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We remember last week in some 
final arrangements in the covenantal document, chapter 31, they were 
told to compose or to write this particular song so that it could 
serve as a witness to Israel with reference to their God and 
with reference to their specific responsibilities in this covenantal 
arrangement. I'll just begin reading in chapter 
32 or 31 at verse 30. We'll read the whole chapter. 
It's a big chapter. And then we'll just try and break 
it down and cover the bulk of it tonight. So chapter 31, beginning 
in verse 30. Then Moses spoke in the hearing 
of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song until 
they were ended. Give ear, O heavens, and I will 
speak, and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. Let my doctrine 
drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, as raindrops on the 
tender herb, and as showers on the grass. For I proclaim the 
name of the Lord, ascribe greatness to our God. He is the rock, his 
work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of truth 
and without injustice, righteous and upright is he. They have 
corrupted themselves. They are not His children because 
of their blemish, a perverse and crooked generation. Do you 
thus deal with the Lord, O foolish and unwise people? Is He not 
your Father who bought you? Has He not made you and established 
you? Remember the days of old, consider 
the years of many generations. Ask your father and he will show 
you, your elders and they will tell you. When the Most High 
divided their inheritance to the nations, when he separated 
the sons of Adam, he set the boundaries of the peoples according 
to the number of the children of Israel. For the Lord's portion 
is his people. Jacob is the place of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land 
and in the wasteland, a howling wilderness. He encircled him. He instructed him. He kept him 
as the apple of his eye. As an eagle stirs up its nest, 
hovers over its young, spreading out its wings, taking them up, 
carrying them on its wings. So the Lord alone led him, and 
there was no foreign god with him. He made him ride in the 
heights of the earth that he might eat the produce of the 
fields. He made him draw honey from the rock and oil from the 
flinty rock, curds from the cattle and milk of the flock with fat 
of lambs, and rams of the breed of bation and goats with the 
choicest wheat. And you drank wine, the blood 
of the grapes. But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked. You grew fat, you grew thick, 
you are obese. Then he forsook God who made 
him and scornfully esteemed the rock of his salvation. They provoked 
him to jealousy with foreign gods. With abominations, they 
provoked him to anger. They sacrificed to demons, not 
to God, to gods they did not know, to new gods, new arrivals 
that your fathers did not fear. Of the rock who begot you, you 
are unmindful and have forgotten the God who fathered you. And 
when the Lord saw it, he spurned them because of the provocation 
of his sons and his daughters. And he said, I will hide my face 
from them. I will see what their end will 
be, for they are a perverse generation, children in whom is no faith. 
They have provoked me to jealousy by what is not God. They have 
moved me to anger by their foolish idols. But I will provoke them 
to jealousy by those who are not a nation. I will move them 
to anger by a foolish nation. For a fire is kindled in my anger 
and shall burn to the lowest hell. It shall consume the earth 
with her increase and set on fire the foundations of the mountains. I will heap disasters on them. 
I will spend my arrows on them. They shall be wasted with hunger, 
devoured by pestilence and bitter destruction. I'll also send against 
them the teeth of beasts with the poison of serpents and the 
dust. The sword shall destroy outside. There shall be terror 
within, for the young man and virgin, the nursing child with 
the man of gray hairs. I would have said I will dash 
them in pieces. I will make the memory of them 
to cease from among them. Had I not feared the wrath of 
the enemy, lest their adversaries should misunderstand, lest they 
should say, our hand is high, and it is not the Lord who has 
done all this. For they are a nation void of 
counsel, nor is there any understanding in them. Oh, that they were wise, 
that they understood this, that they would consider their latter 
end. How could one chase 1,000 and two put 10,000 to flight 
unless their rock had sold them and the Lord had surrendered 
them? For their rock is not like our rock. even our enemies themselves 
being judges. For their vine is of the vine 
of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are grapes 
of gall. Their clusters are bitter. Their 
wine is the poison of serpents and the cruel venom of cobras. 
Is this not laid up in store with me, sealed up among my treasures? Vengeance is mine and recompense. Their foot shall slip in due 
time. For the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things to 
come hasten upon them. For the Lord will judge his people 
and have compassion on his servants when he sees that their power 
is gone and there is no one remaining, bond or free. He will say, where 
are their gods, the rock in which they sought refuge, who ate the 
fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offering? 
Let them rise and help you and be your refuge. Now see that 
I, even I, am he, and there is no God besides me. I kill and 
I make alive. I wound and I heal. Nor is there 
any who can deliver from my hand. For I raise my hand to heaven 
and say, as I live forever, if I wet my glittering sword and 
my hand takes hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to my 
enemies and repay those who hate me. I will make my arrows drunk 
with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh. with the blood 
of the slain and the captives from the heads of the leaders 
of the enemy. Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people, for he will 
avenge the blood of his servants and render vengeance to his adversaries. He will provide atonement for 
his land and his people. So Moses came with Joshua, the 
son of Nun, and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing 
of the people. Moses finished speaking all these 
words to all Israel, and he said to them, set your hearts on all 
the words which I testify among you today, which you shall command 
your children to be careful to observe, all the words of this 
law. For it is not a futile thing 
for you, because it is your life, and by this word you shall prolong 
your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess. 
