Today, I am reading and commenting on  Deuteronomy 32-34.

In order to understand the beginning of today’s passage we need to go back and read the last two verses of chapter 31:

“For I know that after my death you are sure to become utterly corrupt and to turn from the way I have commanded you. In days to come, disaster will fall on you because you will do evil in the sight of the Lord and arouse his anger by what your hands have made. And Moses recited the words of this song from beginning to end in the hearing of the whole assembly of Israel:”

With this introduction, we see that Moses is warning about what happens when people turn away from God.  While Moses’ song here applies mostly to the Jewish people and makes sense of their history, it has application to all people who have come to know Him.  We learn here that God has not allowed, and will not allow, the Jewish people to be wiped out because He will not allow His enemies to believe that they have done it.  The continued existence of the Jewish people is a reminder to the world that the troubles they face result  from God’s punishment upon them.  However, for those who think that statement justifies antisemitism, Moses warns us that God will avenge His people against those who persecute them.

Perhaps that is the most important thing for us to take out of this passage.  Vengeance belongs to God.  It is His prerogative to avenge those who have been wronged.  He will repay.  When we have been wronged, or think we have been wronged, let us not seek vengeance ourselves.  Let us leave that to God.  There are two reasons we should do so.  First, God claims vengeance as His alone.  We do not have the right to seek our own vengeance.  Second, God’s justice always fits the crime in full. We cannot hope to obtain revenge as fitting as that which God will inflict.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.