Deuteronomy 31-32

CHAPTER 31:
         The final four chapters of Deuteronomy contain one last exhortation from Moses to the people, the official appointment of Joshua as the next leader of Israel, Moses’ commandment to the priests to guard the law of God within the ark of the covenant, Moses’ final song and final blessing, and then the recorded death of Moses and his secret burial by God Himself.
 
          Verses 1-6: Moses has continually exhorted the nation throughout his sermons in Deuteronomy to not only honor and obey the LORD their God, but also to remember that it is He that goes before them to conquer the heathen nations of the promised land. God will do to them what He had already done for Israel when they fought Sihon and Og, and Joshua, whom God has appointed to take Moses’ place, will lead them forth in battle. In spite of the vast numbers of the armies of the foreign nations, as well as the fortification of their walled cities, the Israelites are not to be afraid of them. God will go before them, and He will deliver them into the hands of His chosen people.
         Moses’ humility and meekness are on full display in these final chapters. Even though he is a hundred and twenty years old (v.2), he still possesses the mental and physical capacity to continue leading the people. (Deuteronomy 34:7) But he accepts God’s judgment against him for his earlier unbelief and the punishment that was given to him. (Numbers 20:12[ii]) He willingly and humbly accepts that it is Joshua who will lead Israel into the promised land, and that his – Moses’ – end is near.
            There’s a powerful lesson here for us today. Just as King David accepted God’s will that it would be his son, Solomon, and not him that would build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, so should we – like Moses and David – learn to willingly and humbly submit to God’s timing and His will for our lives. Moses longed to see the promised land for himself, and he desired to be the one to lead the nation into it, but that was not God’s will for him, and so he surrendered his will to the Lord. Meekness and humility are among the chief hallmarks of a true man of God, and Moses possessed both in spades. There is a remarkable and stark difference from the man here in Deuteronomy and the man who was tending sheep on the backside of the desert when God first spoke to him out of the burning bush.
 
       Verses 7-8, 23: Moses now summons Joshua to stand with him before the congregation, and he publicly gives Joshua the same charge that he just gave to the people. “Be strong and of a good courage…” because the LORD “…will not fail thee, neither forsake thee…”. God himself later repeats this exhortation to Joshua after the death of Moses. (Joshua 1:6)
           
         Verses 9-13, 24-29: Next, Moses gives the book of the law to the priests for safekeeping and charges them to read it aloud to the whole nation every seven years during the Feast of Booths. (v.10) (Deuteronomy 15:1-2) All the people of Israel – men, women, and children – are to gather at the tabernacle every seven years, including even the foreigners that are among them at that time, in order to hear the law of God. (v.11-12) In this manner will they learn to properly “…fear the Lord your God, and observe to do all the words of this law.” (v.12) (Deuteronomy 4:10) This ritual will also ensure that the children of each generation who have not personally witnessed all the miracles, signs, and wonders that God performed for the first and second generations that came out of Egypt will learn of them and come to fear the Lord as well. (v.13) (Deuteronomy 11:2)
              The book of the law refers to either the entire book of Deuteronomy, or perhaps just the body of laws contained in chapters 6-28. Moses commands the priests to put it in the ark of the covenant next to the stone tablets that bear the ten commandments. (v.26) It will be a reminder to them of both their propensity for rebellion against God as well as the ever present need to uphold and honor Israel’s part of the covenant after Moses is gone. (v.27) (Deuteronomy 9:7, 24) He even states plainly that future generations will disobey the law and the covenant and turn away from God, utterly corrupting themselves, and thus provoking his wrath and judgment. (v.29) (Deuteronomy 32:5, Judges 2:19, Acts 20:29-30)
 
        Verses 14-22: God summons Moses and Joshua to the tabernacle for the official commissioning and transference of leadership to Joshua. (v.14) (Numbers 27:18-19, Deuteronomy 3:28) As before, the Lord appears in the form of a cloud that rests upon the tabernacle. (v.15) (Exodus 33:9) He confirms what Moses had earlier anticipated in the blessings and curses address to the people in chapters 28-29. Israel would, indeed, disobey and turn to false gods and break their covenant with the LORD. They will suffer His divine wrath and punishment and be scattered among the heathen nations, and God’s face will be hidden from them. (Isaiah 1:15) They will know that they are suffering because the Lord is no longer in their midst. (v.16-18) (2 Chronicles 15:2)
         Because of this, God commands Moses to write a song that he will teach to the children of Israel as a constant reminder to them of the consequences of disobedience. (v.19) When the time comes for the nation to be delivered unto judgment for their sin, they will remember the song and know why they are being punished. (v.20-21) This is an act by a loving and caring father for His children whom he knows will betray His covenant. He knows the imagination of their sinful, wicked hearts (Genesis 6:5, Jeremiah 17:9, Hosea 5:3), and He is instituting new rituals like this one and the reading of the law by the priests to the people every seven years (v.10-11) in order to help them remain committed to His covenant. And in those times when they will fail and disobey, they will remember the law and the covenant and will turn back to the Lord.
 
