“Yes, Adonai will judge his people,
taking pity on his servants,
when he sees that their strength is gone,
that no one is left, slave or free.“
-Deuteronomy 32:36
In our discussion of Hashem’s MISHPAT, justice and judgement, let’s back up for a minute to get our bearings.
The context we’re dealing with can be simply summed up as follows.
FIRST, the Lord says Israel will abandon Him.
SECOND, in response the Lord will punish His people by sending a gentile enemy to conquer them which will result in Israel being exiled from the land.
THIRD, when the Lord sees that Israel is ready to repent, He will turn His wrath away from Israel and towards the enemy.
This leads us to the question of how will the Lord know when Israel is ready to repent?
The answer is given in verse 36.
“…when he sees that their strength is gone,
that no one is left, slave or free.”
Now we shouldn’t take the part where it says “no one is left” literally (for obvious reasons).
Because if there ain’t no one left, then Adonai would have no one left to save.
This is actually a Hebrew idiom.
It basically means the last remaining few who have reached the point of total helplessness and thus realize there is nothing left in this world for them to depend upon but God.
Quite a few scholars have actually challenged the conventional translation of this idiom.
Some have suggested it should be rendered as “no one is left ruler or helper”.
Either way, the idea being communicated here is that Israel has reached the very end of her rope.
She has no leadership to turn to and is now like an airplane flying without a captain on the verge of crashing.
Israel’s situation is so desperate she literally has no one else to turn to but Hashem or perish.
Have you ever been in a hopeless situation like that…
…where you felt like God abandoned you and you wondered why?
In Israel’s case however the reason why is crystal clear.
They of their own choice abandoned God and so God responded by sending them into exile.
Those Israelites who died unrepentant in a foreign land perished in an unsaved state which means they were separated from their God for all eternity.
Don’t think it can’t happen to you.
On the other hand, the lucky ones who survived the exile and repented were given the chance to return to the Lord’s waiting arms and have their salvation renewed.
This really is a perfect illustration of those folks who die not knowing the Lord versus those who made the choice to enter into a relationship with Hashem before leaving this side of heaven.
For some super lucky folks, their decision for the Lord may have occurred a mere few minutes before they drew their last breath on this planet
This reminds me of what is written in chapter 5 of the Book of James where it talks about a brother in Messiah who wanders away from the truth.
James tells other believers to go after him because if he dies in a state of separation from Hashem his eternal fate is sealed.
Onward, let’s take a look at verses 37-38.
“Then he will ask,
‘Where are their gods,
the rock in whom they trusted?
Who ate the fat of their sacrifices
and drank the wine of their drink offering?
Let him get up and help you,
let him protect you!“
The Lord is posing the mother of all rhetorical questions with great sarcasm here.
He’s essentially asking...”So homies what good did worshipping the gods of the gentiles do for you?”
Next the Lord piles on the sarcasm even higher by asking…
“Who ate the fat of their sacrifices
and drank the wine of their drink offering?”
Here He’s asking what good came out sacrificing to the false gods of the nations?
Did those pseudo-deities help you out when they came and attacked you?
Weren’t they supposed to be your shield?
Well, obviously they failed big time, didn’t they?
Finally, from verse 39 the Lord brings His argument to its inevitable conclusion.
“See now that I, yes, I, am he;
and there is no god beside me.
I put to death, and I make alive;
I wound, and I heal;
no one saves anyone from my hand!”
The Lord makes it clear to His people that…
…it was ME who saved you from Pharaoh’s cruel hand in Egypt.
…it was ME who gave you new life.
…it was ME who brought you into the Promised Land.
And never forget…
…it was ME who turned you over to your enemies when you broke my covenant and became unfaithful to me.
There are no other gods that possess either the authority or the capability to do the things I have done both FOR you and AGAINST you.
And if I decided to act against you, there is no other force on earth that can stop me whether it be a terminator sent back from the future or a narcissistic mother who emotionally raped you in your youth.
Alright before closing, let me make it clear that many of these statements should of course be taken figuratively.
The Lord doesn’t think like men whose moods swing and emotions shift all over the freakin’ place.
Also the Lord does not carry around a literal sword nor does he have a physical hand to carry it in spite of what the Mormons may believe.
Remember and never forget, God is NOT a man.
He is a spirit and does NOT have a fleshly body.
I’m done.
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