“How could one man chase a thousand,
or two put ten thousand to flight,
unless their Rock had sold them,
unless the Lord had given them up?”
-Deuteronomy 32:30
Up until now, the Song of Moses has been dealing with Israel’s past.
However, from verse 30 there is a shift and now the content switches over to future events.
The Lord throws out an interesting rhetorical question.
He asks…
…how in the world can one soldier cause 1000 of his enemies to scatter or how can 10 soldiers put to flight 10,000 strong?
In other words, how is it even possible that such a much smaller enemy could overcome and defeat the stronger and more numerous Israelites unless Hashem allowed it be so?
Of course the answer is it couldn’t have happened unless God allowed it to happen.
Hence, this is something Israel’s conquerors should acknowledge.
They should NOT credit their own strength for their victory over God’s people or heaven forbid give credit to their own gods for the military successes they’ve had.
The Lord’s use of Israel’s enemies is two-fold.
He will use Israel’s enemies to punish his people but He will also use them to save His people.
How does this work?
Simple.
The enemies who conquer Israel will get all arrogant and proud and treat Israel cruelly as a result.
Once that happens, the wrath that Hashem had been directing towards His people will now be shifted towards the enemy.
The grapes of Canaan that produced delicious wine and provided much joy for Israel will now turn into a fountain of poison and bitterness for the enemy.
The Lord will not allow gentiles to enjoy what has been set-aside exclusively for His people.
Check out verse 34.
“Have I not kept this in reserve
and sealed it in my vaults?”
Here we’re being told that God is keeping this poisoned wine stored away until He decides to use it on the enemy.
We’re also told that it has been sealed up in the the Lord’s own vaults.
Be aware we’re not talking about literal poisoned wine here.
This is all metaphorical and figurative.
We can deduce the following three things from this verse.
FIRST, what God has pronounced will definitely come to pass.
SECOND, it will come to pass exactly as prophesied here.
THIRD, the fact that God has “sealed” it in His vaults demonstrates the certainty of this prophesy and that no being in heaven or on earth can turn things around.
In other words, only Hashem has access to these metaphorical poison grapes which He will use against the enemy in due time.
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