Promises, Promises

The LORD said to Moses, “Soon you will lie down with your ancestors. Then this people will begin to prostitute themselves to the foreign gods in their midst, the gods of the land into which they are going; they will forsake me, breaking my covenant that I have made with them. My anger will be kindled against them in that day. I will forsake them and hide my face from them; they will become easy prey, and many terrible troubles will come upon them. In that day they will say, ‘Have not these troubles come upon us because our God is not in our midst?’ On that day I will surely hide my face on account of all the evil they have done by turning to other gods. Now therefore write this song, and teach it to the Israelites; put it in their mouths, in order that this song may be a witness for me against the Israelites. For when I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I promised on oath to their ancestors, and they have eaten their fill and grown fat, they will turn to other gods and serve them, despising me and breaking my covenant. And when many terrible troubles come upon them, this song will confront them as a witness, because it will not be lost from the mouths of their descendants. For I know what they are inclined to do even now, before I have brought them into the land that I promised them on oath.” (Deuteronomy 31:16-21)

God isn’t surprised by betrayal. In fact, he expected it and had made plans to deal with it; it was all part of the contract he’d made with the people of Israel. He even had Moses teach them a song about it. God knew that song would not keep them from going after the other gods. But he wanted them to know the song so it would bear witness against them, as a sort of divine “I told you so.”

God knew he would be angry and sad over their betrayal. But no matter what they did, he would not be the one to break the contract. In fact, when God punished them, he was keeping part of the very contract he had made with them. God’s loyalty to them was never at issue. All the pain that they had to endure was a consequence of his love and loyalty to them. God obligated himself to his people even though he knew they couldn’t reciprocate.

God did not enter the contract with them so they could fail. But he made allowance for the fact that they would fail. And he provided a way of success for them, dependent upon God’s faithfulness instead of theirs.

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