Amen. the Song of Witness in the language 
of Craigie, he says, the song functions as a part of the witness 
to the renewal of the covenant. When the Israelites sang it, 
they would bear witness to their understanding and agreement to 
the full terms and implications of the covenant. In other words, 
we shouldn't just sort of see chapter 32 as an appendix to 
the book or as a tack-on to the book. Rather, this song of witness 
would function within Israelite history, or it should have functioned 
in such a way that when they rehearsed these truths, when 
they considered God, when they considered His grace, when they 
considered the great deeds concerning their own nation, their own body 
politic, their own covenantal stationed before the Lord. This 
should have stirred them up to obedience and to pursue those 
things which were pleasing in the sight of the Lord God. As 
I said, it's quite a lengthy chapter. I want to just carve 
it up into a few sections tonight. We probably won't look at every 
jot and tittle. I think the thrust of it is pretty 
obvious, but the first section deals with the creation of Israel 
in verses 1 to 14. And by the creation of Israel, 
I mean how God sort of isolated them, how God took them out from 
among all the other nations. You'll find that language at 
times in not only the book of Deuteronomy, but in the prophets 
as well, that God is the creator, yes, of the heavens and the earth, 
but He is the creator of His special people, Israel. Secondly, we'll see the apostasy 
of Israel. That's something that runs through 
this chapter. Much of it reflects or it seems 
to reflect upon What has already happened, some of it does tend 
to be prophetic in nature and looks forward to what will probably 
happen in the future. So there's no specific this is 
that and that is this. It's all together in such a fashion 
that as they would sing, it would be a reminder for them. Then 
thirdly, what we'll see is the judgment upon Israel, that's 
verses 19 to 35, and then the salvation of Israel, verses 36 
to 43. So the song ends on a high note. The song ends with the promise of Gentile inclusion 
into the covenant promises of God, and it does seem to look 
forward to the new covenant when Jesus would come to save his 
people from their sins. And in the latter portion that 
we read, verses 44 to 47, is a charge to Israel based on this 
particular song. Let's look at the creation of 
Israel, verses 1 to 14, but specifically three observations. Let's just 
look at the introduction, the introduction to the song. Notice 
the witnesses. We've seen this already in the 
book of Deuteronomy, very recently in chapter 31. It's also in chapter 
30, chapter 4, and then it's in the prophets Isaiah and Micah. Some have seen in chapter 32 
what appears to be a covenant lawsuit. when the prophet comes 
to indict the nation for their having fallen into sin and rebellion 
against God. Well, for sure, Isaiah and Micah 
engage in this covenant lawsuit, and they call heaven and earth 
to bear witness. Craigie says, in the event of 
the people's unfaithfulness in the future, the created world 
would itself stand in silent condemnation of the Israelites. Those elements, the earth, the 
heavens, would always be constant reminders or witnesses, or reminders 
that they were witnesses to this covenant that they had sworn 
fidelity to. And then notice secondly, let 
my teaching, or the margin reads, let my doctrine drop as the rain. The song sung is not calculated 
to arouse emotion, but rather it is calculated to promote instruction. The singing of this song wasn't 
supposed to just be an emotional time when we get a tear in our 
eye and we think about what the Lord has done, but rather the 
singing of this particular song was a time to rehearse biblical 
doctrine. You see that sort of emphasis 
as well in New Covenant singing, specifically in the book of Colossians. We don't sing simply to arouse 
our emotions, though that does happen, and that's legit. The 
truth ought to inflame our emotions. The truth ought to arouse the 
entire response of man. but the truth first and foremost 
is the primary element in the singing of the Church of Jesus 
Christ. Notice in Colossians 3 at verse 
15, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which 
also you were called in one body, and be thankful. Let the word 
of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing 
one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. singing 
with grace in your hearts to the Lord. So you see, when we 
sing the songs of Zion, it is first and foremost a means to 
rehearse the doctrine of God Most High and His great redemptive 
benefits to the people of God. So the witnesses, the doctrine, 
notice the reception. Verse 2, let my teaching drop 
as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, as raindrops on the 
tender herb and as showers on the grass. Each of those metaphors 
or each of those tropes, each of those figures of speech, as 
it were, get a little smile out of these three, each of these 
figures of speech are designed to show us about reception. When the rain drops and when 
the dew falls and the raindrops come on the tender herb or the 
showers come onto the grass, the idea is that it will permeate, 
it will saturate, it will water, and it will effectively nourish 
that upon which it falls. The point of the song is to penetrate the 
heart of the singer and be a means of promoting fidelity to the 
covenant. It's not just wrote. You don't just sing the song, 
but rather you want to sing the song in such a way that it functions 
the way rain comes down upon the grass. It comes into the 
grass, it waters the grass, it saturates, it nourishes, it does 
everything that the grass stands in need of. That's how this song 
is to function, that's how the entirety of the Word of God is 
to function, it's to penetrate our hearts and minds, and it 
is to move and affect us in such a way that we walk in faithfulness 
to the living and the true God. And then note, by way of introduction, 
the subject of the song. Verses 3 and 4, for I proclaim 
the name of the Lord, ascribe greatness to our God. He is the 
Rock, His work is perfect, for all His ways are justice, a God 
of truth and without injustice. Righteous and upright is He. The song is designed to keep 
the God of the covenant ever before our eyes and in our hearts. Why do we read the Bible? Why 
do we prayerfully consider good doctrine? Why do we study theology? It's to keep God before our eyes. 
