The book of Romans makes it clear that the existence of God is evident to all men. Therefore, all men who deny God are without excuse (see Romans 1:20). Today’s Scripture reading points out that, when Israel entered the Promised Land, they also had no excuse for not being loyal to Yahweh, their God. However, they forsook Yahweh and went after foreign gods anyway. That illustrates the sentence we see in Romans 1:18 about how men suppress the truth about God.
Yahweh knew that after Moses died, Israel would play the harlot with foreign gods. Thus, Yahweh instructed Moses to write a song which Yahweh could use in the future against Israel as proof that they had been warned not to go after false gods. In the opening verses of the song, Moses reminded Israel of the many things Yahweh had done for them and their fathers. Moses asked why they were repaying their benefactor with malevolence. Then Moses sang about Israel’s beginning, reminding Israel that Yahweh found him in a desert land and cared for him.
Deut. 32:11 Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,
That hovers over its young,
He spread His wings and caught them;
He carried them on His pinions.
The pronoun “He” refers to Yahweh. The pronoun “them” refers to Israel.
Deut. 32:12 Yahweh alone guided him,
And there was no foreign god with him.
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did not follow false gods. When Israel came out of Egypt, they did not bring false gods with them.
Deut. 32:13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth,
And he ate the produce of the field;
And He made him suck honey from the rock,
And oil from the flinty rock,
Deut. 32:14 Curds of cows, and milk of the flock,
With fat of lambs,
And rams, the breed of Bashan, and goats,
With the finest of the wheat—
And of the blood of grapes you drank wine.
Yahweh gave great wealth to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then He provided for Israel when they moved through the wilderness. When Israel approached the Promised Land, Yahweh gave Israel victory over the lands on the east side of the Jordan River. This was still in the future when Moses wrote this song, but after Israel crossed the Jordan River, Yahweh gave them success and dominion over the land of Canaan.
Deut. 32:15 ¶ “But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked—
You grew fat, thick, and sleek—
Then he abandoned God who made him,
And treated the Rock of his salvation with wicked foolishness.
The name “Jeshurun” occurs four times in the Old Testament. Three of the occurrences are in Deuteronomy. The four occurrences are Deuteronomy 32:15, 33:5, 33:26, and Isaiah 44:2. The name “Jeshurun” refers to Israel.
This was still in the future when Moses wrote this song, but the book of Judges tells us of many occasions when Israel forsook Yahweh and began worshipping idols (see Judges 2:11-13).
Deut. 32:16 They made Him jealous with strange gods;
With abominations they provoked Him to anger.
Deut. 32:17 They sacrificed to demons who were not God,
To gods whom they have not known,
New gods who came lately,
Whom your fathers did not dread.
Deut. 32:18 You neglected the Rock who begot you,
And forgot the God who brought you forth.
Notice the word “forgot”. Judges 2:10 explicitly says that part of the problem after Israel conquered the Promised Land was that the younger generations had not witnessed the wilderness wanderings nor the conquest of Canaan.
Deut. 32:19 ¶ “And Yahweh saw this and spurned them
Because of the provocation of His sons and daughters.
Deut. 32:20 Then He said, ‘I will hide My face from them;
I will see what their end shall be;
For they are a perverse generation,
Sons in whom is no faithfulness.
Deut. 32:21 They have made Me jealous with what is not God;
They have provoked Me to anger with their idols.
So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people;
I will provoke them to anger with a wickedly foolish nation,
Again, the book of Judges records many instances of this (see Judges 2:14).
Deut. 32:22 For a fire is kindled in My anger,
And it burns to the lowest part of Sheol,
And it consumes the earth with its produce,
And it sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.
Deut. 32:23 ¶ ‘I will heap calamities on them;
I will exhaust My arrows on them.
Deut. 32:24 They will be wasted by famine, and consumed by plague
And bitter destruction;
And the teeth of beasts I will send upon them,
With the venom of crawling things of the dust.
Deut. 32:25 Outside the sword will bereave,
And inside terror—
Both choice man and virgin,
The nursing baby with the man of gray hair.
In addition to the book of Judges, the books of 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles tell us about punishment that Yahweh brought upon Israel because of their disobedience. Many of the Old Testament prophets wrote about this as well.
Deut. 32:26 I would have said, “I will cut them to pieces;
I will cause the memory of them to cease from men,”
The rebellion of Israel was so great that they deserved to be eliminated.
Deut. 32:27 Had I not feared the provocation by the enemy,
Lest their adversaries misjudge,
Lest they say, “Our hand is triumphant,
And Yahweh has not done all this.”’
Yahweh did not eliminate Israel because then the nations around Israel would have had reason to deny the existence and power of Yahweh.
Deut. 32:28 ¶ “For they are a nation where counsel perishes,
And there is no discernment in them.
One of the problems Israel had all through the Old Testament time period was a lack of wisdom and discernment. For example, Isaiah mocked Israel for fashioning an idol out of wood and then burning the unused wood to bake bread (see Isaiah 44:16-18).
Deut. 32:29 Would that they were wise, that they had insight into this,
That they would understand their future!
Deut. 32:30 How could one pursue one thousand,
And two put ten thousand to flight,
Unless their Rock had sold them,
And Yahweh had handed them over?
Notice the gap between the numbers. One man would defeat 1,000 men. Two men would defeat 10,000 men. If Israel had obeyed Yahweh, then 2 Israelites would have been able to defeat 10,000 of their enemies. However, since Israel was going to follow false gods, two of their enemies were going to defeat 10,000 Israelites. When that happened, that should have been a wake-up call to Israel. However, they would miss the warning.
Deut. 32:31 Indeed their rock is not like our Rock,
Even our enemies themselves judge this.
Deut. 32:32 For their vine is from the vine of Sodom,
And from the fields of Gomorrah;
Their grapes are grapes of poison,
Their clusters, bitter.
Deut. 32:33 Their wine is the venom of serpents,
And the deadly poison of cobras.
Yahweh did many mighty acts for Israel. However, after Israel was settled in the Promised Land, they forsook Yahweh and served foreign gods.
Likewise, the existence of Yahweh is evident to all men because the creation itself declares the glory and existence of Yahweh. Unfortunately, just as the Israelites forgot Yahweh and rebelled against Him, so too many people throughout all of history have suppressed the truth about God and denied His existence.
When we engage with non-believers, we should not shy away from the fact that the existence of God is evident to all men. The Universe and all that is in it declares the existence, glory, majesty, and power of God.
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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”