Deuteronomy 32
Invocation of Witnesses
32:1 Listen, O heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
Moses called the heavens and earth to be witnesses to God's divine national anthem song of Israel. The song was written in Hebrew parallelism, meaning that the first and second verse of each stanza gave parallel information.
32:2 My teaching will drop like the rain, my sayings will drip like the dew, as rain drops upon the grass, and showers upon new growth.
Just as the rain causes the grass to grow physically, so will this song help those Israelites who follow its teachings grow to spiritual maturity.
32:3 For I will proclaim the name of the Lord; you must acknowledge the greatness of our God.
The purpose of this song was to glorify the greatness of God.
32:4 As for the Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are just. He is a reliable God who is never unjust, he is fair and upright.
Jehovah is as stable as a rock. His work is perfect and without flaw. His ways are always just. The other pagan gods were filled with fickleness, jealousy, and strife. The God of Israel is always fair and righteous.
32:5 His people have been unfaithful to him; they have not acted like his children – this is their sin. They are a perverse and deceitful generation.
God was a righteous father, but His children were not acting like their father. They were perverse and deceitful. The national anthem of Israel did not tickle the ears of the nation. It painted them as wicked and deceitful people. Israel had to sing this national anthem about their own wickedness.
32:6 Is this how you repay the Lord, you foolish, unwise people? Is he not your father, your creator? He has made you and established you.
In their national anthem, Israel had to sing about how foolish they were for rejecting God as their Creator and provider. Modern man is no different. Modern man is just as superstitious as Israel. If God does not touch the mind of men, then they will believe in the scientific impossible. Even though 0 x 0 = 0, the unnatural man will believe that nothing exploded into everything.
32:7 Remember the ancient days; bear in mind the years of past generations. Ask your father and he will inform you, your elders, and they will tell you.
This national anthem reminded Israel to ask their elders about their history.
32:8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided up humankind, he set the boundaries of the peoples, according to the number of the heavenly assembly.
In the Table of Nations in Genesis 10, God laid out the boundaries of the nations. After the Tower of Babel, God divided the people into seventy nations. The house of Abraham also sent seventy people into Egypt. Whenever nations violate these land boundaries which were divinely given by God, then many people die in wars.
32:9 For the Lord’s allotment is his people, Jacob is his special possession.
Israel was the chosen people of God. They were chosen to become priests to all the nations. This priesthood will not take effect until the Millennial Kingdom. It is important to note that Israel, and not America, is the focus of Bible prophecy.
32:10 The Lord found him in a desolate land, in an empty wasteland where animals howl. He continually guarded him and taught him; he continually protected him like the pupil of his eye.
Jehovah founded the nation of Israel in the evil and superstitious city state of Ur. He moved Abraham to Canaan and taught him how to know the one true God.
The pupil of the eye is the most sensitive part of the body. God guarded Israel, just as one guards the pupil of his eye. When a nation attacks Israel, then they are poking God in the eye. He will instantly swat them away.
32:11 Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that hovers over its young, so the Lord spread out his wings and took him, he lifted him up on his pinions.
Eagles must push their young out of their nests to teach them how to fly. If the little eaglet falters, then the mother eagle will swoop down with spread out wings and save them. God pushed Israel out of her nest so that she could fly. Whenever she failed, God swooped down like a mother eagle and saved her.
32:12 The Lord alone was guiding him, no foreign god was with him.
Jehovah guided Israel out of Egypt by Himself. There were no foreign gods in any foreign nation who could repeat this miracle, because they did not exist.
32:13 He enabled him to travel over the high terrain of the land, and he ate of the produce of the fields. He provided honey for him from the cliffs, and olive oil from the hardest of rocks,
The land of Israel would become so agriculturally prosperous, that even the cliffs and hardest rocks would produce a multitude of honey and olive oil.
32:14 butter from the herd and milk from the flock, along with the fat of lambs, rams and goats of Bashan, along with the best of the kernels of wheat; and from the juice of grapes you drank wine.
Israel would also prosper in livestock products, wheat, and vineyard production.
Israel’s Rebellion
32:15 But Jeshurun became fat and kicked, you got fat, thick, and stuffed! Then he deserted the God who made him, and treated the Rock who saved him with contempt.
The Hebrew word for “Jeshurun” is יְשֻׁרוּן֙ (Yeshuron), meaning "upright one". Jeshurun was used as a pet name for Israel. This song is saying that Israel should be called Jeshurun, because she was supposed to be the upright nation. However, she became fat and prosperous. Like a stubborn and stupid mule, she kicked her heels in rebellion against God. She rebelled against the Rock who was stabilizing her.
32:16 They made him jealous with other gods, they enraged him with abhorrent idols.
Israel was the wife of Jehovah. Israel made God jealous when she worshiped other idols and committed spiritual adultery.
32:17 They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods they had not known; to new gods who had recently come along, gods your ancestors had not known about.
