But the LORD'S portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted heritage.
“He found him in a desert land,
and in the howling waste of the wilderness;
he encircled him, he cared for him,
he kept him as the apple of his eye.
Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,
that flutters over its young,
spreading out its wings, catching them,
bearing them on its pinions,
This passage, along with the previous verse (v. 8) is a very significant passage in the Old Testament. Moses is dying and his singing his last praise song to God. Moses is outlining in chapters 32 and 33 the final blessings and curses on the nation of Israel. In the above verses we are reading Moses’ thoughts about how God called out Abram from his land to make of him a great nation (Israel). In verse eight we read that God divided the nations (at the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11). In that division God set boundaries for all the nations based upon God’s desire. In essence the verses imply that God set aside these nations and then (v. 9) created a new nation, by which God would save the nations through this new nation, Israel. From Israel would come a Savior, who would save the world (the nations) from their sins and restore God’s righteous rule over the entire earth. That is the significance of this passage. As we read though from verse nine and on, we see the insignificance of Israel, prior to it becoming Israel. Remember, this is Moses’ poem that he is reciting over the nation of Israel that is about to enter the Promise Land under Joshua’s leadership. This is a history lesson for them. God wants them to know that until He found them in the desert and until He encircled them and made them the “apple of his eye,” Israel was nothing. It was only that God reached down and created, seemingly out of nothing, a great and powerful nation. He took one man (Abram) and turned him into the father, with sons as many as the stars of the heavens. We have to remember that it is God intervening into the world that makes of one man a powerful nation. God is not done with this plan and project. He is still taking small men and using them to complete His divine plan over the nations. God takes from the desert and puts man into places of prominence to do His work. God is bringing the nations into subservient compliance to His divine authority. But, He does so one man (one small man) at a time. God has a plan and has chosen to complete that plan by using men and women of faith, who walk in obedience to Him. That is Moses’ final song to Israel.
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