Deuteronomy 33 commentary

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.

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.

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.

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.

1. And this is the blessing. The bitterness of the Song was seasoned, “Ceste benediction a este comme du suere,” etc.; this blessing was like sugar, etc. — Fr. as it were, by this palliative, wherein Moses left a testimony with respect to God’s future and perpetual grace, as if depositing an inestimable treasure in the hands of the people. For, as God, after the deliverance of His people, and the giving of the Law, renewed the covenant which Jacob had testified of and proclaimed, so Moses was, as it were, their second father, to ratify anew its blessings, lest the memory of them should ever be lost.

In order to beget confidence in his benedictions, he commences by magnifying his vocation before he proceeds to them; for, although the word benediction is equivalent to a prayer for success, yet must it be borne in mind that Moses does not here pray in the ordinary manner, like a private person, in such a way as fathers are wont to offer supplications for their children; but that, in the spirit of prophecy, he sets forth the blessings which were to be expected from God. This, then, is the reason why he extols the dignity and glory of his office as ruler in such lofty terms, viz., that the twelve tribes of Israel may be thoroughly assured that God is the author of these blessings. For the same reason he calls himself “the man of God:” that the people may receive what he is about to say as if it. proceeded from God, whose undoubted minister he is. Nor is the circumstance of time without its weight — “before his death,” or, “in his death,” which adds to the prophecy the force of a testament.

2 And he said, The Lord came from, Sinai. Lat., “Went from Sinai.” In these words he reminds them that he is setting before them, a confirmation of the covenant, which God had made with them in this Law, and that it is nothing different from it; for this connection was of exceeding efficacy in establishing the certainty of the blessings, provided only the Law was duly honored; for nothing was better adapted to confirm the grace of God than the majesty which was displayed in the promulgation of the Law. Some, as I conceive improperly, translate it, — “God comes to Sinai,” whereas Moses rather means that he came from thence, when His brightness was made manifest. By way of ornament, the same thing is repeated with respect to Seir and Paran; and, since these three words are synonymous, therefore to go forth, to rise up, and to come, also represent the same thing, viz., that manifestation of the divine glory which should have ravished into admiration the minds of all; as though he had said that his blessings were to be received with the same reverence, as that which God had procured for His Law, when His face was conspicuously displayed on Mount Sinai. The Prophet Habakkuk (Habakkuk 3:3) has imitated this figure, though with a different object, viz., that, the people might confidently rely upon his power, which had formerly been manifested to the fathers in visible brightness.

By “ten thousands of sanctity,” A. V.,” Ten thousands of saints. Ainsworth: “Heb., of sanctity; meaning, spirits of sanctity; which Jonathan in his Thargum expoundeth holy angels: — so we by grace in Christ are come to ten thousands of angels. Hebrews 12:22.” I do not understand, as many do, the faithful, but the angels, by whom God was accompanied as by a royal retinue; for God also commanded the ark to be placed between the Cherubim, in order to show that the heavenly hosts were around Him. So in Isaiah, (Isaiah 6:6,) the Seraphim surround His throne; and Daniel says that he saw “ten thousand times ten thousand,” (Daniel 7:10;) thus designating an infinite multitude, as does Moses also by “ten thousand.” It is probable that both Paul and Stephen derived from this passage their statement that the Law was “ordained by Angels in the hand of a mediator,” (Galatians 3:19; Acts 7:53;) for its authority was greatly confirmed by its having so many witnesses (obsignatores.)

The Law is placed at His right hand, not only as a scepter or mark of dignity, but as His power or rule of government; for He did not merely show Himself as a king, but also made known how He would preside over them. “Comme il vouloit presider, et estre honore de son peuple;” how He would preside, and be honored by this people. — Fr. The Law is called fiery, in order to inspire terror and to enforce humility upon them all; although I am not adverse to the opinion that Moses alludes in this epithet to the outward signs of fire and flame, of which he spoke in Exodus 20. But, since the word דת, dath, means any statute or edict, some restrict it to the prohibition that none should more closely approach the mountain. In my own mind, however, there is no doubt but that it designates all the doctrine whereby God’s dominion is maintained.

3. Yea, he loved the people. Lat., “the peoples.” If it be preferred to apply this to the Gentiles, the sentence must be thus resolved, “Although He loves all human beings, still His saints are honored with His peculiar favor, in that He watches over their safety;” but it is more correct to expound it as referring only to the children of Abraham, whom He calls “peoples,” because, on account of the multitude into which they had grown, in their several tribes, they might be reckoned as so many nations. And since the particle אף, aph, A. V., “yea.” signifies prolongation of time, like adhuc in Latin, the following sense will be very satisfactory, that, Although the descendants of Abraham were divided into various races, and might therefore seem to be no longer a single family, nevertheless God still continued to regard them all with affection, and their numbers and divisions did not prevent Him from accounting them to be a single body. The sum is, that God’s favor towards them was not extinguished, either by the progress of time, or the increase of the people; but that it was constantly extended to the race of Abraham, however far or widely it might be spread.

It must, however, be observed, that in proof of His love, it is presently added, that they were in the hand of God. Hence we infer that, from the time that God has embraced us with His favor, He is the sure guardian of our safety; whence also arises the firm assurance of eternal life. The change of person, from the third to the second, throws no obscurity on the meaning. Since many hypocrites were mixed up with the faithful — for the Church of God has always been like a threshing-floor In the Fr. this expression is thus explained, — “ou les grains de ble sont cachez sous la paille;” where the grains of wheat are hidden beneath the straw. — Moses restricts this special grace of God to those who willingly submit themselves to Him, and with pious teachableness embrace this instruction, by which sign he distinguishes between the true children of God, and those spurious or degenerate ones, who falsely assume the name. Where my translation is, “They cleaved to thy feet,” others render the words, “They were struck at thy feet,” but in my judgment constrainedly. Others extract from it a useful piece of instruction, that “they were subdued by God’s chastisements, so as to render Him obedience;” but the metaphor is rather taken from disciples, who, according to the common usage of the Hebrew language, are said to sit at their master’s feet, in order to attend more diligently. And this is confirmed by the context, for the faithful are said to have attached themselves to God’s feet, that they might receive of this words, i.e., profit by His instruction.

4 Moses commanded us a law. What he had declared respecting the glory of God, and the excellency of the Law, he now applies to his own person, since it was his purpose, as I have said, to establish the authority of his own ministry. In order, therefore, to prove the certainty of his mission, he boasts that he was appointed by God to be the teacher of the people, and that not for a brief period, but throughout all ages; for by the word “inheritance,” the perpetuity of the Law is signified. He then claims for himself the royal supremacy, not because he had ruled after the manner of kings, but that the dignity of this high office might add weight to his words. He says that “the heads of the people and the tribes were gathered together,” with reference to their unhappy disorganization, which was tending to their destruction, as much as to say that, under his guidance, rind by his exertions, the state of the people was reestablished.

He begins with Reuben, the first-born, and so far removes or mitigates the ignominy of that condemnation wherewith he had been branded by his father Jacob, as only to stop short of restoring him to his place of honor. For the holy Patriarch had pronounced a severe sentence, namely, that Reuben should be “as unstable as water, and should not excel.” (Genesis 49:4.) Lest, therefore, the whole of his posterity should be discouraged, or should be rejected by the other tribes, he abates the severity of his disinheritance, as if to pardon the condemned. In short, he assigns to the family of Reuben a place among the sons of Jacob, lest despair should drive them to headlong ruin. The second clause admits of two contrary meanings. Literally it is, “Let him be small in number;” and, in fact, this tribe was not of the more numerous ones. Since, however, it occupied a middle place, and surpassed several of the others, some repeat the negative, “Let him not die, nor let him be few in number.” A. V., “and let not his men be few. But it appears more probable that an abatement is made from the rank to which his primogeniture entitled the family of Reuben, and thus that some remainder of dishonor was introduced into the promise of grace. And, in fact, not only the tribe of Judah, but those of Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphthali, surpassed it in size. Thus the qualification will be by no means inappropriate, that, although Reuben was to be reckoned among the people of God, still he should not altogether recover his dignity.

7. And this is the blessing of Judah. And this also of Judah. Jerome has faithfully given the sense, “This is the blessing,” although it is not actually expressed.

It might at first sight appear inconsistent that some abatement should be made from the splendid and abundant blessings which had been promised to the tribe of Judah. This, however, is by no means the case; for the inviolable decree respecting the supremacy of Judah is not thus altered; but Moses merely reminds them how difficult of accomplishment it would be. Jacob had declared, as if speaking of a peaceful dominion, that his “brethren should praise” him, that his “father’s children should bow down before” him; that “the scepter should not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet,” (Genesis 49:8, 10;) but, inasmuch as this dignity lay dormant for a long time, and it was necessary that it should contend with many tedious obstacles before it finally manifested itself, Moses consequently speaks in more limited terms. Still, he seems to have referred not merely to the earlier period, but to the various calamities whereby the kingdom of David was not only apparently diminished, but destroyed; and especially to the melancholy interruption of it which arose from the Babylonish captivity. The sum is, that the prosperity of which Jacob prophesied was not to be so conspicuous in the tribe of Judah, as that all things were to be expected to be joyous and successful, but rather that those, to whom the supreme power as well as wealth was promised, would be exposed to many evils, so that they should be reduced to extremities, and be greatly in want of the help of God. He therefore betakes himself to prayer, and by his example admonishes not that tribe only, but the others also, to implore the faithfulness of God in their overwhelming difficulties. And this lesson applies to ourselves also, in order that we may be the more aroused to prayer and supplication, the more Satan is urgent for the destruction of Christ’s kingdom. At the same time, what I have stated must be observed, namely, that the promise remains firm, since it is not in vain that Moses places all the tribes under the dominion of Judah, when he petitions that he may be brought unto his people, nor promises in vain that God will be at hand to help him, so that he may prevail against his enemies.

8 And of Levi he said. This qualification, or modification of the harsher sentence of Jacob was introduced not only for the sake of the tribe of Levi, but rather of the whole people. Jacob had said,

“Simeon and Levi are brethren: instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, my tongue, A.V., “Mine honour.” See C. on Genesis 49., C. Soc. Edit., vol. 2, p. 447. be not thou united,” (Genesis 49:5, 6.)

Assuredly their descendants might have been discouraged, or at least might have been regarded contemptuously, when a patriarch, and the founder of their race, had thus abominated them. God, however, afterwards consecrated this tribe to Himself, so that their sanctity might be communicated to the other tribes; which could not be the case unless their previous opprobrium were removed.

But if any contentious person had objected to this blessing, as if Moses were too much disposed to favor his own tribe, such a suspicion could not justly be harbored against him; first, because he, who now makes such honorable mention of the tribe of Levi, was also the proclaimer of their ignominy; and on many other occasions had not spared his own family, but, whenever it was requisite, had freely inveighed against their vices; and, secondly, he now commends nothing in the Levites except the new dignity, which it had pleased God to confer upon them. On this point, indeed, he ought to have been least of all suspected, inasmuch as he had degraded his own sons, and had exalted the posterity of Aaron alone to the highest place of honor. Now, therefore, he has no other object but that the dignity of the priesthood should not be depreciated on account of the sins of men, and thus their religion itself be despised. For we all know how disposed people are to lay charges against the persons of men which may derogate from the sacredness of their office. Assuredly, if Levi had not been purged from that disgrace which he had incurred, the priesthood would have been altogether deprived of reverence; and thus God’s worship would have been very lightly esteemed. Now, however, when God sanctifies this family to himself, he, as it were, restores it entirely; and hence it is apparent that its punishment was only temporary, since Moses had no intention of retracting what the Spirit had dictated to holy Jacob. Nor does he, indeed, advance anything of himself; but the same Spirit removes the ignominy, which might have disgraced the tribe of Levi, inasmuch as it had only been imposed upon it for a time. We have already seen elsewhere that what Jacob prophesied respecting the dispersion of this family, resulted in its honor; since God posted the Levites in all directions like sentinels, that through their means purity of doctrine might be fostered amongst the whole people. They were, therefore, scattered in such a manner as that their punishment might be productive of benefit. We must, therefore, conclude, that Moses spoke not to gratify his brethren, but made honorable mention of the priesthood, lest those, whom God had chosen as this ministers, should be treated with contempt. And, doubtless, the subsequent grace of their calling should have blotted out the recollection of their previous infamy. Thus Christ, when He would restore Peter to the office of an apostle, cancels his triple denial, by thrice setting him over His sheep. (John 21:17.)

The address, which follows, must be applied to God; for some translate it improperly, “The Urim and Thummim shall be with thee,” as if Moses were addressing the tribe of Levi. In order, therefore, to avoid ambiguity, it will be well to translate it of Levi, rather than to Levi; and ל, lamed, is often used in this sense. Thus, with the purpose of increasing the authenticity of the benediction, Moses addresses God Himself, as if citing Him as a witness, or referring his injunctions to God’s tribunal.

Although in Hebrew the words Urim and Thummim C.’s criticism will be better understood here by giving his version in English:

Ver. 8., “But to Levi he said, Thy perfections and splendours were to Thy merciful man, whom Thou didst try in Massah, and madest him to contend at the waters of Meribah.” are here used, which were principal parts of the sacred Ephod, I have not hesitated to translate them as common nouns: for it is unquestionable that by these symbols were denoted, the knowledge of the Law which is the only light of our souls, and integrity of life. The sum, however, is that the honor of the priesthood was deposited with Aaron, whom he calls the man of God’s clemency, or, the meek. Jerome, as usual, renders it the holy, but improperly; for A. V., “Holy one.” It cannot be reasonably said that this word is not used for holy, as well as for merciful. — W. חסיד, chasid, signifies mild, or humane; and this epithet is constantly applied to the children of God, in order that we may learn to imitate that Father of mercy, who “maketh his sun to rise upon the evil and the good.”

What follows, viz., that God tried him at Massah, I conceive to be added by way of exception; for I have no doubt but that Moses magnifies God’s mercy by this allusion, in that He had dignified Aaron with so great an honor, notwithstanding his having been overcome by impatience, and having fallen. Still it must be remarked that, in reference to the people, the zeal of Aaron is recorded as praiseworthy; as much as to say, that the sin of Aaron flowed from the fountain of virtue, since it was from holy indignation that he fell into the passion of impatience, when he could not endure that the people should rebel against God. Unless perhaps it be preferred to understand these words by way of apostrophe to the people, “Thou didst try, thou didst provoke him to contention, or didst quarrel with him.” But the context will run better, if we understand that God then had a controversy with Aaron; inasmuch as, although overcome by the trial, he still gave no despicable proof of his piety, and from that time forward did not cease to execute his office with sedulity.

9. Who said unto his father and his mother. In the person of Aaron an example is set before all the Levites for their imitation. And, first, he is said to have renounced his own flesh and blood, in order that he might be more disencumbered for obeying God; and in fact it is necessary that all the pastors of the Church should put off their earthly affections, which would otherwise often keep them back from devoting themselves entirely to God. Aaron, then, is said to have bid farewell to all his family, that he might be at liberty to lay himself out for God. Christ now requires the same thing of His disciples, that sons should forget their fathers, and fathers their sons, and husbands their wives, lest anything should retard their course, and prevent them from earnestly advancing through life and death to the end to which they are called. (Matthew 10:37.)

Moses afterwards, by using the plural number, embraces the whole Levitical order; and hence we may infer that what had preceded is not to be confined in its application to a single individual. But when he says that they “guarded (custodisse) the word of God, and kept his covenant,” he does not refer to mere ordinary obedience, but to the peculiar care of preserving that which was intrusted to their charge. It is true that in like manner all believers are said to keep the Law, when they zealously devote themselves to live a holy life; but special allusion is here made to the office of teaching. The Levites, therefore, are called guardians of the Law, and keepers of it, as being φύλακες, since with them was deposited the treasure of Divine instruction, as is more clearly set forth in the next verse, “They shall teach Jacob, etc.” If any should prefer that this observing of the Law should be understood of their life and habits, as though it were said, that the Levites should surpass others in the examples they gave, I do not contend the point, though it seems to me that the second clause is explanatory, and that it more familiarly sets forth what was spoken with some little obscurity, pointing out the way in which the Law is to be observed, viz., by their being the teachers and masters of the people. We must, however, remark the method they are to adopt in teaching; for they are not permitted to introduce their own inventions, or to frame a rule of life out of their own heads; but they are commanded to seek in the Law itself what they are to teach, and to interpret it honestly and faithfully. And this condition was inserted in order that whosoever should desire to be successors in the honor should be mindful of their vocation, and faithfully devote themselves to the office of teaching. Thus, when in a corrupt state of the Church, priests, who had nothing of this sort about them, paraded their mere empty title; their silly vaunt is refuted by Malachi:

“My covenant (he says) was with Levi of life and peace;.... for the law of truth was in his mouth, and the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth, but ye have corrupted my covenant,” (Malachi 2:5, 6, 7, 8.)

Let us learn, then, from this passage, that whosoever claims for himself the primacy in the Church must be repudiated, unless he manifests himself to be a faithful teacher.

The third part of the priest’s office follows, viz., that he should apply himself to the performance of the religious services; for God had disencumbered them from the labors of agriculture and other earthly business, that they might be more entirely at liberty for the duties of teaching and sacrifice; and, although this latter might appear to be but an humble occupation, still, if we regard it aright, it was no common honor that they should be mediators and intercessors for the reconciliation of the people to God; for even the very least of the Levites had something to do with making atonement.

