Hazinnu
Deut. 32
It is not unusual to hear
people talk about the “good old days”.
Usually it is reference to how the present days have deteriorated from
times past. “Why, in the good old
days, men were men and women were women”. “In the good old days, we walked
three miles to school in the harsh cold winter - and we loved it!”.
In the good old days, prices were not as sky high as they are today”.
“In the good old days, you knew people at the grocery store by name.”
And it goes on and on. In
some ways, the old days were good and in some ways they were not so good.
Here in the passage known as the “Song of Moses” (along with Exodus
15), Moses recounts the “good old days” when God nurtured Israel like a
young child and gave her everything that she needed to grow. Now he laments that
times are different - not that God has changed, but rather the people have
forgotten the goodness of God and take him for granted.
He says that
Think about the “good old days” for you.
Have you followed the wisdom and instruction that you may have received
as a youth? If you were raised in a
nurturing environment, have you taken that nurturing with you in your own family
as an adult? Have you become like a “big fat cow”?
that means simply looking for ways to be
satisfied and disregarding discipline and good sense. In verse 28 we read that
that “they are a nation lacking n counsel and there is no understanding in
them”. How sad and tragic is that
those who have had many
advantages squander them in their lives.
So is the case with our people according to Moses.
God called
However there is good news. God never gives up on his people.
He says that He will vindicate them - he will have compassion on His
servants. God will not leave them
with out an advocate. He will not
leave them to fend for themselves. When
they realize that they can no longer trust in themselves, God will step in.
In verse 36 we are told that it is when their strength is gone that they
will turn to God. Perhaps this
picture of