The Song of Moses
31:30 to 32:43
The song of Moses DIG: Read the song out loud and imagine yourself as an Israelite listening to the song. As you interpret this song, what does it say about God? What is the song’s purpose? What does it mean that God is called “the rock?” What kind of parent is God? Does God’s choice of and care for Isra’el obligate Isra’el in any way? What is the extent of the rebellion? What is God’s response and action? What instant recall and vivid memories are seen in this song? What does God think about Isra’el? Isra’el’s enemies? What is Isra’el to think about God?
REFLECT: In what sense is this song your song? What songs remind you of God’s goodness and mercy? What song warns you of the consequence of disobedience? Why does music often work so powerfully in people? What would you say is your “major concern” in the school of life? Why is learning God’s character vital to a well-lived life? How can God’s faithfulness be seen in His discipling of Isra’el? What does it mean to say that the Word of God is the life of God’s people? If a person doesn’t find it life-giving, what would you recommend?
Parashah 53: Ha’azinu (Hear) 32:1-52
(to see link click Af – Parashah)
The Key People: Moshe and Joshua, speaking to all Isra’el. This chapter is actually a court hearing. God is the plaintiff, Isra’el is the accused, the Heavens and the Earth are the judges, and there are a set of witnesses.
The Scene: Moshe taught the Israelites a prophetic song, which foretells Isra’el’s future and warns the people not to stray from the path that God had commanded. The song ends with the promise that the LORD would avenge the blood of His servants and be finally reconciled with His chosen people and the Land. All this took place in the wilderness east of the Promised Land and Mount Nebo with its view across the Jordan.
The Main Events: include Moshe and Joshua reciting the Song of Moses to all the people gathered; this song was used as a teaching poem, calling on heaven and earth to “give ear” as witnesses of Isra’el’s disobedience, which leads to devastation and scattering, but eventual regathering; later that same day, Moshe climbing Mount Nebo to view the Promised Land before dying.670
The song of Moses, given to him by ADONAI, is basically a warning against spiritual adultery on Isra’el’s part in the years to come.
The day Moses died.
Dear Heavenly Father, Praise You that You are our solid Rock. Hurricane winds of calamity and change may blow, but nothing can move You. We can always run to You and trust Your sovereign mighty power and love. Nothing is out of Your control. We may get sick, lose a job, or get in an accident, but it can’t touch our relationship with You and our eternal home in heaven with You. In My Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to Myself, so that where I am you may also be (John 14:2-3).
Praise You that You are the way to heaven. Yeshua said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life! No one comes to the Father except through Me (John 14:6). Praise You that You open the door of heaven to all who choose to love and follow you as their Lord and Savior. For if you confess with your mouth that Yeshua is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart it is believed for righteousness, and with the mouth it is confessed for salvation (Romans 10:9-10). Joy, and peace forever-how wonderful! In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen
Deuteronomy is not primarily about Moses, it is about Yeshua, who, through His redemptive work, can carry anyone beyond the Jordan into the place of rest. And Moses, perhaps unknowingly, spoke so much of the Messiah as the Rock of our salvation (Psalm 62:2). Paul echoes this reality in the B’rit Chadashah when he says: For I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers and sisters, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the Sea of Reeds. And all drank the same spiritual drink, their sustaining force – for they were drinking from a spiritual rock that followed them, and that Rock was Messiah (First Corinthians 10:1-4).
Although Moses was preparing to transfer the leadership of the nation to Joshua, God was not quite finished with him yet. Here, ADONAI gives Moshe a glimpse into Isra’el’s future, and it came to be known as the Song of Moses. It contrasts the obedience of God and the disobedience of the people. Moshe invoked his blessing on the Israelites then and the future generations to come. He knew that they would fail, but he also knew that he was given the revelation that one day the Jews would be reestablished, and fulfill their role as a nation of priests. Something that is yet to come after the Great Tribulation (see the commentary on Revelation, to see link click Dz – The Seven Angels with the Seven Last Plagues) and during the Messianic Kingdom (see the commentary on Isaiah Kb – All Who See Them Will Acknowledge that They are a People the LORD Has Blessed).
