Please follow and like us:

Ha’azinu

Hear
“The Rock of Salvation”

Deuteronomy 32:1–52
2 Samuel 22:1–22:51

excerpted from TorahScope, Volume II

This week we are in the midst of the Fall festivals of the Lord. The Ten Days of Awe are ending, and Yom Kippur is about to take place. The annual Torah cycle is nearing completion. Final preparations for the Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot are being made. The time to contemplate some of the final words of Moshe Rabbeinu, Moses our Teacher, could not be better, as the message of Sukkot is that the Lord desires to take up residence with His people, “tabernacle” with them if you will, during the Millennial reign of Messiah Yeshua—and beyond into the Eternal State.

Before Ha’azinu begins, we witness how Moses’ time as the leader of the Ancient Israelites was coming to a quick conclusion. Yet, there is a definite message which God wanted to give the people of Israel, in the form of a song which speaks of the destiny to befall them. Before Moses died, he was specifically asked to record this song which would detail the future history of Israel. What was recited was not very good, as God’s people would prostitute themselves with other gods, and break the covenant they made with Him. As a result, God would be angry and temporarily turn His face away from Israel, who would then be consumed by many evils and troubles. The scene opens with the following,

“The LORD said to Moses, ‘Behold, your days approach that you must die. Call Joshua, and present yourselves in the Tent of Meeting, that I may commission him.’ Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the Tent of Meeting. The LORD appeared in the Tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood over the Tent’s door. The LORD said to Moses, ‘Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers. This people will rise up and play the prostitute after the strange gods of the land where they go to be among them, and will forsake me and break my covenant which I have made with them. Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall come on them; so that they will say in that day, “Haven’t these evils come on us because our God is not among us?” I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evil which they have done, in that they have turned to other gods. Now therefore write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the children of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel. For when I have brought them into the land which I swore to their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, and they have eaten and filled themselves, and grown fat, then they will turn to other gods, and serve them, and despise me, and break my covenant. It will happen, when many evils and troubles have come on them, that this song will testify before them as a witness; for it will not be forgotten out of the mouths of their descendants; for I know their ways and what they are doing today, before I have brought them into the land which I promised them.’ So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the children of Israel” (Deuteronomy 31:14-22, WMB).

The Lord had some very specific reasons about why Moses was to write a song. The Almighty appeared in a pillar of cloud and gave Moses a word which would be a witness to the rebellious behavior to be anticipated in the future. Moses was instructed to teach this song to the people of Israel, who would fall into sin after his death:

“‘Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to witness against them. For I know that after my death you will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn away from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will happen to you in the latter days, because you will do that which is evil in the LORD’s sight, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.’ Moses spoke in the ears of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song, until they were finished” (Deuteronomy 31:28-30, WMB).

The song Moses was to compose, would become a witness against Israel—not only for the time period after Moses’ death, but also b’acharit ha’yamim or “in the days to come” (RSV), the Last Days or the end-times. When you read or contemplate this song or poem, it has multiple meanings which surely transcend time, and speak into the common problems associated with people in general rejecting God. Surely implied, within the song of Deuteronomy 32:1-43, is the need for all who hear to turn back to the Lord in repentance and obedience to His Instruction:

