What is the Song of Moses (Deuteronomy 32:1-43)?

They are now to hear in the words of his closing song the testimony to their perfidy and God's faithfulness. It is proclaimed in the form of a song, for the spirit of praise must permeate the most solemn denunciations of evil. Thus the entire book of experience, the Psalms, is written in poetry, and the same is partly true of the Prophets. It is as though the contemplation of evil, the very degradation of man, his rebellion and hostility to God, and the foolishness and waywardness of His own people, are not to be so dwelt upon as to oppress the soul, but rather to be viewed with Moses in song, celebrating and declaring God's victory over all evil, and His ultimate triumph for His people as well. This is the theme of the prophetic song which sets forth in magnificent detail the faithfulness of God. Heaven and earth are called upon to listen to the story. Jehovah's name is proclaimed and His faithfulness; the waywardness too of His people; His care and patient mercy with them, and their rebellion and apostasy; the governmental results of this departure, with the final triumph in the chastening of the people and bringing them out into the glories of that mil- lennial scene when God shall be exalted and His people blessed (Deut. 32).

Two songs are attributed to Moses. The first was sung by him and the children of Israel at the beginning of his forty years ministry, when they had crossed the Red Sea (Ex. 15:1-18). It is full from beginning to end with what God is, what He had done, and what He was going to do In fulfilment of His purpose. 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 ye 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). The song is written in Deuteronomy 32:1-43, and Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people. They would hardly be likely to sing it, for while in the earlier part it celebrates God's kindly dealings with them, and in the closing part His ultimate intervention and deliverance, 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 upon them.

The song of Moses (Deut. 32 and Rev. 15:3) is a wonderful summary of God's ways with Israel. It gives the sovereign call of that nation on God's part, their perverseness, their subjugation by enemies in consequence, and their dispersion; the ultimate overthrow of those enemies, and the recovery of both land and people through sovereign mercy, to enjoy with the spared nations the favour of Jehovah.

How deeply affecting, how peculiarly solemn is all this! 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 responsible to declare His Name, and to show forth His praise in that land into which, in His faithfulness, and sovereign mercy, He conducted them. But alas! they utterly and shamefully failed; and hence in view of this sad and most humiliating failure a song was to be written which, in the first place, as we shall see, sets forth, in most magnificent strains, the glory of God; and, secondly, records, in accents of inflexible faithfulness, Israel's deplorable failure, in every stage of their history.

v.ch.32But Moses does not end without a song (Deut. 32); and this song is grounded on the secret things of God's grace, though it also embrace the judgments of the latter day. Not ignorant of the evil, he looks onward to the blessing that would surely come to them. He deeply feels what they would do against Jehovah in their stiff-necked folly and ingratitude; but he beholds in prophetic vision what He will do for them.

In these four verses the introduction of this song of Moses is both magnificent and beautiful. The heavens and the earth are called to hear the faithful words from the mouth of the Lord. 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.

Moses calls the heavens to hear, at the opening of his majestic song. It is not the material heavens only, but the intelligent heavens which are called upon to hear something about Jehovah. The great theme is not the people and their failures, but the faithfulness of God: "My doctrine shall drop down as the rain. My speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as showers upon the grass. Because I will publish the name of the Lord." As in a time of drought, when everything seems burnt up and lifeless, a shower of rain brings life and vigour to the earth, so the publication of Jehovah's name revives His people and makes them like a well-watered garden. The ministry to us of what God is for us through the risen Christ should have this effect upon us, it should refresh us and cheer us amidst all the care and discouragement and distress of these days: "My doctrine shall drop as rain; my speech shall distil as dew." Why? Because I am going to speak about God. I have something to tell you about the fame of Jehovah. There is nothing in the universe of God can lift our heads like the knowledge of God. That knowledge enables us to lift our hearts and lift our heads in praise and adoration to that God who delights to unfold Himself to our hearts. So he says, "I will publish the name of Jehovah." We are accustomed to speak of name in the sense of greatness or fame. That this is the thought in this passage is evident, for Moses continues: "Ascribe ye greatness to our God" — the greatness He has gained for Himself in His mighty acts.