The Song of Moses was to be taught to Isra’el for use in the covenant-renewal ceremony. Normally, ancient Hebrew poetry is introduced as having been sung (Exodus 15:1 and Judges 5:1), but here, the song is said to have been spoken.671 Then, Moshe spoke in the hearing of the whole assembly of Isra’el the words of this song, from beginning to end (31:30 CJB). These words form the introduction to the poem, all of which Moses recited before Bnei Isra’el. The poem serves as a climax of the book and provides a theological summary that clearly distinguishes the covenantal rebels from the righteous of the TaNaKh.
The character of ADONAI (32:1-4): The song begins: Ha’azinu (give ear). Hear, oh heavens, as I speak! Listen, earth, to the words from my mouth! Moses calls heaven and earth as witnesses to this song. As he has done before, Moshe calls the heavens and the earth as witnesses to this legal proceeding (Deuteronomy 4:26 and 30, 30:19, 31:28; Jeremiah 2:12). They serve as silent, objective onlookers observing the justice of the charges brought against Isra’el and the fairness of Isra’el’s punishment. Moses uses several similes to describe the life-giving, growth-producing results of Moses’ teaching: May my teaching fall like rain. May my speech condense like dew, like light rain on blades of grass, or showers on growing plants (32:1-2 CJB). The rain and the dew were part of God’s generous provision for His vassal nation (see Ah – The Treaty of the Great King).
For I will proclaim the name of ADONAI. To proclaim His Name means much more than pronouncing a title. In this song, Moses will declare His character and recount His many deeds. Come, declare the greatness of our God! The Rock! Moshe introduces YHVH’s case against Isra’el by contrasting His perfection with their guilt. He likens Ha’Shem to a rock, totally immovable. Then, using five nouns or adjectives, he describes ADONAI’s characteristics. His work is perfect, or totally reliable and without flaw. For all his ways are just, and He is absolutely dependable. Unlike sinful humanity, He is not characterized by stubbornness or wickedness. And He is a trustworthy God who does no wrong, He is righteous and straight (32:3-4 CJB). That is to say . . . perfect.672
The goodness of ADONAI to His people (32:5-14): You would think that Isra’el would have praised ADONAI and counted it a privilege to know Him and serve Him, but they didn’t. Instead, they turned to idols and corrupted themselves and blemished their own name and standing.673 So, Moshe begins a short history of Isra’el, and he draws a sharp contrast between the perfection of YHVH and the imperfection of His people. He is not corrupt; the defect is in His children, a crooked and perverted generation. You foolish people, so lacking in wisdom, is this how you repay ADONAI? He is your Father, who made you His! It was He who formed and prepared you (32:5-6 CJB)! The fundamental clashing questions of the song are thus starkly set out: On the one hand, how do such a people escape judgment? But, on the other hand, how can such a Rock abandon His purpose; how can such a Father sever this relationship? The answer led Paul to write Romans Chapters 9-11.674
Meanwhile, back in the courtroom, the case against Isra’el proceeds with a speech by the prosecutor, Moses, speaking on behalf of God and describing all that God had done for the accused. It was common in all suzerain-vassal lawsuit passages (see Ah – Treaty of the Great King) that kindly acts of the suzerain on behalf of his vassal be listed. So, here the history of YHVH’s redemptive actions on Isra’el’s behalf laid the foundation for the charge of spiritual adultery. Remember . . . The prosecution was not appealing to any secret evidence, but simply laying out what was common knowledge to every generation of Israelites. The accused could not plead ignorance. Remember how the old days were; think of the years through all the ages. Ask your Father – He will tell you; your leaders too – they will inform you (32:7 CJB). Moses only talks to the people of Isra’el like this because of his deep love for them. This is like a wounded shepherd, seeing his flock dispersed and unable to care for themselves. Is this not like us? Now these things happened to them as an example, and it was written down as a warning to us – on whom the ends of the ages have come (First Corinthians 10:11). This is one of the reasons that her history is brought to our attention.
