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TORAH PORTION
HaAzinu
(Deuteronomy 32:1-52)
CHAPTER 32
1. "Cup your ears [ha'azinu], O heavens, and let me speak, and take heed, O earth, to the words of my mouth!
This song (31:16) has the classic pattern of Hebrew poetry, employing nearly synonymous phrases in parallel form to draw a contrast or make the range of meaning clearer by tightening the precision where there could be ambiguity. But though it is an artistic presentation, he is “dead serious”, because he knows that as soon as this is over, he will die, and he knows these people’s tendencies. As advertisers know well, a melody is the best way to help us remember something, and songs learned early stay in our minds for a lifetime. This epic poem is not a legend or saga, but follows a covenant formula styled in the way of many contemporary covenants discovered by archaeologists. Just as legal documents do to this day, it begins by naming the witnesses so all will recognize it as legitimate. (4:26; 30:19; Yeshayahu 1;2; Yirmeyahu 2:12 and 6:19 together; Yirm. 22:29) Moshe chooses heaven and earth to be his witnesses. The sky and the land have seen everything since creation, so they are the best-established witnesses available. He calls all of creation to witness how Israel responds to the One who nourished them. What occurs in the natural realm is tied closely to what occurs in the spiritual. The natural order “rejoices to do the will of its Creator”, so it is an ideal witness. YHWH gave us the Torah to set us in the same kind of order. He appeals to the seen and unseen, the timeless and the temporary—to hear what is being said here. But we cannot benefit from or take part in spiritual things until they have a physical manifestation. We cannot love YHWH without loving our physical neighbors. Yaaqov (James) scolds people for offering only a spiritual solution to those who are physically hungry. YHWH spoke, but we can only respond to His words, as they are written down. (Ex. 34:27) Heaven and earth must unite, or the words exist only in thin air. Read them aloud, and the earth is also witness. Cup your ear: literally, bend your ear, an idiom for listening carefully—putting ourselves in whatever position we need to be in to hear properly--and screening out some other influences, especially when there is much interference from other directions. Yom T’ruah (around which time this portion is read) is meant to awaken our ears so we will be alert to the judgment that is about to be rendered. (cf. Hoshea 5:1)
2. "My persuasive teaching will drop like the rain; my utterance will distill like the dew on the tender herbage, and like the heavy showers upon the grass,
His words come from heaven to earth, like rain. The root meaning of the word for “persuasive teaching” is “to take in hand and carry away” or “acquire”. In other words, it’s something for the taking—a gift that will be to our advantage. Distil like the dew: Let it sink in! (Compare Yeshayahu 55:9-11.) Like the rain, He can be gentle to those just beginning to grow, and lavish toward those firmly planted, who have the capacity for much more. 31:26 told us that this would be a witness against us. But “against” can be positive or negative: One leaning against you can knock you over, but he can also prop you up if you are weak. (In Gen. 2:20, Adam’s helper is described in these terms—opposing him so as to support him.)
3. "because I will proclaim the Name of YHWH; ascribe greatness to our Elohim,
This passage is read just before Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). Even during the periods in history when YHWH's name was not mentioned out of either reverence or superstition, on Yom Kippur it was uttered several times publicly by the High Priest.
4. "the Rock; His work is perfect, because all His ways are justice--an Elohim of faithfulness and without crookedness; [He is] righteous and upright.
These two verses have named the first party to the covenant: YHWH, the great king. The attributes listed are related to the covenant. Faithfulness: or steadfastness; He is trustworthy. How could you want to trade Him for one of those capricious pagan deities? Without crookedness: Evil is not what is in obvious opposition to righteousness, but what distorts it, changing it a minor increment at a time, which is much harder to notice. It looks almost like the real thing—the very thing counterfeiters always count on. Thus while Moshe is calling out the attributes of the king with whom the covenant is being made, he is also contrasting YHWH with the people He is entering into covenant with:
5. "He has not been corrupt; sons of his [are the ones who] are defective. [They are] a generation tied in knots and twisted.
If we are walking in our own ways and things go wrong, we cannot blame Him. It is because we have chosen to walk contrary to His word. Even anger or disappointment are the result of choices we have made. This song was not actually for the people he was speaking to; he knew Y’hoshua would keep them in line. It was for them to teach their children so that it would keep being passed down from one generation with what must have been a catchy tune, so that when it was really needed, it would already be in their minds. Y’shua alluded to this verse in Mat. 16:4, showing that the song was remembered by Yehudah for a very long time—at least 1,400 years. Psalm 78 also contains many references to this song. Tied in knots: They were about to receive the Land, and the Hebrew term for land boundaries means “a rope”. Tying a rope in knots shortens it—a picture of manipulating the boundaries established by this covenant, which only leaves us lacking when we need them most. Like a tangled electrical cord, we sometimes have to go have to go nearly back to the beginning before we can get the knots out. (See note on v. 7.)
6. "Is this how you compensate YHWH, O senseless people with no wisdom? Isn't He indeed your Father, who purchased you? Hasn't He made you and set you in place?
YHWH presents Himself to Israel as Husband, King, and Father, yet we are rebellious and ungrateful, like spoiled children--a theme picked up again in verse 28. When they would become too comfortable, they would become lazy and also forget that He was the one who gave them the power to get wealth. Is this how we treat the one who brought us to the dance? To just use that as an occasion to meet other lovers? It seems a contradiction to have to purchase something one has himself created, but YHWH gave us free will, and so He had to allow us to come to the end of our resources. But one who is bailed out is expected to repay the rescuer. Yet our ancestors left the debts to us, so let us do all we can to repair their mistakes.
7. "Remember the days of a time long past; gain an understanding of the years of generation upon generation. Inquire of your father, and He will make it evident to you; [of] your elders, and they will tell you,
Before any of these wrong paths are even taken, YHWH gives
the antidote: Knowing how YHWH did things in the past is
the key to understanding what He wants from us now. He
does not change. Take the long view; look at the big picture.
What did any of these “Johnny-come-lately” gods (see v. 17)
ever do for you? Being the generation that remembers His
Torah after going astray (ch. 31), we have to look back to the ancient paths and discern where the twists and turns are, in order to right the wrongs. If we are fathers, we need to know about the days of old. Teaching our children is what Passover in particular is all about. Our immediate forefathers have no idea how to answer this question; they would at best tell us to read the Bible, if not to just go to church! We have to go back as many generations as necessary to find the answers. Archaeology is uncovering facts hidden for so many aeons; the winners of wars have rewritten history, but they cannot change the facts in the ground, which sometimes prove them wrong. We can piece things back together, but we must do it this way--by seeking not the modern way, but the ancient or eternal way (Yirmeyahu 6:16), and walking in it, because it alone holds the key to returning to where we are meant to be. As Michael Crichton said, “If you don’t know history, then you don’t know…that you are a leaf that’s a part of a tree.” Knowing where we came from, we can see where we need to go. The ancient way is not about one person or another, but about a people.
