Abstract
Two theologically rich songs within the Pentateuch both incorporate elements of the praise of God but for quite different purposes. The Song of the Sea in Exodus 15:1–21 celebrates God’s victory against Israel’s enemy, the Egyptian Pharaoh and his army. The whole community (men and women) join together after the victory in joyful praise and celebration. The Song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32:1–43, in contrast, includes the praise of God as part of God’s larger indictment against God’s own people, Israel, as well as judgment against an unnamed enemy nation who will oppress Israel. A number of theological implications concerning the praise of God flow out of the dialogue between Exodus 15 and Deuteronomy 32 regarding the power of song and praise, the relationship of vengeance and praise, and the rich mix of metaphors for God (warrior, shepherd, farmer, birthing and nursing mother, rock, an eagle parenting its young) contained within these songs.
I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea. The LORD is my strength and my might, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God and I will exalt him. The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name.
1
—Exodus 15:2–3 For I will proclaim the name of the LORD; ascribe greatness to our God! … yet his degenerate children have dealt falsely with him, a perverse and crooked generation. Do you thus repay the LORD, O foolish and senseless people? —Deuteronomy 32:3–4
What comes to mind when you hear the term “praise songs”? In his blog “Pomomusing,” Adam Walker Cleveland offered a post entitled “Very Bad Praise Music Lyrics.” He invited readers to list some of the lyrics that his readers found “theologically inappropriate, uber-cheesy, or just bad.” A torrent of responses shared lyrics from praise songs that were borderline heretical, shallow, excessively repetitious, theologically narrow, self-centered, individualistic, overly cozy and romantic, in poor taste, and generally unreflective of the richness, depth, and intensity of biblical poetry and its songs of praise. 2 Of course, many songs of praise contain lyrics that are theologically sound and poetically artful. These qualities, however, are not always consistently present across the genre, particularly in their contemporary form. A return to some biblical models of the praise of God may remind us how rich and profound but also jagged and unsettling Scripture’s praise of God may be. Songs that praise God often arise out of the most intense experiences of God’s people: slavery and oppression, suffering and conflict, human injustice and arrogance, idolatry and apostasy. When we sing in praise of God’s greatness, goodness, surprising mercy, and ultimate sovereignty, all other claims to ultimate allegiance and power are relativized and doomed to judgment. As singers, we may discover that the critique implied in our praise of God may suddenly and unexpectedly be aimed not at another but at us.
The Psalms may be one obvious place to go when thinking about the topic of the Bible and praise, but I argue in this essay that two other important biblical songs that incorporate praise may provide their own unique insights. The two songs occur at key transition points in the Moses story of Exodus–Deuteronomy: the Song of the Sea in Exodus 15:1–21 and the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32:1–43. Praise plays an important role in both songs but with quite different results. These two songs stand out as solitary twin peaks of poetry in the midst of the otherwise dominant genres of narrative, law, and speeches that make up the bulk of the Pentateuch. 3
The songs occur at two significant boundary crossings in the life of the people Israel: leaving Egypt/entering the wilderness (Exod 15:22), on one hand, and leaving the wilderness/entering the land of Canaan (Deut 32:48–52), on the other. The emotional tones of the two poems are quite distinctive. Exodus 15 is an enthusiastic and joyful celebration from beginning to end, praising God’s victory over the oppressive Egyptian Pharaoh as well as other enemy nations whom the Israelites will encounter on their way to “the mountain of your own possession” (15:17). In contrast, although Deuteronomy 32 begins and ends with the praise of God (vv. 1–4, 43), the poem’s dominant mood is not joyful celebration. Instead, the song recounts God’s severe and angry judgment, both against Israel for its persistent worship of other gods (vv. 4–25) and against the arrogant enemies whom God allowed to fight against Israel (vv. 26–35).
