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Deuteronomy 33 β Commentary
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Expositor's Bible Commentary Deuteronomy 33:1 And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. (B) THE BLESSING OF MOSES Deuteronomy 33:1-29 Besides the farewell speeches and the farewell song, we have in this chapter yet another closing utterance attributed to Moses. Here, as in the case of the song, we relegate critical matters to the note below. We must notice in the first place the remarkable difference in tone and outlook between the blessing and the song of Moses. In the latter evil doing and approaching judgment are the burden; here the outward and inward condition of Israel leaves little to be desired. Satisfaction is breathed in every line, for both temporally and spiritually the state of the people is almost ideally happy. Nowhere is there a shadow; even on the horizon there is scarcely a cloud. Now even an optimist would need a background of actual prosperity to draw such a picture of idyllic happiness for any nation, and we may therefore conclude that the poem has in view one of the few halcyon periods of Israel, before social wrongs had ruined the yeomen farmers, or war and conquest had corrupted the powerful. The nation is as yet faithful to Yahweh, and possesses in peace the land which He had given them to inherit. The central part of the poem is of course the ten blessings promised to the various tribes, but these are preceded by an introduction ( Deuteronomy 33:2-5 ), in which the formation of the people is traced to Yahwehβs revelation of Himself and His coming forth as their King. They are followed also by a concluding section ( Deuteronomy 33:26-29 ), in which the God of Jeshurun is declared to be incomparable, and His people are depicted as supremely happy under His protecting care. The language is in parts obscure, and though the general scope is always plain, yet there are verses the meaning of which can only be conjectured. This is especially the case in the introduction. Of the five lines of Deuteronomy 33:2 , the fourth and fifth as they stand are hardly intelligible; the fifth indeed is not intelligible at all. In Deuteronomy 33:3 again, while the first and second clauses are fairly clear, the third and fourth are as they stand untranslatable. But the general signification of the introductory verses ( Deuteronomy 33:2-5 ) is that the Divine revelation of Himself which Yahweh bestowed upon His people as He came with them from Sinai, Paran, and Seir through the wilderness, and the establishment of the covenant which made Yahweh Israelβs King, together with the bestowal of an inheritance upon them, is the foundation and beginning of that happiness which is to be described. It is all traced back to the "dawning" of God upon them, His "shining out" upon them from Sinai, and Seir, and Paran. These are named simply as the most prominent ports in that region whence the people came out into Canaan, and where the great revelation had been bestowed. God had risen like the sun and had Shed forth light upon them there, so that they walked no more in darkness. The sight of God was, on this view, the great and fundamental fact in the history of the chosen people. They, like all who have seen that great sight, were henceforth separate from others, with different duties and obligations, with hopes and desires and joys unknown to all beside. And the ground of this condescension on the part of God was His love for His people. He loved them, and the saints among them were upheld by Him. By Moses He gave them a law, which was to hold from generation to generation; and He had crowned His gifts to them by becoming their King when the heads of the people entered into covenant with Him. Then follow the blessings, beginning with good wishes for Reuben as the firstborn. But the tribe is not highly favored. It is however less severely dealt with than in Jacobβs blessing. There instability and obscurity are foretold of it. Here it would seem as if the fortunes of the tribe were at the lowest ebb, and a wish is expressed that it may not be suffered to die out. From the earliest times the tribe of Reuben seems to have been tending to decay. At the first census taken under Moses the number of Reubenites capable of bearing arms was 46,500 men, {Num 1:21} at the second 43,730. {Num 26:7} Both passages are from P, and consequently this decadence of the tribe must have been present to that authorβs mind. In Davidβs day they had still possession of part of their heritage, but even then their best estate was past. They had allowed many Moabites to remain in the territory they conquered. These most certainly caused trouble and gained the upper hand in places, until before the days of Mesa, king of Moab, as we learn from his inscription, a great part of the cities formerly Reubenite were Moabite or Gadite hands. In Isaiah 15:1-9 ; Isaiah 16:1-14 again, Heshbon and Elealeh, cities still Reubenite in Mesaβs day, appear as Moabite, so that the bulk of the territory assigned to the tribe must have been lost. This record confirms the view that the blessing was written between Rehoboam and Jehoshaphat, and throws light upon our verse:- "May Reuben live, and not die, So that his men be few." The blessing of Judah follows, but in contrast with the great destiny foretold for this tribe in Jacobβs blessing what is here said is strangely short and unenthusiastic:- "Hear, O Yahweh, Judahβs voice, And bring him to his people; With his hands has he striven for it (his people); And a help against his enemies be thou." Some whose opinions we are bound to respect, as Oettli, think this refers merely to Judahβs being appointed to lead the van of the invasion, as in Jdg 1:1 ; Jdg 20:8 . In that case we should have to conceive that on some occasion Judah was absent leading the conquest, and got into dangerous circumstances, which are here referred to. But it would seem that any such temporary danger could hardly have a place here. In all the other blessings permanent conditions only are regarded; and the sole historical fact we really know that would explain this reference is the division of the kingdom. But, it may be said, all critics agree that the author of the blessing is a Northern Israelite: now we cannot suppose a Northern man to speak in this way of Judah, for it was the ten tribes that revolted from the house of David, not Judah from them. We must remember, however, that though that is how Scripture, which in this matter represents the Southern view, regards the matter, the Northern Israelites could look at the separation from another standpoint. To those even who were favorable to the Davidic house, and regretted the folly of Rehoboam, it might seem that Judah had first broken away from the kingdom as united under Saul; and the revolt under Jeroboam would appear to be only a resumption of the older state of things, from which Judah had again separated itself. What circumstance can be referred to in the request to hear Judahβs voice cannot now be ascertained; but it is not at all unlikely that some indication of a wish for reunion, perhaps expressed in some public prayer, may have been given in the first period of the separation. The rest of the verse would fit this hypothesis as well as it fits the other, and I think with the light we at present have we must hold the reference to be as suggested. With the eighth verse {Deu 33:8} the blessing of Levi (one of the two most heartfelt and sympathetic) begins. In it Yahweh is addressed thus:- "Thy Urim and thy Thummim be to the men ( i.e. , tribe) of thy devoted one ( ie ., Moses or Aaron), Whom thou didst prove at Massah With whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah." In the last lines the relative pronoun is ambiguous, as it may refer either to "men," for which in Hebrew we have the collective singular βish , or to "thy devoted one." The last is the more probable; but in either case there is a superficial discrepancy here between the historical books and this statement. In Exodus 17:1-7 , as well as in Deuteronomy itself, it is the people who strove with Moses and proved or tempted Yahweh. On this account some would have us believe that a different account of the events at Massah and Meribah was in this writerβs mind. But that is the result of a mere itch for discovering discrepancies. It lies in the very nature of the case that there should be another side to it. The beginning was with the people; but just as the wandering in the wilderness is said to have been meant by God to prove Israel, so this insubordination of the people was meant to prove Moses or Aaron, and their failure to stand the proof made Yahweh strive with them. The verse, then, founds Leviβs