It's to be consumed with Him, and obsessed with Him, and it's 
to be filled with His Spirit, so that we don't depart from 
Him. So that we may serve Him, that we may love Him, that we 
may honor Him, that we may obey Him. So the point of this song 
is to keep Israel's God before Israel's eyes, so that they do 
not wander into the path of Baal or Moloch or the Canaanite deities. He ascribes specifics to God. As he says, ascribe greatness 
to our God. He is the rock. That comes up 
several times in this song of witness just here in Deuteronomy 
32. And by rock, what is meant is permanence and stability and 
a stronghold and a refuge. one upon whom we can cast our 
entire being. He is there for us in terms of 
His integrity. His work is perfect. All His 
ways are justice. He is a God of truth and without 
injustice, righteous and upright is He." So the point of the song 
is to keep the Lord God Almighty before our eyes. Again, I think 
we can make a new covenant application. We ought to be reading our Bibles 
and we ought to sing those songs and sing those hymns and sing 
those psalms that do just that. Yes, it's good to sing about 
our blessing. Yes, it's good to sing about 
what the Lord has done for us. But there are those times and 
seasons in our hymnody, and we'll never go wrong singing the Psalter, 
when we want to get God. We want to sing of God. We want 
to learn of God. We want to know more of God. 
And singing is a great means to promote such a thing. So creation 
of Israel, there's that introduction to the song, and then notice 
the corruption of Israel. This sort of sets the backdrop. 
Verses 5 and 6, they have corrupted themselves, they are not his 
children, because of their blemish, a perverse and crooked generation. 
Do you thus deal with the Lord, O foolish and unwise people? 
Is he not your father who bought you? Has he not made you and 
established you? So there is reproof. The tendency 
of the heart of the Israelite is toward waywardness. And that 
comes out right at the beginning. They are being chided or being 
reminded of the reality that those who had gone before have 
corrupted themselves. And by so doing, they are not 
his children. Because of their blemish, because 
of their transgression, because of their breaking of the law, 
they have become a perverse and crooked generation. Jesus uses 
this language in his generation to condemn the religious leaders. 
The Apostle Paul tells the Philippian church to shine as lights in 
what? A crooked and perverse generation. Those are the kinds of things 
that mark unbelievers and mark unbelieving thought. And then 
this question, do you thus deal with the Lord, O foolish and 
unwise people? Is He not your Father who bought 
you? Has He not made you? There's 
that idea of the creation of Israel. Has He not made you and 
established you? In other words, you sustain a 
special relationship to the Lord your God, such that when you 
go sin against Him, it is that much more heinous. Yes? When 
the nations surrounding Israel sin against God, It is a crime. It is wickedness. The Lord God 
abominates such activity. But when His special bought ones, 
when the ones that He has set His affections upon go and engage 
in that sort of sin as well, it just exacerbates the situation. and brings inevitably the curses 
of the covenant that have been outlined in chapter 28 and are 
stipulated here in this song as to being applied should the 
children of Israel continue impenitently against the living and true God. 
So then he speaks of their history in verses 7 to 14. Remember the 
days of old, consider the years of many generations, ask your 
father, he will show you, your elders and they will tell you. 
Now notice verse 8, first time, only time in the book of Deuteronomy 
that most high, El Elyon, is the name for God, when the Most 
High divided their inheritance to the nations, when He separated 
the sons of Adam. So it goes back to Genesis, even 
prior to Abraham. He's not saying, it's in Abraham 
that you were set apart. It's in Abraham that you became 
the children of promise. No, it predates even Abraham. In that era when God is divvying 
up the land, when God is apportioning peoples, when he is separating 
the peoples in Genesis chapters 10 and 11, he's setting his affection, 
he's already set his heart upon this particular body. He set 
the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the 
children of Israel. For the Lord's portion is his 
people. Jacob is the place of his inheritance, 
not with the Hivites, not with the Hittites, not with the Jebusites, 
but Jacob is the place of his inheritance. It is the people 
of Israel. So he's rehearsing this. He's 
taking them back to this. As you sing this song, you need 
to remember where you came from. God, in a special way, created 
you. He carved you out from the mass 
of humanity He set His affection and His love upon you and then 
following there in verses 10 to 14, I think it speaks about 
their time in Egypt and the fact that God not only sustained them 
there, but He also eventually led them out. Notice, He found 
them in a desert land. It could be Abraham, it could 
be you know, the wilderness wandering, or it could be that time in Egypt. And in the wasteland, a howling 
wilderness, he encircled him, he instructed him, he kept him 
as the apple of his eye, as an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers 
over its young, spreading out its wings, taking them up, carrying 
them on its wings. The language of eagle here speaks 
of affection. I know that usually you don't 
think of eagle in affection, but from what I understand, when 
it's time for baby eagles to fly, father eagle pushes them 
out of the nest. Now, either they fly or they 
fish or cut bait, right? They either fly or they die. 