8. “‘When the Most High allotted the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam abroad, He appointed the territorial boundaries of the peoples in accordance with the count of the descendants of Israel,
Compare Num. 26:53. This confirms that the imagery in verse 5 is indeed about boundaries. In Genesis 10:32, seventy nations are listed as stemming from Noakh's three sons, and at the time Yaaqov's clan entered Egypt (Gen. 46:27; Ex. 1:5), it was made up of 70 people. YHWH therefore created 70 nations to be places of exile, punishment, and learning for His people until they would get the point of what it means to be Israel. We would be prisoners in places we were meant to be ruling over. Since Israel was doing a very poor job at being a light to the nations, YHWH used a roundabout means to get this done: While preserving one segment of the nation faithful to His covenant, He chose to work differently through another part: He let the natural bent toward being like the other nations get the better of them, then sent them out into all the nations. But when the children sang this song to their parents in exile, the message they would get was, “We are supposed to be in the Land of Israel. That is what was allotted to us.” When the time of punishment for their spiritual adultery (outlined in Hoshea) had run its course, He sent a kinsman Redeemer from Yehudah so these individuals could be restored to the status of being "in covenant" and "His people". But to inform them, emissaries had to go out among all nations and locate those from Efrayim who had been "mixed with the nations”. Y’shua sent out 70 disciples to symbolize the fact that the nations who have Israelites in their midst are offered mercy when they stand with Israel. But this was plan B. When He first apportioned out the earth, long before Avraham existed, He chose His favorite parcel, the one He considered the finest, and had Israel in mind to allot them the best. He allotted it to Kanaan, a people already condemned, so that He would be just in ousting it when Israel was ready to inhabit it. In ancient cultures, usually there was no concept of land ownership by individuals, but only by kings. The ownership was corporate by the whole nation, but the king could tax the rest, who only had, essentially, squatters’ rights. With the Torah came a new concept: individual ownership. This tribe gets this piece of the Land, and this clan gets a part of it. In the Yovel year, properties lost due to debt or sale revert back to the family that originally owned it. This makes us responsible, and people are usually willing to go much further to fight for their own land. But where the Masoretic text here reads, “descendants of Israel”, the oldest Hebrew versions (found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, a thousand years older than the oldest Masoretic manuscripts) say “sons of Elohim”. One view is that they would be the territories supervised by or given into the jurisdiction of “lesser elohim” (as the term is used in Genesis), seemingly a class of non-human spiritual beings who since Bavel have put limitations on the nations placed under their jurisdiction to avoid a repeat of that scenario, and who may be exemplified by the “prince of the kingdom of Persia” (Dan. 10:13) and “prince of Greece” (Dan. 10:20) that Gavriel said he had to contend with. The traditional association of “gods” with particular territories would not, then, be entirely unfounded. They are often considered to be a class of “angels” who act as a sort of “council”. On the other hand, Dr. James Tabor points out that “There is no doubt that other sections of the Hebrew Bible, such as Psalm 82, speak of certain ‘angelic’ beings … as ‘sons of Elohim’, but even so, the English translation ‘angel’ can be quite misleading, since the root meaning of the Hebrew word, ma'lakh, is simply ‘messenger,’ that is, one sent with a mission. In fact, the context … seems to imply that the ‘sons of Elohim’ are in fact a lineage of human beings… Thus we get the language of ‘Is not He your father that has bought you?’ earlier in the song, and the clear reference to ‘avenging the blood of his sons,’ which hardly seems to be a reference to … ‘angels.’ If such be the case …the ‘sons of Elohim’ would in fact be the chosen ‘seed’ of Abraham, that is, the ‘sons of Israel’.” Demons are empowered by energy people feed into them, but ideas can also take on a life of their own. Security is only an imaginary thing, yet millions of people worship it today. When the nations were scattered at Bavel, to those who settled in the desert, the sparse rains each year were what made the difference between survival and annihilation, so they tried to ensure that it would continue. To others, the sun was what made the difference, so it was worshipped. Some recognized that YHWH was the highest, but had several gods that they worshipped directly as their own. Israel was privileged to have a direct relationship with YHWH if we would accept it. People who were dedicated to YHWH were in some sense His sons. The Hebrew phrase “sons of Elohim” has a numeric value of 608, and the first word in the Torah that has this numeric value is the name of Terakh, Avraham’s father, who was actually the first “Hebrew” (descendant of Ever) who did “cross over”, leaving his homeland for a place YHWH called him to. Yet were any of these the people who rejoiced as they watched YHWH create the universe? Can the two main uses of the phrase be reconciled? Y’shua gave us a clue when he said that Avraham was not really dead, but living, because YHWH is only the Elohim of the living, not the dead. (Mat. 22:32) When Avraham ended his mortal life, he was not dead, as YHWH sees it, but was outside the realm of time. To one who is no longer trapped in time, there is no such thing as a “beginning”; there is only what is eternal. If we take time out of the equation, why couldn’t Avraham and all who became YHWH’s sons by their acts of faith have been present, rejoicing, when He created the world? (Iyov 1:6; 2:1; 38:7)
9. "because YHWH's share is His people; Yaaqov is the measuring-cord of His property.’
We are His share, just as Levi has no portion, but YHWH is his inheritance. (10:9) Do we not realize just how privileged we are—and what responsibilities we have? Yaaqov would be the standard among all other peoples. His land therefore had to be one conducive to other nations traveling to it and through it, so that Israel could be a light to them. And so it is; location is all-important: It is not off in some out-of-the-way corner where it would hardly be noticed. It’s at the most-coveted spot on earth. But YHWH promised that if we would obey Him, other nations would not bother us, yet we would still be in the midst of them—a table prepared in the presence of our enemies, for He put us right where the three most populous continents converge. Too often this would have the opposite effect of importing ideas rather than exporting them, but the intent was that the vigorous life within would overcome the power of those outside influences as one made the comparison made so often in this chapter and saw the obvious, overwhelming superiority of YHWH over any would-be rival. Love for YHWH, in response to His love, would be the “immune system” that should keep these foreign parasites from gaining a foothold among us. Also, wherever Yaaqov's descendants went, YHWH had a right to bring redemption. Since they were scattered among all nations, Y’shua had "all authority in heaven and earth" (Matt. 28:18) to reclaim anyone within any of the nations, because Israel was present in every place in order to stake YHWH’s claim there, and thus they did not need to remain in ignorance, unable to respond to an Elohim they had never heard of.
10. "He found him in an uninhabited land--empty, desolate, [and] howling. He encompassed him and gave him understanding; He guarded him like the pupil of his eye.
He did not select one of the existing nations, but found someone "neutral". He birthed a new nation out of another nation, and did so again when they were not a nation, but an enslaved people. He brought them to a neutral place that belonged to none of the nations or any of their deities, and gave them instruction (Torah) so they could become priests to the other nations. This “place of the word” (the literal reading of the Hebrew word for “wilderness”) is where He always finds us, and He is again recalling us to Himself. Pupil of his eye: A carrion-eating bird will pick at the eye of an animal first, assuming that if it does not defend even its eye, it is dead. So YHWH guarded this special treasure. Howling: He shielded us from both the winds and dust-storms (Ex. 14:21; Num. 11:31), as well as wild beasts.
11. "As an eagle stirs up her nest and flutters over her young, stretches out her wings, picks them up, and carries them on her pinions,
A bird of prey fluttering over her young has a purpose in doing so: she creates a vacuum that sucks them up out of the nest when it is time for them to learn to fly on their own; the air forces them to flap their wings as well. The refuge under YHWH’s wings is not so we can lazily sit around depending on Yeshua to do everything for us, but to teach us to be like him. The mother eagle also takes away the soft lining of the nest, exposing the thorns from the outside layer that are initially meant to keep predators out, so that if the young eagles hesitate to fly, they will fall back onto them and be spurred to learn to do what eagles are meant to do. (Compare Ex. 19:4.)
12. "YHWH alone guided him; there was no foreign mighty one with him.
YHWH alone: None of the others ever helped you—or even tried. There was no other with Him, because not only did He think their assistance would be negligible; He wanted to be alone with His bride. YHWH fought against the "gods" of Egypt (Exodus 12:12) to redeem us, because Israel did not belong to any one of the nations, but only to Him as His direct heirs and emissaries.
13. "He caused him to mount up on the high ridges of the earth, so that he could eat the produce of the field; he caused him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock--
He took us from the worst conditions and put us in the best. The high ridges are a vantage point so one has ample warning of an enemy’s approach and the advantage in battle, for one can pounce on the enemy, using gravity to our advantage as well. Having the high ground kept the lower farmland safe—even more necessary with today’s long-range missiles. Ridges are also hard to fight on, in comparison with level “playing” fields. Suck honey: some see this as a reference to petroleum deposits that are deep beneath Israel, which have not yet been exploited.