           Verse 30: Moses now gathers the whole congregation before him in order to teach them the new song.

CHAPTER 32:
             Another song of Moses.
 
            Verses 1-3: As he’s done before, Moses calls on heaven and earth to hear and to testify as witnesses to what he’s about to say to the people. (Deuteronomy 4:26, Psalm 50:4, Isaiah 1:2) These first three verses of the song strongly echo the same style and substance as the many psalms of David. Moses’ desire is that these words will fall upon the hearts and minds of the people as rain on the grass and herbs of the field. (Isaiah 55:10-11) Rain is refreshing. It nourishes and gives life to all living things. (Psalm 72:6) Without rain, nothing would grow. The grass of the fields would quickly wither and die in the heat of the sun, and that’s a fitting metaphor for what Moses warns will happen to the people in later verses of this song if they ignore the word of the LORD.
 
            Verses 4-14: For the first time in scripture God is referred to as a Rock, indicating His unchanging permanence and consistency. (Psalm 18:2) God is a God of truth, justice and righteousness. He is perfect, and there is no sin in Him. (Deuteronomy 7:9, 2 Samuel 22:31, Job 34:10, Isaiah 65:16, Jeremiah 10:10) It is we, the fallen and broken creation, that have erred. In sharp contrast to holy and perfect God, we are corrupt, sinful, and anything but permanent. We are full of pride and rebellion, and we have gone astray.
            Moses calls Israel “…a perverse and crooked generation.” (v.5) (Deuteronomy 4:25, 31:29, Philippians 2:15) They have repaid God’s goodness, kindness, and mercy with rebellion, grumbling, lack of faith, and disobedience to His law and covenant. (v.6) (Psalm 116:12[xv]) God is their father, and they have spurned Him. (Exodus 4:22, Deuteronomy 1:31, Isaiah 63:16) Once again, Moses reminds the people of God’s promise to Abraham, how the Lord separated Abraham’s seed unto Himself. (v.7-9) Long before Abraham was born, God had “…separated the sons of Adam…” (v.8) at the tower of Babel, knowing whom of their descendants would be His portion and inheritance. (v.9) (Genesis 11:8, Exodus 19:5) The previous generations, going all the way back to Jacob, had testified to their sons and daughters of God’s promise to the seed of Jacob. (Exodus 12:26-27, 13:14, Psalm 44:1, 78:5) Joseph’s last words to his family also testified of this and of God’s future deliverance of His people. (Genesis 50:24-25)
            Moses describes God as a mighty eagle, sheltering Israel under His wings during their long sojourn in the desert after coming out of Egypt. (v.10-11) (Isaiah 31:5) He even uses the phrase “…the apple of His eye…” in verse 10 to emphasize to the people just how special and sacred their status was – and still is – to God. (Psalm 17:8, Proverbs 7:2, Zechariah 2:8) It was God alone who did all of this, and there is none other like Him. (v.12) It was God who preserved the nation during their time in the wilderness and gave them victory over their enemies. Bashan (v.14) is the region east of the Jordan where Israel enjoyed the spoils of their conquest of Sihon and Og. (v.13-14)
 
            Verses 15-18: But despite God’s blessings and providence, Israel forsook the Rock of their salvation. (v.15, 18) (Isaiah 17:10, Jeremiah 2:32) The name “Jeshurun” is an ironic one, for it means “upright”, and the nation was anything but upright and obedient when they turned to false gods. Israel provoked God with their disobedience and their detestable acts (v.16), choosing to worship demons and other false gods of their own imagination. (v.17) (Psalm 78:58, 1 Corinthians 10:22, Revelation 9:20) That is, incidentally, the essence of false gods and idols that are made by the hands of men. They are demons given physical form and likeness by the wicked imagination of men’s hearts.
 
