Schoolmaster to Christ
DEUTERONOMY CHAPTER 32
Schoolmaster to Christ
DEUTERONOMY CHAPTER 32
Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 32 (KJV)
"And Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words; of this song, until they were ended." It is not too much to say that one of the grandest and comprehensive sections in God's Volume now lies open before us and claims prayerful attention. It takes in the whole range of God's dealings with Israel from first to last, and presents a solemn record of their grievous sin and of God's wrath and judgment. But, blessed be God, it begins and ends with Him; and this is full of deepest and richest blessing for the soul. If it were not so, if we had only the melancholy story of man's ways, we would be completely overwhelmed. But in this magnificent song we begin and end with God. This tranquillizes the spirit, enabling us in calm and holy confidence to pursue the history of man, to see everything going to pieces in his hands and to mark the actions of the enemy in opposition to the counsels and purposes of God. We can afford to see the complete failure and ruin of the creature in every shape and form, because we know and are assured that in spite of everything, God will be God. In the end, He will have the upper hand and then all will be, all must be right. God will be all in all; there will be neither enemy nor evil throughout that vast universe of bliss of which our adorable Lord Christ will forever be the central sun.
Let us turn to the song. "Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth." Heaven and earth are summoned to hearken to this magnificent outpouring. Its range is commensurate with its vast moral importance. "My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass; because I will publish the name of the Lord; ascribe ye greatness unto our God."
Here lies the solid, imperishable foundation of everything. Come what may, the Name of our God shall stand forever. No power of earth or hell can possibly countervail His purpose or hinder the outshining of His glory. What rest this gives the heart in the midst of this dark, sorrowful sin-stricken world, and in the face of the apparently successful schemes of the enemy. Our refuge, resource, sweet relief and solace are found in the Name of the Lord our God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Truly the publication of that blessed Name must always be as the refreshing dew and tender rain falling on the heart. Of a truth, this is the divine and heavenly doctrine on which the soul can feed, and by which it is sustained at all times and under circumstances.
"He is the Rock" – there is, there can be no other Rock but Him. "His work is perfect" – not a single flaw in anything that comes from His blessed hand, all bears the stamp of absolute perfection. This will be made manifest to all created intelligences by-and-by. It is manifest to faith now, and is a spring of consolation to all true believers. The thought of it distils as dew on the thirsty soul. "For all his ways are judgement; a God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is he." Infidels may cavil and sneer; in their fancied wisdom they may try to pick holes in God's actions; but their folly will be manifest to all. "Let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged." In the end, God must have the upper hand. Let men beware how they presume to call in question the sayings and doings of the only true, the only wise almighty God.
There is something uncommonly fine in the opening notes of this song. It gives the heart rest to know that however man and even the people of God may fail and come to ruin, yet we have to do with One Who abides faithful and cannot deny Himself; Whose ways are absolutely perfect. One Who, when the enemy has done his utmost and all his malignant designs are brought to a head, shall glorify Himself and bring in universal and everlasting blessedness.
True, He has to execute judgment on man's ways. He is constrained at times to take down the rod of discipline and use it on His own people with terrible severity. He is intolerant of evil in those who bear His holy Name. All this comes out with special solemnity in the song before us. Israel's ways are exposed and dealt with unsparingly; nothing is allowed to pass; all is set forth with holy precision and faithfulness. Thus we read, "They have corrupted themselves; their spot is not the spot of his children; they are a perverse and crooked generation. Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?"
Here we have the first note of reproof in this song; but no sooner has it fallen on the ear than it is followed by an outpouring of testimony to the goodness, loving kindness, faithfulness, and tender mercy of Jehovah, the Elohim of Israel, and the Most High or Elion of all the earth. "Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations; ask thy father, and he will show thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee; when the Most High [God's millennial title] divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel" (emphasis added).
At verse 15, we reach a different note in the song of Moses. Up to this point, we have had before us God and His actions, His purposes, His counsels, His thoughts, His loving interest in His people Israel, His tender gracious dealings with them. All this is full of deep, rich blessing. There is; there can be no drawback here. When we have God and His ways before us, there is no hindrance to the heart's enjoyment. All is absolute, divine perfection and as we dwell on it, we are filled with wonder, love and praise.
But there is also the human side; and here all is failure and disappointment. Thus at the fifteenth verse of this 32nd chapter we read, "But Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked [what a full and suggestive statement. How vividly it presents in its brief compass the moral history of Israel] 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. 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, whom your fathers feared not. Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee."
There is a solemn voice in all this for us. Each of us is in danger of treading the moral path indicated by the above words. Surrounded by the rich and varied mercies of God, we are apt to make use of them to nourish a spirit of self-complacency. We make use of the gifts to shut out the Giver. In other words, like Israel we, too, wax fat and kick. We forget God. We lose the sense of His presence and sufficiency, turning to other objects as Israel did to false gods. How often we forget the Rock that begat us, the God that formed us, the Lord that redeemed us. All this is so much more inexcusable in us, because our privileges are so much higher than theirs. We are brought into a relationship and position of which Israel knew absolutely nothing; our privileges and blessings are of the highest order – fellowship with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. We are the objects of that perfect love that introduced us into a position in which it can be said, "As he [Christ] is, so are we in this world" (emphasis added). Nothing could exceed the blessedness of this; even God's love could go no further than this. It is not merely that the love of God has been manifested to us in the gift and the death of His only-begotten and well-beloved Son, and in giving us His Spirit; but it has been made perfect with us by placing us in the same position as that blessed One on the throne of God.
All this is marvelous, passing knowledge. And yet how prone we are to forget the blessed One Who has so loved us, wrought for us, and blessed us. How often we slip away from Him in the spirit of our minds and the affections of our hearts. It is not merely a question of what the Lord's church has done, but the deeper, closer, and more pointed question of what our own hearts are constantly prone to do. We are apt to forget God and turn to other objects, to our loss and His dishonor.
Would we know how the heart of God feels regarding all this? Would we form anything like a correct idea of how He resents it? Let us hearken to the burning Words addressed to His erring people Israel, the overwhelming strains of the song of Moses. May we have grace to hear and profit by them.
"And when the Lord saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of His sons and of His daughters. And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be; for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith. They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities; and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and shall set on fire the foundations of the mountains. I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them. They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction; I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust. The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs" (vv. 19-26).
Here we have a solemn record of God's governmental dealings with His people – a record eminently calculated to set forth the awful truth of Hebrews 10:31, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." The history of Israel proves in the most impressive manner that "our God is a consuming fire." No nation on the face of the earth has ever been called to pass through such severe discipline as the nation of Israel. As the Lord reminds them in those deeply solemn words, "You only have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore will I punish you for your iniquities." No other nation was ever called to occupy the highly privileged place of actual relationship with Jehovah. This dignity was reserved for one nation; but the very dignity was the basis of a most solemn responsibility. If they were called to be His people, they were responsible to conduct themselves in a way worthy of such a wondrous position, or else have to undergo the heaviest chastening ever endured by any nation under the sun. Men may reason about all this; they may raise all manner of questions regarding the moral consistency of a benevolent Being acting according to the terms set forth in verses 22-25 of this thirty-second chapter. It is useless for men to argue against the solemn actions of God's government, or the terrible severity of the discipline exercised toward the chosen people of God. How much wiser, better, and safer to be warned by the facts of Israel's history in order to flee from the wrath to come, laying hold on eternal life and full salvation revealed in the precious Gospel of God.
Regarding the use that Christians should make of the record of God's dealings with His earthly people, we are bound to learn the urgent need of walking humbly, watchfully and faithfully in our high and holy position. True, we are the possessors of eternal life, the privileged subjects of that magnificent grace reigning through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord; we are members of the body of Christ, temples of the Holy Spirit, and heirs of eternal glory. But, does all this afford any reason for neglecting the warning voice that Israel's history utters in our ears? Because of our incomparably higher privileges, are we to walk carelessly and despise the wholesome admonitions that Israel's history supplies? God forbid! No, we are bound to give earnest heed to the things the Holy Spirit has inspirationally written for our learning. The higher our privileges and the richer our blessings, the nearer our relationship and the more it becomes us to more solemnly be faithful, seeking to carry ourselves in such a way as to be well-pleasing to Him Who has called as into the highest and most blessed place that His perfect love could bestow.
