Deuteronomy 33:1-29

(B) THE BLESSING OF MOSES

Deuteronomy 33:1

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), in which the formation of the people is traced to Yahweh's revelation of Himself and His coming forth as their King. They are followed also by a concluding section (Deuteronomy 33:26), 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) 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 Israel's 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 Jacob's 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, Numbers 1:21 at the second 43,730. Numbers 26:7 Both passages are from P, and consequently this decadence of the tribe must have been present to that author's mind. In David's 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; Isaiah 16:1 again, Heshbon and Elealeh, cities still Reubenite in Mesa's 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 Jacob's blessing what is here said is strangely short and unenthusiastic:-

"Hear, O Yahweh, Judah's 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 Judah's being appointed to lead the van of the invasion, as in Judges 1:1; Judges 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 Judah's 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 Deuteronomy 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 ‘ish, 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, 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 writer's 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 Levi's 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 Exodus 32:26 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 Levi's 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 Benjamin's territory.

Deuteronomy 33:13 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 Joseph's 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 earth's 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 Joseph's 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) ruler's 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 lion's whelp, Leaping forth from Bashan."

This does not mean that Dan's 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 Israel's 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 Israel's 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."