73 A SONG OF NEAR-DISINHERITANCE And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither 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 befall them; so that they will say in that day. Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us? And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods (Deut. 31:16-18).
This was not a law. It was a prophecy. God told Moses that Israel would surely rebel against Him after they entered the Promised Land. The very prosperity of that land would lead them astray. "For when I shall have brought them into the land which I sware unto their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey; and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat; then will they turn unto other gods, and serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant" (v. 20).
God instructed Moses to write a song. This song would provide an account of God's deliverance of Israel -- not out of Egypt but out of the wilderness. It would begin with the fourth generation's inheritance of the land. "And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I sware" (v. 21).
Singing God's Five-Point Covenant Lawsuit The song begins with a statement of God's sovereignty: "He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he" (Deut. 32:4). This is point one.
Point two describes Israel's rebellion against God's hierarchy: "They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation. Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?" (vv. 5-6)
Point three describes God's establishment of the boundaries of the nations and of Israel (v. 8). He led them inside the boundaries of the wilderness (vv. 10-12).
Point four describes God's positive sanctions: food in abundance (vv. 13-14). This led to Israel's fatness and her subsequent loss of faith: sacrificing to false gods (vv. 15-16), i.e., a new oath and new covenant. This produced negative sanctions (vv. 20-22). "I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them" (v. 23).
Point five, disinheritance, would not come, not for Israel's sake but for the honor of God's name. "I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men: Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the LORD hath not done all this" (vv. 26-27). But Israel would not see this as God's motivation during her rebellion. "For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them. O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!" (vv. 28-29).
The arrogance of the enemy nations would bring them down. "To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste. For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left" (vv. 35-36). This meant that the disinheritance that would rightfully come upon Israel would instead be replaced by a new inheritance. This would mean the disinheritance of those nations that would serve as God's rods of iron against Israel. "Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people" (v. 43). This ended the song of Moses (v. 44).
Moses then called on the nation to obey the law: "And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law" (v. 46). Obedience is the basis of life: "For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it" (v. 47). Once again, obedience is here identified as the basis of maintaining the kingdom grant.
Moses was then instructed by God to climb Mt. Nebo, so that he could see the land into which he would not be allowed to march (v. 49). Disobedience had kept him outside the land (vv. 51-52). What was true of Moses would surely be true for Israel: disobedience would undermine the inheritance.
Conclusion The chief inheritance of Israel was the law itself. "Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob" (Deut. 33:4). The law was their tool of dominion, the standard of their continuing economic inheritance. Moses then blessed each of the tribes as his last will and testament, just as Jacob had done with his twelve sons in Egypt. The expulsion of the Canaanites was imminent:
The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them. Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew. Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places (vv. 27-29).
Moses then did as he had been told: he went up Mt. Nebo to see the Promised Land. Then he died. But before he died, he transferred leadership to Joshua by the laying on of hands (v. 9). This represented the transfer of inheritance to Israel.
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