Demonism was behind all idolatry. Israel thought that she was worshiping pagan gods, but she was actually worshiping the demons behind the pagan gods. Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroasterism, and Islam are all called world religions by the satanic world system, but they are all actually demon worship. Demons were behind the origins of each of these false worship systems.
32:18 You have forgotten the Rock who fathered you, and put out of mind the God who gave you birth.
God was the Rock who stabilized Israel. He was the Father who brought His daughter into existence. He was the Mother who gave her birth. Israel had rejected her foundation, her father, and her mother.
A Word of Judgment
32:19 But the Lord took note and despised them because his sons and daughters enraged him.
Israel’s idolatry angered Jehovah.
32:20 He said, “I will reject them, I will see what will happen to them; for they are a perverse generation, children who show no loyalty.
In this national anthem, Israel had to sing that she was a perverse and disloyal generation in which God had rejected.
32:21 They have made me jealous with false gods, enraging me with their worthless gods; so I will make them jealous with a people they do not recognize, with a nation slow to learn I will enrage them.
Since the children of Israel had made their Father God jealous, He would now spank her by sending her into the Assyrian and Babylonian Captivities.
32:22 For a fire has been kindled by my anger, and it burns to lowest Sheol; it consumes the earth and its produce, and ignites the foundations of the mountains.
In this national anthem, Israel had to sing about the burning anger that Jehovah possessed for His rebellious people. This anger would burn like a fire which spread from Sheol to earth, to the crops and then to the mountains.
32:23 I will increase their disasters, I will use up my arrows on them.
God would spank Israel by sending her natural disasters. God would shoot these natural disasters upon Israel like an archer shoots a quiver of arrows upon an army.
32:24 They will be starved by famine, eaten by plague, and bitterly stung; I will send the teeth of wild animals against them, along with the poison of creatures that crawl in the dust.
God would spank Israel by sending her famine, plague, wild animal attacks, and poisonous snake attacks.
32:25 The sword will make people childless outside, and terror will do so inside; they will destroy both the young man and the virgin, the infant and the gray-haired man.
God would spank Israel by sending wars upon her. The wars would take away her young men, her virgin daughters, and her older men.
The Weakness of Other Gods
32:26 “I said, ‘I want to cut them in pieces. I want to make people forget they ever existed.
Israel would almost be depopulated and almost completely annihilated.
32:27 But I fear the reaction of their enemies, for their adversaries would misunderstand and say, “Our power is great, and the Lord has not done all this!”’
If God wiped out all of Israel, then the Gentile nations would boast that God was not powerful enough to preserve Israel. The pagan Gentiles would think that their demonic gods were greater than Jehovah. Therefore, God would always preserve a Jewish-believing Remnant throughout history. He must do so, so that He could keep His promises of the Abrahamic Covenant. The existence of this ongoing Jewish generation throughout history is the evidence to fallen man that the God of the Bible is the one and only true God.
32:28 They are a nation devoid of wisdom, and there is no understanding among them.
Israel was the only nation who possessed the Word of God, yet she did not study and apply it. This rejection of light caused her to become dark and foolish in her understanding.
What is wisdom? Wisdom comes from the deep study of Bible doctrine. What is love? Love is applying Bible doctrine. One shows his love for God by studying and applying Bible doctrine.
32:29 I wish that they were wise and could understand this, and that they could comprehend what will happen to them.”
Israel rejected Bible doctrine, so she became foolish. God wishes that Israel would study Bible doctrine, so that they could comprehend what was happening to them.
Those who do not study Bible doctrine at the deepest level will not be able to understand their circumstances or their world around them. The more ignorant one is of Bible doctrine, the more foolish they will become, but they will think that they are wiser than others.
Lack of wisdom (or Bible doctrine) is the weakness of liberalism. Lack of Bible doctrine causes arrogance and foolishness. Once a nation becomes foolish, then it will elect foolish leaders who will ultimately destroy the nation. The most severe verdict of God is when God leaves the natural man alone to make his own decisions. Man will destroy himself with his own sin. Believers should pray that God will never allow one's own sin to destroy their ministry with God.
32:30 How can one man chase a thousand of them, and two pursue ten thousand; unless their Rock had delivered them up, and the Lord had handed them over?
The Rock would give Israel supernatural military strength. However, Israel would reject this divine military weapon.
32:31 For our enemies’ rock is not like our Rock, as even our enemies concede.
The Rock of Israel was Jehovah. He was the secret weapon of Israel. No one could defeat the Rock. Even the enemies of Israel knew that they could not defeat the Rock.
32:32 For their vine is from the stock of Sodom, and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes contain venom, their clusters of grapes are bitter.
The enemies of Israel were even more evil and corrupt than Sodom and Gomorrah. The other nations had adopted the lifestyle of Sodom and Gomorrah and applied it in their cultures.
32:33 Their wine is snakes’ poison, the deadly venom of cobras.
Even the wine of Babylon and Assyria was poisonous to Israel. It would not bring joy to them. Instead, it would bring them drunkenness, orgies, and idolatry. When man refuses Bible doctrine, then he will become bored in life and engage in sin.
