolded His love. Surely His teaching dropped as the rain, His speech distilled as the dew, like gentle rain upon the tender grass, and like showers upon the herb.

How sweet to think of the dew as a figure of the refreshment we may be to others! It is not conspicuous; it does not call attention to itself; but it is there, and you know it by the effect it produces... some who were neither great preachers, nor eloquent teachers, nor prominent workers. Yet you could not be with them without feeling the sweetness and fragrance of the very presence of Christ. Why was this? Because their own souls were enjoying His presence, without thinking of the effect on others. He is as the dew to His own.

There is an interesting connection between this scripture and Exodus 34:5-6. You can see this once you notice that the word "publish" in Deuteronomy is the same word as "proclaim" in Exodus 33 and 34… In Deuteronomy we find Moses himself proclaiming Jehovah's name. God made him the vessel of the divine testimony for that day, so he could publish it, and as purely as he received it. The lesson is this: we cannot truly preach what we have not received from the Lord. And we can only faithfully proclaim what we have received by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The great theme is not the people and their failures, but the faithfulness of God… There is nothing in the universe of God that can lift our heads like the knowledge of God. It lifts our hearts and our heads in praise to that God who delights to unfold Himself to our hearts. So he says, "I will publish the name of Jehovah." We are used to speaking of a name in the sense of greatness or fame. That this is the thought in this passage is clear, for Moses continues: "Ascribe greatness to our God" — the greatness He has gained for Himself in His mighty acts.

God is not only great in the sphere of power, as is seen in creation, He is morally great also. Not only great in what He has done, but great also in what He is… Which is the greater? Is it for a mighty supreme Being to send out the glorious stars that fill the heavens? Or for that same Being to bow down and take an interest in poor weak things like you and me? It is the greatness of His love and grace that engages Him with those He has created, cares for them in their sorrows and binds up the broken heart.

It is Jehovah's name they publish, that sweet and wonderful name which expresses truly what He is, and which man, having dropped out of that knowledge, so badly needs to learn. To Him they ascribe greatness; yes, to Him, O man, made out of the clay, who have ruined yourself by claiming it.

Here lies the solid, the imperishable foundation of everything. Come what may, the Name of our God shall stand for ever. No power of earth or hell can possibly work against the divine purpose, or hinder the shining out of the divine glory. What sweet rest this gives the heart! Our world is dark, sorrowful and sin-stricken, and the schemes of the enemy seem to succeed. The publishing of that blessed Name must always fall on the heart like refreshing dew and gentle rain.

With delight, Moses proclaims the Name of Jehovah, ascribing greatness to Israel's God. If poor Israel proved himself unstable, God remained immovable. He is the Rock, and nothing would move Him from His purposes, or alter His ways… God could not let His people's sins go unpunished. He is a faithful God, without deceit. Moses knew he himself was shut out of the land because of his failure. Even so, he can still say, "Just and right is He."

Moses might publish the name of Jehovah, but here was the Revealer of the Father. He might ascribe greatness to God, but here was the Unfolder of His love.

Instead of Israel being a witness for Jehovah before all nations, the song of Moses was to be a witness for Jehovah against the children of Israel. They were called to be His witnesses. They were to declare His Name and show His praise in the land into which He brought them, in His faithfulness and sovereign mercy. But they utterly and shamefully failed. So a song was to be written. First it sets out the glory of God in the most magnificent language. Second, it records Israel's deplorable failure at every stage of their history.

"He is the Rock" — not merely a rock. There is, there can be, no other Rock but Himself. Eternal and universal honour to His glorious Name! "His work is perfect" — not a single flaw in anything that comes from His blessed hand. It all bears the stamp of absolute perfection. One day God will make this clear to every created being. It is clear to faith now, and is a spring of divine comfort to all true believers.

He is the Rock — the "dwelling place in all generations," as our Moses says elsewhere (Ps. 90:1) — safe as shelter, strong against storm, giving clear shade in the noonday heat of a desert land. "His work is perfect" — though men and devils have joined together in their own persons to dishonour it.

It is the Person which gives value to it all. Services would be nothing, sorrows would be nothing, death, resurrection and ascension, all would be nothing (if we could even imagine them), if Jesus were not the One He is. His person is the "Rock;" therefore "His work is perfect" (Deut. 32:4).

"All His ways are judgment" — not wrath, but far-seeing, well-discerning righteousness. "A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is He."

Justice, or righteousness, is that feature in God in which He is consistent with Himself in all He says and does. His word expresses that justice, and His word is the guarantee that everything stays stable… The godless in Israel dared to challenge the consistency of God's ways in His dealings with the people. He took account of this and graciously came down to reason with them. By then their ways had become so bad that He left His own Sanctuary (Ezek. 8:6). Then we hear Jehovah say: "Yet the house of Israel says, 'The way of the Lord is not just.' O house of Israel, are My ways not just? Is it not your ways that are not just?" This condescension of the Lord is most telling in the light of Deut. 32:4.

God could not allow His people's sins to go unpunished; He is a faithful God, without deceit. Moses himself was shut out of the land because of his failure. Knowing that, he can still say, "just and upright is He." How blessed for His people to have such a God: completely transparent, no deceit, no unfaithfulness, no unrighteousness, no imperfection — and marked all through by greatness.

This reveals His stability, His unchanging goodness. The blessed God carries out His own purposes despite men's failure and evil and wickedness… He uses everything to serve His own purpose. He is supreme over all… When you come to God you come to perfection, reliability — that which cannot shift. You have come to that which you can stake your soul upon for time and eternity.

Because he would publish the name of Jehovah, they were to ascribe greatness to their God. He is the rock abiding in unshakeable strength for His people. Not they but He is this tower of strength... As for the people, it was manifest what they were. The corruption was theirs, not His.

But Israel? Sadly, they have dealt corruptly with Him. Man, most favoured, most blessed, can turn all of this into the occasion of deeper condemnation. Adopted as His family, they are no sons of His, but a blot upon them, a generation crooked and perverse.

They had corrupted themselves, which means using the great blessings God had given them in a false, evil way. In practice they were not His children, whatever claims they might make. A true believer today is a child of God. But if he is living in rebellion, would it be fitting for him to tell others that he is a child of God? He might well get the answer the Lord gave to the Jews who claimed Abraham as their father: "If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did" (John 8:39). But Israel was a perverse and crooked generation (v. 5). They put the best things to a corrupt use. They twisted whatever truth they knew to justify their evil actions.

It is better to leave out "the spot" in this verse. It is printed in italics, which shows it was not in the original. "Not His children's is their spot" is best. His children have no spot. Spot is blemish. Their spot branded them as not of God.

In Deuteronomy 14:1, looking at Israel as God's chosen and separated people, we read: "You are the sons of the LORD your God." But in Deuteronomy 32:5, looking at their rebellious walk and ways, the Spirit of God says: "They have sinned, they are not children to him, they are blemished, a crooked and distorted race." Israel has stopped being "children to Him". They have become instead "a crooked and distorted race": blemished, instead of unblemished. Now the believers at Philippi have God working in them, so that they, once poor sinners from the nations, have become "children of God". They are to be unblemished children in the middle of this blemished, crooked and distorted race — which described not only Israel, but the nations too.

"This generation," of which the Lord speaks, is the perverse and unbelieving generation of the Jews, which indeed remains even to our day a race separated from all the others. They live among the nations, but they remain always a separate people, kept for the fulfilment of the counsels of God. We find this fact and the force of the word "generation" in Deuteronomy 32:5-20.

Turn to Deuteronomy 32, and you will find Moses lamenting that they were "a perverse and crooked generation," and also "a very stubborn generation, children in whom there is no faith." That is the trouble. Man, as he is, has no faith, even if he comes from the line of Abraham. Faith is not a product of fallen human nature. The whole race of Adam stands condemned in this sentence against Israel.

True, He has to judge man's ways. At times He has to take down the rod of discipline and use it on His own people with terrible severity. He will not tolerate any evil in those who bear His holy Name. All this comes out, with special solemnity, in the song before us. It exposes Israel's ways and deals with them without sparing. It lets nothing pass. It sets out everything with holy precision and faithfulness.

The name of Jehovah is exalted. He is the Rock and His work is perfect. He is a God of truth, just and right. But His people — what are they? Their character is described in verses 5 and 6. How He uncovers the true nature of the people who had acknowledged Him as Jehovah! Corrupt, perverse, crooked, foolish, unwise are the terms used to describe their character.

And will men repay Jehovah like this? And He the Father who bought them out of captivity for the love He bore them? Foolish and unwise as they were, did they not know Him to be that? Had He not made and established them?

Verse 6 is a pleading appeal from God. How could they treat Him so foolishly? He is both a great God and a gracious Father, and He had bought them at so great a price. He was in fact their Maker, who had established them as a nation.

In practice they were not His children, whatever claims they might make. We know today that a true believer is a child of God. But if someone is living in rebellion, would it be fitting for him to announce to others that he is a child of God? In that case the Lord's answer to the Jews who claimed to be Abraham's children would fit him too: "If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did" (John 8:39).

Moses had reminded the people of this relationship before they crossed the Jordan (Deuteronomy 32:6). Jeremiah in his day tried to impress it on them (3:19), but all with no result. So captivity had to be their lot, and that people have now known centuries of sorrow. Nothing can break that tie. Isaiah bears witness to this too. The Spirit of prophecy puts these words into the mouths of the godly remnant of the future: "For you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us; you, O LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name" (63:16).

But Moses does not end without a song (Deuteronomy 32). This song rests on the secret things of God's grace, though it also takes in the judgments of the last days. Not ignorant of the evil, he looks ahead to the blessing that would surely come to them. He feels deeply what they would do against Jehovah in their stubborn folly and ingratitude. But he sees in prophetic vision what He will do for them.

Instead of Israel being a witness for the Lord before all the nations, the song of Moses was to be a witness for the Lord against the children of Israel. They were called to be His witnesses. They were responsible to declare His name and show His praise in that land into which, in His faithfulness and sovereign mercy, He brought them. But they failed, utterly and shamefully. So, in view of this sad and humiliating failure, a song had to be written. First, it sets out the glory of God in the most magnificent terms. Second, it records Israel's deplorable failure at every stage of their history, with unbending faithfulness.

Here we have the first note of reproof in this song. But the moment we hear it, a most precious outpouring of testimony follows. It testifies to the goodness, loving kindness, faithfulness and tender mercy of the Lord, the God of Israel, and the Most High of all the earth.

And will men repay the Lord like this? He is the Father who purchased them out of captivity because of the love He had for them. Foolish and unwise as they were, did they not know Him to be that? Had He not made them and established them? Then let them look back on the past, the record of one generation after another. Or let them ask their fathers, and the elders grey with age. Whoever they asked, there could be only one answer.