(1) The real theme is in the first four verses: it is God Himself, the unchangeable One, faithful, just, and right. Well may the heavens hear, and the earth, the blessed words which drop as the rain, and distill as the dew of night, refreshing grass and herb. It is Jehovah's name they publish, that sweet and wonderful name which expresses truly what He is, and which man, dropped out of that knowledge, needs so much to learn. To Him they ascribe greatness; yes, to Him, O man, out of the clay, who hast ruined thyself by thy pretension to it. He is the Rock — the "dwelling-place in all generations," says our Moses elsewhere (Ps. 90:1,) — safe as shelter, strong against storm, clear-shadowy in the noon-tide heat of a desert land. "His work is perfect" — though men and devils have combined in their own persons to dishonor it. "All His ways are judgment" — not wrath, but far-seeing, well-discerning righteousness. "A God of faithfulness without deceit, just and right is He."

Accordingly he says, "Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth." 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. "His doing is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth without iniquity, just and right is he." As for the people, it was manifest what they were. The corruption was theirs, not His; it is that of His children, theirs is the spot — a perverse and crooked generation. The lawgiver indignantly reproves their ingratitude and clenches it the more by reminding them that it was no new thought on God's part. Their place in the world to His glory was no last resource that would be taken up in the last days. "When the Most High (Elion) divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel."

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 (Isa. 1:2). 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. The failure they would be, their apostasy and the necessity of disciplinary dealings of Jehovah with them, are thus mentioned in the first stanza of this song.

Verses 4-6. We have first, in these verses, a recital of Israel's national and distinctive prerogatives. These are here reviewed not only as things which once had been, but as enduring realities of national pre-eminence. I will notice them very briefly. First, we have the emphatic mention of the national name; "who are Israelites." We have already seen in part the peculiar force and meaning of this name. As we advance our present subject, we shall find a fuller explanation of the emphasis which it here receives. The national privileges then follow — "to whom pertains the adoption." The peremptory message of Jehovah to the king of Egypt was: "Israel is my son, even my first-born; and I say unto thee, Let my son go" etc. (Ex. 4:22-23). He was the Rock that begat them, their Father that had bought them (Deut. 32:6, 18). This was the gracious name which the God of Israel assumed when He assayed to go and take a nation from the midst of another nation, that they might be His people, and that He might be their God. But the nation had meanwhile corrupted itself, and the spot of His children was no longer their spot. Nevertheless, the same mouth that bore this testimony to their self-corruption, and spoke words of fierce rebuke against their sin, maintains their cause, and asserts their eventual security and blessing as the nation of the Lord's salvation (Deut. 32:15-26; 33:26-29). The prophets abundantly testify to the time when Israel, brought back from their own ways and established in the new covenant, shall be known and glorified as the nation of Divine adoption (Jer. 3:19).

(3) The song carries them then back to a time beyond these experiences, before the nation existed at all, when the sons of Adam were finding the abodes assigned them of God. 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. For in truth they were Jehovah's portion — His people, and Jacob (though but "Jacob") the lot of His inheritance.

The third section, verses 7-14, reveals the goodness and the love of the Lord for them. The eighth verse has a deep meaning. "When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel." This verse carries us backward. The boundaries of the nations were made by God with a direct reference to the children of Israel. The name of God used here, "the Most High," is the millennial title, which He will have when His blessed Son our Lord receives His Kingdom. (See Genesis 14:19.) When that time of blessing comes and Israel converted is no longer the tail but the head of the nations, this divine division will then be fully made known. And how they are reminded again what Jehovah did for them! "He found him, He led him, instructed and kept him." Verses 9-14 are wonderful words. And they apply to us spiritually as they described Jehovah's goodness to Israel.

