The Song of Moses and the 70th Week
Most of Deuteronomy 32 is a song that Moses sings to the people of Israel "to testify against them", just before they enter the promised land. The LORD made Moses know Israel would stumble into unfaithfulness. Deuteronomy 31 (NIV) describes the context:
14 The LORD said to Moses, “Now the day of your death is near. Call Joshua and present yourselves at the tent of meeting, where I will commission him.” So Moses and Joshua came and presented themselves at the tent of meeting.
15 Then the LORD appeared at the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the cloud stood over the entrance to the tent. 16 And the LORD said to Moses: “You are going to rest with your ancestors, and these people will soon prostitute themselves to the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake me and break the covenant I made with them. 17 And in that day I will become angry with them and forsake them; I will hide my face from them, and they will be destroyed. Many disasters and calamities will come on them, and in that day they will ask, ‘Have not these disasters come on us because our God is not with us?’ 18 And I will certainly hide my face in that day because of all their wickedness in turning to other gods.
19 “Now write down this song and teach it to the Israelites and have them sing it, so that it may be a witness for me against them. 20 When I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, the land I promised on oath to their ancestors, and when they eat their fill and thrive, they will turn to other gods and worship them, rejecting me and breaking my covenant. 21 And when many disasters and calamities come on them, this song will testify against them, because it will not be forgotten by their descendants. I know what they are disposed to do, even before I bring them into the land I promised them on oath.” 22 So Moses wrote down this song that day and taught it to the Israelites...
28 Assemble before me all the elders of your tribes and all your officials, so that I can speak these words in their hearing and call the heavens and the earth to testify against them
Prophecy is pattern. A case can be made that the final fulfillment of Moses' song is during the 70th Week of Daniel. With the assistance of the Holy Spirit, let's comb through Deuteronomy 32 (NIV) and see:
Listen, you heavens, and I will speak;
hear, you earth, the words of my mouth.
2 Let my teaching fall like rain
and my words descend like dew,
like showers on new grass,
like abundant rain on tender plants.
3 I will proclaim the name of the LORD.
Oh, praise the greatness of our God!
4 He is the Rock, his works are perfect,
and all his ways are just.
A faithful God who does no wrong,
upright and just is he.
It is very noteworthy that before Moses indicts Israel, he speaks of pleasant things: teaching falling like rain, words descending like dew, showers on new grass, abundant rain on tender plants, the perfect ways of our Rock, and the faithfulness of God. Jesus Himself is that Rain (Psalm 72:6).
This lines up with what we ought to expect just before the Day of the LORD from Joel 2:23, Hosea 6:3, Malachi 4, etc. Out of scope for this article, but it absolutely must be mentioned.
5 They are corrupt and not his children;
to their shame they are a warped and crooked generation.
6 Is this the way you repay the LORD,
you foolish and unwise people?
Is he not your Father, your Creator,
who made you and formed you?
7 Remember the days of old;
consider the generations long past.
Ask your father and he will tell you,
your elders, and they will explain to you.
8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance,
when he divided all mankind,
he set up boundaries for the peoples
according to the number of the sons of Israel.
9 For the LORD’s portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted inheritance.
Here, the words portion and alotted indicate land. The LORD's people are His portion/lot/inheritance, confirmed again by Paul in Ephesians 1:18. We spent time going over the notion of the LORD's city Jerusalem (and by extension, Israel) being His wife in Women, Widows, and the 70th Week.
Now Moses will recall the origins of Israel, and her time in the desert after exiting Egypt. But Moses' words seem to be co-identifying the modern, reborn nation of Israel, who was also "found" in a barren wasteland. The LORD has been putting flesh on her bones for 71+ years (pre-resurrection Ezekiel 37). Then Moses discusses her rebellion, and it clearly resonates with the time of Jacob's trouble.
10 In a desert land he found him,
in a barren and howling waste.
He shielded him and cared for him;
he guarded him as the apple of his eye,
11 like an eagle that stirs up its nest
and hovers over its young,
that spreads its wings to catch them
and carries them aloft.
12 The LORD alone led him;
no foreign god was with him.
13 He made him ride on the heights of the land
and fed him with the fruit of the fields.
He nourished him with honey from the rock,
and with oil from the flinty crag,
14 with curds and milk from herd and flock
and with fattened lambs and goats,
with choice rams of Bashan
and the finest kernels of wheat.
You drank the foaming blood of the grape.
