Lesson 141 - Senior
Memory Verse
Cross References
I Moses' Song a Witness Against Israel
1. The Lord foretells Israel's idolatry and the breaking of their covenant in the Promised Land, [DEU:31:16-18].
2. He commands Moses to write the song and to teach it as a witness against Israel, [DEU:31:19].
3. When they shall prosper, they will turn to other gods, and evil shall come upon them, [DEU:31:20-22].
II An Ascription to God and Israel's Pending Downfall
1. His doctrine is as the rain and His speech as the dew which falls upon the grass, [DEU:32:1-3]; [ISA:44:3-4].
2. He is Israel's ROCK who bore them through the wilderness, as the eagle bears her young, [DEU:32:4-12]; [EXO:19:4].
3. He made him ride on the high places of earth, but Jeshurun kicked, and served other gods, [DEU:32:13-17].
III The Lord Provoked to Anger with Israel's Idolatry
1. Israel forgot the God who begat them, and are abhorred of Him because of their evil doings, [DEU:32:18-21].
2. A fire is kindled to the lowest hell and curses are sent upon them, [DEU:32:22-25]; [LEV:26:14-19]; [PS:9:17].
3. They would be scattered and remembrance of them cease, except that their enemies would vaunt themselves, [DEU:32:26-27].
IV God's Vengeance Threatened when Their Gods Fail Them
1. Israel is a people without understanding, their rock is not our ROCK, [DEU:32:28-34].
2. The Lord shall judge His people and repent Himself of them when He sees their power gone, [DEU:32:35-39].
3. Yet the Lord will whet His sword and avenge their enemies and be merciful toward Israel, [DEU:32:40-43]; [GEN:12:3].
V The Israelites Taught the Song of Moses
1. Moses and Joshua teach all the words of the song to the people for a warning, [DEU:32:44-45].
2. Moses commands them to set their hearts upon these words and to teach their children to keep the Law, [DEU:32:46].
3. It is not a vain thing, but it is their life by which they shall prolong their days in the land, [DEU:32:47].
Notes
Warnings Against Idolatry
The first two commandments of the Decalogue are a prohibition of any form of idolatry: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them" (Exodus 20:3-5). And a penalty is attached for the breaking of these two commandments: "For I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me" (Exodus 20:5). But He also pronounces a blessing upon those who keep His commandments: "And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments" (Exodus 20:6). The Lord too opens the Ten Commandments by reminding Israel of their deliverance out of Egypt: "I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." And these commandments were graven on stone by "the finger of God" and delivered to Israel at Mount Sinai about 50 days after their departure from Egypt. The younger generation also knew what happened to their fathers for setting up the golden calf and worshiping it. All Israel therefore knew in the beginning that idolatry was a great offence against God, the penalty for which was death.
Israel was prohibited from entering into any covenant with the nations around about them in the Promised Land. These idolatrous races were to be exterminated, their groves cut down, and their images destroyed. "Thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire. For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth" (Deuteronomy 7:5, 6). And the Lord further reminded them, "But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell" (Numbers 33:55).
The Prediction of Israel's Fall into Idolatry
Yet with these stern commandments and instructions against idolatry taught Israel, God knew their hearts and foretold their turning to other gods when they were come into the Promised Land. And the Song of Moses is an amazing revelation of their shameless fall into idolatry and their apostasy from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob -" the God who chose them for His people, a royal priesthood and a holy nation, the God who led them by the hand, out of Egyptian bondage, and now was about to bring them into a land flowing with milk and honey.
"For the LORD'S portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
"He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.
"As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:
"So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.
"He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;
"Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.
"But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation" (Deuteronomy 32:9-15).
Here was something for the Israelites to think about when they came into the Promised Land. During those forty years in the "waste howling wilderness," God led them about, He instructed them, and kept them "as the apple of his eye." He cared for Israel as the eagle cares for her young, although many times they had risen up in rebellion against their God. And now God was about to bring them over Jordan into a land of plenty where blessing upon blessing would be bestowed upon them. And what would Israel do? The Song of Moses is the answer: "Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked . . . he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation." "Jeshurun" is an endearing name which God gave Israel. But in spite of His love for this rebellious people, and the blessings bestowed upon them, they would turn to other gods.