Exodus 15: Praise When God Is for Us
The Song of the Sea in Exodus 15:1–21 actually includes two versions of the song, one sung by “Moses and the Israelites” (vv. 1–18) and another shorter version (a repetition of 15:1) sung by “the prophet Miriam” to “all the women” (vv. 19–21). This latter women’s song reflects an ancient tradition of women celebrating the return of victorious male soldiers after a battle (Judg 5:28–30; 11:34; 1 Sam 18:6–7). The inclusion of the separate women’s song immediately after the men singing in 15:1–18 underscores how the men of Israel have joined in and assumed the role of the women, singing the praises not of human soldiers but of YHWH. It is YHWH alone who fought and defeated the oppressive Pharaoh and his army. As Moses had reminded the Israelites earlier, “The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to keep still” (Exod 14:14, 25). 4
The longer version of the song in 15:1–18 may be divided into two major sections. The first section (15:1–12) praises YHWH as a mighty divine “warrior” (15:3) who uses the waters of the sea to drown and defeat “Pharaoh’s chariots and his army” (15:4). Images of mighty winds (15:8, 10) and chaotic floods and waters piling up and then crashing down on the Egyptians emphasize YHWH as “glorious in power” who acts “in the greatness of your majesty” to overthrow “your adversaries” (15:5–7). 5 The defeat of the enemy demonstrates the incomparability of YHWH among the other gods of the nations: “Who is like you, O YHWH, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in splendor, doing wonders?” (15:11).
In the second half of Exod 15:13–18, the image of YHWH as a warrior (15:3) is muted and makes room for other divine metaphors: a shepherd who guides and protects (15:13), a family member who redeems (15:3), and a farmer who plants (15:7). YHWH shepherds Israel on its journey past various nations in and around Canaan (Philistia, Edom, Moab, Canaan). Frozen in fear before YHWH, these nations become “still as a stone” (echoing the earlier image of Egyptians drowning “like a stone” and “like lead”—15:5, 10) as the people of Israel pass by under YHWH’s protection. In a climactic triplet at the end of the song, Israel’s God plants the Israelites “on the mountain of your own possession / the place, O LORD, that you made your abode / the sanctuary, O LORD, that your hands have established.” “The mountain” is likely a forward-looking reference to the establishment of the temple of God’s presence in Canaan on Mount Zion in Jerusalem at some later point during the Israelite monarchy (1 Kgs 8; Ps 74:2). 6 The Song of the Sea concludes with the assurance that “YHWH will reign forever and ever” (15:18).
Deuteronomy 32: Praise When God Is against Us
Moses sings and writes down his final song just before his death (Deut 34:1–13). The song begins with a call to the heavens and the earth to listen in the expectation that the song’s “teaching” will have the power to give new life “like gentle rain” on dry grass (32:1–3). An enthusiastic word of praise to God follows: “For I will proclaim the name of YHWH; ascribe greatness to our God!” This word of divine praise sets up the introduction of the song’s overall theme in 32:4–6: the contrast between the justice, mercy, and faithfulness of YHWH and the foolishness, apostasy, and rebellion of God’s people Israel. The song’s primary actor is YHWH, as in Exodus 15. But the primary antagonist is not Egypt. This time the enemy of YHWH, the divine warrior, is, first of all, God’s own people.
The song begins to make its case as a lawsuit against Israel in 32:7–14 by emphasizing all that YHWH has done on behalf of Israel. The verbs pile up into heaps of blessing and care: created, made, established, sustained, shielded, cared for, guarded, took up, bore, guided, set atop the heights, fed, and nursed them. What follows in 32:15–18 are verbs of indictment, indicating what Israel has done in response: ate their fill, grew fat, bloated, gorged, kicked, abandoned God, scoffed, made God jealous, sacrificed to other deities, were unmindful, forgot. As a consequence, YHWH’s actions take over once again in 32:19–25: saw, was jealous, spurned his sons and daughters, hid his face, will make them jealous, provoke them, kindles a fire, burns, devours, sets on fire, heaps disasters upon them, and sends arrows and the teeth of beasts against them. In Exodus 15, YHWH had used forces of nature like the wind and chaotic sea as instruments of judgment against an enemy nation (Egypt) in order to protect Israel. In Deut 32:19–25, YHWH allows two instruments of judgment to attack Israel: an unnamed other nation called “no people … a foolish nation” (v. 21) and various destructive forces of nature (fire, pestilence, beasts, creatures crawling in the dust).
A dramatic turn occurs in 32:26–42. YHWH confesses, “I thought to scatter them [the Israelites] and blot out the memory of them from humankind” (v. 26).
God, however, backs away from this drastic plan and realizes that the unnamed enemy nation might “misunderstand” its victory over Israel and arrogantly say to itself, “Our hand is triumphant; it was not the LORD who did all this” (v. 27). Thus, God’s judgment of Israel will turn to compassion when he sees that “their power is gone, neither bond nor free remaining” (32:36). YHWH proclaims what a chastened Israel has come to know (32:39):
See now that I, even I, am he; there is no god beside me. I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and no one can deliver from my hand. Praise, O heavens, his people, Worship him, all you gods! For he will avenge the blood of his children, And take vengeance on his adversaries; He will repay those who hate him, and cleanse the land for his people.