Israel is now fat, satisfied, proud, and forgetful of the LORD. Very similar to Hosea 13:4-13, which is also predictive of the 70th Week of Daniel.
15 Jeshurun grew fat and kicked;
filled with food, they became heavy and sleek.
They abandoned the God who made them
and rejected the Rock their Savior.
16 They made him jealous with their foreign gods
and angered him with their detestable idols.
17 They sacrificed to false gods, which are not God—
gods they had not known,
gods that recently appeared,
gods your ancestors did not fear.
18 You deserted the Rock, who fathered you;
you forgot the God who gave you birth.
Verse 18 could apply both to the original Exodus birth, and the 1948 rebirth. As part of the 70th Week, Israel will once again make the LORD jealous by her unfaithful acceptance of the false-messiah. This will arouse His righteous anger, wrath, and fire. Fire and burning is a constant motif of the Day of the LORD by the OT prophets, confirmed again in the New Testament (2 Peter 3:10, Rev 17-18).
19 The LORD saw this and rejected them
because he was angered by his sons and daughters.
20 “I will hide my face from them,” he said,
“and see what their end will be;
for they are a perverse generation,
children who are unfaithful.
21 They made me jealous by what is no god
and angered me with their worthless idols.
I will make them envious by those who are not a people;
I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding.
22 For a fire will be kindled by my wrath,
one that burns down to the realm of the dead below.
It will devour the earth and its harvests
and set afire the foundations of the mountains.
Has verse 22 been fulfilled yet? What about verse 21? After Jesus sent our Advocate (the Holy Spirit) on Pentecost, the Jews became jealous by the breadth of the crowds (Acts 13:45) and depth of the power (Acts 5:17) of what they witnessed. But what about the Jews today? Do they seem jealous of today's Christ followers? Paul says, "salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious." Romans 11:11. This must be fulfilled somehow. As for the fire that "burns down to the realm of the dead below" (sheol), mentally bookmark this for the moment.
23 “I will heap calamities on them
and spend my arrows against them.
24 I will send wasting famine against them,
consuming pestilence and deadly plague;
I will send against them the fangs of wild beasts,
the venom of vipers that glide in the dust.
25 In the street the sword will make them childless;
in their homes terror will reign.
The young men and young women will perish,
the infants and those with gray hair.
26 I said I would scatter them
and erase their name from human memory,
27 but I dreaded the taunt of the enemy,
lest the adversary misunderstand
and say, ‘Our hand has triumphed;
the LORD has not done all this.’”
Do the verses above bring to mind 70th Week events? Calamities, famine, pestilence, plague? A case can be made that arrows, hail, locusts (Joel 3) are all referring to the same thing: meteors. If the meteors are large enough, one could easily imagine an impact in the Mediterranean Sea could cause massive flooding in Israel.
28 They are a nation without sense,
there is no discernment in them.
29 If only they were wise and would understand this
and discern what their end will be!
30 How could one man chase a thousand,
or two put ten thousand to flight,
unless their Rock had sold them,
unless the LORD had given them up?
31 For their rock is not like our Rock,
as even our enemies concede.
32 Their vine comes from the vine of Sodom
and from the fields of Gomorrah.
Their grapes are filled with poison,
and their clusters with bitterness.
33 Their wine is the venom of serpents,
the deadly poison of cobras.
34 “Have I not kept this in reserve
and sealed it in my vaults?
35 It is mine to avenge; I will repay.
In due time their foot will slip;
their day of disaster is near
and their doom rushes upon them.”
Sealed in His vaults? The word "seal" here in the Septuagint is the same as the one used in Revelation for the 7 seals, and the sealing of the 144K. Additionally, verse 35 is quoted by Paul in Romans 12, where he urges the body of Christ, "Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath". If we are interpreting Deuteronomy 32 correctly as a 70th Week pointer, Paul may have been saying something like, "express love and goodness to your enemies, because the LORD will deal with them during the 70th Week of Daniel".
36 The LORD will vindicate his people
and relent concerning his servants
when he sees their strength is gone
and no one is left, slave or free. [or "and they are without a ruler or leader"]
37 He will say: “Now where are their gods,
the rock they took refuge in,
38 the gods who ate the fat of their sacrifices
and drank the wine of their drink offerings?
Let them rise up to help you!
Let them give you shelter!
