I would say, I will scatter, I will make the remembrance of them to cease from among men,
God says here what He could have done to Israel: scatter them and leave no memory of them among people. He announces the sentence, then pulls it back — so what stopped Him?
(Some older translations read, "I said, I would scatter them into corners." The writers quoted below use that wording.)
God told Moses to write this song down and teach it to the people before any of the failure had happened. One writer describes what kind of song it is:
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.
This sentence would not have been harsh. The people deserved it, and the next verse gives the reason God held back:
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).
The restraint does not come from anything found in Israel. God weighs what the surrounding nations would make of their disappearance:
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.
Another writer puts the same restraint in one line:
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.
If Israel had vanished, the watching world would have drawn the wrong conclusion. It would have said their God was beaten. One writer connects this verse to an earlier moment:
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 used the nations to discipline Israel. He did not hand them a free licence:
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.
The threat of being forgotten was real. Other peoples of that world did vanish:
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.
The song does not stop with the sentence God withheld:
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.
- Deserved. Israel earned erasure. The commentators do not soften it: the sentence was just.
- Withheld. What stopped it was the glory of God's name, not anything found in the people.
- Truthful. God refuses to act in a way that would let His creatures draw a false conclusion about Him.
- Limited. The nations serve as His rod of discipline, and when they exceed their limit He breaks the rod.
- Remembered. Moab, Edom, Assyria and Babylon are gone; Israel remains, and the song closes with mercy, not erasure.
If I did not fear provocation from the enemy, Lest their adversaries should misunderstand it, Lest they should say, Our hand is high, and Jehovah has not done all this.
God had just said He would scatter Israel and wipe out even the memory of them (v.26). This verse gives the reason He held back: not anything in Israel, but what their enemies would say, and the honour of God's own name.
God then explains why He does not carry out that sentence.
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!
God had every right to go the whole way.
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).
The song does not end with judgment, and this verse shows why.
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.
Their boast would leave the world with a false picture of God.
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.
(These writers quote an older translation: "Our hand is high." The ESV reads "Our hand is triumphant.")
Foreign nations are the rod God uses on Israel. He sets them a limit.
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.
The same pattern shows up later in Israel's history.
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.
God answers that boast with a purpose no nation can overturn.
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.
Others in Scripture have prayed on this same ground.
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.
- Deserved. Israel had earned total erasure; God would have been just to carry it out.
- Restrained. God holds back the full sentence, and He tells us why — not for their sake, but because of what the enemy would say.
- His name. The glory of His name is what stops the blow; commentators trace the same reason through the rest of the song.
- The rod. Hostile nations are God's rod of discipline. When they overstep and boast, He breaks the rod.
- Higher. "Our hand is triumphant" is the boast God will not let stand — His hand is higher still.