Richard Elliott Friedman, Commentary on the Torah, p. 3110-31111

32:20. I’ll see what their future will be. Hebrew ’arît, often understood as “end,” does not mean this in the sense of humankind’s coming to an end. Rather, it refers to what will happen in the distant future, the long run. There are two sides to the hiding of the face. It is a fearful period of estrangement from their creator. It has been called divine eclipse, Deus Absconditus, and “death” of God. But, after living through it, humans are forced to grow up, to become more responsible for their world. The words of the Song of Moses declare that God is not simply hiding His face to bring His relationship with humans to an end. There are rather two halves to the statement: “I’ll hide my face from them; I’ll see what their future will be.” God gives humans responsibility for their world. And the only way that they can be forced to take that responsibility is if God is hidden. At whatever price (even world wars, even the holocaust?!) and with whatever successes (rebuilding Israel, conquering diseases, discovering secrets of the creation of the universe), humans must grow up. And God will see what their destiny will be. The Torah does not end with the natural conclusions of the story: the promised land has not been reached, but it is in sight. Everything lies in the future: finding a home, fulfillment of the promises, bringing blessing to all the families of the earth. The divine words resound: “I’ll see what their future will be.” The Torah ends leaving us looking forward to what we can do and what we can be.