14. "Butter from heifers and milk from the flocks, the choicest of rams, and Bashan-class rams, goats, along with the finest vessels of wheat, and you drank the pure red "blood" of grapes.
Bashan: Called the Golan Heights today, it is the finest pasture land in Israel, and thus one of the best breeds of rams comes from there. All of these things you had in your possession. You could choose to use the finest, rather than buying from anyone else. Even after the best of the best goes to YHWH’s special servants, the priests, what is left is still better than others have. And part of the blessing is that we have the freedom to give Him the best, because we have control over all of our increase.
15. "But when Yeshurun grew fat, he started kicking. (You have grown fat--grossly so--gorged to the point of satiety [and stubborn].) And he deserted Elohim, the One who made him, and treated the Rock of his deliverance as unimportant.
Yeshurun: the upright, straight, unbent one--YHWH's "pet name" for Israel. It is only used when the whole nation is in unity. We were healthy and well-provided for, but became spoiled, thinking we deserved these blessings, so we stopped saying “thank you” and rebelled. We thought we no longer needed YHWH. Yet why, then, would we think we had a need for the lesser elohim who could not even do as much for us? Only because they were exotic and more exciting to the flesh. So it was not always better for us when we had the best. When we were needy in the wilderness, we still had YHWH, and things went better. There was a unity that eroded away after we entered the Land and were separated out by tribes.
16. "They provoked him to jealousy with alien [thing]s; with disgusting things they provoked him to anger.
Hirsch: "They made Him feel His rights had been violated." Disgusting things: idols and the lewd and often homosexual rites that accompanied many of them. Since we misused His gifts, we would lose them.
17. "They slaughtered [sacrifices] to devastators instead of to Eloah; to elohim that they were not acquainted with--new ones that had [only] come lately, about whom your fathers never trembled.
Devastators: Things that destroy rather than creating and renewing. All they do is use you up. These were the modern ones—those just invented, newcomers with no solid history, no testing or proving, no history, and therefore no real existence. These were not even the ones the earth was divided unto (see note on v. 8), but puny ones pretending to have some kind of authority. But our ancestors had not seen demons as a threat. Did a later generation see that these elohim were also undefeated, yet fail to recognize that this was only because they had never been tested in battle? The fact that we were never acquainted with them is the litmus test: Did our fathers know this one as Elohim? If the answer is “no”, worship of him is foreign and forbidden. Avraham never knew Fate, Fortune, or Destiny, so do not honor them. Neither he nor Yaaqov nor Moshe nor David nor Eliyahu ever recognized a man as Elohim, so neither should we.
18. "You are neglecting the Rock that gave you birth, and have let the El who waited anxiously for you, and writhed in anguish to bear you, fade from your memory!
We remembered YHWH only as the one who “wrote checks”, not as our Father. Moshe was right in his prognostication.
19. "When YHWH saw this, He abhorred them because of the provocation of His sons and daughters.
20. "He said, ‘I will hide My face from them; I will watch what they will [turn out to be] later, because they are a fickle generation--children in whom there is no trust[worthiness].
Fickle: easily reversed; they were not what He expected. They have already been called defective, perverse, and twisted, but this is the lowest of insults—that we can’t be trusted. It undermines the very foundation of community life, and why would He trust us with His most precious treasures if we cannot even be trusted to care for one another? Those who can be depended on are special to any leader, but they are few, yet this is the standard for all Israel. We need to be children He can trust to get the job done in the way He told us. Later: Though without His presence, they would eventually crumble, this word is also their salvation, because "later" still, He promised to restore them.
21. "‘They have excited My jealousy with a "non-El"; they have provoked Me to anger with what is nothing. So I will excite them to jealousy by a "non-people", and provoke them to anger with a senseless nation,
We wanted what other nations had, but the problem was that what they had was not YHWH. A non-people: to pay us back for following a “non-El”--someone who is unreal. He does not specify who this refers to, because it was a recurring theme; at different times, there were different “non-nations” to make them jealous. Sometimes it was the Filistines (not one of the original 70 nations, but a hybrid). Y’shua himself used the Samaritans, a conglomeration of people settled in northern Israel by the Assyrians, to make Yehudah jealous because they did end up with a reasonably strong Torah-based practice nonetheless. Rome was a mixture of Edom and Kittim, and it was succeeded by Christianity, which never wanted to identify itself as one nation. But since for 2,000 years, the only identifiable part of Israel was Yehudah and the northern Kingdom was called "not My people", it can also fulfill this role of provoking to jealousy those in Yehudah who do not recognize YHWH. Senseless: calling a man (a “non-El”) an Elohim does make YHWH jealous. And maybe He will use a non-nation that claims to be a nation, the Palestinians, to vex Israel by their foolishness, paying grand sums of money to families who will set their women and children in the front lines of fire to become martyrs with false hopes of going to Paradise thereby, in a staged-for-TV ploy to make the world think the Israelis are the aggressors. And the United Nations is not a nation. What is nothing: or "their vanities"--one of YHWH's epithets for idols. They exist only in men's minds, yet derive much power from the attention people give them, nonetheless.
22. "‘because a fire is kindled in My nose, and will burn [even] to the deepest grave. It will consume the Land along with its produce, and scorch the foundations of the mountains.
Grave: Heb., She’ol, not the word for a tomb or mausoleum, but rather underground. People were often buried in underground caverns (Gen. 23:9, etc.), which would be a natural place to seek refuge from a conflagration on the surface. We see people hiding in caves in times of war (Y’hoshua 10:16; 1 Shm. 22:1) or from fear of YHWH (Yeshayahu 2:19). The problem is that the depths of the earth are also susceptible to volcanic magma; i.e., the lava is ready to flow if you do not change what you are doing! Mountains: often specifically a reference to the holy sites of the Temple Mount and Mt. Tzion. The foundations are scorched, but He may spare what is above them, if they are being used properly. Past all the habitable layers, He burns; nothing can be left. When Israel violates the covenant, the whole earth is affected; all of creation pays a price. If you want to see peace on earth, keep the whole Torah. That is where true shalom will ultimately come from, so do not trade it for anything that might seem more appealing.
23. "I will heap miseries upon them; I will use up [all] My arrows on them.
24. "Exhaustion from being famished, consumed by burning inflammation, a bitter cutting-off and teeth of beasts will I send on them, along with the poison of things that crawl in the dust.
Consumed: embattled or depleted. Bitter cutting-off: LXX, "irremediable falling away".
25. "The sword [from] outside and terror deep within will bereave both the young man [in his prime] and the maiden, the nursing child along with the gray-haired man.
Could this refer to wars on the borders and terrorists in Yerushalayim? Fear attacks from within, and kills us in a different way. This does not mean He will use all of the options every time, so we cannot imagine that everything is all right just because snakes are not biting us. He reserved the right to use any of them against us in any combination when we break His covenant. We can find instances of most of these specifics right in Scripture, let alone later in history.
26. "I said, I would shatter them into pieces; I would cause the memory of them to cease from among mortal men,
Shatter: LXX, "scatter". The scattered of Israel even forgot who we ourselves were.
27. "except that I was concerned for the provocation of the enemy, lest their oppressors should misconstrue it and say, ‘[It is] our hand [that] is raised up high; it is not YHWH who has done all this',
This sounds much like Moshe’s own argument to Him in Num. 14:16. There were times when the only reason He did not destroy us was that someone else might take the credit for it. (v. 30.) How shameful!
28. "because they are a nation that has wandered away from the plan, and there is no understanding among them.