Under the words “incense and whole burnt-sacrifice,” the entire legal service is comprehended; and the incense is said to be put before the nose of God; Margin, A. V., “Heb. at thy nose.” because the odor of this offering was grateful, and, as it were, sweet-smelling to Him, as we have elsewhere seen.

11. Bless, Lord, his substance. This supplication appears to have been intended tacitly to provide against the poverty which awaited the Levites, if God had not supplied them with food from some other source besides the produce of the soil; for they were deprived of a share in the general inheritance, and God alone was their property. Lest, therefore, their condition should be painful to them, Moses offers them consolation, and bids them expect from God abundance for their support, whilst he promises that His blessing shall stand them in stead of the most redundant produce; as it is said in Psalm 132:15, “I will abundantly bless her provision, and satisfy her priests A. V., “poor.” C.’s memory seems here to have failed him, and to have imported the word “priests” from the following verse. with bread.”

What follows, that “the work of his hands may be acceptable to God,” may be either explained generally of the labor which is bestowed for the purpose of obtaining food, or of the service and ministry of the tabernacle; but, inasmuch as God engaged the Levites in sacred occupations, it seems indirectly to promise them that such exercises would be no less profitable to them than as if they were altogether occupied in the pursuit of gain. It was allowable for the rest to employ their industry for the advancement of their domestic interests, whilst the Levites, in order properly to perform their duties, were obliged to neglect their private affairs. Lest, then, they should be afraid of destitution, Moses reminds them that they might expect from God an earthly reward also for their spiritual labors.

The third point appears to be purposely introduced, that “God would smite through or transfix their enemies,” because pious teachers are very much exposed to envy, and ill-will, and persecution; for the complaint which is made by Jeremiah, (Jeremiah 15:10,) that he was “a man of strife,” is applicable to all the prophets and ministers of God; since the world can hardly bear its affections to be slain by the spiritual sword of God’s word, and hence many contentions arise. Besides, Satan, in order to render their: doctrine contemptible, does not cease to harass them by whatever means he can, and to arm his bands to war against them; so that the pastors of the Church have need of God’s special aid. This point, then, is peculiarly worthy of observation that, although many adversaries always threaten God’s servants, besiege them, provoke them to conflict, in a word, are always plotting their destruction, still God’s succor will be at hand, whereby they may be rendered invincible; as it was said to Jeremiah,

“They shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee.” (Jeremiah 1:19.)

The words I have translated “lest they rise again,” others render “lest they rise against them;” and, although I do not reject this, still it seems to be less appropriate; for Moses did not wish to exempt the Levites from the annoyances of combat, but only to promise them victory, inasmuch as God would overwhelm and destroy their enemies. Addition in Fr., ”voire en sorte qu’ils demeurerent couchez tous plats;” that is to say, in such sort as they should remain altogether east down.

12. And of Benjamin he said. It is probable that Moses alludes to the inheritance which fell to the lot of the children of Benjamin; for the part of Jerusalem in which the temple stood was contained in it. Since, therefore, God assigned them a dwelling-place, in which He in a manner protected them, and cherished them beneath His wings, they are not without reason called His beloved, for this was no ordinary pledge of His love To “dwell upon God,” A. V., “by God.” and “between his shoulders,” is equivalent to reposing upon Him; a similitude taken from fathers who carry their children whilst yet they are small and tender. Others extract a different meaning, viz., that God would dwell upon the shoulders of Benjamin; but this is very unnatural. It is, nevertheless, the exposition of the great majority of commentators, who suppose that by shoulders are figuratively meant mountains, or coasts.

13. And of Joseph he said. Moses repeats some portions of the blessing of Jacob; nor with respect to any other tribe does he approach so closely to the words of the Patriarch. And, although the family of Joseph was already divided into two tribes or nations, still he begins by the head itself, and at the conclusion declares that what had been given to their fathers pertains to Ephraim and Manasseh. First, he celebrates the exceeding fertility of the land, in which the descendants of Joseph were to dwell; and then ratifies his testimony by the authority of God. He promises them, then, that their land shall be fertile, from the best treasures of heaven; for מגד, meged, signifies whatever is best and most precious. I do not, therefore, approve of their translation, who render it fruits, although I know not whether Moses speaks of the excellency of the climate, or commends the beneficence of God; the latter, however, accords best with the context, in which he makes mention of the external means of fertility, viz., the dew, and the deep, by which word I understand the depth of the soil itself. In the next verse I admit that by the word מגד, meged, the choicest fruits are indicated, but without any change of its meaning. Others render it delicacies: others sweet fruits, on account of the peculiar excellency of the fruits. But I do not see why some translate the word גרש, geresh, “influence.” It literally means thrusting out; and is used metaphorically for the fruit, which arises and breaks forth from the earth. But it is not very clear to me what fruits he speaks of respectively as “of the sun, and the moon;” for I cannot tell whether there are any grounds for assigning, as some do, to the sun the produce which springs from seed and the vintage; and to the moon, cucumbers and gourds; nor do I attempt to decide whether their idea is more correct who suppose the latter to be flowers or fruits which appear every month.

15. And for the chief things of the ancient mountains. In these words he shows that no part of the land would be barren. We know that the tops of mountains are generally and uncultivated, or at any rate bear nothing but trees that have no fruit. But Moses affirms that even there also there shall be the richest produce, for which reason, at least in my opinion, he calls the mountains ancient, and the hills lasting, as if being very highly renowned; for their antiquity is not praised, as if they were created before the rest of the world, but these mountains are honorably distinguished as the first-born, because God’s blessing eminently rests upon them. Thus in the blessing of Jacob it is said, “unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills,” as much as to say, that no corner of these most celebrated mountains should be devoid of fertility. (Genesis 49:26.)

In the next verse he extends generally to the whole land what he had said of the mountains.

Those are wide of the meaning of Moses, who translate what follows: “On account of the good-will of the dweller in the bush the blessing shall come;” and his rendering is altogether barbarous who gives it, “On account of the piety,” etc. My opinion is that the word רצון, retzon, is in the nominative case; for it is quite in accordance with the context that the “favor of God would come upon the head of Joseph;” for, after Moses had magnified His bounty, he now points out its source or cause, viz., that this extraordinary fertility was the result of God’s gratuitous favor. The words of Jacob, “by the God of thy father,” and “by the Almighty,” exactly correspond with these; where also I have explained why Joseph was called a Nazarene among his brethren. A. V., “Separated from his brethren.” See on Genesis 49:26, C. Soc. Edit., vol. 2, p. 470.

God is called “the dweller in the bush” by periphrasis, with reference to the vision which was presented to Moses on Mount Sinai; for God then appeared a second time as the Redeemer and Father of His people; after having made His covenant with Abraham and Jacob. And this serves by way of confirmation; as if it were said, that the same God who had formerly blessed Joseph by the mouth of His servant Jacob, now repeated the same prophecy, in order to give fuller assurance of its truth.

17 His glory is like the firstling. Translators obscure the meaning by translating the word firstling in the nominative case. I have no doubt, however, but that he compares the glory of Joseph to the size of a very fine bullock, as if He had said, “His beauty is as of the most choice bullocks in his herds.” At least it is very consistent that the word firstling should be used for pre-eminent. He says, then, that no more magnificent or glorious bullocks should be found in the land of Joseph than the people itself would be. And to beauty he adds strength and vigor, so that they should be victorious over all their enemies.

At the end of the verse (as I have before stated,) he declares that what he had prophesied of Joseph should be common to the two families of Ephraim and Manasseh. At the same time he confirms the declaration of Jacob, whereby he had preferred Ephraim the younger to the elder. Manasseh, therefore, only reckons his thousands, but Ephraim his tell thousands, a proof of which fact God had given in the census which has been already recorded, in which the tribe of Ephraim was found to be the more numerous.

18. And of Zebulun he said. He compares two tribes with each other, which, although neighbors in position, were still very dissimilar; for the one being devoted to mercantile pursuits, went forth frequently in various directions; the other took more delight in quietude and repose; and this their great variety of condition is indicated, when he bids Zebulun rejoice in its expeditions, and Issachar in its domestic repose. Moses thus confirms the prophecy of Jacob, who said that Zebulun should “dwell at the haven of the sea,” so as to make voyages of traffic; whilst Issachar, as delighting more in repose, should be lazy and idle, so as to make no objections against paying tribute, in order to purchase peace. (Genesis 49:13-15.)

What follows I suppose to be added, as though Moses had said that their distant location should not prevent them from going up with the others to Jerusalem, for the purpose of performing their religious duties. For in that they were farther removed from the temple, their zeal in the legal service might have grown cold. Although, then, they dwelt in the utmost borders of the land, Moses says that they should nevertheless come to offer sacrifices to God. By the peoples some understand the other tribes, which does not appear at all consistent; and others, foreign nations, to which their commercial intercourse gave them access. My interpretation, however, is simply that, although the length of the journey should invite them to remain at home, still they should mutually exhort each other to betake themselves in large companies to the temple. The end of the verse may be the statement of a reason for this, as if it were said, that they will be more attentive to the service of God, because, being enriched by him, they will be desirous to offer Him the praise. And assuredly it is a sign of gross ingratitude, when we are not stimulated by God’s blessings to strive more earnestly to render thanks to him, in proportion as he deals more liberally with us. At the same time, Moses shows that, in consideration of their great wealth, the expenses of the journey would be by no means onerous to them; for, although their country was not very fertile, still its position was most advantageous for the acquirement of riches. Thus when it is here said, “they shall suck of the abundance of the seas,” an antithesis is to be understood between the fruits of the earth and the abundant revenues derived from merchandise. To the same effect, “the treasures hid in the sand” are spoken of. For the exposition given by some, that their treasures should be so great as that they should hide them in the sand; and by others, that the sands should there be so prolific in silver and gold; and by others, that they should collect what the sea should throw up, is poor and vapid. Whereas, therefore, others should grow rich from their lands, Moses says, by an elegant figure, that the sands of Zebulun should be filled with hidden treasures, on account of their foreign traffic.

20. And of Gad he said. In the blessing of the tribe of Gad, mention is only made of the hereditary portion, which it had obtained without casting of lots. He therefore celebrates the blessing of God, because He had accorded to the Gadites an ample dwelling-place; for the word “enlargeth” refers to the extent of their possession. But inasmuch as in that extremity of the land beyond Jordan, they were on a hostile border, he declares that they would be warlike, and hence compares them to a lion, which tears its prey sometimes from the head, and sometimes from the arm. Since, then, that position would not be so peaceful as any other region in the midst of Canaan, he declares that they should be safe and sound, through their own audacity. And although it is not a very pleasant condition to be harassed by constant wars, still, in such a disagreeable case, God’s grace was not to be despised, which made them formidable to their enemies, and of great valor, whereby they might not only repel hostile invasions, but be willing of themselves to make predatory expeditions. If any should object that license for rapine was quite unsuitable for God’s children, the solution is obvious, that reference is not here made to what was lawful, or what was desirable and praiseworthy, but that a consolation was offered them by way of protection against the incursions and annoyances of their enemies. Besides, the lust for booty is not made permissible, but praise is merely given to their courage in overcoming their enemies.

21. And he provided the first part for himself. Lat., “And he saw the beginning (principium) for himself,” etc. Heb. וירא ראשית Others translate it not badly, the first-fruits. Jerome’s rendering, pre-eminence (principatum,) however, is quite out of the question. The word beginning (principium,) however, is very suitable, for Moses thus signifies that the Gadites were beforehand in seeking a dwelling-place for themselves; for before possession of the land was accorded to the people, they asked for the kingdom of Sihon for themselves. It is afterwards added, in what way they were provident in choosing their abode, namely, because God suggested to them that Moses was at liberty to assign this portion to them. For it is called the “portion of the lawgiver,” as being that respecting which Moses might lawfully decide, since he appropriated it to the Gadites, not by hazard, nor otherwise than by God’s command. It is called the hidden portion, A. V., “seated;” marg., “Heb. ceiled.” See next note. as not having been included by God in His promise. The sum is, that although God’s will was not yet revealed, with respect to this addition to the land, still they obtained it through His secret liberality. And Moses desires flint his decision with regard to the Gadites remaining on this side Jordan should be thus confirmed, since disputes might have otherwise arisen, inasmuch as God’s promise had assigned the boundaries of the whole people on the opposite bank. Theirs is a poor exposition who explain it that Moses was buried there; and those also violently wrest the words, who understand by “the lawgiver” the chiefs of the Amorites, and render the words “hidden portion,” the ceiled palaces; ספון. Part. pahul, ספן, to bide. S. M., (“Pro legislatore) abscondendo.” C. learnt from the notes of S. M. that Rabbi Salomon expounds this clause, “He saw that in that land the legislator, Moses, would be buried,” and that Aben-Ezra had interpreted סהוקק, great, and ספון, a house with a dome-like roof, and had then paraphrased the clause, as meaning, “there is the place suitable for the great and noble, who dwell in palaces.” — W nor would they have been thus extravagant in their notions, if the natural meaning which I have given had occurred to them.

The other clause of the verse is added by way of qualification; for Moses shows that this advantageous provision was made for the children of Gad, on condition that they should accompany the other tribes, and not return home until the land of Canaan was at peace, and their enemies subdued. And we have already seen that, when they sought for themselves this location outside the land, in the kingdom of the Amorites, they were severely rebuked by Moses, until they promised that they would share the war with their brethren until its conclusion. This is what Moses means by “executing the justice of God, and his judgments with Israel;” not only because it was but just that they should share the war with their brethren, and assist them in obtaining possession of the land, but because God ordained that His just vengeance should be executed upon those heathen and wicked nations by the whole of Israel, and had chosen all the tribes generally to be the ministers of His judgment; as it is said, in Psalm 149:7, 8, 9, that they were charged “to execute vengeance upon the heathen, to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute upon them the judgment written;” for it was no common honor to be appointed to be, as it were, the judges of the ungodly, so as to destroy them all, and thus to purify the land.

22. And of Dan he said. He foretells that the tribe of Dan, like that of Gad, should be warlike, not so much from voluntary disposition, as from necessity; for their love of war was not to be deemed praiseworthy, inasmuch as it is altogether contrary to humanity; but because the unscrupulousness of the enemies, by which that tribe was infested, compelled them to take up arms. He compares it to a lion impetuously leaping from Mount Bashan; and the particle of comparison must be understood here, for Mount Bashan was not situated in the territory of this tribe. But Moses means to say that they should be as ready for the combat as a lion, which, after it has issued from its den into the open plains, makes an attack upon every one that it meets.

23. And of Naphtali he said. He predicts that God would deal bountifully towards these two tribes; for to the first a fertile district would be allotted towards “the west and the south.” What he declares respecting the tribe of Asher is not free from ambiguity; for he is said to be blessed, מבנים, mibanim, i.e., either with children, or above children. If we prefer the former meaning, his prolificness (πολυτεκνία) is celebrated, as though it were said, Asher shall be blessed with a numerous progeny. There may, however, be a comparison between this tribe and the others; and this might justly be made to its advantage, because it had a very fertile district allotted to it, and abounding in wheat of the best quality, as the blessing of Jacob testifies,

“Out of Asher shall bread be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.” (Genesis 49:20.)

He adds that “Asher shall be acceptable to his brethren;” from whence we gather that his tribe should be of a placid disposition: and afterwards figuratively celebrates the abundance of his oil, and iron, and brass. For to “dip his foot in oil,” is as much as to say that he should collect an abundant supply of oil; and that “his shoes should be iron and brass,” is nothing more than that he should tread upon a soil full of these metals. It is to be readily inferred from hence, as from preceding passages, that the blessings, which are now mentioned, are not so much wishes or prayers, as prophecies; since without the spirit of prophecy Moses could never have divined what, or what sort of, territory was to be bestowed on the several tribes.

Commentators vary as to the latter words; for some render the word דבא, daba, old age, or, grief, as if there were a transposition of the letters, דבא, a word whose root does not occur in Hebrew. The LXX., and the Chaldee paraphrast, and the Syriac, are unanimous in rendering it strength; but the V. has old age, and those critics, who maintain this to be its meaning, are driven to suppose that it is formed irregularly from דאב — W and thus restrict the meaning of the word “days” to youth; but others more correctly suppose, that Asher was to be strong and vigorous through the whole course of his life. Since, therefore, years gradually debilitate men, Moses promises to the posterity of Asher that their rigor should be retained to the very end of life.

26. There is none like unto the God. Moses proceeds from the parts to the whole, and now comes to speak of the whole body, which consisted of the twelve families. All that he says tends to the same end, viz., that the people of Israel were happy as being taken by God under this faithful guardianship: for nothing is more to be desired with regard to our best interests, than that our welfare should be intrusted to the hand of God. But, since this inestimable blessing of being protected by the care of God is often but lightly prized, Moses exclaims in admiration, that there is none to be compared to the God of Israel. We know that all nations had their tutelary gods or patrons, and foolishly gloried in their respective idols; although they often found from experience, that whatever confidence they placed in them was vain and frivolous. Moses, therefore, separates from this imaginary multitude of false gods the God of Israel, like whom, he says, none can be anywhere found. He also extols His power, because He rides gloriously on the heavens and clouds, which is tantamount to all high things being subject to His dominion. But, whereas it would be of little profit to reflect on his infinite power except; in its connection with ourselves, Moses expressly reminds us that God is not strong for Himself, but in order that He may help His people.

