Moses' Song - Deuteronomy 32

Chapter 32 is the song that God commanded Moses to write and teach to the people of Israel so that they would be reminded of the consequences of disobedience. It’s very long, the IM has a few blurbs about it, TB had 4 hour long lectures on it, but after the first 2, there were just so many tangents, that I gave up. So this probably isn’t going to go as in depth as it is possible, but I’m ok with it and I’m ready to move on. Verse 4 refers to God as “the rock,” which will be referenced by and about Jesus as being the “rock” or “foundation” or “head of the corner.”

There is almost an entire hour long lecture by TB that discusses what verse 8 means “when the most High divided to the nations their inheritance,” it was interesting but kind of weird. Apparently in some interpretations of this chapter, there are many references to others gods that TB covers in depth, some might find it interesting, it went a little bit too deep for me, but it’s there for any who are interested. The following verses also reminded Israel of the miracles that God did for them and that He would do for them, and they are interesting because the concepts don’t make sense, which make them miracles such as “ride on the high places of the earth” and “suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock.” You can’t get honey or oil out of rocks, but that’s what God either had provided already or what he promised to provide and still Israel turned away from Him. Because Israel turned away from God, he turned away from them, but not in the sense that he stopped paying attention to them and did something else, more that he stopped blessing them when they committed sin. And not just stopped blessing them, but actively cursing them. Just as an aside, I was listening to 2 Nephi the other day there are dozens of times where Lehi, Nephi, and Jacob all talk about the “curse” that will come on the people if they reject God. I thought it was interesting because chapter 31 was so heavy talking about the curses that will come to disobedient Israel and it was just very similar which makes sense because Lehi and Nephi would have had the Torah to study from so they would have been very familiar with the concept of blessings and cursings. Here is chapter 32 as well, Moses talks about the cursings from God that will come to the people who rebel. The cursings are mischief, fire, hunger, hostile animals, war, violence, and a scattering to the four corners of the earth. It’s a really abstract song, and I assume that it made sense to the Israelites when they heard it and sang it throughout the years, but I just don’t really understand it that much. This might be a good example of where a different edition of the Bible translation might be useful. I like TB’s use of the New Jewish Bible, I might use that a little bit more.

The song ends in verse 44 and Moses commands the people to remember the song and to sing it so that they can be reminded of the need of obedience when they get to the promised land. God commands Moses to go to mount Nebo and see the promised land even though he won’t be allowed to go there, and that’s where Moses will die. Again, the reason for Moses not being allowed into the promised land if because “ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh,” but we’ve discussed many times why that might be the reason given, but I don’t think it’s God actual reason. It’s an abstract chapter and I’ve had a rough day, so I’m pretty beat spiritually, me and Jesus have been working on some stuff and I’m exhausted so I’m not going to go into too much more depth on this here. But we're almost done with the Torah and I'm so excited to move on to the next part.