Moses sings this song to Israel on the plains of Moab, the day before they cross the Jordan. They are about to enter a land full of other gods and other peoples, and Moses needs them to know the architecture of the world they are walking into. The Song of Moses is the Old Testament's most condensed worldview lesson.

From the writers we read together

Michael S. Heiser

biblical scholar, author of The Unseen Realm and What Does God Want?

Heiser's argument is that we cannot read Israel's story rightly until we read this verse rightly. After Babel, God let the nations go to lesser elohim — and chose Abraham to start over. Every later moment in Scripture — the conquest, the prophets, the cross, Paul on Mars Hill — presupposes this map.

The implication for today is bracing: the world is not a flat place where nothing spiritual is happening. There are powers behind powers, and the cross is what wins them back. Your morning, your nation, and the rooms you walk into are all on contested ground — and the Lord whose portion is his people walks into them with you.