27. The eternal God is thy refuge. This is just as if he had said that the Israelites were protected from above by the help of God, and also based, as it were, upon Him. The beginning of the prayer corresponds with that other in Psalm 90:1, “Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations.” The sum is, that although the Israelites might be exposed to many injuries, still there was secure repose for them under the shadow of God’s wings; and assuredly unless the hand of God had been like a roof to protect them, they would have perished a thousand times over. But, inasmuch as it would not be sufficient for our heads to be in safety, the other point is also added, viz., that God’s arms should be stretched forth to sustain them from beneath. He calls them “everlasting,” because the security of the pious, who rely upon God, is never shaken: it is, therefore, just as though he represented God to be at the same time the foundation, and the roof, of their abode. Others translate it less correctly, “Thou shalt live under the arms of the Everlasting;” for an elegant distinction is drawn, This sentence is omitted in the Latin edition of 1563 though given in substance in the French of 1564. which, however, tends to the same point, when God it called קדם, kedem, and His arms עלם, gnolam, the first of which words has reference to the past, whilst in the other there is allusion to the future; as if he had said of God, that He was from the beginning, and that His power would endure unto the end.

He adduces experimental evidence of the above statements, inasmuch as God had It will be seen that C. translates the verbs here in the past tense; A. V. in the future: “he shall thrust out, etc.” miraculously destroyed the enemies of His people; at the same time he specifies the manner in which this was done, viz., that He had said, Destroy, or blot out, or dissipate. And by this word he signifies that, although God had made use of the agency of the Israelites, still He only was the conqueror; since the Israelites prevailed not except at His bidding, and by His will.

28. Israel then shall dwell in safety alone. Lat., “Israel hath dwelt,” etc. The beginning of the verse is by no means obscure, for Moses promises in it to the elect people what all have naturally a great desire for, viz., peace or tranquillity; for he is said to dwell confidently alone, who: fears no danger, whom no care harasses, and who needs no garrison, or defense. This, indeed, God never vouchsafed altogether to the Israelites, that they should inhabit their land in security and without the fear of enemies, inasmuch as their ingratitude did not allow of it; and therefore the prophets, in enumerating the blessings of Christ’s kingdom, declare that every one should “dwell beneath his own vine, and his own fig-tree.”

For “the fountain of Jacob,” some have the word eye, עין. A spring, or an eye (from its weeping.) The V. with S.M. have taken it to mean an eye here. Luther, Diodati, and A.V. a fountain. C. saw in the notes of S.M. that Kimchi and the Chaldee paraphrast had taken the word literally to be the eye, and, by metaphor, the vision of Jacob. — W and suppose it to be used metaphorically for his vision; as though it were said, that the quiet and peaceful habitation referred to was to be expected by the people from the vision of their father Jacob. Others, however, more correctly read the words “fountain of Jacob,” in apposition (with Israel,) inasmuch as all the tribes derived their origin from that one father. In this way the “fountain” will not be only the actual source; but the rivulet, or stream, which flows down from it.

In conclusion, Moses promises that the very sky of the Holy Land should be propitious, and benignant.

29 Happy art thou, O Israel. He again exclaims that happy is the people, whose salvation is in God; and surely this is the only true happiness; for unless we ascend to the first cause of Salvation, all salvations, so to speak, are but transitory. And, since God had honored the Israelites alone with this privilege, their condition is here distinguished from the common lot of the whole human race. By the words shield and sword is meant a perfect defense, as much as to say, that no part of their armor was to be sought elsewhere.

Deuteronomy 34

Deuteronomy 34:1-12

1. And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho: and the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan,

1. Ascendit ergo Moses e planitie Moab ad mentern Nebo, in verticem collis qui est e regione Jericho, et ostendit illi Jehova omnem terram Gilaad usque Dan,

2. And all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea.

2. Et universam Nephthali, et terram Ephraim, et Manasse, et omnem terram Jehuda usque ad mare novissimum:

3. And the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar.

3. Et meridiem, et planitiem, vallem Jericho urbis palmarum, usque ad Soar.

4. And the Lord said unto him, This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither.

4. Et dixit ei Jehova, Haec est terra de qua juravi Abrahae, Isaac et Jacob, dieendo: Semini tuo dabo illam: videre to feci oculis tuis, at illuc non transibis.

5. So Moses the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord.

5. Itaque mortuus est illic Moses servus Jehovae in terra Moab, sesundum mandatum Jehovae.

6. And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor: but no man knoweth of his sepulcher unto this day.

6. Et sepelivit eum in Gai, in terra Moab, e regione Beth-peor: neque cognovit quisquam sepulchrum ejus usque ad diem hunc.

7. And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.

7. Moses autem natus erat centum et viginti annos quando mortuus est: non caligavit oculus ejus, neque aufugit vigor ejus.

8. And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days: so the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.

8. Et fleverunt filii Israel Mosen in campestribus Moab triginta diebus, completique sunt dies fletus luctus Mosis.

9. And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him: and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as the Lord commanded Moses.

9. Josua autem filius Nun repletus est spiritu sapientiae, quoniam posuerat Moses manus suas super eum: parueruntque ei filii Israel, ac fecerunt quemadmodum praeceperat Jehova Mosi.

10. And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face;

10. Neque surrexit prophera ultra in Israele sient Moses, quem nosset Jehova facie ad faciem.

11. In all the signs and the wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land,

11. In onmibus signis et portentis ad quae facienda in terra Aegypti Pharaoni et servis ejus, et universae terrae ejus, miserat eum Jehova.

12. And in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses showed in the sight of Israel.

12. Et ia omni manu forti, et in omni terrore magno, quae fecit Moses in oculis totius Israelis.

CHAPTER 33

De 33:1-28. The Majesty of God.

1. Moses the man of God--This was a common designation of a prophet (1Sa 2:27; 9:6), and it is here applied to Moses, when, like Jacob, he was about to deliver ministerially before his death, a prophetic benediction to Israel.

2-4. The Lord came--Under a beautiful metaphor, borrowed from the dawn and progressive splendor of the sun, the Majesty of God is sublimely described as a divine light which appeared in Sinai and scattered its beams on all the adjoining region in directing Israel's march to Canaan. In these descriptions of a theophania, God is represented as coming from the south, and the allusion is in general to the thunderings and lightnings of Sinai; but other mountains in the same direction are mentioned with it. The location of Seir was on the east of the Ghor; mount Paran was either the chain on the west of the Ghor, or rather the mountains on the southern border of the desert towards the peninsula [Robinson]. (Compare Jud 5:4, 5; Psa 68:7, 8; Ha 3:3).

ten thousands of saints--rendered by some, "with the ten thousand of Kadesh," or perhaps better still, "from Meribah" [Ewald].

a fiery law--so called both because of the thunder and lightning which accompanied its promulgation (Ex 19:16-18; De 4:11), and the fierce, unrelenting curse denounced against the violation of its precepts (2Co 3:7-9). Notwithstanding those awe-inspiring symbols of Majesty that were displayed on Sinai, the law was really given in kindness and love (De 33:3), as a means of promoting both the temporal and eternal welfare of the people. And it was "the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob," not only from the hereditary obligation under which that people were laid to observe it, but from its being the grand distinction, the peculiar privilege of the nation.

6. Let Reuben live, and not die--Although deprived of the honor and privileges of primogeniture, he was still to hold rank as one of the tribes of Israel. He was more numerous than several other tribes (Nu 1:21; 2:11). Yet gradually he sank into a mere nomadic tribe, which had enough to do merely "to live and not die." Many eminent biblical scholars, resting on the most ancient and approved manuscripts of the Septuagint, consider the latter clause as referring to Simeon; "and Simeon, let his men be few," a reading of the text which is in harmony with other statements of Scripture respecting this tribe (Nu 25:6-14; 1:23; 26:14; Jos 19:1).

7. this is the blessing of Judah--Its general purport points to the great power and independence of Judah, as well as its taking the lead in all military expeditions.

8-10. of Levi he said--The burden of this blessing is the appointment of the Levites to the dignified and sacred office of the priesthood (Le 10:11; De 22:8; 17:8-11), a reward for their zeal in supporting the cause of God, and their unsparing severity in chastising even their nearest and dearest relatives who had participated in the idolatry of the molten calf (Ex 32:25-28; compare Mal 2:4-6).

12. of Benjamin he said--A distinguishing favor was conferred on this tribe in having its portion assigned near the temple of God.

between his shoulders--that is, on his sides or borders. Mount Zion, on which stood the city of Jerusalem, belonged to Judah; but Mount Moriah, the site of the sacred edifice, lay in the confines of Benjamin.

13-17. of Joseph he said--The territory of this tribe, diversified by hill and dale, wood and water, would be rich in all the productions--olives, grapes, figs, &c., which are reared in a mountainous region, as well as in the grain and herbs that grow in the level fields. "The firstling of the bullock and the horns of the unicorn" (rhinoceros), indicate glory and strength, and it is supposed that under these emblems were shadowed forth the triumphs of Joshua and the new kingdom of Jeroboam, both of whom were of Ephraim (compare Ge 48:20).

18-19. Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out--on commercial enterprises and voyages by sea.

and, Issachar in thy tents--preferring to reside in their maritime towns.

20-21. of Gad he said--Its possessions were larger than they would have been had they lain west of Jordan; and this tribe had the honor of being settled by Moses himself in the first portion of land conquered. In the forest region, south of the Jabbok, "he dwelt as a lion" (compare Ge 30:11; 49:19). Notwithstanding, they faithfully kept their engagement to join the "heads of the people" [De 33:21] in the invasion of Canaan.

22. Dan is a lion's whelp--His proper settlement in the south of Canaan being too small, he by a sudden and successful irruption, established a colony in the northern extremity of the land. This might well be described as the leap of a young lion from the hills of Bashan.

23. of Naphtali he said--The pleasant and fertile territory of this tribe lay to "the west," on the borders of lakes Merom and Chinnereth, and to "the south" of the northern Danites.

24-25. of Asher he said--The condition of this tribe is described as combining all the elements of earthly felicity.

dip his foot in oil--These words allude either to the process of extracting the oil by foot presses, or to his district as particularly fertile and adapted to the culture of the olive.

26-29. There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun--The chapter concludes with a congratulatory address to Israel on their peculiar happiness and privilege in having Jehovah for their God and protector.

who rideth upon the heaven in thy help--an evident allusion to the pillar of cloud and fire, which was both the guide and shelter of Israel.

And this is the blessing wherewith Moses - blessed, etc. - The general nature of this solemn introduction, says Dr. Kennicott, is to show the foundation which Moses had for blessing his brethren, viz., because God had frequently manifested his glory in their behalf; and the several parts of this introduction are disposed in the following order: -

1. The manifestation of the Divine glory on Sinai, as it was prior in time and more magnificent in splendor, is mentioned first.

2. That God manifested his glory at Seir is evident from Jdg 5:4 : Lord, when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the fields of Edom, the earth trembled and the heavens dropped, etc.

3. The next place is Paran, where the glory of the Lord appeared before all the children of Israel, Num 14:10.

Instead of he came with ten thousand saints, by which our translators have rendered מרבבת קדש meribeboth kodesh, Dr. Kennicott reads Meribah-Kadesh, the name of a place: for we find that, towards the end of forty years, the Israelites came to Kadesh, Num 20:1, which was also called Meribah, on account of their contentious opposition to the determinations of God in their favor, Num 20:13; and there the glory of the Lord again appeared, as we are informed Num 20:6. These four places, Sinai, Seir, Paran, and Meribah-Kadesh, mentioned by Moses in the text, are the identical places where God manifested his glory in a fiery appearance, the more illustriously to proclaim his special providence over and care of Israel.

Yea, he loved the people - This is the inference which Moses makes from those glorious appearances, that God truly loved the people; and that all his saints, קדשיו kedoshaiv, the people whom he had consecrated to himself, were under his especial benediction; and that in order to make them a holy nation, God had displayed his glory on Mount Sinai, where they had fallen prostrate at his feet with the humblest adoration, sincerely promising the most affectionate obedience; and that God had there commanded them a law which was to be the possession and inheritance of the children of Jacob, Deu 33:4. And to crown the whole, he had not only blessed them as their lawgiver, but had also vouchsafed to be their king, Deu 33:5.

Dr. Kennicott proposes to translate the whole five verses thus: -

And this is the blessing wherewith Moses, the man of God, blessed the children of Israel before his death - And he said Deu 33:2. Jehovah came from Sinai, And he arose upon them from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran, And he came from Meribah-kadesh: From his right hand a fire shone forth upon them. Deu 33:3. Truly, he loved the people, And he blessed all his saints For they fell down at his feet, And they received of his words. Deu 33:4. He commanded us a law, The inheritance of the congregation of Jacob. Deu 33:5. And he became king in Jeshurun; When the heads of the people were assembled, Together with the tribes of Israel.

We have already seen that Dr. Kennicott reads מריבה קדש Meribah-Kadesh, the name of a place, instead of מרבבת קדש meribeboth kodesh, which, by a most unnatural and forced construction, our version renders ten thousands of saints, a translation which no circumstance of the history justifies. Instead of a fiery law, אש דת esh dath, he reads, following the Samaritan version, אש אור esh ur, a fire shining out upon them. In vindication of this change in the original, it may be observed,

1. That, though דת dath signifies a law, yet it is a Chaldee term, and appears nowhere in any part of the sacred writings previously to the Babylonish captivity: תורה torah being the term constantly used to express the Law, at all times prior to the corruption of the Hebrew, by the Chaldee.

2. That the word itself is obscure in its present situation, as the Hebrew Bibles write it and esh in one word אשדת eshdath, which has no meaning; and which, in order to give it one, the Massorah directs should be read separate, though written connected.

3. That the word is not acknowledged by the two most ancient versions, the Septuagint and Syriac.

4. That in the parallel place, Hab 3:3, Hab 3:4, a word is used which expresses the rays of light, קרנים karnayim, horns, that is, splendours, rays, or effulgence of light.

5. That on all these accounts, together with the almost impossibility of giving a rational meaning to the text as it now stands, the translation contended for should be adopted.

Instead of All his saints are in his hand, Dr. Kennicott reads, He blessed all his saints - changing בידך beyadecha, into ברך barach, he blessed, which word, all who understand the Hebrew letters will see, might be easily mistaken for the other; the ד daleth and the ר resh being, not only in MSS., but also in printed books, often so much alike, that analogy alone can determine which is the true letter; and except in the insertion of the י yod, which might have been easily mistaken for the apex at the top of the ב beth very frequent in MSS., both words have the nearest resemblance. To this may be added, that the Syriac authorizes this rendering. Instead of לרגלך leraglecha, and מדברתיך middabberotheycha, Thy feet, and Thy words, Dr. Kennicott reads the pronouns in the third person singular, לרגליו leraglaiv and מדברותיו middabberothaiv, His feet, His words, in which he is supported both by the Septuagint and Vulgate. He also changes ישא yissa, He shall receive, into ישאו yisseu, They shall receive. He contends also that משה Mosheh, Moses, in the fourth verse, was written by mistake for the following word מורשה morashah, inheritance; and when the scribe found he had inserted a wrong word, he added the proper one, and did not erase the first. The word Moses, he thinks, should therefore be left out of the text, as it is improbable that he should here introduce his own name; and that if the word be allowed to be legitimate, then the word king must apply to him, and not to God, which would be most absurd. See Kennicott's first Dissertation, p. 422, etc.

Let Reuben live, and not die - Though his life and his blessings have been forfeited by his transgression with his father's concubine, Gen 49:3, Gen 49:4; and in his rebellion with Korah, Num 16:1-3, etc., let him not become extinct as a tribe in Israel. "It is very usual," says Mr. Ainsworth, "in the Scripture, to set down things of importance and earnestness, by affirmation of the one part, and denial of the other; Isa 38:1 : Thou shalt die, and not live; Num 4:19 : That they may live, and not die; Psa 118:17 : I shall not die, but live; Gen 43:8 : That we may live, and not die; Jer 20:14 : Cursed be the day - let not that day be blessed; 1Jn 2:4 : He is a liar, and the truth is not in him; 1Jn 2:27 : Is truth, and no lie; Joh 1:20 : He confessed, and denied not; 1Sam 1:11 : Remember me, and not forget thy handmaid; Deu 9:7 : Remember, forget not; Deu 32:6 : O foolish people, and unwise. In all these places it is evident that there is a peculiar emphasis in this form of expression, as if he had said, Let him not only not die, but let him live in great and increasing peace and prosperity. Do not only not forget me, but keep me continually in remembrance. He denied not, but confessed Fully and Particularly. O foolish people - silly and stupid, and unwise - destitute of all true wisdom."

And let not his men be few - It is possible that this clause belongs to Simeon. In the Alexandrian copy of the Septuagint the clause stands thus: Και Συμεων εστω πολυς εν αριτμῳ, and let Simeon be very numerous, but none of the other versions insert the word. As the negative particle is not in the Hebrew, but is supplied in our translation, and the word Simeon is found in one of the most ancient and most authentic copies of the Septuagint version; and as Simeon is nowhere else mentioned here, if not implied in this place, probably the clause anciently stood: Let Reuben live, and not die; but let the men of Simeon be few. That this tribe was small when compared with the rest, and with what it once was, is evident enough from the first census, taken after they came out of Egypt, and that in the plains of Moab nearly forty years after. In the first, Simeon was 59,300; in the last, 22,200, a decrease of 37,100 men!

