Exposition of the Song of Moses (9) Deut. 32:39-43

This concluding passage to the Song of Moses is still making the point that God is the One who is working in the history of Israel and the history of all the nations.  Notice some thoughts from 32:39-43.

·        Numerous passages from Isaiah 40-46 sound just like Deut. 32:39.  Consider Isa. 43:10-11; 44:6,8; 44:24-28; 45:6,18-19,21; 46:5,9-11.  Isaiah’s message from the Lord should have been a clear statement to Israel that God would fulfill what He had promised through Moses.  The end would be that all mankind would know that the Lord, the God of Israel, reigns over all the earth.  There is no God besides Me says the Lord (32:39).

·        Now consider Deut. 32:40: I raise My hand to heaven, and say, As I live forever.  Why does God raise His hand to heaven when His throne is in heaven?  Perhaps we should see here the incarnation and revelation of Christ, God’s promise to visit us (Psalm 8:4).  This He has done and will do again.

·        Deut. 32:43 is one of the strong connections with Rev. 15:3-4, and that the Song of Moses is not the praise given at the Red Sea (Ex. 15) but is this Song in Deuteronomy 32.  Moses concludes with a call to the Gentiles to give praise to God.  Rev. 15:4 says, For you alone are holy (Deut. 32:39); for all nations shall come and worship before you (Deut. 32:43).  As Paul explains in Romans 11 Israel’s partial blindness at this time results in the drawing to Christ of many Gentiles.  But as he also explains, all Israel will be saved (Rom. 11:26).  God’s love for the nations and His faithfulness to Israel are evidence that the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable (Rom. 11:29).

·        God’s faithfulness is all about Christ.  God will provide atonement for His land and His people (32:43).  Perhaps we see the atonement for God’s people more easily.  This is what Israel is about.  It is the nation through whom the Savior of Gen. 3:15 enters the world.  This atonement is not just for Israel but for the Gentiles.  The son of the foreigner should not say the Lord has utterly separated me from His people; God says I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off (Isa. 56:3-5).  But God also promises atonement (a covering for sin, just as Noah covered the ark with pitch to provide safety for all inside) for the land as well as the people.  Israel’s unfaithfulness had polluted the land, and we don’t simply mean trash thrown by the roads.  By idolatry (Jer. 16:18), murder (Lev. 35:33-34) and other sin (Jer. 2:7-8) they defiled God’s land, the bountiful land He had given them and the land where He dwelt (Jer. 2:7; Num. 35:34).  Atonement for the land would come by removing the people until it shall rest and enjoy its Sabbaths (Lev. 26:32-35).  

This song was filled with a heavy burden of judgment.  But it concludes strong hope.  Israel’s future was going to be difficult.  But in the end the Gentiles would rejoice and Israel would return to the land and become God’s saved people.