An Extraordinary National Anthem

p. 95Ladies and Gentlemen,—

I now direct your attention to what I think you must allow to be one of the most extraordinary pieces of literature under the sun—consider it in what way you will. It is the parting gift of Moses to Israel in the shape of a national anthem or song. The contention of my argument will be the impossibility of accounting for the existence of such a piece of literature on any hypothesis short of the truth of the narrative with which it is associated.

We all know what national anthems and patriotic songs are like. They glorify nations or kings, e.g., “Scots wha hae wi’ Wallace bled,” “Rule Britannia; Britons never shall be slaves,” “God save our gracious Queen.”^a Or they deprecate the tyranny and invoke the fall of oppressors like the “Marsellaise.” They are human compositions, and they reflect the thoughts and passions of men, and are p. 96 consequently highly popular. But here is a national song that directly condemns the nation into whose mouth it is put, and portrays a tragic future that subsequent history has fulfilled to the letter.

Consider first the avowed object of its composition. “Write ye this song and teach it the children of Israel: Put it into their mouths that it may be a witness for me AGAINST the children of Israel.” So God says to Moses. If it be asked why there should be any need for a song to witness against Israel of the coming generations, there is an answer of the most explicit character, lifting the narrative and the composition far out of the category of fanatical freak with which some histories have since made us familiar. Here is the preface to the song: “The Lord said unto Moses, Behold the days approach that thou must die. . . . Thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people. . . . will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them. Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they shall say in that day,—(reproachfully against God)—Are not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us? . . . . And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed” (Deut. xxxi. 14, 10-21).

Now, Ladies and Gentlemen, consider such a prologue as that, to a national composition. It must be evident that it was not a man-pleaser that wrote it, for it is the most displeasing piece of writing it is possible to imagine to those for whom it was written. p. 97 It foretells a disgraceful future; it alleges this disgraceful future as the reason of writing the song. The disgraceful future has come; and the people affected by it carry this song about with them in all their weary wanderings in the lands of their enemies, and read it in their synagogues in every land under the sun, as it comes in its turn. The song has proved a true song; it has not departed out of Israel’s mouth in all the ages that have lapsed since its writing, although it is the most defamatory piece of composition it would be possible to write against them.

These are facts, Ladies and Gentlemen, whatever you may think of them. I mean they are facts that cannot be put aside by the most audacious unbelief. I implore you to consider them. They call for explanation. The song is there: the nation is there. What account can you give of them? If you say that the song is not of the Divine authorship alleged by Moses, or that some one after Moses wrote it, you put yourselves under the obligation of reasonably accounting for an inventor inventing such a nation-damning story, and you will also have to explain how it is that the things foretold in a song 3,000 years old have all come to pass down to this very day. Any attempt on your part to do either of these things must make you feel the futility of all such ideas. It must make you feel that we are hopelessly shut up to the conclusion that the story is true; and that this is the only solution harmonizing all the elements of this actual and palpable problem. Do not put it lightly aside. Do not be content to leave an issue undecided that involves such incalculable issues for human life: for if God spoke by Moses, then is Christ a reality, and the whole future of the earth the glorious thing of Divine promise and prophecy.

p. 98 If these considerations are powerful in connection with what we have called the prologue of the song— meaning what is not strictly a prologue in the technical language of the drama, but rather the introductory incidents with which the song is associated with the record—how strong must they appear when we consider the song itself. It occupies nearly the whole of the 32nd chapter of Deuteronomy. It is as unlike the patriotic compositions of all nations as can be imagined.

It opens (verses 3, 4), by ascribing greatness to God. As to Israel (verse 5), “They have corrupted themselves; they are a perverse and crooked generation. Do you thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise?” Recounting (verses 7-14), what God had done for them, it proceeds to narrate (verse 15), that Israel “waxed fat and kicked: he forsook God who made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation. . . . Of the Rock that begat thee, thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.” The consequences are set forth: “When the Lord saw it, He abhorred them. He said, I will hide my face from them. They are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith. . . . They are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them. A fire is kindled in mine anger, . . . . I will heap mischiefs upon them. They shall be burnt with hunger and devoured with burning heart, and with bitter destruction. . . . . The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs. I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men: Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries p. 99 should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the Lord hath not done all this.” And then the song proceeds (36-43) to foretell their deliverance at the last, when they shall have recognized God who has afflicted them (37-39).

These are but extracts. Ponder them. The song is a sublime composition, but it is not as a composition that I commend it to your consideration. It is as unlike human poetry as the stars are unlike gas illuminations. It differs not so much in language as in themes and moods, though even its language is of incomparable loftiness. There is a calm, under-rating of the Jews, from beginning to end; an ignoring of human prowess of any kind; a majestic and vaulting assertion of the claims and rights of God only; a clear and accurate forecasting of the course of the afflicted Jewish history. It appears in the hands of Moses as he takes sad farewell of Israel in the knowledge of his impending demise. “Gather unto me,” says he to the head of the congregation, “all the elders of your tribes and officers that I may speak these words in your ears, and call heaven and earth to record against them. For I know that after my death, ye will utterly corrupt yourselves and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you, and evil will befall you in the latter days” (Deut. xxxi. 28, 29).

Then he proceeds to rehearse the song. I do not wish to be dogmatic, or to appear fanatical, Ladies and Gentlemen; but I do feel that I am within the bounds of literal truth and logical propriety when I assert (in view of the considerations I have briefly laid before you) that this single piece of literature, which is in every man’s house where there is the Bible, p. 100 is of itself demonstrative proof of God having spoken by Moses; and if by Moses, Ladies and Gentlemen, then by all who form links in the chain of revelation coming after, for the Divinity of the work done by Moses involves the Divinity of the whole work to its finish in the coming triumph of Christ on the earth: for it cannot be imagined that God would begin a work and not finish it: that God would promise final blessedness through Abraham and his seed and not fulfil His promise: that God by Moses would promise Israel a Prophet like to Moses, but with the words of God in his mouth, to whom they would finally listen as they did not to Moses, and not send that Prophet! No, Ladies and Gentlemen, the whole scheme is so interlaced together that the establishment of one part involves the establishment of all. I, therefore, beseech you to study the extraordinary national anthem of the Jewish race, and see in it the hand and voice of God, with happy augury for the future of groaning and afflicted mankind.