Deuteronomy 32 Study Notes

32:1 Using a figure of speech by which inanimate objects are addressed—“apostrophe”—Moses appealed to the heavens and the earth to listen to the words of his mouth—to serve as witnesses to what the Lord was about to say through the song of Moses and to the tacit response of commitment by the nation (31:28).

32:2 Moses’s prayer was that Israel would not be like the hardened and thorny soils of Jesus’s parable (Mk 4:1-9). Rather, he wanted them to be like new grass and tender plants.

32:3-4 The epithet The Rock describes the Lord as both: (1) a firm and secure foundation upon whom one can build and in whom one can trust for salvation (vv. 15,18,30; Hab 1:12), and (2) a companion who is able to lead one through the trackless deserts of life (1Co 10:4).

32:5 Israel had ruined their relationship with the Lord and no longer acted like his children. They were a grotesque mockery of what God had created them to be.

32:6 The description of the Lord as Father (cp. Ps 2:7; 89:26; Is 63:16; 64:8; Jr 3:19; Mal 1:6) and Creator (Gn 14:22; Ec 12:1; Is 27:11; 40:28; 43:15) is rare in the OT, and the two are placed together only here. This combination reminded Israel that he was the God of all creation but also the special Father of his people.

32:7 Moses urged the people to remember bygone days in order to be informed and inspired by them.

32:8 Israel’s special place in the redemptive program of the Lord is clear from the fact that when he gave the nations their inheritance and divided the human race, he did so with Israel especially in mind. Their size and location were the fixed points according to which he set the boundaries of the peoples. The Table of Nations of Gn 10 focuses on Shem and his descendants (vv. 21-31), drawing particular attention to Eber, for whom the Hebrews were named (vv. 21,25; cp. 11:14-26). Abram, the ultimate father of Israel, was an Eberite (Hebrew), thus establishing the connection between Israel and Eber, the central individual of the Table of Nations. Israel’s role as the nation chosen out of all the others is a major OT theme (7:6-8; Gn 12:1-3; 15:4-5; 17:3-8; Ex 19:4-6).

32:9 What is only hinted at in v. 8 is clear here: Israel is the Lord’s chosen people.

32:10-14 Israel’s position as the chosen nation is confirmed by the special care the Lord accorded her, especially in the desert journey out of Egypt. Moses described the Lord’s watchfulness over Israel as that of an eagle protecting his young one in the nest and teaching him to fly. He alone was capable of leading them through the desert until at last they reached the land he had promised to give them (v. 12).

32:15-18 Looking into the future, Moses saw a time when Israel would rebel against the Lord and break the covenant with him. When they became fat, bloated, and gorged with all the blessings of the land (cp. vv. 13-14), they would attribute their prosperity to different gods, abandoning the God who made them and the Rock of their salvation (cp. 8:11-20). By their idolatry they would provoke God to jealousy (cp. 5:9). This would include their sacrifice to demons and gods they had not known. This description of demons provides the theological insight that the pagan gods were in fact fallen angels used by Satan to lead people away from the true God (cp. 1Co 10:20; Rv 9:20). The long history of Israel in the land bears sorrowful testimony to the bleak prospects outlined here by Moses (cp. 2Kg 17:7-17).

32:19-21 Once Israel had lapsed into the idolatry described in vv. 15-18, the Lord would begin to exert judgment. He threatened to hide his face from his people, a response reminiscent of his reaction to the worship of the golden calf at Sinai (Ex 32:10,34-35). As in that incident, the sin was rebellion epitomized by the violation of the first two commandments. The NT makes clear that those referred to as not a people are the Gentiles whom God would call to himself through the gospel. Paul quoted this text to say it was God’s favor to the nations that would finally awaken Israel to their own disobedience, impelling them to see in Christ their promised Messiah (Rm 10:19-21).

32:22 Sheol refers to the grave, the netherworld, or the place of the departed dead in general. Here it suggests only that there is no place that the burning wrath of God cannot reach.

