Deuteronomy 32:1-18

C. THE SONG OF MOSES (Deuteronomy 31:30 to Deuteronomy 32:47)

The song is difficult to outline, but the main contents may be grouped as follows:

INTRODUCTION Deuteronomy 31:30 to Deuteronomy 32:2

1.

The greatness and faithfulness of God, in contrast with the faithlessness of Israel (Deuteronomy 32:3-18)

2.

The chastisement and the need of its infliction by God (Deuteronomy 32:19-33).

3.

God's compassion upon his people in their low and humbled state (Deuteronomy 32:34-42).

30 And Moses spake in the ears of all the assembly ofIsrael the words of this song, until they were finished.

1 Give ear, ye heavens, and I will speak;
And let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
2 My doctrine shall drop as the rain,
My speech shall distil as the dew;
As the small rain upon the tender grass,
And as the showers upon the herb:

GIVE EAR YE HEAVENS. LET THE EARTH HEAR (Deuteronomy 31:1)another way of appealing to the witness of God. I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall utterly perish from off the land. (Deuteronomy 4:26). The whole universe is called to witness the procedure. Let all eyes and ears testify to the reading.

3

For I will proclaim the name of Jehovah;

Ascribe ye greatness unto our God.

4

The Rock, his work is perfect; For all his ways are justice:

A God of faithfulness and without iniquity,
Just and right is he.

5

They have dealt corruptly with him, they are not his children, it is their blemish;

They are a perverse and crooked generation.

6

Do ye thus requite Jehovah,

O foolish people and unwise?

Is not he thy father that hath brought thee?
He hath made thee, and established thee.

7

Remember the days of old,

Consider the years of many generations:
Ask thy father, and he will show thee;
Thine elders, and they will tell thee.

8

When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,

When he separated the children of men,
He set the bounds of the peoples
According to the number of the children of Israel.

9

For Jehovah's portion is his people;

Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.

10

He found him in a desert land,

And in the waste howling wilderness;
He compassed him about, he cared for him,

He kept him as the apple of his eye.

11

As an eagle that stirreth up her nest,

That fluttereth over her young,
He spread abroad his wings, he took them,
He bare them on his pinions.

12

Jehovah alone did lead him,

And there was no foreign god with him.

13

He made him ride on the high places of the earth,

And he did eat the increase of the field;
And he made him to suck honey out of the rock,
And oil out of the flinty rock;

14

Butter of the herd, and milk of the flock,

With fat of lambs,
And rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats,
With the finest of the wheat;
And of the blood of the grape thou drankest wine.

15

But Jeshurun waxed far, and kicked:

Thou art waxed fat, thou art grown thick, thou art become sleek;
Then he forsook God who made him,
And lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.

16

They moved him to jealousy with strange gods;

With abominations provoked they him to anger.

17

They sacrificed unto demons, which were no God,

To gods that they knew not,

To new gods that came up of late,

Which your fathers dreaded not.

18

Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful,

And hast forgotten God that gave thee birth.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 31:30-32:18

551.

Who is The Rock of Deuteronomy 31:4? Why use this name?

552.

There are some very strong comparisons and contrasts between Jehovah and Israel. List three of them.

553.

Israel has endearing names. List three of them.

554.

There are several figurative descriptions of Israel that will describe the Israel of God today. Mention two.

555.

Sin, Servitude, Sorrow, Salvation; this is the vicious circle of Israel's history. How can this circle be broken?

AMPLIFIED TRANSLATION 31:30-32:18

30 And Moses spoke in the hearing of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, until they were ended.

CHAPTER 32

Give ear, O heavens, and I [Moses] will speak; and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
2 My message shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the light rain upon the tender grass, and as the showers upon the herb.
3 For I will proclaim the name [and presence] of the Lord. Concede and ascribe greatness to our God.
4 He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are law and justice, a God of faithfulness, without breach or deviation, just and right is He.
5 They [Israel] have spoiled themselves. They are not sons to Him, that is their blemish. A, perverse and crooked generation!
6 Do you thus repay the Lord, you foolish and senseless people? Is not He your father Who acquired you for His own? Who made and established you [as a nation]?
7 Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you.
8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the children of men, He set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the Israelites.
9 For the Lord's portion is His people; Jacob [Israel] is the lot of His inheritance.
10 He found him in a desert land, in the howling void of the wilderness; He kept circling around him, He scanned him (penetratingly), He kept him as the pupil of His eye.

11 As an eagle that stirs up her nest, that flutters over her young, He spread abroad His wings; He took them, He bore them on His pinions. [Luke 13:34.]

12 So the Lord alone led him; there was no foreign god with Him.
13 He made Israel ride on the high places of the earth, and he ate the increase of the field; and He made him to suck honey out of the rock and oil out of the flinty rock;
14 Butter and curds of the herd and milk of the flock, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan and he-goats, with the finest of the wheat; and you drank wine of the blood of the grape.
15 But Jeshurun [Israel] grew fat and kicked. You became fat, you grew thick, you were gorged and sleek! Then he forsook God Who made him, and forsook and despised the Rock of his salvation.
16 They provoked Him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations they provoked Him to anger.
17 They sacrificed to demons, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods lately come up, whom your fathers never knew or feared.