The importance of every thing connected with Israel's history and Israel's hopes, receives striking illustration and proof in a passage but little thought of in the present day. "When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. For the Lord's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance." (Deut. 32:8-9.) The distribution of mankind into nations took place more than one hundred years before the birth of Abraham, and Israel had no national existence for nearly five hundred years after this; and yet we are told in the passage before us, that Israel was so present then to the thoughts and purposes of God, and occupied in these purposes so central and important a place, that when he, the Most High, separated the sons of Adam, dividing to the nations their inheritance, he set the bounds of the people — that is, he arranged the situation and extent of their several empires — according to the number of the children of Israel. Israel's failure on trial has resulted in quite a different state of things — an arrangement of the nations which seems to have no regard whatever to Israel and their land. But it is only for a time. God has not relinquished his intention to make Israel the centre of the nations, and their beloved city the metropolis of the whole earth. The testimony which Scripture renders to this is the subject of the two following lectures. My present object is rapidly to sketch the process by which they have reached their present abject, scattered state. Their future prophetic history is so linked with all that is recorded of them in the past, that we cannot so well consider the subject of their future restoration without glancing, however briefly, at what has occurred to them in times gone by.

God had His eye upon the land and He framed His purposes in connection with it before Israel became a nation at all. Thus Moses told them in Deut. 32:7-8; "When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel." This means that at the time of the Babel scattering God caused the various peoples to drop down just where His ways would require them when Israel came into view. Thus the first map of the world was divinely settled with the land and people of Israel as God's centre. Ezek. 5:5 is interesting in this connection: "Thus says the Lord Jehovah; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her. "

The divinely appointed place of Israel is described thus: "Jehovah shall make thee the head, and not the tail, and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath, if thou hearken to the commandments of Jehovah thy God" (Deut: 28:13). When the descendants of Noah, with their diverse languages, scattered abroad, and seized upon lands here and there as it pleased them, the invisible hand of God guided them to where He would require them when Israel came upon the scene. No one understood this divine working at the time. God may have spoken of it to Abraham and to others; hence the words of Moses when he placed the international position before Israel's tribes shortly before they entered the land of Canaan: "Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will show thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee. When the most High divided (or, assigned) to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel" (Deut: 32:7-8). Men may at any time lay violent hands upon territories that they desire, but only by divine permission can they obtain them. The all wise Creator sees some way in which the wrath of man will serve His purpose. There is thus an over-ruling hand which controls the movements of nations, little as men perceive it. This was true in the earliest days, and it is true still.

But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked" (v.15). Jeshurun means "upright," which was Israel's proper character, but they forsook this when they became wealthy. This is prophetic of their tenure in the land, when God prospered them by His pure grace. Taking ungodly advantage of their prosperity, they forsook the God who made them, and scornfully esteemed the Rock of their salvation. Of course this Rock is Christ, who, when He came, was scorned and rejected by His own nation, for they had chosen other gods, provoking God to anger by their abominable idolatries (v.16). This was not merely worshiping material things, but was sacrificing to demons (v 17). Ignorant as they were of such "gods." they were in a fit state to be deceived 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.

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

(4) Then the song turns from past to future, but which is seen as the 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 — 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. Strange gods came in, with their abominations, gods newly invented replaced Him who had brought them forth, — a thing continually repeated since, and under every imaginable form.

v.15-43Then Moses sings of His wonderful love and goodness and patience to that people and their falling into every kind of iniquity, sacrificing even to demons ("he-goats" they are contemptuously called), not to God, but "to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not. Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee." Alas! Jehovah then has to prepare arrows against His people, has to pour out His vengeance even on His loved Israel — more guilty than any other, and in fact to leave them for a no-people (the Gentiles), by whom He would provoke the Jews to jealousy. Then the heathen take advantage of God's indignation against His people, till He at last in mercy to Israel will rise up to deal with their enemies. "For Jehovah shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he sees that their power is gone, and there is none shut up or left. And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted, which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink-offerings? let them rise up and help you, and be your protection. See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever. If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me. I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy. Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful to his land, and to his people." Then not only will God deliver His people Israel, but He will cause the very nations themselves to rejoice with His people in the enlarging circle of His grace; for though the principle apply under the gospel, it is only in the millennial reign that the full import of their predicted joy together will be realized.