Moshe directs his audience’s attention to the distant past, even before YHVH brought the nation of Isra’el into existence. When Elyon gave each nation its heritage, when He divided the human race (see the commentary on Genesis Df – The Table of Nations), He assigned the boundaries of peoples according to Isra’el’s population. Even though Isra’el did not exist at that time, and even though there are seventy nations mention in the Table of Nations, YHVH, in His foreknowledge, already knew her. Elyon had a special plan for Isra’el, for they were to be His own people and He made sure they had a Land adequate for them. But ADONAI’s share was His own people, Ya‘akov His allotted heritage (32:8-9 CJB). The drama of salvation would be played out in the land of Isra’el, so that Land was very special to Him.675
The number seventy has a special meaning for Isra’el. There were seventy languages spoken after the destruction of the Tower of Babel; seventy elders were assembled with Moses in the desert (Numbers 11:16-30); there are seventy names used for Jerusalem throughout the Bible; there are seventy holy days throughout the year (52 Shabbat, the 7 days of Pesach, the 7 days of Sukkot, 1 day of Shemini Atzeret, the eight day following the festival of Sukkot; 2 days of Rosh Ha’Shanah, and 1 day of Yom Kippur); 70 men of the Great Sanhedrin; 70 years of Babylonian exile; 70 BC the siege on Jerusalem by the Romans began and the Second Temple was destroyed; 70 rabbis translated the TaNaKh into the Greek Septuagint; 70 Weeks of years emphasized by Dani’el; 70 years between the First Zionist Congress in 1897 and the reunification of Jews with Jerusalem during the Six Day War in 1967.676
Having arranged for Isra’el’s inheritance to be placed in Canaan, YHVH set about bringing His people there. He found His people in a desert country, in the howling, wasted wilderness of Egypt. It was not a place where they could live, but a place through which they must pass. It was not the Land God was going to give them, but a land of testing and preparation for the travels laying ahead of the Israelites. His care is depicted using three metaphors: (1) an encircling Protector who guarded Isra’el as He would the very pupil of His eye; (2) a mother eagle who stirs up her young to fly but hovers beneath them to support them in their first faltering attempts at flight; and (3) a kindly Shepherd who guided His people without anyone’s assistance.677 He protected her and cared for her, guarded her like the pupil of His eye (Psalm 17:8; Proverbs 7:2), like an eagle that stirs up her nest, hovers over her young, spreads out her wings, takes them and carries them as she flies. During her wilderness wanderings, ADONAI alone led His people; no alien god was with Him (32:10-12 CJB). It was this truth that made Isra’el’s tendency for idolatry so reprehensible. It was God who deserved their loyalty. The foreign gods had done nothing to deserve their worship.
The focus now shifts to the future, when the people would possess the Promised Land and experience the goodness of God in its rich produce. He made them ride on the heights of the earth. The metaphor seems to refer to the conquest and the invincibility of the people of God in their possession of Canaan. The Israelites would eat the produce of the fields. He would have them suck honey from the rocks and olive oil from the crags, meaning that infertile places would become rich with produce.678 The people would have an abundance of curds from the cows and milk from the sheep, with lamb fat, rams from Bashan (a fertile area east of the Sea of Galilee) and goats, with the finest wheat flour; and you drank sparkling wine from the pure blood of grapes (32:13-14 CJB). The healthy pure blood of grapes is distinguished from fermented wine (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Kk– The Third Cup of Redemption).
The faithfulness of ADONAI to discipline His people (32:15-25): The goodness of God is now contrasted sharply with the fickleness of the people of God. Having grown fat on the graciousness provision of YHVH, the Israelites relax in their newly found prosperity and forget the source of their benefit. Forgetting their own God, they turn ungratefully to the attractive, but shallow, temptations of foreign gods.679 But Yeshurun (a nickname for Isra’el as seen in Deuteronomy 33:5 and 26; Isaiah 44:2, meaning the upright one) grew fat and kicked (you grew fat, thick, gross!). Moses warned the people that their undeserved prosperity in the Land would tempt them to become proud and forget ADONAI (see Cg – Do Not Forget ADONAI), or He would have to discipline them (see the commentary on Hebrews Cz – God Disciplines His Children), and that’s exactly what happened. The metaphor of an animal kicking its owner suggests the mindless nature or Isra’el’s rebellion against God her Maker; she scorned the Rock, her salvation.
