Psalms not in the Psalter
The 10 songs: Song 4
These are the 10 songs of Judaism. Among them, two are found in the Psalter, and one is the Song of Solomon or Song of Songs, which I plan to delve into separately. It’s also important to note that the last song, the Song of the Messiah, according to Jewish custom, has never been sung, as it is reserved for when the Messiah is present.
This is an occasional series. I will add to the links as each song is blogged.
Almost there! After enduring the chaos of Egypt, the Israelites had a divine meet-up in the desert. Following years of aimless wandering, being fed by God on manna and quails, but sadly no Custard Creams, they eventually made it to their ultimate vacation spot. Moses, the original tour guide, is about to retire, but not before he pulls off one final stunt. His farewell act? Dropping some legal advice wrapped up in a catchy tune.
Free image from Wikimedia Commons.
32 “Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak,
and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
2 May my teaching drop as the rain,
my speech distil as the dew,
like gentle rain upon the tender grass,
and like showers upon the herb.
3 For I will proclaim the name of the Lord;
ascribe greatness to our God!
4 “The Rock, his work is perfect,
for all his ways are justice.
A God of faithfulness and without iniquity,
just and upright is he.
5 They have dealt corruptly with him;
they are no longer his children because they are blemished;
they are a crooked and twisted generation.
6 Do you thus repay the Lord,
you foolish and senseless people?
Is not he your father, who created you,
who made you and established you?
7 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.
8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,
when he divided mankind,
he fixed the borders of the peoples
according to the number of the sons of God.
9 But the Lord’s portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted heritage.
10 “He found him in a desert land,
and in the howling waste of the wilderness;
he encircled him, he cared for him,
he kept him as the apple of his eye.
11 Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,
that flutters over its young,
spreading out its wings, catching them,
bearing them on its pinions,
12 the Lord alone guided him,
no foreign god was with him.
13 He made him ride on the high places of the land,
and he ate the produce of the field,
and he suckled him with honey out of the rock,
and oil out of the flinty rock.
14 Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock,
with fat[c] of lambs,
rams of Bashan and goats,
with the very finest of the wheat—
and you drank foaming wine made from the blood of the grape.
15 “But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked;
you grew fat, stout, and sleek;
then he forsook God who made him
and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.
16 They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods;
with abominations they provoked him to anger.
17 They sacrificed to demons that were no gods,
to gods they had never known,
to new gods that had come recently,
whom your fathers had never dreaded.
18 You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you,
and you forgot the God who gave you birth.
19 “The Lord saw it and spurned them,
because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.
20 And he said, ‘I will hide my face from them;
I will see what their end will be,
For they are a perverse generation,
children in whom is no faithfulness.
21 They have made me jealous with what is no god;
they have provoked me to anger with their idols.
So I will make them jealous with those who are no people;
I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
22 For a fire is kindled by my anger,
and it burns to the depths of Sheol,
devours the earth and its increase,
and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.
23 “‘And I will heap disasters upon them;
I will expend my arrows on them;
24 they shall be wasted with hunger,
and devoured by plague
and poisonous pestilence;
I will send the teeth of beasts against them,
with the venom of things that crawl in the dust.
25 Outdoors the sword shall bereave,
and indoors terror,
for young man and woman alike,
the nursing child with the man of grey hairs.
26 I would have said, “I will cut them to pieces;
I will wipe them from human memory,”
27 had I not feared provocation by the enemy,
lest their adversaries should misunderstand,
lest they should say, “Our hand is triumphant,
it was not the Lord who did all this.”’
28 “For they are a nation void of counsel,
and there is no understanding in them.
29 If they were wise, they would understand this;
they would discern their latter end!
30 How could one have chased a thousand,
and two have put ten thousand to flight,
unless their Rock had sold them,
and the Lord had given them up?
31 For their rock is not as our Rock;
our enemies are by themselves.
