Word of Encouragement (02/02/2023)
I would have said, "I will cut them to pieces; I will wipe them from human memory," 27 had I not feared provocation by the enemy, lest their adversaries should misunderstand, lest they should say, "Our hand is triumphant, it was not the LORD who did all this."' 28 "For they are a nation void of counsel, and there is no understanding in them. 29 If they were wise, they would understand this; they would discern their latter end! 30 How could one have chased a thousand, and two have put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had given them up? 31 For their rock is not as our Rock; our enemies are by themselves. 32 For their vine comes from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of poison; their clusters are bitter; 33 their wine is the poison of serpents and the cruel venom of asps. (Deut. 32:26-33)
God spoke of the gravity of Israel’s sin of idolatry and what it deserved in the previous passage. He concludes the thought in v. 26: “I will cut them to pieces; I will wipe them from human memory.” In this passage, God explains why He did not carry out the judgment Israel deserved. It is summarized in v. 27: “...had I not feared provocation by the enemy, lest their adversaries should misunderstand, lest they should say, ‘Our hand is triumphant, it was not the LORD who did all this.’”
This reminds us of the golden calf incident at Mount Sinai. God threatened to wipe out the Israelites for their sin (Ex. 32:9-10). Moses interceded for them, using the line of argument given in v. 27 (cf., Ex. 32:11-14). If God destroyed Israel at Mount Sinai, the nations of the world, especially Egypt, would have accused God of bringing the Israelites out of Egypt only to destroy them in the wilderness. You can imagine what the nations would have said if God used “those who are no people” and “a foolish nation” (v. 21) to destroy Israel: “Our hand is triumphant, it was not the LORD who did all this” (v. 27). In fact, they would have thought that God was unable to defend His people against their attack.
This is a naïve and simplistic understanding. This is not to say that their religious thinking as a whole was simplistic. They surely knew that they could anger their gods and there would be terrible consequences (or, when disasters struck, they would conclude that their gods were angry with them for something they did). It’s just that they did not give other gods the same kind of credit. If they defeated another nation, it was because their god was stronger than the enemy’s god(s).
This was what the LORD “feared.” This is another anthropomorphic/anthropopathic expression. Can God fear anything? Should God be afraid of what the nations say about Him? Does His sense of self-worth depend on what mere creatures say about Him? Of course not! His inherent glory is so absolute and perfect that it cannot be taken away or added. His inner shalom cannot be shaken by anything external.
But God does care that His name is honored. This is not simply a matter of His personal feelings. For this creation to be what it is designed to be, for this cosmos not to collapse and descend into chaos, its proper order must be maintained. Think about how even a minor disturbance (e.g., the dominance or extinction of a species like bees) can wreak havoc in an ecosystem. If so, what would happen if God is not honored, who is the Creator of all things and the Foundation of all reality? Good will be viewed as evil and the truth will be hated as falsehood. Isn’t that what happens in a culture where God is rejected, especially in post-Christian ones?
The only way for the name of God to be honored is through perfect and eternal salvation of His people and just punishment of all evil. This is what Jesus Christ has accomplished: those who trust in Him will receive eternal life, and those who reject Him will be subject to eternal damnation. If God is not destroying the world as it deserves, it is to preserve it until all His elect people are saved to the last one, and “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:10-11).