The nation’s spiritual adultery took shape in the worship of idols. She made Him zealous with alien gods, and provoked Him with abominations. This was the zealousness of a loving and faithful husband whose wife had betrayed him (see the commentary on Jeremiah Ao – I Planted You Like a Choice Vine, from the Very Best Seed). The Israelites sacrificed to demons (Psalm 106:37), non-gods, do-nothing gods that she had never known, new gods that had come up lately, which her ancestors had not feared. She ignored the Rock who fathered you, and you forgot God, who gave you birth (32:15-18 CJB). The parental imagery is used of YHVH once again. He is described as a mother who gave birth in pain. In their apostasy, the Israelites were mindless of even a mothers’ love. Such rebellion invited the LORD’s reaction, as the following verses make clear.
ADONAI saw and was filled with scorn at his sons’ and daughters’ provocation. Therefore, He began to speak, and took over for Moses. Here, God begins that same way Moshe began earlier in 32:5-7, as a grieving Father who sees the tragic future of His children, saying: I will hide my face from them. Even though Ha’Shem will hide His face from them, He will always be with them, as the book of Esther demonstrates. God sees what will become of them; for they are a perverse generation, untrustworthy children. They aroused my righteous zealousness with a non-god and provoked me with their vanities; I will arouse their jealousy with a non-people and provoke them with a vile nation (32:19-21 CJB). Since Isra’el moved Him to zealousness by following other gods, YHVH decided to move her to jealousy by blessing and using other nations (Hosea 1). Today, God wants to use the Church to make Isra’el jealous of the spiritual blessing that the Gentiles have (see the commentary on Romans Cy – The Jealousy of the Gentile Believers).680
This song speaks of discipline. For My anger blazes forth like fire. YHVH’s anger was not the selfish anger of one who feels slighted by too little attention. Instead, it was the righteous indignation of a holy and gracious God toward untrustworthy children who are unfaithful, and who worship worthless idols. This devastating judgment would touch every area of life. God’s anger burns to the depths of sh’ol, devouring the earth and its crops, kindling the very roots of the hills. I will heap disasters on them and use up all my arrows against them. Fatigued by hunger, they will be consumed by fever and bitter defeat; I will send them the fangs of wild beasts, and the poison of reptiles crawling in the dust. Outside, the sword makes parents childless; inside, there is panic, as young men and girls alike are slain, sucklings and graybeards together (32:22-25 CJB). These curses remind us of Chapter 28 (see Ff – Curses for Disobedience). The anger of Ha’Shem is an awesome and terrible thing because it is a result of the rejection of the equally all-encompassing love of ADONAI.681
The amazement of ADONAI at Isra’el’s lack of discernment (32:26-34): Twice before, YHVH had threatened to destroy His people, and both times Moshe reminded Him of His covenant promises and of the fact that the goyim were watching (Exodus 32:11-14; Numbers 14:11-25). I considered putting an end to them, erasing their memory from the human race; but I feared the insolence of their enemy, feared that their foes would mistakenly think, “We ourselves accomplished this; ADONAI had nothing to do with it” (32:26-27 CJB). Moses was concerned about the glory of the LORD as well as the good of the nation. But He also punished the Gentile nations because they went too far and were far too cruel in their treatment of the Jews. It was YHVH that permitted Assyria and Babylon to capture His people, but they acted as though they were responsible for it.682
The reason for Isra’el’s plight was not the strength of her enemies, but her own lack of wisdom. They are a nation without common sense, utterly lacking in discernment. If they were wise they could figure it out and understand their destiny. These words are so true today for Isra’el and for all those who try to find truth outside of the Scriptures. We must understand that our blessings and riches come only through God. After all, how can one chase a thousand and two put ten thousand to rout, unless their Rock sells them to their enemies, unless ADONAI hands them over? This example is very timely for us. In Isra’el’s fight for survival in 1956, 1967 and 1973, were not the Jews outnumbered by seven Arab nations? And yet, she was victorious because ADONAI handed them over! For our enemies have no rock (their gods) like our Rock (ADONAI) – even they can see that (32:28-32 CJB)!