There is a solemn voice in all this for the writer and the reader. We are, each of us, in danger of treading the moral path indicated by the words just quoted. Surrounded, on all hands, by the rich and varied mercies of God, we are apt to make use of them to nourish a spirit of self-complacency. We make use of the gifts to shut out the Giver. In a word, we, too, like Israel, wax 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 did to false gods. How often do we forget the Rock that begat us, the God that formed us, the Lord that redeemed us! And all this is so much the more inexcusable in us, inasmuch as our privileges are so much higher than theirs. We are brought into a relationship and a position of which Israel knew absolutely nothing; our privileges and blessings are of the very highest order; it is our privilege to have fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ; we are the objects of that perfect love which stopped not short of introducing us into a position in which it can be said of us, "As he [Christ] is, so are we in this world." Nothing could exceed the blessedness of this; even divine love itself could go no further than this. It is not merely that the love of God has been manifested to us in the gift and the death of His only-begotten and well-beloved Son, and in giving us His Spirit; but it has been made perfect with us by placing us in the very same position as that blessed One on the throne of God.

It appears to me that this word tzur (A.V., 'O Mighty God'; Septuagint, eplase me, 'formed me') is connected, in sense, with its root, tzur to 'form' or 'make,' and hence the Ordainer of all things is the security of, the Ordainer of His people. Then these senses seem associated with it, forming refuge, and salvation, so Peter says, 'committing their souls to Him, as unto a faithful Creator.' Now it involves the security implied in this, 'formed for Myself' and that, this care of purpose being assured, there is also the 'formed all things,' of course with reference to this purpose. So Paul in Romans 8, 'We know that all things work together,' etc. So Isaiah - the argument, from chapter 41 forwards, runs at length upon this head and subject. Then the kindred ya-tzar (to form) is used, as in Jeremiah 10:16; see Deuteronomy 32:15, 18. The force of the words here then becomes very plain and direct, and the reason and application of them becomes obvious, and verse 13 has the reason for them, and also plea for deliverance from them. Compare, as to wickedness within, Jeremiah 12.

(5) God could not forget, and be as man; but He could, and was forced to, hide His face. 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.) But Moses' object is not to develop this; he goes on to the positive consequences of God's wrath, the wrath of slighted love, and which works out in the end the purposes of love. His anger burns to the bottom of Sheol, for there are cast the objects of it; and with that which reaches down to this the earth and its produce are necessarily consumed. The foundations of the mountains are set on fire by the volcano of wrath; the elements, the teeth of beasts, hunger and plague fight against them; the sword of the enemy bereaves: a full end of them seems impending, but the proud enemy would not recognize Him in this, but only the strength of His own hand. Such is man, the unconscious worker-out of purposes he knows nothing of; and so God reigns, amid unintelligent and hostile powers, yoked to His service in their own despite.

When the Lord saw this rebellion, He spurned Israel. They had spurned Him without reason, now He spurns them with good reason (v.19). They receive themselves something of their own treatment. His face had before been shining with pleasure upon Israel, now He hides His face from them, to see what their end will be (v.20), for if God's face does not shine with approval on His creatures, it is impossible for them to continue without serious repercussions. Their perverse lack of faith will reap a poisonous harvest.

Since they had provoked God to jealousy by confidence in false gods and idols, God would provoke them to jealously by means of a foreign nation (v.21). Thus God will use those whom Israel despised to chasten them and gain such ascendancy over them that Israel would become jealous of that nation. The fire of God's anger would burn to the lowest sheol and consume the land and its increase (v.22). It would also set on fire the foundation of the mountains. Typically the mountains are high authorities, and the very foundations of this authority in Israel would suffer the destroying flame.

We have the prophetic song, which is based on the foreknown fall of the people. First, it declares the perfectness of Jehovah, whatever may take place; it is Israel who have corrupted themselves (compare Ps. 22:3. Christ can say, "Why?") At the same time (ver. 8) we have an all-important declaration; namely, that God, in His government of the world, had made Israel the centre, and had arranged the nations of the earth, in their various localities, as having respect to the bounds of Israel as being the first object of those ways. For His earthly people are Jehovah's portion, His inheritance upon earth. But Jeshurun (Israel) waxed fat, and kicked, and forsook the Rock of his strength. Consequently God moves them to jealousy with those that are not a people. It is the call of the Gentiles, according to Romans 10:19.