claim to possess the chief oracle and to instruct Israel first of all upon their connection with Moses or Aaron, or both, since they had been exceptionally tried and had proved their devotion. The next verse, then, goes on to found it also on the faithfulness of the Levites, when they were called upon by Moses {Exo 32:26-29} to punish the people for their worship of the golden calf. In Deuteronomy 33:27 and Deuteronomy 33:29 of that chapter we find the same phrases, Deuteronomy 33:9 -"Who ( i.e. , the tribe) said unto his father and to his mother, I have not seen him; Who recognized not his brother, and would know naught of his son; For they kept Thy commandment, And kept guard over Thy covenant." Being such- Deuteronomy 33:10 -"Let them teach Jacob Thy judgments, And Israel Thy Torah; Let them put incense in Thy nostrils And whole burnt-offerings upon Thine altars." Here we have the whole priestly duties assigned to the Levites. They are to perform judicial functions; to give Torah, or instruction, by means of the Urim and Thummim and otherwise; to offer incense in the Holy Place, and sacrifices in the court of the Temple. As early as this, therefore (on any supposition we need regard, long before Deuteronomy), we find the Levites fully established as the priestly tribe. Before the earliest writing prophets this was so-a fact of the greatest importance for the history of Israelite religion. The remaining verse beseeches Yahweh to accept the work of Leviβs hands, and to smite down his enemies. Evidently when this was written special enmity was being shown to this tribe; and, as has been said already, the religious proceedings of Jeroboam I would be sufficient to call forth such a cry to Yahweh. In Deuteronomy 33:12 the tribe of Benjamin is dealt with, and it is depicted as specially blessed by the Divine favor and the Divine presence. Yahweh covers him all the day long, and dwells between his shoulders. There can hardly be a doubt that the reference is to the situation of the Temple at Jerusalem, on the hill of Zion, towards the loftier boundary of Benjaminβs territory. Deuteronomy 33:13-17 contain the blessing of Joseph, i.e. , of the two tribes Ephraim and Manasseh. Deuteronomy 33:13 -Blessed of Yahweh be his land By the precious things of heaven from above, By the deep which crouches beneath; Deuteronomy 33:14 -By the precious things of the sun, And the precious things of the moons; Deuteronomy 33:15 -And by the (precious things of the) tops of the ancient mountains And by the precious things of the everlasting hills; Deuteronomy 33:16 -And by the precious things of the earth and its fullness. And may the good-will of Him that dwelt in the bush Come upon Josephβs head, And upon the top of the head of the crowned among his brethren. Deuteronomy 33:17 -May the firstborn of his ox be glorious; And the horns thereof like the horns of the wild-ox; With them may he gore the peoples, even all the earthβs ends together. These ( i.e. , thus blessed) are the myriads of Ephraim, And these the thousands of Manasseh. Supreme fertility is to be his, and the favor of Yahweh is to rest upon him as the kingly tribe in Israel. The curious phrase at the beginning of the seventeenth verse has been supposed to be a reference to some individual, Joshua, Jeroboam II, or to the Ephraimite kings as a whole. But the subject of the blessing is the Josephite tribes, and there seems to be no good reason why the reference should be changed here. It cannot, therefore, refer to less than a whole tribe, and as according to Genesis 48:14 Ephraim received the blessing of the firstborn, it must be Ephraim which is Josephβs firstborn ox. This view is confirmed by the last clause of the verse, in which the myriads of Ephraim are spoken of, and only the thousands of Manasseh. Obviously this must refer to times like those of Omri, when the Israelite kingship was in its first youthful energy, and was extending conquest on every hand. The benedictions which remain are addressed to Zebulun, Issachar, Gad, Dan, Naphtali, and Asher. They need little comment beyond close translation. Deuteronomy 33:18 -And of Zebulun he said, Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out; And, Issachar, in thy tents. Deuteronomy 33:19 -"They shall call the peoples unto the mountain; They shall offer sacrifices of righteousness: For they shall suck the abundance of the seas, And the hidden treasures of the sand." The territory of Zebulun stretched from the Sea of Galilee to the Mediterranean, probably quite down to the sea near Akko, in any case near enough to give it an active share in the sea traffic. Issachar, whose tribal land was the plain of Esdraelon, also shares in it; but the contrast between "thy going out" and "thy tents" implies that Zebulun took the more active part in the traffic. The reference in Deuteronomy 33:19 , clauses a-and b, is obscure. As the Septuagint reads "they shall destroy" instead of "unto the mountain," the text may be corrupt. It may perhaps be an allusion to the sacrificial feasts at inaugurated fairs to which surrounding peoples were called, as Stade suggests. Deuteronomy 33:20 -And of Gad he said, Blessed be the enlarger of Gad: He dwelleth as a lioness, And teareth the arm, yea, the crown of the head. Deuteronomy 33:21 -"And he looked out the first part for himself, Because there a (tribal) rulerβs portion lay ready; And he came with the heads of the people, He executed the justice of Yahweh, And His judgments in company with Israel." At this time Gad was in possession of a wide territory, and was famed for courage and success in war. His foresight in choosing the first of the conquered land as a worthy tribal portion is praised, and his faithfulness in carrying out his bargain to accompany the nation in its attack on the west Jordan land. Deuteronomy 33:22 -"And of Dan he said, Dan is a lionβs whelp, Leaping forth from Bashan." This does not mean that Danβs territory was Bashan, but only that his attack was as fierce and unexpected as that of a lion leaping forth from the crevices and caves of the rocks in Bashan. Deuteronomy 33:23 -"And of Naphtali he said, O Naphtah, sated with favor, And full of the blessing of Yahweh: Possess thou the sea and the south." The soil in the territory of Naphtali was specially fruitful, in the region of Huleh and on the shore of the Sea of Gennesaret. These are the sea and the hot south part which the tribe is called upon to take as a possession, and because of which the favor of Yahweh and His blessing specially rested upon it. Deuteronomy 33:24 -And of Asher he said, Blessed above children be Asher; May he be the favored of his brethren, And dip his feet in oil. Deuteronomy 33:25 -"Iron and brass (be) thy bars; And as thy days (so may) thy strength (be)." The last line is extremely doubtful. The word translated "thy strength" is really not known, and that meaning probably implies another reading; "thy bars" in the previous line is also doubtful. The reference to oil probably implies that the olive tree was specially fruitful, in the country inhabited by Asher, but why he should be specially favored of his brethren can now hardly be conjectured. In the concluding verses we have an exaltation of Israelβs God and of His people. Speaking out of the time when Israel had driven out its enemies and was in full and undisturbed possession of its heritage ( Deuteronomy 33:28 ), the poet declares to Jeshurun how incomparable God is. He rides upon the heaven to bring help to them, and He comes in the clouds with majesty. The God of old time is Israelβs refuge or dwelling, covering him from above, and beneath, i.e. , on the earth. His everlasting arms bear His people, up in their weariness, and shelter them there against all foes. He has proved this by thrusting out before them, and by commanding them to destroy, their enemies. Deuteronomy 33:28 -And so Israel came to dwell in safety, The fountain of Jacob alone, In a land of corn and wine; Yea, His heavens drop down dew. Deuteronomy 33:29 -"Happy art thou, O Israel: Who is like unto thee? A people saved by Yahweh, The shield of thy help And the sword of thy majesty! Thine enemies shall feign friendship to thee; And thou shalt tread upon their high places." MOSESβ CHARACTER AND DEATH IT has been often said, and it has even become a principle of the critical school, that the historical notices in the earlier documents of the Old Testament represent nothing but the ideas current at the time when they were written. Whether they depict an Abraham, a Jacob, or a Moses, all they really tell us is the kind of character which at such times was held to be heroic. In this way the value of the historic parts of Deuteronomy has been called in question, and we have been told that all we can gather