This is a monumentally important clue. The midpoint of the 70th Week is when the false-messiah sits in the 3rd temple, declares himself to be God, and turns on the Jewish people. This causes the desolation of the city. Jesus warns them to flee immediately and not turn back when they see this take place (Matt 24:15-16). The other equally important phrase is "when... their strength is gone". Where in the Word is that same phrase used? Psalm 90:7-12 appears to be another 70th Week overlay, and explicitly says "Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away." Refer again to Women, Widows, and the 70th Week, which argues for the abomination of desolation taking place when Israel is 80 years old (Luke 2:36-38). As for this being the time of vindication for His people and relenting concerning His servants, perhaps this is for the chosen remnant who will remain alive until His return.
Shelter. The same root word as in Zephaniah 2:1-3, and Isaiah 28:15. This is a profound side-story. We can see the heart of God being pierced by the behavior of Israel's leaders. She will have an opportunity to make the LORD her hope/shelter/refuge, but refuses. Perhaps it will look like this:
39 “See now that I myself am he!
There is no god besides me.
I put to death and I bring to life,
I have wounded and I will heal,
and no one can deliver out of my hand.
40 I lift my hand to heaven and solemnly swear:
As surely as I live forever,
41 when I sharpen my flashing sword
and my hand grasps it in judgment,
I will take vengeance on my adversaries
and repay those who hate me.
42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
while my sword devours flesh:
the blood of the slain and the captives,
the heads of the enemy leaders.”
These same points are made in Hosea 6:1-3, Isaiah 63:1-6, Rev 14:19-20, 19:11-21. It's all the same scene: the time when Christ reveals Himself as the LORD God to rescue repentant Israel from her enemies, who will be destroyed.
43 Rejoice, you nations, with his people, [or "Make his people rejoice, you nations"][Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls (see also Septuagint) people, / and let all the angels worship him, /]
for he will avenge the blood of his servants;
he will take vengeance on his enemies
and make atonement for his land and people.
This is at the return of Christ, bodily. This is the Day of Atonement, when He gives Egypt, Cush, and Seba as a ransom (Isaiah 43:1-7). The end of the 70th Week of Daniel. Maranatha!
14 The LORD said to Moses, “Now the day of your death is near. Call Joshua and present yourselves at the tent of meeting, where I will commission him.” So Moses and Joshua came and presented themselves at the tent of meeting.
15 Then the LORD appeared at the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the cloud stood over the entrance to the tent. 16 And the LORD said to Moses: “You are going to rest with your ancestors, and these people will soon prostitute themselves to the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake me and break the covenant I made with them. 17 And in that day I will become angry with them and forsake them; I will hide my face from them, and they will be destroyed. Many disasters and calamities will come on them, and in that day they will ask, ‘Have not these disasters come on us because our God is not with us?’ 18 And I will certainly hide my face in that day because of all their wickedness in turning to other gods.
19 “Now write down this song and teach it to the Israelites and have them sing it, so that it may be a witness for me against them. 20 When I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, the land I promised on oath to their ancestors, and when they eat their fill and thrive, they will turn to other gods and worship them, rejecting me and breaking my covenant. 21 And when many disasters and calamities come on them, this song will testify against them, because it will not be forgotten by their descendants. I know what they are disposed to do, even before I bring them into the land I promised them on oath.” 22 So Moses wrote down this song that day and taught it to the Israelites...
28 Assemble before me all the elders of your tribes and all your officials, so that I can speak these words in their hearing and call the heavens and the earth to testify against them
Prophecy is pattern. A case can be made that the final fulfillment of Moses' song is during the 70th Week of Daniel. With the assistance of the Holy Spirit, let's comb through Deuteronomy 32 (NIV) and see:
Listen, you heavens, and I will speak;
hear, you earth, the words of my mouth.
2 Let my teaching fall like rain
and my words descend like dew,
like showers on new grass,
like abundant rain on tender plants.
3 I will proclaim the name of the LORD.
Oh, praise the greatness of our God!
4 He is the Rock, his works are perfect,
and all his ways are just.
A faithful God who does no wrong,
upright and just is he.
It is very noteworthy that before Moses indicts Israel, he speaks of pleasant things: teaching falling like rain, words descending like dew, showers on new grass, abundant rain on tender plants, the perfect ways of our Rock, and the faithfulness of God. Jesus Himself is that Rain (Psalm 72:6).
This lines up with what we ought to expect just before the Day of the LORD from Joel 2:23, Hosea 6:3, Malachi 4, etc. Out of scope for this article, but it absolutely must be mentioned.
