Deuteronomy 32

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The Amazing “Song of Moses” in Deuteronomy 32

A. THE BACKGROUND OF THIS SONG

1. The Book of Deuteronomy is the book most quoted in the New Testament. It records the renewal of the “Mosaic covenant,” giving many samples of its requirements, just before Moses’ death. The book is cast in the form of a suzerain-vassal treaty common in the Ancient Near East, the LORD being the suzerain (great Ruler) and Israel being the vassal.

Preamble (1:1-5)
Historical Prologue (1:6—4:49)
Main Provisions (5:1—26:19)
Curses and Blessings (27:1—30:20)
Arrangements for Continuation of the Covenant (31:1—33:29)

(The Ryrie Study Bible: New American Standard Translation, p. 270)

The last chapter records the death of Moses just before Israel crosses the River Jordan to possess the Promised Land.

2. The Purpose of the song is given in {{31:14-22,30}}. Moses is about to die (v. 16). Through Joshua the LORD will bring Israel into the Promised Land. But they will reject Him and His covenant and will turn to other gods (16,20). Then in anger the Lord will forsake Israel and bring upon them troubles (vv. 17-18; these have been predicted earlier, ch. 28). Though Israel will be unrepentant (v. 17b), this song—to be memorized—will witness against them (vv. 19,21). Moses immediately writes this song and teaches it to Israel in assembly (vv. 22,30).

B. THIS SONG BY SECTIONS (All references are in Deut. 32.)

{{Vv. 1-3}} The Importance of This Instruction
Heavens and earth are called to witness (v. 1).
His teaching will have good results like the rain (v. 2).
His teaching exalts the LORD (v. 3).

{{V. 4}} Israel’s Righteous “Rock”
The LORD is blameless and righteous in His deeds.

{{Vv. 5-18}} Israel’s Folly in Rebelling against the LORD
The folly announced (vv. 5-6a). Israel is corrupt and perverse to turn from such a Benefactor.
The LORD’s benefits to His people (vv. 6b-14)
He made them (6b), set the boundaries for the nations according to them (8), chose to inherit them (9), found them and protected them (10), brought them out of Egypt (11-12), enriched them (13-14).
The ingratitude of the LORD’s people (vv. 15-18)
“Jeshurun grew fat and kicked.” Israel is pictured as a fat but rebel­lious animal called “Jeshurun” (“the upright one”). He “abandoned the God who made him” (v. 15) and “gave [him] birth” (v. 18), his Rock (vv. 15,18). Instead of the true God he chose “foreign gods… detestable idols…demons…gods they had not known…gods… gods…” (vv. 16-17).

{{Vv. 19-22}} The LORD’s Purpose to Reject and Punish the Rebellious People
His resolve (19-20), method (21), fierceness (22)

{{Vv. 23-27}} Details of the LORD’s Judgment of Israel
Details of judgment (23-25)
Limits of judgment (26-27). He would not annihilate Israel lest idolatrous enemies take the credit.

{{Vv. 28-33}} Israel’s Lack of Discernment
Israel fails to see that other nations punish them only because the LORD allows it (29-30).
Ungodly nations are eventually doomed (31-33).

{{Vv. 34-43}} The LORD’s Vindicating Judgment of Ungodly Nations. He will have mercy on His people and annihilate His foes.
The future is laid up in store with the LORD (34-35).
He will vindicate them by punishing the wicked (36-39). He mockingly asks the nations He punishes, where their gods are. (Cf. {{Jer. 2:28}}.)
By taking vengeance on His adversaries who punished Israel, He will show that He is the only true God (40-42).
The nations are told to rejoice with His restored people (43).

Here is the Septuagint version of verse 43. The bolded line is quoted in {{Hebrews 1:6}}.

Rejoice, O heavens, with Him,
And let all the angels of God worship Him.
Rejoice, O nations, with His people,
And let all the children of God rely on Him;
For he avengeth the blood of His children,
And will judge, and execute vengeance on His enemies.
To them who hate Him he will render retribution,
And the LORD will purify the land of His people.

[[31:14-22,30]]

¹⁴The LORD said to Moses, “Now the day of your death is near. Call Joshua and present yourselves at the Tent of Meeting, where I will commission him.” So Moses and Joshua came and presented themselves at the Tent of Meeting.

¹⁵Then the LORD appeared at the Tent in a pillar of cloud, and the cloud stood over the entrance to the Tent. ¹⁶And the LORD said to Moses: “You are going to rest with your fathers, and these people will soon prostitute themselves to the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake me and break the covenant I made with them. ¹⁷On that day I will become angry with them and forsake them; I will hide my face from them, and they will be destroyed. Many disasters and difficulties will come upon them, and on that day they will ask, ‘Have not these disasters come upon us because our God is not with us?’ ¹⁸And I will certainly hide my face on that day because of all their wickedness in turning to other gods.

¹⁹“Now write down for yourselves this song and teach it to the Israelites and have them sing it, so that it may be a witness for me against them. ²⁰When I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, the land I promised on oath to their forefathers, and when they eat their fill and thrive, they will turn to other gods and worship them, rejecting me and breaking my covenant. ²¹And when many disasters and difficulties come upon them, this song will testify against them, because it will not be forgotten by their descendants. I know what they are disposed to do, even before I bring them into the land I promised them on oath.” ²²So Moses wrote down this song that day and taught it to the Israelites.

³⁰And Moses recited the words of this song from beginning to end in the hearing of the whole assembly of Israel:

[[31:14-22,30]]

[[Vv. 1-3]]Deuteronomy 32:1-3

¹ Listen, O heavens, and I will speak;
hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

² Let my teaching fall like rain
and my words descend like dew,
like showers on new grass,
like abundant rain on tender plants.