The third section, verses 7-14, reveals the goodness and the love of the Lord for them… And how they are reminded again of what the Lord did for them! Verses 9-14 are wonderful words. And they apply to us spiritually, as they describe the Lord's goodness to Israel.

The fathers and mothers carried a very definite responsibility. They had to pass on to the children the great events in the history of Israel, and the Lord's blessings to them. So if a generation arose that did not know the Lord or His works, it means there had been a lapse in the teaching of the fathers and mothers… They did not know the Lord, and they did not know His works. So it was very easy for them to give up. They had nothing to hold on to.

In an evil day we should always judge the power and goodness of God by the way He acted for His people at the beginning. Beware of judging God by the low condition His people may have fallen into because of their failure.

It is nearly always a sign of present weakness if we have to look back to the past for marks of God's favour. It tends to go together with pride in that past, as well as discouragement in the present.

This verse has a deep meaning. It carries us backward. God made the boundaries of the nations with direct reference to the children of Israel. The name of God used here, "the Most High," is His millennial title, the one He will have when His blessed Son our Lord receives His Kingdom. When that time of blessing comes, and a converted Israel is no longer the tail but the head of the nations, this division that God made will then be fully known.

This is the name given to Jehovah in the meeting between Melchizedek and Abraham, where the words "Possessor of heaven and earth" are added to it. This is, in fact, the character God will take up when He gathers together in one all things in Christ, both the things in heaven and the things on earth.

This means that at the Babel scattering God brought each people to settle exactly where His ways would need them when Israel came on the scene. So God Himself settled the first map of the world, with the land and people of Israel as His centre.

Dispersion preceded: a different term is employed in the Hebrew, as there ought to be in the translation. The isles are said here to be "separated," as the earth there is "divided." The orderly partition followed the confused dispersion.

Mankind was split into nations more than a hundred years before Abraham was born. Israel had no national existence for nearly five hundred years after that. Yet this passage tells us that Israel was already so present to the thoughts and purposes of God, and held such a central and important place in them, that when the Most High separated the sons of Adam and divided to the nations their inheritance, He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. That is, He arranged where their empires would sit and how far they would reach.

Even then, when the Gentiles were receiving their inheritance, He set their bounds according to the needs of such a number as the children of Israel would become.

Once personal salvation is settled, Scripture takes up two subjects. One is the sovereign grace that makes us, redeemed from sin, like Christ in the glory. This is the blessed portion of the church of God. The other is the government of the world. The Jews are the centre of the government of this world... Israel would not have Christ, and so was set aside for the time.

At present the nations have the upper hand; these are the "times of the Gentiles." But in the end Judah reappears on the scene as the object of God's purposes.

Men may seize by force, at any time, the lands they want, but they can only get them if God permits it. The all-wise Creator sees some way in which the anger of man will serve His purpose. So there is a hand above all, controlling the movements of nations, even though men hardly notice it. This was true in the earliest days, and it is true still.

At the same time (verse 8) we have an all-important declaration. In His government of the world, God had made Israel the centre. He had arranged the nations of the earth, in their various locations, with respect to the boundaries of Israel. Israel was the first object of those ways. For His earthly people are Jehovah's portion, His inheritance upon earth.

It is important to notice what God did when He divided the people in Genesis 10. He gave them all their place in relation to a people who did not yet exist. He set His grace on Israel before Israel or their great ancestor existed. When God allotted the nations their position, He allotted it all around His own plot of land. That land is now trampled under foot by the Gentiles. He kept it for His people. So His ways with the nations had Israel in view. Now His church is His chief interest, and there is not a movement going on under heaven that God will not turn to the good of His church.

The song carries them back to a time beyond these experiences. It goes back before the nation existed at all, when the sons of Adam were finding the homes God assigned them. Even then the Gentiles were receiving their inheritance, and He set their boundaries to fit the needs of a people as many as the children of Israel would become. For in truth they were Jehovah's portion — His people, and Jacob (though only "Jacob") the lot of His inheritance.

Centuries may pass, as in the case of Amalek, before the judgment is carried out. How many centuries have passed since Edom cried against Jerusalem, "Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations!" (Psalm 137:7). God has not forgotten that. His vengeance will certainly overtake her... God's people are precious to Him, though He may have to discipline them under His government.

Then how sweet is the next verse: "The Lord's portion is His people." I do not know how far we enter into it. In the New Testament we are told we have treasure in heaven. We are told, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." But Christ has a treasure here upon earth. With that treasure in view, He sold all that He had. He laid aside all His Messiah titles and rights, so that He might secure it... The children of Israel are the people in question in our chapter. But in this present time God is gathering a people out of this world for heaven. He is forming His church.

But God has His heritage as well as we... That God should inherit a people is a familiar idea in Scripture. He always had a people, and in grace He called His chosen His inheritance (Deuteronomy 32:9). This expression makes clear to faith the true position of God's chosen people, in the middle of a world He has rejected.

One of the grandest and fullest sections of the whole Bible now lies open before us and asks for our prayerful attention. It covers God's dealings with Israel from first to last. It gives a most solemn record of their terrible sin, and of God's wrath and judgement. But, blessed be God, it begins and ends with Him; and this is full of the deepest and richest blessing for the soul. If it were not so, if we had only the sad story of man's ways, we would be completely overwhelmed.

One phase of God's dealings with His people was over. They were saved (Ex. 14:30). But what about their future? Would He leave them to their own resources now that He had delivered them from judgment and from the power of the enemy? … Moses tells us that "He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness." What was to become of poor Jacob there? Note the name he is given here: weak and failing Jacob, not the princely name Israel. … Later the Saviour "found" the man He had healed of blindness and revealed Himself to him, meeting his spiritual need as well as his bodily need. In the same way Jehovah "found" the people whom He had delivered, and proved Himself enough for their every need until they reached the promised rest.

Where had He found them? In a desert land, yes, a howling wilderness; but where the Lord's care had only the more opportunity for display. Encircled, watched over, guarded as the pupil of the eye, they had proved this.

Gesenius says this word means 'little man', and then 'the little man of the eye'. That is, the pupil of the eye. In it, as in a mirror, a person sees his own small reflected image. He says this pleasing image is found in several languages. This is the part of the eye that especially needs guarding: God preserved His own as the apple of His eye. Deut. 32:10; Ps. 17:8.

He will be jealous over His people, for those who touch them are touching "the apple of His eye," the pupil, the most sensitive area. He feels deeply everything that affects His beloved people Israel, and certainly no less what affects His body, the Church.

"He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness." Where did God find you and me? In the quarry of nature. We were in the gutter, but, thank God, He came to the gutter for us. We were unclean and sinful. Some of us may have been respectable, and others not respectable at all. But we were all covered with sin — the thing that nailed the Son of God to the cross. But He sought us and saved us. How great is the grace of our God!

It is said that in building her nest she lays the floor with sharp thorns and covers them over with soft down. In this cosy bed her young are hatched and grow up. As they become strong enough to fly, they are reluctant to leave the comfort of the nest. But that condition would not fit them to fulfil their normal functions in later life. So the mother scrapes up the down in the bottom of the nest. When the young eagles feel the sharp thorns they jump over the side of the nest. This tests the strength of their wings and the support of the air. ... Christians are often placed in similar comfortable circumstances. If there were no thorny incidents in our lives, we would never experience the wealth of God's resources. He stirs up the most comfortable nest and makes those inside feel the thorn pricks.

The time comes when she wants to teach her young ones to gaze at the sun, and to soar from the rock themselves. Then she "stirs up her nest and flutters over her young." The young ones must face the open space below. She flings them off the rock! They flutter and sink down toward the homes of men. They come near the hunter's arrow. She swoops down from above in the might of her wing. She "spreads out her wings, takes them, bears them on her wings." The fluttering eaglet rests its wings on the tested strength of the parent wing. The hunter's dart can reach the eaglet's life only through her own. So she teaches them to soar, and to rise and gaze on the bright and glorious sun as only she can.

The last thing we do naturally is to turn to God. We prefer to lean on friends, or on circumstances. All the gracious dealings of our God are to remove the human supports from beneath us, so that we may use the wings of faith and soar into a fuller knowledge of Himself... She makes the nest uncomfortable, so the young bird has to get out of it. That way it learns to use its wings and begins to fly. The figure teaches complete trust in God.

But the "flying eagle" can suggest still other thoughts. They are thoughts not only of divine strength or of divine wisdom, but of divine tenderness too, and ministering care. "You have seen," says the Lord to His people of old, "how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself" (Ex. 19:4)... Here then, under this figure, we may think not merely of heights that surpass our powers, and of ways too wonderful for us. We may think of divine love that would enable us to soar, and support our feebleness in it with divine omnipotence.

He brought them into a land of deserts and pits, where they had no need to lean on "a broken reed, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it," because they leaned on God Himself. "Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years." And why? Because "the Lord alone did lead them, and there was no strange god with him."

"The Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him." Does the Lord alone lead you and me? In all our life, is the Lord alone before our eyes? ... Do not let us allow anything between God and our souls. The Spirit of God is bringing the name and fame of this glorious God before us. He has come to where we were, so that He might bring us to where He is.

"The Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him." Does the Lord alone lead you and me? In all our life, is the Lord alone before our eyes? "There was no strange god with him." Let us not allow anything to come between God and our souls. This glorious God, whose name and fame the Spirit of God is bringing before us, has come to where we were, so that He might bring us to where He is. He guards us like the apple of His eye.

When did the Lord bring up His people? When the very circumstances He brought them through, and brought them into, were the proof that the Lord was bringing them there. He brought them into a land of deserts and pits. There they had no need to lean on "a broken reed, which goes into a man's hand and pierces it if he leans on it," because they leaned on God Himself. "Neither did your clothing wear out on you, nor did your foot swell, these forty years." And why? Because "the Lord alone did lead them, and there was no strange god with him."

People say that when she builds her nest, she lays the floor with sharp thorns and covers them with soft down. When the young are strong enough to fly, they are reluctant to leave the comfort of the nest… So the mother scrapes up the down at the bottom of the nest. When the young eagles feel the sharp thorns, they jump over the side. This tests the strength of their wings and the support of the air… If there were no thorny incidents in our lives, we would never experience the wealth of God's resources.

The last thing we do by nature is to turn to God. We prefer to lean on friends, or on circumstances. All the gracious dealings of our God are meant to remove the human supports from beneath us, so that we may use the wings of faith and soar into a fuller knowledge of Himself.

The young ones must dare the space in mid-air below, and she flings them off the rock! They flutter and sink down toward the homes of men. They come near the fowler's arrow. She swoops down in her might of wing from the height above… The fluttering eaglet rests its wings on the tried strength of the parent wing. The fowler's dart can reach the eaglet's life only through her own.

