“‘I considered putting an end to them,
erasing their memory from the human race;
but I feared the insolence of their enemy,
feared that their foes would mistakenly think,
We ourselves accomplished this;
Adonai had nothing to do with it.”
-Deuteronomy 32:26-27
Up until now we’ve been examining the ruthless and avenging side of Hashem.
A side of God I’m sure many of us wish didn’t exist.
Well today, we’re going to examine the opposite side of God’s wrath.
We’re told the Lord seriously considered wiping out Israel completely but decided against it.
Why?
Because He doesn’t want Israel’s enemies to take credit for their victory over His Chosen People and let them think it was because of their power they were able to defeat them.
That’s right.
While the Lord is to a degree showing mercy and love to His people, these verses are more about Hashem keeping His reputation intact.
We see this theme expressed in numerous parts of the Scripture like this one…
“For the sake of his great reputation,
Adonai will not abandon his people;
because it has pleased Adonai to make
you a people for himself.”
-1 Samuel 12:22
That’s right folks.
The Lord is greatly concerned with His reputation and He will do anything to protect it.
This same principle was also at play when He told Gideon to greatly decrease the number of Israelite soldiers in the battle against the Midianites.
“The Lord said to Gideon,
‘You have too many men.
I cannot deliver Midian into their hands,
or Israel would boast against me,
‘My own strength has saved me.’”
-Judges 7:2
Understand there are basically only two reasons why the Lord will send evil and disaster onto His people.
The first reason is make His people pay the consequences for their unfaithfulness and disobedience in the hopes that they will repent and turn back to Him.
The second reason is to demonstrate His supreme awesomeness and power to all the gentile nations so they will know and I mean really know there is no God like Israel’s God.
If Hashem allowed any attacking nation to take credit for their victory, they would think it was because of their military might and power instead of the fact that the Lord actually allowed them to conquer His people.
This would result in the nations concluding that Israel’s God was weak and incapable of defending His nation and that is one conclusion the Lord is NOT going to let sit in peace among the gentiles.
Bottomline: the Lord’s Name, Glory and Holiness are to be prioritized over everything.
Onward, take a look at verse 28.
“They are a nation without common sense,
utterly lacking in discernment.
If they were wise they could figure it out
and understand their destiny.
After all, how can one chase a thousand
and two put ten thousand to rout,
unless their Rock sells them to their enemies,
unless Adonai hands them over?
For our enemies have no rock like our Rock —
even they can see that!”
-Deuteronomy 32:28-31
Now the tables have turned.
Just a few verses earlier Moses told Israel that if they possessed one ounce of common sense they wouldn’t have made the suicidal decision to abandon their God.
However, now the very same accusation is being leveled against Israel’s enemies.
In other words, if these gentiles possessed even one ounce of common sense and wisdom they would realize that all along they were just a pawn in Hashem’s hand.
This is the same thing when God warned Israel not to congratulate themselves for their prosperity and their blessings as if they were the directors and sole cause of their own fate.
When the nations attack Israel and are victorious Hashem wants them to ask themselves…
“How in the world could we have accomplished this when Israel is so much bigger and stronger”.
That’s a darn good question.
And the Lord wants Israel’s enemies to understand the only answer to that question is because Israel’s TSUR (Rock), allowed them to win.
God wants Israel’s enemies to understand there is no God in the heavens or on the earth equal to Him and that this is a fact He will demonstrate through BOTH Israel’s victories over their enemies as well as their defeats by their enemies.
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