Not so with the eagle. The eagle makes sure that either... 
I've read before that it was the father. I just read today 
in one of the commentaries that it was the mother. So the father 
dispatches the mother to swoop down and to catch the eagle. 
So in other words, they knock it out of the nest to try and 
get it to fly. But if it doesn't fly, they don't 
let it smash to the ground. I imagine there are some bird 
varieties out there where, hey, either you fly or that's just 
it because you're out of the nest for now. But the idea with 
the eagle, this compassionate being, is that he swoops down. So there is that stress, there 
is that trial, there is that difficulty, but there's always 
those arms or there is those wings that catch, that ultimately 
support and sustain. And that's the imagery that's 
applied to the Lord God. Verse 12, So the Lord alone led 
him, and there was no foreign God with him. And this serves 
to be an indictment as we continue on, especially in their apostasy. 
What do they do? They go after other gods. Well, 
look at what verse 12 says. Yahweh alone led you. There was 
no foreign god with you. Why would you give allegiance 
to these foreign gods? Why would you bow down to that 
which is not God? Why would you not express fidelity 
and love and obedience and obligation to the Lord who led you out of 
Egypt. You see, the redeeming truth 
of God Most High ought to affect our hearts in such a way that 
we couldn't even imagine going back to the idols. When the Lord 
Jesus Christ cleanses us with His blood, when He gives us that 
righteousness, what possible allurement is there to our idols 
of yesterday? Why would we go back to something 
that didn't lead us out of sin, that didn't give us a righteousness, 
that didn't bring us out of distress. That's the emphasis here. Just 
like the eagle, so Yahweh alone led him and there was no foreign 
god with him. And not only does he deliver 
them or bring them out of the land of Egypt, but he also brings 
them into the land of promise. At this point, on the plains 
of Moab, they've already tasted and seen. They're on the east 
side of the Jordan. They haven't penetrated into 
the full promised land, but that east, or that trans-Jordan section 
that they're in is promised land. Remember, there are three tribes 
that are occupying on the east side of Jordan. They've already 
started to enjoy the benefit of the land. And that's what 
he highlights in verse 13. He made him ride in the heights 
of the earth that he might eat the produce of the fields. He 
made him draw honey from the rock and oil from the flinty 
rock. Could be wilderness and God's provision. But notice in 
verse 14, curds from the cattle and milk of the flock, with fat 
of lambs and rams of the breed of Bashan and goats, with the 
choicest wheat, and you drank wine, the blood of grapes. just 
the opposite of the diet-crazed generation we live in. Going 
into the land and feasting and enjoying the fruit and benefit 
of the land was not a condemnable offense. It wasn't a bad thing. 
God tells them, I'm giving you a land flowing with milk and 
honey. I had a buddy in Palmdale who used to say that wasn't 2% 
milk. This was full cream rich milk. This was honey. God is 
good. God is beneficent. God is gracious. God is kind. He wants you to 
go. He wants you to enjoy. He wants 
you to delight yourself. But let's move on. Verse 15 to 
18 is their apostasy. Their apostasy. Verse 15, but 
Jeshurun. Jeshurun is sort of like a pet 
name for Israel. And if the etymology or the commentators 
are to be trusted, it means upright one. Now, obviously, if it's 
being employed in this context, there's great irony here. Okay, 
my upright one who's played the harlot, my upright one who's 
an idolater, my upright one who has forsaken me. It's obviously 
irony. But notice, so they've reaped 
the benefit of the land, they've enjoyed the good fruit of the 
land, they've blotted themselves on the blessings of God, And 
notice what happens in verse 15, but Jeshurun grew fat and 
kicked. You grew fat, you grew thick, you are obese. Then he 
forsook God who made him and scornfully esteemed the rock 
of his salvation. You see, the crime wasn't eating 
the curds from the cattle, the milk of the flock, the fat of 
the lambs, the rams of the breed of Bashan, the goats, the choices 
we eat. The crime wasn't drinking the 
wine, the blood of the grapes. The crime was not bowing in gratitude 
to God Most High. It was reaping the benefits of 
the giver, but not worshiping and thanking the giver for the 
good things that he gave. The reception of benefit without 
the expression of gratitude inevitably leads one to this position. There 
is a doctrine in the Bible of stewardship. When God gives us 
good things, we ought to respond with thanksgiving, with praise, 
with adoration. That is precisely or exactly 
what they did not do. They reaped the benefits, they 
reaped the good things, Remember, way back in Deuteronomy, they 
were cautioned about these sorts of things. They were told, when 
you go into the land, the temptation will present itself, that you 
eat these things, that you glut yourself in these things, and 
then you will forget the Lord. It is an unfortunate thing that 
happens to God's people, or to his professing people, actually 
to his people. We are a thankless lot. Ingratitude 
oftentimes marks us. And in this particular instance, 
this ingratitude was the stepping stone to actual idolatry. So they grew fat, they grew thick, 
they became obese, then he forsook God who made him. and scornfully 
esteem the rock of his salvation." So it's a failure to express 
thankfulness, but as well it's a setting one's heart and affections 
upon the gifts rather than the giver. What are we more consumed 
with, the blessings that God gives or God? Are we more consumed 
with the benefits that He conveys upon us or with Him? Now certainly we ought to rejoice 
in the blessings. We ought to rejoice. Paul does 
this in Ephesians 1. Blessed be the God and Father 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual 
blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us 
in Him before the foundation of the world, in love, having 
predestinated us unto adoption as sons. He speaks in Christ. We have redemption through His 
blood. We have the Holy Spirit who seals and guarantees. He's 
praising God for the benefits that we receive, but He's praising 
God. He doesn't terminate on the benefit. 