5 They are corrupt and not his children;
to their shame they are a warped and crooked generation.
6 Is this the way you repay the LORD,
you foolish and unwise people?
Is he not your Father, your Creator,
who made you and formed you?
7 Remember the days of old;
consider the generations long past.
Ask your father and he will tell you,
your elders, and they will explain to you.
8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance,
when he divided all mankind,
he set up boundaries for the peoples
according to the number of the sons of Israel.
9 For the LORD’s portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted inheritance.
Here, the words portion and alotted indicate land. The LORD's people are His portion/lot/inheritance, confirmed again by Paul in Ephesians 1:18. We spent time going over the notion of the LORD's city Jerusalem (and by extension, Israel) being His wife in Women, Widows, and the 70th Week.
Now Moses will recall the origins of Israel, and her time in the desert after exiting Egypt. But Moses' words seem to be co-identifying the modern, reborn nation of Israel, who was also "found" in a barren wasteland. The LORD has been putting flesh on her bones for 71+ years (pre-resurrection Ezekiel 37). Then Moses discusses her rebellion, and it clearly resonates with the time of Jacob's trouble.
10 In a desert land he found him,
in a barren and howling waste.
He shielded him and cared for him;
he guarded him as the apple of his eye,
11 like an eagle that stirs up its nest
and hovers over its young,
that spreads its wings to catch them
and carries them aloft.
12 The LORD alone led him;
no foreign god was with him.
13 He made him ride on the heights of the land
and fed him with the fruit of the fields.
He nourished him with honey from the rock,
and with oil from the flinty crag,
14 with curds and milk from herd and flock
and with fattened lambs and goats,
with choice rams of Bashan
and the finest kernels of wheat.
You drank the foaming blood of the grape.
Israel is now fat, satisfied, proud, and forgetful of the LORD. Very similar to Hosea 13:4-13, which is also predictive of the 70th Week of Daniel.
15 Jeshurun grew fat and kicked;
filled with food, they became heavy and sleek.
They abandoned the God who made them
and rejected the Rock their Savior.
16 They made him jealous with their foreign gods
and angered him with their detestable idols.
17 They sacrificed to false gods, which are not God—
gods they had not known,
gods that recently appeared,
gods your ancestors did not fear.
18 You deserted the Rock, who fathered you;
you forgot the God who gave you birth.
Verse 18 could apply both to the original Exodus birth, and the 1948 rebirth. As part of the 70th Week, Israel will once again make the LORD jealous by her unfaithful acceptance of the false-messiah. This will arouse His righteous anger, wrath, and fire. Fire and burning is a constant motif of the Day of the LORD by the OT prophets, confirmed again in the New Testament (2 Peter 3:10, Rev 17-18).
19 The LORD saw this and rejected them
because he was angered by his sons and daughters.
20 “I will hide my face from them,” he said,
“and see what their end will be;
for they are a perverse generation,
children who are unfaithful.
21 They made me jealous by what is no god
and angered me with their worthless idols.
I will make them envious by those who are not a people;
I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding.
22 For a fire will be kindled by my wrath,
one that burns down to the realm of the dead below.
It will devour the earth and its harvests
and set afire the foundations of the mountains.
Has verse 22 been fulfilled yet? What about verse 21? After Jesus sent our Advocate (the Holy Spirit) on Pentecost, the Jews became jealous by the breadth of the crowds (Acts 13:45) and depth of the power (Acts 5:17) of what they witnessed. But what about the Jews today? Do they seem jealous of today's Christ followers? Paul says, "salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious." Romans 11:11. This must be fulfilled somehow. As for the fire that "burns down to the realm of the dead below" (sheol), mentally bookmark this for the moment.
23 “I will heap calamities on them
and spend my arrows against them.
24 I will send wasting famine against them,
consuming pestilence and deadly plague;
I will send against them the fangs of wild beasts,
the venom of vipers that glide in the dust.
25 In the street the sword will make them childless;
in their homes terror will reign.
The young men and young women will perish,
the infants and those with gray hair.
26 I said I would scatter them
and erase their name from human memory,
27 but I dreaded the taunt of the enemy,
lest the adversary misunderstand
and say, ‘Our hand has triumphed;
the LORD has not done all this.’”
Do the verses above bring to mind 70th Week events? Calamities, famine, pestilence, plague? A case can be made that arrows, hail, locusts (Joel 3) are all referring to the same thing: meteors. If the meteors are large enough, one could easily imagine an impact in the Mediterranean Sea could cause massive flooding in Israel.