The Lord's Anger Incurred by Israel
It is written, "They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger. They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up. . . . And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them" (Deuteronomy 32:16-19). The covenant was broken, the bond was severed, and He determined to send trouble upon them. He said, "A fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell. . . . I will heap mischief upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them. They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction. . . . O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!" (Deuteronomy 32:22-29).
The Prophecy Against Israel Fulfilled
And did they consider their latter end? They did not. Moses taught the Children of Israel the song, but their subsequent history tells the story. All that was prophesied came to pass. Great prophets were raised up in Israel, the Truth was proclaimed, and the temple worship was continued; but step by step their love for God waxed cold, and their worship became only a form. Eventually the nation was divided. Ten of the tribes moved into Samaria where idols were set up, and they were led into the abominable practices of the nations around about them by "the sins of Jeroboam." Baal became their god, and the time came when they were carried into captivity and scattered in Assyria.
For a season the temple worship was continued at Jerusalem, but in due time Judah and Benjamin also turned to other gods. And of them it is written, "My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water" (Jeremiah 2:13). And a little later they, too, were carried away to Babylon. The Temple was destroyed, the walls of Jerusalem broken down, and the city burned.
God's Love Unrequited
God loved Israel, not because they were a great nation, nor because of any virtue in them. They proved by their conduct that there was nothing good in them. He loved them, because of the Covenant made with their father Abraham hundreds of years before. It is recorded in the Word, "The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: but because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations" (Deuteronomy 7:7-9).
These words were taught the Children of Israel, before they ever entered the Promised Land. And even though they had gone through many hard trials in the wilderness and were fed with manna to humble them (Deuteronomy 8:2, 3), yet when they began to prosper in the land of plenty, they did not requite His love and keep His commandments, as He taught them. Of the Rock that begat them they were unmindful, and forgot the God who formed them.
"The Little Flock"
When the Child Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a new age dawned, as has often been truly said. The Old Covenant, made with Israel at Mount Sinai, was about to cease because Israel had broken it and turned away from the God who loved them. And the New Covenant, promised to Abraham (Genesis 12:3), was fulfilled when Jesus went forth, bearing His cross, and shed His own Blood on Calvary. With His last words upon the cross he cried, "It is finished." And He might have added, "Now may all the world go free," for redemption's price was paid and the door of mercy was opened wide to a lost humanity. Upon Calvary was revealed the deep significance of John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoso-ever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
The world, like Israel, has not responded to that love, but there are a few who have. Even in Israel's time there was a faithful band who cleaved to the Lord and refused to turn to other gods. The Lord reminded Elijah, "Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him." And so today, while the multitudes have turned to other gods and are going the broad way to destruction, there is still a "little flock" unto whom it is the Father's good pleasures to give the Kingdom.
"Lord, I have started to walk in the light
Shining upon me from heaven so bright;
I bade the world and its follies adieu,
I've started in, Jesus, and I'm going through.
"Many they are who start in the race;
But with the light they refuse to keep pace;
Others accept it because it is new,
But not very many expect to go through."
Questions
1. "Songs" are frequently hymns of praise, but what was the purpose of the Song of Moses?
2. What manner of sin is prohibited in the first two commandments of the Decalogue?
3. What relationship with the nations in the Promised Land was Israel forbidden to enter into?
4. What danger attended Israel's entering into a covenant with these nations?
5. Certain critics of the Bible say it was unjust for God to have these nations exterminated. Why was it not unjust?
6. The Promised Land abounded in cattle, fruits, and grains. What effect did this prosperity have on Israel?
7. What was God's prophecy concerning Israel when they were about to cross Jordan? Who was "Jeshurun"?
8. Give an outstanding event in Israel's history which is a fulfillment of this prophecy.