By the law He had stirred them up as the eagle stirs her nest. With outstretched wings, as in the pillar of cloud, He had sheltered and nestled them. Then He had borne them up and carried them in His feathers. He, He alone did this, asking help of no strange god. He set them on the high places of Canaan, in the abundance of that rich land.

In this way the Lord placed Himself at the head of His redeemed people. In His patient grace He led them through the various stages of their wilderness journey. And the movement of the cloud was the Lord's own word to them. If it rose from the tabernacle, that was the same as His command; and the same held if it stayed on the tabernacle… So the Lord took up the guidance of His people through all their pilgrim path.

Yet with the training came gracious provision from the hand of God. "He made him ride in the heights of the earth" (v.13). God enabled Israel to rise above their circumstances even in the wilderness. He gave them necessary food, but also "honey from the rock," the sweetness that comes from the knowledge of Christ, who is the Rock. Also, "oil from the flinty rock." That speaks of the Holy Spirit. He has come today from the Lord Jesus in glory, at Pentecost, to make our wilderness path one of real blessing and encouragement. Verses 13 and 14 move on into Israel's blessing in the land of Canaan. Only there did they enjoy the choicest wheat and the grape vines.

"He made him to ride on the high places of the earth." Where are your high places and mine? They are not on the earth. Thank God, He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph. 1). Israel rode on the high places of the earth. Read those beautiful prophecies of Balaam. He was a wicked prophet, yet God made him speak His own thoughts about Israel. There you see the power and favour and beauty of the people of God as God sees them (Num. 23:24).

"He made him to taste honey out of the rock." Everything that brings God before the soul is the honey. Speaking of God's thoughts, David says they are sweeter than honey and the honeycomb, and more desirable than fine gold. Is there anything in man's literature like this? It brings food from God in the power of the Holy Spirit to our souls. Suppose we get where Ephesians 1 puts us. Suppose we come into communion with God, into the joy of God's precious thoughts. Then we know something of what it is to suck the honey out of the rock.

challamish, 'hard rock' — the rock God brought water out of. Deut. 8:15; Ps. 114:8. Because men opposed Him, Christ set His face like a flint, and He knew He would not be put to shame. Isa. 50:7. God made Jacob to suck oil out of the flinty rock. Deut. 32:13.

And is it unknown for Christians to find fault with God? … We can also trace His hand feeding and nourishing us every day, and learn that He brings to us the "butter out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock," if He causes us to prove the rocks of the wilderness. The great lesson God teaches us in the wilderness is "to be content."

Do we need to say that all this applies first of all to Israel? No doubt the church may learn from it and profit by it. But to apply it to the church would be a double mistake, and a most serious one. It would pull the church down from a heavenly level to an earthly one. It would also interfere, with no right at all, in the place and portion God appointed for Israel. The church, in the mind of God, is a stranger on the earth. Her portion, her hope, her home, her inheritance, her all is heavenly.

How easy this is, and yet how dangerous. God has provided a great wealth of favour for all Christians, and all may share in it freely. Yet our enjoyment of it can be twisted, so that it feeds our self-glory and self-importance. … This is the danger point: to go on eating and feeding and indulging our appetite, enjoying good food and rich provision, but making it serve our own self-importance. Perhaps one of the greatest tests of grace is to be highly privileged and yet lowly in mind and patient with others.

At verse 15 we reach a very different note in the song of Moses. Up to this point we have had God before us: His actings, His purposes, His counsels, His thoughts. We have had His loving interest in His people Israel, and His tender gracious dealings with them. All this is full of the deepest, richest blessing. There can be no drawback here. When we have God and His ways before us, nothing holds back the heart's enjoyment.

Verses 13 and 14 give a picture of the land of blessing and of its resources, a perfect paradise of delight and food. Even its very rocks seemed to roll out honey and oil, though apart from God's blessing rock is the most unyielding of substances. The increase of the fields said the same: curds from the herd, milk from the flock, rams of Bashan, goats, the finest of the wheat, the pure blood of the grape. All of it told of the wealth of God's provision for them.

This was curdled milk (Genesis 18:8; Deuteronomy 32:14). Jael brought Sisera "butter" to drink (Judges 5:25). In Job 29:6 Job speaks of washing his steps in butter, in the days when the Almighty was with him in prosperity. The promised land was to flow with milk and honey. Curdled milk is a common drink in the East, and when mixed with honey it is very pleasant.

According to Professor Stuart, the word comes from a root that means to ferment. In Deuteronomy 32:14 he takes it to mean "fermentable liquor." The Septuagint has "wine," the Latin Vulgate has merum, which is unmixed wine, and De Wette has Wein, the German for wine.

How easy it is, and yet how dangerous. God has provided this wealth of favour for all Christians, and all may share it freely. Yet the way we enjoy it can be twisted, so that it feeds our self-importance. That is the point of danger. We go on eating and feeding and indulging appetite, glad of good food and rich provision, but making it serve our own importance. Perhaps one of the greatest tests of grace is to hold high privilege and still be lowly in mind and patient with others.

The very fullness of the blessing enjoyed might make a man forget the gracious hand it came from. "Fullness of bread" had long ago been the destruction of Sodom. Trial and need wake a man up to his need of God. A man who lacks nothing can easily lose the sense that he still depends on God. In that state the gods man's own heart has invented look more attractive than the glorious God, who is our Creator, not our creature. So Israel could go after the idols of Canaan, away from Him who had given them the land.

Do we even need to say that the primary application of all this is to Israel? No doubt the church may learn from it and profit by it. But to apply it to the church would be a double mistake of the most serious kind. It would pull the church down from a heavenly level to an earthly one. And it would interfere, in the most unwarranted way, with the place and portion God appointed for Israel. The church, according to the mind of God, is a stranger on the earth. Her portion, her hope, her home, her inheritance, her all is heavenly.

We cannot be sure of the exact meaning of Jeshurun. It seems to lie between "upright ones" and "beloved of Jehovah." So we start with God's thoughts about His people. They are the beloved of His heart, fitted to live here on earth in uprightness, in full keeping with their calling.

At verse 15, we reach a very different note in the song of Moses. Up to this point, God Himself has been before us. We have had His actings, His purposes, His counsels, His thoughts, His loving interest in His people Israel, His tender gracious dealings with them. There can be no drawback here. When we have God and His ways before us, nothing hinders the heart's enjoyment.

Jeshurun grew fat and kicked: God's loved, upright one became rebellious in prosperity — a strange, common case — and gave up his Maker, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation. Then the heart estranged from Him turned to those that were His opposites.

The fat shows the energy of the inward will. Compare Deuteronomy 32:15, "Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked" — the will was set against God. Here the fat was not the Lord's. In the Lord Jesus there was perfect subjection and devotedness: "Behold, I have come to do your will, O God." There the fat was all the Lord's.

The verse goes on, "and kicked." This is an early sign of turning away — if not the earliest. Instead of lowliness and meekness, bearing with one another in love; instead of quietly submitting to and accepting the will and way of the Lord, we put a will and way of our own in their place. There is impatience of spirit. There is a determination to get rid, by any means, of whatever resists our idea of things. There is resistance to authority or correction. There is a fretful impatience that will not wait for the Lord to direct and handle things.

They took ungodly advantage of their prosperity. They forsook the God who made them, and treated the Rock of their salvation with scorn. Of course this Rock is Christ. When He came, His own nation scorned and rejected Him, for they had chosen other gods.

Suppose a servant stops living out the truth the Lord has made known to him. Whatever his excuse, he has stopped being, in practice, one of the "upright ones." He has so far forsaken the God who made him. Made him for what? Surely to be the instrument of His will, the vessel of His pleasure, the witness to His Name.

But Jeshurun (Israel) grew fat, and kicked, and forsook the Rock of his strength. As a result God moves them to jealousy with those who are not a people. It is the call of the Gentiles, according to Romans 10:19.

Surrounded, on all sides, by the rich and varied mercies of God, we are apt to use them to feed a spirit of self-satisfaction. We make use of the gifts to shut out the Giver. In a word, we, too, like Israel, grow fat and kick. We forget God. We lose the sweet and precious sense of His presence, and of His perfect sufficiency, and turn to other objects as Israel turned to false gods.

"But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked" (v.15). Jeshurun means "upright." That was Israel's proper character, but they gave it up when they became rich. This is prophetic of their time in the land, when God prospered them by His pure grace. They took godless advantage of their wealth. They abandoned the God who made them, and they held the Rock of their salvation in scorn. This Rock is Christ. When He came, His own nation scorned and rejected Him, because they had chosen other gods. Their detestable idolatry provoked God to anger (v.16).

Then the heart, estranged from Him, turned to those that were His opposites. Strange gods came in, with their abominations. Newly invented gods took the place of Him who had brought them into being. The same thing has been repeated ever since, in every form you can imagine.

"Abominations" simply means idols. The word "abomination" occurs constantly in the Old Testament, meaning an idol. It is tied to everything degraded. The moment a man gives up belief in the true God, he is sure to degrade himself. If a man does not look to something above himself, he will sink to what is below him, as we see in Romans 1.

In every age, one thing marks the gap between God's word and men's thoughts more than anything else. People take idols and strange gods lightly. God hates that, above all in His own people. There may be no deliberate plan to abandon His worship. It may only be what they count a small thing: going along with idolatry now and then, while still claiming His name. But God rejects such a compromise outright. And those who allow it face a further danger — complete revolt from Him. It strikes at His majesty, at holiness and truth, and is intolerable in His eyes. Israel should have known that God called Abraham out of this very abomination, to be a separate witness, with his descendants, to the one true and living God (Joshua 24:3).

Love cannot help being jealous of wandering affections; it would not be love if it did not resent unfaithfulness. And is He so powerless that we can despise Him and get away with it? Are we stronger than He?

The very call of the Gentiles is only to provoke them to jealousy (v. 21), as the apostle drew from this long afterwards, when it came to pass (Rom. 10:19)... but even when He restores Israel as He will (v. 36), He calls the Gentiles to rejoice with His people (v. 43).

There is a solemn voice in all this for the writer and the reader. Each of us is in danger of walking the moral path these words describe. Surrounded on all sides by the rich and varied mercies of God, we are apt to use them to feed a spirit of self-satisfaction. We use the gifts to shut out the Giver. In a word, we too, like Israel, grow fat and kick. We forget God.

The Hebrew word shed, though traced from the word "lord," properly means "a destroyer, a violent one; and so, figuratively, a mischievous demon." It appears only twice in the whole Old Testament. A second word, sair, means "rough, hairy," and especially a he-goat: so "a goat-shaped deity, which people worshipped as an idol… People believed such hostile beings lived in the deserts and woods, and that they had to appease them with divine worship."