32 For their vine comes from the vine of Sodom
and from the fields of Gomorrah;
their grapes are grapes of poison;
their clusters are bitter;
33 their wine is the poison of serpents
and the cruel venom of asps.
34 “‘Is not this laid up in store with me,
sealed up in my treasuries?
35 Vengeance is mine, and recompense,
for the time when their foot shall slip;
for the day of their calamity is at hand,
and their doom comes swiftly.’
36 For the Lord will vindicate his people
and have compassion on his servants,
when he sees that their power is gone
and there is none remaining, bond or free.
37 Then he will say, ‘Where are their gods,
the rock in which they took refuge,
38 who 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!
39 “‘See now that I, even I, am he,
and there is no god beside me;
I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
40 For I lift up my hand to heaven
and swear, As I live for ever,
41 if I sharpen my flashing sword
and my hand takes hold on judgement,
I will take vengeance on my adversaries
and will repay those who hate me.
42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
and my sword shall devour flesh—
with the blood of the slain and the captives,
from the long-haired heads of the enemy.’
43 “Rejoice with him, O heavens;
bow down to him, all gods,
for he avenges the blood of his children
and takes vengeance on his adversaries.
He repays those who hate him
and cleanses his people’s land.”
Deuteronomy 32:1-43
The story so far.
Song 1 was the song of creation.
Song 2 was the song of the sea: A song of praise after crossing the Red Sea.
Song 3 was the song of the well: A song thanking God for water after crossing the desert.
And this song?
Song 4 asks God to listen, as the Israelites are about to cross into the land God promised them.
Is this the song of Moses? The other contenders are The Song of the Sea, sung after the Israelites had crossed the Red Sea in Exodus 15 and Psalm 90, the only song in Psalms attributed to Moses.
I’m going to say something you may not like. What if the Song of Moses is not in the Old Testament? The significance of the song of Moses is one for Christians only as Revelation chapter 14 says, “They held harps given them by God 3 and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb:” Another interpretation I have come across is that Revelation 14:3 can also be read as, “the song of God’s servant Moses which is also the Lamb.” What if it is this?
“Great and amazing are your deeds,
O Lord God the Almighty!
Just and true are your ways,
O King of the nations![b]
4 Who will not fear, O Lord,
and glorify your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come
and worship you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.”
But let’s get back to Deuteronomy. To really get this song, you’ve got to start from Chapter 30 and ride it out until the end of Chapter 34. Trust me, it’s not as dire as it sounds when you’re just reading this song on its own.
There’s a method to the madness of singing the same songs over and over again. If you just repeat things, sure, you’ll remember them, but belting them out? That’s how you really sear them into your memory. Consider adopting these tunes as part of your yearly vocal routine, and watch as they become etched into your brain and the minds of everyone around you. I’m obviously talking about those timeless classics like “I Wish it Could be Christmas Every Day” by Wizzard and “Merry Christmas Everybody” by Slade, which, let’s face it, haunt the airwaves annually. Or hey, why not throw in some good ol’ traditional Christmas Carols—the only Christian songs some folks are familiar with.
That is indeed the essence of this song. Sung by Moses over a people who were mostly born in freedom during the desert wanderings, and had not witnessed Egyptian slavery. The song looks ahead to their life in the land God had promised, visible across the Jordan River. It tells of how these people will have a varied history in that land, often forgetting about God and straying from His ways.
You see, that they are going to fail is good news. That we fail is good news. The reason is that no matter if we fail, no matter if we give up on God, no matter how big our failure is, God will never fail. God will never give up on us.
Rabbi Elimelech David Ha-Levi said that “This Song was sung by Moses to help assure the spiritual future of the Hebrews and included words of warning, of instruction, and of hope, and reaffirms G-d’s care and love of the Hebrews to the Hebrews in all circumstances.”
He’s right. And it’s still true. The song of Moses is the song of the Lamb, the song of Jesus. This is about hope. A sure hope that no matter how much we mess up or give up, God never gives up on us or messes up and is always in our corner.
The 10 songs:
Making an ass of myself 