from them about Moses is the kind of character which the pious, in the age of Manasseh, would feel justified in attributing to their great religious hero. But it is manifestly unfair to estimate the statements of men who write in good faith, as if they were only projecting their own desires and prejudices upon a past which is absolutely dark. It may be true that such writers might be unwilling to narrate stories concerning the great men of the past which were inconsistent with the esteem in which they were held; but it is much more certain that their narratives will represent the tradition and the current knowledge of their time regarding the heroes of their race. Unless this be true, no reliance could be placed upon anything but absolutely contemporary documents; even these would be open to suspicion, if the human mind were so lawless as to have no scruple in filling up all gaps in its knowledge by imaginations. We must protest, therefore, against the notion that what J and E and D tell us concerning the life and character of Moses must be discounted in any effort we make to represent to ourselves the life and thought of that great leader of Israel. They tell us much more than what was thought fitting for a leader of the people in the ninth and eighth and seventh centuries B.C. They tell us what was believed in those times about Moses; and much of what was believed about him must have rested upon good authority, upon entirely reliable tradition, or upon previous written narratives concerning him. Up till recently it was held, by men as eminent even as Reuss, that writing was unknown in the days of Moses, and that for long afterwards oral tradition alone could be a source of knowledge of the past. But recent discoveries have shown that this is an entire mistake. Long before Moses writing was a common accomplishment in Canaan; and it seems almost ridiculous to suppose that the man who left his mark so indelibly upon this nation should have been ignorant of an art with which every master of a village or two was thoroughly conversant. Moreover the fact that the same root (k-t-b) occurs in every Semitic tongue with the meaning "to write," would seem to indicate that before their separation from one another the art of writing was known to all the Semitic tribes. The new facts enormously strengthen that probability, and make the arguments advanced by those who hold the opposite view look even absurd. But if writing were known and practiced in Mosesβ day in Canaan, it would be marvelous if many of the great events of the early days had not been recorded. It would be still more marvelous if the comparatively late writings, which alone we have at our disposal, had not embodied and absorbed much older documents. But for still another reason the critical dictum must be held to be false. Applied in other fields and in regard to other times, this same principle would deprive us of almost every character which has been considered the glory of humanity. Zarathustra and Buddha have alike been sacrificed to this prejudice, and there are men living who say that we know so little about our Lord Jesus Christ that it is doubtful whether He ever existed. A method which produces such results must be false. The great source of progress and reform has always been some man possessed by an idea or a principle. Even in our own days, when the press and the facilities for communication have given general tendencies a power to realize themselves which they never had in the worldβs history before, great men are the moving factors in all great changes. In earlier ages this was still more the case. It is an utterly unjustifiable skepticism which makes men contradict the grateful recollection of mankind, in regard to those who have raised and comforted humanity. Through all obscurities and confusions we can reach that Indian Prince for whom the sight of human misery embittered his own brilliant and enjoyable life. We refuse to give up Zarathustra, though his story is more obscure and entangled than that of almost any other great leader of mankind. Especially in a history like that of Israel, which purports to have been guided in a special manner by revelations of the will of God, the individual man filled with Godβs spirit is quite indispensable. Even if mythical elements in the story could be proved, that would not shake our faith in the existence of Moses; for as Steinthal, who holds the very "advanced" opinion that solar myths have strayed into the history of Moses, wisely says, it is quite as possible to distinguish between the mythical and the historical Moses as it is to distinguish between the historical Charlemagne and the mythical. Because of the general reliability of tradition regarding great men therefore, and because also of the proofs we have that writing was common before Mosesβ day, we need not burden ourselves with the assumption or the fear that the Deuteronomic character of Moses may be unreliable. But in endeavoring to set forth this conception of the character of Moses, we cannot confine ourselves to what appears in this book. It is generally acknowledged that the author had at least the Yahwist and the Elohist documents in their entirety before him, and regarded them with respect, not to say reverence. Consequently we must believe that he accepted what they said of Moses as true. The only document in the Pentateuch that he may not have known in any shape was the Priest Codex, but that makes no attempt to depict the inner or outer life of Moses. All the personal life and color in the Biblical narrative belongs to the other sources. For a personal estimate, therefore, we lose little by excluding P. Only one other cause of suspicion in regard to the historical parts of Deuteronomy could arise. If it, comparatively modern as it is, contained much that was new, if it revealed aspects of character for which no authority, was quoted, and of which there was no trace m the earlier narratives, there might be reasonable doubt whether these new details were the product of imagination, But there is very little more in Deuteronomy that, there is in the historical parts of the other books, though the older narratives are repeated with a vivid and insistive pathos which almost seems to make them new. Combining then what the Deuteronomist himself says with what the Yahwist and Elohist documents contain, we find that the claim usually made for Moses, that he was the founder of an entirely new religion, is not sustained. Again and again it is asserted that Yahweh had been the God of their fathers, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob-so that Moses was simply the renewer of a higher faith which for a time had been corrupted. Some have even asserted that there had been all down the ages to Moses the memory of a primeval revelation. But if there ever was such a thing, we learn from Joshua 24:2 , a verse acknowledged to be from the Elohist, that that "fair beginning of a time" had been entirely eclipsed, for Terah, the father of Abraham, had served other gods beyond the flood. Abraham, therefore, rather than Moses, is regarded as the founder of the religion of Yahweh. Whether the word Yahweh {Exo 6:3} was known or not makes little difference, for all our four authorities teach that Mosesβ work was the revival of faith in that which Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had believed. But the bulk of the people would appear to have been ignorant regarding the God Of their fathers; and probably the conception which Deuteronomy shares with J and F, is that in Mosesβ day Yahweh was the special God of a small circle, perhaps of the tribe of Levi, among whom a more spiritual conception of God than was common among their countrymen had either been retained, or had arisen anew. Probably then we ought to conceive the circumstances of Mosesβ early life somewhat in this way. A number of Semitic tribes, more or less nearly related to each other and to Edom and Moab, had settled in Egypt as semi-agricultural nomads. At first they were tolerated; but they were now being worn down and oppressed by forced labor of the most brutal sort. Either a tribe or a clan among them had the germs of a purer conception of God, and in this tribe or clan Moses, the deliverer of his people, was born. Providentially he escaped the death which awaited all Israelite boys in those days, and grew up in the camp of the enemies of his people. By this means he received all the culture that the best of the oppressors had, while the tie to Israel was neither obscured nor weakened in his mind. At the court of Pharaoh he could not fail to acquire some notions of statecraft, and he must have seen that the first step towards anything great for his people must be their union and consolidation. But