“Give ear, you heavens, and I will speak. Let the earth hear the words of my mouth. My doctrine will drop as the rain. My speech will condense as the dew, as the misty rain on the tender grass, as the showers on the herb. For I will proclaim the LORD’s name. Ascribe greatness to our God! The Rock: his work is perfect, for all his ways are just. A God of faithfulness who does no wrong, just and right is he. They have dealt corruptly with him. They are not his children, because of their defect. They are a perverse and crooked generation. Is this the way you repay the LORD, foolish and unwise people? Isn’t he your father who has bought you? He has made you and established you. Remember the days of old. Consider the years of many generations. Ask your father, and he will show you; your elders, and they will tell you. When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the children of men, he set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel. For the LORD’s portion is his people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land, in the waste howling wilderness. He surrounded him. He cared for him. He kept him as the apple of his eye. As an eagle that stirs up her nest, that flutters over her young, he spread abroad his wings, he took them, he bore them on his feathers. The LORD alone led him. There was no foreign god with him. He made him ride on the high places of the earth. He ate the increase of the field. He caused him to suck honey out of the rock, oil out of the flinty rock; butter from the herd, and milk from the flock, with fat of lambs, rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the finest of the wheat. From the blood of the grape, you drank wine. But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. You have grown fat. You have grown thick. You have become sleek. Then he abandoned God who made him, and rejected the Rock of his salvation. They moved him to jealousy with strange gods. They provoked him to anger with abominations. They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods that they didn’t know, to new gods that came up recently, which your fathers didn’t dread. Of the Rock who became your father, you are unmindful, and have forgotten God who gave you birth. The LORD saw and abhorred, because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters. He said, ‘I will hide my face from them. I will see what their end will be; for they are a very perverse generation, children in whom is no faithfulness. They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God. They have provoked me to anger with their vanities. I will move them to jealousy with those who are not a people. I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. For a fire is kindled in my anger, that burns to the lowest Sheol, devours the earth with its increase, and sets the foundations of the mountains on fire. I will heap evils on them. I will spend my arrows on them. They shall be wasted with hunger, and devoured with burning heat and bitter destruction. I will send the teeth of animals on them, with the venom of vipers that glide in the dust. Outside the sword will bereave, and in the rooms, terror on both young man and virgin, the nursing infant with the gray-haired man. I said that I would scatter them afar. I would make their memory to cease from among men; were it not that I feared the provocation of the enemy, lest their adversaries should judge wrongly, lest they should say, ‘Our hand is exalted; the LORD has not done all this.’ For they are a nation void of counsel. There is no understanding in them. Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end! How could one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had delivered them up? For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves concede. For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, of the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poison grapes. Their clusters are bitter. Their wine is the poison of serpents, the cruel venom of asps. Isn’t this laid up in store with me, sealed up among my treasures? Vengeance is mine, and recompense, at the time when their foot slides, for the day of their calamity is at hand. Their doom rushes at them. For the LORD will judge his people, and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone, that there is no one remaining, shut up or left at large. He will say, ‘Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge, which ate the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offering? Let them rise up and help you! Let them be your protection. See now that I myself am he. There is no god with me. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. There is no one who can deliver out of my hand. For I lift up my hand to heaven and declare, as I live forever, if I sharpen my glittering sword, my hand grasps it in judgment; I will take vengeance on my adversaries, and will repay those who hate me. I will make my arrows drunk with blood. My sword shall devour flesh with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the head of the leaders of the enemy.’ Rejoice, you nations, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants. He will take vengeance on his adversaries, and will make atonement for his land and for his people” (Deuteronomy 32:1-43, WMB).

The song of Deuteronomy 32:1-43 is not exactly something to be read, recited, or even sung without a strong degree of sobriety—recognizing that it was largely a rebuke of the sins of Israel. Immediately following, we see how Moses and Joshua went before the camp of Ancient Israel, and the people were admonished to observe God’s Torah, as it was to serve as their living body of instruction for entering into the Promised Land. In spite of the sin which was anticipated to come, there would still be a wide degree of faithfulness and obedience to the Lord:

“Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he and Joshua the son of Nun. Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel. He said to them, ‘Set your heart to all the words which I testify to you today, which you shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law. For it is no vain thing for you, because it is your life, and through this thing you shall prolong your days in the land, where you go over the Jordan to possess it’” (Deuteronomy 32:44-47, WMB).

While contemplating the song of Deuteronomy 32:1-43 during this season of repentance, two important statements kept coming into my mind—because they contrast the consistency of our God, with the frailty of our human condition before Him. The first passage concerns how the Hebrew term tzur or “rock” is mentioned, as the Lord is the One who has been consistently just with the people of Israel:

“The Rock: his work is perfect, for all his ways are just. A God of faithfulness who does no wrong, just and right is he. They have dealt corruptly with him. They are not his children, because of their defect. They are a perverse and crooked generation” (Deuteronomy 32:4-5, WMB).

Moses asserted how God, as the Rock of His people, never changes. This is one thing all of us who follow Him today can surely rely upon! Moses went on to state how loving God had been toward Israel, and how He had taken care of them:

“For the LORD’s portion is his people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land, in the waste howling wilderness. He surrounded him. He cared for him. He kept him as the apple of his eye. As an eagle that stirs up her nest, that flutters over her young, he spread abroad his wings, he took them, he bore them on his feathers” (Deuteronomy 32:9-12, WMB).

