Deuteronomy 32

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Moses' song in Deuteronomy 32 begins by extolling God's perfect character as the Rock and His faithful care for Israel, whom He chose and nourished. However, Israel, described as Jeshurun, grew rebellious, forsaking God for idols, thus provoking divine wrath and judgment. Despite the impending punishments, God declares His ultimate sovereignty and promises future vengeance on His enemies while showing mercy to His people. The chapter concludes with Moses being commanded to ascend Mount Nebo to view the promised land before his death, as he is forbidden to enter due to past transgression.

Invocation and Introduction to the Song 1–4

¶ Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:

Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God.

He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

Israel’s Corruption and Ingratitude 5–14

They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation.

Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?

¶ Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.

When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.

For the LORD'S portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.

He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:

So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.

He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;

Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.

Jeshurun Rebels Against the Rock 15–18

¶ But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.

They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger.

They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.

Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.

God Declares Judgment 19–25

¶ And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.

And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith.

They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.

I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.

They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.

The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.

God’s Mercy and the Enemy’s Folly 26–33

¶ I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men:

Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the LORD hath not done all this.

For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them.

O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!

How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up?

For their rock is not as 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 dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.

The Lord’s Vengeance and Sovereignty 34–43

Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures?

To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.

For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.

And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted,

Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? let them rise up and help you, and be your protection.

¶ See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.

For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.

If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me.

I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.

Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.

Exhortation and Moses’ Final Charge 44–47

¶ And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun.

And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel:

And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law.

For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.

The Lord Instructs Moses to Die 48–52

And the LORD spake unto Moses that selfsame day, saying,

Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession:

And die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people:

Because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel.

Yet thou shalt see the land before thee; but thou shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel.

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Deuteronomy 32

Verse 1

Give ear, O ye heavens — Isaiah opens in the reverse order: 'Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth' (Isa 1:2). Moses has already called heaven and earth as witnesses: 'I call heaven and earth to record this day against you' (Deut 30:19; see 31:28). The song itself is given 'that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel' (31:19).

Verse 2

My doctrine shall drop as the rain — 'Doctrine' is leqach, what is received and learned, the word of 'I give you good doctrine' (Prov 4:2). Four figures of water follow, rain, dew, small rain and showers, falling on 'the tender herb' and 'the grass'. The LORD says the same of his word: 'as the rain cometh down… so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth' (Isa 55:10–11).

Verse 4

He is the Rock — Tsur is the song's name for God, taken up in vv.15, 18, 30, 31 and 37, and set against 'their rock' in v.31. Paul writes of Israel's drink in the wilderness, 'that Rock was Christ' (1 Cor 10:4). 'Perfect' is tamim, whole; 'truth' is emunah, faithfulness. The Lamb's song takes the line up: 'just and true are thy ways' (Rev 15:3).

Verse 5

corrupted themselves — Shachath, the verb used of the earth before the Flood, 'all flesh had corrupted his way' (Gen 6:12), and of Israel at the golden calf, 'thy people… have corrupted themselves' (Ex 32:7). 'Perverse' (iqqesh) and 'crooked' (petaltol) mark the generation; Paul uses the pair for the world believers shine in, 'a crooked and perverse nation' (Phil 2:15).

Verse 8

divided to the nations their inheritance — The Most High (Elyon) assigns the nations their lands: 'By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands' (Gen 10:5). Paul says he 'hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation' (Acts 17:26). The bounds are set with Israel in view; 'the LORD'S portion is his people' (v.9).

Verse 10

the apple of his eye — Ishon, the 'little man' of the eye, the pupil, as in the prayer 'Keep me as the apple of the eye' (Ps 17:8). 'Found' him in a desert: 'I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness' (Hos 9:10). 'Waste' is tohu, the 'without form' of Gen 1:2. 'Instructed' is bin, to make understand; 'kept' is natsar, to guard.

Verse 11

As an eagle stirreth up her nest — 'Fluttereth' is rachaph, the verb of the Spirit of God who 'moved upon the face of the waters' (Gen 1:2). 'Beareth them on her wings' recalls the LORD's own account of the exodus: 'I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself' (Ex 19:4).

Verse 15

Jeshurun waxed fat — Yeshurun, from the word for upright, a name for Israel found only here, in Deut 33:5 and 33:26, and in Isa 44:2. 'Kicked' is ba'at, the verb of 'Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice' (1 Sam 2:29). 'Lightly esteemed' is nabel, to treat as worthless. The same title is taken up in Ps 89:26, 'the rock of my salvation'.