32:23-25 The instruments of God’s wrath are figuratively described as arrows (see v. 42; Ps 7:13; 18:14; 38:2; 64:7; Lm 3:12-13; Ezk 5:16; Hab 3:9,11). The inclusiveness of the punishment is described by a series of merisms in v. 25: outside . . . inside; young man . . . young woman; and infant . . . gray-haired man. “The anger of God is an awesome and terrible thing because it follows from a rejection of the equally pervasive love of God” (Peter C. Craigie).

32:26-27 The Lord declared that if not for his reputation, he would cut Israel to pieces and blot out the memory of them from mankind. To do this, however, would allow the enemy to take credit for Israel’s failure and punishment rather than attributing it to the Lord. The threat to blot out their memory recalls Ex 32:32 where Moses said that if the Lord would not forgive his wicked people, he would gladly have his name erased from the book God had written.

32:28-33 The subject of these verses is unnamed, leading to some confusion. The CSB is probably correct in supplying Israel in v. 28. But Wright and McConville believe the subject is the enemies of God and Israel.

32:30 Moses predicted a time when Israel’s sin would be so blatant that they would be delivered over to incredibly powerful armies. Though hyperbole is used to describe the future defeat of Israel by a foreign foe (one pursue a thousand), the fact remains that when God no longer fights for his people and, in fact, fights against them, there is no chance of victory.

32:31 In contrast to the previous scenario, when the Lord fights for his people, they are certain to prevail because the “rock” on which the pagans rely does not exist and therefore has no real power.

32:32-33 The vine, the grapes, and the wine are the products of the enemies’ “rock” (v. 31)—the pagan fertility gods. The Lord, however, linked these imaginary gods to Sodom and Gomorrah, the epitome of corruption (Gn 18:20; 19:4-28; Is 1:10; 3:9; Mt 10:15; 11:23-24).

32:34-35 The vaults is a figurative image conveying the idea that all judgment originates with God and is stored up until the proper time of its administration. Vengeance belongs to God. Only he knows all the facts, and only he is absolutely just and righteous (Rm 12:19; Heb 10:30).

32:36 The other side of vengeance on the wicked is vindication of the righteous. The pledge here is that the Lord will be true to his everlasting covenant promises.

32:37-38 At the same time the Lord rescues them, he will taunt his people by asking where their gods, their supposed rock of refuge, have gone. The prophets also taunted idolaters and the gods they worshiped by sarcastically exposing their nonexistence (Is 40:18-20; 44:6-20; Jr 10:1-10).

32:39 The bottom line is that the Lord alone is God. Surely this puts an end to speculation about other gods and ought to render foolish the devotion that people—especially his own people Israel—pay to them.

32:40-42 Using a figure of speech called an “anthropomorphism” the Lord swears as heaven is his witness and as surely as he lives forever that he will execute judgment and vengeance on his adversaries and the heads of the enemy leaders who hate him. The familiar language of the courtroom is used here so Israel can better understand the legal and forensic nature of God’s relationship to them and to the nations at large. A second figure of speech—personification—describes the sword of the Lord as it devours flesh and his arrows that are drunk with blood. This gruesome scene reflects the other side of the coin of divine love and grace—holiness and justice.

32:43 When the Lord administers judgment to his adversaries, he will also avenge . . . his servants who have been abused. By judging his foes and vindicating Israel, the Lord will purify his land and his people.

32:44-46 The instruction to the people to take to heart all the words of Moses’s song and to command their children to follow all the words of this law (i.e., the book of Deuteronomy) calls to mind the admonitions following the giving of the Ten Commandments (5:32-33) and the Shema (6:4-9). These commands of the Lord must be handed down from one generation to the next.

32:47 Because Israel failed to heed these words of admonition, they were eventually uprooted from the land and forced into exile (2Kg 17:7-17; 2Ch 36:15-19).

32:48-52 The reason Aaron and Moses were unable to enter the land of promise is that they broke faith with the Lord. The verb translated “broke faith” has at its core in this context the idea of covenant treachery or disloyalty. Moses should have served as a model of kingdom citizenship in a time of stress, but he failed to do so (Nm 20:1-13).