his earliest effort on their behalf showed that he had not really considered and weighed the magnitude of his task. Killing an Egyptian oppressor might conceivably have served as a signal for revolt. But in point of fact it frustrated any plans Moses might have had for the good of his people, and drove him into the wilderness. Here the germs of various thoughts which education and experience of life had deposited in his mind had time to develop and grow. According to the narrative, it was only at the end of his long sojourn in Midian that he had direct revelation from God. But amid the wide and awful solitudes of that wilderness land, as General Gordon said of himself in the kindred solitudes of the Soudan, he learned himself and God. Whatever deposits of higher faith he had received from his family, no doubt the long, silent broodings inseparable from a shepherdβs life had increased and vivified it. Every possible aspect of it must have been reckoned with, all its consequences explored; and his great and solitary soul, we may be sure, had many a time let down soundings into the deeps which were, as yet, dark to him. And then-for it is to souls that have yearned after Him in the travail of intellectual and spiritual longing that God gives His great and splendid revelations-Yahweh revealed Himself in the flame of the bush, and gave him the final assurance and the first impulse for his lifeβs work. It is a touch of reality in the narrative which can hardly be mistaken, that it represents Moses as shrinking from the responsibility which his call must lay upon him. Behind the few and simple objections in the narrative, we must picture to ourselves a whole world of thoughts and feelings into which the call of God had brought tumult and confusion. One would need to be a dry-as-dust pedant not to see here, as in the case of Isaiahβs call, the triumphant issue of a long conflict and the decisive moment of a victory over self, which had had already many stages of defeat and only partial success. It is perennially true to human nature and to the Divine dealings with human nature, that help from on high comes to establish and touch to finer issues that which the true man has striven for with all his powers. Enlightened and assured by this great revelation of God, Moses left the quiet of the desert to undertake an extraordinarily difficult task. He had to weld jealous tribes into a nation; he had to rouse men whose courage had been broken by slavery and cruelty to undertake a dangerous revolt; and he had to prepare for the march of a whole population, burdened with invalids and infants, the feeble and the old, through a country which even today tries all but the strongest. These things had to be done; and the mere fact that they were accomplished would be inexplicable, without the domination of a great personality inspired by great ideas of a religious kind. For, in antiquity, the only bond able to hold incongruous elements together in one nationality was religion. With the people whom Moses had to lead the necessity would be the same, or even greater. But the political work which must have preceded any common action likewise demanded a great personality. Though no doubt a common misery might silence jealousies and make men eager to listen to any promises of deliverance, yet many troublesome negotiations must have been carried through successfully before these sentences could have been written with truth: "And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel, and the people believed, and bowed their heads and worshipped." Many conjectures have been hazarded as to what the center of Mosesβ message at this time really was. Some, like Stade, bring it down to this, that Yahweh was the God of Israel. Others add to this somewhat meager statement another equally meager, that Israel was the people of Yahweh. But unless the character of Yahweh had been previously expounded to the people, there seems little in these two declarations to excite any enthusiasm or to kindle faith. The mere fact of inducing the tribes to put all other gods aside is insufficient to account for any of the results that followed, if to Moses Yahweh had remained simply a tribal God, of the same type as the gods of the Canaanites. On the other hand, if he had risen to the conception of God as a spirit, of Yahweh as the only living God, as the inspirer and defender of moral life, or even if he had made any large approach to these conceptions, it is easy to understand how the hearts of the mass of the people were stirred and filled, even though things so high were not, by the generality, thoroughly understood or long retained. But the hearts of all the chosen, the spiritually elect, would be moved by them as the leaves are moved by the wind. These, with Moses at their head, formed a nucleus which bore the people on through all their trials and dangers, and. gradually leavened the mass to some extent with the same spirit. Even after this had been accomplished, the main work remained to be done. We cannot agree indeed with many writers who seem to think that the whole life of the Israelite people was started anew by Moses. That would involve that every regulation for the most trivial detail of ordinary life was directly revealed, and that Moses made a tabula rasa of their minds, rubbing out all previous laws and customs, and writing a God-given constitution in their place. Obviously, that could hardly be; but still a task very different, yet almost as difficult, remained for Moses after his first success. His final aim was to make a virtually new nation out of the Hebrew tribes; and their whole constitution and habits had, consequently, to be revised from the new religious standpoint. He and the nation alike had inherited a past, and it was no part of his mission to delete that. Reforms, to be stable, must have a root in the habits and thoughts of the people whom they concern. Moses would, consequently, uproot nothing that could be spared; he would plant nothing anew which was already flourishing, and was compatible with the new and dominant ideas he had introduced. A great mass of the laws and customs of the Hebrews must have been good, and suitable to the stage of moral advancement they had reached before Moses came to them. Any measure of civilized life involves so much as that. Another great mass, while lying outside of the religious sphere, must have been at least compatible with Yahwism. Al
Illustrator
This is the blessing wherewith Moses, the man of God, blessed the children of Israel before his death. Deuteronomy 33:1-5 The blessing of the tribes T. G. Rooke, B. A. The many successive "blessings" of Israel were a necessary consequence of his Divine election. In that seed all families of the earth were to be blessed. Therefore it was fitting that formal and repeated blessings should be pronounced upon the bearer of such high destinies, that none of the issues of his history might seem to be by chance, and that he and all men might know what was "the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance among the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of God's power towards us who believe." The notion of a distinct continuity in calling and in privilege between Israel and the Christian Church is no fancy of an antiquated theology. It springs out of the very root idea of the Bible, the principle which rightly leads us to speak of so many Scriptures, written at sundry times and in divers manners, as one book and one revelation. The first utterance of blessing upon the chosen people proceeded from the lips of God Himself, and was renewed in nearly the same form of language to each of the three great patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It can hardly be by an accident that the record in Genesis of this initial benediction is sevenfold. Seven times exactly did God declare His purpose to bless the seed of Abraham in the line of Isaac and of Jacob; and having thus established His covenant as by an oath, He spake no more by a like direct communication, but He used the lips of inspired men to enlarge the scope of His blessing, and to give definiteness to its first and necessarily somewhat vague generalities. The blessing of Moses was evidently founded upon the earlier utterance of the dying Jacob concerning the future of his twelve sons. But the differences between the two blessings are far more suggestive than their resemblances. There are parts of Jacob's discourse to which the notion of "blessing" is altogether foreign. Simeon and Levi are stricken in it with an absolute curse; the prediction concerning Issachar is at least equivocal in its reference to willing servitude; and for Reuben there is nothing but a mournful foreclosure of his natural