We have done it. We have reached the last episode in our journey through the entire Torah.

We're in the last movements of the last scroll of the Torah, Deuteronomy.

At the end of a grand journey, it's good to stand proud and celebrate.

But today that would be insensitive because Deuteronomy ends with a death, the death of Moses.

Before he dies, Moses stands before Israel one last time to give a farewell speech.

It's a poem in which he predicts that Israel will abandon their covenant with Yahweh.

It's a poem that future generations can look back at soberly to realize that it is

they that have abandoned Yahweh, not the other way around.

This is the language of Genesis chapter 6.

Oh God, it looks like the human heart in the generation of the flood and the purpose of their

scheming hearts is only evil all the time. And so here's Yahweh saying, I know their purpose,

I know their hearts. So I want this song to stand as a witness that I know that you're going to

abandon me and in case you ever want to say that I didn't, this song will stand here as a witness.

This poem in Deuteronomy 32 predicts Israel's coming rebellion and it repeatedly refers to a group

that Yahweh calls his people, the ones who will remain faithful to the covenant.

Who are these people? It's not all of Israel.

Yahweh is identifying himself with a persecuted, religious minority throughout the whole of Israel's

history. Those are Yahweh's actual people. And the majority of Israel associated with the kings

and their kingdoms and their wars in reality were the faithless ones. And Yahweh will bring justice

on those who deserve it but for his remnant people, they are a source of joy for the nation

and they're connected with a tonement that will happen for the people in the land.

Deuteronomy 32 is a poem that takes a look back at Israel's history and also takes a prophetic

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