The character of the enemy is portrayed in vivid metaphors. Their nation is deep-rooted in evil. Their vine (the Gentile nation) is from the vine of Sodom, from the fields of Gomorrah – hence, their grapes are poisonous, their clusters are bitter; their wine is snake poison, the cruel venom of vipers. In the end, Isra’el’s enemies will face divine judgment. Isn’t this vengeance against Isra’el’s enemies hidden with me? Isn’t the bad fruit produced from evil lives known to God and sealed in His storehouses (32:33-34 CJB)? At the proper time, YHVH will be the Avenger.
The vengeance of ADONAI against His adversaries (32:35-43): The thrust of the closing section of the song is the ultimate vindication of Isra’el before the Gentile nations that have attacked her, humiliated her, and abused her. Vengeance (without revenge) and payback are Mine for the time when their foot slips; for the day of their calamity is coming soon, their doom is rushing upon them (32:35 CJB). The Hebrew word for vengeance (naqam) means the zeal of God for the discharge of justice. To the repentant, YHVH’s zeal issues forgiveness and salvation, To the unrepentant and the rebel, Ha’Shem’s zeal issues judgment.683
To some extent, Isra’el was vindicated when Babylon was defeated by the Persians and the Jews were allowed to return to their Land (see the commentary on Ezra-Nehemiah Ai – The Decree of Cyrus). But surely these verses describe something far more extensive and dramatic than that event. The vivid language makes us think of the descriptions of the day of the Lord in the TaNaKh, and the slaughter that will take place (Isaiah 2:10-21; Amos 5:18-20; Zephaniah 1:7-18). While it will be a day of judgment for the Gentiles for the way they have treated the Jews (see the commentary on Revelation Fc – The Sheep and the Goats), it will also be a time of repentance and regeneration for Isra’el (see the commentary on Revelation Ev – The Basis for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ).
Yes, God will judge His unfaithful people, taking pity on his servants, the righteous of the TaNaKh, when he sees that their strength is gone, that no one is left, slave or free. Here we have God presented as the righteous Warrior who will defeat Isra’el’s enemies and, at the same time, vindicate His own people. This would be a message of hope for Isra’el, for His discipline is the first step toward restoring His people and returning to them the blessing that they forfeited when they turned to idols.685
Although YHVH turns His favor to His people, He exposes to them the foolishness of their former trust in idols to whom they offered sacrifices and drink offerings. Then ADONAI will ask the Israelites, “Where are your gods, the rock in whom you have trusted? Who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offering? Let him get up and help you, let him protect you!” See now that I, yes, I, am He; and there is no god beside Me. I put to death, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal; no one saves anyone from My hand (32:36-39 CJB)!
The terrible nature of God’s zeal is now given in full detail. For I lift up my hand to heaven, symbolizing taking an oath, and swear, “As surely as I am alive forever, if I sharpen My flashing sword and set My hand to judgment, I will render vengeance to My foes, repay those who hate Me. I will make My arrows drunk with blood, My sword will devour flesh – the blood of the slain and the captives, flesh from the wild-haired heads of the enemy.” Sing out, you nations, about His people! For He will avenge the blood of His servants. He will render vengeance to His adversaries and make atonement for the Land of His people (32:40-43 CJB).
Moses closed the song, Joshua standing with him, by appealing to the people to take the message to heart and teach the song to their children, so that future generations would obey the Torah and avoid idolatry (Deuteronomy 4:9-10, 6:7, 11:19; Exodus 10:2, 12:26). The Word of God is the life of God’s people, just as ADONAI is our life (30:20), for the Word communicates to us the truth about ADONAI and His glorious blessings. Therefore, to receive and obey the Word is to share in the life of YHVH. They are not just idle words for you – they are your life (32:47). For the Word of God is living and active (Hebrews 4:12).686
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