birthright ( Genesis 49:3-7, 14, 15 ). But the prophecy of Moses is really a benediction upon every tribe that is named therein. It is couched throughout in the language of unfeigned affection, intercession, and giving of thanks for what is or for what may be unequivocally good. Careful readers will observe that the tribes of Israel are arranged in different order in the two blessings by Jacob and by Moses. The natural order of age and of maternal parentage is followed by Jacob; but Moses at first sight seems to adopt an altogether arbitrary arrangement, three times putting a younger before an elder son, separating children of the same mother, and omitting one name altogether. This fact, however, is itself one of our clues to the right understanding of the blessing as a whole, for its only possible explanation depends upon the typical character of Israel's national history. The place which Divine Providence assigned to each tribe in the temporal commonwealth of Israel at different stages of its development was meant to illustrate some permanent principle of God's spiritual kingdom which Moses foresaw in its continuance to our own day. The thirty-third chapter of Deuteronomy has a prologue and an epilogue, which may not be passed over in silence. The blessings of the children of Israel are embraced between them intentionally, for the inspired author wished to set forth the unalterable conditions of blessing in God's kingdom, and the inseparable connection which subsists between obedience, happiness, and faith towards God. No grander description of the Divine covenant with Israel was ever given than is contained in the opening verses of this chapter, nor has the law from Sinai been anywhere else depicted so awfully and yet so attractively in its character of "the inheritance" of Jehovah's "congregation." That law, in its outward form, has no doubt passed away for Christians, but the obligation of its spirit is perpetual, and the blessing of each citizen of God's new covenant kingdom depends upon a loving acceptance of that obligation. Not Moses, but Christ, has "commanded us a law." He is our "king," and we are "not without law to God, but under the law to Christ." ( T. G. Rooke, B. A. ) The end in sight; or last works and dying songs W. H. Davison. There is not a more illustrative example of the benefits of early training and religious culture than Moses. Whether we think of the depth of his religious convictions, the purity of his personal character, the clearness of his spiritual insight, the sagacity of his legislation, or the rectitude of his administration, we cannot but wonder at the manifold perfection of his human greatness and the closeness of his walk with God. But in one respect he stands preeminent. He was transcendent in moral glory when age had wrinkled his brow and whitened his head, when the sun began to go down in the golden west, and the shadows were casting their long lengths of darkness round him. "His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated." Neither was his mind obscured, nor were his sympathies narrowed, nor his heart soured. The shadow of a great disappointment was trailing over his path and clouding his future; yet, to his fellows, the radiance of his spirit was undimmed, and the clear shining of his intellect was as sparkling as the morning dew. I. THE END IN SIGHT AND THE LAST WORKS OF THE MAN OF GOD. 1. He knew his death was certainly near. God hardly ever allows men to wear the crown of completed undertakings in this world β "that no flesh should glory in His presence." 2. Faithful in his house, he set everything in order, under the influence of this certainty. 3. The characteristics of the last work of his pen are worthy of special study. There is a rich and glowing beauty about these last words. There are in them some of the most marvellous predictions of the Old Testament. "The Prophet like unto himself" finds its fulfilment in Him who was both Prophet and Redeemer. There is also a forecast of the Hebrew history and the Hebrew doom, which cannot be read without wonder at its truth, and awe in presence of certain Divine judgments disclosed. His burdened heart looks down the vista of ages, and sees, with but too clear a vision, the sad departures from the true line of spiritual duty and obedience, which were only too possible. Side by side with ritual and ceremonial requirements, he lays down the principle that spiritual consecration, that loving devotion to God, is the only safety. He is not a Jew, even to Moses, who is one outwardly. Even here "love is the fulfilling of the law." But he uses, especially, "the terrors of the Lord" to fortify them against the unfaithfulness and unbelief which were their danger. As Dean Milman says, "The sublimity of these denunciations surpasses anything which has ever been known in the oratory or poetry of the whole world. Nature is exhausted in furnishing terrific images; nothing except the real horrors of Jewish history, the miseries of their sieges, the cruelty, the contempt, the oppressions, the persecutions, which for ages this scattered and despised nation have endured, can approach the tremendous maledictions which warned them against the violation of their law." II. HIS DYING SONGS; OR THE THOUGHTS WHICH ANIMATED THE GREAT LAWGIVER IN THE NEAR PROSPECT OF DEATH. 1. Here is his faith in Divine relations to those who were to come after him. Nothing is more difficult to an old man than the graceful resignation of the power and authority which have come to him through his origination of office or business, and through the long experience of active, ruling life. Abdication is the most difficult act of sovereign authority. But Moses has supreme confidence in God. 2. Not only was there this confidence in God for those who were to succeed him, there was a supreme consciousness of the Divine glory. There is here a singular absence of self-glorying; a marvellous prominence given to the Divine ideas which underlie true life. Jehovah appears in almost every line of his dying song; Moses never. The song of the dying believer is always one which celebrates distinguishing, elective, and redeeming graze. When the spirit gets close to the realities of things, it is the Divine that is felt to be uppermost, the human which sinks and fades away. When John Owen , greatest of the Puritan theologians, the Nonconformist Vice-Chancellor of Oxford, was dying, he said to Charles Fleetwood, "I am going to Him whom my soul has loved, or rather, who has loved me with an everlasting love, which is the whole ground of all my consolation. I am leaving the ship of the Church in a storm; but while the Great Pilot is in it, the loss of a poor under-rower will be inconsiderable. Live, and pray, and hope, and wait patiently, and do not despond; the promise stands invincible, and He will never leave us nor forsake us." 3. There was calm trust in a faithful God and in His faithful promises. These were the most powerful of his inspirations, and they poured themselves out in his glowing song. There is not one of the blessings but has this basis; and they have also a deep, inner, spiritual, religious, redemptive sense. Dr. Watts , after the scholarly labours of a long and devoted life, said: "I find it is the plain promises of the Gospel that are my support. And I bless God, they are plain promises that do not require much labour and pains to understand them, for I can do nothing now but look into my Bible for some simple promise to support me, and I live upon that. I bless God, I can lie down with comfort at night, not being solicitous whether I awake in this world or another." "Underneath are the Everlasting Arms!" So Guthrie felt that it was the simpler, fundamental truths and facts which inspired dying trust and hope, and said: "Sing me a bairn's hymn," and fell asleep on the bosom of the Eternal. So Benjamin Parsons said: "My head is resting very sweetly on three pillows: infinite power, infinite love, and infinite wisdom." Horace Bushnell, one of the great teachers of our age, but recently departed, woke up in the night and said, "Oh, God is a wonderful Being!" And when his daughter replied, "Yes; is He with you?" the old man replied, "Yes, in a certain sense He is with me; and I have no doubt He is with me in a sense I do not imagine." So He is. It is "above all we ask or think"! Then the old man eloquent said: "Well, now we are all going home together; and I say, the Lord be with you β and in grace β and peace β and love β and that is the way I have come along home!" ( W. H. Davison. ) From His right hand went a fiery law for them. Yea, He loved the people. Deuteronomy 33:2-5 The law of antagonism W. L. Watkinson. At first sight the text might seem to involve a contradiction, but closer consideration will show that it expresses a great truth, namely, that the severity of human life is an expression of the Divine goodness. I. In NATURE. The fiery law published at Sinai is proclaimed from every mountaintop; it burns and blazes through all the earth; the sea also is crystal mingled with fire. Nature knows nothing of indulgence; she makes no concessions to ignorance, folly, or weakness. Nature is imperative, uncompromising, terrible. In our day the severity of nature has been recognised as "the struggle for existence," and students have shown with great clearness and power how full the world is of antagonism and suffering; yet these same students distinctly perceive that the struggle for existence is at bottom merciful, and that whenever nature chooses an evil it is a lesser evil to prevent a greater. 