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Prophets and Kings
The book abounded in assurances of God’s willingness to save to
the uttermost those who should place their trust fully in Him. As He
had wrought in their deliverance from Egyptian bondage, so would
He work mightily in establishing them in the Land of Promise and in
placing them at the head of the nations of earth.
The encouragements offered as the reward of obedience were
accompanied by prophecies of judgments against the disobedient; and
as the king heard the inspired words, he recognized, in the picture set
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before him, conditions that were similar to those actually existing in his
kingdom. In connection with these prophetic portrayals of departure
from God, he was startled to find plain statements to the effect that
the day of calamity would follow swiftly and that there would be no
remedy. The language was plain; there could be no mistaking the
meaning of the words. And at the close of the volume, in a summary
of God’s dealings with Israel and a rehearsal of the events of the future,
these matters were made doubly plain. In the hearing of all Israel,
Moses had declared:
“Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak;
And hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
My doctrine shall drop as the rain,
My speech shall distill as the dew,
As the small rain upon the tender herb,
And as the showers upon the grass:
Because I will publish the name of the Lord:
Ascribe ye greatness unto our God.
He is the Rock, His work is perfect:
For all His ways are judgment:
A God of truth and without iniquity,
Just and right is He.”
Deuteronomy 32:1-4
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