Deu 32:23 | KingComments | STEP | If God’s people forget God, He must spurn them. That is what this report is about. He is faithful to Himself and must therefore judge them. He says such harsh words precisely because they are His beloved children. He rejects His people, because His people rejected Him first. In He denied that they are His sons. There the LORD sees them as unrepentant and unattainable. Here is spoken of “His sons and His daughters”, not as a recognition from His side that they are this, but because they themselves claim to be this. But He cannot recognize them as such. He hides His face from them, that is, He looks not upon them in favor. He looks down upon them in anger and wants to see how things are going with them. When He made the connection with His people, He called them children who will not act unfaithfully ( ). However, this has not remained the case. They have turned to the idols, which has provoked God to jealousy. God’s answer is that He will also make His people jealous. God uses surrounding peoples to discipline them and bring them back, but He also uses them to make His people jealous. Therefore God sends out salvation to the nations. Not the judgment He brings upon them through the nations, but the grace He has for the nations is intended to bring His people to repentance ( ). Moses also mentions how consuming fire as a symbol of God’s judgment will do its consuming work. It will consume the yield of the land that made them fat and thick. Natural disasters will do their devastating work. With His arrows He will find and strike those who try to escape. Hunger, fever and disease will make their victims. The wild animals also have their share in the performance of God’s wrath. There will be no place that offers safety and there will be no feelings of pity for anyone.

‏ Deuteronomy 32:23

The Judgment Announced

If God’s people forget God, He must spurn them. That is what this report is about. He is faithful to Himself and must therefore judge them. He says such harsh words precisely because they are His beloved children. He rejects His people, because His people rejected Him first.

In Deu 32:5 He denied that they are His sons. There the LORD sees them as unrepentant and unattainable. Here is spoken of “His sons and His daughters”, not as a recognition from His side that they are this, but because they themselves claim to be this. But He cannot recognize them as such. He hides His face from them, that is, He looks not upon them in favor. He looks down upon them in anger and wants to see how things are going with them.

When He made the connection with His people, He called them children who will not act unfaithfully (Isa 63:8). However, this has not remained the case. They have turned to the idols, which has provoked God to jealousy. God’s answer is that He will also make His people jealous. God uses surrounding peoples to discipline them and bring them back, but He also uses them to make His people jealous. Therefore God sends out salvation to the nations. Not the judgment He brings upon them through the nations, but the grace He has for the nations is intended to bring His people to repentance (Rom 10:19).

Moses also mentions how consuming fire as a symbol of God’s judgment will do its consuming work. It will consume the yield of the land that made them fat and thick. Natural disasters will do their devastating work. With His arrows He will find and strike those who try to escape. Hunger, fever and disease will make their victims. The wild animals also have their share in the performance of God’s wrath. There will be no place that offers safety and there will be no feelings of pity for anyone.