He doesn't terminate on the blessing. The benefit and the blessing 
lead him back to the giver of the benefit and the blessing. 
You see, that's always one of the temptations that we fall 
prey to. We get a lot of stuff, we forget to thank God. Or we 
get a lot of stuff and we become more consumed with the stuff 
than we are with God. Unique temptation in an affluent 
society like where we live, right? We need to be on our guard. We 
need to make sure that it's not the blessings that God gives 
that makes us real happy, but it's the God who gives them that 
makes us real happy. And then notice, we've got ingratitude, 
verse 15, that leads then to idolatry, verses 16 and 17. They provoked him to jealousy 
with foreign gods, with abominations they provoked him to anger. They 
sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they did not know, 
to new gods, new arrivals that your fathers did not fear." It's 
an interesting thing. They sacrifice to demons. Turn for just a moment to Psalm 
106. Psalm 106. You know, Paul will 
tell us later, we'll look at in just a moment, 1 Corinthians 
10, the idol is nothing. But when we bow to an idol, it's... giving vent to, it's giving expression 
to, it's opening ourselves up to demonism. Behind these idols 
lie demons. Now again, the idol, you can 
call this God. and bow down to it. There's nothing 
there. But in your bowing down to it, 
there happens to be demonic beings back there that are part and 
parcel to this. It's somewhat of a mystery to 
me, but it certainly says this, that they sacrificed to demons. Notice Psalm 106, verse 34. They did not destroy the peoples 
concerning whom the Lord had commanded them, but they mingled 
with the Gentiles and learned their works. They served their 
idols, which became a snare to them. They even sacrificed their 
sons and their daughters to demons, and shed innocent blood, the 
blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols 
of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood." So you see, if we 
call this God and we bow down to this as God, I'm just holding 
up a folder here, it could be a rock, could be a statue of 
Molech, could be a statue of Baal. If we start casting our 
children into the fire, it's really not this that's behind 
it. The folder, or the image, or 
the idol, or the stone doesn't have sort of will, it doesn't 
have a malevolent influence, it doesn't, it's nothing, it's 
not there. But what is behind that activity 
is demonism. And that's what idolatry leads 
to. In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul develops 
this in some detail with reference to the table of the Lord. 1 Corinthians 
10, verse 14. Therefore, my beloved, flee from 
my idolatry. I speak as to wise men. Judge 
for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing which we 
bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread 
which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? 
For we though many are one bread and one body, for we all partake 
of that one bread. Observe Israel after the flesh. 
Are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? What am I saying then? That an 
idol is anything or what is offered to idols is anything? Rather, 
that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to 
demons and not to God. And I do not want you to have 
fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the 
Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the Lord's 
table and of the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to 
jealousy? Are we stronger than He? So while 
on the one hand this folder or this stone or this stick remain 
a folder, a stone or a stick, there is something dark and sinister 
going on in this transaction of idolatry. When we bow to that 
which is not God, we open ourselves up to this demonic influence 
and we ultimately are offering up sacrifice to demons and not 
to God. So we see in the apostasy of 
Israel, back in chapter 32, the ingratitude, the idolatry, and 
then ultimately the implication in verse 18. Of the rock who 
begot you, you are unmindful and have forgotten the God who 
fathered you. God's begetting and his paternal 
care highlight the gravity of the offense. As they were singing 
this, they ought to meditate upon this. When we recite scripture, 
when we hear the Bible preached, when we consider our memory work, 
when we sing these hymns and songs, And we consider the fact 
that God is our Father, that we are His children. This ought 
to go a long way to promoting in us a careful compliance with 
His will and with His word so that we don't depart and we don't 
end up over in the table or at the table of demons. Harmon says 
this special relationship between God and Israel was a strong reason 
why the nation's sins were so heinous in God's sight. So we've seen the creation of 
Israel, the apostasy of Israel. Notice thirdly, the judgment 
upon Israel. Verses 19 to 35. The Lord forsook 
them. Notice the New King James in 
verse 19, and when the Lord saw it, he spurned them. What does 
the ESV render that? Spurned, yeah. Spurned, anybody 
know what that means? I looked it up just because I 
wanted to know. Spurned means to reject with 
disdain. This is the eye for an eye ethic. When Israel bows down to not 
God, God then calls not people. That's the thrust of this section. Notice in verse 19, when the 
Lord saw it, he spurned them because of the provocation of 
his sons and his daughters. And he said, I will hide my face 
from them. I will see what their end will 
be, for they are a perverse generation. children in whom is no faith. 