After describing this loving relationship with Israel in poetic terms, the contrast is made between the Rock and “Jeshurun,” a term of endearment for the nation of Israel:

“But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. You have grown fat. You have grown thick. You have become sleek. Then he abandoned God who made him, and rejected the Rock of his salvation. They moved him to jealousy with strange gods. They provoked him to anger with abominations. They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods that they didn’t know, to new gods that came up recently, which your fathers didn’t dread. Of the Rock who became your father, you are unmindful, and have forgotten God who gave you birth. The LORD saw and abhorred, because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters. He said, ‘I will hide my face from them. I will see what their end will be; for they are a very perverse generation, children in whom is no faithfulness’” (Deuteronomy 32:15-20, WMB).

In this second passage of interest, Yeshurun is a name which means “upright one,” and is a “poetic name of Israel, designating it under its ideal character” (BDB).[1] But as we learn in this song, the beloved Israel would scorn the Rock of its salvation, and neglect the Rock who gave birth to it. Israel would forsake God, and as a result He would hide Himself from them. Sadly, this pattern repeated itself for generation after generation. However, as the instruction of Ha’azinu continues, describing the consequences of neglecting and turning away from the Rock—there will come a definite future time when the vengeance of the Lord will come to deal with the enemies of Israel:

“For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves concede. For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, of the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poison grapes. Their clusters are bitter. Their wine is the poison of serpents, the cruel venom of asps. ‘Isn’t this laid up in store with me, sealed up among my treasures? Vengeance is mine, and recompense, at the time when their foot slides, for the day of their calamity is at hand. Their doom rushes at them.’ For the LORD will judge his people, and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone, that there is no one remaining, shut up or left at large. He will say, ‘Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge, which ate the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offering? Let them rise up and help you! Let them be your protection. See now that I myself am he. There is no god with me. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. There is no one who can deliver out of my hand” (Deuteronomy 32:31-39, WMB).

Moses reminded the Ancient Israelites in his message to the people, that there was no other rock like the Rock, the Lord God. Moses’ message in Ha’azinu concluded with a word of hope, in that God would avenge His people from the attacks of their enemies:

“For I lift up my hand to heaven and declare, as I live forever, if I sharpen my glittering sword, my hand grasps it in judgment; I will take vengeance on my adversaries, and will repay those who hate me. I will make my arrows drunk with blood. My sword shall devour flesh with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the head of the leaders of the enemy. Rejoice, you nations, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants. He will take vengeance on his adversaries, and will make atonement for his land and for his people” (Deuteronomy 32:40-43, WMB).

This is a guarantee, from some of Moses’ final words, that the Holy One of Israel will be the Rock—which in the end will fully avenge the blood of His servants and restore Israel to its fullness. Down through the history of Israel, we can detect how the themes of Ha’azinu would have surely given tremendous courage and strength to those who diligently followed God, in the midst of turmoil, and even in the midst of many others rejecting Him. The Prophet Isaiah seems to have used the words present in our Torah portion, to encourage his own generation to pursue the Lord in righteousness:

“Yet listen now, Jacob my servant, and Israel, whom I have chosen. This is what the LORD who made you, and formed you from the womb, who will help you says: ‘Don’t be afraid, Jacob my servant; and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and streams on the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your offspring; and they will spring up among the grass, as willows by the watercourses. One will say, “I am the LORD’s.” Another will be called by the name of Jacob; and another will write with his hand “to the LORD,” and honor the name of Israel.’ This is what the LORD, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the LORD of Hosts, says: ‘I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God. Who is like me? Who will call, and will declare it, and set it in order for me, since I established the ancient people? Let them declare the things that are coming, and that will happen. Don’t fear, neither be afraid. Haven’t I declared it to you long ago, and shown it? You are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? Indeed, there is not. I don’t know any other Rock’” (Isaiah 44:1-8, WMB).

It can be very easy to read through the song of Deuteronomy 32:1-34, and get a little depressed and upset. While this song surely lauds the great power of God and His supremacy, it is also a strong rebuke of those who are rebellious toward Him and who seek after other objects of worship. How are we to understand and apply its message? We need to each make sure we understand how the Lord “will make atonement for his land and for his people” (Deuteronomy 32:43, WMB). The atonement (Heb. verb kafar) to be issued is notably not one the descendants of Israel themselves are to alone benefit from, but also the nations at large (cf. Romans 15:10).

As you contemplate the Rock of your salvation, Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus Christ), whoever you are, make sure that you have His shed blood for your sins covering your life! Have the confidence of knowing that a resolution to the problems of sin and rebellion to the Holy One, has been provided in the Son of God.