In His great goodness, the Lord grant that we may ponder these things in His holy presence, earnestly seeking to serve Him with reverence and godly fear.
Let us now proceed with this 32nd chapter.
At verse 26, we have a point of interest in connection with the history of God's dealings with Israel. "I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men." And why did He not? No doubt, they deserved to have their remembrance blotted out from among men. But God has His own thoughts, counsels, and purposes respecting them. Also, He takes account of the thoughts and actions of the nations in reference to His people. This comes out with singular force and beauty at verse 27. He condescends to give us His reasons for not obliterating every trace of the sinful and rebellious people – and what a touching reason it is. "Were it not what I feared the wrath of the enemy lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the Lord hath not done all this."
Can anything be more affecting than the grace that breathes in these Words? God will not permit the nations to behave themselves strangely toward His erring people. He will use them as His rod of discipline, but the moment they attempt, in the indulgence of their own bitter animosity, to exceed their appointed limit, He will break the rod in pieces and make it manifest to all that He is dealing with His beloved, though erring people, for their blessing and His glory.
At verse 29, we have a touching appeal: "O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end? How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up? For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges [there is, there can be but the one Rock, blessed, throughout all ages be His glorious Name]. For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter; their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps" (emphasis added).
Terrible picture of a people's moral condition drawn by a master hand – such is God's estimate of the real state of all those whose rock was not as the Rock of Israel.
The intelligent student does not need to be told that the Lord's church, the body of Christ, the mystery of which the blessed apostle Paul was made the minister, finds no place in this song. When Moses wrote this song, the mystery of the church lay hid in the bosom of God. To a simple mind, taught exclusively by Scripture, it is as clear as a sunbeam that the song of Moses has for its thesis the government of God, in connection with Israel and the nations – its sphere the earth; and for its center the land of Canaan.
"And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun. And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel; and he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law. For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life; and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it" (vv. 44-47).
Thus, from first to last of this precious book of Deuteronomy, we find Moses, that beloved and most honored servant of God, urging on the people the solemn duty of implicit, unqualified, hearty obedience to the Word of God. In this lay the precious secret of life, peace, progress, prosperity – everything. They had nothing else to do but obey. Blessed business and happy holy duty – may it be ours in this day of conflict and confusion in which man's will is so fearfully dominant. The world and the so-called church are rushing on together with appalling rapidity along the dark pathway of self-will – a pathway that must end in the blackness of darkness forever. Let us bear this in mind and earnestly seek to tread the narrow path of simple obedience to all the precious commandments of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thus shall our hearts be kept in sweet peace; and although we may seem to the men of this world and even to professing Christians to be odd and narrow-minded, let us not be moved from the path indicated by the Word of God. May the Word of Christ dwell in us richly and the peace of Christ rule in our hearts until the end.
It is remarkable and impressive to find this chapter closing with another reference to Jehovah's governmental dealing with His beloved servant Moses: "And the Lord spake unto Moses that self-same day [the very day in which he uttered his song in the ears of the people] saying, Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession; and die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people; because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel. Yet thou shalt see the land before thee; but thou shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel" (vv. 48-52; emphasis added).
How solemn and soul subduing is the government of God. Surely, the thought of disobedience should make the heart tremble. If such an eminent servant as Moses was judged for speaking unadvisedly with his lips, what will be the end of those who live from day to day, week to week, month to month, and year to year, in deliberate and habitual neglect of the plainest commandments of God, and self-willed rejection of His authority?
Let us pray for a lowly mind, a broken and contrite heart. This is what God looks for and delights in; it is with such He can make His blessed abode. "To this man will I look, even to him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word." In His infinite goodness and for Jesus Christ's sake, God grant much of this sweet spirit to each of His beloved children.
