For the name of Jehovah will I proclaim Ascribe greatness unto our God!
Moses is at the end of his life, and he opens his final song not with Israel's record but with God's name. It holds a promise and a command. Moses will proclaim who the LORD is. His hearers must give God the greatness.
Older translations read "I will publish the name of Jehovah" where the ESV has "proclaim the name of the LORD." One writer links "publish" to Exodus, where God proclaimed His own name to Moses.
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.
Why does Moses put "name" and "greatness" side by side? One writer says the two words mean nearly the same thing.
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.
The same writer weighs two kinds of greatness against each other.
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.
To ascribe greatness is to hand it over to God. One writer turns that into a rebuke aimed straight at the reader.
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.
Why should announcing a name refresh anyone? One writer answers that this Name cannot be shaken.
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.
God had told Moses he would not enter the land. So his praise cost him something.
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."
What Moses did here is not the last word. One writer sets Moses beside Christ.
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.
- Received — "Publish" is the same word God used when He proclaimed His own name to Moses. No one can pass on what he has not first received.
- Refreshing — The theme is God's faithfulness, not Israel's failure. That news falls on tired hearers like dew and rain.
- Great — The name means fame. God is great in the power that flung out the stars, and great in the love that stoops to weak people.
- Ascribed — Hand greatness to God; do not claim it. Man ruined himself by grasping at it.
- Unshaken — Moses sings this though he is barred from the land himself. The Name that stands for ever gives rest when everything else fails.
[He is] the Rock, his work is perfect, For all his ways are righteousness; A God of faithfulness without deceit, Just and right is he.
God gave Moses a song to teach Israel — one that would expose their coming failure. Before any word of rebuke, the song fixes the eye on what God is. That standard measures everything it says later about Israel.
The reason behind the song is painful. Israel was meant to be God's witness to the nations.
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.
The wording is deliberate. Moses does not say God is a rock among others.
"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.
The picture behind the word comes from the desert.
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.
Why is the work perfect? Because of who stands behind it. One writer traces this back to Christ Himself.
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).
Older translations read "all His ways are judgment," which can sound like a threat. The word means something better.
"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."
One writer defines this justice, then shows what happened when Israel questioned it.
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.
The most costly detail is who is singing. Moses had been shut out of the land he was looking at.
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.
The verse is not only a description; it is an offer of solid ground.
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.
- Rock first. Moses opens the song with God's character, not Israel's sin. He sets the standard before naming the failure.
- Rock alone. Not a rock but the Rock: shelter in the storm, shade in the desert heat, a dwelling place in every generation.
- Rock, therefore work. The work is flawless because the Person behind it is flawless.
- Rock, therefore ways. His ways are not blind wrath but clear-sighted righteousness. When men accuse Him of unfairness, He comes down to reason with them.
- Rock, therefore rest. Moses was shut out of the land, yet still called God "just and upright." This ground holds even when God's dealings cost you something.