In 1 Corinthians 10:20 the apostle quotes Deuteronomy 32:17 and declares what idolatry really is, though the form may differ. Men worshipped the heavens and all their host, the earth and the sea and their creatures, the serpent especially, or heroes and dead ancestors, or legendary beings and their images. It soon took hold of their imagination. It did not only shut God out; it degraded its followers to the utmost. And no wonder. For both Old Testament and New declare that what they sacrificed, they sacrificed to demons, not to God. Demons were in effect behind the idols. If the idols were nothing in themselves, the demons were an awful reality of subtle and malignant evil, ruining those who honoured the idols.

The idols and their sacrifices may be completely powerless. But demons hiding behind them can and do shut the true God out of souls. They seize the homage due to Him alone. This is the effect of heathen worship, not the intention of the worshippers or of those who share in their sacrifices. They no more planned to revere demons (fallen and evil spirits) than the unconverted today mean to serve Satan. But they did, and they do, all the same.

Here is the general rule. Take any person, thing, or theory — what I call a "principle" when I hold it myself, and a "fad" when someone else holds it. If we let it hold the place, the authority, and the devotion that belong to our Creator, it is a false god we are serving, whatever pleasant name we give it… So the crude outward forms of idolatry pass away; but those who worship the false gods still worship in spirit and in fact.

There is a solemn voice in all this for the writer and the reader… God's mercies surround us on every side, rich and varied. We are apt to use them to feed a spirit of self-satisfaction. We use the gifts to shut out the Giver. In a word, we too, like Israel, grow fat and kick. We forget God. We lose the sweet and precious sense of His presence and of His perfect sufficiency. We turn to other objects, as Israel turned to false gods.

Scripture states plainly what "devils" means. It means nothing but the gods of the heathen, and it points back to Deuteronomy 32:17: "they offered to devils, and not to God." To apply this to Baptists or Independents is a gross abuse. The apostle is speaking of fellowship with demons (in idol temples) and heathen sacrifices, and nothing else.

Behind the things people worshipped were real beings — evil, unclean spirits. So it was impossible to have fellowship with the Lord Jesus and with these demons at the same time.

I think this word tzur is connected in sense with its root, tzur, which means to "form" or "make." So the One who orders all things is the security of His people, the One who orders His people. These senses seem bound together: forming, refuge, and salvation. So Peter says that believers should "entrust their souls to a faithful Creator." The word carries the security implied in "formed for Myself." And since this purpose of care is assured, there is also the "formed all things," with reference to that same purpose.

They had chosen to put the only stable, enduring Rock of salvation out of their minds. They chose to forget the eternal God who had proved a Father to them (v.18). Of course this could only lead to total confusion.

Then the song turns from past to future, but which is seen as past, clear in the vision of God. Jeshurun grew fat and kicked. God's loved, upright one became rebellious in prosperity — a strange, common case. He gave up his Maker and thought little of the Rock of his salvation. Then the heart, now distant from Him, turned to His opposites. Strange gods came in, with their detestable practices. Newly invented gods replaced Him who had brought them forth. The same thing has been repeated again and again since, and in every form you can imagine.

This was not just worshipping material things. It was sacrificing to demons (v.17). Ignorant as they were of such "gods," they were ready to be taken in by them. They did not learn this from their fathers, so no doubt they felt they were advancing beyond the wisdom of their fathers. Such pride will make people easy victims of deception.

He was the Rock who fathered them, their Father who had bought them (Deut. 32:6, 18). This was the gracious name the God of Israel took when He set out to take a nation from the middle of another nation. They would be His people, and He would be their God. But the nation had meanwhile corrupted itself... Still, the same mouth that testified to their self-corruption, and spoke fierce rebuke against their sin, defends their cause. It declares their eventual security and blessing as the nation of the Lord's salvation.

For the motherhood of GOD, see Deut. 32:18, and compare, of course, Matt. 23:37-39.

There is a solemn voice in all this for the writer and the reader. We are each of us in danger of walking the moral path these words describe. Surrounded on all sides by the rich and varied mercies of God, we tend to use them to feed a spirit of self-satisfaction. We use the gifts to shut out the Giver... We forget God. We lose the sweet and precious sense of His presence and of His perfect sufficiency, and turn to other objects as Israel turned to false gods. How often we forget the Rock who fathered us, the God who formed us, the Lord who redeemed us!

So God provided a song for Israel, seen in the first 43 verses of chapter 32. Moses was to write it down for Israel to learn. God would bring them into the land. There they would grow well fed and wealthy, turn to idols, and provoke God. Then this song would testify against them. If they learned it by heart, they would remember it. Its words would at least embarrass them when they disobeyed. It is amazing how carefully God worked to impress their responsibility on Israel from every angle. And He knew full well that they would rebel.

Then Moses sings of His wonderful love and goodness and patience to that people. He sings too of their falling into every kind of wickedness. They sacrificed even to demons — scornfully called "he-goats" — not to God, but "to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come recently, whom your fathers had never dreaded." "You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you, and you forgot the God who gave you birth."

When the Lord saw this rebellion, He spurned Israel. They had spurned Him without reason, now He spurns them with good reason. They receive themselves something of their own treatment. His face had been shining with pleasure on Israel. Now He hides His face from them, to see what their end will be. For if God's face does not shine with approval on His creatures, they cannot continue without serious consequences.

No nation on earth was ever called to pass through discipline as severe as Israel's. As the Lord reminds them in those solemn words, "You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities." No other nation was ever called to the privileged place of a real relationship with Jehovah. God reserved this dignity for one nation. But that very dignity was the basis of a most solemn responsibility.

We are, each of us, in danger of treading the moral path indicated by the words just quoted. God surrounds us on every side with rich and varied mercies. We are apt to use them to feed a spirit of self-satisfaction. We use the gifts to shut out the Giver. In a word, we, too, like Israel, grow fat and kick. We forget God. We lose the sweet and precious sense of His presence and of His perfect sufficiency. We turn to other things, as Israel turned to false gods.

Without doubt this is the sure and solemn threat of God's displeasure. He turns from Israel to the Gentiles, as certainly as Israel used to turn from Jehovah to false gods. But God is carrying out that threat now, after the utmost patience. It was only carried out in full when they added to their old idolatry the still graver sin of rejecting the Messiah and scorning the gospel. That gospel offered them pardon for these and all other sins by His blood. And the threat itself contains just as sure an indication of restoring mercy in the end.

It covers the whole range of God's dealings with Israel from first to last. It gives a very solemn record of their terrible sin, and of God's wrath and judgement. But, praise God, it begins and ends with Him. This is full of the deepest and richest blessing for the soul.

When the Lord saw this rebellion, He rejected Israel. They had rejected Him for no reason; now He rejects them with good reason (v.19). They get back something of their own treatment. His face had been shining on Israel with pleasure. Now He hides His face from them, to see what their end will be (v.20). If God's face does not shine with approval on His creatures, they cannot go on without serious consequences.

The meaning here is moral rather than a matter of dates... So in Deuteronomy 32:5, 20 we find generation used in the same way. It does not mark off a period of time; it expresses the moral character of Israel. In the Psalms we also have "the generation to come," which is not limited to a mere thirty or a hundred years.

"This generation" is the perverse and unbelieving generation of the Jews. Even today they remain a race separate from all others. They live among the nations, but they always remain a separate people, kept for the fulfilment of the counsels of God.

God had displayed His power in judgment right in front of them. Yet they stubbornly refused to see His hand in it. They accused Moses and Aaron, as if these two had done it by some hidden power. They either could not, or would not, see the act of God. Truly they were "children in whom is no faith" (Deut. 32:20).

It is the sure and solemn threat of God's displeasure in turning from Israel to the Gentiles, as surely as Israel used to turn from the Lord to false gods. That threat is now being carried out, after the greatest patience. It was only fully carried out when they added a still graver sin to their old idolatry: they rejected the Messiah and refused the gospel that offered them pardon of these and all other sins by His blood. Yet the threat itself contains the no less sure sign of restoring mercy in the end.

The higher our privileges, the richer our blessings, the nearer our relationship, the more fitting it is for us to be faithful. We are bound to it all the more solemnly. In everything we should seek to live in a way that pleases Him. He is the One who has called us into the very highest and most blessed place that even His perfect love could give.

God could not forget, as a man would; but He could hide His face, and He had to. They had given Him up for gods that were not, and He would move them to jealousy by a people they disdained as none. It is here that the apostle sees the calling of the Gentiles (Rom. 10:19).

They had provoked God to jealousy by trusting false gods and idols. So God would provoke them to jealousy by means of a foreign nation (v.21). He would use those Israel despised to discipline them. That nation would gain so much power over Israel that Israel would become jealous of it.

Instead of Israel being a witness for Jehovah, before all nations, the song of Moses was to be a witness for Jehovah against the children of Israel. They were called to be His witnesses. Their task was to make His Name known and to display His praise in the land where He brought them, in His faithfulness and sovereign mercy. But sadly, they failed completely and shamefully.

But Jeshurun (Israel) grew fat and kicked, and abandoned the Rock of his strength. So God makes them jealous with those who are not a people. It is the call of the Gentiles, according to Romans 10:19.

How could the Jews say that this meant themselves? On the contrary, it was the Jew who was provoked by the Gentiles — "By those who are no people, and by a foolish nation I will make you angry." Did they deny that they were a foolish nation? Very well then — Moses said it was a foolish nation that would make them angry.

In the meantime God uses Israel's fall as the occasion for proclaiming salvation to the Gentiles. And if God proclaims salvation to the Gentiles, it is not only that the Gentiles may be blessed, but that through their blessing Israel may be provoked to jealousy and again turn to God.

The threat is being carried out now, after the greatest patience. It was carried out only when they added to their old idolatry a still graver sin: rejecting the Messiah and refusing the gospel that offered them pardon for these and all other sins by His blood. Yet the threat itself contains an equally sure hint of restoring mercy at the end. For certainly, the One who acts to make them jealous by blessing the Gentiles does not mean to cast them off in the end — quite the reverse.

And they are asked a conscience-searching question: "Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy?" Is He not rightly jealous of our giving any honour (honour that belongs to Him) to demons? Or, "are we stronger than He?" Do we think we are strong enough to take part in such mixtures without danger? God Himself is completely separate from them.

But doesn't Scripture say that the fire of God's wrath burns to the depths of Sheol, devours the earth and its increase, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains? Yes, it does. But it is His wrath that does this, and the passage holds no hint of mercy. And it is not threatened against Israel's enemies. It is threatened against Israel themselves.

No other nation was ever called to hold such a privileged place: a real relationship with Jehovah. God kept this dignity for one nation. But that very dignity was the ground of a most solemn responsibility. If they were called to be His people, they had to live in a way worthy of such a wonderful position. If not, they would go through the heaviest discipline any nation on earth has ever known. Men may reason about all this. They may ask whether it is morally consistent for a good God to act on the terms set out in verses 22-25 of this chapter. But sooner or later all such questions and reasonings turn out to be complete folly.