And this is the blessing of Judah - Though the word blessing is not in the text, yet it may be implied from Deu 33:1; but probably the words, he spake, are those which should be supplied: And this he spake of Judah, Lord, hear the voice of Judah; that is, says the Targum, receive his prayer when he goes out to battle, and let him be brought back in safety to his own people. Let his hands be sufficient for him - let him have a sufficiency of warriors always to support the tribe, and vindicate its rights; and let his enemies never be able to prevail against him! Three things are expressed here:

1. That the tribe of Judah, conscious of its weakness, shall depend on the Most High, and make prayer and supplication to him;

2. That God will hear such prayer; and,

3. That his hands shall be increased, and that he shall prevail over his enemies. This blessing has a striking affinity with that which this tribe received from Jacob, Gen 49:9; and both may refer to our blessed Lord, who sprang from this tribe, as is noticed on the above passage, who has conquered our deadly foes by his death, and whose praying posterity ever prevail through his might.

Of Levi he said - Concerning the Urim and Thummim, see Exo 28:30 (note).

Thy holy one - Aaron primarily, who was anointed the high priest of God, and whose office was the most holy that man could be invested with.

Therefore Aaron was called God's holy one, and the more especially so as he was the type of the Most Holy and blessed Jesus, from whom the Urim - all light and wisdom, and Thummim - all excellence, completion, and perfection, are derived.

Whom thou didst prove, etc. - God contended with Aaron as well as with Moses at the waters of Meribah, and excluded him from the promised land because he did not sanctify the Lord before the people.

From the words of St. Paul, 1Cor 10:8-12, it is evident that these words, at least in a secondary sense, belong to Christ. He is the Holy One who was tempted by them at Massah, who suffered their manners in the wilderness, who slew 23,000 of the most incorrigible transgressors, and who brought them into the promised land by his deputy, Joshua, whose name and that of Jesus have the same signification.

Who said unto his father, etc. - There are several difficulties in this and the following verses. Some think they are spoken of the tribe of Levi; others, of all the tribes; others, of the Messiah, etc.; but several of the interpretations founded on these suppositions are too recondite, and should not be resorted to till a plain literal sense is made out. I suppose the whole to be primarily spoken of Aaron and the tribe of Levi. Let us examine the words in this way, Who said unto his father, etc. The law had strictly enjoined that if the father, mother, brother, or child of the high priest should die, he must not mourn for them, but act as if they were not his kindred; see Lev 21:11, Lev 21:12. Neither must Aaron mourn for his sons Nadab and Abihu, etc., though not only their death, but the circumstances of it, were the most afflicting that could possibly affect a parent's heart. Besides, the high priest was forbidden, on pain of death, to go out from the door of the tabernacle, Lev 10:2-7, for God would have them more to regard their function (as good Mr. Ainsworth observes) and duty in his service, than any natural affection whatever. And herein Christ was figured, who, when he was told that his mother and brethren stood without, and wished to speak with him, said: "Who is my mother, and who are my brethren? whosoever shall do the will of my father who is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother;" Mat 12:46-50. It is likely also that Moses may refer here to the fact of the Levites, according to the command of Moses, killing every man his brother, friend, neighbor, and even son, who had sinned in worshipping the golden calf, Exo 32:26; and in this way the Chaldee paraphrast understands the words.

They shall teach Jacob, etc. - This was the office of the Levites, to teach, by their significant service and typical ceremonies, the way of righteousness and truth to the children of Israel. And of their faithfulness in this respect God bears testimony by the prophet, "My covenant was with him of life and peace," Mal 2:5; and, "The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity;" Mal 2:6. These words are a sufficient comment on the words of the text.

Bless, Lord, his substance - The blessing of God to the tribe of Levi was peculiarly necessary, because they had no inheritance among the children of Israel, and lived more immediately than others upon the providence of God. Yet, as they lived by the offerings of the people and the tithes, the increase of their substance necessarily implied the increase of the people at large: the more fruitful the land was, the more abundant would the tithes of the Levites be; and thus in the increased fertility of the land the substance of Levi would be blessed.

Of Benjamin - the beloved of the Lord - Alluding to his being particularly beloved of his father Jacob, Gen 49:27, etc.

Shall dwell in safety by him - That is, by the Lord, whose temple, which is considered as his dwelling-place, was in the tribe of Benjamin, for a part of Jerusalem belonged to this tribe.

Shall cover him all the day - Be his continual protector; and he shall dwell between his shoulders - within his coasts, or in his chief city, viz., Jerusalem, where the temple of God was built, on his mountains Zion and Moriah, here poetically termed his shoulders.

Some object to our translation of the Hebrew ידיד yedid by the term beloved, and think the original should be divided as it is in the Samaritan, יד יד yad yad, the hand, even the hand of the Lord shall dwell for safety or protection, עליו alaiv, upon him. This makes a good sense, and the reader may choose.

Blessed - be his land - The whole of this passage certainly relates to the peculiar fertility of the soil in the portion that fell to this tribe which, the Jews say, yielded a greater abundance of all good things than any other part of the promised land.

The precious things of heaven - The peculiar mildness and salubrity of its atmosphere.

For the dew - A plentiful supply of which was a great blessing in the dry soil of a hot climate. The deep that coucheth beneath - Probably referring to the plentiful supply of water which should be found in digging wells: hence the Septuagint have αβυσσων πηγων, fountains of the deeps. Some suppose there has been a slight change made in the word מטל mittal, for the dew, which was probably at first מעל meal, From Above, and then the passage would read thus: For the precious things of heaven From Above, and for the deep that coucheth Beneath. This reading is confirmed by several of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS. The Syriac and Chaldee have both readings: The dew of heaven from above.

The precious fruits brought forth by the sun - All excellent and important productions of the earth, which come to perfection once in the year. So the precious things put forth by the moon may imply those vegetables which require but about a month to bring them to perfection, or vegetables of which several crops may be had in the course of a year.

The chief things of the ancient mountains - ומראש הררי קדם umerosh harerey kedem, and from the head or top of the ancient or eastern mountains, the precious things or productions being still understood. And this probably refers to the large trees, etc., growing on the mountain tops, and the springs of water issuing from them. The mountains of Gilead may be here intended, as they fell to the half tribe of Manasseh. And the precious things of the lasting hills may signify the metals and minerals which might be digged out of them.

The good will of him that dwelt in the bush - The favor of him who appeared in the burning bush on Mount Sinai, who there, in his good will - mere love and compassion, took Israel to be his people; and who has preserved and will preserve, in tribulation and distress, all those who trust in him, so that they shall as surely escape unhurt, as the bush, though enveloped with fire, was unburnt.

The top of the head, etc. - The same words are used by Jacob in blessing this tribe, Gen 49:26. The meaning appears to be that God should distinguish this tribe in a particular way, as Joseph himself was separated, נזיר nazir, a Nazarite, a consecrated prince to God, from among and in preference to all his brethren. See the notes on Gen 49:25, etc.

His glory is like the firstling of his bullock - This similitude is very obscure. A bullock was the most excellent of animals among the Jews, not only because of its acceptableness in sacrifice to God, but because of its great usefulness in agriculture. There is something peculiarly noble and dignified in the appearance of the ox, and his greatest ornament are his fine horns; these the inspired penman has particularly in view, as the following clause proves; and it is well known that in Scriptural language horns are the emblem of strength, glory, and sovereignty; Psa 75:5, Psa 75:10; Psa 89:17, Psa 89:24; Psa 112:9; Dan 8:3, etc.; Luk 1:69; Rev 17:3, etc.

His horns are like the horns of unicorns - ראם reem, which we translate unicorn, from the μονοκερως monokeros of the Septuagint, signifies, according to Bochart, the mountain goat; and according to others, the rhinoceros, a very large quadruped with one great horn on his nose, from which circumstance his name is derived. See the notes on Num 23:22; Num 24:8. Reem is in the singular number, and because the horns of a unicorn, a one-horned animal, would have appeared absurd, our translators, with an unfaithfulness not common to them, put the word in the plural number.

To the ends of the earth - Of the land of Canaan, for Joshua with his armies conquered all this land, and drove the ancient inhabitants out before him.

They are the ten thousands of Ephraim, etc. - That is, The horns signify the ten thousands of Ephraim, and the thousands of Manasseh. Jacob prophesied, Gen 48:19, that the younger should be greater than the elder; so here Tens of thousands are given to Ephraim, and only thousands to Manasseh. See the census, Num 1:33-35 (note).

Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out - That is, Thou shalt be very prosperous in thy coasting voyages; for this tribe's situation was favorable for traffic, having many sea-ports. See Gen 49:13 (note).

And, Issachar, in thy tents - That is, as Zebulun should be prosperous in his shipping and traffic, so should Issachar be in his tents - his agriculture and pasturage.

They shall call the people unto the mountain - By their traffic with the Gentiles (for so I think עמים ammim should be understood here) they shall be the instruments in God's hands of converting many to the true faith; so that instead of sacrificing to idols, they should offer sacrifices of righteousness.

They shall suck of the abundance of the seas - That is, grow wealthy by merchandise.

And of treasures hid in the sand - Jonathan ben Uzziel has probably hit upon the true meaning of this difficult passage: "From the sand," says he, "are produced looking-glasses and glass in general; the treasures - the method of finding and working this, was revealed to these tribes." Several ancient writers inform us that there were havens in the coasts of the Zebulunites in which the vitreous sand, or sand proper for making glass, was found. See Strabo, lib. xvi.; see also Pliny, Hist. Nat. l. xxxvi., c. 26; Tacitus, Hist. l. v., c. 7. The words of Tacitus are remarkable: Et Belus amnis Judaico mari illabitur; circa ejus os lectae arenae admixto nitro in vitrum excoquuntur. "The river Belus falls into the Jewish sea, about whose mouth those sands, mixed with nitre, are collected, out of which glass is formed," or which is melted into glass. Some think that the celebrated shell-fish called murex, out of which the precious purple dye was extracted, is here intended by the treasure hid in the sand: this also Jonathan introduces in this verse. And others think that it is a general term for the advantages derived from navigation and commerce.

Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad - As deliverance out of distress is termed enlarging, (see Psa 4:1), this may refer to God's deliverance of the tribe of Gad out of that distress mentioned Gen 49:19, and to the enlargement obtained through means of Jephthah, Jdg 11:33, and probably also to the victories obtained by Gad and Reuben over the Hagarites, 1Chr 5:18-20.

He dwelleth as a lion - Probably the epithet of lion or lion-like was applied to this tribe from their fierce and warlike disposition. And on this supposition, 1Chr 12:8, will appear to be a sufficient comment: And of the Gadites there were men of might, men of war for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler, whose faces were Like The Faces Of Lions, and were as swift as the roes upon the mountains. Tearing the arm or shoulder with the crown of the head seems simply to mean that no force should be able to prevail over them, or stand against them; as the arm or shoulder signifies dominion, and the crown of the head, sovereign princes.

He provided the first part - That is, he chose for himself a very excellent portion, viz., the land of Sihon and Og, in which this tribe had requested to be settled by the lawgiver, viz., Moses, from whom they requested this portion, Num 32:1-5.

He came with the heads of the people - Notwithstanding this portion fell unto them on the east side of Jordan, yet they proceeded with the heads of the people, the chiefs of the other tribes.

To execute the justice of the Lord - To extirpate the old inhabitants of the country, according to the decree and purpose of the Lord. See on Numbers 32 (note).

Dan is a lion's whelp: he shall leap from Bashan - The Jewish interpreters observe that Bashan was a place much frequented by lions, who issued thence into all parts to look for prey. By this probably Moses intended to point out the strength and prowess of this tribe, that it should extend its territories, and live a sort of predatory life. It appears from Jos 19:47, that the portion originally assigned to this tribe was not sufficient for them; hence we find them going out to war against Leshem and taking it, adding it to their territories, and calling it by the name of the tribe. Jacob, in his prophetic blessing of this tribe, represents it under the notion of a serpent in the path, Gen 49:17. The character there, and that given here, constitute the complete warrior-stratagem and courage. See the note on Gen 49:17.

O Naphtali, satisfied with favor - Though this may refer to the very great fertility of the country that fell to this tribe, yet certainly something more is intended. Scarcely any of the tribes was more particularly favored by the wondrous mercy and kindness of God, than this and the tribe of Zebulun. The light of the glorious Gospel of Christ shone brightly here, Mat 4:13, Mat 4:15, Mat 4:16. Christ's chief residence was at Capernaum in this tribe, Mat 9:1; Mar 2:1; and this city, through Christ's constant residence, and the mighty miracles he wrought in it, is represented as being exalted unto heaven, Mat 11:23. And it is generally allowed that the apostles were principally of the tribe of Naphtali, who were to possess the west and the south - to dispense the Gospel through all the other tribes. The word ים yam, which we here translate west, literally signifies the sea, and probably refers to the sea of Gennesareth, which was in this tribe.

Let Asher be blessed with children - Let him have a numerous posterity, continually increasing.

Let him be acceptable to his brethren - May he be in perfect union and harmony with the other tribes.

Let him dip his foot in oil - Let him have a fertile soil, and an abundance of all the conveniences and comforts of life.

Thy shoes shall be iron and brass - Some suppose this may refer to the iron and copper mines in their territory; but it is more likely that it relates to their warlike disposition, as we know that greaves, boots, shoes, etc., of iron, brass, and tin, were used by ancient warriors. Goliath had greaves of brass on his legs, 1Sam 17:6; and the brazen-booted Greeks, χαλκοκνημιδες Αχαιοι, is one of the epithets given by Homer to his heroes; see Iliad. lib. viii., ver. 41.

And as thy days, so shall thy strength be - If we take this clause as it appears here, we have at once an easy sense; and the saying, I have no doubt, has comforted the souls of multitudes. The meaning is obvious: "Whatever thy trials or difficulties may be, I shall always give thee grace to support thee under and bring thee through them." The original is only two words, the latter of which has been translated in a great variety of ways, וכימיך דבאך ucheyameycha dobecha. Of the first term there can be no doubt, it literally means, and as thy days; the second word, דבא dobe, occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible: the Septuagint have rendered it by ισχυς, strength, and most of the versions have followed them; but others have rendered it affliction, old age, fame, weakness, etc., etc. It would be almost endless to follow interpreters through their conjectures concerning its meaning. It is allowed among learned men, that where a word occurs not as a verb in the Hebrew Bible, its root may be legitimately sought in the Arabic. He who controverts this position knows little of the ground on which he stands. In this language the root is found; daba signifies he rested, was quiet. This gives a very good sense, and a very appropriate one; for as the borders of this tribe lay on the vicinity of the Phoenicians, it was naturally to be expected that they should be constantly exposed to irruptions, pillage, etc.; but God, to give them confidence in his protection, says, According to thy days - all circumstances and vicissitudes, so shall thy Rest be - while faithful to thy God no evil shall touch thee; thy days shall increase, and thy quiet be lengthened out. This is an unfailing promise of God: "I will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed upon me, because he trusteth in me;" therefore "trust ye in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength;" Isa 26:4. Some derive it from dabi, he abounded in riches; the interpretation then would be, As thy days increase, so shall thy riches. This makes a very good sense also. See Rosenmuller.

Moses, having now finished what God gave him to predict concerning the twelve tribes, and what he was led in the fullness of his heart to pray for in their behalf, addresses all the tribes collectively under the names Jeshurun and Israel; and in an ode of astonishing energy and elegance describes this wondrous people, and their still more wonderful privileges. The reader will observe that, though the latter part of this chapter appears in the form of prose in our Bibles, yet it is written in hemistichs or short metrical lines in the original, which is the form in which all the Hebrew poetry is written; and as in other cases, so in this, it would contribute much to the easy understanding of the author's meaning, were the translation produced in lines corresponding to those of the original.

There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun - We have already seen the literal meaning of Jeshurun, Deu 32:15; but besides its literal meaning, it seems to be used as an expression of particular affection: hence Calmet understands it as a diminutive of the word Israel. We know that τεκνοι, sons, in the mouth of St. John, signifies much less than τεκνια, which, properly translated, would be beloved children, a term which at once shows the helplessness of the offspring, and the tender affection of the parent. So Jeshurun may be understood here: and hence the Septuagint seem to have apprehended the full force of the word by translating it του ηγαπημενου, the beloved one, the object of God's especial delight.

Israel's God, and God's Israel, have no fellows. What were all the gods of the nations, even supposing they were real beings, in comparison of the Almighty? And what nation under heaven could be compared to the Israel of God? It was, however, from God's excellence that they derived theirs.

Rideth upon the heaven, etc. - Unites heaven and earth in thy defense and support, and comes with irresistible velocity to succor and defend thee, and to discomfit thine adversaries.

The eternal God - אלהי קדם elohey kedem, the former God; He who was of old. Not like the gods which were lately come up. He who ever was and ever will be; and He who was, is, and will be unchangeably holy, wise, just, and merciful. See the note on Gen 21:33.

Everlasting arms - As the arm is the emblem of power, and of power in a state of exertion, the words here state that an unlimited and unconquerable power shall be eternally exerted in the defense of God's Church, and in the behalf of all those who trust in Him.

