I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.
Deuteronomy 32:23 belongs to Moses' sacred song recounting God's dealings with Israel and its history. Christ commanded Moses to preserve that history in the song so the people could teach it to their children and remember His providential care and deliverance. Waymarks were set up lest the history be forgotten, and the song was to be preserved with special care as a memorial kept in sight and often repeated before young and old. In this way, when children inquired, the whole story of marked goodness, mercy, and deliverance could be repeated and kept in mind. Obedient commandment-keeping people would thereby know they have reason for joy and gladness, claim the blessing of the Fountain of life and power who can make the wilderness a fruitful field for the glory of His name, and come before Him with praise and thanksgiving for His wonderful works.
The song prophetically foreshadows future events, including the final victory of the faithful when Christ returns in power and glory. Within it, the verse pronounces swift judgment on Israel for rebellion and forsaking God, declaring that God will bring many accumulated calamities against a rebellious and faithless people, pictured as arrows spent upon them. Those calamities are followed by hunger, burning and scorching heat, and bitter destruction. The prophecy of swift judgment on those who persist in rebellion reveals God's abhorrence of sin and warns of the consequences of apostasy.
Disregard for God's law and Sabbath provokes God's anger and brings the world into conflict with Him, as Moses' warning about the judgment following Israel's rebellion and forsaking of God shows. Israel's lack of counsel and understanding kept them from considering the outcome of their rebellion. The ability of Israel's enemies to defeat them showed that God, their Rock, had given them over and shut them up, and their defeat was not evidence that their enemies' gods were stronger than Israel's God. These words of warning made Josiah tremble for Judah's future.
Deuteronomy 32:23 belongs to Moses' sacred song recounting God's dealings with Israel and its history. Christ commanded Moses to preserve that history in the song so the people could teach it to their children and remember His providential care and deliverance. Waymarks were set up lest the history be forgotten, and the song was to be preserved with special care as a memorial kept in sight and often repeated before young and old. In this way, when children inquired, the whole story of marked goodness, mercy, and deliverance could be repeated and kept in mind. Obedient commandment-keeping people would thereby know they have reason for joy and gladness, claim the blessing of the Fountain of life and power who can make the wilderness a fruitful field for the glory of His name, and come before Him with praise and thanksgiving for His wonderful works.
The song prophetically foreshadows future events, including the final victory of the faithful when Christ returns in power and glory. Within it, the verse pronounces swift judgment on Israel for rebellion and forsaking God, declaring that God will bring many accumulated calamities against a rebellious and faithless people, pictured as arrows spent upon them. Those calamities are followed by hunger, burning and scorching heat, and bitter destruction. The prophecy of swift judgment on those who persist in rebellion reveals God's abhorrence of sin and warns of the consequences of apostasy.
Disregard for God's law and Sabbath provokes God's anger and brings the world into conflict with Him, as Moses' warning about the judgment following Israel's rebellion and forsaking of God shows. Israel's lack of counsel and understanding kept them from considering the outcome of their rebellion. The ability of Israel's enemies to defeat them showed that God, their Rock, had given them over and shut them up, and their defeat was not evidence that their enemies' gods were stronger than Israel's God. These words of warning made Josiah tremble for Judah's future.