            Verses 19-27: In response to Israel’s gross apostasy, God “…abhorred them…” (v.19) and hid His face from them (v.20), meaning that He withdrew His presence from among them. Their sin incurred His righteous jealousy and wrath, and He, in turn, provoked Israel to anger by using the foreign nations around them to inflict His judgment upon them. (v.21) (Romans 10:19) God’s righteous anger has no limits, extending even to the depths of hell (v.22), and capable of consuming the whole world in an instant. Verses 23-26 echo all of the curses from chapter 28. There is a shift in the verb tense of this section, starting with verse 20, indicating the purposes of this whole song. Much of what Moses speaks of in these verses has not actually happened yet to the current generation about to enter the promised land. But that’s the point of the song, to remind those future generations of why the Lord is angry with them and why they’re under judgment.

            Verses 28-33: Here Moses points out the ignorance of both the first generation that came out of Egypt as well as those future generations in the promised land. In both cases Israel is willfully ignorant of their own situation and the reasons for both their previous victories over their enemies as well as their present judgment and punishment for their disobedience. Verses 28-29 are a rebuke of the nation’s shortsightedness and ignorance. (Psalm 81:13, Luke 19:42) The previous generation that was denied entry to the promised land had quickly forgotten God’s miraculous delivery of them from their bondage in Egypt as well as His promise to Abraham. The future generations in the promised land would be guilty of the same thing, hence the divine judgment against them. (Deuteronomy 31:29)
            How could such a small nation have defeated so great an enemy as the Amalekites and the Moabites without the clear intervention on Israel’s behalf by God? (v.30-31) The gods of the heathen peoples are false. Only the one true God, the Rock of Israel, has the power to bring up nations or cast them down. (v.31) (1 Samuel 4:7-8, Jeremiah 40:2-3) The enemies of Israel are full of wickedness, perversion, and rebellion, as were Sodom and Gomorrah. (v.32) The fruit of their sin is death by way of God’s wrath and righteous judgment. (v.33)
 
            Verses 34-43: The whole purpose of God’s judgment against Israel is to make them see the error of their ways and bring them back to Him through genuine repentance. As before in Genesis, the word “repent” used in here in verse 36 to describe God’s action towards Israel does not mean that He regrets punishing them. Rather, it refers to His compassion and love for His chosen people, no matter how badly they have gone astray. (Psalm 135:14, Hebrews 10:30) (v.36) Once again, the LORD compares Himself to the false gods which the Israelites had been worshiping. (v.37-40) Their idols of wood and stone are utterly lifeless and incapable of the awesome, supernatural power which God displays on behalf of His chosen people. (Isaiah 1:24, 66:16, Jeremiah 50:28) God’s judgment against Israel is designed specifically to make them see how impotent their false gods really are, and that Jehovah – the one, true God – stands alone. There is none other like Him. (v.39-40) (Isaiah 41:4, 43:10)
            God promises that all those who hate Him and His chosen people will suffer His righteous and mighty wrath. (v.41-43) Vengeance upon the wicked belongs to God alone, and He will repay His enemies. (v.35, 43) Paul quotes verse 35 in Romans 12:19. (2 Kings 9:7, Revelation 6:10, 19:2) Verse 43 calls for the nations to rejoice with Israel, further indication that God has always included the gentiles in His plan of salvation. Through Israel all nations of the world are to be blessed. But those that rise up against Israel will be destroyed. This is one of God’s enduring promises throughout scripture.
 
            Verses 44-47: Moses ends the song with one final admonition to the people to take this song to heart, as well as all the words of the law of God. (v.46) (Ezekiel 40:4, 44:5) To do so is not futile, but is, in fact, the key to victory, long life, and happiness in the promised land. (v.47) (Deuteronomy 8:3, 30:15)
 
            Verses 48-52: The same day in which Moses finishes the song and delivers it to the people, God calls him to go up to Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, east of the Jordan river, and where Israel is currently camped. (v.49) (Numbers 33:47-49) The whole of Deuteronomy, which is all of Moses’ final words to the children of Israel, have been delivered here in the plains of Moab, east of the Jordan river, in the shadow of the mountains to which God now calls Moses to ascend one final time. On Mount Nebo God will supernaturally allow Moses to view the whole of the promised land after which Moses will “…be gathered unto thy people…” in the same manner as Aaron. (v.50) (Numbers 20:28, 33:38) It was because Moses had failed to honor God in the presence of all the nation that God denied him entrance to the promised land. (v.51) (Leviticus 10:3, Numbers 20:12) But God also graciously allows Moses to view that land before his death. (v.52)