Thus the very slip of Israel from its place of witness and depositary of promise, turned as it is through divine mercy into present favour towards the Gentile world, becomes an argument in the hands of grace to assure their future restoration. The apostle alludes to the words of Deuteronomy 32, the bearing of which on the question is as evident as to the Jew their authority is indisputable. It was not Paul but Moses who declared that the Jew provoked Jehovah to jealousy, that he was unmindful of the Rock who begat him, the glory of God that formed him. It was Moses who testified that Jehovah said, "I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be; for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith. They have moved me to jealousy with [that which is] not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with [those which are] not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation." Undoubtedly it is the sure and solemn threat of God's displeasure in turning from Israel to the Gentiles, as certainly as Israel used to turn from Jehovah to false gods. But the threat, now accomplishing after the utmost patience, and only accomplished when they added to their old idolatry the still graver sin of rejecting the Messiah and disdaining the gospel that offered them the pardon of these and all other sins by His blood, — the threat itself contains the no less sure intimation of restoring mercy in the end. For certainly He who acts with a view to provoke them to jealousy through blessing the Gentiles does not mean to cast them off eventually; rather the very reverse. One sees by such admirable reasoning and such profoundly accurate employment of the Old Testament scripture how truly it is the same Spirit who wrote of old by Moses working now by Paul.

Finally he comes to two other witnesses; as from the Psalms, so now from the law and the prophets. The first is Moses himself. Moses saith, "I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people," etc. How could the Jews say that this meant themselves? On the contrary, it was the Jew provoked by the Gentiles — "By them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you." Did they deny that they were a foolish nation? Be it so then; it was a foolish nation by which Moses declared they should be angered. But this does not content the apostle, or rather the Spirit of God; for he goes on to point out that Isaiah "is very bold" in a similar way; that is, there is no concealing the truth of the matter. Isaiah says: "I was found of them who sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me." The Jews were the last in the world to take such ground as this. It was undeniable that the Gentiles did not seek the Lord, nor ask after Him; and the prophet says that Jehovah was found of them that sought Him not, and was made manifest to them that asked not after Him. Nor is there only the manifest call of the Gentiles in this, but with no less clearness there is the rejection, at any rate for a time, of proud Israel. "But unto Israel he saith, All day long have I stretched out my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people."

v.21I have given this long extract as a specimen not only of the speculative mania that characterises the school, but also of their readiness to impute the basest dishonesty to the holy men of God who spoke from Him as they were borne on by the Holy Spirit. They think little of imputing to their imaginary Deuteronomist the fraud of putting into Moses' mouth what, according to them, Moses never uttered. Such an imposture God's word! But enough of this. The apostle Paul refutes them all beforehand in a few words which carry the force and light of truth, as theirs do of clashing inanities. He declares that verse 21 is the language of Moses, and that the allusion is to the Gentiles called while God counts Israel Lo-ammi. (Rom. 10:19) Neither Syrians nor Assyrians are in view then, but, during the temporary exclusion of the ancient people, the call of those not a people to move Israel to jealousy. Compare Romans 11.}

The long-suffering of the Lord with that guilty nation had come to an end. They had failed Him completely. In His purpose, with respect to His government of the earth, He had marked out a position of distinction and great honour for them, but they had proved themselves to be a foolish people, a nation void of understanding, and utterly unworthy of the trust He had purposed to commit to them, and which He had made known to them by His servant Moses. Their spot was not the spot of His children. They rather bore the marks and characteristics of the ancient and primal rebel. They were a perverse and crooked generation, children in whom there was no faithfulness. They had proved themselves to be all this before they ever entered the promised land. Of them He says, “Their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter: their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps” (Deut. 32:32-33).

"Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures? To me belongs vengeance, and recompense; their foot shall slide in due time; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste. For the Lord shall judge [vindicate, defend or avenge] his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he sees that their power is gone, and there is none shut up or left." Precious grace for Israel, by-and-by — for each, for all, now, who feel and own their need!

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 when He sees them stricken down, helpless, their power gone, none left to help them, and the vanity of their false gods is fully seen, — then will He call them to Himself, with whom no other can be or can compare, and the rod of their correction, having accomplished its work, shall be broken: He will turn His hand against their enemies.

But the Lord's judgment involves His judging on behalf of Israel His people, having compassion on them when He sees that their power is gone (v.36). It is when one faces the fact of his helpless condition that God will intervene in grace. So long as Israel continues in a state of self-assertion and self-confidence, she will not and cannot depend on the grace of God, but when she is reduced to nothing and honestly realizes it, she will find God ready to deliver her.

The judgment, nevertheless, falls upon Israel, so that God would have destroyed them, had not the glory of His name hindered Him, for the Gentiles proved themselves perfectly wicked. Then, the people being distressed, without strength and without hope, He remembers them, and finally takes vengeance on their enemies, those idolatrous Gentiles. But, though avenging Himself, it is then that, having restored His people Israel, He will cause the Gentiles to rejoice in Him.

Thus we learn distinctly the teaching of the New Testament, of the Lord, and the apostle, as to the plan and ways of God in respect of His ancient and elect people. If we compare Deuteronomy 32:26-27, and what follows, we shall find this abundantly confirmed. In the end the Lord will judge His people, and repent Himself concerning His servants, and the nations will be called to rejoice with them, and Jehovah will be merciful to His land and to His people.

Thus Israel will observe the glory of the Lord Jesus, who speaks in verse 39, "I, even I, am He, and there is no God beside Me. I kill and make alive, I wound and I heal, nor is there any who can deliver from My hand." Israel will indeed see that this is true. The Jesus whom they crucified is God, who has absolute power in His hand.

"And he shall say, "Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted: which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? let them rise up and help you and be your protection. See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound and I heal:" — wound in governmental wrath, and heal in pardoning grace; all homage to His great and holy Name, throughout the everlasting ages! — "neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever." — Glory be to God in the highest! Let all created intelligences adore His matchless Name! — "If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgement," — as it, most assuredly, will — "l will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me" — whoever and wherever they are. Tremendous sentence for all whom it may concern — for all haters of God — all lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God! — "I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy."

And then the full shining forth of this truth is disclosed to us by the Spirit in the Book of Revelation. There we behold it full orbed, for it beams brightly from its manifest 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 as to who “THE SAME” of the Old Testament is. We find Him so named in Deuteronomy 32:39, first of all. “See now,” He exclaims, “that I, even I am the Same, and there is no god with Me … I lift up My hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever!” Jesus says, I am “the living One”; and as once having “become dead,” He adds, “behold I am living to the ages of ages!” This latter refers to the life which is His as having victoriously vanquished both death and the grave. Space forbids us following out the twelve verses in the Old Testament and the two in the New which mention Him as the Same, although they are full of instruction for saints who seek to grow by the true knowledge of God. The verses are: Deuteronomy 32:39; 2 Samuel 7:28; Nehemiah 9:6-7; Psalms 44:4; 102:27; Isaiah 41:4; 43:10, 13; 46:4; 48:12; 52:6; Hebrews 1:12; 13:8. “I am He” should read “I am the Same,” meaning the self-existing One. See J. N. Darby’s notes to Deuteronomy 32:9, Isaiah 41:2, and Hebrews 1:12, in his New Translation; and if first of all Psalm 102:27 be compared with Hebrews 1:12, the opening key to the other Scriptures will be found.

There is another word which, though it may be used as an attributive, can hardly be excluded from being a name of God. <span style="font-family: 'H ebraica'">aWh</span> Hu, Atta Hu, "thou art the same," the unchangeable One (see Deut. 32:39); "I am He, the same and besides me no god." I am He, Hu, Atta Hu <span style="font-family: 'H ebraica'">aWh</span>: Psalm 44:4; Isaiah 41:4; 43:10, 13; Jeremiah 5:12. It is in the sense of the immutable existing One, which is true of God only, as Psalm 102:27 cited in Hebrews 1 ὁ αὐτός.

