Deuteronomy 32:39 - Meaning and Application

This closing part of the song makes three main points.

I. It gives glory to God, in Deuteronomy 32:39. “Look now at the whole matter: I, and I alone, am he.” Moses draws this lesson from the ruin of idol worshipers and from the helplessness of their idols. God here claims the glory of his own self-existence, “I, even I, am he.” Moses ends with the name by which God first made himself known to him, “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14). He is the God who is, who has been, who will be, who has promised, and who has threatened, and he will prove true in all of it.

These words also speak of his sole rule. “There is no god beside me.” No one helps with him, and no one can stand against him. They also speak of his full authority over all things: “I put to death and I bring to life.” All good and all harm come under his rule through providence, his wise care and ordering of the world (Isaiah 45:7; Lamentations 3:37-38). He may kill and wound his enemies, and then heal and restore his own people. He may also strike those who turn away from him, then show mercy when they repent and return. Or the words may mean that he has the right to dispose of all his creatures, giving life or taking it away as he wills. When his judgments are abroad, whom he will he slays, and whom he will he keeps alive. Yet even then, though he kills, he can make alive again. Though he causes grief, he will have compassion (Lamentations 3:32). Though he tears, he will heal us (Hosea 6:1-2).

The Jerusalem Targum reads this as, “I kill those who are alive in this world, and make alive in the world to come those who are dead.” Some Jewish teachers themselves saw in these words a hint of death and life after death, that is, eternal life. Finally, God claims irresistible power. No one can deliver from his hand those whom he has marked for destruction. No one can challenge the fairness of his sentence, and no one can escape the strength of his execution.

II. It warns his enemies, in Deuteronomy 32:40-42. This is a real warning to all who hate God, as those do who serve other gods, refuse his law, or attack his faithful servants. These are the people to whom God will repay vengeance, his enemies who refuse to have him rule over them. To shake such people awake and lead them to repentance, God’s wrath is openly revealed against them.

The divine sentence is confirmed with an oath: “He lifts up his hand to heaven,” the holy dwelling place of God. This was an ancient and meaningful way of swearing (Genesis 14:22). Since he could swear by no one greater, he swears by himself and by his own life. Those are truly beyond help who have both God’s word and God’s oath against them. The Lord has sworn, and he will not change his mind, that sin will bring ruin if sinners keep on in it.

Then preparation is made for judgment. The shining sword is sharpened (Psalm 7:12). It is a sword soaked in heaven (Isaiah 34:5). While the sword is being sharpened, the sinner still has time to repent and make peace with God. If he ignores that time, the wound will only be deeper. As the sword is sharpened, the hand that will use it firmly takes hold of justice and intends to carry it through.

The judgment itself will be awful. The sword will devour flesh in great numbers, and the arrows will be drunk with blood, because so much blood will be shed, both from soldiers killed in battle and from captives who are not spared, but are put to death by military judgment. When God begins to punish, he will finish the work, for even in this his work is complete. The last words are difficult, “From the beginning of revenge on the enemy.” Bishop Patrick thought they may mean, “From the king to the slave of the enemies” (Jeremiah 50:35-37). When God’s wrath is once unsheathed, it will do bloody work, with blood rising even to the horse bridles (Revelation 14:20).

III. It brings comfort to his own people, in Deuteronomy 32:43. “Rejoice, O nations, with his people.” The song ends with joy, because in God’s Israel there is a remnant whose end will be peace. God’s people will rejoice in the end, and their joy will last forever. Three things are named as reasons for that joy.

First, the church’s borders will be widened. The apostle uses the first part of this verse for the conversion of the Gentiles, the non-Jewish nations (Romans 15:10). See what God’s grace does when it saves people, it brings them into the joy of God’s people. True religion leads to true joy, so those are very mistaken who think it only makes people gloomy.

Second, God will punish the wrongs done against his church. He will inquire into the blood of his servants, and then all will see how precious that blood is to him. Those who shed it will have blood given to them to drink.

Third, God has mercy stored up for his church and for all who belong to it. “He will be merciful to his land and to his people,” that is, to all everywhere who fear and serve him. No matter what judgments come on sinners, it will go well with God’s people. Let Jews and Gentiles rejoice together in that hope.