32:34 “Is this not stored up with me?” says the Lord, “Is it not sealed up in my storehouses?"
Israel’s enemies would defeat Israel, but God would store up His wrath in His storehouses.
32:35 I will get revenge and pay them back at the time their foot slips; for the day of their disaster is near, and the impending judgment is rushing upon them!”
God would later take the wrath out of His storehouses and execute His judgment upon Israel’s enemies.
32:36 The Lord will judge his people, and will change his plans concerning his servants; when he sees that their power has disappeared, and that no one is left, whether confined or set free.
Since Israel was rebellious to God and worshiped idols, then God would judge Israel. Once Israel begins to change her mind about God and about idols, then God would again show compassion to Israel.
32:37 He will say, “Where are their gods, the rock in whom they sought security,
Moses asked Israel where her pagan gods will be during her coming future captivities.
32:38 who ate the best of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? Let them rise and help you; let them be your refuge!
Moses ironically asked Israel to call upon her pagan gods to help her, knowing that they would not be able to do so. The prophets would later repeat this same advice to Israel. The prophets would ask Israel to call on her pagan gods to deliver her from Assyria and Babylon.
The Vindication of the Lord
32:39 “See now that I, indeed I, am he!” says the Lord, “and there is no other god besides me. I kill and give life, I smash and I heal, and none can resist my power.
God’s purpose in judging Israel was not to destroy her. His purpose was to teach Israel that there was only one God who controls all life and death. God can also heal Israel. There is no one who can resist the power of God. Notice that God controls when a man dies and when a man is born.
Jehovah Witnesses like to use this verse to reject the deity of Jesus. Jehovah is the only God, but Jesus is Jehovah. Jehovah is so great, that He can exist omnipresently in everything, He can sit as Jesus at the right hand of the Father, and He can guide the affairs of men through the omnipresent Holy Spirit. This is not three separate gods working together or separately, but it is one God working together in unison, three different personalities. It is not 1 + 1 + 1 = 3, but 1 x 1 x1 = 1.
32:40 For I raise up my hand to heaven, and say, ‘As surely as I live forever,
God is raising His hand and making an oath to heaven. Since there is no one greater than Himself, then He must base the oath upon His eternal existence.
32:41 I will sharpen my lightning-like sword, and my hand will grasp hold of the weapon of judgment; I will execute vengeance on my foes, and repay those who hate me!
God used the sword of other nations to discipline Israel. In this oath, God promised that He would use His own divine sword against the enemies of Israel.
32:42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword will devour flesh –the blood of the slaughtered and captured, the chief of the enemy’s leaders!’”
God would use His own divine arrows against the enemies of Israel. He will give these anti-semitic evil nations a taste of their own medicine.
32:43 Cry out, O nations, with his people, for he will avenge his servants’ blood; he will take vengeance against his enemies, and make atonement for his land and people.
God commanded the Gentile nations to cry out, because God would take vengeance upon them for attacking Israel. The song ends with victory for Israel against her Gentile enemies and atonement for both Jews and Gentiles.
Narrative Interlude
32:44 Then Moses went with Joshua son of Nun and recited all the words of this song to the people.
Moses went with Joshua and recited the national anthem song to the people.
32:45 When Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel
This was the last speech of Moses.
32:46 he said to them, “Keep in mind all the words I am solemnly proclaiming to you today; you must command your children to observe carefully all the words of this law.
Moses asked this new generation to seriously consider the words of this national anthem. They were to teach this song to their children.
32:47 For this is no idle word for you – it is your life! By this word you will live a long time in the land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.”
The message of this song would help Israel to survive against other nations who wanted to destroy them.
Instructions about Moses’ Death
32:48 Then the Lord said to Moses that same day,
After Moses’ last speech, Jehovah talked to Moses once again.
32:49 “Go up to this Abarim hill country, to Mount Nebo (which is in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho) and look at the land of Canaan that I am giving to the Israelites as a possession.
Mount Nebo was one of the highest peaks outside of the Promised Land. Moses was allowed to look at the Promised Land from the highest mountain in the land.
32:50 You will die on the mountain that you ascend and join your deceased ancestors, just as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and joined his deceased ancestors,
Moses would die on the mountain and join his deceased ancestors in Paradise.
32:51 for both of you rebelled against me among the Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the desert of Zin when you did not show me proper respect among the Israelites.
Moses was told to speak to the desert rock and bring water to Israel. Instead, he struck the rock twice and took credit for bringing the water from the rock. He was a leader who did not obey God publicly in front of the people. He took the glory of the miracle for himself.
32:52 You will see the land before you, but you will not enter the land that I am giving to the Israelites.”
Moses was to see the land from the highest mountain, but he was not to enter the land in his physical life. He would later enter the land in his spiritual life when he visited Jesus at the Mount of Transfiguration. Moses died on this mountain, but God raised him from the dead and gave him a new existence in heaven.