Deuteronomy 32:1 - Meaning and Application

Here is a commanding opening to Moses’ song in Deuteronomy 32:1, 2. He begins with a solemn appeal to heaven and earth as witnesses to the truth and weight of what he is about to say, and to the justice of God’s actions against a rebellious, stubborn people. In Deuteronomy 31:28, he had already said that in this song he would call heaven and earth to record against them. Heaven and earth would listen more readily than this foolish people, because they remain in obedience to their Maker and continue by his order, as his servants (Psalm 119:89-91). So they will stand as witnesses against rebellious Israel. They will testify both to the warning God gave and to the people’s refusal to hear it. See also Job 20:27, where the heavens reveal sin and the earth rises against the sinner. Or heaven and earth may stand for all their inhabitants, angels and men. Both groups will agree that God was right in his dealings with Israel and will declare his righteousness (Psalm 50:6; Revelation 19:1-2).

Moses also begins with a serious appeal to the people themselves in Deuteronomy 32:2: “My teaching shall drop like rain.” One Chaldee paraphraser explains the first part as a rain of judgment, a heavy and sweeping shower for the rebellious. Rain can be a sign of judgment, as when the world was flooded, and so God’s word can be both life-giving and terrifying. To some, it is a sweet and refreshing message, like dew on dry ground. To others, it is fearsome and even deadly, because they will not receive it rightly.

The subject of this song is teaching. Moses had once given them a song of praise and thanks in Exodus 15, but this song is for instruction. In Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, we are not only to honor God, but also to teach and warn one another (Colossians 3:16). That is why many of David’s psalms are called Maschil, meaning “for instruction.” Moses compares his teaching to rain and showers that come from above to make the earth fruitful and do the work they were sent to do (Isaiah 55:10-11). This rain does not depend on human wisdom or human will (Micah 5:7). It is a mercy when this rain comes often, and it is our duty to drink it in (Hebrews 6:7).

He says his teaching will “drop and distill as the dew” and as “the small rain,” coming quietly and without noise. The preached word often does the most good when it comes gently and works its way sweetly into the heart and feelings of the hearers. Moses also asks that they receive it gladly, as thirsty ground welcomes rain (Psalm 72:6). God’s word is more likely to do us good when we receive it that way. Bishop Patrick takes these words as a prayer that what came from heaven to them would sink deep into their hearts, soften them, and make them fruitful in obedience.

Then Moses makes a grave declaration about God’s greatness and righteousness in Deuteronomy 32:3-4. He begins there to protect God’s honor, so no shame would be thrown on him because of Israel’s evil. No matter how corrupt those are who bear his name, God remains just, right, and altogether good. Moses also says this to expose Israel’s sin more clearly, because they knew and worshiped such a holy God and still lived so unholy a life. And he says it to justify God’s dealings with them. We must hold firmly to this, that God is righteous even when his judgments are deep and hard to understand (Jeremiah 12:1; Psalm 36:6).

Moses then proclaims the name of the Lord, so Israel would know what kind of God they had chosen for their own and never be foolish enough to trade him for a false god, a worthless idol. He calls on them to ascribe greatness to God. It helps us greatly in resisting sin and staying in our duty to keep high and honorable thoughts of God and to speak of him that way. We cannot make him greater, because his greatness has no limit, but we must acknowledge it and give him the honor due to him.

When Moses describes God’s greatness, he does not speak first of eternity or immeasurable size, or of the shining glory of the upper world. Instead, he points to the faithfulness of God’s word, the perfection of his works, and the wisdom and justice of his rule. These are the things God has revealed to us, and they belong to us and our children (Deuteronomy 32:4). He is “the Rock.” That name appears six times in this chapter, and the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation, often renders it “God.” Hugh Broughton notes that God is called the rock eighteen times elsewhere in the Old Testament, not counting this chapter, though some translations use “strength” instead. He uses that to argue against those who make Peter a rock in the place that belongs to God alone. God is the Rock because he is unchanging and unmoving in himself. He is also a strong shelter for all who seek him, and an everlasting foundation for all who trust him.