1. They see the advantage of severity so far as all sound and healthy things are concerned. If the conditions of life are in any degree softened, it is to the detriment of the noble organisms concerned. 2. They see also the advantage of severity so far as defective things are concerned. It is better for the world at large that weak organisms should be eliminated, otherwise the earth would be filled with imperfection and wretchedness; it is better for the creatures concerned that they should perish, for why should a miserable existence be indefinitely prolonged? II. IN CIVILISATION. It is not by gentle yielding restrictions, by pliant understandings, by soft phrases, by light penalties easily remitted, by facility and complaisance, by the coddling of the individual, and the pampering of the nations, but by laws most exacting and rigorous, that God governs the race and conducts it to ultimate perfection. And yet once more we may see that the fiery law is only a definition of love. 1. Take the struggle of man with nature. The tropical sun burns us; the Arctic cold freezes us; in temperate regions the changeability of the weather troubles us; everywhere we experience the fury of the elements. All climates and countries have their special inconveniences, inhospitalities, and scourges. But is not this conflict with nature part of the inspiration and programme of civilisation? Contending with the globe, we are like Jacob wrestling with the angel. The fight is long and hard amid the mystery and the darkness, and the great Power seems reluctant to bless us; but the breaking of the day comes, and we find ourselves blest with corn, wine, oil, purple, feasts, flowers. Ah! and with gifts far beyond those of basket and store β ripened intelligence, self-reliance, courage, skill, manliness, virtue. 2. Take the struggle of man with man. Society is a great system of antitheses. There are international rivalries β a relentless competition between the several races and nations for power and supremacy. The various peoples watch each other across the seas; the earth is full of feuds, stratagems, competitions. And within the separate communities what complex and unceasing emulations and antagonisms exist! But this social rivalry brings its rich compensations. Solicitude, fatigue, difficulty, danger, hunger, these are the true king-makers; and the misfortune with many rich families today is, that they are being gradually let down because they are losing sight of the wolf. The wolf not merely suckled Romulus; it suckles all kings of men. The wolf is not a wolf at all; it is an angel in wolves' clothing, saving us from rust, sloth, effeminacy, cowardice, baseness, from a miserable superficiality of thought, life, and character. III. IN CHARACTER. When we are called upon to perform duties utterly repugnant to flesh and blood, to suffer grievous losses, to experience bitterest disappointments, to bleed under social humiliations, to be tortured by pain, to lose those whose love was our life, to endure the great fight of afflictions which sooner or later comes upon us all, we may rationally and consolingly murmur to ourselves, "This is a lesser evil to prevent a greater." For as the catastrophes of nature are, after all, but partial and temporary, preventing immeasurably greater calamities, so our physical pain, impoverishment, social suffering, severe toil, bereavement, and all our terrestrial woes are the lesser evils, saving us from the infinitely greater one of the superficiality, corruption, misery, and ruin of the soul. And not only is the fiery law a wall of fire securing our salvation from the abyss; it is also a call unto a high and splendid perfection. It shows the way to the dignities, freedoms, treasures, felicities, perfections, of the highest universe and the unending life. 1. Let us not reject the law of Sinai because of its severity. The musician with the harp believes in strait-lacing, and it is only when the strings are stretched nigh to the breaking that he brings out the finest music. So in human life, caprice, licence, abandonment mean dissonance and misery; only through obligation, duty, discipline do all the chords of our nature become tuned to the music of a sweet perfection. 2. Let us not reject the Lord Jesus because He comes to us with a cross. To attain the highest, we must be crucified with Christ. 3. Let us not shrink from the tribulations of life. "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice," etc. The whole case is here. We must not consider the fiery trial "a strange thing." It is the universal order. We witness it in all nature; we discern it in all the history of civilisation; it is the common experience. The fiery trial is not some ordeal peculiar to the Christian saints; it is appointed to the whole of humanity. We must not consider the fiery trial an uncompensated thing. The cross we carry is no longer a pitiless and crushing burden; we look to its ultimate design, and know it as the rough but precious instrument of our purification and perfecting. ( W. L. Watkinson. ) All His saints are in Thy hand Saints in the Lord's hand W. Jay. These holy ones are distinguished by many things from each other. Some of them are in public life and some in private. Some are rich and some poor. Some are young and some old. But all are equally dear to God; and partakers of the common salvation; in which there is neither Jew nor Greek, for we are all one in Christ Jesus. This honour have all His saints β "All His saints are in His hand." 1. In His fashioning hand. They are the clay, He is the potter; and He makes them vessels of honour, prepared unto every good work. 2. In His preserving hand. For now they are precious, they are the more exposed. They are called a crown and a diadem; and the powers of darkness would gladly seize it. 3. In His guiding hand. Though God, says Bishop Hall, has a large family, none of His children are able to go alone: they are too weak, as well as too ignorant. But fear not, says God: I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness. 4. In His chastening hand. ( W. Jay. ) God and His saints A. Maclaren, D. D. I. THE DIVINE LOVE WHICH IS THE FOUNDATION OF ALL. "He loved the people." The word used here is probably connected with words in an allied language, which mean "the bosom," and "a tender embrace"; so the picture we have is of the great Divine Lover folding "the people" to His heart, as a mother her child, and cherishing them in His bosom. 2. The word is in a form which implies that the act is continuous and perpetual. Timeless, eternal love β always the same. 3. Mark the place in the song where this comes in. It is the beginning of everything. This old singer, with the mists of antiquity round him, who knew nothing about the Cross or the historic Christ, who had only that which modern thinkers tell us is a revelation of a wrathful God, somehow or other rose to the height of the evangelical conception of God's love as the foundation of the very existence of a people who are His. 4. If the question is asked, Why does God thus love? the only answer is, Because He is God. The love of God is inseparable from His being, and flows forth before, and independent of, anything in the creature which could draw it out. It is like an artesian well, or a fountain springing up from unknown depths in obedience to its own impulse. II. THE GUARDIAN CARE EXTENDED TO ALL THOSE THAT ANSWER LOVE BY LOVE. "All His saints are in Thy hand." 1. A saint is a man that answers God's love by his love. The root idea of sanctity or holiness is not moral character, goodness of disposition and action, but separation from the world and consecration to God. As surely as a magnet applied to a heap of miscellaneous filings will pick out every little bit of iron there, so surely will that love which God bears to the people, when it is responded to, draw to itself, and therefore draw out of the heap, the men that feel its impulse and its preciousness. 