Thrust out the enemy - He will expel all the ancient inhabitants, and put thee in possession of their land.

Israel then shall dwell - alone - This people shall not be incorporated with any other people under heaven. A prophecy which continues to be fulfilled to the very letter. Every attempt to unite them with any other people has proved absolutely ineffectual.

The fountain of Jacob - His offspring, shall possess a most fertile land; such was Palestine.

Happy art thou, etc. - אשרי ashrey. O the happiness of Israel! it is ineffable, inconceivable, because they are a people saved by the Lord - have such a salvation as it becomes the infinite perfections of God to bestow; he is their help - their never-failing strength, and the shield of that help - he defends their defense, saves them and preserves them in the state of salvation.

Sword of thy excellency - Or whose sword - his all-conquering Word, is thine excellency, in its promises, threatenings, precepts, etc., etc. St. Paul, in his exhortation to the Christians at Ephesus, uses the same metaphor, Take unto you the Sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Thine enemies shall be found liars - Who said thou shouldst never be able to gain the possession of this good land; for thou shalt tread on - subdue, their high places - even their best fortified cities.

The blessings contained in this chapter belong also to the spiritual Israel of God, who, according to the Divine promise, shall have a complete victory over all their spiritual foes, shall have all their inward enemies, the whole of the carnal mind, destroyed, (for the blood of Jesus Christ, applied by the energy of the eternal Spirit, shall not only blot out all their sin, but purify their hearts from all unrighteousness); and thus, being delivered from their enemies, they shall love God with all their heart, and serve him in righteousness and true holiness, without fear before him all the days of their life. There are many circumstances and expressions in this ode similar to several in the prophetical blessing pronounced by Jacob on his twelve sons, Gen. 49, for the subject is the same in both chapters, the reader is therefore requested to compare the two places, and to consider the notes on each, as they have some tendency to cast light on each other. Both these chapters constitute a part of those Scriptures which, according to St. Paul, Rom 15:4, were written for our learning; and, as to instruct the reader and make him wise unto salvation was the gracious design of God, we should particularly beg of him "that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that, by patience and comfort of his holy word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life which he has given us in our Savior Jesus Christ" - Collect for the second Sunday in Advent.

Moses blessed Israel - He is said to bless them, by praying to God with faith for his blessing upon them; and by foretelling the blessings which God would confer upon them. And Moses calls himself here the man of God, that is, the servant or prophet of God, to acquaint them that the following prophecies were not his own inventions, but divine inspirations. The children of Israel - The several tribes: only Simeon is omitted, either in detestation of their parent Simeon's bloody carriage, for which Jacob gives that tribe a curse rather than a blessing, in Gen 49:5 - 7. Or, because that tribe had no distinct inheritance, but was to have its portion in the tribe of Judah, Jos 19:1.

The Lord came - Namely, to the Israelites, manifested himself graciously and gloriously among them. From Sinai - Beginning at Sinai, where the first appearance of God was, and so going on with them to Seir and Paran. And rose up - He appeared or shewed himself, as the sun doth when it riseth. From Seir - From the mountain or land of Edom, to which place the Israelites came, Num 20:14, &c. and from thence God led them on towards the land of promise, and then gloriously appeared for them in subduing Sihon and Og before them. But because the land of Edom is sometimes taken more largely, and so reacheth even to the Red - sea, and therefore mount Sinai was near to it, and because Paran was also near Sinai, being the next station into which they came from the wilderness of Sinai: all this verse may belong to God's appearance in mount Sinai, where that glorious light which shone upon mount Sinai directly, did in all probability scatter its beams into adjacent parts, such as Seir and Paran were. And if so, this is only a poetical expression of the same thing in divers words, and God coming or rising or shining from or to or in Sinai and Seir and Paran note one and the same illustrious action of God appearing there with ten thousands of his saints or holy angels, and giving a fiery law to them. Paran - A place where God eminently manifested his presence and goodness both in giving the people flesh which they desired, and in appointing the seventy elders and pouring forth his spirit upon them. With ten thousands of saints - That is, with a great company of holy angels, Psa 68:17 Dan 7:10, which attended upon him in this great and glorious work of giving the law, as may be gathered from Acts 7:53 Gal 3:19. From his right hand - Which both wrote the law and gave it to men. An allusion to men who ordinarily write and give gifts with their right hand. A fiery law - The law is called fiery, because it is of a fiery nature purging and searching and inflaming, to signify that fiery wrath which it inflicteth upon sinners for the violation of it, and principally because it was delivered out of the midst of the fire.

The people - The tribes of Israel. The sense is, this law, though delivered with fire and smoke and thunder, which might seem to portend nothing but hatred and terror, yet in truth was given to Israel, in great love, as being the great mean of their temporal and eternal salvation. Yea, he, embraced the people, and laid them in his bosom! so the word signifies, which speaks not only the dearest love, but the most tender and careful protection. All God's saints or holy ones, that is, his people, were in thy hand, that is, under God's care to protect, direct and govern them. These words are spoken to God: the change of persons, his and thy, is most frequent in the Hebrew tongue. This clause may farther note God's kindness to Israel, in upholding them when the fiery law was delivered, which was done with so much terror that not only the people were ready to sink under it, but even Moses did exceedingly fear and quake. But God sustained both Moses and the people, in or by his hand, whereby he in a manner covered them that no harm might come to them. At thy feet - Like scholars to receive instructions. He alludes to the place where the people waited when the law was delivered, which was at the foot of the mount. Every one - Of the people will receive or submit to thy instructions and commands. This may respect either, the peoples promise when they heard the law, that they would hear and do all that was commanded. Or, their duty to do so.

Moses - He speaks this of himself in the third person, which is very usual in the Hebrew language. The law is called their inheritance, because the obligation of it was hereditary, passing from parents to their children, and because this was the best part of their inheritance, the greatest of all those gifts which God bestowed upon them.

He was king in Jeshurun - Moses was their king not in title, but in reality, being under God, their supreme governor, and law giver. Gathered together - When the princes and people met together for the management of public affairs, Moses was owned by them as their king and lawgiver.

Let Reuben live - Though Reuben deserve to be cut off or greatly diminished and obscured, according to Jacob's prediction, Gen 49:4, yet God will spare them and give them a name and portion among the tribes of Israel, and bless them with increase of their numbers. All the ancient paraphrasts refer this to the other world, so far were they from expecting temporal blessings only. Let Reuben live in life eternal, says Onkelos, and not die the second death. Let Reuben live in this world, so Jonathan and the Jerusalem Targum, and not die that death which the wicked die in the world to come.

Hear, Lord - God will hear his prayer for the accomplishment of those great things promised to that tribe, Gen 49:8 - 12. This implies the delays and difficulties Judah would meet with, that would drive him to his prayers, which would be with success. Unto his people - When he shall go forth to battle against his enemies and shall fall fiercely upon them, as was foretold, Gen 49:8,9. Bring him back with honour and victory, to his people, to the rest of his tribe who were left at home when their brethren went to battle: and to his brethren the other tribes of Israel. Let his hands be sufficient for him - This tribe shall be so numerous and potent that it shall suffice to defend itself without any aid, either from foreign nations or from other tribes; as appeared when this tribe alone was able to grapple with nine or ten of the other tribes. From his enemies - Thou wilt preserve this tribe in a special manner, so that his enemies shall not be able to ruin it, as they will do other tribes, and that for the sake of the Messiah who shall spring out of it.

Let thy Urim - The Thummim and the Urim, which are thine, O Lord by special institution and consecration, (by which he understands the ephod in which they were put, and the high priesthood, to which they were appropriated, and withal the gifts and graces signified by the Urim and Thummim, and necessary for the discharge of that high - office) shall be with thy holy one, that is, with that priest, whom thou hast consecrated to thyself, and who is holy in a more peculiar manner than all the people were; that is, the priesthood shall be confined to and continued in Aaron's family. Whom thou didst prove - Altho' thou didst try him, and rebuke him, yet thou didst not take away the priesthood from him. At Massah - Not at that Massah mentioned Exo 17:7, which is also called Meribah, but at that other Meribah, Num 20:13. Thou didst strive - Whom thou didst reprove and chastise.

I have not seen him - That is, I have no respect unto them. The sense is, who followed God and his command fully, and executed the judgment enjoined by God without any respect of persons, Exo 32:26,27. They kept thy covenant - When the rest broke their covenant with God by that foul sin of idolatry with the calf, that tribe kept themselves pure from that infection, and adhered to God and his worship.

His substance - Because he hath no inheritance of his own and therefore wholly depends upon thy blessing. The work of his hands - All his holy administrations, which he fitly calls the work of his hands, because a great part of the service of the Levites and priests was done by the labour of their hand and body, whereas the service of evangelical ministers is more spiritual and heavenly. Smite - He pray's thus earnestly for them, because he foresaw they who were to teach and reprove, and chastise others would have many enemies, and because they were under God, the great preservers and upholders of religion, and their enemies were the enemies of religion itself.

Of Benjamin - Benjamin is put next to Levi, because the temple, where the work of the Levites lay, was upon the edge of the lot of this tribe. And 'tis put before Joseph, because of the dignity of Jerusalem, (part of which was in this lot) above Samaria, which was in the tribe of Ephraim: likewise because Benjamin adhered to the house of David and to the temple of God, when the rest of the tribes deserted both. The beloved of the Lord - So called in allusion to their father Benjamin who was the beloved of his father Jacob; and because of the kindness of God to this tribe which appeared both in this, that they dwelt in the best part of the land, as Josephus affirms, and in the following privilege. Shall dwell in safety by him - Shall have his lot nigh to God's temple, which was both a singular comfort and safeguard to him. Shall cover - Shall protect that tribe continually while they cleave to him. He - The Lord shall dwell, that is, his temple shall be placed, between his shoulders, that is, in his portion, or between his border's as the word shoulder is often used. And this was truly the situation of the temple, on both sides whereof was Benjamin's portion. And though mount Sion was in the tribe of Judah, yet mount Moriah, on which the temple was built, was in the tribe of Benjamin.

And of Joseph - Including both Ephraim and Manasseh. In Jacob's blessing that of Joseph's is the largest. And so it is here. His land - His portion shall be endowed with choice blessings from God. Of heaven - That is, the precious fruits of the earth brought forth by the influences of heaven, the warmth of the sun, and the rain which God will send from heaven. The deep - The springs of water bubbling out of the earth: perhaps it may likewise refer to the great deep, the abyss of waters, which is supposed to be contained in the earth.

By the sun - Which opens and warms the earth, cherishes and improves and in due time ripens the seeds and fruits of it. The moon - Which by its moisture refreshes and promotes them. Heb. Of the moons, or months, that is, which it bringeth forth in the several months or seasons of the year.

The chief things - That is, the excellent fruits, as grapes, olives, figs, &c. which delight in mountains, growing upon, or the precious minerals contained in, their mountains and hills called ancient and lasting, that is, such as have been from the beginning of the world, and are likely to continue to the end of it, in opposition to those hills or mounts which have been cast up by man.

And for - And in general for all the choice fruits which the land produceth in all the parts of it, whither hills or valleys. Fulness thereof - That is, the plants and cattle and all creatures that grow, increase, and flourish in it. The good will - For all other effects of the good will and kindness of God who not long since did for a time dwell or appear in the bush to me in order to the relief of his people, Ex 3:2. Of Joseph - That is, of Joseph's posterity. Him that was separated from his brethren - His brethren separated him from them by making him a slave, and God distinguished him from them by making him a prince. The preceeding words might be rendered, My dweller in the bush. That was an appearance of the divine majesty to Moses only, in token of his particular favour. Many a time had God appeared to Moses; but now he is just dying, he seems to have the most pleasing remembrance, of the first time that he saw the visions of the Almighty. It was here God declared himself the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and so confirmed the promise made to the father, that promise which our Lord shews, reaches as far as the resurrection and eternal life.

His glory is like the firstling of his bullock - Or young bull, which is a stately creature, and was therefore formerly used as an emblem of royal majesty. This seems to note the kingdom which Ephraim should obtain in Jeroboam and his successors. His horns - His strength and power shall be very great. The people - All that shall oppose him, and particularly the Canaanites. The ten thousands - Of the land of Canaan. Though Manasseh be now more numerous, yet Ephraim shall shortly outstrip him, as was foretold Gen 48:17 - 19.

Rejoice - Thou shalt prosper and have cause of rejoicing. In thy going out - To war, as this phrase is often used. To sea, in way of traffick, because their portion lay near the sea. And in both respects his course is opposite to that of Issachar, who was a lover of peace and pasturage. He is here joined with Zebulun, both because they were brethren by father and mother too, and because their possessions lay near together. In thy tents - Thou shalt give thyself to the management of laud and cattle, living quietly in thy own possessions.

They - Zebulun of whom Moses takes more special notice. And so having dispatched Issachar in two words, he returns to Zebulun. The people - the Gentiles, either those of Galilee, which was called Galilee of the Gentiles, who were their neighbours; or people of other nations, with whom they had commerce, which they endeavoured to improve in persuading them to worship the true God. The mountain - That is, to the temple, which Moses knew was to be seated upon a mountain. Sacrifices of righteousness - Such as God requires. Their trafficking abroad with Heathen nations shall not make them forget their duty at home, nor shall their distance from the place of sacrifice hinder them from coming to it to discharge that duty. Of the abundance of the sea - They shall grow rich by the traffick of the sea, and shall consecrate themselves and their riches to God. Hid in the sand - Such precious things as either Are contained in the sand of the sea and rivers, in which sometimes there is mixed a considerable quantity of gold and silver. Or, Such as grow in the sea, or are fetched from the sandy bottom of it, as pearls, coral, ambergrease. Or, Such as being cast into the sea by shipwreck are cast upon the shore by the workings of the sea. It were well, if the enlargement of our trade with foreign countries, were made to contribute to the spreading of the gospel.

Enlargeth - That bringeth him out of his straits amid troubles, which he was often engaged in, because he was encompassed with potent enemies. As a lion - Safe and secure from his enemies, and terrible to them when they rouse and molest him. Teareth the arm - Utterly destroys his enemies, both the head, the seat of the crown, their dignity and principality, and the arm, the subject of strength and instrument of action; both chief princes, and their subjects.

The first part - The first fruits of the land of promise, the country of Sihon, which was first conquered, which he is said to provide for himself, because he desired and obtained it of Moses. Of the law - giver - Of Moses, whose portion this is called, either because this part of the land beyond Jordan was the only part of the land which Moses was permitted to enter upon: or because it was given him by Moses, whereas the portions beyond Jordan were given to the several tribes by Joshua according to the direction of the lot. Seated - Heb. hid or protected: for their wives and children were secured in their cities, while many of their men went over to the war in Canaan. He came - He went, or he will go, to the war in Canaan, with the princes, or captains, or rulers of the people of Israel, that is, under their command and conduct, as indeed they did; or with the first of the people; or, in the front of the people, as the Syriack renders it; for this tribe and their brethren whose lot fell beyond Jordan, were to march into Canaan before their brethren. He executed - The just judgment of God against the Canaanites, as the rest of the Israelites did.

A lion's whelp - Courageous, and generous, and strong, and successful against his enemies. Which leapeth - From Bashan, because there were many and fierce lions in those parts, whence they used to come forth and leap upon the prey. Or this may refer either to the particular victories obtained by Samson, who was of the tribe of Dan, or to a more general achievement of that tribe, when a party of them surprised Laish, which lay in the farthest part of the land of Canaan from them. And the mountain of Bashan lying not far from that city, from whence they probably made their descent upon it, thus leaping from Basham.

Satisfied with favour - With the favour of God. That only is the favour that satisfies the soul. They are happy indeed that have the favour of God; and they shall have it, that place their satisfaction in it. And full with the blessing of the Lord - Not Only with corn, wine and oil, the fruit of the blessing, but with the blessing itself, the grace of God, according to his promise and covenant. Possess thou the west and the south - Or, the sea and the south. This is not to be understood of the place, that his lot should fall there, for he was rather in the east and north of the land; but of the pleasures and commodities of the west or of the sea, which were conveyed to him from his neighbour Zebulun; and of the south, that is, from the southern tribes and parts of Canaan, which were brought to him down the river Jordan, and both sorts of commodities were given him in exchange for the fruitful rich soil which he had in great abundance.

Let Asher - Who carries blessedness in his very name, be blessed with children - He shall have numerous, strong and healthful children. Acceptable to his brethren - By his sweet disposition and winning carriage. In oil - He shall have such plenty of oil that he may not only wash his face, but his feet also in it.

Iron and brass - The mines of iron and copper, which were in their portion, whence Sidon their neighbor was famous among the Heathens for its plenty of brass, and Sarepta is thought to have its name from the brass and iron which were melted there in great quantity. Thy strength shall be - Thy strength shall not be diminished with age, but thou shalt have the vigor of youth even in thine old age: thy tribe shalt grow stronger and stronger.

There us none - These are the last words that ever Moses wrote, perhaps the greatest writer that ever lived upon the earth. And this man of God, who had as much reason to know both as ever any mere man had, with his last breath magnifies both the God of Israel, and the Israel of God. Unto the God of Jeshurun, who to help thee, rideth upon the heaven, and with the greatest state and magnificence, on the sky. Riding on the heaven denotes the greatness and glory, in which he manifests himself to the upper world, and the use he makes of the influences of heaven and the products of the clouds, in bringing to pass his own counsels in this lower world. All these he manages and directs, as a man doth the horse he rides on.

