Ascribe greatness to our God. He is the Rock, His work is perfect. For all His ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice; righteous and upright is He. (Deuteronomy 32:3-4)
In the course of this song, we are reminded nine different times that our God is the Rock, which in Hebrew is הצור ha’tzur. The term is used to denote the fact that, like the ancient rocks, He is constant and unchanging, which is to say, that all He ordains and declares will come true. If He said He would bring the people into Canaan, He will do so. If He said He will redeem all of His people at the end of days, He will do so. He cannot fail in this because everything He does is “perfect” or, as the Hebrew word תמים tamim implies, “whole, lacking nothing.”
Ages may pass but the God of Israel remains pure, reliable and undefiled. He is a refuge to which we may run and find shelter. Furthermore, because He is “just” (צדיק tzadik) and “upright” (ישר yashar), He is an example for us to emulate. In other words, the statements about His character should impress upon us the need to replicate His character. If we are His people, we should live righteously and walk upright; our ways should be just and undefiled. This is, in fact, what He has called us to do — to replicate His character in and through our lives in order that we might be witnesses of Him to others. In that vein of thought, consider that the name Israel (ישראל Yisrael) is believed to be a union of the word ישר yashar (upright) and אל El (God) — to walk upright before God and/or represent His uprightness to others.
In short, because He is the Rock we are to be little rocks or, if you prefer, stones — even better, “living stones.” If we are His children, we are to be like Him in every way possible. Obviously we cannot emulate His omnipresence, but we can aspire to be holy even as He is holy. Likewise, we can possess a stony resilience to the whims of changing times when we remain focused upon the eternal truth of His Word. He is the Rock but we are born of Him and should strive to be like Him — unchanging in regard to our commitment to His Will and to His ways. As it is written, those who follow after righteousness were hewn from “the Rock” (Isaiah 51:1) and we must, therefore, bear His resemblance in the earth.
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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