The word Sheol is vague in Scripture (see Genesis 42:38; 44:29, 31). It comes into sight at the grave, and beyond that all is dark and silent... Yet we have "the lowest hell," where "lowest" means the lowest part. Deuteronomy 32:22 uses the same word as "the lower parts" of the earth, only in the singular.

Then we have expressions like the "depths of Sheol" (Prov. 9:18) and "the lowest Sheol" (Ps. 86:13; Deut. 32:22) — the last of these being the passage where God's wrath burns down to it — and "though they dig into Sheol" (Amos 9:2). These show that the grave cannot be the whole story. Even in Sheol (Ps. 139:8) there is no escape from the presence of God: "If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!" Can that be nothing at all?

Here we meet the first mention in Scripture of the fire of hell. The picture shows it burning down to the regions of the dead, and down to the very foundations of this natural order — as if that order were the source of the corruption that had come on His people.

Fire is the constant symbol of wrath and judgment — not wrath that is arbitrary, but wrath that is necessary and essential... As fire, it must burn up everything that does not stand its test. So God must consume in judgment everything that is opposed to His righteous and perfect will.

And while the earth will in the end be burned up in this way, Scripture links that with the judgment of ungodly men (2 Peter 3:7). The earth was made subject to futility because it was made subject to man (Rom. 8:20), not because man was made subject to the earth. So it is set free when the sons of God are revealed.

The fire of God's anger would burn down to the depths of Sheol and consume the land and everything it produced (v.22). It would also set the foundation of the mountains on fire. The mountains picture high authorities, and the very foundations of that authority in Israel would suffer the destroying flame.

The song of Moses (Deut. 32 and Rev. 15:3) is a wonderful summary of God's ways with Israel. It gives God's sovereign call of that nation, their stubborn ways, and, as a result, their defeat by enemies and their scattering. It then gives the final overthrow of those enemies, and the recovery of both land and people through sovereign mercy, so that they enjoy the favour of Jehovah together with the nations that are spared.

How moving and solemn all this is! Israel should have been a witness for Jehovah before all nations. Instead, the song of Moses was to stand as a witness for Jehovah against the children of Israel. They were called to be His witnesses. They were responsible to declare His Name and to show His praise in the land He brought them into, in His faithfulness and sovereign mercy. But they failed completely and shamefully. So, in view of this sad and humbling failure, a song was to be written. First, it sets out the glory of God in the most magnificent language. Second, it records Israel's terrible failure at every stage of their history, and records it with unbending faithfulness.

The arrow was used with the bow, a common weapon of the ancients... Arrows picture the judgements of God, Ps. 38:2; Ps. 45:5. They also picture anything sharp and painful, such as a wounding tongue. Jer. 9:8.

Jehovah then has to prepare arrows against His people. He has to pour out His vengeance even on His loved Israel — more guilty than any other. Then the nations take advantage of God's anger against His people, until at last, in mercy to Israel, He rises up to deal with their enemies.

Disasters of many kinds would be heaped upon them. God's arrows of penetrating judgment would torment them. They would be wasted with hunger and devoured by pestilence and bitter destruction. But also God would send wild beasts to attack them, and poisonous reptiles (v.24). Enemies from outside would attack with their swords, and inside young and old together would be huddled in terror (v.25).

No nation on earth has ever been called to pass through discipline as severe as Israel's... No other nation was ever called to hold the privileged place of a real relationship with Jehovah. God kept this dignity for one nation alone. But that very dignity was the ground of a most solemn responsibility. If they were called to be His people, they had to live in a way worthy of such a wonderful position. If they did not, they would undergo the heaviest chastenings any nation under the sun has ever borne. Men may reason about all this. They may ask how a kind Being can act on the terms set out in verses 22-25 of our chapter and still be morally consistent. But sooner or later all such questions and reasonings prove to be complete folly.

It would have been just for God to say He would dash them in pieces and destroy their very memory from among men (v.26). But He would not go that far. Otherwise Israel's enemies would boast that their own strength had destroyed Israel, and would give the Lord no honour for His hand in this (v.27).

They justify Him in His past dealings with themselves. It was He who had heaped disasters on them. They had been pierced through with His arrows (Deut. 32:23). So they can appeal to His name against the anger of the enemy. That enemy was making himself great against that name by oppressing the poor of His covenant. The enemy would gladly use them for his own pleasure; but God had other thoughts. He had appointed the oppressors as a rod of correction for His own people.

Moses wrote the second song at the end, just before he died. There is no record that it was ever sung. The instruction was, "Now therefore write this song for you, and teach it to the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for Me against the children of Israel" (Deut. 31:19)... They were unlikely to sing it. The earlier part celebrates God's kind dealings with them, and the closing part celebrates His final intervention and deliverance. But the main weight of the song is their folly in abandoning God for idols, and the discipline and punishment this was certain to bring on them.

Disasters of many kinds would be heaped upon them. God's arrows of penetrating judgment would torment them. They would be wasted with hunger and devoured by pestilence and bitter destruction. But also God would send wild beasts to attack them, and poisonous reptiles (v.24).

Scripture uses the poison of snakes and asps as a symbol of God's judgment and of the malice that lives in the wicked. Deut. 32:24, 33; Job 6:4; Job 20:16; Ps. 58:4; Ps. 140:3; Rom. 3:13.

"They shall lick the dust like the serpent, they shall move out of their holes like creeping things of the earth," Micah 7:17. But we have here, not only a reference to Gen. 3:14, but a quotation of certain words found Deut. 32:24. The Hebrew word for "creeping things" occurs only here, in Deut. and in Job 32:6.

No nation on earth has ever been called to pass through such severe discipline as Israel. The Lord reminds them with these solemn words: "You only have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore will I punish you for your iniquities." No other nation was ever called to hold that privileged place of real relationship with God... but that very honour was the ground of a most solemn responsibility... People may argue about all this. They may raise all kinds of questions about whether a good God can act on the terms set out in verses 22-25 of this chapter. But sooner or later all such questions and arguments prove to be complete folly.

But Moses does not end without a song (Deut. 32). This song rests on the hidden things of God's grace, though it also takes in the judgments of the last days. He is not blind to the evil, yet he looks on to the blessing that would come to them. He feels deeply what they would do against God in their stubborn folly and ingratitude. But he also sees, in prophetic vision, what He will do for them.

It is true that we possess eternal life... But does that excuse us from hearing the warning that Israel's history speaks in our ears? Are our far greater privileges a reason to live carelessly and brush aside the healthy warnings Israel's history gives? Certainly not!... The higher our privileges, the richer our blessings, the closer our relationship, the more fitting it is — and the more solemnly we are bound — to be faithful.

It is in view of all this that Moses is told to write this song. Of it we read: "when many evils and troubles have come upon them, this song shall confront them as a witness, for it will live unforgotten in the mouths of their offspring." In this song Moses pleads with the people about the sins he foretells they will commit. He faithfully predicts the disasters that will follow.

God's arrows of penetrating judgment would torment them. They would be wasted with hunger and devoured by disease and bitter destruction. But God would also send wild beasts to attack them, and poisonous reptiles (v.24). Enemies from outside would attack with their swords, and inside, young and old would huddle together in terror (v.25).

The term "fire" stands for the concentrated energy of the dissolving forces of nature. It is a rapid consumer of created forms. But this devouring energy also works in slower ways. It is more or less resisted, and for a while held off. And yet Scripture groups every form in which human lives are blighted and destroyed under this one head. It traces them all to one agency. "Our God is a consuming fire." And so we read verses 23-25.

No nation on earth has ever been called to pass through such severe discipline as Israel. The Lord reminds them of this in solemn words: "You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities." No other nation was ever called to the privileged place of actual relationship with Jehovah. God reserved this dignity for one nation; but that very dignity was the basis of a most solemn responsibility. If they were called to be His people, they were responsible to live in a way worthy of such a wonderful position, or else undergo the heaviest chastenings ever endured by any nation under the sun.

It would have been just for God to say He would dash them in pieces and destroy their very memory from among men (v.26). But He would not go that far. If He did, Israel's enemies would boast of their own strength in destroying Israel, and would give the Lord no honour for His hand in this (v.27).

But is there to be no end to these calamities? Yes, there is an end. It comes by Israel's deliverance when they are at their last extremity, and by God transferring the judgments of His hand from them to their adversaries. Whatever partial restorations of Israel there may have been in the past, this complete transfer of God's judgments from them to their adversaries has never yet taken place.

Our privileges are far higher. Does that mean we may walk carelessly and despise the wholesome warnings that Israel's history gives us? God forbid! The higher our privileges, the richer our blessings, the nearer our relationship, the more fitting it is that we be faithful. We are bound to it all the more solemnly.

Two songs are attributed to Moses. The second was composed at the end, just before he died. It does not appear ever to have been sung. The instructions were: "Now therefore write this song and teach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for Me against the people of Israel." They would hardly be likely to sing it. The earlier part celebrates God's kindly dealings with them, and the closing part His final intervention and deliverance. But the main burden of it is their folly in forsaking God and turning to idols, and the chastening and retribution this was sure to bring on them.

It would have been just for God to say He would dash them in pieces and destroy their very memory from among men (v. 26). But He would not go that far. Otherwise Israel's enemies would boast of their own strength in destroying Israel, and give the Lord no honour for His hand in this (v. 27).

And why did He not? The answer to this question is a truth of infinite value and importance to Israel. It lies at the very foundation of all their future blessing. No doubt, as far as they are concerned, they deserved to have their remembrance blotted out from among men. But God has His own thoughts, counsels and purposes for them. And not only that: He takes account of what the nations think and do toward His people.

Still, the judgment falls on Israel. God would have destroyed them, if the glory of His name had not held Him back, for the Gentiles proved themselves completely wicked.

When He spoke of destroying the people in the desert for refusing to go up into the promised land, Moses pleaded against it. He pointed to the disastrous effect such a thing would have on His name among the nations of the earth. They would say that He had destroyed the nation because He was unable to bring them into the land (Numbers 14)… He will not act in a way that would give His creature a false impression. That would only increase the darkness in which that creature walks.

God will not permit the nations to treat His poor erring people as they please. He will use them as His rod of discipline. But the moment they indulge their own bitter hatred and go beyond their appointed limit, He will break the rod in pieces. He will make it clear to all that He Himself is dealing with His beloved though erring people, for their final blessing and His glory.

After all their unmatched ups and downs, and heavy discipline under the holy hand of God, they remain. They have come through all the hatred and persecution of the boastful nations, east and west. Where is Moab? Where are Edom, Assyria, Babylon, and the rest? Men may dig and find the ruins of their palaces and fortresses. But as nations they are dead and gone. They have long ceased to exist. Israel remains as distinct a people as ever.

In the end the Lord will judge His people, and will change His mind concerning His servants. He will call the nations to rejoice with them. Jehovah will be merciful to His land and to His people.