The eternal God - He who was before all worlds, and will be, when time shall be no more: Is thy refuge - Or, thy habitation or mansion - house (so the word signifies) in whom thou art safe, and easy, and at rest, as a man is in his own house. Every true Israelite is at home in God: the soul returns to him, and reposes in him. And they that make him their habitation shall have all the comforts and benefits of an habitation in him. And underneath are the everlasting arms - The almighty power of God, which protects and comforts all that trust in him, in their greatest straits and distresses. He shall thrust out the enemy from before thee - Shall make room for thee by his resistless power, and shall say, Destroy them - Giving thee not only a commission but strength to put it in execution. And, has he not given the same commission and the same strength to believers, to destroy all sin?

Alone - Either Tho' they be alone, and have no confederates to defend them, but have all the world against them, yet my single protection shall be sufficient for them. Or, Distinct and separated from all other nations, with whom I will not have them mingle themselves. The fountain - That is, the posterity of Jacob, which flowed from him as waters from a fountain, in great abundance. The fountain is here put for the river or streams which flow from it, as Jacob or Israel who is the fountain is often put for the children of Israel. His heavens - That is, those heavens or that air which hangs over his land.

The shield of they help - By whom thou are sufficiently guarded against all assailants; and the sword of thy excellency - Or, thy most excellent sword, that is, thy strength and the author of all thy past or approaching victories. Those in whose hearts is the excellency of holiness, have God himself for their shield and sword. They are defended by the whole armour of God: His word is their sword, and faith their shield. And thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee - Who said they would destroy thee: or at least, that they would never submit: and thou shalt tread upon their high places - Their strong holds, palaces and temples. Thus shall the God of peace tread Satan under the feet of all believers, and that shortly.

1 AND this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death.

He is said to bless them ministerially, partly by praying to God with faith for his blessing upon them, partly by foretelling the blessings which God would confer upon them: for the Prophers are oft said to do what they foretel should be done, as Gen. 49. 7. Ier. 1. 10. Ezek. 43. 3. Hos. 6. 5. And Moses calls himself here the man of God, i. e. the servant or prophet or minister of God, as this phrase signifies, 1 Sam. 9. 6, 7. 1 Tim. 6. 11. to acquaint them that the following prophecies were not his own inventions, but divine inspirations.

(i. e) The several tribes: onely Simeon is omitted, either 1. in detestation of their parent Simeon his bloody and wicked carriage, for which Iacob also gives that tribe a curse rather than a blessing, in Gen. 49. But as for Levi, who is joyned with him in that censure and curse, Gen. 49. 5, 6, 7. he is here separated from him and exempted from that curse and blessed with an eminent blessing for a singular and valuable reason expressed here v. 8, 9. whereas Simeons tribe had been so far from expiating their fathers crime that they added new ones, their Prince being guilty of another notorious crime, Numb. 25. 6, 14. and his tribe too much concurring with him in such actions, as Interpreters gather from the great diminution of the numbers of that tribe, which were 59300 in Num. 1. 23. and but 22200 in Num. 26. 14. which was near 40 years after. Or 2. because that Tribe had no distinct inheritance, but was to have his portion in the Tribe of Iudah, as he had Ios. 19. 1. and therefore he must needs partake with them in their blessings.

2 And he said, The LORD came from Sinai , and rose up from Seir unto them: he shined forth from mount Paran , and he came with ten thousands of Saints : from his right hand went a fiery law for them.

To wit, to the Israelites, i. e. manifested himself graciously and gloriously among them.

(i. e.) Beginning at Sinai, where the first and most glorious appearance of God was, and so going on with them to Seir and Paran. Or, to Sinai, the particle, mem, oft signifying, to, as is evident by comparing Isa. 59. 20. with Rom. 11. 26. 1 King. 8. 30. with 2 Chron. 6. 21. and 2 Sam. 6. 2. with 1 Chron. 13. 6. See also Gen. 2. 8. and 11. 2. and 13. 11. 1 Sam. 14. 15. Or, in Sinai, mem being oft put for beth, in, as Exod. 25. 18. Deut. 15. 1. Iob 19. 26. Psal. 68. 29 and 72. 16.

He appeared or shewed himself, as the Sun doth when it riseth.

(i. e.) From the mountain or land of Edom, which is called Seir, Gen. 32. 3. and 36. 8. Deut. 2. 4. to which place the Israelites came Num. 20. 14, &c. and from thence God led them on towards the land of promise, and then gloriously appeared for them in subduing Sihon and Og before them and given their countries unto them. Which glorious work of Gods is particularly celebrated Iudg. 5 4. But because the land of Seir or Edom is sometimes taken more largely, and so reacheth even to the Red-sea, as appears from 1 King. 9. 26. and therefore mount Sinai was near to it, and because Paran, which here follows, was also near Sinai, as being the next station into which they came from the wilderness of Sinai, Numb. 10. 12. all this verse may belong to Gods appearance in mount Sinai, where that glorious light which shone upon mount Sinai directly did in all probability scatter its beams into the adjacent parts, such as Seir and Paran were, and so this is onely a Poetical and Prophetical variation of the phrase and expression of the same thing in diverse words, and Gods coming or rising or shining from or to or in Sinai and Seir and Paran note one and the same illustrious action of God appearing there with ten thousands of his Saints or holy Angels, and there giving a fiery law to them, as it here follows. And this interpretation may receive some strength from Hab. 3. 3. where this glorious march of God before his people is remembred, onely Teman, which signifies the South is put for Seir, which is here, possibly to signify, that that Seir which is here mentioned was to be understood of the Southern part of the country of Seir or Edom, which was that part adjoyning to the Red Sea. Others refer this of Seir to the brasen Serpent, that eminent type of Christ, which was erected in this place.

A place where God eminently manifested his presence and goodness both in giving the people flesh which they desired, and in appointing the 70 Elders and pouring forth his Spirit upon them, Num 11. Though the exposition mentioned in the foregoing branch may seem more probable.

(i. e.) With a great company of holy Angels, Psal. 68. 17. Da[illegible: 1+ letters]. 7. 10. which attended upon him in this great and glorious work of giving the law, as may be gathered from Act. 7. 53. Gal. 3. 19. Heb. 2. 2. and 12. 22.

Which both wrote the law and gave it to men. An allusion to men who ordinarily write and give gifts with their right, and not with their left, hand.

The law is called fiery, partly because it is of a fiery nature, purging and searching and inflaming, for which reasons Gods word is compared to fire, Ier. 23. 29. partly to signify that fiery wrath and curse which it inflicteth upon sinners for the violation of it. 2 Cor. 3. 7, 9. and principally because it was delivered out of the midst of the fire, Exod. 19. 16, 18. Deut. 4. 11. and 5. 22, 23.

Marginal references: Heb. holy myriads, or, ten thousands. So Gr. See Jude v. 14.; Heb. a fire of Law.

3 Yea, he loved the people : all his saints are in thy hand , and they sat down at thy feet : every one shall receive of thy words .

(i. e.) The tribes of Israel, which are called People, Gen. 48. 19. Iudges 5. 14. Act. 4. 27. The sense is, This Law, though delivered with Fire and Smoke and Thunder, which might seem to portend nothing but hatred and terrour, yet in truth it was given to Israel in great love, as being the great mean of their temporal and eternal Salvation. And although God shews a general and common kindness to all men, yet he loved this people in a singular and peculiar manner.

All Gods Saints or holy ones, i. e. his People, as they are now called, the people of Israel, who are all called holy, Exod. 19. 6. Num. 16. 3. Deut. 7. 6. Dan. 7. 25. and 8. 24. and 12. 7. because they all professed to be so and were obliged to be so and many of them were such. Though some appropriate this to the true Saints in Israel.

Or, were in thy hand, i. e. under Gods care to protect and direct and govern them, as that phrase signifies, Numb. 4. 28, 33. Ioh. 10. 28, 29. These words are spoken to God, and for the change of persons, his and thy, that is most frequent in the Hebrew tongue. See Dan. 9. 4. This clause may further note Gods kindness to Israel in upholding and preserving them when the fiery law was delivered, which was done with so much dread and terrour, that not onely the people trembled and were ready to sink under it, Exod. 20. 18, 19. but even Moses himself did exceedingly fear and quake, Heb. 12. 21. But in this fright God sustained both Moses and the people in or by his hand, whereby he in a manner hid and covered them that no harm might come to them by this terrible apparition.

Like Scholars to receive instructions and counsels from thee. He alludes either 1. To the manner of disciples among the Jews who used to sit at their masters feet, Luk. 10. 39. Acts 22. 3. See also Gen. 49. 10. 2 King. 4. 38. But it is doubtful whether this custom was so antient as Moses. Or 2. To the place where the people waited when the Law was delivered, which was at the foot of the mount.

The people, easily understood from the foregoing words, did or will receive or submit to thy instructions and it commands. This may respect either 1. The peoples promise when they heard the Law, that they would hear and do all that was commanded, Deut. 5. 27. Or 2. The peoples duty to do so. 3. The peoples priviledge that they were admitted to receive so great a priviledge as the words and Laws of God were.

4 Moses commanded us a law , even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob .

Moses speaks this of himself in the third person, which is very usual in the Hebrew language.

The Law is called their Inheritance, partly because the obligation of it was hereditary passing from Parents to their Children, and partly because this was the best part of all their inheritance and possessions, the greatest of all those gifts and favours which God bestowed upon them.

5 And he was king in Jeshrun , when the heads of the people, and the tribes of Israel were gathered together .

Moses was their King, not in Title, but in reality, being under God, their supream and uncontroulable Governour, and Lawgiver. Though the word oft signifies onely a prince or chief Ruler, as Iudg. 19. 1. Ier. 19. 3. and 46. 25.

(i. e.) In Israel, so called Deut. 32. 15.

When the Princes and People met together for the management of publick affairs, Moses was owned by them as their King and Lawgiver, and he directed and ruled them as their superiour. This he saith to shew that the people approved of and consented to the Authority and Laws of Moses.

Marginal references: See Gen. 36. 31. chap. 32. 15.

6 Let Reuben live, and not die, and let not his men be few .

Though Reuben deserve to be cut off or greatly diminished and obscured, according to Iacobs prediction, Gen. 49. 4. Yet God will spare them and give them a name and portion among the Tribes of Israel, and bless them with increase of their numbers.

7 And this is the blessing of Judah: and he said, Hear, LORD, the voice of Judah , and bring him unto his people : let his hands be sufficient for him , and be thou an help to him from his enemies .

(i. e.) God will hear his prayer for the accomplishment of those great things promised to that Tribe, Gen. 49. 8, 9, 10, 11. This implies the delayes and difficulties Iudah would meet with herein, which would drive him to his prayers, and that those prayers should be crowned with success.

Either 1. When he shall go forth to Battel against Gods and his Enemies and shall fall fiercely upon them, as was foretold, Gen. 49. 8, 9. bring him back with honour and victory and safety to his people, i. e. either to the rest of his Tribe who were left at home when their brethren went to Battel: or to his brethren the other Tribes of Israel. Or 2. When that Tribe shall go into captivity, let them not be always kept in captivity, as the ten Tribes are like to be, but do thou bring him again to his people. Or 3. As thou hast promised the gathering of the people to him, even to the Shiloh, who was to come out of his loyns, Gen. 49. 10. so do thou bring him, i. e. the Messias, who may be understood out of that parallel prophesie, and who may be here called Iudah, because he was come from him, as he is for that reason called David in divers places, to his people, i. e. to that people which thou hast given to him. Or 4. Bring him in, to wit, as Prince and Governour, as thou hast promised Gen. 49. to his people, i. e. to thy people of Israel, now to be reckoned as his people, because of their subjection to him. Or rather 5. Bring him in to his people, to that people which thou hast promised and given to him, i. e. to that portion of Land which thou hast allotted to him, settle him in his possession: the people or inhabitants being here put for the Land inhabited by them, as the Israelites are told they should possess the Nations or people of Canaan, Deut. 11. 23. and 12. 2. i. e. their Land, as it is explained, Deut. 17. 14. and 30. 18. for the people they were not to possess but to dispossess and to root out.

This Tribe shall be so numerous and potent and valiant that it shall suffice to defend it self without any aid either from forreign Nations or from other Tribes; as appeared when this Tribe alone was able to grapple with nine or ten▪ of the other Tribes.

Thou wilt preserve this Tribe in a special manner, so as his enemies shall not be able to ruine it, as they will do other Tribes, and that for the sake of the Messias who shall spring out of it.

8 And of Levi he said, Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy holy one , whom thou didst prove at Massah , and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah;

The Thummim and the Urim, which are thine, O Lord by special institution and consecration, by which he understands the Ephod in which they were put, Exod. 28. 30. by a synecdoche and the High-Priesthood, to which they were appropriated, by a Metonymie, and withal the gifts and graces signified by the Urim and Thummim, and necessary for the discharge of that highoffice, shall be with thy holy one, i. e. with that Levite, that Priest, which thou hast consecrated to thy self, and which is holy in a more peculiar manner than all the people were, i. e. The Priesthood shall be confined to and continued in Aarons Family.

This seems added by way of anticipation, Although thou didst try him, and rebuke him, and shut him out of Canaan for his miscarriage about fetching water out of the rock, yet thou didst not therefore take away the Priesthood from him.

Not at that Massah mentioned Exod. 17. which is also called Meribah where neither Moses nor Aaron are reproved, nor is Aaron so much as named, but at that other Meribah, Numb. 20. where this is expressed, which as it is called by one of the names of that place, Exod. 17. to wit, Meribah, Numb. 20. so it may be here called by its other name, Massah; and well may the same names be given to those two places, because the occasion of them was in a great measure one and the same. Though this place may be otherwise rendred, whom thou didst try in trying or with tryal, i. e. whom thou didst exactly and thoroughly try, such repetitions being very frequent and elegant in the Hebrew language. And it may be observed, that in the Hebrew text here are two several prepositions, though the English translation render them both by at, here, beth, in or with, and in the next branch, al, at or near or concerning the waters of Meribah; which may seem to intimate that the former is not the name of the place as the latter is: why else should they not have been expressed by the same preposition?

Or, contend, i. e. whom thou didst reprove and chastise, as that phrase signifies, Isa. 49. 25. Ier. 2. 9.

Marginal references: Exod. 28. 30.; Num. 20. 13.

9 Who said unto his father, and to his mother, I have not seen him , neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew his own children: for they have observed thy word, and kept thy covenant .

(i. e.) I have no respect unto them, for so knowledge is oft used, as Iob 9. 21. Prov. 12. 10, 11. 1 Thess. 5. 12. The sense is, who followed God and his command fully, and executed the judgment enjoyned by God without any respect of persons, Exod. 32. 26, 27. This seems better than to refer it, either to their not mourning for their next kindred, for that was allowed to all but the High-Priest in case of the Death of Father or Mother, and that was onely a ceremonial rite and no matter of great commendation; or to their impartiality in executing the judgments committed to them, Deuteronomy 17. 9. of which they had as yet given no considerable proof.

(i. e.) When the rest broke their covenant with God by that soul sin of Idolatry with the calf, that Tribe kept themselves more pure from that infection, and adhered to God and his Worship and Service, as appears from Exod. 32. 26, 28. Compare Mal. 2. 6, 7.

Marginal references: Mal. 2. 5.

10 They shall teach Jacob thy judgements, and Israel thy law: they shall put incense before thee , and whole burnt-sacrifice upon thine altar.

(i. e.) The Priests and Levites.

(i. e.) Upon thine Altar of incense which stood before the Ark, the place of Gods special presence.

Marginal references: Or let ix[illegible: 1+ letters] teach, &c.; Or, let [illegible: 1 word] put [illegible: 1 word].; Heb. a[illegible: 1+ letters] [illegible: 1 word] nose.

11 Bless, LORD, his substance , and accept the work of his hands , smite through the loins of them that rise against him , and of them that hate him, that they rise not again.

(i. e.) His outward estate, as Deut. 8. 18. because he hath no inheritance of his own and therefore wholly depends upon thy blessing. Or, His Host or Army, as the word is used Ezek. 37. 10. The Priests that attended upon Gods service in the Tabernacle or Temple are oft compared to an host or army in regard of their exquisite order and courses and constant watches there. See Numb. 4. 3.

(i. e.) All his holy administrations which he fitly calls the works of his hands, either more largely, the hand, one great instrument of action being put for all the rest: Or because a great part of the service of the Levites and Priests was done by the labour of their hand and body, whereas the service of Evangelical Ministers is more spiritual and heavenly.

He prayes thus earnestly for them, partly because he foresaw they who were to teach and admonish, and reprove, and chastise others would have many enemies, Ier. 15. 10. Amos 5. 10. and partly because they were under God, the great preservers and upholders of Religion, and their Enemies were the Enemies of Religion it self, as is evident from the history of the Old Testament.

12 And of Benjamin he said, The beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by him , and the LORD shall cover him all the day long , and he shall dwell between his shoulders .

(i. e.) This beloved Tribe, so called partly in allusion to their Father Benjamin who was the beloved of his Father Iacob: and partly because of the love and kindness of God towards this Tribe appeared both in this, that they dwelt in the fattest and best part of the Land, as Iosephus affirms, and especially in the following priviledge.

