Song of Judgement for Sin and Reconciliation

Deuteronomy 32:1-43

1 “Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; And hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

2 Let my teaching drop as the rain, My speech distill as the dew, As raindrops on the tender herb, And as showers on the grass. 3 For I proclaim the name of the LORD: Ascribe greatness to our God.

4 He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He.
 5 “They have corrupted themselves; They are not His children, Because of their blemish: A perverse and crooked generation.

6 Do you thus deal with the LORD, O foolish and unwise people? Is He not your Father, who bought you? Has He not made you and established you?

9 For the LORD'S portion is His people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance.

12 So the LORD alone led him, And there was no foreign god with him.

16 They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods; With abominations they provoked Him to anger.

17 They sacrificed to demons, not to God, To gods they did not know, To new gods, new arrivals That your fathers did not fear.

20 And He said: “I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end will be, For they are a perverse generation, Children in whom is no faith.

21 They have provoked Me to jealousy by what is not God; They have moved Me to anger by their foolish idols. But I will provoke them to jealousy by those who are not a nation; I will move them to anger by a foolish nation.

29 Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, That they would consider their latter end!

35 Vengeance is Mine, and recompense; Their foot shall slip in due time; For the day of their calamity is at hand, And the things to come hasten upon them.’ 36 “For the LORD will judge His people And have compassion on His servants,When He sees that their power is gone, And there is no one remaining, bond or free.

39 ‘Now see that I, even I, am He, And there is no God besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; Nor is there any who can deliver from My hand.

43 “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people; For He will avenge the blood of His servants, And render vengeance to His adversaries; He will provide atonement for His land and His people.”

This song was an ongoing reminder of God’s impending judgement if His people abandoned Him for other so-called god demons and stopped listening to Him and His words of the covenant which He established with them.  He begins with a call to remembrance of who He is, great and perfect, just, true, and righteous.  Therefore they are to heed His word from heaven down to earth across all of His creation.  But those who corrupt themselves by ignoring His commands and person will suffer the consequences of their sinful actions.  In verse six, they are reminded that God is their Father, and it is unwise for His children to run away from their Deliverer who bought them at a price and established them as His due to no inherit merit of their own.  They were His inheritance and were this led by Him, but they refused to follow and sought out abomination in other “gods” and their practices contrary to His pure and true word and will.  There was no faith in them (verse 20).  Because they stirred up God’s wrath and jealousy by this sin, He promised to stir up jealousy in them by another people not a nation, indicating the children of Christ to come (Romans 10:17-19).  The gospel would call out a people to make Israel jealous for God’s attention and grace of forgiveness when they see the gentiles called out and chosen as His children and people in their place.  The call is to repentance and restoration for Israel as the first ones called and chosen, not to be replaced, by added to in the process through this judgement.  They were to understand that He alone owns vengeance and justice to judge all men, and that He alone is God who has the power over life and death (Romans 5:17, 8:2), and that is by the Messiah, the Christ.  The nations therefore have joy with His people over His justice and vengeance against all set against Him; they all look forward to His atonement for sin for all who are His.  That is what this song of judgement for sin and reconciliation teaches us.