Scripture Notes: The Song of Moses, Part 3 (Deuteronomy 32)

Moses’ reminiscences continue as he sings of the people’s response to God’s loving care. God has given His covenant family everything they need. He has shielded them and supported them and blessed them. But what do they do in return? They get fat and thick and sleek, and they start to kick, actually turning away from God and His will. They even scoff at “the Rock” of their salvation (Deut 32:15). 

In fact, the people of Israel did do all of this. God gave them manna in the desert, for instance. At first, they were grateful and marveled at this new food, but later they called this delicious bread of angels (which actually conformed to each person’s taste) wretched food and claimed they were thoroughly sick of it. They wanted to go back to Egypt where they had plenty of fish and vegetables. They were tired of wandering in the desert, even though they were led by God at every step, and they were ready to go right back into slavery.

What is more, the people began to worship other “gods,” Moses says. Perhaps they thought they could get a better deal. Maybe they wanted to hedge their bets; if God would not give them what they wanted, maybe someone else would. They worshiped the golden calf. They “sacrificed to demons which were no gods” (Deut 32:17). They started worshiping anything but God, forgetting their Creator to bow down to a creature. 

Needless to say, God was not pleased. Moses offers a vivid depiction of His reaction to His people’s infidelity (using, of course, human concepts as an analogy, for God allows us to grasp at understanding His infinity in this way). God, Moses says, spurned the people and hid His face from this “perverse generation” (Deut 32:20). He was jealous for them and provoked by their idols. God’s jealous is not the same as human jealousy. God wants only what is best for His people, and when they turn their backs on that “best” and choose something else, He is roused to zeal (again analogously) because of His great love. God also had a plan to bring His people back to the right path. 

Scripture Notes: The Song of Moses, Part 2 (Deuteronomy 32)

In the midst of his song, Moses contrasts God’s fidelity and perfection with the people’s corruption and faithlessness. Then he asks, “Do you thus repay the Lord, you foolish and senseless people? Is He not your father, Who created you, Who made you and established you?” (Deut 32:6). With these questions, Moses is urging the people (and us) to think deeply. How do we repay the Lord? With love and obedience and trust? Or with sin and doubt and selfishness? 

Actually, we can never repay the Lord for what He has done for us. He brought us into being from nothing. He has given us all that we have and all that we are. He holds us in being at every moment. He  showers us in His grace. He holds out His mercy and forgiveness. He welcomes us back when we stray. He rescues us from our captivity and misery. And He does it all with the greatest love. We cannot ever satisfy that debt.

But we can remember, and we can off our meager attempts at love and faith and obedience. We can repent when we fall and open our hearts and hold out our hands to receive God’s mercy. In fact, Moses urges the people to remember and to ask their elders to tell them the stories of what God has done for them, how He chose them as His own and cared for them in the wilderness. God has protected His people and kept them safe, lifting them up like an eagle carries its nestlings on its wings. He has given them everything they need, and they will have even more when they enter the Promised Land. God is setting them up for success and prosperity but not merely for the sake of worldly riches but so that they can worship Him faithfully with grateful hearts.

Scripture Notes: The Song of Moses, Part 1 (Deuteronomy 32)

The Book of Deuteronomy is, in essence, Moses’ last will and testament, his final message to the stubborn people that he has led out of Egypt and through the wilderness, or rather, that God has led through Moses. Moses is now speaking to the second generation of Israelites who are getting ready to enter into the Promised Land, but Moses will not be going with them. Because of his own disobedience, he will die right on the border. He will see the land, but he will not take possession of it. Therefore, Moses has a special message for the people of Israel, and he delivers it in the form of a song that they can memorize and sing even after he is gone.

Moses begins with a prayer that his teaching will be fruitful, will be as drops of rain that water the earth, that get right into people’s minds and hearts and bring forth life. Then he lays out the primary purpose of his song: “For I will proclaim the name of the Lord. Ascribe greatness to our God!” (Deut 32:3). This will be a song of praise, first and foremost. Moses wants the people to know Who God is, how truly awesome He is, because, as we shall see, they desperately need the reminder.

Moses continues with further praise. God is the Rock, the One Who does not move, Who is constant, reliable, to Whom we can cling for protection and stability. God’s “work is perfect, for all His ways are justice” (Deut 32:4). Whatever He does is right. There is nothing missing, nothing lacking, nothing in error. His decisions are exactly what they should be, even when we do not understand them, for He knows us better than we know ourselves. God is faithful and perfect. We can trust Him fully, for He keeps His promises. 

So what has gone wrong? Moses explains without hesitation. The people have become corrupt. They have sinned. They have broken the covenant. “They are a perverse and crocked generation” (Deut 32:5). They are “foolish and senseless,” repaying God’s great love and mercy with iniquity and stupidity (Deut 32:6). They have turned their backs on God, and their minds and hearts are far from Him. They have forgotten all the wonderful things He has done for them. Moses is about to prod them into remembering.

Scripture Notes: The Perfect King (Psalm 72)

Psalm 72 focuses on Solomon, the son of David, probably early in his kingship, perhaps even as he assumes the kingship from his father. I like to think that perhaps this psalm is David’s prayer and blessing over his son as he hands over both authority and responsibility. 

The psalm lays out the image of the perfect king. He is the righteous judge and defender of his people, the one who fosters prosperity, the one who makes his kingdom flourishing and fertile, the one who conquers all enemies, the one who reaches out to other nations and draws them into his bountiful influence. This king is the one to whom his people can turn for help. He supports the poor and has compassion on the needy. He saves them from their troubles, from violence and oppression and want. They are precious to him.

The psalmist prays that this king may live long and make the land fruitful and be blessed by all nations even as he blesses them with his gracious care. But the psalmist ends with another declaration: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things. Blessed be His glorious name for ever; may His glory fill the whole earth! Amen and Amen!” (Psalm 72:18-19).  So it is not the king who does all the wondrous things the psalmist has described. It is God working through the king, who is His chosen instrument.

So did Solomon live up to this psalm? He started out well, but as time went on, he fell into sin. His focus turned from God’s care for the people to the accumulation of power, wealth, and pleasure. He was not the perfect king.

But there is One Who is. There is One Who fulfills this psalm perfectly. Jesus Christ, our King, our Lord, our God. He is the perfect King Who cares for all people with a deep and abiding love, for He is God doing wondrous things. Blessed be the Lord!