(i. e. Shall have his lot nigh unto Gods Temple, which was both a singular comfort and safeguard to him.

Who may well be understood here because he was expressed in the former member.

Shall protect that Tribe continually while they cleave to him.

The Lord shall dwell, i. e. his Temple shall be placed, between his shoulders, i. e. in his portion, or between his borders, or sides as the word Shoulder is oft used, as Exod. 28. 7. Numb. 34. 11. Ios. 15. 8, 10. Ezek. 47. 1, 2. And this was truly the scituation of the Temple, on both sides whereof was Benjamins portion, and though mount Sion was in the Tribe of Iudah, yet mount Moriah, on which the Temple was built, was in the Tribe of Benjamin.

13 And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the LORD be his land , for the precious things of heaven , for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath :

His portion shall be excellent and endowed with choice blessings from God, as it here follows.

i. e. The pretious fruits of the Earth brought forth by the influences of Heaven, the warmth of the Sun, and the Rain which God will send from Heaven.

The sweet springs of water bubbling out of the Earth▪

Marginal references: Gen. 49▪ [illegible: 1 word]

14 And for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun , and for the precious things put forth by the moon .

Which opens and warms the Earth, cherisheth and improveth and in due time ripeneth the seeds and fruits of the Earth.

Which by its moisture refreshes and promotes them. Heb. Of the Moons, or moneths, i. e. which it bringeth forth in the several Moneths or Seasons of the year.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word] sorth.; Heb. [illegible: 1 word] ▪

15 And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills .

(i. e.) The excellent fruits, as Grapes, Olives, Figs, &c. which delight in Mountains, growing upon, or the pretious Minerals contained in, their mountains and hills called antient and lasting, i. e. such as have been from the beginning of the world, and likely to continue to the end of it, in opposition to those hills or mounts which have been cast up by the wit of man:

16 And for the precious things of the earth , and ness thereof , and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush : let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph , and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren.

And in general for all the choice fruits which that Land produceth in all the parts of it, whether Hills or Valleys.

i. e. The Plants and Cattle and all Creatures that grow, increase, and flourish in it.

For all other effects of the good will and kindness of God who not long since did for a time dwell or appear in the bush to me in order to the relief of his people, Exod. 3. 2.

i. e. Of Iosephs posterity.

Marginal references: Gen. 49. 26.

17 His glory is like the firstling of his bullock , and his horns are like the horns of unicorns , with them he shall push the people together, to the ends of the earth; and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh .

In whose countenance there is a kind of awful Majesty and comely generosity, as Tully, Aelian, &c. observe. This seems to note the Kingdom which Ephraim should obtain in Ieroboam and his Successours.

His strength and power shall be very great.

(i. e.) All that shall oppose him, and particularly the Canaanites.

Though Manasseh be now more numerous, yet Ephraim shall shortly outstrip him, as was foretold, Gen. 48. 29.

i (i. e.) Of the Land of Canaan.

Marginal references: Or, of a wild [illegible: 1+ letters]ll Heb. Reech.

18 And of Zebulun he said, Rejoyce Zebulun, in thy going out , and Issachar in thy tents .

Thou shalt prosper and have cause of rejoycing.

Either 1. To war as this phrase is oft used, as Gen. 14. 18. which was in part verified, Iudg. 5. 18. or 2. To Sea, in way of Traffick, because their portion lay near the Sea. Or both may be joyned, and in both respects his course is opposite to that of Issachar, who was a lover of peace and pasturage. See Gen. 49. 14, 15.

Who is here joyned with Zebulun, both because they brethren by Father and Mother too, and because their possessions lay near together.

(i. e.) Thou shalt give thy self to the management of Land and Cattle, living quietly in thy own possessions, disliking the troubles of war and of merchandise. So the phrase is used, Gen[illegible: 1+ letters] 27. Ios. 22. 4. Iudg. 5. 24. and 7. 8.

19 They shall call the people unto the mountain , there they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness : for they shall suck of the abundance of the sea , and of treasures hid in the sand .

Either 1. Zebulun and Issachar. Or rather 2. Zebulun onely, as the following matter shews, and it was Zebulun that Moses takes more special notice of ver. 18. bringing in Issachar onely by the by in conjunction with him or in opposition to him. And so having dispatched Issachar in two words, he returns to Zebulun, a more active Tribe.

(i. e.) The Gentiles, either those of Galilee, which was called Galilee of the Gentiles, who were their Neighbours, or people of other nations, with whom they had commerce, which they endeavoured to improve in perswading them to the true God and his Worship and Service.

(i. e.) To the Temple, which Moses knew was to be seated upon a mountain.

(i. e.) Such as God requires and Righteousness obligeth them to offer. Their trafficking abroad with Heathen nations shall not make them forget or neglect their duty at home, nor shall their distance from the place of sacrifices hinder them from coming to it to discharge that duty.

They shall grow rich by the traffick of the sea, and their riches shall not make them the worse as they do others, but they shall consecrate themselves and their riches to the service of God.

Such pretious things as either 1. Are contained in the sand of the sea and Rivers, in which sometimes there is mixed a considerable quantity of Gold and Silver. Or 2. Such as grow in the Sea or are fetched from the sandy bottom of it, as pearls, coral, ambergrease, &c. Or 3. Such as being cast into the Sea by shipwrack are cast up upon the shore by the workings of the Sea, and thence taken either by merchants, or by the people that live upon the Sea-Coast.

20 And of Gad he said, Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad : he dwelleth as a lion , and teareth the arm with the crown of the head .

By praising God for enlarging Gad he supposeth the ground of these praises, that God would enlarge Gad, i. e. either 1. enlarge his Territories: which seems needless, because they had a very large portion now when Moses uttered these words. Or 2. bring him out of his straits and troubles, which he was likely to be oft engaged in, because he was encompassed with potent Enemies. And in this sense the phrase is used Ps. 4. 2. compare Ps. 31. 8. and 118. 5. One instance of the fulfilling hereof we have Iudg. 11.

(i. e.) Safe and secure from his Enemies, and terrible to them when they rouse and molest him. See 1 Chron. 5. 18, &c. and 12. 8.

(i. e.) Utterly destroys his Enemies, both the head, the seat of the crown, their dignity and principality, and the Arm, the subject of strength and instrument of action, both chief Princes, and their instruments and subjects.

Marginal references: See Josh. 8. &c▪ 1 Chron. 12. 8, &c.

21 And he provided the first part for himself, because there in a portion of the law-giver was he seated , and he came with the heads of the people , he executed the justice of the LORD, and his judgment with Israel .

The first-fruits of the Land of promise, the country of Sihon, which was first conquered, which he is said to provide for himself, because he desired and so obtained it of Moses, Numb. 32.

(i. e.) Of Moses whose portion this is called, either because this part of the Land beyond Iordan was the onely part of the Land which Moses was permitted to enter upon: or because it was given to him by Moses, whereas the portions beyond Iordan were given to the several Tribes by Ioshua according to the direction of the lot.

Heb. hid or protected: for their Wives and Children were secured in their Cities, whilest many of their men went over to the war in Canaan.

(i. e.) He went, or he will go (the preter tense being put for the future after the manner of the Prophets) to wit, to the war in Canaan, with the Princes, or Captains, or Rulers of the People of Israel, i. e. under their command and conduct, as indeed they did, or with the first of the people, or, in the front of the people, as the Syriack renders it, for this tribe and their brethren whose lot fell beyond Iordan, were to march and did march into Canaan before their brethren, as it is expressed Ios. 1. 14. And the Hebrew word rosch oft signifies the beginning or first of a thing.

(i. e.) He did or will execute the just iudgment of God against the Canaanites, as the rest of the Israelites did, he will joyn in the war against them, as he promised to do Numb. 32. 27, &c. and actually did, Ios. 1. 14.

Marginal references: Num. 32. 17.; Heb. [illegible: 1 word].

22 And of Dan he said, Dan is a lions whelp : he shall leap from Bashan .

(i. e.) Couragious and generous and strong and successeful against his Enemies.

Or, which leapeth from Bashan: for this clause seems not to belong to the Tribe of Dan, which was at a great distance from Bashan, even at the other end of the Land, and therefore this seems too great a leap for him, and if he did leap so far he should rather be said to take his leap from his own lot in the South of Canaan, and thence to leap not from Bashan, but to Bashan, to fall upon his Enemies there: but it rather is a continuation of the Metaphor, and belongs to the Lion, which is said to leap from Bashan, because there were many and fierce Lions in those parts, see Iudg. 14. 5. whence they used to come forth to prey, and their manner was to leap upon the prey.

23 And of Naptali he said, O Naptali satisfied with favour , and full with the blessing of the LORD : possess thou the west and the south .

Either 1. With Gods favour, as it follows: Or 2. With mens favour or good will, his carriage being peaceable, courteous and obliging, as is intimated, Gen. 49. 21. according to the common Translation, see the notes there.

(i. e.) Seated in a pleasant and fertile and happy soil, such as Galilee, (in which their share lay) eminently was, as Iosephus and others report.

Or, the Sea and the South. This is to be understood of the places, that his lot should fall there, for he was rather in the East and North of the Land, but of the pleasures and commodities of the West or of the Sea, which were conveyed to him from his neighbour Zebulun, and of the South, i. e. from the southern tribes and parts of Canaan, which were brought to him down the River Iordan, and both sorts of commodities were given him in exchange for the fruits of his rich soil which he had in great abundance.

24 And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children , let him be acceptable to his brethren , and let him dip his foot in oil .

He shall have numerous and those strong and healthful and comely Children. Or▪ shall be blessed or praised of or above the sons, i. e. the other Sons of Israel, or his brethren, as it here follows, i. e. His portion shall fall in an excellent part, where he may have the benefits both of his own fat soil, and of the Sea, by his neighbours, Tyrus and Sidon.

By his sweet disposition and winning carriage and communication of his excellent commodities to his brethren he shall gain their affections.

He shall have such plenty of Oil that he may not onely wash his face but his feet also in it. Or, the fatness and fertility of his Countrey may be expressed by oil, as Iob 19. 6. And so it agrees with Iacobs blessing of him, Gen. 49. 20.

25 Thy shoes shall be iron and brass : and as thy dayes, so shall thy strength be .

This may note, either 1. Their great strength by which they should be able to tread down and crush their Enemies, as Christs feet for this very reason are said to be of brass, Revel. 1. 15. Or 2. The mines of Iron and Copper, which were in their portion, whence Sidon their neighbour was famous among the heathens for its plenty of brass, and Sarepta is thought to have its name from the brass and iron, which were melted there in great quantity. Compare Deut. 8. 9. Or 3. The strength of its scituation, and so some antients and moderns render the words, thy habitation or thy enclosure shall be iron and brass, i. e. fortified as it were with walls and gates of iron and brass, being defended by the Sea on one side, by their brethren on other sides, as also by mountains and rivers.

(i. e.) Thy strength shall not be diminished with thine age, but thou shalt have the vigour of youth even in thy old age: thy Tribe shall grow stronger and stronger.

Marginal references: Or, under thy shoes shall be iron.

26 There is none like unto the God of Jesurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the skie.

(i. e.) Upon the clouds to succour thee from thence by sending thunder and lightning upon thine enemies. See Psal. 18. 7, &c. and 68. 34. &c.

Or, in his magnificence▪ i. e. magnificiently gloriously and with great Majesty as well as power.

27 The eternal God is thy refuge , and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee, and shall say, Destroy them .

Or, thy dwelling-place. Compare Psal. 91. 1.

(i. e.) Under thy arms to hold thee up, as my hands were once held up by Aaron and Hur. He will support and defend thee. Or the meaning is, Though he dwelleth on high, yet he comes down to the earth beneath to assist and deliver thee.

(i. e.) Shall give thee not onely command and commission, but also power to destroy them, for Gods saying is doing, his word comes with power.

28 Israel then shall dwell in safety alone ; the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine: also his heavens shall drop down dew.

Either 1. Though they be alone, and have no confederates to defend them, but have all the world against them, yet my single protection shall be sufficient for them. Or 2. Distinct and separated from all other nations, with whom I will not have them to mingle themselves. See Num. 23. 9. Ezra 9. 1, 2.

(i. e.) The posterity of Iacob, which flowed from him as waters from a Fountain, in great abundance. Compare Psal. 68. 26. Isa. 48. 1. The fountain is here put for the River or Streams which flow from it, as Psal. 104. 10. as the Root is put for the branch. 2 Chron. 22. 10. Isa. 11. 10. Revel. 5. 5. and as Iacob or Israel who is the fountain, is oft put for the children of Israel. Or the eye (for so the Hebrew word oft signifies) of Iacob, i. e. of the people of Israel, and so the sense is, They who now onely hear of the Land of promise shall shortly see it, which I am not suffered to do, and shall enjoy it, which is oft signified by seeing, as Psal. 4. 6. and 27. 13. and 34. 13. Eccles. 2. 1. and 3. 13.

(i. e.) Those Heavens or that Air which hangs over his Land.

Marginal references: Jer. 23. 6.

29 Happy art thou, O Israel; who is like unto thee, O people, saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee , and thou shalt tread upon their high places .

(i. e.) Shall be deceived as to all their vain hopes and confidences of destroying thee or saving themselves, whether grounded upon their own numbers and valour and strong holds, or upon old Prophesies and predictions of success, or upon their Idols. Or, shall lie unto thee, i. e. shall submit themselves to thee, though it be done but feignedly and by constraint, as this phrase is used Psal. 18. 44. & 66. 3. & 81. 15. Possibly this may design the lies and frauds which the Gibeonites would use to deceive them, Ios. 9. 4.

i. e. Thou shalt subdue their greatest princes, and their strongest holds, Deut. 32. 13. and their idols Temples and Worship.

z The giver and preserver of all that excellency, that glory, safety and happiness, which thou hast above all other people, which thou doest not obtain either by or for thy own wisdom or strength or goodness. Or, Thy most excellent sword, i. e. Thy strength and the authour of all thy past or approaching victories.

Marginal references: Or, shall be subdued.

Deu 33:1

Before ascending Mount Nebo to depart this life, Moses took leave of his people, the tribes of Israel, in the blessing which is very fittingly inserted in the book of the law between the divine announcement of his approaching death and the account of the death itself, as being the last words of the departing man of God. The blessing opens with an allusion to the solemn conclusion of the covenant and giving of the law at Sinai, by which the Lord became King of Israel, to indicate at the outset the source from which all blessings must flow to Israel (Deu 33:2-5). Then follow the separate blessings upon the different tribes (vv. 6-25). And the whole concludes with an utterance of praise to the Lord, as the mighty support and refuge of His people in their conflicts with all their foes (Deu 33:26-29). This blessing was not written down by Moses himself, like the song in ch. 32, but simply pronounced in the presence of the assembled tribes. This is evident, not only from the fact that there is nothing said about its being committed to writing, but also from the heading in Deu 33:1, where the editor clearly distinguishes himself from Moses, by speaking of Moses as “the man of God,” like Caleb in Jos 14:6, and the author of the heading to the prayer of Moses in Psa 90:1. In later times, “man of God” was the title usually given to a prophet (vid., 1Sa 9:6; 1Ki 12:22; 1Ki 13:14, etc.), as a man who enjoyed direct intercourse with God, and received supernatural revelations from Him. Nevertheless, we have Moses’ own words, not only in the blessings upon the several tribes (vv. 6-25), but also in the introduction and conclusion of the blessing (Deu 33:2-5 and Deu 33:26-29). The introductory words before the blessings, such as “and this for Judah” in Deu 33:7, “and to Levi he said” (Deu 33:8), and the similar formulas in Deu 33:12, Deu 33:13, Deu 33:18, Deu 33:20, Deu 33:22, Deu 33:23, and Deu 33:24, are the only additions made by the editor who inserted the blessing in the Pentateuch. The arrangement of the blessings in their present order is probably also his work. It neither accords with the respective order of the sons of Jacob, nor with the distribution of the tribes in the camp, nor with the situation of their possessions in the land of Canaan. It is true that Reuben stands first as the eldest son of Jacob; but Simeon is then passed over, and Judah, to whom the dying patriarch bequeathed the birthright which he withdrew from Reuben, stands next; and then Levi, the priestly tribe. Then follow Benjamin and Joseph, the sons of Rachel; Zebulun and Issachar, the last sons of Leah (in both cases the younger before the elder); and lastly, the tribes descended from the sons of the maids: Gad, the son of Zilpah; Dan and Naphtali, the sons of Bilhah; and finally, Asher, the second son of Zilpah. To discover the guiding principle in this arrangement, we must look to the blessings themselves, which indicate partly the position already obtained by each tribe, as a member of the whole nation, in the earthly kingdom of God, and partly the place which it was to reach and occupy in the further development of Israel in the future, not only in relation to the Lord, but also in relation to the other nations. The only exception to this is the position assigned to Reuben, who occupies the foremost place as the first-born, notwithstanding his loss of the birthright. In accordance with this principle, the first place properly belonged to the tribe of Judah, who was raised into the position of lord over his brethren, and the second to the tribe of Levi, which had been set apart to take charge of the sacred things; whilst Benjamin is associated with Levi as the “beloved of the Lord.” Then follow Joseph, as the representative of the might which Israel would manifest in conflict with the nations; Zebulun and Issachar, as the tribes which would become the channels of blessings to the nations through their wealth in earthly good; and lastly, the tribes descended from the sons of the maids, Asher being separated from his brother Gad, and placed at the end, in all probability simply because it was in the blessing promised to him that the earthly blessedness of the people of God was to receive its fullest manifestation.