Wandered away from the plan: Hirsch, "a nation going to ruin in their own plans". Another way of reading it is “lost to counsel”; i.e., they do not listen to advice; I cannot teach them anything—like a whole nation of teenagers! This is a curse; nothing I could say could help them. The sense of “understanding” in Hebrew is “able to make intelligent distinctions.” We have to know how to discriminate. Contrary to popular political correctness, not all things are equal. Sunday is not equal to the Sabbath as a day of rest, nor is Friday. Christmas is not equal to Sukkoth as the season of joy. The New Testament is not equal in authority to the Torah. We need to be able to distinguish what is profitable—what is from YHWH, and what is not. The fact that there is a plan to wander from also offers us the hope of a remedy: we can turn around and head back toward that plan. It is easy to say “turn back”, but in order to do so, we have to know what the plan is. Ever since Avram, YHWH’s plan has been to give us a Land to live in as His people and His friends. Moshe warned that down the road we would forget this, because we would become accustomed to it and bored. We have taken our eyes off the prize, and made our relationship with YHWH about other things, whether security, wealth, power, morality, or promises of heaven—at the expense of the original plan. We have forgotten that it is about a Land. But it is time for our focus to come back to it. The plans of most politicians for that Land are to have the Jews give it away again. But whatever men may be able to do to gum up the gears and slow the progress, YHWH has always had a plan—since long before He spoke to Avram. The best plan we can make is to line up with His simple “plan for recovery”, which is to pay attention to the signs in the heavens—the skies at night and the seasonal markers seen in the daylight. Make your life revolve around His calendar. Man’s plans are reactionary; YHWH’s is proactive. Surrender to the pattern. This will help overcome the condition of having no understanding. The specifics are laid out in Torah. Walk by His commands, and you will receive the blessings attached to them, and make progress. A foundational part of His plan is loving YHWH with all your heart and loving your neighbor as yourself. Start by taking care of someone in a small way, and work your way up to bigger steps.
29. "If only they were wise, they would comprehend and would perceive their ultimate end!
If they are smart, they will think about where they are headed, or what YHWH intends their final state to be. If only they were aware of what was around them, they would understand what was coming their way. If they only knew what they were designed for! If only we would see ourselves in these words, instead of just focusing on the daily grind, if we would look in a mirror and see who we are supposed to be, we would be more mature and think about how we are affecting the world and our own children in particular. We are supposed to end up in His Land, living in His presence, according to His plan. Does the path you are on head toward it? Compare yourself with the blueprint, not with those more slack than yourself.
30. "How could one chase a thousand, and a couple [of them] put multiple thousands to flight, if it weren't that their rock had sold them, and YHWH had hemmed them in?
Their rock: an idiom for strength as residing in one's national elohim. Only if YHWH surrenders Israel can it fall. Hemmed them in: or "given them over". He wants us to consider why we are in this position.
31. "Because their rock is nothing like our Rock, even in our enemies' assessment!
Even the enemies recognize that YHWH is far superior; why can’t you? They ask, “Why come down to our level when you have what you have?”
32. "For their vine is from the vine of S'dom, and [it is] from the [blasted] fields of ‘Amorrah. Their grapes are grapes of [poisonous] hemlock; their clusters are bitter gall.
Vine of S’dom: How could grapes grow well in such a sulfurous, salty environment? What advantage is there in what they have when YHWH has given you a Land flowing with milk and honey?
33. "Their wine is the burning heat of dragons, and the fierce venom of cobras.
This wine could also be a reference to hot blood, especially considering that most Muslims do not drink wine!
34. "Isn't this indeed stored up with Me, and sealed up among My storehouses of treasure?
I.e., “Am I not keeping track of all that you—and they—are doing?”
35. "Vengeance is Mine, and complete repayment. In due time, their foot will slip, for the day of their calamity is near, and the impending things stored up for them are hurrying [toward them],
Slip: be dislodged.
36. "because YHWH will vindicate and have compassion on His servants, when He sees that their strength is exhausted, and none but the detainees and abandoned are left.
Only when we run out of youthful vigor and are decimated to a shadow of what we once were, when Israel has no strength left to resist YHWH or are not proud of ourselves, will He rescue us. Yehudah was decimated during the Holocaust—and just after that, they were allowed to return. The Northern Kingdom had to completely disappear as a people before YHWH sent Y’shua to call us back to Himself. Those whom YHWH summons back to worship Him in Yerushalayim in the last days are described in Yeshayahu 27:13 as outcasts and those who are about to perish.
37. "And He will say, ‘Where is their elohim--their rock, to which they fled for protection,
38. "‘who “ate” the fat of their offerings, and drank the wine of their libations? Let them rise up and support you, and be your shelter [now]!'
This is one of the rare occasions when we see YHWH taunt those who reach the inevitable end of His patience: “Where is your retirement plan and your investments now? Let’s see if your bank account can really help you when all the computers go down!” If it is the Kingdom you invest everything in, storing up invisibly by putting our resources into what it needs now (Mat. 6:24-34), it will come to your aid when you need it. If we do not, it will not. YHWH challenges these false securities to a “duel”. They are not even “only on paper” anymore; they are only software—even less real! They never belonged to you in any real sense. Let’s see if relationships that do not further the Kingdom will be able to sustain you when everyone is lacking resources; those people will be fending for themselves then, and will not care about you!
39. "Recognize now that I Myself am He, and there is no mighty one along with Me. I [am the One who] puts to death or allows to live; I wound, and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver [you] out of My hand.
There are not rival forces brought on by different gods here; He is in control of bringing the fruit of our deeds, whether right or wrong, back around to us. There are no other options but Him if you want to receive the eternal promises He made to Avraham.
40. "Because I lift up My hand to heaven and declare, ‘I am alive eternally.
In summary, “They will all let you down, but I will still be there. If you come back to Me, I will make them pay for what they have done to you.”
41. "‘If I sharpen My flashing sword, and My hand takes hold of the procedures of justice, I will turn vengeance back on those who afflict Me, and I will bring [the] full consequences on those who hate Me.
42. "When My sword devours flesh, I will make My arrows drunk with blood--with the blood of the mortally wounded and of those taken captive, from the head of the leaders of the enemy.
The Assyrians, Babylonians, or anyone He used as an instrument of YHWH’s vengeance on Israel would be next in line to receive the same thing if they enjoy it at all or boast as if it were their own accomplishment.
43. " O nations, make His people rejoice, for He will avenge the blood of His servants and turn punishment back on His adversaries, and will make atonement for His Land (His people)!"
This is how Moshe's song ends: "Gentiles, you had better understand who Israel is, and treat them accordingly, because if you do not, it will be your blood where theirs was before. Work to uphold them in who they are." He will do what it takes to correct us, but it will end on a positive note, for we are His people, and He will not waste His resources any more than He has to. He reminds us that it is for the sake of His reputation, not because we deserve it. Alt., “Rejoice, O nations [Gentiles] who are His people”: those both of the scattered House of Efrayim, who mixed themselves with and lost their identity among the nations, essentially becoming Gentiles for all intents and purposes, and those who have no Israelite blood in them, but have become Israelites in heart--for they are the ones in love with the Land and seeking atonement from Him.
44. Then Moshe came and quoted all the words of this song in the people's ears--[both] he and Hoshea the son of Nun.
Words: In vv. 44-47, “words” are mentioned 6 times. This book is called “the words”. The Torah is not given in images, but words, so words are very important. Though he started out as a poor communicator, Moshe grew until by the close of his life he had learned the most effective ways of communicating. Even the most complicated parts of Torah he did not even bring up until a situation arose when they were needed, and because it did, the people understood perfectly what he was talking about. It became his strength, but also his downfall, because he failed to communicate the way YHWH wanted him to on one very important occasion. (v. 51) But by communicating the Torah (including translating it into a modern context), we keep Moshe alive. In their ears: He taught them the words and the catchy tune that would keep it ringing through their heads as a deterrent to getting off the path. Music is “spiritual” in that it speaks more deeply to our souls than mere words do. Prophets sang their messages, and the hard things they had to say were more readily accepted because of this. It allows our message to connect more quickly with the audience, and it will be remembered far more accurately and completely than a mere speech. Hoshea: i.e., Y'hoshua. He is now the one writing, for Moshe had already given his part of the book to the priest. He is humble, not daring to call himself “YHWH’s salvation” until his resolve is tested, and out of respect for his teacher, who gave him that name. (Notice what he calls him in 33:1.)