They have provoked me to jealousy by what is not God. They have 
moved me to anger by their foolish idols, but I will provoke them 
to jealousy by those who are not a people. Now, I know it 
says not a nation, but if you're familiar with the prophet Hosea 
and you're familiar with the Apostle Paul's interpretation 
of the prophet Hosea, you'll know that Hosea prophesied that 
God would call a people that were not his people. It's not 
about the Gentiles. And when we get to Romans chapter 
9 and we get to Romans chapter 10, that section 9 to 11, where 
Paul is dealing with the issue of ethnic Israel, guess what 
he's citing? He's citing this instance. God has called the Gentiles as 
a means to provoke Israel, ethnic Israel, to jealousy. This is 
part of the program. This is part of the reality. 
Remember that Israel would be raised up as a body, as a people, 
through whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed. 
Now God is going to do that, either through the redemption 
of Israel or through their judgment. And it's already here in the 
program in Deuteronomy chapter 32. So when you get to the prophet 
Hosea, when you get to the apostle Paul, they are reflecting back 
upon what was going on or what was stated previously on the 
plains of Moab. Since they have provoked me to 
jealousy by what is not God, they have moved me to anger by 
their foolish idols, but I will provoke them to jealousy by those 
who are not a nation. I will move them to anger by 
a foolish nation." So you see, God deals covenantally. You reject 
Him, you forsake Him, He will reject you and He will forsake 
you. Again, one of the benefits of 
the New Covenant. We are in Christ, we are safe, 
we are blessed, we have that indefectible covenant status. 
But in this situation, in this instance, it was not the case. 
Now certainly the salvific element that ran parallel the people 
of God were safe, but in terms of this national covenant when 
they went into the land and they were unfaithful and they bowed 
to Baal and they rejected Yahweh, Yahweh rejected them. That's 
what they got and that's what he is prophesying or that's what 
he is indicating here in this section. Klein says, the mosaic 
song of witness itself anticipated the redemptive mercy and blessing 
that lie beyond the predicted cursing of Israel. already here 
in Deuteronomy 32, like we saw in Deuteronomy 30. It's looking 
forward to the New Covenant era. What we have in Deuteronomy is 
Moses is preaching Christ on the plains of Moab to these Israelites. It truly is a blessing to see 
and to witness this for ourselves. So the Lord would provoke, the 
Lord was angry with Israel. Verse 22 is a powerful statement. For a fire has kindled in my 
anger and shall burn to the lowest hell. It shall consume the earth 
with her increase and set on fire the foundations of the mountains. And then the Lord would judge 
Israel. Notice verses 23 to 26. verses 23 to 26. There is a shift 
at verse 27. We'll look at that in just a 
moment. But in 23 to 26, we're not going to spend a lot of time 
here because we already looked at chapter 28, right? Chapter 
28, sure, it spoke of blessings for obedience about this much, 
at least in my Bible, that much. And then the cursings for disobedience 
took up about that much. Okay? The inevitability was, 
is they were going to go into the land and they were going 
to break the covenant. And so the curses of the covenant 
are recorded in chapter 28. God rehearses that here. He created 
Israel, Israel apostatizes from Him, and now the Lord will judge 
them. He will bring upon them the curses 
that were given in the covenant. Verse 23, I will heap disasters 
on them. I will spend my arrows on them. 
They shall be wasted with hunger, devoured by pestilence and bitter 
destruction. I will also send against them 
the teeth of beasts with the poison of serpents of the dust. The sword shall destroy outside. There shall be terror within 
for the young man and virgin, the nursing child and the man 
of gray hairs. What I think this means is that 
when the enemies of Israel come to destroy, They won't respect 
the Geneva Convention for civil war fighting. The Geneva Convention 
said you can't shoot somebody when he's coming down on a parachute. 
It's a good rule. You shouldn't shoot somebody 
at that place of disadvantage. Wait till he gets on the ground 
and then you pop him. You're not supposed to shoot 
non-combatants. You don't bomb things that have 
a big red cross on them. You don't bomb hospitals. You 
don't bomb orphanages. You don't bomb private residences. Well, when the Canaanites, or 
when the Assyrians rather, or the Babylonians came to destroy 
Israel, they didn't think about the Geneva Convention. They didn't 
think about whether there was a Red Cross or whether there 
was a private residence. They went in and utterly destroyed. The sword shall destroy outside, 
verse 25. There shall be terror within. 
Private homes, hospitals, orphanages for the young man and virgin, 
the nursing child with the man of gray hairs. Those are non-combatants. Those are not soldiers. When 
the armies, when the enemies of Israel come in to do battle 
and destroy, it will be comprehensive, it will be total, and if it was 
not for this next concern, God would make it so. But notice 
in verse 26, I would have said, I will dash them in pieces, I 
will make the memory of them to cease from among men. In other 
words, I'll absolutely obliterate Israel from off the face of the 
earth, were it not for what the heathen would say." Notice in 
verse 27. Now it says, had I not feared 
the wrath of the enemy. I don't think we're supposed 
to interpret God as being afraid of the Babylonians or being afraid 
of the Assyrians. I think the idea is that His 
glory would be jeopardized, humanly speaking, if Israel was obliterated. Remember, Moses, the man of God, 
prayed specifically this way. In Numbers 13 and 14, he sends 
the spies. They come back from the promised 
land. The two spies, Joshua and Caleb, say, let's go and take 
the land. The ten spies whine, grumble, 
and complain. And then, of course, the congregation 
listens to the ten spies. Then they want to stone Moses 
and Aaron. God says, I want to destroy entirely 
the nation of Israel. We'll start all over, Moses. 
