Questions from the Scripture text: How does Deuteronomy 31:30 introduce the song? Who are called to witness it (Deuteronomy 32:1)? How does Deuteronomy 32:2 express the intention for the song to be life-giving? Whom do Deuteronomy 32:3-4 describe? What resemblance to Him do Israel have (Deuteronomy 32:5)? What do the rhetorical questions in Deuteronomy 32:6 imply about this? What had YHWH done for them (Deuteronomy 32:7-11)? With what actions, and in what manner? What does He emphasize about their being led (Deuteronomy 32:12)? How does Deuteronomy 32:13a describe the blessedness of this intimacy with the Lord alone (cf. Isaiah 58:14)? How do Deuteronomy 32:13-14 continue to describe it? How does Deuteronomy 32:15a describe Israel in their prosperity? What did they do in this prosperity (Deuteronomy 32:15-18)? To Whom? How? How did YHWH respond to this treachery (Deuteronomy 32:19-24)? Addressing whom, among them (Deuteronomy 32:25)? What did they deserve (Deuteronomy 32:26)? But what would the enemy then have thought (Deuteronomy 32:27)? What should Israel have realized about their own judgment (Deuteronomy 32:28-30)? How does Israel’s God compare to the enemy’s God (Deuteronomy 32:31-33)? What will He do to the enemy, at what time (Deuteronomy 32:34-35)? What will He do for His own people, at what time (Deuteronomy 32:36)? What does He say about their idols (Deuteronomy 32:37-38)? What does God show about Himself, through all this (Deuteronomy 32:39)? How, then, will He exercise His vengeance upon the enemy (Deuteronomy 32:40-42)? Whom will He bring into this joy (Deuteronomy 32:43)? Who did what, with this song (Deuteronomy 32:44)? In whose hearing? What does Moses speak (Deuteronomy 32:45)? How much? To whom? What does he tell them to do with their hearts (Deuteronomy 32:46)? What are they to command their children? What will these words be to them (Deuteronomy 32:47)? What will they do by these words?
How does God display Himself as the only true God? Deuteronomy 31:30–32:47 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these forty-eight verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that God displays Himself as the only true God by saving sinners, with whom He persists until glory.
Moses summoned three witnesses against Israel for their future unfaithfulness to God. The witnesses were the song (cf. Deuteronomy 31:19), the book (cf. Deuteronomy 31:26), and the heavens and the earth (cf. Deuteronomy 31:28). Now all three witnesses come to bear in this song. The song itself is a witness. Second, as we go through the song, we find that it summarizes the book of Deuteronomy. Moses summons the heavens and the earth to witness (Deuteronomy 32:1).
As the song summarizes the book, it is fulfilling the role of a song, in making the Word dwell in us richly (cf. Colossians 3:16). The song is designed to keep the book in the hearts and mouths of their descendants (cf. Deuteronomy 31:21).
After the introduction (Deuteronomy 32:1-2), Deuteronomy 32:3-4 declare who the Lord is, and the relationship he established with His people, saving them despite their sinfulness in the wilderness and giving them Himself as their inheritance. The first four chapters of the book had done this. Now, the song proclaims the name of YHWH (Deuteronomy 32:3), a Rock of truth and justice to them (Deuteronomy 32:4).
But Israel had not borne a resemblance to Him (Deuteronomy 32:5-6). This, too was one of the main themes in the second half of chapter 1.
Nevertheless, He carried them through wilderness, keeping His promises to them, and showing the consistency of His character (Deuteronomy 32:7-11). This was the main theme of chapters 2–3.
Finally, YHWH strongly declared His uniqueness to them in chapter 4, which the song now does in Deuteronomy 32:12. By making Israel to find all of their pleasure and provision in Him, He made them to ride upon the heights of the earth (Deuteronomy 32:13-14). This relationship and blessing is the foundation of all upright living, just as the Lord declares, as He is introducing the ten commandments (cf. chapters 5–6).
In the earlier part of the book, it was at this point that Moses began an exposition of the ten commandments, taking from Deuteronomy 6:1–26:19. Sadly, in the song’s summary, this is the point at which Deuteronomy 32:15 reports that what He warned against in Deuteronomy 8:10–17 will come true. Jeshurun is one of the Lord’s pet names for Israel, whom He loves. But, He describes, using the past tense here, their future forgetting of Him, and idolatry, which is demon-worship (Deuteronomy 32:15-18).
And so the song continues with an emphasis upon the covenant curses (Deuteronomy 32:19-26), just as the book had done (chapters 27–29). But, the book had not stopped there, proceeding to prophesy their restoration (Deuteronomy 30:1–10), just as the song now does (Deuteronomy 32:27). He will not let the enemy be self-satisfied, but the Lord will display Himself as the God Who delivers His people in compassion (Deuteronomy 32:36), the God Who not only kills but makes alive (Deuteronomy 32:39c), the God Who not only wounds but heals (verse 39d).
YHWH is the only Rock Who could do this; the nations’ rock could not (Deuteronomy 32:31). Deuteronomy 32:39a–b gives the theme of the book (and of the whole Bible, and of all existence): “Now see that I, even I, am He, and there is no God besides Me.” This, He displays in healing Israel, and this He displays in taking vengeance upon His enemies (Deuteronomy 32:40-42), from among whom He will ultimately add to His people. To glorify Himself as the one true God, He will bring nations to join with His people in rejoicing before the God (Deuteronomy 32:43a) Who has vengeance on some (verse 43c), but atones for others to make them His own (verse 43d).
This summary-song of the book of Deuteronomy, Moses and Joshua declared to the people (Deuteronomy 32:44-45), so that they would their hearts on it (Deuteronomy 32:46, cf. Colossians 3:16). The Lord give to you, dear reader, to set your own heart upon His Word, in which the great theme is that He alone is God, and that He displays this by saving sinners from all nations. The Lord give you to ride on the heights of the earth—to have Him alone as your purpose, power, path, and pleasure.
Lord, thank You for teaching Your people in Your kindness. Thank You for giving us songs. Thank You for giving Israel this song. Thank You for the warning that even a people with this book and this song sinned against You, so that we see how completely we need Your grace, by Your Spirit, to write Your word on our hearts and to make Your word dwell richly in our hearts. So please do that for us by Your Spirit, and give us to know You as the one living and true God, the source of all our hope and purpose, all our joy. We ask in Jesus' name.
What use do you make of Scripture songs? What are the ways in which the Lord has been good to you? How have you remembered Him in your life? In what ways have you forgotten Him? How are you responding to His displays of Himself, in your life, as the one, true, and living God?
Sample prayer: Lord, thank You for teaching us about Yourself, Your mercy, our sin, and our salvation. Forgive us for how we have forgotten You in our prosperity. Forgive us for how we have lived as if our lives were about ourselves, rather than about You. Please make us to find in You all of our purpose, all of our power, and all of our pleasure. Please use the songs of Your Word, to make that Word dwell richly in our hearts, we ask through Christ, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP98 “O Sing a New Song” or TPH174 “The Ten Commandments”
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