28 They are a nation without sense,
there is no discernment in them.
29 If only they were wise and would understand this
and discern what their end will be!
30 How could one man chase a thousand,
or two put ten thousand to flight,
unless their Rock had sold them,
unless the LORD had given them up?
31 For their rock is not like our Rock,
as even our enemies concede.
32 Their vine comes from the vine of Sodom
and from the fields of Gomorrah.
Their grapes are filled with poison,
and their clusters with bitterness.
33 Their wine is the venom of serpents,
the deadly poison of cobras.
34 “Have I not kept this in reserve
and sealed it in my vaults?
35 It is mine to avenge; I will repay.
In due time their foot will slip;
their day of disaster is near
and their doom rushes upon them.”
Sealed in His vaults? The word "seal" here in the Septuagint is the same as the one used in Revelation for the 7 seals, and the sealing of the 144K. Additionally, verse 35 is quoted by Paul in Romans 12, where he urges the body of Christ, "Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath". If we are interpreting Deuteronomy 32 correctly as a 70th Week pointer, Paul may have been saying something like, "express love and goodness to your enemies, because the LORD will deal with them during the 70th Week of Daniel".
36 The LORD will vindicate his people
and relent concerning his servants
when he sees their strength is gone
and no one is left, slave or free. [or "and they are without a ruler or leader"]
37 He will say: “Now where are their gods,
the rock they took refuge in,
38 the gods who ate the fat of their sacrifices
and drank the wine of their drink offerings?
Let them rise up to help you!
Let them give you shelter!
This is a monumentally important clue. The midpoint of the 70th Week is when the false-messiah sits in the 3rd temple, declares himself to be God, and turns on the Jewish people. This causes the desolation of the city. Jesus warns them to flee immediately and not turn back when they see this take place (Matt 24:15-16). The other equally important phrase is "when... their strength is gone". Where in the Word is that same phrase used? Psalm 90:7-12 appears to be another 70th Week overlay, and explicitly says "Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away." Refer again to Women, Widows, and the 70th Week, which argues for the abomination of desolation taking place when Israel is 80 years old (Luke 2:36-38). As for this being the time of vindication for His people and relenting concerning His servants, perhaps this is for the chosen remnant who will remain alive until His return.
Shelter. The same root word as in Zephaniah 2:1-3, and Isaiah 28:15. This is a profound side-story. We can see the heart of God being pierced by the behavior of Israel's leaders. She will have an opportunity to make the LORD her hope/shelter/refuge, but refuses. Perhaps it will look like this:
- Disaster is coming (scourge/arrows/hail/fire/locusts = meteor shower?)
- She lies about her hope in a covenant to be hidden deeply in the earth (sheol)
- She secretly descends into the ground for shelter (Isaiah 2:19, Rev 6:15-16)
- She is destroyed
- The Day of the LORD is coming
- Our lives are hidden with Christ in God by believing the gospel of grace
- We publicly ascend into the throne room of God for shelter (Rev 12:5, Song of Songs 2:14)
- We are be saved
Jeff at unsealed.org goes into more detail on the interweaving of Zephaniah 2:1-3 and Isaiah 28 in his 2018 post: Zephaniah 2:1–3: A Promising Pre-Trib Prophecy Hidden In Plain Sight.
There is no god besides me.
I put to death and I bring to life,
I have wounded and I will heal,
and no one can deliver out of my hand.
40 I lift my hand to heaven and solemnly swear:
As surely as I live forever,
41 when I sharpen my flashing sword
and my hand grasps it in judgment,
I will take vengeance on my adversaries
and repay those who hate me.
42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
while my sword devours flesh:
the blood of the slain and the captives,
the heads of the enemy leaders.”
These same points are made in Hosea 6:1-3, Isaiah 63:1-6, Rev 14:19-20, 19:11-21. It's all the same scene: the time when Christ reveals Himself as the LORD God to rescue repentant Israel from her enemies, who will be destroyed.
43 Rejoice, you nations, with his people, [or "Make his people rejoice, you nations"][Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls (see also Septuagint) people, / and let all the angels worship him, /]
for he will avenge the blood of his servants;
he will take vengeance on his enemies
and make atonement for his land and people.
This is at the return of Christ, bodily. This is the Day of Atonement, when He gives Egypt, Cush, and Seba as a ransom (Isaiah 43:1-7). The end of the 70th Week of Daniel. Maranatha!
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