“The Lesson of His Love Song”
Parashah VAYELEKH (Deuteronomy 31:1-30) Week 52
“Therefore, write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the people of Isra’el. Have them learn it by heart, so that this song can be a witness for me against the people of Isra’el. For when I have brought them into the land I swore to their ancestors, flowing with milk and honey; and they have eaten their fill, and grown fat and turned to other gods, serving them and despising me, and broken my covenant; then, after many calamities and troubles have come upon them, this song will testify before them as a witness, because their descendants will still be reciting it and will not have forgotten it. For I know how they think even now, even before I have brought them into the land about which I swore.” (Deuteronomy 31: 19-21 CJB)
Moses wrote a song which declared the pattern in the Tapestry of Torah, of the falling away from Adonai, which had been prevalent throughout the forty-year wilderness wandering. Moses, as a Scribe for the Lord, penned the words to a song which were the words of the Lord. It was Adonai who wrote the words of remembrance; words which cut like a two-edged sword!
The words to the song of remembrance recount the faithful blessings of Adonai, the Holy One of Isra’el, Yahweh. Adonai was faithful to the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Adonai was faithful to respond to the groanings and cries of the children of Israel (Jacob) during their enslavement in Egypt. Adonai powerfully extracted His people out of Egypt and set their feet on a new path, to know Him as their God. Adonai was faithful to provide their needs in the wilderness, and faithful to forgive their sins as they repeatedly fell away from the new Covenant relationship with Him.
Throughout the Book of Deuteronomy Moses seeks to repeat, remind, reprimand, and reveal the prophetic words of Adonai to the new Nation of Israel. The entire generation who walked on dry sand as they crossed through the Red Sea, leaving Egypt and the fast-approaching war party of Pharaoh in their dust, died in the desert, leaving their heirs to inherit the Covenant Land of Israel. Moses has much to accomplish in his last days to prepare the younger generation for what is to come.
From the recounting of the history of the Nation, to the prophecies of Adonai, which lament of their barbaric appetites, leading to their dissatisfactions and falling away into idol worship and sin; one cannot read without weeping. Yes, the fullness of feasting on the blessings from the Lord would lead Israel into apathy and strange appetites for something new the world might offer, since they had thoroughly feasted on all God had blessed them with, and had grown weary of His bounty!
The disappointing truth from Adonai to Moses must have been like a two-edged sword to his heart. This was the deliverer of Adonai’s chosen people. He had faithfully served God’s new Nation with the zeal of the Lord, ushering them into the Covenant Land. Moses was fully prepared to succeed in grooming Israel to be a light to the nations as they entered into the land flowing with milk and honey.
How deadly the blow at the end of Moses’ life, to comprehend how close they were to victory, and yet how far. As I ran and prayed over the habitual pattern of the turning away of the Nation of Israel, I saw Moses. His shoulders bent, eyes downcast, as the realization of what the future held for the Nation began to set in. He proclaimed heaven and earth as the two witnesses of the apostasy in the heart of Israel. The greatness of Adonai was declared, from the greatest servant of all!
“For I will proclaim the name of ADONAI. Come, declare the greatness of our God! The Rock! His work is perfect, for all his ways are just. A trustworthy God who does no wrong, he is righteous and straight. He is not corrupt; the defect is in his children, a crooked and perverted generation. You foolish people, so lacking in wisdom, is this how you repay ADONAI? (Deuteronomy 32:3-6 CJB)
The pattern of the children of Israel reveals how quick they were to tire in the journey with Adonai, soon wanting more or less; soon hungering for something from long ago; soon craving what they did not have. The pattern of discontent includes falling away, leading to judgement, then later to repentance, because the discipline became too harsh to bear! Finally, into the open arms of their Father they were welcomed. This is the pattern from beginning to end. It starts with His blessing, and ends with His blessing. This is why there can be a song sung by each generation; because Adonai is utterly faithful in His delight to bless His children!
This is the Lesson of His Love Song: “He made them ride on the heights of the earth. They ate the produce of the fields. He had them suck honey from the rocks and olive oil from the crags, curds from the cows and milk from the sheep, with lamb fat, rams from Bashan and goats, with the finest wheat flour; and you drank sparkling wine from the blood of grapes.” (Deuteronomy 32:13-14 CJB)
His love song is that of a Bridegroom for his Bride. He provided a bounty of blessings which would bring delight and trust. They, these people chosen before the foundation of the world as the inheritance of Adonai, were the apple of His eye.
This is the Lesson of His Love Song: “He found his people in desert country, in a howling, wasted wilderness. He protected him and cared for him, guarded him like the pupil of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up her nest, over her young, spreads out her wings, takes them and carries them as she flies.” (Deuteronomy 32:10-11 CJB)
There is nothing in this song which promotes chance or coincidence. Nothing written of the relationship between the Nation of Israel and the God of Israel is happenstance. Every detail of their ordained relationship, aligned in the council room of heaven before the Spirit of God hovered over the void and He declared, Let there be light, confirms a Master Blueprint for history. The truth is, the Nation of Israel was at the heart of His master plan, for all time and eternity. This is why there can be a song sung by each generation! Adonai is sovereign, as the Divine Architect of creation, and Israel is proclaimed as the apple of His eye!
This is the Lesson of His Love Song: It is because of Israel’s falling away, and the judgement of the Lord upon them, that His eternal blessings would also be offered to a people, who were not a nation. (The Gentile World)
We, His Wild Olive Branch, (Romans 11:17-18) have been grafted in!
We are the benefactors of the blessings of Adonai, promised to Abraham and his children.
We share in the rich nourishment from the Root of the Divine Vine of Heaven. Adonai is our source!
May we sing His love song; a song of praise!
May we lift our hands as a child to a father, for we too are the apple of His eye.
Sing on this blessed Sabbath night, dear seekers, as Moses did, of the attributes of Adonai Tzevaot…
The Holy One of Isra’el…over your family, and your children, and their children!
Shabbat Shalom,
Sydney