45. When Moshe finished declaring all these words to the whole of Israel,
Declaring: literally, clarifying, making it plain, related to the word for digging a well, because clear communication is like giving someone a glass of water that quenches their thirst. Though they were many, there was a limit to them. Be sure not to cloud, color, muddy, or over-sweeten the message with the wrong or too many words!
46. he told them, "Direct your hearts toward all that I am having you repeat today--words which you shall order your children to guard and to carry out--all the words of this instruction,
Direct your hearts: or, set your hearts on it--rather than following your own heart, which is deceitful (Yirm. 17:9). We are to take control of where our emotions go and the decisions we make. Order: a much stronger term than merely tell or teach. The term means to command them like a military commander. Teach them they are part of an army and must be and remain joined together by the Torah. Drill who they are into them like a sergeant, and warn them of the consequences of turning from YHWH. Our legacy as a people depends on this.
47. "because it is not a meaningless matter to you, since it is your life, and by this word you shall prolong your days in the land to which you are crossing [the] Yarden to take possession of."
This is not something we can afford to ignore. It is a matter of life and death to us. It will make the difference between really living and not living at all. We will get to keep our home if we obey. We cannot say we were not warned, yet YHWH always intends to bring Israel back around again. He keeps repeating this pattern (through the festival cycle each year, among other things) as long as it takes until the right generation finally comes along that will establish the Torah without all the trappings of men, wanting only to please YHWH. Our return Home depends on being able to “sing this song” again, and it will help us stay in the Land. If your children understand that YHWH has always been there for us unless we were faking it, when they watch the news they will recognize the signs that the end of Gentile ways is coming.
49. "Climb up onto this mountain of the regions across--Mount N’vo, which is in the land of Moav facing Y’rikho, and gaze into the land of Kanaan, which I am giving to the descendants of Israel as inherited property,
50. "then [you are to] die on the mountain that you climb, and be gathered away to your people, just as your brother Aharon died on Mount Hor and was gathered away to his people
The word “people” is plural here both times, though the terms is already a collective one when singular, possibly to emphasize that after death souls are not only conglomerates, but retain some kind of individuality.
51. "because you acted unfaithfully toward me in the midst of the descendants of Israel at the Waters of Strife of Qadesh in the Wilderness of Tsin, in that you did not set Me apart in the midst of the descendants of Israel.
YHWH forgave the people’s wickedness, so why is Moshe, who served YHWH faithfully despite much opposition for forty years, singled out for such seemingly-unjust treatment? One strike and he is out? Because he misrepresented YHWH to the people, “stepping across a line” (in the Hebrew terms here) and inserted his own interpretation when he should not have. YHWH had come to trust Moshe, but now he let Him down. The story behind this is found in Numbers 20:17ff. He struck the rock a second time instead of just speaking to it as YHWH had commanded, trusting Him to complete the job. This teaches us to follow instructions carefully! Anger got the best of him—an anger he was not allowed. He did not look beyond his own emotion at the big picture, and for someone of his level of maturity, that was inexcusable. He did what seemed right in his own eyes, but this would cause the people to put the credit in the wrong place. It affected YHWH’s reputation. He did not show them that YHWH needs no assistance to carry out His promises—no prodding, no thrashing with a stick, even if YHWH had told him to bring the rod along. Was it a set-up to see if he would assume the rod was the means to make this work? It was not actually the rod that had turned water to blood or parted the Reed Sea, but it accompanied them all as a symbol of YHWH’s authority in each case. YHWH had not done things the same way twice, and trying to get the job done by repeating the same action might make the people trust the method as something anyone could do, like magic that could manipulate YHWH, without needing anyone in authority to sanction it. If it were just a matter of striking the rock every time, YHWH would no longer be incomprehensible; they would be disillusioned about Moshe’s uniqueness, and then who would respect him or YHWH, whom he represented? If everyone had unlimited access to the resources, no one would see a need for anyone to be in charge, and there would be total disorder. So if Moshe did the wrong thing, why did YHWH still bring the water? It may be because the people simply had a need for it, or because they were like whining children with whom He was so fed up that He gave them what they wanted, just to quiet them, though this was not best for anyone in the long term. Paul says the rock was a picture of Messiah. (1 Cor. 10:4) We need merely ask in his name (Yochanan 14:13-14), not strike him again. (Heb. 6:4)
52. "Still, you may view the land across from you, but you may not enter into the land which I am giving to the descendants of Israel."
This is the part we most hate to read. He can look, but not touch. He knew this long before this point, but still he had to keep being an example for the rest of us, and now he is also faithful to be an example of accepting the fact that his season is over. Much is expected from one to whom much has been given. Moshe is the ultimate example of being trustworthy—so genuine that one small false step cost him his place in the Land. This sounds cruel, but he did what he had come to do, so his work was done. Now it is up to us to do our part and take responsibility for things he used to do for us. It is time for Israel to grow up, and if Moshe remained with us, he would be an impediment to that. This is one reason Y’shua left the scene as well. He made the way, but when men project on him too large a role, his persona can stand in the way of our maturing and passing the test for ourselves. His song is still doing its work. Here we are, the first wave of the returning Northern Kingdom. We do not want to just see the Land but not live in it. The bar is high for us too. Who will be the leader this time? Pray that he will succeed where Moshe failed, because it will be even harder to unify a people so used to individual rights than those who were slaves. Our ancestors walked in this covenant for a time. Follow their example as far as they walked in the ancient paths. Then YHWH’s Kingdom can come “on earth as it is in Heaven”.
INTRODUCTION: We now get to the actual song that Moshe was telling us about and giving us instructions in regard to. David echoes much opf the same, carrying it on, in Psalm 78. Moshe begins by making sure we are really listening, and he starts with a vindication of anything YHWH may do to us, saying, in effect, “Let Elohim be true, though every man be a liar.” (see Romans 3:4) If we end up being punished and experiencing the curses he has told us about in the preceding chapters, under no circumstances may we blame YHWH. It is our fault alone! He reminds us of how important we are to YHWH—He measures the other nations by us, yet we take Him for granted and blow Him off casually as if He had done nothing of any value for us. We started out well, and He did so much for us, but we started thinking that was just normal, not realizing how rare it really is to have such blessings. We had a direct relationship with the highest Elohim, yet we were more fascinated by lesser ones which were assigned to other nations, not us, and which are malicious, not friendly! Or we just wanted to live our own lives without having to answer to anyone.
If only we knew what He had planned for us, we would be begging to be closer to Him and to be around Him all the time. But no—so should He treat as as He was planning to? The only thing holding back from just doing away with us and starting over—as He often offered to do with Moseh—was that He did not want nations even worse than we were to think they could take the credit for conquering us. So He took His hands off us and let us go our own way, to show us the hard way where that would lead. Once we ran out of options, and called on Him for help, He would again make Himself available to us, but not before He asked the obvious question: “Where are the things you trusted in? Why aren’t they helping you?” But He will still fulfill His promises, so those who gloated over our downfall are the ones in trouble at that point. He advises them to get on our good side in advance so they aren’t the ones He has to again clear out of our way.