But God has His own thoughts, and counsels, and purposes about them. More than that, He also takes account of the thoughts and the actions of the nations toward His people. This comes out with striking force and beauty at verse 27. He stoops to give us His reasons for not blotting out every trace of the sinful and rebellious people — and oh, what a touching reason it is!

It would have been just for God to say He would dash them in pieces and destroy their very memory from among men (v.26). But He would not go that far, in case the adversaries of Israel would boast of their own strength for having accomplished Israel's destruction, and give the Lord no honour for His hand in this (v.27).

Still, the judgment falls on Israel. God would have destroyed them if the glory of His name had not held Him back, for the Gentiles proved themselves utterly wicked. Then, when the people are distressed, without strength and without hope, He remembers them. At last He takes vengeance on their enemies, those idolatrous Gentiles.

He will not act in a way that will give a false impression to His creature, and so increase the darkness in which that creature walks… God never leaves Himself without witness.

Can anything be more moving than the grace that breathes in these words? God will not permit the nations to behave strangely toward His poor erring people. He will use them as His rod of discipline. But the moment they indulge their own bitter hatred and try to go beyond the limit He set them, He will break the rod in pieces. He will make it clear to everyone that He Himself is dealing with His beloved, though erring, people, for their ultimate blessing and His glory.

God uses the pride and wickedness of the wicked to chastise His people; and afterwards He destroys the instrument. The Assyrian, God's rod to strike Israel, glorifies himself against God, who breaks the rod.

Jehovah has a fixed purpose. He will teach all the nations of the earth that Israel has a special place in His heart, and a destined place of pre-eminence on the earth… Trying to thwart that purpose is useless. They may be sure that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will confound every scheme formed against the people of His choice. Men may think, in their pride and folly, that their hand is high, but they will have to learn that God's hand is higher still.

The one praying pleads the covenant too, and that this cause was God's cause. This matches their mediator Moses in his day. Moses appealed to the fathers, to the covenant of promise, and to the honour of the name of Him who had redeemed them from Egypt… And the Lord Himself says that in the present preserving of Israel and their final establishment, He has regard to His own name.

Two songs are credited to Moses... The second was composed at the end, just before he died. It does not appear ever to have been sung. The instructions were, "Now therefore write this song and teach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the people of Israel" (Deuteronomy 31:19)... They would hardly be likely to sing it. The earlier part celebrates God's kind dealings with them, and the closing part His final intervention and deliverance. But the main burden of it is their folly in forsaking God and turning to idols, and the chastening and retribution that this was sure to bring on them.

Israel is now said to be a nation void of counsel and without understanding (v.28). Counsel was certainly available for them from the word of God, and there was no right reason for them to be without understanding. Their ignorance was inexcusable. Remember that the word "ignorance" comes from the word "ignore." Israel ignored what was plainly taught them, so they were ignorant. It was as true for Israel as it is for us today: "If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God" (John 7:17). An obedient heart will always have understanding.

Notice here that "wisdom and understanding" mean simply this: having the commandments of God treasured in the heart. This, moreover, was to be the basis of Israel's moral greatness in the eyes of the nations around them. It was not the learning of the schools of Egypt, or of the Chaldeans. No. It was the knowledge of the Word of God, and attention to it. It was the spirit of wholehearted obedience in all things to the holy statutes and judgments of the Lord their God. This was Israel's wisdom. This was their true and real greatness. This was their unbreakable defence against every enemy, their moral safeguard against every evil.

It seems plain from verse 28 and verse 30 that it is an appeal to Israel to consider their latter end.

Plainly, here "generation" is used for the people or nation of Israel. Of those called a perverse and crooked "generation" in verses 5 and 20, it is said in Deuteronomy 32:28 that they are a "nation" void of counsel. So the word is used as the synonym of "nation."

Ignorance of God was a continual reproach of the natural people. "Israel does not know, my people do not understand." That is the weighty conclusion of Jehovah when He finds the children of His covenant below the beasts that perish (Isaiah 1)... This national ignorance reached its lowest depth when, not knowing what they did, they crucified the Son of God... Yet God has promised and provided this for the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In the days to come, all that nation, from the least to the greatest, shall truly know the Lord.

On earth it has always been like this. So Moses warned Israel when he was about to leave (Deuteronomy 32:15-33). Those under grace, we now learn from the apostle, would behave in the house of God no better than the people under law. And so it happened, as the Old Testament shows us: Israel utterly ruined, scattered everywhere, despised outcasts, nowhere more than in their own land. And so the New Testament everywhere warns of a similar result in Christendom.

It seems plain from verses 28 and 30 that it is an appeal to Israel to consider their latter end.

Verse 28 calls Israel a nation without counsel and without understanding. Yet God's word made counsel available to them. They had no good reason to be without understanding. Their ignorance was inexcusable. Remember that the word "ignorance" comes from the word "ignore." Israel had ignored what they were clearly taught, so they were ignorant. What was true for Israel is true for us today: "If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God" (John 7:17). An obedient heart will always have understanding.

The words of verse 29 are tender and full of longing. How deeply it should impress us to consider how an obedient path ends, compared with how a disobedient life ends! It is only wisdom to consider the end, instead of indulging selfish desires now.

This Psalm describes the path of a tempted soul with great tenderness and accuracy. The prosperity of the wicked is the temptation. ... The soul then enters the sanctuary. That is, it grasps the mind of God about the whole scene and reads everything in the light of "the end" (v. 17). That is the light the sanctuary gives, and the light in which the wise walk. (Deut. 32:29, Ps. 90:12) ... The worshipper had been like a beast, feeling and reasoning as though the present life was everything.

When a poor sinner considers his "latter end" as a sinner, it must land him in the blackness and horror of despair. And it is just at this point that the gospel comes in with all its blessed, gloom-dispelling light. "God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." I see here that it is all settled, all finished for me, a poor guilty sinner. "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." ... All is done. So my heart rests about the question of sins and judgment.

Perfection here is complete likeness to Christ in glory. This was God's purpose for Paul, and nothing else is His purpose for each of us. But seeing that it was, and getting hold of it deep in his soul, only set the apostle running faster in the race. "I press on toward the goal." It was clear and distinct before his eye, and it eclipsed everything else for him. "That I may gain Christ." Has it become the substance that eclipses all else for us?

It matters little what the journey is like, as long as I know surely and clearly what awaits me at home. God's desire is to occupy you with what awaits you there. Christ is there, and the joy of that scene is what He is. You are going to be exactly like that Christ.

The great need of the hour is decision. How loudly God is speaking just now. Will you not hear? Will you not be wise, and consider your latter end? Remember, if you miss salvation, you will miss it for ever. There is no second chance beyond the grave.

Israel had the promise that one of them would chase a thousand (Josh. 23:10), through faith in the living God, who fought their battles. But by departing from God they would find themselves far weaker than their enemies. One of their enemies would chase a thousand of them, and two would put ten thousand to flight.

They were defeated, broken by a worthless enemy. How could that happen, unless their Rock had sold them, and the unchangeable Jehovah delivered them into their hands! Was He any less a Rock? Was it because their God was as poor a support as the ordinary trusts of men? Their bitter enemies could easily settle that question themselves. No — the fruit He had looked for from them was only the vine of Sodom, bitter and poisonous. He is the Righteous One, and He had been forced to be against them.

But note this: all these promises were conditional. They depended on Israel faithfully carrying out their responsibilities. The first was, "If you walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them." The second was like it: "Oh that they were wise, that they understood this" — that is, keeping God's commandments. The third means the same: "But cling to the LORD your God." Israel had failed badly in all this. So they were stripped of their strength and struck down before their enemies. The only remedy left to them was to admit how far they had drifted and return to God with their whole heart.

It is the same old story — failure and sin on the part of the people, and as a result they are sold into the hands of their enemies. God never allows the enemy to gain power over us unless it is a judicial result of our own failure. He never lets evil gain power over us unless the soul has first turned away from Him. God keeps the weakest and least-taught believer safe from the schemes and power of the enemy, as long as the heart is true and loyal to Christ.

What Israel's enemies depended on was empty vanity, for all power and authority was in the Rock of Israel. But what was He like? On the one hand, He would deliver Israel from their enemies with no difficulty. On the other hand, He might deliver them up to suffer utter defeat at the hand of their enemies... God is indeed the Rock, which means His firm, decided stand for truth. If believers ignore this, they will find themselves defeated in their practical lives.

There is no neutral place for the people of God. They must either be above the world, testifying against it for God's glory, or they must be servants to it... When they departed from the Lord, they were weaker than the nations. A Christian is always weaker than the world when he is out of fellowship with God. The reason is simple: he has lost his strength — the strength his conscience approves of. So the world overcomes him easily, attacking him with all its reckless violence.

It seems plain from verses 28 and 30 that it is an appeal to Israel to consider their latter end.

Two songs are credited to Moses. He and the people of Israel sang the first at the start of his forty years of service, after they had crossed the Red Sea (Ex. 15:1-18)... He wrote the second at the end, just before he died. It seems it was never sung. The instructions were, "Now therefore write this song and teach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the people of Israel" (Deut. 31:19).

At verse 29, we have a very touching appeal. "Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end! How could one man chase a thousand? How could two put ten thousand to flight? It could only happen if their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had given them up. For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges." — There is, and there can be, only one Rock. Blessed be His glorious Name throughout all ages!

Then she said, "neither is there any rock like our God." Read Deuteronomy 32 and see how often that chapter calls God a Rock. Think of the other rocks — the rocks of the nations, their idols, their support. Think of the huge contrast between God and them. This was what Hannah was saying: "There is no rock like our God." She said "our God," and that showed some sense of relationship in her soul. She thought of the stability of God, the permanency of God. Nobody could overthrow God, nothing could overthrow God.

And here His pity breaks out in Moses' words. Oh, that they had been wise! That they had understood, that they had considered the end sure to come! They were beaten and broken by a contemptible enemy. How could that be, unless their Rock had sold them, and the unchanging Lord handed them over? Was He less a Rock? Was it because their God was as poor a support as the common trusts of men? Ah, their bitter enemies could easily decide that themselves. No — the fruit He had looked for from them was only the vine of Sodom, bitter and poisonous. And the Righteous One was forced to be against them.

"For their rock is not like our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges" (v.31). What Israel's enemies depended on was empty vanity, for all power and authority was in the Rock of Israel. But what was He like? On the one hand, He would deliver Israel from their enemies with no difficulty. On the other hand, He might deliver them up to suffer utter defeat at the hand of their enemies. Even their enemies bore witness to this striking fact. But it all depended on whether Israel was obedient or disobedient. God is indeed the Rock, and that involves His firm, decided stand for truth. If believers ignore this, they will find themselves defeated in their practical lives.