It is plain that the gist of his argument is that the generations of Israel go down under God's judgment to death, are judged there, and delivered by the mercy of God in a resurrection from the dead, the nations sharing in their blessing. As to the latter, if they are to be partakers in resurrection, it is only indicated in their rejoicing with His people; and this will scarcely do, for it is His mercy to these simply that they are called to rejoice in (v. 43). But as to Israel also, where is the resurrection of their generations of the dead declared? Why, no where but in this, that God says of Himself, "I kill and I make alive"! and this where He is not speaking of mercy, but challenging any to deliver out of His hand! That the power of death and of life is in His hands, He declares, but where His purpose of bringing up in a resurrection of blessing the lost generations of the impenitent dead?

The last verse of this song (verse 43) shows the glorious consummation. 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 unto 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, we have in the song of Moses the following words, "Rejoice, O ye nations, with His people: for He will avenge the blood of His servants, and will render vengeance to His adversaries; and will be merciful unto His land, and to His people" (Deut. 32:43). The apostle's use of a part of this quotation, in the fifteenth chapter will be noticed when we arrive at that part of our work. I now make only two remarks: — First, the joy of the Gentiles is here stated to be with His people, and not without them: and, secondly, that by the term "people" is meant the nation, and not the elect remnant, is evident from the mention which is made of the land.

Balaam, in the fourth of his remarkable parables, saw in prophetic vision the last great clash of nations and their overthrow (Num. 24:17-24). Moses, in his prophetic song, concludes with all nations rejoicing when God's end is reached. "Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful to his land, and to his people" (Deut. 32:43). "Merciful" here means "to make expiation for"; thus a real day of Atonement is coming for both Israel and their possession.

In the future kingdom both Jews and Gentiles will be blessed. Of this truth the apostle avails himself, pointing to the fact of both enjoying the blessings of grace, and this is sufficient to stop the mouth of the Jew. Thus we find the Old Testament applied in Romans 15:10, “Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people.”* How then could the Jew consistently object? Was it just to fly in the face of their own prophets? Did the Jew not affirm God's blessing on both to be contrary to the Bible? For the Gentiles are certainly blessed no less than the Jew by the gospel, and this the narrow and proud Jew could not endure. Yet the apostle never says that the prophecy is now therefore accomplished to the full or to the letter. The principle is true under the gospel; the fulfillment of the prophecy awaits another age and a different state of things when Christ appears and reigns in visible power and glory.

A. — The Hebrew word Kaphar (for the question) means to atone, or make atonement. So it is regularly; and Deut. 32:43, Isa. 47:11, Ezek. 16:63, Ezek. 43:20, Ezek. 45:15, 17, 20, are the same in substance, though the effect in some cases is meant, as pacified, purged, forgiven, merciful, etc. "Propitiate" would be just as good a rendering as "atone"; and no other word regularly expresses either but the one. There is however a real distinction definitely drawn in the chapter, not between atonement and propitiation, but between propitiation and substitution typified in Jehovah's lot and the scapegoat. The error which has so often been exposed in these pages is limiting propitiation exclusively to the use made of the blood by Aaron in the sanctuary. That theory necessarily involves the frightful error of denying that the offering of the slain victim is any part of the propitiation for our sins. What a slight on Christ's sufferings! For this monstrous theory is that propitiation was made "in heaven, and after death," thus nullifying for ever that great work of God by Christ's blood and death on the cross, and making it altogether dependent on another work "after death and in heaven," instead of the type met before God in heaven by what Christ suffered on earth. "You hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh (not when He was out of His body) through death" (not after death and in heaven). Assuredly to be "reconciled" is grounded on propitiation, and presupposes it; but the truth is that Christ fully reconciled us in the body of His flesh through death. The ghostly work after death and in heaven is a ghastly fable, and calls for abhorrence.