Before preparing to die—after a glimpse of the Land to whose edge He brought us—He reminds us that the only way to make all of this work, both now and for all of our generations, is to keep alive the song and what it is there to remind us of. Don’t just do them yourself; require your children to do all of these things. That doesn’t go over well nowadays, but it is YHWH’s command nonetheless, and no spirit of the age ever compares to His authority. Keep it alive!
The Song in a Nutshell
Listen, earth and sky! Listen, let my words sink in! (32:2)
After I’m off the scene, how much more I know you’ll sin! (31:29)
So don’t blame YHWH when your life starts to go wrong (32:5),
When it’s you deserting Him who’s been your Father all along. (32:3-4)
Is that how you repay the One who did so much for you? (32:6)
If He withdrew support, let’s see what would become of you! (32:19-21)
So quickly you forget who feeds you till you’re more than full (32:15),
Giving credit to illusions; you just always feel that pull! (32:16-18)
So you want to make Him jealous? Then He’ll give you just a taste
Of the wrath He really should be throwing right back in your face! (32:26)
If only you would get the point, you’d clearly understand
That this couldn’t be occurring if it wasn’t from His hand (32:29-30)
‘Cause it’s not unmitigated; even pain’s designed to heal,
But My justice will catch up; let’s see if then for you they’ll feel! (32:37-38)
Ah, but onlookers, you watch out too; you’ll get yours, so don’t laugh.
You’ll go down too when I again act on My Land’s behalf. (32:39-42)
So get on its side while you can, for when My people learn
From the hard way that I take them, be clear: they will yet return. (32:43)
Study Questions:
1. If YHWH made promises to someone, who then disobeyed and did not get what was promised, is it YHWH’s fault? (Deut. 32:5)
2. What kind of return are you giving YHWH on His investment in you? (32:6)
3. Why is it dangerous to think that what is modern is better? (32:7)
4. Why would YHWH tie the inheritance of other nations to the number of Israelites there would be? (32:8) How is Israel special? (32:9) Is this for its own sake or for the sake of the rest of the nations amidst whom YHWH placed our Land?
5. What do you think the imagery of “kept them as the apple of His eye” (32:10) means? How important do you think YHWH’s people are to Him?
6. How well did YHWH care for His people? (32:11-14) Describe in your own words what the allegories here mean in practicality. So… what caused the change? (32:15) What warning is there in this for us when we experience His blessing? How would we avoid this pitfall?
7. How can demons be both “elohim”: and “not Elohim”? (32:17) Why would a “johnny-come-lately” object of worship be less reliable? Why, then, do people find novelty so attractive?
8. How many reasons can you think of as to why it is foolish and a comedown to worship things that are less than all-powerful, all-knowing, less even than we are—or simply are not YHWH? (32:16-18)
9. Which seems more fearful to you: to experience YHWH’s wrath or to experience His indifference and leaving us to whatever may befall us? (32:19-20; see also v. 38)
10. What is YHWH’s reaction to our treatment of Him? (32:21)
11. What imagery does He use to ensure that we do not think we can hide from His payback? (32:22)
12. What is the unexpected thing that holds back YHWH’s full fury? (32:26-27) What does this tell us He values more than vengeance?
13. Despite our foolish behavior, what hope does YHWH hold out in verse 29? How does verse 30 clarify what He means?
14. In what respect are Israel’s provocateurs often wiser than Israel? (32:31)
15. Who is the vengeance in verse 35 against? What conclusion does Paul draw from the first phrase of this verse? (Romans 12:19)
16. At what point does YHWH turn back His wrath? (32:36) What realization do His people come to that makes them turn back to Him? (32:37-38) What will He do once we acknowledge our humiliation?
17. Does this very frightening song end on a negative or positive note? (32:43) What is it that makes YHWH angrier at His instruments of punishment than at us, who have directly sinned against Him? (32:27, 37) What term does He use in vv. 41, 43 that hints at how these enemies treated His people?
18. What is the main reason Moshe wants us to remember this well? (32:46) What three reasons does He give for how important it is?
19. What was the underlying problem with Moshe’s striking the rock that warranted such a strong penalty? (32:51) In the midst of this, how does He show Moshe mercy? (32:52)
The Sidewalk
for kids
From the time Adam and Hawwah first got caught disobeying YHWH, people have been blaming each other for things they have done wrong.
But pay close attention to what Adam actually said when he blamed Hawwah: “The woman YOU gave me—she gave it to me, and I ate it!” (Genesis 3:12) Did you notice whom he is really blaming? He’s blaming YHWH for what he did wrong! And he is suggesting that the good gift YHWH gave him was defective, and that He never should have given him a wife to begin with. He forgot how glad it made him when she first appeared. Is that how to thank Him?
Moshe wanted to make sure that when we did the things he said would lead YHWH to punish us, we would not make that same mistake again. He put it right in his catchy song that was to keep his voice alive in our ancestors’ minds after he died: “He hasn’t done anything wrong; His children are the ones who went bad.” (Deut. 32:5) And again he says, “Is that how you thank YHWH for His wonderful gifts? Is that how you honor your Father—the Father of all fathers—who not only made you but also rescued you from slavery?”
This is where ungratefulness leads—to blaming the very One who has done the most for us.
Is that how we want to treat YHWH—just so we can look as if we did no wrong? As we approach Yom haKippurim, the time when we most need to find a solution for our guilt, we need to keep that in mind, and recall what Yeshua’s close follower said:
“If we say we did nothing wrong, it’s only ourselves that we are fooling. But if we confess our sins, He is faithful and doing the right thing to forgive us of our sins, and to cleanse us from everything in ourselves that isn’t right.” (1 Yochanan 1:8-9)
Isn’t that what we really want—to be clean and pure and without anything wrong in ourselves? So why do we do what would bring the opposite effect—only dig the hole we are already stuck in deeper?
Admitting that we are the ones who did the wrong thing is the first step to getting out of that hole, because if we don’t even admit we’re in the hole, why would we even try to get out? But we can get out if we will do things YHWH’s way, and in His order. Don’t blame Him; blame yourself, and surprisingly, you will soon find yourself without guilt, because the other steps to making things right are not really as hard as getting over that first hurdle—swallowing our pride and agreeing with Him that we are the ones needing to change. He’s glad to help us change when we humble ourselves. Those who do, He says He will lift up high—at the right time. (Yaaqov 4:10; 1 Kefa/Peter 5:6)
Yeshayahu 49:8 tells us, “In an acceptable time [YHWH] will hear you and help you in a day of deliverance.” This is the season that He designed for us to confess, turn around, and be delivered so we can go on to the next station—the season of joy.
The Renewal of
HA-AZINU
In the Renewed Covenant, specifically at the very end of the age, we encounter a group of people who “sang the Song of Moshe, Elohim’s servant, and the Song of the Lamb…” (Rev. 15:3) I have often heard it asked what this “Song of Moshe” is: In particular, is it referring the one that appears here at the very end of his life, or the one after the Red Sea (Exodus 15)?
Well, let’s look at the character of both. Moshe’s song at the Red Sea says:
“I will sing to YHWH, because He has risen up in triumph! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea! My strength and my praise-song is Yah, and He has become my deliverance! He is my El, and I will prepare Him a resting-place; the Elohim of my father, and I will lift Him up!... Your right hand, O YHWH, has become majestic in power! Your right hand, O YHWH, has shattered the enemy!” (Ex. 15:1-6)
What is the spirit of Moshe’s “swan song” (Deut. 32)?
“Sons of His are defective. [They are] a generation tied in knots and twisted. Is this how you compensate YHWH, O senseless people with no skill? YHWH [gave you the best of everything—all the advantages]… But when Yeshurun grew fat, he started kicking…And he deserted Elohim, the One who made him, and treated the Rock of his deliverance as unimportant. They provoked him to jealousy with alien [thing]s; with disgusting things they provoked him to anger. You are neglecting the Rock that gave you birth, and have let the El who waited anxiously for you and writhed in anguish to bear you fade from your memory!... I will heap miseries upon them; I will use up [all] My arrows on them…”, etc.