His work is perfect. His work in creation was perfect, for everything was very good. His work in providence is also perfect, or will be shown to be perfect in due time, when God’s plan is fully completed. Nothing God does can be improved (Ecclesiastes 3:14). At this moment, he was bringing to completion what he had promised and begun for Israel, and they were to take that as proof that all his works are perfect. Human work always has flaws and unfinished places, but God’s work is complete. If he begins, he will also finish.

“All his ways are judgment.” That means the ends he aims at are righteous, and the means he chooses are wise and just. “Judgment” includes both prudence and justice. The ways of the Lord are right (Hosea 14:9). He is a God of truth, so his word can be trusted. He cannot lie, he is faithful to every promise, and none of his threats will fail. He is without iniquity. He has never cheated anyone who trusted him, wronged anyone who appealed to his justice, or treated harshly anyone who cast themselves on his mercy. He is just and right, and he will see to it that no one loses by him.

What a bright and lovely picture this verse gives us of the God we worship. It gives us every reason to love him, fear him, and live with joy, trust, and full devotion to him. He is our rock, and there is no wrong in him, nor can there ever be (Psalm 92:15).

This leads to a serious charge against the people of God, whose character was the opposite of the God of Israel (Deuteronomy 32:5). They have ruined themselves. The whole people had become corrupted, as if the whole head were sick and the whole heart weak. God did not corrupt them, because he is just and right. They were the only authors of their own sin and ruin, and both are included in this word.

They had ruined themselves by giving in to sin. Every person is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desire. They had also destroyed themselves, as Hosea says (Hosea 13:9). If a person scorns wisdom, he alone will carry the guilt and the pain (Proverbs 9:12). Their stain was not the stain of God’s children. Even God’s children have faults in this imperfect life, for if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. But Israel’s sin was not a small weakness they fought against. It was an evil they had fully set their hearts on doing.

They were a twisted and crooked generation, led by a spirit of stubborn opposition. They would do what was forbidden just because it was forbidden. They set their own wishes and ideas against God’s will. They could not bear correction, hated reform, and kept walking stubbornly in their own way. The Chaldee paraphrase reads the verse this way: They have scattered or changed themselves, and not him, even the children who served idols, a generation that has corrupted its own works and turned away from itself. Idolaters cannot harm God, damage his works, or make him a stranger to this world (Job 35:6). All the harm they do is to themselves and to their own work.

Bishop Patrick offers another reading: Did he do any harm to them? In other words, is God, the rock, to blame for the troubles that come on Israel? No. Their children are their blot. That is, all the evil that comes on them is the fruit of their children’s wickedness, because the whole generation is crooked and perverse. All who are ruined ruin themselves. They die because they will die.

This then becomes a painful appeal to this provoking people for their ingratitude (Deuteronomy 32:6). Do you repay the Lord like this? Surely you will not act so shamefully and falsely toward him any longer. He reminds them of the strong claims God had on their service and loyalty. God had been a Father to them. He had given them life, fed them, carried them, nursed them, and borne with their behavior. Would they kick against a father’s love? He had also bought them, at great cost, by the miracles that brought them out of Egypt, and had given men and peoples for their life (Isaiah 43:4).

Is he not your Father, your owner, the one who has a rightful claim on you? Even the ox knows its owner. He made you, brought you into being, established you, and kept you in being. Can you deny the duty you owe him because of all he has done, and all he has planned for you? Our obligations are no less strong as baptized Christians. We belong to our Creator who made us, our Redeemer who bought us, and our Sanctifier, the one who makes us holy and strengthens us.

From this, Moses draws out the evil of turning away from God and rebelling against him. It is base ingratitude. Do you repay the Lord this way? Are these the returns you make for all his favors? Will you use the powers you received from him against him? Compare (Micah 6:3-4) and (John 10:32). This is such shocking wickedness that everyone would condemn it. To call a man ungrateful is to say very much against him.

It is also sheer folly. O foolish and unwise people. Foolish indeed, and doubly foolish, who has deceived you? (Galatians 3:1). It is madness to turn away from the one you depend on for everything, to leave your own mercy for worthless lies. All willful sinners, especially sinners among God’s people, are among the most unwise and ungrateful people in the world.