Ha'azinu - Deut 32:2-32:52

This week's Torah portion is almost always referred to as a "song".

This is based on the verse from the previous chapter (31:19) which has God saying to Moses, "So now, write this song for yourselves and teach it to the children of Israel..."

And then God says a lot more. and it ends with (31:22): "And Moses wrote this song on that day and taught it to the children of Israel...".

So what was that song that God authored?

Was this song like the "Book of Yahweh's Wars" or "Book of the Covenant" which either were long lost texts for which there was a cultural memory (or simply terms that were literary devices for texts that did not exist)?

Or was it this chapter of the Torah?

Let's look at it for a moment.

Verses 1-14 is from the point of view of Moses, telling the people how good Yahweh has been to them.
Verses 15-19 is also from Moses point of view, telling the people that they are going to screw up, follow other Gods, and piss off Yahweh.
Verses 20-26 is Moses telling us what Yahweh will say, speaking from His point of view. Spoiler: He will be pissed.
Verses 27-33 is Moses again telling us about how God will aid the enemies of the Jews to defeat them to teach them a lesson.
Verses 34-35 is Yahweh speaking, "Vengeance is Mine!"
Verses 36-38 is Moses again, mocking the other Gods.
Verses 39-42 Is Yahweh saying that he will destroy the enemies of the Jews and take them back.
Verse 43 is the first time the word "sing" appears, and it is Moses crying out for the goyim to sing praises for Israel, because if they don't, such people will be destroyed as His enemies.
Verses 44-52 Back to the narrator speaking of Moses in the 3rd person.

 So if you believe that this chapter is true, then how much of this is really a song, if it is a song? Verses 1-43?

And if you believe that God composed a song and taught it to Moses who taught it to the people, how much of this would have been from Yahweh?

Some points to Ponder

Is it possible that it is called a song because some time in the future, the goyim will sing praises to to God about the Jewish people?

Is this really the song taught by Yahweh in chapter 31, or is this something else and that song is long lost?

The beginning of this chapter starts with a biblical parallelism, which I explain in this post. Not all songs begin with a parallelism and not all parallelisms are song. It appears to be a unique style that later writings share.

This chapter shares a common theme that is expressed in Isaiah 51-53: God was pissed off, the Jews repented, and He comes to their defense and in Isaiah 54, warns the goyim to back off! Interestingly enough, chapter 53 also starts with a biblical parallelism, and there is a lot that these two chapters have in common.

Conclusion

This chapter is certainly not the song that was being referred to in chapter 31, and most of the "song" isn't even from the point of view of Yahweh.

It does have a nice rhythm when read correctly, but as for being the song that Yahweh taught in chapter 31, I assert that this isn't what was taught and that this chapter is likely a later insert given that it has a similar style and feel of some of the later prophets.