³ I will proclaim the name of the LORD.
Oh, praise the greatness of our God!

[[Vv. 1-3]]

[[V. 4]]Deuteronomy 32:4

⁴ He is the Rock, his works are perfect,
and all his ways are just.
A faithful God who does no wrong,
upright and just is he.

[[V. 4]]

[[Vv. 5-18]]Deuteronomy 32:5-18

⁵ They have acted corruptly toward him;
to their shame they are no longer his children,
but a warped and crooked generation.

⁶ Is this the way you repay the LORD,
O foolish and unwise people?
Is he not your Father, your Creator,
who made you and formed you?

⁷ Remember the days of old;
consider the generations long past.
Ask your father and he will tell you,
your elders, and they will explain to you.

⁸ When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance,
when he divided all mankind,
he set up boundaries for the peoples
according to the number of the sons of Israel.

⁹ For the LORD’s portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted inheritance.

¹⁰ In a desert land he found him,
in a barren and howling waste.
He shielded him and cared for him;
he guarded him as the apple of his eye,

¹¹ like an eagle that stirs up its nest
and hovers over its young,
that spreads its wings to catch them
and carries them on its pinions.

¹² The LORD alone led him;
no foreign god was with him.

¹³ He made him ride on the heights of the land
and fed him with the fruit of the fields.
He nourished him with honey from the rock,
and with oil from the flinty crag,

¹⁴ with curds and milk from herd and flock
and with fattened lambs and goats,
with choice rams of Bashan
and the finest kernels of wheat.
You drank the foaming blood of the grape.

¹⁵ Jeshurun grew fat and kicked;
filled with food, he became heavy and sleek.
He abandoned the God who made him
and rejected the Rock his Savior.

¹⁶ They made him jealous with their foreign gods
and angered him with their detestable idols.

¹⁷ They sacrificed to demons, which are not God—
gods they had not known,
gods that recently appeared,
gods your fathers did not fear.

¹⁸ You deserted the Rock, who fathered you;
you forgot the God who gave you birth.

[[Vv. 5-18]]

[[Vv. 19-22]]Deuteronomy 32:19-22

¹⁹ The LORD saw this and rejected them
because he was angered by his sons and daughters.

²⁰ “I will hide my face from them,” he said,
“and see what their end will be;
for they are a perverse generation,
children who are unfaithful.

²¹ They made me jealous by what is no god
and angered me with their worthless idols.
I will make them envious by those who are not a people;
I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding.

²² For a fire has been kindled by my wrath,
one that burns to the realm of death below.
It will devour the earth and its harvests
and set afire the foundations of the mountains.

[[Vv. 19-22]]

[[Vv. 23-27]]Deuteronomy 32:23-27

²³ “I will heap calamities upon them
and spend my arrows against them.

²⁴ I will send wasting famine against them,
consuming pestilence and deadly plague;
I will send against them the fangs of wild beasts,
the venom of vipers that glide in the dust.

²⁵ In the street the sword will make them childless;
in their homes terror will reign.
Young men and young women will perish,
infants and gray-haired men.

²⁶ I said I would scatter them
and blot out their memory from mankind,

²⁷ but I dreaded the taunt of the enemy,
lest the adversary misunderstand
and say, ‘Our hand has triumphed;
the LORD has not done all this.’ “

[[Vv. 23-27]]

[[Vv. 28-33]] Deuteronomy 32:28-33

²⁸ They are a nation without sense,
there is no discernment in them.

²⁹ If only they were wise and would understand this
and discern what their end will be!

³⁰ How could one man chase a thousand,
or two put ten thousand to flight,
unless their Rock had sold them,
unless the LORD had given them up?

³¹ For their rock is not like our Rock,
as even our enemies concede.

³² Their vine comes from the vine of Sodom
and from the fields of Gomorrah.
Their grapes are filled with poison,
and their clusters with bitterness.

³³ Their wine is the venom of serpents,
the deadly poison of cobras.

[[Vv. 28-33]]

[[Vv. 34-43]] Deuteronomy 32:34-43

³⁴ “Have I not kept this in reserve
and sealed it in my vaults?

³⁵ It is mine to avenge; I will repay.
In due time their foot will slip;
their day of disaster is near
and their doom rushes upon them.”

³⁶ The LORD will judge his people
and have compassion on his servants
when he sees their strength is gone
and no one is left, slave or free.

³⁷ He will say: “Now where are their gods,
the rock they took refuge in,

³⁸ the gods who ate the fat of their sacrifices
and drank the wine of their drink offerings?
Let them rise up to help you!
Let them give you shelter!

³⁹ “See now that I myself am He!
There is no god besides me.
I put to death and I bring to life,
I have wounded and I will heal,
and no one can deliver out of my hand.

⁴⁰ I lift my hand to heaven and declare:
As surely as I live forever,

⁴¹ when I sharpen my flashing sword
and my hand grasps it in judgment,
I will take vengeance on my adversaries
and repay those who hate me.

⁴² I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
while my sword devours flesh:
the blood of the slain and the captives,
the heads of the enemy leaders.”

⁴³ Rejoice, O nations, with his people,
for he will avenge the blood of his servants;
he will take vengeance on his enemies
and make atonement for his land and people.

[[Vv. 34-43]]

[[Jer. 2:28]] Jeremiah 2:28

²⁸ Where then are the gods you made for yourselves?
Let them come if they can save you
when you are in trouble!
For you have as many gods
as you have towns, O Judah.

[[Jer. 2:28]]

[[Hebrews 1:6]] Hebrews 1:6

⁶And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says,
“Let all God’s angels worship him.”

[[Hebrews 1:6]]