Deuteronomy 32:1-43

2. The song itself 32:1-43

One Old Testament scholar called the Song of Moses "one of the most impressive religious poems in the entire Old Testament." [Note: W. F. Albright, "Some Remarks on the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy XXXII," Vetus Testamentum 9 (1959):339-46.] It contrasts the faithfulness and loyal love of God with the unfaithfulness and perversity of His people. As other important poems in the Pentateuch (e.g., Genesis 49; Exodus 15; Numbers 24), it also teaches major themes.

"The song embraces the whole of the future history of Israel, and bears all the marks of a prophetic testimony from the mouth of Moses, in the perfectly ideal picture which it draws, on the one hand, of the benefits and blessings conferred by the Lord upon His people; and on the other hand, of the ingratitude with which Israel repaid its God for them all." [Note: Keil and Delitzsch, 3:464.]

Moses set this song in the form of a lawsuit in which Yahweh leveled a charge against Israel. This form is very common in many of the writing prophets’ oracles. [Note: See G. Ernest Wright, "The Lawsuit of God: A Form-Critical Study of Deuteronomy 32," in Israel’s Prophetic Heritage, pp. 26-67.] Its central theme is "Israel’s apostasy and God’s threatening judgment." [Note: Sailhamer, The Pentateuch . . ., p. 475. For more information on the text of chapter 32, see Patrick W. Skehan, "The Structure of the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 32:1-43)," Catholic Biblical Quarterly 13:2 (April 1951):153-63. James R. Boston argued for the origination of this song in the time of Hezekiah or Josiah, as have many other critical scholars, in "The Wisdom Influence upon the Song of Moses," Journal of Biblical Literature 87 (1968):198-202.]