“He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;”
My Notes
What Does Deuteronomy 32:13 Mean?
Moses sings about God's provision for Israel in the wilderness and the promised land, and every image is extravagant — abundance squeezed from impossible places.
"He made him ride on the high places of the earth" — God elevated Israel. The high places are positions of dominion, of overview, of military advantage. To ride on the high places is to conquer and possess the most desirable terrain — the mountaintops, the ridges, the strategic positions that control everything below. God didn't give Israel the valleys. He gave them the heights.
"That he might eat the increase of the fields" — the height produces harvest. The elevated position isn't just scenic. It's productive. The fields of the promised land yield increase — grain, fruit, abundance. The riding on the high places leads to the eating of the fields. Dominion produces provision. The heights feed.
"And he made him to suck honey out of the rock" — this image borders on the miraculous. Honey from rock. In a landscape where bees nest in rocky crevices, wild honey could literally be found in stone formations. But the image carries more than entomology. It says: even the hardest places in your land produce sweetness. Even the rock — the barren, unyielding, impossible surface — drips with honey when God is providing. The rock that should produce nothing produces the sweetest thing available.
"And oil out of the flinty rock" — flinty rock is the hardest, most resistant stone in the landscape. And olive oil flows from it. Olive trees growing in rocky soil, their roots finding nutrition where nutrition shouldn't exist, producing oil from the least likely terrain. God makes the impossible ground productive. The flinty rock that should resist every root becomes the source of oil — the substance used for food, for light, for anointing, for healing.
Every image says the same thing: God provides from impossible places. Heights that produce harvest. Rock that produces honey. Flint that produces oil. The provision isn't just sufficient. It's miraculous — abundance extracted from surfaces that should be barren.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Where is your 'flinty rock' — the hard, barren situation you've stopped expecting anything good from?
- 2.How does honey from rock change the way you think about what God can produce from your most difficult circumstances?
- 3.Where has God already provided from an impossible source in your life — fed you from a place that shouldn't have been productive?
- 4.What does 'riding on the high places' mean for you — what elevated position has God given you that you might be taking for granted?
Devotional
Honey from rock. Oil from flint. That's what God's provision looks like when He decides to provide. Not from expected sources. Not from fertile fields and gentle terrain. From the hardest, most unyielding, most impossible surfaces available. God specializes in provision from the place that shouldn't produce anything.
You might be standing on flinty rock right now. A situation so hard, so resistant, so barren of any natural productivity that you've stopped expecting anything good to come from it. The job that feels like stone. The relationship that feels like desert. The season that feels like bare rock with no soil. And Moses says: God made oil flow from flinty rock. The hardness of your ground isn't the measure of God's ability to provide from it.
Honey out of the rock is the sweetest image in the song. Rock doesn't produce sweetness. Rock is hard, cold, indifferent to human need. And God puts honey in it. The sweetness is hidden inside what looks harshest. The delight is embedded in the difficulty. You might be looking at the rock and seeing only stone. God has put honey inside it that you haven't found yet.
The high places are the final detail. God didn't give Israel the leftovers. He gave them the heights. The commanding positions. The best terrain. The places that give you vision over everything below. Your God isn't stingy with His provision. He doesn't settle for valleys when the mountains are available. He made you ride on the high places — and then He fed you from them. The God who elevates is the God who provides from the elevation. And His provision comes from places no one thought could produce anything.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Butter of kine,.... Made of milk, which kine or cows give; Jarchi says, this is the fat that is gathered on the top of…
Song of Moses If Deu 32:1-3 be regarded as the introduction, and Deu 32:43 as the conclusion, the main contents of the…
Moses, having in general represented God to them as their great benefactor, whom they were bound in gratitude to observe…
ride on the heights] Cp. Amo 4:12.
and to eat of the fruit of the hills] So Sam. and LXX for the Heb. he doth eat; hills…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture