Wednesday, January 23, 2013

The Lord is my Rock

Today's Reading:
  • Deuteronomy32:1 - 32:52
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Deuteronomy 32:1 - 32:52
Today's reading consists of the song that Moses taught the Israelite people.  This song is to remind them that the Lord is their God, and when the time comes that they are abandoned by the Lord, they will know why it happened.

The people would be abandoned because they would fail to obey the Lord as they should.  They will begin to worship foreign gods and forget the true Lord who was their "Rock".  There are many places in this song that the Lord refers to himself as the Rock.  The enemies had their "rocks", but those rocks were not as strong as the Rock. 

The capitalization is important here, I believe -- The capitalization of the word "Rock" when referring to the Lord implies it is a name, and one that belongs only to the Lord.  All the other "rocks" are just insignificant, common objects.  They might call themselves rocks, the people might think of them as rocks, but they are not THE Rock.  They are not the mighty Rock.  They are insignificant when compared to the Rock. 

I thought all of this was so interesting because I don't recall any previous reading where the Lord was referred to as the Rock.  I've only read 1/4th of the bible, so I'm hardly an authority here -- I just think this might be the first mention I've seen of it (or that I've noticed of it).  Of course I've heard songs and people say the Lord is my Rock, but like many other things, I was unsure of how it tied back to the bible.  I didn't know if was just something people said, or if it was written in the bible.  I hadn't given it any thought, really.  So the whole thing is just very interesting.