2. The saints lie in God's hand.(1) Absolute security; for, will He not close His fingers over His palm to keep the soul that has laid itself there?(2) Submission. Do not try to get out of God's hand. Be content to be guided, as the steersman's hand turns the spokes of the wheel and directs the ship. III. THE DOCILE OBEDIENCE OF THOSE THAT ARE THUS GUARDED. "They sat down at Thy feet; everyone shall receive of Thy words." These two clauses make up one picture, and one easily understands what it is. It presents a group of docile scholars, sitting at the Master's feet. He is teaching them, and they listen open-mouthed and open-eared to what He says, and will take His words into their lives, like Mary sitting at Christ's feet, whilst Martha was bustling about His meal. But perhaps, instead of "sitting down at Thy feet," we should read "followed at Thy feet." That suggests the familiar metaphor of a guide and those led by him who without him knew not their road. As a dog follows his master, as the sheep their shepherd, so, this singer felt, will saints follow the God whom they love. Religion is imitation of God. They "follow at His foot." That is the blessedness and the power of Christian morality, that it is keeping close at Christ's heels, and that, instead of its being said to us, "Go," He says, "Come"; and instead of us being bade to hew out for ourselves a path of duty, He says to us, "He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." They "receive His words." Yes, if you will keep close to Him, He will turn round and speak to you. If you are near enough to Him to catch His whisper He will not leave you without guidance. That is one side of the thought, that following we receive what He says, whereas the people that are away far behind Him scarcely know what His will is, and never can catch the low whisper which will come to us by providences, by movements in our own spirits, through the exercise of our faculties of judgment and common sense, if only we will keep near to Him. ( A. Maclaren, D. D. ) Let Reuben live, and not die. Deuteronomy 33:6 Reuben T. G. Rooke, B. A. The name of Reuben stands first in the blessing of Moses, but this recognition of his natural place among the tribes is almost sadder in its suggestiveness than would have been the putting of his name farther down. When the substance of a high and ancient dignity has been withdrawn, the continuance of its hollow outward semblance becomes a pitiable spectacle. Reuben had outraged the most sacred principles of patriarchal law and primitive morality, Moses could not disregard the curse which behaviour so flagrant had provoked. Nay, in Reuben and his tribe Moses recognised an inherent vice which forbade them ever to "excel," He could therefore only pray that Reuben might "live and not die" β not become extinct and cast out from Jehovah's inheritance, as it seemed only too likely he might become. The fatal flaw which Moses thus discerned in the fortunes of Jacob's firstborn arose from the instability of his character; a fault which seems by no means to have been corrected, bur rather to have been perpetuated and confirmed in the character of his descendants. A practical lesson of warning for ourselves is surely not far to seek. The impulsive yet irresolute disposition of Reuben is painfully common amongst ourselves. Too many a young man, the excellency of his father's dignity, and the centre of highest hopes, both for this world and the next, is at this moment the subject of sorely anxious prayers, such as this which Moses uttered. And too many a Christian convert, who has been baptized like Reuben unto God's high calling, in the cloud and in the sea, is seeming at this moment to his pastor to be coming short of the promised reward, because of his unstable will, and his fickle yielding to influences that lie outside the boundaries of Jehovah's covenant. Not even the loving intercessions of a Moses can deliver such souls from death, if they make not an end of their wavering and indecision, and engage not themselves to seek the life of God with all their hearts. God Himself can only mourn over them, saying, "What shall I do unto thee? for thy goodness is like the morning cloud, and like the dew which early goeth away." ( T. G. Rooke, B. A. ) The omission of Simeon T. G. Rooke, B. A. The Alexandrian manuscript of the Greek Old Testament contains a remarkable interpolation in the clause of Reuben's blessing. It introduces the name of Simeon, and refers to that tribe the prayer of Moses that "his men may not be few." The suggestion cannot possibly be entertained; although, if it be rejected, the very singular fact stares us in the face that the tribe of Simeon is passed over in absolute silence. This omission has been used to support the theory of a later origin of the Book of Deuteronomy. It has been said that the Simeonites had disappeared from the soil of Canaan in the reign of Josiah, and that therefore the writer thought it needless to make allusion to them. But the same reason would have caused him to pass over all the tribes comprised in the northern kingdom of Israel; for they had been recently rooted out of their possessions in the land of promise, and carried away captive into Assyria. Moreover, as a matter of historical fact, there were flourishing settlements of the Simeonites within the territory of Judah so near to Josiah's time as the reign of Hezekiah ( 1 Chronicles 4:34-43 ), and the heroine of the apocryphal book of Judith was a daughter of Simeon: a fact which, even with all allowance for the license of historic fiction, obliges us to recognise the continuance of Simeon as a tribe in the very latest period of Jewish national existence. The true reason why Simeon's name is passed over in this blessing was the deep and righteous indignation which the inspired prophet felt in regard to the recent sin of Israel at Shittim. Simeon had headed the foul apostasy which cast the glory of Jehovah's chosen people at the feet of Moabs vilest idol; and the bulk of the twenty-four thousand victims of God's avenging plague were men of this guilty tribe. With such recollections fresh in his mind, it was impossible for Moses to utter words of blessing upon Simeon, or to mitigate in any sense the curse which Jacob had already pronounced upon his posterity ( Genesis 49:5, 7 ). ( T. G. Rooke, B. A. ) And thus is the blessing of Judah. Deuteronomy 33:7 Judah T. G. Rooke, B. A. The name "Judah" was given to Jacob's fourth son in memory of his mother's grateful utterance of praise to God when this child was vouchsafed to her. It is the Hebrew word meaning "praised," and had reference originally to Jehovah, upon whom Leah in her joy conferred that title, saying, "Now will I praise the Lord" ( Genesis 29:35 ). But, by a very natural change, the praise which this name implied came to be attributed to the individual who bore it; and Jacob's dying blessing embodies that new application of the idea: "Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise." The blessing of Jacob goes on to disclose the great reasons for Judah's exaltation in the esteem of men. He was to be the royal tribe in Israel; from him was to spring the Prince of Peace, the promised Messiah, "unto whom shall be the obedience of the peoples" ( Genesis 49:8, 10 ). A third part of his eldest brother Reuben's birthright was conferred upon him, β and this, not by his father's caprice, but by God's deliberate appointment; so that the refusal of his brethren to acknowledge Judah as their leader would have been nothing less than rebellion against Jehovah. The sons of Jacob, however, seem to have acknowledged this leadership very willingly from the first. Reuben, Simeon, and Levi yielded the place of honour to Judah without a murmur, so far as the sacred record suffers us to judge, Only one tribe submitted with ill-concealed impatience and reluctance to the divinely appointed leadership of Judah. This was Ephraim, which had come to represent Joseph, the favourite of Jacob and the inheritor of another third part of Reuben's forfeited birthright. The first settlement of Canaan after its conquest by Joshua shows us the secret rivalry between these two tribes, and also allows us to see how completely these two had cast all the others into the shade. For Judah and Joseph divided the whole conquered territory between themselves; so that the central mountain ridge of Palestine received a permanent name from the one tribe in its southern portion, and from the other tribe in its northern continuation. It was not until some few years had elapsed that the murmurs of seven other tribes, for which no landed possessions had been allotted, shamed Judah and Ephraim into a more equitable division of their spoils, and