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“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it”. This well-known phrase is a fitting summary for one aspect of this week’s parasha, Ha’azinu. Parasha Ha’azinu covers Deuteronomy 32 and translates to “Give ear”. This is a fitting name for a parasha that truly needs to be listened to and understood.
In this chapter of Deuteronomy we have Moses speaking a song to all our people. This special song takes the theme of a lawsuit, with Adonai leveling charges against our people for their sinful ways during the golden calf incident, and general rebellion during our wandering in the wilderness. It serves as a warning that the Lord of Heaven and Earth is not Someone to be treated casually. This song also communicates important truths about who the Lord is. Our people did not listen to this warning and we need to learn to not make the same mistakes again.
The chapter begins with Moses declaring the greatness of the Lord, describing Him as the Rock, a steady and unmoving foundation. His work is perfect and all His ways are just, He is a God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright. The case for the Lord’s goodness and perfection is laid out beautifully in these opening verses.
But our people are described as just the opposite.
Moses declares that our people have been corrupt in how we have dealt with the Lord; that we are a deceitful and twisted generation. Our conduct toward Adonai is even more egregious because of how graciously and generously He has blessed us. Moses implores us to remember our history; that out of all the nations of the world Adonai chose us to become His people.
In the wilderness the Lord cared for us spiritually and physically and Adonai alone was our Guide; none of the so-called “gods” of this world had anything to do with the remarkable deliverance and protection we received. However, Moses states that instead of following our Great Protector, we turned away from Him, mocking the Rock of our Salvation. We forsook the true God for fake gods and provoked Him to anger with the abominations we created. The reference is to the golden calf that our people created while Moses was on Mount Sinai in the presence of Adonai, receiving the Ten Commandments. When Moses saw this abomination he smashed the tablets, showing that we had already broken the covenant.
The Song of Moses continues and goes on to say that we had offered sacrifices to demons, new false gods, and forgotten the Lord who gave us life. In response to our rebellion, the Lord said He would send other nations against us and they would be the implements of His anger. Our rebellion would bring us nothing but disaster and the only reason we would not be totally destroyed was because of the Lord’s mercy, and that the other nations would claim credit for their victories against us.
If we are wise, the Lord states, we will understand why these things are occurring, that they are a direct result of our rebellion. But included in these verses is the promise that when we are broken and turn back to the Lord, He will relent and show mercy. The inspired Song of Moses, in retrospect, was written so that we would never forget that the false gods we once worshiped are useless and that there is no God besides Adonai.
This parasha not only reviews our people’s history in the wilderness, but also anticipates the future – the very things we will see unfold in the Tanakh. What is described in this parasha is the recurring cycle of blessing, rebellion, and restoration. The Song of Moses served as a very dire warning to our people not to commit the same sins again that happened at Mount Sinai. Yet, our people did not listen, and the results of our rebellion are chronicled forever in Scripture.
The Lord is not someone to be casually dismissed. Scripture states that the fear of the Lord, a right understanding of who He is, is the beginning of wisdom. In this Song of Moses we see that the Lord is full of faithfulness and without injustice. We see the compassion of the Lord and how He provides for His people’s every need. But the righteous anger of the Lord is also very real; to turn away and mock Him by our careless words and actions is a foolish and disastrous idea. More than once the New Covenant writers quote this chapter of Deuteronomy to show that vengeance is the Lord’s alone and to stress the serious consequences of disobedience.
As we read the Song of Moses today we need to understand and apply its truths to our lives. Our people failed to heed the words of Adonai. They rejected Him, and rejected the messengers He sent, time and time again, bringing disastrous results. These rejections culminated in the prophesied rejection of God’s Anointed One, Messiah Yeshua Himself. But despite each of these rebellions there has always been a faithful remnant who were steadfast when the majority turned away from the Lord. We are called to be the minority that is faithful to the Lord and not follow the majority into rebellion!
Human beings have not changed at all over the thousands of years of history, and today we are guilty of the same kind of rebellious idolatry that we read about throughout Scripture. Granted, we may not worship false gods of wood, stone, and gold; but idolatry is alive and well in the 21st century. Celebrities, power, money, the respect of others, the list goes on. Anything we regard as more important – whatever we invest more of our time, our attention, our money in than the Lord – becomes an idol. And any time we give credit to someone other than the Lord for the protection and blessing that comes to us, we have committed a serious sin.
We live in an age where people show more respect for human leaders then for our eternal Creator.
The idea that we are “fine” is a flawed, inaccurate mindset. We need discernment and true wisdom that can only come from God’s revealed Word. The Scriptures are clear that if we want to be spiritually healthy, our focus needs to be on Him and not ourselves. We must end our rebellion against the Lord and set aside any and all kinds of idols. We need to put aside our pride, or else it will be necessary for God to break us Himself, in a very real and painful way.
This is the Shabbat between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur – a time of contemplation and making things right with one another and with the Lord for the new year. It is a time for repentance toward God and of reconciliation toward one another. Deuteronomy 32 warns us what happens when we refuse to humble ourselves in obedience to Adonai; when we refuse to set aside evil and learn to do good. Trouble and calamity in our lives might be necessary for God to reach past our hardness of heart, our pride, and our stubbornness, and cause us to seriously examine ourselves and our actions.
Messiah Yeshua taught there are two gates, one leading to life and one leading to death. The way leading to death is very wide and many enter into it. Our people’s history, recounted in Deuteronomy 32, is in a sense a sort of tekiah gedolah of the Shofar – a warning which a person ignores at their own peril.
If you have joined yourself to Messiah Yeshua and are seeking to follow the Lord’s way and not your own, then let this warning serve as an encouragement to keep fighting the good fight, to keep running the race that has been set before you.
If you have not yet become a follower of Messiah, then seriously consider this warning, and examine your life. Let this be the day you put your trust in Someone who never grows tired, who is good, wise and just, and whose mercy is everlasting. Place your trust in the Rock, place your trust in Someone and something that will endure, since this world and everything in it is passing away.
When Moses ended his song he told our people to take to heart all that he had said, because they were not just words, they are our life. May the Lord enable us to take all of His Word to heart and may He continue to bless us, keep us, and remind us of the everlasting life we have in Him!