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As Moshe’s life was ending, he prepared Israel and Yehoshua’s (Joshua) for the change leadership, because Yehoshua would bring Israel into the Promised Land.
This dual reading הַאֲזִינוּ Ha’azinu (“listen,” Deuteronomy 32) and וְזֹאת הַבְּרָכָה Vezot Haberachah (“and this is the blessing,” Deuteronomy 33–34) also includes the “Song of Moses.” In it we learn that being “Torah-observant” is not a “holier than thou”pursuit of perfection. Rather, it’s about listening to the Creator, observing where our lifestyles diverge from Heaven’s instructions and seeking return to the LORD’s ways.
Get knocked down? Get up again!
As is traditionally done, at the end of the annual Torah cycle, we proclaim:
“Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
Joshua 1:6–9 NASB
“Be strong, and let us show ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God; and may the LORD do what is good in His sight.”
2Samuel 10:12 NASB
Messiah Yeshua’s parable about the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11–32) is an excellent example of how God responds when we hit rock bottom, come to ourselves and repent. It shows us that we can go back. And if we really want to go back, the Father will run towards us with joy.
The closing chapters of Deuteronomy are a prophecy about how far Israel will fall, but prophets such as Hosea also teach us how far God will go to redeem His people. They had run so far from God, they ran away from their great commission to be ambassadors of His kingdom. When they reached the point where they didn’t know who they were anymore, He called out to them. Israel’s “mid-life crisis” helped them come to realize that they didn’t know what they had until it was gone.
Born again to thrive on the Torah road
God did not just give them a nice dinner jacket to take on and off, that has to be dry cleaned or that would wear out and need to be mended and tossed. We often treat God’s ways like this, we treat His ways as something we can do and stop doing on a whim. God gave them the Torah, which changes us from the inside out. It’s not disposable, but a path of a permanent change in our character.
This started with Abraham, who walked in faith and trust with God so completely that God called Abraham His “friend” and they spoke so freely with each other that God warned Abraham of his concern over the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah and His judgement. We see how Abraham dialoged with God, beseeching Him to spare them from judgement if possible.
God teaches Moses a similar lesson of how He creates life and also brings about death. Nothing is outside God’s control. When we read about the conquest of the Promised Land, there are some stories that disturb us about how entire nations were wiped out of the land, but for God, who holds the power of resurrection. Those of us who do not have the power of resurrection, we should be very careful to presume the right of life and death over others.
‘Don’t fear those who kill the body’
God is the only one who gives life and if we walk away from life, we give ourselves over to death. There are many believers who are suffering terrible persecution, but they put their trust in God, not grasping for life, but accepting that as long as they live, they will live to God’s will, but when it is time for them to go, they can accept that, too. Just as we can go to sleep and feel confidence in waking up at night, we can also go to sleep in death because we have confidence that God will wake us up again.
In American history, we lived through the Civil Rights movement, when the government was doing terrible to people just because their skin had more melanin than others, but leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. came along and said not to return evil for evil. By their nonviolent reaction to the violence against them, they were able to shed a bright light on the evil of their adversaries and the culture changed for the better.
That is what the Song of Moses shows us, that the nations will see what is right and what is wrong. They will see how Israel dies, like the valley of dry bones, but they will also witness how God resurrects Israel and see that He is the one that can bring back people and nations from the dead.
This restoration is only possible because of the Lord’s covering over Israel’s behavior, which for much of their history, was truly atrocious. Israel were utterly ungrateful for everything God did for them from the time they left Egypt to how He conquered the Promised Land for them. They were more interested in the culture that God loathed than in the culture that God was teaching them.
The first generation of the Exodus were not faithful so they were not allowed to enter God’s rest. That generation did not trust God so they died in the wilderness. The only ones of that generation who entered the Promised Land were Joshua and Caleb.
Pattern in the Song of Moses
The song (Deuteronomy 31:30–32:44) seems to contain a chiastic structure, or chiasmus. This way of composing ancient literature is also called אתבש ATBaSh, because the first line matches the theme of the last line, and the second line parallels the penultimate line, etc.
A (Deut 31:30) The words of this song (דברי השׁירה)
B (Deut. 32:1-6) “A faithful God, without deceit” (32:4)
C (Deut. 32:7-18) “You forgot the God who gave you birth” (Deut. 32:18)
D (Deut. 32:19-26) The wrath of God
C’ (Deut. 32:27-35) “these foes would mistakenly boast” (Deut. 32:27)
B’ (Deut. 32:36-43) “there is no god besides Me” (Deut. 32:39)
A’ (Deut. 32:44) The words of this song (דברי השׁירה)
Although the wrath of God is the focus of Deuteronomy 31-32, that is now how the history of the world will end. God does not strike out against Israel out of spite, but because He called them as ambassadors of His kingdom. He gave them His oracles to protect and pass down from generation to generation. They possessed the lifeboat for the entire world. God’s words are too important to allow to slip away.
Israel’s history gives us good examples how to live righteously, but also gives us stern warnings of what happens when people live wickedly. God reveals Himself to us through His testimony and our trust in His testimony. People change but God does not change and His word is His relevation.
We are free to choose what way we want to go, but we have a big problem that has tagged along with us since the Garden, which is the Adversary. He is always out and about disparaging and bringing up doubts about God’s testimony.
Many of the churches around us are allowing too much sin into their midst. We have to be careful that when we go out to help those in the world that we don’t end up drowning in sin ourselves. The inclination to love and help others is good, but we are to be careful. We have to be as cunning as serpents, but as innocent as doves. Naiveté is not holiness. We have to pray for the best but plan for the worst. The martyrs knew exactly what they faced but they went into it anyway.
Harmony of the Song of Moses and the Song of the Lamb
There is the Song of Moses, but there is also the Song of the Lamb, which are like bookends of God’s testimony.
“Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues, which are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished.
And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God.
And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,
‘Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations!
Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; For “all the nations will come and worship before You, for Your righteous acts have been revealed” (Psa. 86:9).’”
Revelation 15:1-4 NASB
Those who sing the Song of Moses and the Song of the Lamb have no fear because they know that God is with them through everything. They are singing about how good God is no matter what is happening around them in the world. Rather than there being tension between Moses (and the Torah he communicated) and the Lamb (and the full atonement He brought), they are motifs of the same composition. They are singing in harmony with each other.
Eat the Word
The Torah frequently compares God’s word to bread. Yeshua took that imagery and took it to the extreme of telling His disciples that they need to eat His flesh and drink His blood for eternal life. He also reminded us that we need God’s word on a daily basis just like we need food on a daily basis. Yeshua was referencing Ex. 16:4, 15; Num. 11.8; Psa. 78.24; 105:40.
This is part of Yeshua’s “bread of life” discourse in John 6:22–71 that gets to the connection between the matzah (unleavened bread) of Passover and Heaven’s six-day-a-week delivery of manna — “What is it?” bread — for 40 years between Israel’s freedom from the House of Bondage and entry into the Land of Rest (Promise).
The matzah (unleavened bread) was God’s sustenance during rapid redemption. It was not puffed up, but humble and simple. The Manna was the “Daily bread” that God gave as a sign of care delivered directly from Heaven.
When Yeshua used the phrase “I am” when calling Himself the Bread of Life, they knew exactly what He was saying. “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35) is among the quotes the apostle Yokhanan (John) records, connecting the Messiah directly to the Father in divinity (Jn 1:1–3; 6:20; 8:58), drawing from the “I am” identification of YHWH to Moshe at the burning bush (Ex. 3:14).
Summary: Tammy