The Song of Moses

The Song of Moses (Deuteronomy 32) is an exhortation to Israel as they stand on the brink of taking possession of the land promised them by God.

In His wisdom God knows that in the days ahead Israel will become full of itself, drunk on the prosperity afforded by God, going so far as to abandon God for strange gods; for idols; for the works of human hands… (Who wouldn’t become forgetful of the hand that feeds them when intoxicated with the comforts of life, when drunk with power and vanity? Doesn’t wealth detach us from our origins? Doesn’t it make us full of ourselves and forgetful of those who made us?)

The song says to Israel in its prophetic wisdom: “You grew fat, bloated and gorged! You abandoned God who made you, and scoffed at the Rock of His salvation.”

At this point, to interject, I’m reminded of the story of Cain and Abel, but with roles reversed. God is now in the position of Cain, whose offering has been rejected by Israel just as Cain’s offering was rejected by God. But where Cain rises up in his jealousy and anger to slay Abel, God has a decidedly different response…

Instead of slaying the “strange gods” God’s response to Israel’s rejection is peculiarly detached:

God says “I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end will be; for they are a perverse generation, children in whom there is no faithfulness. They made me jealous with what is no god, provoked me with their idols. So I will make them jealous with what is no people, provoke them with a foolish nation.”

God’s response isn’t to blot out all trace of Israel, or to actively punish them, but rather it’s to take a back seat and observe… At most God’s response is to bestow divine grace upon other nations, but either way the result is the same:

Where God once “sustained Israel in a desert land, in a howling wilderness waste; shielding him, caring for him, guarding him as the apple of his eye”; God will now treat Israel with indifference. Israel is left on its own for abandoning God, and it is this, and this alone, that constitutes Israel’s punishment for disobedience.

As the nations of the world rise up against Israel God’s response is indifference to Israel’s plight. Israel is essentially cast out of Eden, removed from God’s protection, just like Adam who was sentenced to a life of making due on his own following his betrayal. So returning to the story of Cain and Abel perhaps the Song of Moses is better linked up with the story of Adam, who just like Israel “scoffed at the Rock of His salvation” when he disobeyed God’s only rule.

Israel’s betrayal is tantamount to Adam’s betrayal. Both broke faith and both have to face the consequences. But the only consequence in both cases is indifference on God’s part. God “hides his face” and wants only to “see what their end will be”.

This inactivity on God’s part is further evinced in the song when God’s moment of vengeance is described.

God says in the song “Vengeance is mine, and recompense, at the time when their foot shall slip”.

God’s vengeance is realized when Israel slips. When Israel falls and God is not there to catch him, this is when God is repaid for Israel’s betrayal…

In this moment of vengeance, when Israel slips, God will say “Where are your gods, the rock in which you took refuge, who ate the fat of your sacrifices, and drank the wine of your libations? Let them rise up and help you, let them be your protection!” as if God is repaid when Israel comes to see the error of its ways, that God is the one true God and there is no God besides Him.

We know this is God’s moment of vengeance because the song also says that God “will vindicate his people, have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone”. In other words once Israel falls, once Israel is reduced to nothing and comes to restore God to His rightful place, then God will show mercy. God will not only show mercy but will vindicate His people, as if their betrayal never happened, restoring them to their former glory.

And that’s just it, it all turns on Israel, not God. Israel chooses a path and faces the natural consequences of it. God is always there, offering the Rock of His salvation to those who hold fast to Him, but to those who abandon God’s way, woe to them if they slip, for they will be their own downfall.