18 Of the Rock that bore you you were unmindful; you forgot the God Who travailed in your birth.

COMMENT 31:30-32:18

THE ROCK (Deuteronomy 32:4)A central figure of God in the song (Deuteronomy 32:13; Deuteronomy 32:15; Deuteronomy 32:18; Deuteronomy 32:30-31). And note in Deuteronomy 32:37-38 Israel is rebuked for placing their confidence not in the Rock but in the rock of their own makingan idol. God is the essence of immutable and impregnable strengthtraits this figure of speech depicts. Cf. Genesis 49:24, 1 Samuel 2:2, Psalms 18:2, Matthew 16:18, John 1:42, etc.

THY FATHER THAT BROUGHT THEE (Deuteronomy 31:6)Thus, they were a redeemed people (Exodus 6:6).HE HATH MADE THEE, AND ESTABLISHED THEE (Deuteronomy 31:6)As David could say

He brought me up also out of a horrible pit,

out of the miry clay;

And he set my feet upon a rock,

and established my goings.

Psalms 40:2

JEHOVAH ALONE DID LEAD HIM, AND THERE WAS NO FOREIGN GOD WITH HIM (Deuteronomy 31:12)A verse that at once sets forth the strength and independence of God's power. HE it was that led Israel, supplied Israel, preserved Israel, protected IsraelHE and no other! It was not a multitude of heathen gods that did it, it was THE ALMIGHTY God! And he depends upon no other source of power. Note Deuteronomy 8:3 and notes, Deuteronomy 4:35-39. Yet there was ever the tendency to attribute God's power to heathen dieties: These are thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt (Exodus 32:4, 1 Kings 12:28-29). And throughout much of Israel's history Jehovah-worship and idolatry were mixed together in a confusing and contradictory hodge-podge! Note, for example, the story of Micah and his house of idols (Judges, Ch. 17). It was not a matter of totally leaving Godor totally leaving Jehovah-worship. Rather, They feared Jehovah, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away (2 Kings 17:33). It should hardly need saying that such luke-warm dedication to God and his word is a stench in the nostrils of the Almighty.

AND HE MADE HIM TO SUCK HONEY OUT OF THE ROCK (Deuteronomy 31:13)This phrase, along with Deuteronomy 31:14, has a parallel in Psalms 81:16, He would feed them also with the finest of the wheat; And with the honey out of the rock would I satisfy thee. Rocks or ledges, of course, are places for bees to construct their honeycombs and deposit honeyespecially under them, or in the crevices between them. And it was this metaphor of prosperity and God's goodness that led the song writer F. A. Graves to pen the words of his well-known hymn:

Have you tasted that the Lord is gracious?
Do you walk in the way that's new?
Have you drunk from the living fountain?
There's Honey in the Rock for you.

Oh, there's Honey in the Rock, my brother,.
There's Honey in the Rock for you.
Leave your sins for the blood to cover,
There's Honey in the Rock for you.

OIL OUT OF THE FLINTY ROCK (Deuteronomy 31:13).That is, olive oil would be plentiful in this new land, and olive trees, because of God's blessing, would grow even in the most obstinate soil. It would be a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig-trees and pomegranates; a land of olive trees and honey (Deuteronomy 8:8). Olive oil was (and is) used widely for food in the near east.

BUT JESHURUN WAXED FAT AND KICKED (Deuteronomy 31:15)Jeshurun is a symbolical or poetical name of endearment for Israel. Gesenius says it is a tender and loving appellation of the people of Israel. At the same time, he believes there is an allusion to the idea of rectitude or uprightness. He mentions the possibility of it being a diminutive form of Israel and meaning something like the righteous little people. Whatever its precise meaning, it is always used in place of Israel. It occurs only here, Deuteronomy 33:5; Deuteronomy 33:26, and Isaiah 44:2.

THEN HE FORSOOK GOD (Deuteronomy 31:15)i.e., the prosperity of Israel (though given by God) became their undoing. Cf. the warning of Deuteronomy 8:11 ff.

19

And Jehovah saw it, and abhorred them,

Because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.

20

And he said, I will hide my face from them,

I will see what their end shall be:
For they are a very perverse generation,

Children in whom is no faithfulness.

21

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 that are not a people;
I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

22

For a fire is kindled in mine anger,

And burneth unto the lowest Sheol,
And devoureth the earth with its increase,
And setteth on fire the foundations of the mountains.

23

I will heap evils upon them;

I will spend mine arrows upon them:

24

They shall be wasted with hunger, and devoured with burning heat And bitter destruction;

And the teeth of beasts will I send upon them,
With the poison of crawling things of the dust.

25

Without shall the sword bereave,

And in the chambers terror;

It shall destroy both young man and virgin,

The suckling with the man of gray hairs.

26

I said, I would scatter them afar,

I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men;

27

Were it not that I feared the provocation of the enemy,

Lest their adversaries should judge amiss,
Lest they should say, Our hand is exalted,
And Jehovah hath not done all this.

28

For they are a nation void of counsel,

And there is no understanding in them.

29

Oh that they were wise, that they understood this,

That they would consider their latter end!

30

How should one chase a thousand

And two put ten thousand to flight,
Except their Rock had sold them,
And Jehovah had delivered them up?

31

For their rock is not as our Rock,

Even our enemies themselves being judges.

32

For their vine is of the vine of Sodom,

And of the fields of Gomorrah:
Their grapes are grapes of gall,
Their clusters are bitter:

33

Their wine is the poison of serpents,

And the cruel venom of asps.