Not as upbeat or positive as the song at the sea, is it?
Who are the people singing this latter-day “Song of Moshe”? “Those who had emerged victorious over the Beast, its image, and the number of its name”. (Rev. 15:2; compare 14:3) So you would expect them to be triumphant, like Moshe and Miryam at the Red Sea, right? And sure enough, they accompany the songs of Moshe and of the Lamb with this refrain: “Great and wonderful are Your works, O Master—Elohim, the Ruler of all! Just and genuine are all Your ways, O King of the nations! Who would not be in awe of You, O Master, and honor Your name? Because You alone are in a category of Your own, so that all nations will present themselves and fall prostrate before You, for Your equitable deeds have become well-known!” (15:3, 4)
So…hands down the prize goes to the Song at the Sea, right?
But then there’s verse 36 of Deuteronomy 32: “YHWH will vindicate and have compassion on His servants, when He sees that their strength is exhausted, and none but the detainees and abandoned are left.” And verse 43: “O nations, make His people rejoice, for He will avenge the blood of His servants and turn punishment back on His adversaries, and will make atonement for His Land (His people)!"”
These are elements we could see in the people who appear to have been martyred for their resistance to the Beast’s system. (See Rev. 13:7-17; 14:8-13) So maybe the jury is still deliberating. Or maybe they are singing a combination of both of his songs. This is all a nice exercise in detective work. But what does it matter? How is this practical for us?
Both songs of Moshe remind us that when we are at our wits’ end, we see YHWH most clearly, whether as granting the repentance and forgiveness we need or the deliverance He wants to highlight as something that only He can do.
“No experience of testing has taken hold of you except that which is common to [all] humanity; moreover, Elohim is faithful, who will not allow you to be tested beyond what you are able [to bear], but along with the temptation will also put in place a way out, so that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)
His past miracles of deliverance are there to keep us riveted on Him so we will recognize the temptation to drift from Him and avoid the need for repentance in the first place. But even if we don’t see vindication on this side of the great divide and the way of escape does not appear to open for us, if we are faithful to the very end, that will still be as much of a victory:
“I heard a loud voice in the heaven, saying, ‘Now have the deliverance, the power, and the Kingdom of our Elohim emerged, along with the authority of His Messiah, because the accuser of our brothers (who brought charges against them day and night before our Elohim) has been thrown down, and they have overcome him through the blood of the Lamb and through the word of their testimony, and they did not give preference to their own lives, even as far as the [point of] death.” (Rev. 12:10-11)
Though not as obvious, “not preferring our own lives [over truth and steadfast loyalty to Him] even to the point of death” does overcome the enemy as well--and we still emerge unscathed on the other side to look back and celebrate His deliverance. He did indeed provide a “way of escape” after all.
So stand tough against the enemy, whether he threatens you or whether he tempts you to give credit for your success to forces other than YHWH’s lavish love. Either way, a song of victory only awaits us taking steps of faithfulness to the One who did not even spare His own Son for us (Romans 8:32), trusting Him to prove faithful this time too, no matter how unlikely or impossible it looks.
Whose Fault is it
that it All Fell Apart?
With nearly his last breaths, Moshe sang of YHWH, “His work is perfect because all His ways are just—an El of faithfulness (truth) and without injustice; righteous and upright is He.” (Deut. 32:4)
That is a typical translation and fair enough as far as it goes, but somewhat generic. Yet every Hebrew word that has a “religious” sense also has an ordinary, physical, everyday usage too. What if we try looking at it from that angle? We might gain more insight into the picture Moshe is trying to paint, for after all, a song (the means he is using to get the ideas stuck in our minds) is also a work of art, and the more vivid the poetic imagery, the less likely we are to forget it. Another way to say it would be:
“His workmanship is completely sound and reliable since He properly custom-fits and subjects His every directive to scrutiny to prove its validity and ensure it is firm and stable and won’t give way beneath you. In Him there is not the slightest deviation at all from what is right; it is all straight, level, and unbent.”
Now that stirs the imagination more! It reminds me of when I go to the home-improvement warehouse to get 2 x 4’s or sheets of plywood and find out just how many pieces are warped or gashed or chipped or cracked or otherwise damaged, and I can just barely find the four pieces I need, though there are 20 on the stack! But when YHWH delivers, there’s not one faulty piece in the whole lot:
“Is the fault His? No, His children’s is the blemish—a generation twisted and perverse. Is that how you repay YHWH, you foolish people and unwise?” (32:5, 6)
I.e., in contrast to the raw materials He provided, what we have done with them ended up shoddy, misaligned, bent to reach the poorly-measured cut of the other piece, then left exposed to the elements so that it soon warps, gets moldy, and starts to crumble away. There was nothing wrong with any of the supplies, but the building He commissioned is unusable, and we are the ones who bungled the job.
Of course, what he is talking about is not actual lumber and screws, but the commands and rulings which were designed to build a whole culture—and ultimately a whole harmonious world—on (not to mention a well-situated land that was well-suited for not only practicing it but letting the many passers-by see our example). If we had not waited until we had the project most of the way done before bothering to read the instructions, it could have turned out perfectly instead of the way it did. We got so used to His provision being of the finest quality (32:10-14), that we thought nothing could go wrong, and became slack. (32:15-18) For a long time He let us live in the house we’d built, with the holes that let rain in and mildew that attracted bugs and then their predators, and thieves who could get in! (v. 27)
But now our heavenly Supplier has done what He did not have to do (v. 36): allowed us to tear it down and start over—at His high expense. He even started the work for us, lining up the foundation perfectly so that we only have to measure by it rather than doing that part ourselves. So how should we proceed?
“Let everyone carefully examine how he is building, because no one can lay another foundation than the one which has already been laid—that is, Yeshua the Messiah. If anyone builds on this foundation [using] gold, silver, precious stones—or wood, hay, and straw—everyone’s workmanship will become plainly evident, because it will be revealed by fire [which] will test everyone’s product, proving of what kind of quality it is. If it survives…he will be paid; if the fire burns it up, he‘ll be docked…” (1 Corinthians 3:10-15)
Let’s show more gratitude this time and give Him back what He deserves for all the “talents” He’s invested (compare Matithyahu 25:14ff), and finish the job He gave us so long ago, for it’s still needed!
Is it Our Move?
We usually think of reconciliation with our offended Elohim as something He initiates: “No one can come to me unless the Father draws him” (Yochanan 6:44), “By grace are you saved through faith, and even that is not from yourselves; it is YHWH’s gift” (Ephesians 2:8), “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 Yochanan 4:19), the parables about our Shepherd going after His lost sheep, and all the promises in the Torah and the prophets that, though we stray, He will woo us back to Him.
We see a somewhat different side of the picture in Moshe’s song:
“Of the Rock that begot you, you are unmindful…When YHWH saw it, He turned away from them…and said, ‘I will hide My face from them and see what comes next for them…They have roused Me to jealousy… I will heap troubles upon them: … hunger… destruction… devouring or poisonous animals… sword… terror… killing… from the youngest to the oldest!’” (32:18-25)
Once He vents and gets His first reaction out of His system, like many of us, He thinks again, saying, “Their proud enemies might take the credit if I wipe them out.” (32:26-27)
But He is frustrated by the fact that, over and over, we just don’t get it: “If they were wise, … they would be able to tell where they are heading.” (32:29)
So, as difficult as it is for a loving, even if angry, parent, He takes His hands off. It seems He is awaiting a response from us, to see if we are even interested in receiving correction. At first we usually aren’t; we think we’re already right or at least that we can get away with our wrong by staying under the radar. (29:18) So in His infinite patience, He bides His time and waits for us to make the first move.