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As Christians grafted into the root of God’s people Israel (Rom 11:17–24), what are some of the lessons we might learn from these two Old Testament songs as we sing our praises to God?
The Power of Song and Praise
Both songs portray God with the metaphor of a warrior fighting against an enemy. The divine warrior imagery is present in every section of the Old Testament (Torah, Prophets, Writings) and in both earlier (e.g. Exod 15:3; Isa 30:29–33) and later (e.g. 2 Chron 20:29; Zech 14:3) texts. The divine warrior imagery continues into the New Testament in Jesus’ combat with Satan (2 Thess 2:8); casting out of demons and the fall of Satan (Luke 10:17–20); Jesus stilling the forces of chaos in storm, wind, and raging sea (Mark 6:47–52); the apocalyptic battles of Revelation (14–17; 19:11–16; 20–21); and other texts (Eph 6:12; 2 Cor 2:14–15; Heb 2:14–15; 1 John 3:8). 10
What do we do with this image of divine warrior? It is well to be wary and cautious. The potential for abuse is real when those with power over others adopt such an image as religious warrant for unjust human violence against vulnerable people and communities. The two Pentateuchal songs may provide some guidance. The two songs that praise God as warrior affirm that it is God alone who wins the victory over Israel’s enemies (Exod 14:14; Deut 32:39). The men of Israel do not join with YHWH in fighting Pharaoh but rather join the women in singing praises to YHWH (Exod 15:1, 20–21). That act of doxology, of singing and embodying the word of God’s victory over the oppressor, becomes in itself a nonviolent weapon, a verbal agent (like the watery agent of the sea) through which God continues to fight against the powers and principalities that threaten God’s people. In Exod 15:2, the Hebrew word zimrat may be translated either as “power” or “song,” and the poetry likely evokes both meanings at the same time: “The LORD is my strength and power/song (zimrat).” 11 When future generations gather to sing the words of this song of praise in the context of a Passover celebration (Exod 12–13), YHWH’s power works again to defeat the oppressive Pharaohs of the day and to bring the singers into the orbit of God’s compassion and protection.
The song and praises of Exodus 15 were designed to be sung by God’s people when they suffered innocently and undeservedly at the hands of an oppressor like Pharaoh. The Song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32 and its praise of YHWH likewise has its own power, but it operates in a different context. Deuteronomy’s song is designed for some future time “when many terrible troubles come upon” God’s people (31:21). Through this song, God’s people will discern that it is their own sin and allegiances to other gods that has brought on God’s judgment, a replay of their rebellions in the wilderness. According to Harold Fisch, the Song of Moses
will then act as a mnemonic, an aid to memory, because during the intervening period it will have lived unforgotten in the mouth of the reader or hearer, ready to come to mind when the troubles arrive. Poetry is thus a kind of time bomb; it awaits its hour and then springs forward into harsh remembrance. … The poem will come as a warning, even a kind of punishment, to a people that has broken the covenant. It will live in their minds and mouths, bringing them back, whether they like or not, to the harsh memory of the desert sojourn. Once learned it will not easily be forgotten. The words will stick, they will be importunate, they will not let us alone.
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The Song of Moses reminds us that the God whom we praise is not unreservedly always on our side nor on the side of our enemies, but ultimately only on God’s side (Josh 5:13–14).
The Relationship of Vengeance and Praise
What about the language of revenge associated with the divine warrior in Deut 32:35, 43? Does not any notion of vengeance run contrary to the words of Jesus about turning the other cheek (Matt 5:38–42) or the apostle Paul’s admonition, “Beloved, never avenge yourselves” (Rom 12:19)? Ah, but then we remember that Paul goes on immediately to quote from the Song of Moses itself (Deut 32:35): “but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord” (Rom 12:19). Walter Brueggemann comments on Paul’s teaching in light of those many psalms that ask God to take vengeance on the petitioner’s enemies (e.g. Ps 109):
When God is able to say, “Vengeance is mine” (Deut 32:35; Rom 12:19), it implies, “not yours.” The submitting partner is no longer free to take vengeance—may not and need not. So the submission is an unburdening and freeing from pettiness and paralysis for praise and thanksgiving. … It releases us and promises that soon or late, in God’s wisdom, the retaliation will be more sure and more profound than we could imagine.