And Moses says, don't do that. Because then the heathen will 
say, God was not able to bring these people to the promised 
land. For his own glory, the Lord God will not completely 
obliterate Israel. That's the emphasis there. in 
verse 27, Had I not feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their 
adversaries should misunderstand, lest they should say, Our hand 
is high, and it is not the Lord who has done all this. In other 
words, God does not want Assyria and Babylon to be these proud, 
arrogant wretches who boast that they are the absolute conquerors. Now, the emphasis from 28 to 
35 is on those enemies. It's not on Israel at this point. 
There's a bit of, you know, interpretative call here. There's some quotation 
marks. Craigie takes it as still applying 
to Israel, but I think the better case is to be made for those 
nations that would invade, those nations that God would use. You 
see something parallel in Isaiah chapter 10. When God is dealing 
with Assyria, one of the things He says, shall the axe boast 
against the one who swings it? In other words, shall Assyria 
start to boast and be arrogant in their destruction of Israel? 
No! God says, I raised you up and 
I will set you down. God is utterly and comprehensively 
sovereign. And so that's the direction now 
in verses 28 to 35. For they are a nation void of 
counsel, nor is there any understanding in them. That's the enemies of 
God. That is the nations that will 
come in and destroy. God's already sent all of this 
destruction upon Israel. up to verse 26. I mean, they've 
got pestilence, they've got beasts, they've got, you know, war, they've 
got everybody, non-combatants dead. Now God deals with the 
Assyrians, and now God deals with Babylon. And you see this 
in the prophets. You see this in Isaiah. You see 
this in Jeremiah. God raises up his servant Nebuchadnezzar, 
and then God puts him down. That's what verses 28 to 35 indicate. For they are a nation void of 
counsel, nor is there any understanding in them. Oh, that they were wise, 
that they understood this, that they would consider their latter 
end. How could one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, 
unless their rock had sold them, and the Lord had surrendered 
them? How would Assyria or Babylon ever gain conquest over Israel 
or Judah, unless God the Lord gave them up? God the Lord protects 
His people. God the Lord surrounds them as 
the mountains surround Jerusalem. But when the people forsake God 
the Lord, and He hides His face from them, and He gives them 
up, the victory that Assyria, the victory that Babylon gets, 
is not due to their own strength. How could one chase a thousand 
and two put ten thousand to flight unless their rock, God, had sold 
them and Yahweh had surrendered them? Notice verse 31, for their 
rock is not like our rock. The God of the heathen, the God 
of the Gentiles, is not like Aarak. Even our enemies themselves 
being judges, right? If you go back to Pharaoh's army, 
when they're sitting there with their chariot wheels having fallen 
off, they fear the God of Israel. Rahab the harlot, what was her 
testimony? We heard about your God and we 
were afraid. Even the gods or even the enemies 
know that the God of Israel is stronger. You need to listen. 
Their ethical conduct, verse 32, their vine is of the vine 
of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are grapes 
of gall. Their clusters are bitter. Their 
wine is the poison of serpents and the cruel venom of cobras. 
Is this not laid up in store with me, sealed up among my treasures? Vengeance is mine and recompense 
their foot shall slip in due time. For the day of their calamity 
is at hand, and the things to come hasten upon them." So that 
section there deals with those nations that God would use to 
chastise Israel. They themselves, though, would 
ultimately be put down. You see, God is comprehensively 
sovereign. And just by way of a historical 
observation, and not the history of Israel, but the history of 
American evangelicalism, one of the most famous sermons that 
was ever preached is a sermon by Jonathan Edwards called Sinners 
in the Hands of an Angry God. This is his text, verse 35. Their foot shall slip in due 
time. That's the text upon which he 
preached sinners in the hands of an angry God. You can read 
that sermon and not learn anything about Deuteronomy 32. You can 
read that sermon and not learn anything about Assyria or Babylon 
or the history of Israel. But you will read that sermon 
and be afraid. It is a powerful, powerful statement. And then the final section deals 
with the salvation of Israel. You see it ends on a positive 
note. Verse 36, probably should better be read, for the Lord 
will vindicate his people. Is that what ESV has? Yeah. The 
Lord will vindicate his people. That means that they will not 
always be in this state. They will not always be doomed 
to destruction. Now, of course, this would refer 
to the remnant. This would refer to the faithful. 
And ultimately, the benefactors of this section of the statement 
applies to the New Covenant community. Notice, the Lord will vindicate 
his people. and have compassion on his servants. And when does God have compassion 
on them? When he sees that their power 
is gone and there is no one remaining bond or free. In other words, 
when they've come to the end of themselves, when they've come 
to the end of their rope, when they are done. when it is over, 
when they are at the bottom, that's when the Lord God comes 
to rescue his people so that the excellence of the power may 
be of God and not of men. He will indict them, verses 37 
and 38. He will say, where are their 
gods, the rock in which they sought refuge, who ate the fat 
of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offering? 