Nearly everything that has been said is simply calling attention to the beauty of the structure of Scripture, and this we can assert with confidence, "even our enemies themselves being judges" (Deut. 32:31).

This is a prophetic song, and it rests on the fall of the people that God already knew was coming. First it declares that Jehovah is perfect, whatever happens. It is Israel who have corrupted themselves… But Jeshurun (Israel) grew fat and kicked, and abandoned the Rock of his strength.

Verse 29 gives a very moving appeal: "Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would think about how they will end!… For their rock is not as our Rock; even our enemies can judge that." There is, and there can be, only one Rock. Blessed be His glorious Name through all ages!

The vine of Israel's enemies was the vine of Sodom… But in fact, "their grapes are grapes of poison," bitter in the end… The wine from their grapes was the poison of serpents. The serpents point to Satan's deception, which brings the poison of death to its victims. This describes the spiritual deception that held Israel's enemies in the land captive. Was Israel so foolish as to think they could share in such things and escape terrible consequences?

In His plan for governing the earth, He had marked out a place of distinction and great honour for them. But they proved themselves a foolish people, a nation without understanding, and completely unworthy of the trust He had meant to give them. They were a perverse and crooked generation, children with no faithfulness in them. They had proved themselves to be all this before they ever entered the promised land.

Many have suggested what tree this refers to. Josephus speaks of fruit that grew near the Dead Sea, which "looks as if it is fit to eat, but when you pick it, it crumbles into smoke and ashes." Some judge the vine spoken of in Scripture to be the poisonous colocynth, which grows near the Dead Sea. May the term not be a picture of what leads to destruction — the very fate that came on Sodom?

Yet He longs and yearns over them! Let the cross say whether He does not… Oh, that they had been wise! That they had understood, and had thought about the end that was certain to come!… No — sadly, the fruit He had looked for from them was only the vine of Sodom, bitter and poisonous. And He, the Righteous One, had no choice but to be against them.

All this lay open before Jehovah before He brought His people into the good land. Israel's condition called for His righteous judgment. Yet in the end God would bring them into blessing, and the nations with them, just as He said: "Rejoice, you nations, with His people" (Deut. 32:43, older translation).

In short, the moral ruin, disgrace and shame of the people was total and complete — their vine was the vine of Sodom, their grapes, grapes of poison — apart from the little remnant. Yet as far as religion went, all was in order. The blood of bulls and goats flowed daily. The golden and bronze altars were in constant use. They offered the incense just as in earlier days.

The word is pethen. It has been identified with the naja haje, a snake that can spit its deadly poison some distance. That is why the Dutch colonists at the Cape called them the spitting snake. Scripture uses its "cruel venom" as a picture of the wine of the wicked (Deut. 32:33, compare Rom. 3:13), and the inward misery of those who are secretly wicked (Job 20:14, 16).

Scripture uses the poison of serpents and of asps as a symbol for the judgement of God, and for the malice already inside the wicked. Deut. 32:24, 33; Job 6:4; Job 20:16; Ps. 58:4; Ps. 140:3; Rom. 3:13. The tongue is "a restless evil, full of deadly poison" (James 3:8).

The vine, which yields grape juice, pictures joy. Ungodly people count it joy to corrupt themselves as the people of Sodom did… But in reality, "their grapes are grapes of gall," bitter in the end. The wine from their grapes was the poison of serpents (v.33). The serpents tell us of Satan's delusion, bringing the poison of death to its victims. This describes the spiritual delusion that held Israel's enemies in the land in bondage. Was Israel so ignorant as to think they could indulge in such things without suffering dire consequences?

They had proved themselves to be a foolish people, a nation with no understanding, and completely unworthy of the trust He had purposed to commit to them… The mark they bore was not the mark of His children. They bore instead the marks of the first rebel. They were a perverse and crooked generation, children in whom there was no faithfulness.

What a terrible picture of a people's moral condition, drawn by a master hand! This is the divine estimate of the real state of all those whose rock was not as the Rock of Israel. But a day of vengeance will come. It is delayed, in long-suffering mercy, but it will come as surely as there is a God on the throne of heaven.

Those they fooled were still to blame… They should have remembered what they once knew about Paul, and how law differs from gospel, as they saw it in him. They should also have known better, and guarded more carefully, the treasure God had given them through him. But instead of watching, they were over-confident. Their own carelessness deceived them, and they ended up drinking the poison of serpents (Deut. 32:33) instead of the pure milk of the word of grace.

God was no more taken aback by Israel's failure to produce fruit for His pleasure than He was by the fall of Adam in Eden… All this was in the LORD's view before He brought His people into the good land. The state of Israel called for His righteous judgment. Yet God would in the end bring them into blessing, and the Gentiles with them, just as He said, "Rejoice, O nations, with His people" (Deut. 32:43).

The instructions were, "Now therefore write this song for you, and teach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for Me against the people of Israel" (Deut. 31:19). They would be unlikely to sing it. The earlier part celebrates God's kindly dealings with them, and the closing part His final intervention and deliverance. But its main burden is their folly in forsaking God and turning to idols, and the chastening and retribution that this was sure to bring upon them.

Their iniquity was bound up and laid away in store. The reference is to the eastern custom of tying up money and other valuables into a bundle and hiding it somewhere. It was done for safe keeping. So the Lord would see to it that their sins and iniquity would not be forgotten. All their sins were preserved for punishment (see Deut. 32:34).

This is all plain, but the end has unexpected disclosures. There was a secret hidden with God, sealed up among His treasures! Not judgment, then — which every bad conscience could predict, and which He does not love!

The prophet had warned his nation of the curse that was to come on them for their unfaithfulness to Jehovah. Then he points to the land of the people in the distant future as receiving mercy. He speaks of this as that which was, among other things, sealed up among God's treasures (Deut. 32:34-43). He had earlier called the grace or mercy of God to Israel God's "secret" (Deut. 29:29). And it is these sealed treasures of grace, this secret of mercy, that the Spirit largely discloses and makes known in our own time.

The revealed things are what Israel ought to have done, but did not do; the secret things are what God would do, despite Israel's sad and shameful failure.

In contrast to Israel's ignorance we read in verse 34 of God's hidden wisdom which Israel could not discern, wisdom laid up in store, sealed up among God's treasures. Could evil ever discourage Him? Was He intimidated by it? 1 Corinthians 2:7-8 speaks of this "hidden wisdom" which centres in the wonderful death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, but which none of the rulers of this age knew.

After describing the sale of the children of Israel into the hands of their enemies, He says, "Is not this laid up in store with Me, sealed up in My treasuries? Vengeance is Mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip." Who have been the instruments of judgment and oppression on the Jews? Whose feet, then, shall slip in due time?

Yet vengeance is His, and recompense, and their feet shall slip, the day of their calamity shall come, judgment shall come, Jehovah shall judge His people. Yes, judge — but not destroy! For He will call them to Himself when He sees them struck down, helpless, their power gone, none left to help them, and the emptiness of their false gods laid bare. Then the rod of their correction, having done its work, will be broken, and He will turn His hand against their enemies.

Precious grace for Israel, by and by — for each, for all, now, who feel and own their need!

When God has acted in government, again and again He has been pleased to use His people as the instruments of it. Now that His grace is being announced across the earth, His normal way of working is through human servants. But sometimes it is neither grace nor government. When God carries out wrath and vengeance on men whose sin has risen to its dreadful height, He acts alone. He has said, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay." It is His right alone. No one may share it with Him.

Vengeance belongs to God, and recompense (v.35). But in the meantime Israel's foot will slip, and the day of their calamity will come with its many troubles.

After describing how Israel was sold into the hands of their enemies, God says, "Is not this laid up in store with me, sealed up in my treasuries? Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip." So who have been the instruments of judgment and oppression on the Jews? Whose feet, then, shall slip in due time?

But a day of vengeance will come. He delays it in long-suffering mercy, but it will come as sure as there is a God on the throne of heaven. A day is coming for the nations that have treated Israel with pride. They will answer for their conduct before the Son of Man. They will hear His solemn sentence and meet His unsparing wrath.

Yet vengeance is His, and recompense. Their feet shall slip. The day of their calamity shall come. Judgment shall come, and the LORD shall judge His people. Yes, judge — but not destroy! He will see them struck down and helpless, their power gone, with no one left to help them, and their false gods proved worthless. Then He will call them to Himself, and no one else can compare with Him. The rod that corrected them has finished its work and shall be broken. He will turn His hand against their enemies.

Whatever the provocation, a Christian must never take revenge. We must leave that matter to God, who in His own good time will avenge His "beloved." Nothing could be more touching and beautiful than such words of affection. Wicked and unreasonable men provoke us and stir us to strike back — and just then the voice of tenderest love rises above the noise of human passion: "Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God." Step back from the scene. Make room for My government, because of the injury you have received. Punishing is My right.

God avenges the wrongs done to His people. That truth is not meant to stir up in us the smallest wish that His vengeance would fall on our enemies. We must guard against that as a secret desire. To march out in arms against them; to watch for their stumbling; to wait for a chance to pour out what we have been nursing inside; to exaggerate their failures, so that they get double for their sins; to be glad in our hearts when we think they have been paid back in their own coin — all this is a spirit completely contrary to the mind of the Lord.

Two quotations from the book of Deuteronomy (Deut. 32:35-36) confirm the teaching of a special judgment on those who argue against the truth and those who abandon it. The Lord will judge His people. He already stands at the door, ready to visit the great house of those who profess His name and to deal with it justly, according to what it really is.

"To me belongs vengeance and repayment; their foot will slip in due time. For the Lord will judge [vindicate, defend or avenge] His people, and have compassion on His servants, when He sees that their power is gone, and there is none remaining, bond or free." What precious grace for Israel in the day to come — and for each and all, now, who feel and admit their need!

The Lord's judgment here means judging on behalf of Israel, His people. He has compassion on them when He sees that their power is gone (v.36). God steps in with grace only when a person faces his own helpless condition. As long as Israel stays self-assertive and self-confident, she will not and cannot depend on the grace of God. But when she has nothing left and admits it, she will find God ready to deliver her.

The decree had fixed a day for their destruction, and that decree would not, could not, be changed. Their Amalekite persecutor was in power, and all, as far as the eye could reach, was utter destruction. But Haman fell, and the Jews were delivered. The same will happen again with the same people. The city will fall. All the peoples of the earth will surround it in its day of siege and distress. Half of it will go into captivity, its houses stripped bare, and all will be waste and ruin. But at that very moment the Lord from heaven will plead their cause.

The two verses that follow are quoted from Exodus and Deuteronomy. The first comes from the beginning of Israel's history in Egypt. It presents God in His enduring, unchanging character as Jehovah — the ground of all blessing for Israel (Ex. 3:15). The other comes from the song Moses sang just before the people entered the land. It shows that when their own folly has left them with no power and no one to help, the Lord will act for them (Deut. 32:36).

