Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 32: God is the faithful righteous Rock

Begin in prayer

Before we read the song of Moses, let us praise the faithful Rock whose ways are just. Ask Him to teach our family to remember His goodness, heed His judgment, and seek the atonement He provides.

Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations also of the mountains quaked and were shaken, because he was angry. Smoke went out of his nostrils. Consuming fire came out of his mouth. Coals were kindled by it.

Psalm 18:7-8

Father in heaven, Your work is perfect and Your ways are just. Help us hear this song’s praise, accusation, and promise with reverence. Show us Christ, and turn our hearts from the idols that cannot save. Please open our eyes as we read Your Word, make us more like Christ, and bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

Moses calls heaven and earth to hear a song declaring God’s perfect work and Israel’s corruption. The LORD cared for His people in the wilderness and gave them abundance, yet they rejected Him for idols and sacrificed to demons. His judgment will bring hunger, disease, beasts, and the sword on young and old. He restrains their complete erasure lest the enemy claim the victory as its own. Vengeance belongs to Him, and He will expose powerless idols, have compassion on His servants, and avenge their blood. The song calls the nations to rejoice because God will judge His enemies and make atonement for His land and people. Moses urges Israel to teach these words as their children’s life, then must see Canaan and die outside it because of Meribah.

As you read Deuteronomy 32, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

God is the faithful Rock, and He makes atonement for His people.

Moses gives Israel a song, because a song stays in the mouths of their children (Deuteronomy 31 verse 21). Again and again the song calls God the Rock, a strong place of safety that never moves (verses 4, 15, 18 and 31). He found Israel in the empty wilderness and carried them like an eagle carrying her young (verses 10 and 11). Jeshurun, a name for Israel that means upright one, grew fat on His gifts and kicked (verse 15). So God would make them jealous with “a foolish nation,” and send hunger, sickness and the sword (verses 21 to 25). Paul says those nations are the Gentiles who now believe in Jesus (Romans 10 verse 19). Yet the song ends with compassion for His people when their strength is gone (verse 36). It ends with God making atonement for His land and people (verse 43), and Christ made that atonement on the cross.

How does Deuteronomy 32 show us that God is the faithful Rock, and that He makes atonement for His people?

God’s goodness makes ingratitude sinful.

The LORD found and cared for His people in the wilderness. He led them alone and gave them rich provision. Their turning to idols rejected the Rock who had sustained them.

God’s judgment exposes false confidence.

The people will suffer because their own Rock has delivered them to defeat. The idols they trusted cannot rise to protect them. God alone holds death and life, judgment and healing, in His hand.

God promises compassion and atonement.

When His servants have no strength left, the LORD will have compassion on them. He will avenge their blood and judge His adversaries. The nations must rejoice with His people because He will make atonement for His land and people. Christ made that atonement for His people on the cross.

Memorise

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.

Deuteronomy 32:4

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, what do I trust instead of the Rock, and why do I need Jesus?

Moses joins God’s vengeance to His promise that He “will make atonement for his land and for his people”. The faithful Rock judges rebellion and shows compassion when His servants have no strength. His promised cleansing gives guilty people reason to hope.

Jesus made that atonement through the sacrifice of Himself (Hebrews 9 verse 26). He carried the sin of His people at the cross, and the Father raised Him up. His offering is complete, and nothing more is needed.

Turn from the idols that cannot save and come to Christ. The sinner who believes in Him is forgiven. The faithful Rock who judges rebellion also gives His people cleansing and life through His Son.

Parent's note

Tell your children how God’s faithful care makes Israel’s ingratitude serious. Explain the judgments and Moses’ exclusion without graphic detail, keeping the promise of compassion and atonement before them. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Praise the faithful Rock, and bring the forgetfulness in the heart question before Him. Every child can pray, so invite each one to seek cleansing through Christ.

Therefore when he comes into the world, he says, “Sacrifice and offering you didn’t desire, but you prepared a body for me. You had no pleasure in whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come (in the scroll of the book it is written of me) to do your will, O God.’”

Hebrews 10:5-7

Father in heaven, You are faithful when people forget and reject Your goodness. Bring us to Christ for the atonement His finished sacrifice provides. Help those who believe to remember Your care, fear Your judgment, and rejoice in the compassion that gives helpless sinners hope. In Jesus' name, Amen.