Let them rise and help you and be your refuge. You sought them, 
you trusted them, where are they now to deliver you? Where are 
they now to bring you out of this ashy? Wright says, such 
is always the way of idolatry in human society, ancient and 
modern. False gods never fail to fail. False gods never fail to fail. He says, sadly, we never fail 
to forget. I thought that was very perceptive. That's what the Lord is doing. 
Now notice, the Lord declares his sovereignty in verses 39 
to 42. You trace through their apostasy. You trace through the 
history of Israel. You come to the apostle in Romans 
chapter 1. What is at the heart of rebellion? What is at the heart of vice? 
What is at the heart of all of the sin manifested in society 
and through culture? At the root, the center of the 
cause is idolatry. It is the rejection of God. It 
is the seeking out something else instead of God. And so what's 
the best corrective to that? Theology proper. The best corrective 
to idolatry is theology, the biblical theology concerning 
God. Notice in verses 39 to 42, now 
see that I, even I am he. What prophet says that or what 
prophet quotes God as saying that a lot? Isaiah. Isaiah is steeped in Deuteronomy. Well, all the prophets are, but 
I mean, it's like, I hope you're appreciating as we go through 
Deuteronomy. When you get to the prophets 
and you get to the New Testament, what are they doing? they're 
expounding what's already gone before. God has always had a 
purpose, God has always had a plan, and God has always revealed that 
purpose and plan from the get-go. The later redemption simply builds 
upon, opens up, applies, expounds what God already instituted all 
the way back in the garden. Now see that I, even I am he. There is no God besides me. I kill and I make alive. I wound 
and I heal. Nor is there any who can deliver 
from my hand. For I raise my hand to heaven 
and say, as I live forever." What does Paul say in Hebrews 
6 when he could swear, by no one greater, he swore by himself. For I raise my hand to heaven. 
There's an instance of this in Revelation chapter 10. It's an 
angel. that puts his feet on the ground 
and swears. I think that angel is Jesus. 
He swears by himself. Verse 41, if I wet my glittering 
sword and my hand takes hold on my judgment, I will render 
vengeance to my enemies and repay those who hate me. I will make 
my arrows drunk with blood and my sword shall devour flesh with 
the blood of the slain and the captives from the heads of the 
leaders of the enemy. It's an interesting corrective 
to man in sin and idolatry. You need to come and you need 
to bow down to the one who is sovereign, to the one who has 
all powerful, to the one who does judge, to the one who does 
bring vengeance, to the one who does make his arrows drunk with 
blood. So you see the corrective to 
idolatry is good sound theology. And then it ends with this song 
of praise, verse 43. Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his 
people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants and render 
vengeance to his adversaries. He will provide atonement for 
his land and his people. This is new covenant. This is 
This is the preaching of the gospel. Paul takes this in Romans 
15. He quotes this. He sees the inclusion 
of the Gentiles as fulfillment of what was spoken here on the 
plains of Moab way back in Deuteronomy 32. Doesn't it bug you when people 
say, I don't need my Old Testament? Oh, you most certainly do need 
your Old Testament. You need to read it. You need 
to heed it. You need to learn of Jesus. in the Old Testament 
scripture. So that's the song, then the 
charge, Moses came with Joshua. That's significant. Moses is 
going to die. Joshua is going to succeed him. He is the new leader. It is absolutely 
fitting that these two men come at the conclusion of this Song 
of Witness and they give the people this charge. Moses finished 
speaking all these words to all Israel and he said, set your 
hearts on all the words which I testify among you today. You 
need to receive the Word, you need to instruct your children 
concerning the Word, you need to observe the Word, and you 
need to recognize its importance. Verse 47, it's not a futile thing 
for you, because it is your life, and by this Word you shall prolong 
your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess. 
I wish, or I hope, or I pray that all of us in the New Covenant 
era would take the scriptures that seriously, that we would 
understand that man does not live by bread alone, but by every 
word that proceeds from the mouth of God, that we would realize 
that our Bibles is our life, and by this word we shall prolong 
our days in the land which we cross over the Jordan to possess. Well, God willing, next week 
we'll see Moses being told to go up on the mountain upon which 
he's going to die and then bless Israel one final time and then 
he dies. And as we always end a book like 
this, it's kind of like losing a friend, right? I know when 
I preach letters of Paul, You get to the end, and you feel 
like you've lost a good friend. He's gone now. He's in a better 
place, to be sure. Now, he's been there for a few 
thousand years. But you develop a relationship 
with a man like Moses. But God willing, when we get 
into Joshua, we'll develop a relationship with him, too. Let's close in 
prayer. Our Father, we thank you for 
your word, and we thank you for this song of witness, and I pray 
that we would study it, and that we would learn it, and that we 
would sing it to ourselves, and that we would learn the New Testament 
songs, learn the New Testament scriptures, that we may have 
this constant sight of a living and true God. We just thank you 
for your mercy and grace revealed in this book. Thank you that 
even in the midst of the covenant unfaithfulness of Israel, you 
continue to promise your faithfulness in terms of new covenant blessing 
to Jew and Gentile through Jesus Christ the Lord. We know that 
you will make good on your promises that Jesus will have dominion 
from sea to sea. May you encourage us and strengthen 
us, and may you go with us now, we pray. In Christ's holy name, 
amen.