Verse 17

sacrificed unto devils — Shedim, found only here and in Ps 106:37, 'they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils'. Paul says the same of what the Gentiles offer: 'they sacrifice to devils, and not to God' (1 Cor 10:20). 'New gods that came newly up' are chadash, new; 'feared not' is sa'ar, to shudder at, said of the fathers.

Verse 19

he abhorred them — Naats, to spurn, the verb of Ps 107:11, 'contemned the counsel of the most High'. The cause is 'the provoking' (kaas) of 'his sons, and of his daughters', the noun beside the verb 'provoked me to anger' in v.21. Even here they are 'his children' (v.5), his sons and daughters.

Verse 21

not a people — The line answers measure for measure: 'that which is not God' (lo el) with 'those which are not a people' (lo am). 'Vanities' is hebel, breath, the empty. Paul cites it of the Gentiles in Rom 10:19: 'I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you.'

Verse 22

the lowest hell — Sheol tachtit, the grave's lowest part: 'thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell' (Ps 86:13). 'A fire is kindled in mine anger' is the LORD's word again in Jer 15:14. The fire reaches 'the earth with her increase' (yebul, produce) and 'the foundations of the mountains'.

Verse 26

scatter them into corners — Pa'ah occurs only here in the Old Testament. The LORD says what he would do and why he does not: 'Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high' (v.27). Ezekiel records the same restraint: 'I wrought for my name's sake' (Ezek 20:9).

Verse 30

sold them… shut them up — The curse turns the promise round: 'One man of you shall chase a thousand' (Josh 23:10). 'Sold' (makar) is the verb of Judges: 'he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about' (Judg 2:14). 'Shut up' (sagar) is to close in or surrender; the cause is that 'their Rock had sold them'.

Verse 31

our enemies themselves being judges — 'Judges' is paliyl, a magistrate who gives a verdict. The nations give it: 'Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the LORD fighteth for them' (Ex 14:25), and Rahab, 'the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath' (Josh 2:11).

Verse 34

laid up in store… sealed up — 'This' is the judgment of vv.32–33, the vine of Sodom and its bitter fruit. Kamas, to store, occurs only here; chatam, to seal, is the verb of 'My transgression is sealed up in a bag' (Job 14:17). Paul speaks of a treasure of wrath: 'treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath' (Rom 2:5).

Verse 35

To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence — Naqam and shillem. Paul quotes it: 'Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord' (Rom 12:19). Hebrews joins this verse to the next: 'Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people' (Heb 10:30). The foot 'shall slide' (mot) in 'due time' (et).

Verse 36

repent himself for his servants — Nacham, to be moved to pity or comfort. Ps 135:14 repeats the line: 'For the LORD will judge his people, and he will repent himself concerning his servants.' 'Power' is literally 'hand', and it is gone when 'none shut up, or left' remains: the judgment of v.35 turns to the people's help.

Verse 39

I, even I, am he — The LORD's own words in Isa 43:13: 'Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.' 'I kill, and I make alive' is Hannah's praise, 'The LORD killeth, and maketh alive' (1 Sam 2:6); 'he hath torn, and he will heal us' (Hos 6:1). The hand that wounds is the hand that heals.

Verse 43

Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people — Paul quotes it in Rom 15:10, 'Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people', among his proofs that the Gentiles glorify God. 'He will avenge the blood of his servants' is taken up in Rev 19:2, 'hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand'. 'Merciful' is kaphar, to cover or atone.

Verse 44

Hoshea the son of Nun — Hoshea is Joshua: 'Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua' (Num 13:16). He is named beside Moses at the recital of the song, which Moses wrote and taught 'the same day' (Deut 31:22) at the LORD's word, 'that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel' (31:19).

Verse 47

it is your life — 'Vain' is reyq, empty. The same claim is made in 'he is thy life, and the length of thy days' (Deut 30:20), and in 'man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live' (Deut 8:3), which Christ quotes in Matt 4:4.

Verse 48

that selfsame day — Etsem, 'bone', so the very day: the day Noah entered the ark (Gen 7:13) and the day of the exodus (Ex 12:41, 51). Here it marks the day Moses delivered the song (v.44). The command that follows sends him up Mount Nebo to see Canaan (v.49).

Verse 51

ye trespassed against me — Maal, to act unfaithfully toward the LORD. The event is Num 20:8–13: the LORD said 'speak ye unto the rock', and Moses and Aaron did not 'sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel'. Num 27:14 repeats it: 'ye rebelled against my commandment in the desert of Zin'. 'The water of Meribah' is named in Num 20:13.