He is gracious beyond measure. But we know Him who said, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord," and again, "The Lord will judge his people." "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb. 10:30-31). If He punished the vile practices of the doomed nations who had intruded into His land, He disciplines His own people even more strictly.

It hardly needs saying that the Lord judges His saints today; 1 Corinthians 11:30-32 makes that plain enough. But the passage here is limited to Israel.

We have so much of the world's dignity, influence and riches! These things do not hide us from God or from Satan, but they do hide our real poverty from ourselves. If only we knew how destitute we are! If only we cried to the Lord! Then He, "when He saw that there was none remaining, bond or free," would deliver us and lift us up. Whether for Israel, for an individual, or for the Church, the lesson to be learned is the same: its poverty and need. It does not matter how poor we are, as long as we feel our poverty; for there is all fullness in Christ.

But the Lord's judgment includes His judging on behalf of Israel His people. He has compassion on them when He sees that their power is gone (v.36). God steps in with grace when a person faces the fact that he is helpless. As long as Israel keeps up her self-assertion and self-confidence, she will not and cannot depend on the grace of God. But when she has been reduced to nothing, and honestly sees it, she will find God ready to deliver her.

Yet vengeance is His, and repayment. Their feet will slip. The day of their disaster will come. Judgment will come, and the Lord will judge His people. Yes, judge — but not destroy! He will see them struck down and helpless, their power gone, with no one left to help them, and the emptiness of their false gods in full view. Then He will call them to Himself, for no other can compare with Him. The rod that corrected them will have finished its work, and He will break it. He will turn His hand against their enemies.

Then God may well ask them the question as to where their idols are now, the false rock which they expected to be a refuge (v.37). Did their gods eat the fat of their sacrifices and drink the wine of their drink offerings? (v.38). Then let them respond by helping Israel now and providing the refuge they promised! God needs to speak this way. It probes their consciences, so that they see the folly and evil of their idol worship.

There is, there can be, only the one Rock. Blessed throughout all ages be His glorious Name!

They were defeated, broken by a worthless enemy. How could that happen unless their Rock had sold them, and the unchangeable Lord handed them over! Was He less a Rock? Was their God as poor a support as the things other people trust in? Their bitter enemies could easily settle that question themselves.

Then the heart, now estranged from Him, turned to His opposites. Foreign gods came in with their detestable ways. Newly invented gods replaced Him who had brought Israel into being. The same thing has been repeated ever since, in every form you can imagine.

In Jeremiah 2:28 the prophet says, "But where are your gods that you made for yourself? Let them arise, if they can save you, in your time of trouble." This is clearly a quotation of Deut. 32:37-38.

When the Lord acts on behalf of Israel, He will say, "Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge" (Deut. 32:37). Here we get Israel's answer, as they pass judgment on the idols of the nations and on all who put their trust in them.

God may well ask them where their idols are now — the false rock they expected to be their refuge (v.37). Did their gods eat the fat of their sacrifices and drink the wine of their drink offerings? (v.38). Then let them answer by helping Israel now and giving the refuge they promised! God has to speak this way to search their consciences, so that they see the folly and evil of their idol worship.

In 1 Corinthians 10:20 the apostle quotes Deuteronomy 32:17 and says what idol worship really is, whatever form it takes. Both the Old Testament and the New declare that what they sacrificed they sacrificed to demons, not to God. Demons stood behind the idols. The idols were nothing in themselves, but the demons were a terrible reality of subtle and vicious evil, and they ruined everyone who honoured the idols.

The LORD is the Maker, but an idol must be made. Once made, it does not carry others; others have to carry it. Once it is set in place, it cannot move. It cannot answer a cry for help, and it cannot save anyone from trouble.

God steps in with grace when a person faces the fact that he is helpless. As long as Israel keeps asserting herself and trusting herself, she will not and cannot depend on the grace of God. But when she is brought to nothing and admits it, she will find God ready to rescue her.

What a miserable ground of confidence! Not a word about the Lord Himself. They did not think of Him as the source of their strength. They did not make Him their shield and defence. No — they trusted in the ark. They imagined it could save them, and the hope was empty. How could it help them at all without the presence of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel?

He, and He alone, can swear by Himself. He raises His hand to heaven and says, "As I live forever, if I sharpen My flashing sword and My hand takes hold on judgment, I will take vengeance on My adversaries and will repay those who hate Me" (vs.40-41). For the Son, not the Father, is the One who carries out the judgment of God (Jn.5:22). He lives forever, just as the Father lives forever. For many centuries He has been patient with the rebellious wickedness of mankind. But His patience will give way to sudden and awesome judgment, and He will not spare those who have proved themselves His enemies.

Man's utter weakness — shown plainly by the fact that he cannot even change the colour of one hair — is part of the basis of the prohibition. God may swear, for He can carry out everything He pledges Himself to, and He knew all its consequences too. And we find Him doing it beautifully when He seeks to assure the soul of His creature, who is so ready to doubt the perfect faithfulness even of his God: "when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of His purpose, He guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things" — His word being as certain as His oath, though not so to man — "in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement" (Heb. 6:13-18).

Remember that God is self-existent. The name He revealed to Moses was "I AM WHO I AM" (Ex. 3:14). Psalm 68:4 gives His name as JAH. Again He says, "I, even I, am He … I lift up My hand to heaven and swear, As I live forever." This last passage is all the more remarkable, because the form of the sentence implies that the Speaker is on earth.

Then the Spirit shows us this truth shining out in full in the Book of Revelation. There we see it whole, for it shines from its clear centre, our Lord Jesus Christ. In chapter 1:17 He says, "Fear not, I am the First and the Last, and the living One." This leaves us in no doubt about who "THE SAME" of the Old Testament is. We find Him so named in Deuteronomy 32:39, first of all. … "I am He" should read "I am the Same," meaning the self-existing One.

The angel lifts up His hand to heaven. He swears by the living God, the Creator of heaven, earth and sea and everything in them, that there should be no more delay (v. 6). He is one with God, so that this is really God swearing by Himself. He had done this when showing grace to Abraham and his seed (Hebrews 6:13-14); now He does so when executing the judgment that subdues all things under Him.

No doubt the Gentiles proved completely unworthy, and God will take vengeance on them (vv. 40-42). But even when He restores Israel, as He will (v. 36), He calls the Gentiles to rejoice with His people (v. 43). The gospel already carries out this principle, as we know, and the kingdom of Messiah will fulfil it.

He, and He alone, can swear by Himself, raising His hand to heaven, saying, "As I live forever, if I sharpen My flashing sword, and My hand takes hold on judgment, I will take vengeance on My adversaries and repay those who hate Me" (vv. 40-41). For the Son, not the Father, is the One who carries out God's judgment (Jn. 5:22). He lives forever, just as the Father lives forever. For many centuries He has patiently put up with the rebellious wickedness of mankind. But His patience will give way to awesome, sudden judgment. He will not spare those who have proven themselves enemies.

"I wound and I heal" — wound in governmental wrath, and heal in pardoning grace; all honour to His great and holy Name, through the everlasting ages! — "If I sharpen My flashing sword, and My hand takes hold on judgment" — as it most certainly will — "I will take vengeance on My adversaries and will repay those who hate Me" — whoever and wherever they are. A tremendous sentence for all whom it may concern — for all haters of God, all lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God!

After describing the sale of the children of Israel into the hands of their enemies, He says, "Is not this laid up in store with Me, and sealed up among My treasures? Vengeance belongs to Me, and repayment; their foot shall slide in due time." Who have been the instruments of judgment and oppression against the Jews? Whose feet, then, shall slide in due time? Then we see the order of this (v. 36, 40-43): "For the Lord shall judge His people and relent concerning His servants, when He sees that their power is gone…"

When He stood up and read at Nazareth (Luke 4), He stopped at the first comma of Isaiah 61:2. Here, after centuries of patience, He goes on to fulfil the next sentence of that verse. The first is a "year"; the second is "a day." The first is the long "year" of mercy and grace, still going on, in which God finds delight. The second is the short "day" of God's just judgment, soon to come and soon to be over — His "strange work," in which He has no pleasure. Long centuries before, in Deuteronomy 32:35-43, He had foretold this time.

At the same time we realise that "vengeance" belongs to God. Surely the Christian needs reminding of this truth. The Apostle Paul can say to us: "Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.'" In the presence of provocation, anger, and deliberate insults, let us beware of seeking to take vengeance. The insults and injustice may arouse righteous indignation, but we cannot be trusted to take vengeance.

The closing words of Moses' wilderness song (Deut. 32:43) describe the situation at the end, when the judgments of God have done their work… Israel's wrongs are avenged. The people and their land are reconciled to God through Christ's atonement. All the nations of the earth share Israel's joy. Such are the gracious purposes of God when the fighting days are done.

The last verse of this song (verse 43) shows the glorious end. After the storm of judgment and indignation, peace will come to this earth. The nations will learn war no more; they will learn righteousness. Then the world will be converted. The Lord will be merciful to His land and to His people. The blessings and glories promised to Israel have come. Therefore the nations will rejoice with His people. The song of Moses is the key to all prophecy.

First, the joy of the Gentiles here is joy with His people, and not without them. Second, "people" means the nation, and not the elect remnant. The mention of the land makes that clear.

In the future kingdom both Jews and Gentiles will be blessed. The apostle uses this truth. He points to both enjoying the blessings of grace, and that is enough to silence the Jew. So we find the Old Testament applied in Romans 15:10, "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people." How could the Jew object without contradicting himself?... Yet the apostle never says that the prophecy is now fulfilled in full or to the letter. The principle is true under the gospel. The fulfilment of the prophecy waits for another age and a different state of things, when Christ appears and reigns in visible power and glory.

The Hebrew word Kaphar means to atone, or make atonement. That is its regular sense. Deuteronomy 32:43 and passages like Ezekiel 16:63 and 45:15 are the same in substance, though in some cases the effect is what is meant — pacified, purged, forgiven, merciful, and so on. "Propitiate" would be just as good a translation as "atone".

Moses, in his prophetic song, concludes with all nations rejoicing when God's end is reached... "Merciful" here means "to make expiation for"; so a real day of Atonement is coming for both Israel and the land they possess.

The Epistle to the Hebrews quotes the Greek version of Deuteronomy 32:43 word for word, at least in the Vatican manuscript... So there is no ground for doubt that "angels" are meant, and that they are commanded to pay supreme honour to the Son as the risen and glorified Man — who is no less a divine person. Indeed, if He were not, His worthiness as man and the dignity given to Him could not warrant the honour God claims for His Son from the highest creatures of heaven. "Gods (Elohim)" is often applied to those who represent God in government, or who are commissioned to announce and carry out His will; the Lord makes this plain in John 10:34-35... In that day all must bow in honour of Him Who appears to reign.