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Singing the praise of God who takes vengeance on the enemy on our behalf releases God’s people to give praise to God rather than carry out retaliation against another (Exod 14:14). Singing the Song of Moses keeps worshippers humble, ever aware of the possibility that they may easily and inadvertently slip into the category of enemy of God.
The Rich Mix of Metaphors for the God Whom We Praise
Biblical poetry is a theological goldmine of diverse and sometimes paradoxical metaphors, including metaphors for God. In Exodus 15, God as warrior combines with images of God as family member who redeems, a shepherd who protects, and a farmer who plants. Deuteronomy 32 portrays God as warrior but also as a “Rock,” a parental “eagle” caring for and protecting its young (32:12), “a father who created you” (32:6), a mother who “gave you birth” (32:18) and “nursed” you (32:13). No one image captures or exhausts the fullness of God’s character and actions (Exod 33:23; 1 Cor 13:12). Our songs of praise would do well to reflect this biblical richness of metaphor for God if they are to be truly biblical and truly reflect the God of Jesus Christ whom we know as both near and present but also holy and elusive.
Much more could be said about the poetry of praise in Exodus 15 and Deuteronomy 32, not to mention the Psalms and other songs of praise in Scripture. It is hoped that the insights suggested here encourage readers to immerse themselves more deeply into Scripture’s words of praise as inspiration for their own preaching, teaching, writing, singing, and living. Soli Deo Gloria!
Footnotes
1
Biblical texts are taken from the New Revised Standard Version, unless otherwise noted. The NRSV uses “the LORD” for the divine name YHWH.
3
The only other major poetic sections in the Pentateuch apart from Exodus 15 and Deuteronomy 32 are Jacob’s deathbed blessings of his twelve sons (Gen 49:1–28), Moses’ deathbed blessings of the twelve tribes of Israel (Deut 33:1–29), and the four prophetic oracles of the Transjordanian seer named Balaam (Num 23:7–10, 18–24; 24:3–9, 15–24).
4
Brian Russell, The Song of the Sea: The Date of Composition and Influence of Exodus 15:1–21 (New York: Peter Lang), 32–39.
5
YHWH’s use of the chaotic sea as an instrument of judgment in battle against the enemy Pharaoh is likely an adaptation of an earlier Canaanite mythic motif in which the Canaanite god Baal fights against another god named Sea/Yamm and against the chaos monster who dwells in the Sea. For images of YHWH fighting the sea or sea monsters, see Pss 74:13–15; 89:9–10; Job 26:8, 10–13. See Carola Kloos, Yhwh’s Combat with the Sea: A Canaanite Tradition in the Religion of Ancient Israel (Leiden: Brill, 1986).
6
In addition to Mount Zion in Jerusalem, the image of “the mountain” may also allude to Mount Sinai/Horeb as God’s dwelling within the book of Exodus itself (Exod 3:1; 19–24). See Jon Levenson, Sinai and Zion: An Entry into the Jewish Bible (New York: HarperOne, 1987); and Russell, The Song of the Sea, 80–96.
7
Mark Biddle, Deuteronomy (Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys, 2003), 480–81.
8
One finds very different renditions of the song’s last verse when comparing the standard Hebrew Masoretic text, Qumran, and the Greek Septuagint. These differences reflect ambiguities about whether Israel will be safely in the land or cleansed out of the land of Canaan. See Biddle, Deuteronomy, 481–82.
9
Deuteronomy prohibits Israel’s worship and trust in the gods and idols of the nations surrounding it (5:5–10; 12:1–13:18) as well more universal and less culture-specific gods or idols that threaten commitment to God: militarism and the worship of military might (7:1–26), self-sufficient materialism and the worship of wealth (8:1–20), and moralism and the worship of self-righteousness (9:1–10:11). See Dennis T. Olson, Deuteronomy and the Death of Moses: A Theological Reading (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1994), 52–58.
10
Richard Nysse, “Yahweh Is a Warrior,” Word & World 7 (1987): 192–201; Bruce Stevens, “Jesus as the Divine Warrior,” Expository Times 94 (1983): 326–29. A helpful theological discussion of God’s use of violence in the Bible is Terence Fretheim, “God and Violence in the Old Testament,” Word & World 24 (2004): 18–28.
11
Author’s translation. See William Propp, Exodus 1–18 (New York: Doubleday, 1999), 511–13.
12
Harold Fisch, Poetry with a Purpose: Biblical Poetics and Interpretation (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1988), 51.
13
Walter Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms: A Theological Commentary (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1984), 86.