led to the well-known partition of Canaan into nine lots, instead of the original two ( Joshua 15 ; Joshua 16 ; Joshua 17 ; Joshua 18:2-7 ). But about one hundred years later the old dual division reappeared in more pronounced and permanent form. The seceding kingdom of Israel was established through the union of eight tribes or fragments of tribes under Ephraim, who now for the second time ruled over the whole northern half of the Promised Land; whilst Judah retained dominion over the south, in which part of the country Benjamin, Simeon, and Dan had found settlements under the wing of their stronger brother. From that time forth the name of "Jew" (that is, "man of Judah") was given to every subject of the kingdom of David's house, whether he belonged to the tribe of Judah or not. The second clause of this blessing may seem at first sight a little obscure; but the traditional Jewish interpretation will probably commend itself to everyone who bears in mind that peculiar position of Judah among his brethren which has been already described. The royal tribe was also the "champion" tribe, bound to go before all the rest in the path of warfare and of danger. The third and fourth clauses of the blessing bring out, on the one hand, Judah's valiant and unselfish discharge of the honourable task assigned him; and, on the other hand, they contemplate the serious hindrances which would oppose his work. He would have many adversaries, not only from among the surrounding Gentile nations, but also from amongst his own brethren, some of whom would envy him, and set up a rival kingdom and championship to his. But if God would be his helper, these rivalries and oppositions would only serve to make his glorious destiny more manifest. The Lord would set His anointed One king upon His holy hill of Zion; there He should rule in the midst of His enemies. The opening words of Judah's blessing are, however, the most suggestive in regard to the actual history of the tribe and to the typical application of that history to our own circumstances. Judah's triumph and rest and help were to come from God in answer to the uplifting of Judah's voice. Distinct as was God's purpose to bless him and to make him a blessing, He would yet be inquired of for this: prayer and supplication on the part of His chosen people were to be the condition of their effectual blessing. The Apostle Paul has taught us that "in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving" our "requests" should "be made known unto God" ( Philippians 4:6 ). This oft-forgotten but Important truth is forcibly suggested in the wording of Judah's blessing: "Hear, Lord, the voice of Judah"; for, as already explained, that name was given by Leah in token of the debt of praise which was owing on Judah's account to God. The history of the reign of Jehoshaphat furnishes a notable commentary upon the point which is thus suggested. Moab, and Ammon, and Edom had become confederate against that prince; and in his fear "he set himself to seek the Lord; and all Judah gathered together to seek help from the Lord" ( 2 Chronicles 20:1-4 ). The answer which was given to this cry for help required from the king and from the people no ordinary display of faith, and no easy sacrifice of praise. But Judah was strengthened to stand the test ( 2 Chronicles 20:21-28 ). Perhaps this hint from the meaning of Judah's name may be the most needed and the most profitable teaching of the blessing of Judah for someone who now reads it. It is no unfrequent experience when a Christian's prayer fails to be answered from God, simply because it was conceived in a querulous, ungrateful, and complaining spirit. No element of praise mingled with its petitions. It was wholly occupied with requests for some. thing that seemed lacking; whilst God was expecting a thankful acknowledgment of countless mercies which His self
Matthew Henry
33:1-5 To all his precepts, warnings, and prophecies, Moses added a solemn blessing. He begins with a description of the glorious appearances of God, in giving the law. His law works like fire. If received, it is melting, warming, purifying, and burns up the dross of corruption; if rejected, it hardens, sears, pains, and destroys. The Holy Spirit came down in cloven tongues, as of fire; for the gospel also is a fiery law. The law of God written in the heart, is a certain proof of the love of God shed abroad there: we must reckon His law one of the gifts of his grace. 33:6-23 The order in which the tribes are here blessed, is not the same as is observed elsewhere. The blessing of Judah may refer to the whole tribe in general, or to David as a type of Christ. Moses largely blesses the tribe of Levi. Acceptance with God is what we should all aim at, and desire, in all our devotions, whether men accept us or not, 2Co 5:9. This prayer is a prophecy, that God will keep up a ministry in his church to the end of time. The tribe of Benjamin had their inheritance close to mount Zion. To be situated near the ordinances, is a precious gift from the Lord, a privilege not to be exchanged for any worldly advantage, or indulgence. We should thankfully receive the earthly blessings sent to us, through the successive seasons. But those good gifts which come down from the Father of lights, through the rising of the Sun of righteousness, and the pouring out of his Spirit like the rain which makes fruitful, are infinitely more precious, as the tokens of his special love. The precious things here prayed for, are figures of spiritual blessing in heavenly things by Christ, the gifts, graces, and comforts of the Spirit. When Moses prays for the good will of Him that dwelt in the bush, he refers to the covenant, on which all our hopes of God's favour must be founded. The providence of God appoints men's habitations, and wisely disposes men to different employments for the public good. Whatever our place and business are, it is our wisdom and duty to apply thereto; and it is happiness to be well pleased therewith. We should not only invite others to the service of God, but abound in it. The blessing of Naphtali. The favour of God is the only favour satisfying to the soul. Those are happy indeed, who have the favour of God; and those shall have it, who reckon that in having it they have enough, and desire no more. 33:24,25 All shall be sanctified to true believers; if their way be rough, their feet shall be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. As thy days, so shall thy strength be. The day is often in Scripture put for the events of the day; it is a promise that God would graciously and constantly support under trials and troubles, whatever they were. It is a promise sure to all the spiritual seed of Abraham. Have they work allotted? They shall have strength to do it. Have they burdens appointed? They shall have strength, and never be tempted above what they are able to bear. 33:26-29 None had such a God as Israel. There is no people like the Israel of God. What is here said of the church of Israel is to be applied to the spiritual church. Never were people so well seated and sheltered. Those who make God their habitation, shall have all the comforts and benefits of a habitation in him, Ps 91:1. Never were people so well supported and borne up. How low soever the people of God are at any time brought, everlasting arms are underneath them, to keep the spirit from sinking, from fainting, and their faith from failing. Divine grace is sufficient for them, 2Co 12:9. Never were people so well commanded. Thus believers are more than conquerors over their spiritual enemies, through Christ that loved them. Never were people so well secured and protected. Israel shall dwell in safety alone. All who keep close to God, shall be kept safe by him. Never were people so well provided for. Every true Israelite looks with faith to the better country, the heavenly Canaan, which is filled with better things than corn and wine. Never were people so well helped. If in danger of any harm, or in want of any good, they had an eternal God to go to. Nothing could hurt those whom God helped, nor was it possible the people should perish who were saved by the Lord. Never were people so well armed. Those in whose hearts is the excellency of holiness, are defended by the whole armour of God, Eph 6. Never were people so well assured of victory over their enemies. Thus shall the God of peace tread Satan under the feet of all believers, and shall do it shortly, Ro 16:20. May God help us to seek and to set our affections on the things above; and to turn our souls from earthly perishing objects; that we may not have our lot with Israel's foes in the regions of darkness and despair, but with the Israel of God, in the realms of love and eternal happiness.
Benson