He even shows a hint of sarcasm: “Where are the things you trusted in? Let them protect you!” (32:37-38) After all, you said they could! Let’s see if they really will.
But He doesn’t take His eyes off us, no matter how far we wander. (Jeremiah 16:17) He says, “Return to Me, and I will return to you.” (Mal. 3:7) If we make the slightest move back toward Him, He really prefers that we don’t keep going down a road that will inevitably lead to death. (Ezek. 18:32; 33:11)
But if not, He won’t force us; He is willing to wait until the very last moment—until we hit rock bottom—if that is what it takes to get us to see our true plight and cry out to Him for mercy. “When He sees that their ability is exhausted and they have nothing left”, (v. 36) only then does He step in and let us see a glimmer of hope: “I have wounded, but I will heal…” (v. 39)
But why wait for it to get that bad? Why not turn around as soon as we recognize we are on the wrong road? Haven’t we seen enough evidence that the instructions He gives are for our own good? (v. 47)
"Take Words"
This song of Moshe is much harder to stomach than the one he sang after crossing the Red Sea! (Ex. 15)
When YHWH considered how large to make our borders, He left us room to grow. (32:8) He gave us the best of resources. (32:13-14) But we paid Him back (32:6) by not just slapping, but kicking Him in the face. (32:15-18) So He decided to step out of the way and leave us to the consequences of our own choices: “You want other gods? Okay, let them come to your rescue when you’re in trouble! I won’t, since I’m not wanted here!” (32:37-38) He said He would provoke us to jealousy (for what we used to have) through a “non-people”—a “foolish nation” (goy, thus possibly also “a foolish Gentile”). (32:21)
We can’t help but notice the similarities to the “non-people” status by which He said He’d punish the Northern Kingdom. (Hos. 1:9) Israel has “stumbled in [our] iniquity.” (Hos. 14:1) But Paul juxtaposes these two ideas and asks, “Have they stumbled in order that they should fall? Heaven forbid, but rather through their fall, salvation has come to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy.” (Romans 11:11) Might this “non-people”, these “foolish Gentiles”, be none other than the entity we call “the church”? “YHWH has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise.” (1 Cor. 1:27) In His love He still found it hard to keep His hands off our situations altogether.
David echoed some lines of the Ha’Azinu song (2 Shmu’el 22, same as Psalm 18), and Jonah seems to have found this psalm highly applicable in the belly of the big fish. It made him long to go back to YHWH’s temple and pay Him what he owed. (Jonah 2:5-10) It shows that although YHWH chastises His people as any parent should, He is there for us with a vengeance when outside forces threaten us. (22:8-16; Deut. 32:41-43)
How can we pay what we owe now? The debt is far beyond our resources. He tells us how: “Take words with you, and return to YHWH; say to Him: 'Forgive all iniquity, and accept what is good; thus will we render as peace offerings [the] bulls of our lips.” (Hos. 14:2) We’ve made ourselves so destitute, all we have to offer Him is words.
What kind of words? The same passage gives us some examples (personalize them as needed): “Assyria cannot save us; we will not ride on horses; nor will we any longer call the work of our hands ‘our gods’; for in You the fatherless one finds mercy… What have I to do any more with idols?” (Hos. 14:3, 8) The horses it is talking about here were not the kind used for transportation, but a symbol of military might in which armies often trusted.
He will take us back (Hos. 1:10)—once we exhaust our resources and run out of “back-up plans” and recognize that He was right after all. (Deut. 32:36) It doesn’t mean He won’t put us through everything short of hell first (32:22-26), if we are stubborn and slow to repent.
But that is what this season is all about. Yom Kippur is next week. These certainly are “days of awe”. I for one am going through a transportation crisis, a medical crisis, and a financial crisis, besides what my wife and children are experiencing or the political intrigues that could so easily change our whole world overnight. Does YHWH have my full attention yet? Will I be stiff-necked and keep trying to be in control, though I know I can’t save myself any more than the impotent Assyria, horses, or idols could? Or will I “take words”?
If even YHWH’s wrath toward us had far-reaching positive benefits for the whole world (Rom. 11:15), what kind of blessings will result from His running far down the road to embrace us when He sees us coming back to ask if we can just be His slaves to pay off our debt? (Lev. 25:39)
Such words He respects. He will even kill the fatted calf for us (Luke 15:27), so we don’t even need to bring “bulls of our lips” anymore. His forgiveness makes it as if we had never gone wrong or even needed to repent (Jer. 50:20), though from our end, remembering where He brought us from will keep us humble and hopefully make us cringe at the thought of ever going back there again.
How to Become Wise
When we read this and the next (final) Torah portion according to the traditional cycle, we are in the 10 “Days of Awe” between Yom T’ruah and Yom haKippurim, the time when the nation is up for its annual judgment—the ultimate “supervisory review”. How fitting to have the “reminder song” to jar us awake like the alarm-clock-like t’ruah of the shofar.
Why? Because in some way, every one of us is dozing off. And sometimes I think the whole regathering nation of Ephraim is going in circles, spinning our wheels.
Have we lost the enthusiasm we had when we first realized Scripture was written not about someone else, but about US? Have we gotten used to it? “When Yeshurun grew fat, he started kicking… and he deserted Elohim, the One who made him, and treated the Rock of his deliverance as unimportant.” (Deut. 32:15) This is all too frequently our tendency when there is prosperity, so maybe we should be thankful for the hard times that keep us at least one step away from this pattern.
Moshe said, "If only they were wise, they would comprehend and would perceive their ultimate end!” (Deut. 32:29) In other words, they don’t know how good they have it; why would they ever turn away?
Even in the church, we learned the promise to Joshua: “Be strong and courageous! Do not be in dread or lose your composure, because YHWH your Elohim is [the One who goes] with you in every [place] you go.” (Y’hoshua 1:9) How much more personal is it now that we know we’re Israel? “Moshe appointed instruction [Torah] for us--the heritage of the congregation of Yaaqov.” (Deut. 33:4) That means it’s OUR heritage, not just indirectly but directly. And no one else’s inheritance compares:
“O Israel, you are blessed! Who is like you, O people liberated by YHWH?” (33:29) “The ancient Elohim is your refuge, and underneath is the eternal shoulder.” (33:27) That’s Israel’s inheritance!
One of the haftaroth addresses Ephraim in particular, instructing us to “take words with you and return to YHWH. Say to Him, ‘Take away all (perversity) and lay hold of [what is] agreeable, as we repay [with] the bulls of our lips.’” (Hos. 14:2) If we do, this is His reply: “I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, because My anger has turned back from him.” (Hos. 14:4) Y’hoshua’s namesake made it possible for Him to forgive our sin and still be just. Do not let the price he paid be wasted.
Hoshea (who also had Y’hoshua’s name!) echoed Moshe’s words: “Who is wise and will understand these things? …Because the ways of YHWH are straightforward, and the righteous will walk in them, but those who rebel will stumble over them.” (Hos. 14:9) A fitting end to both Hoshea and another Torah cycle. Which way will we take the choice between life and death? Will we continue to trust both Moshe and his current successor (see Deut. 18:15-18) as our ancestors did when Y’hoshua took over?
Do we want to be wise and understanding? The “how” was given to Y’hoshua: “This legal document of the Torah must not recede from your mouth, but you must ponder it by day and by night, in order that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it, because then you will advance your march and then you will activate wisdom.” (1:8) He is trustworthy and His ways are straight-forward—they make sense in a fallen universe, and they make us sensible (wise) if we walk in them.
“Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given to you.” (Josh. 1:3) As we “walk out” what we read, we can take more ground back from YHWH’s ancient enemy, who still keeps making “land-grabs”. He doesn’t love us; why leave him anything? Claim “land” for the One who does.