On comparing the blessing of Moses with that of Jacob, we should expect at the very outset, that if the blessings of these two men of God have really been preserved to us, and they are not later inventions, their contents would be essentially the same, so that the blessing of Moses would contain simply a confirmation of that of the dying patriarch, and would be founded upon it in various ways. This is most conspicuous in the blessing upon Joseph; but there are also several other blessings in which it is unmistakeable, although Moses’ blessing is not surpassed in independence and originality by that of Jacob, either in its figures, its similes, or its thoughts. But the resemblance goes much deeper. It is manifest, for example, in the fact, that in the case of several of the tribes, Moses, like Jacob, does nothing more than expound their names, and on the ground of the peculiar characters expressed in the names, foretell to the tribes themselves their peculiar calling and future development within the covenant nation. Consequently we have nowhere any special predictions, but simply prophetic glances at the future, depicted in a purely ideal manner, whilst in the case of most of the tribes the utter want of precise information concerning their future history prevents us from showing in what way they were fulfilled. The difference in the times at which the two blessings were uttered is also very apparent. The existing circumstances from which Moses surveyed the future history of the tribes of Israel in the light of divine revelation, were greatly altered from the time when Jacob blessed the heads of the twelve tribes before his death, in the persons of his twelve sons. These tribes had now grown into a numerous people, with which the Lord had established the covenant that He had made with the patriarchs. The curse of dispersion in Israel, which the patriarch had pronounced upon Simeon and Levi (Gen 49:5-7), had been changed into a blessing so far as Levi was concerned. The tribe of Levi had been entrusted with the “light and right” of the Lord, had been called to be the teacher of the rights and law of God in Israel, because it had preserved the covenant of the Lord, after the conclusion of the covenant at Sinai, even though it involved the denial of flesh and blood. Reuben, Gad, and half Manasseh had already received their inheritance, and the other tribes were to take possession of Canaan immediately. These circumstances formed the starting-point for the blessings of Moses, not only in the case of Levi and Gad, where they are expressly mentioned, but in that of the other tribes also, where they do not stand prominently forward, because for the most part Moses simply repeats the leading features of their future development in their promised inheritance, as already indicated in the blessing of Jacob, and “thus bore his testimony to the patriarch who anticipated him, that the spirit of his prophecy was truth” (Ziegler, p. 159).

In this peculiar characteristic of the blessing of Moses, we have the strongest proof of its authenticity, particularly in the fact that there is not the slightest trace of the historical circumstances of the nation at large and the separate tribes which were peculiar to the post-Mosaic times. The little ground that there is for the assertion which Knobel repeats, that the blessing betrays a closer acquaintance with the post-Mosaic times, such as Moses himself could not possibly have possessed, is sufficiently evident from the totally different expositions which have been given by the different commentators of the saying concerning Judah in Deu 33:7, which is adduced in proof of this. Whilst Knobel finds the desire expressed in this verse on behalf of Judah, that David, who had fled from Saul, might return, obtain possession of the government, and raise his tribe into the royal tribe, Graf imagines that it expresses the longing of the kingdom of Judah for reunion with that of Israel; and Hoffmann and Maurer even trace an allusion to the inhabitants of Judea who were led into captivity along with Jehoiachin: one assumption being just as arbitrary and as much opposed to the text as the other. - All the objections brought against the genuineness of this blessing are founded upon an oversight or denial of its prophetic character, and upon untenable interpretations of particular expressions abstracted from it. Not only is there no such thing in the whole blessing as a distinct reference to the peculiar historical circumstances of Israel which arose after Moses’ death, but there are some points in the picture which Moses has drawn of the tribes that it is impossible to recognise in these circumstances. Even Knobel from his naturalistic stand-point is obliged to admit, that no traces can be found in the song of any allusion to the calamities which fell upon the nation in the Syrian, Assyrian, and Chaldaean periods. And hitherto it has proved equally impossible to point out any distinct allusion to the circumstances of the nation in the period of the judges. On the contrary, as Schultz observes, the speaker rises throughout to a height of ideality which it would have been no longer possible for any sacred author to reach, when the confusions and divisions of a later age had actually taken place. He sees nothing of the calamities from without, which fell upon the nations again and again with destructive fury, nothing of the Canaanites who still remained in the midst of the Israelites, and nothing of the hostility of the different tribes towards one another; he simply sees how they work together in the most perfect harmony, each contributing his part to realize the lofty ideal of Israel. And again he grasps this ideal and the realization of it in so elementary a way, and so thoroughly from the outer side, without regard to any inward transformation and glorification, that he must have lived in a time preceding the prophetic age, and before the moral conflicts had taken place.

In the introduction Moses depicts the elevation of Israel into the nation of God, in its origin (Deu 33:2), its nature (Deu 33:3), its intention and its goal (Deu 33:4, Deu 33:5).

Deu 33:2

“Jehovah came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; He shone from the mountains of Paran, and came out of holy myriads, at His right rays of fire to them.” To set forth the glory of the covenant which God made with Israel, Moses depicts the majesty and glory in which the Lord appeared to the Israelites at Sinai, to give them the law, and become their king. The three clauses, “Jehovah came from Sinai...from Seir...from the mountains of Paran,” do not refer to different manifestations of God (Knobel), but to the one appearance of God at Sinai. Like the sun when it rises, and fills the whole of the broad horizon with its beams, the glory of the Lord, when He appeared, was not confined to one single point, but shone upon the people of Israel from Sinai, and Seir, and the mountains of Paran, as they came from the west to Sinai. The Lord appeared to the people from the summit of Sinai, as they lay encamped at the foot of the mountain. This appearance rose like a streaming light from Seir, and shone at the same time from the mountains of Paran. Seir is the mountain land of the Edomites to the east of Sinai; and the mountains of Paran are in all probability not the mountains of et-Tih, which form the southern boundary of the desert of Paran, but rather the mountains of the Azazimeh, which ascend to a great height above Kadesh, and form the boundary wall of Canaan towards the south. The glory of the Lord, who appeared upon Sinai, sent its beams even to the eastern and northern extremities of the desert. This manifestation of God formed the basis for all subsequent manifestations of the omnipotence and grace of the Lord for the salvation of His people. This explains the allusions to the description before us in the song of Deborah (Jdg 5:4) and in Hab 3:3. - The Lord came not only from Sinai, but from heaven, “out of holy myriads,” i.e., out of the midst of the thousands of holy angels who surround His throne (1Ki 22:19; Job 1:6; Dan 7:10), and who are introduced in Gen 28:12 as His holy servants, and in Gen 32:2-3, as the hosts of God, and form the assembly of holy ones around His throne (Psa 89:6, Psa 89:8; cf. Psa 68:18; Zec 14:5; Mat 26:53; Heb 12:22; Rev 5:11; Rev 7:11). - The last clause is a difficult one. The writing דּת אשׁ in two words, “fire of the law,” not only fails to give a suitable sense, but has against it the fact that דּת, law, edictum, is not even a Semitic word, but was adopted from the Persian into the Chaldee, and that it is only by Gentiles that it is ever applied to the law of God (Ezr 7:12, Ezr 7:21, Ezr 7:25-26; Dan 6:6). It must be read as one word, אשׁדת, as it is in many MSS and editions - not, however, as connected with אשׁד, אשׁדות, the pouring out of the brooks, slopes of the mountains (Num 21:15), but in the form אשּׁדת, composed, according to the probable conjecture of Böttcher, of אשׁ, fire, and שׁדה (in the Chaldee and Syriac), to throw, to shoot arrows, in the sense of “fire of throwing,” shooting fire, a figurative description of the flashes of lightning. Gesenius adopts this explanation, except that he derives דּת from ידה, to throw. It is favoured by the fact that, according to Exo 19:16, the appearance of God upon Sinai was accompanied by thunder and lightning; and flashes of lightning are often called the arrows of God, whilst shaadaah, in Hebrew, is established by the name שׁדיאוּר (Num 1:5; Num 2:10). To this we may add the parallel passage, Hab 3:4, “rays out of His hand,” which renders this explanation a very probable one. By “them,” in the second and fifth clauses, the Israelites are intended, to whom this fearful theophany referred. On the signification of the manifestation of God in fire, see Deu 4:11, and the exposition of Exo 3:2.

Deu 33:3

“Yea, nations He loves; all His holy ones are in Thy hand: and they lie down at Thy feet; they rise up at Thy words.” עמּים חבב is the subject placed first absolutely: “nations loving,” sc., is he; or “as loving nations - all Thy holy ones are in Thy hand.” The nations or peoples are not the tribes of Israel here, any more than in Deu 32:8, or Gen 28:3; Gen 35:11, and Gen 48:4; whilst Jdg 5:14 and Hos 10:14 cannot come into consideration at all, for there the word is defined by a suffix. The meaning of the words depends upon whether “all His holy ones” are the godly in Israel, or the Israelites generally, or the angels. There is nothing to favour the first explanation, as the distinction between the godly and the wicked would be out of place in the introduction to a blessing upon all the tribes. The second has only as seeming support in Dan 7:21. and Exo 19:6. It does not follow at once from the calling of Israel to be the holy nation of Jehovah, that all the Israelites were or could be called “holy ones of the Lord.” Least of all should Num 16:3 be adduced in support of this. Even in Dan 7 the holy ones of the Most High are not the Jews generally, but simply the godly, or believers, in the nation of God. The third view, on the other hand, is a perfectly natural one, on account of the previous reference to the holy myriads. The meaning, therefore, would be this: The Lord embraces all nations with His love, He who, so to speak, has all His holy angels in His hand, i.e., His power, so that they serve Him as their Lord. They lie down at His feet. The ἄπ. λεγ. תּכּוּ is explained by Kimchi and Saad. as signifying adjuncti sequuntur vestigia sua; and by the Syriac, They follow thy foot, from conjecture rather than any certain etymology. The derivation proposed by modern linguists, from the verb תּכה, according to an Arabic word signifying recubuit, innixus est, has apparently more to support it. ישּׂא, it rises up: intransitive, as in Hab 1:3; Nah 1:5; Hos 13:1, and Psa 89:10. מדּבּרתיך is not a Hithpael participle (that which is spoken); for מדּבּר has not a passive, but an active signification, to converse (Num 7:89; Eze 2:2, etc.). It is rather a noun, דבּרת, from דּבּרה, words, utterances. The singular, ישּׂא, is distributive: every one (of them) rises on account of thine utterance, i.e., at thy words. The suffixes relate to God, and the discourse passes from the third to the second person. In our own language, such a change in a sentence like this, “all His (God’s) holy ones are in Thy (God’s) hand,” would be intolerably harsh, but in Hebrew poetry it is by no means rare (see, for example, Psa 49:19).

Deu 33:4-5

“Moses appointed us a law, a possession of the congregation of Jacob. And He became King in righteous-nation (Jeshurun); there the heads of the people assembled, in crowds the tribes of Israel.” The God who met Israel at Sinai in terrible majesty, out of the myriads of holy angels, who embraces all nations in love, and has all the holy angels in His power, so that they lie at His feet and rise up at His word, gave the law through Moses to the congregation of Jacob as a precious possession, and became King in Israel. This was the object of the glorious manifestation of His holy majesty upon Sinai. Instead of saying, “He gave the law to the tribes of Israel through my mediation,” Moses personates the listening nation, and not only speaks of himself in the third person, but does so by identifying his own person with the nation, because he wished the people to repeat his words from thorough conviction, and because the law which he gave in the name of the Lord was given to himself as well, and was as binding upon him as upon every other member of the congregation. In a similar manner the prophet Habakkuk identifies himself with the nation in ch. 3, and says in Hab 3:19, out of the heart of the nation, “The Lord is my strength,...who maketh me to walk upon mine high places,” - an expression which did not apply to himself, but to the nation as a whole. So again in Psa 20:1-9 and Psa 21:1-13, which David composed as the prayers of the nation for its king, he not only speaks of himself as the anointed of the Lord, but addresses such prayers to the Lord for himself as could only be offered by the nation for its king. “A possession for the congregation of Jacob.” “Israel was distinguished above all other nations by the possession of the divinely revealed law (Deu 4:5-8); that was its most glorious possession, and therefore is called its true κειμήλιον” (Knobel). The subject in Deu 33:5 is not Moses but Jehovah, who became King in Jeshurun (see at Deu 32:15 and Exo 15:18). “Were gathered together;” this refers to the assembling of the nation around Sinai (Deu 4:10.; cf. Exo 19:17.), to the day of assembly (Deu 9:10; Deu 10:4; Deu 18:16).

Deu 33:6

The blessings upon the tribes commence with this verse. “Let Reuben live and not die, and there be a (small) number of his men.” The rights of the first-born had been withheld from Reuben in the blessing of Jacob (Gen 49:3); Moses, however, promises this tribe continuance and prosperity. The words, “and let his men become a number,” have been explained in very different ways. מספּר in this connection cannot mean a large number (πολὺς ἐν ἀριθμῷ, lxx), but, like מספּר מתי (Deu 4:27; Gen 34:30; Jer 44:28), simply a small number, that could easily be counted (cf. Deu 28:62). The negation must be carried on to the last clause. This the language will allow, as the rule that a negation can only be carried forward when it stands with emphatic force at the very beginning (Ewald, §351) is not without exceptions; see for example Pro 30:2-3, where three negative clauses follow a positive one, and in the last the לא is omitted, without the particle of negation having been placed in any significant manner at the beginning. - Simeon was the next in age to Reuben; but he is passed over entirely, because according to Jacob’s blessing (Gen 49:7) he was to be scattered abroad in Israel, and lost his individuality as a tribe in consequence of this dispersion, in accordance with which the Simeonites simply received a number of towns within the territory of Judah (Jos 19:2-9), and, “having no peculiar object of its own, took part, as far as possible, in the fate and objects of the other tribes, more especially of Judah” (Schultz). Although, therefore, it is by no means to be regarded as left without a blessing, but rather as included in the general blessings in Deu 33:1 and Deu 33:29, and still more in the blessing upon Judah, yet it could not receive a special blessing like the tribe of Reuben, because, as Ephraim Syrus observes, the Simeonites had not endeavoured to wipe out the stain of the crime which Jacob cursed, but had added to it by fresh crimes (more especially the audacious prostitution of Zimri, Num 25). Even the Simeonites did not become extinct, but continued to live in the midst of the tribe of Judah, so that as late as the eighth century, in the reign of Hezekiah, thirteen princes are enumerated with their families, whose fathers’ houses had increased greatly (1Ch 4:34.); and these families effected conquests in the south, even penetrating into the mountains of Seir, for the purpose of seeking fresh pasture (1Ch 4:39-43). Hence the assertion that the omission of Simeon is only conceivable from the circumstances of a later age, is as mistaken as the attempt made in some of the MSS of the Septuagint to interpolate the name of Simeon in the second clause of Deu 33:6.

Deu 33:7

The blessing upon Judah is introduced with the formula, “And this for Judah, and he said:” “Hear, Jehovah, the voice of Judah, and bring him to his people; with his hands he fights for him; and help against his adversaries wilt Thou be.” Judah, from whom the sceptre was not to depart (Gen 49:10), is mentioned before Levi as the royal tribe. The prayer, May Jehovah bring Judah to his people, can hardly be understood in any other way than it is by Onkelos and Hengstenberg (Christol. i. 80), viz., as founded upon the blessing of Jacob, and expressing the desire, that as Judah was to lead the way as the champion of his brethren in the wars of Israel against the nations, he might have a prosperous return to his people; for the thought, “introduce him to the kingdom of Israel and Judah” (Luther), or “give up to him the people which belongs to him according to Thine appointment” (Schultz), is hardly implied in the words, “bring to his people.” Other explanations are not worth mentioning. What follows points to strife and war: “With his hands (ידיו accusative of the instrument, vid., Ges. §138, 1, note 3; Ewald, §283, a.) is he fighting (רב participle of ריב) for it (the nation); Thou wilt grant him help, deliverance before his foes.”

Deu 33:8-11

Levi. - Deu 33:8, Deu 33:9. “Thy right and Thy light is to Thy godly man, whom Thou didst prove in Massah, and didst strive with him at the water of strife; who says to his father and his mother, I see him not; and does not regard his brethren, and does not know his sons: for they observed Thy word, and kept Thy covenant.” This blessing is also addressed to God as a prayer. The Urim and Thummim - that pledge, which the high priest wore upon his breast-plate, that the Lord would always give His people light to preserve His endangered right (vid., Exo 28:29-30), - are here regarded as a prerogative of the whole of the tribe of Levi. Thummim is placed before Urim, to indicate at the outset that Levi had defended the right of the Lord, and that for that very reason the right of the Urim and Thummim had been given to him by the Lord. “Thy holy one” is not Aaron, but Levi the tribe-father, who represents the whole tribe to which the blessing applies; hence in Deu 33:9 and Deu 33:10 the verb passes into the plural. To define more precisely the expression “Thy holy one,” reference is made to the trials at Massah and at the water of strife, on the principle that the Lord humbles His servants before He exalts them, and confirms those that are His by trying and proving them. The proving at Massah refers to the murmuring of the people on account of the want of water at Rephidim (Exo 17:1-7, as in Deu 6:16 and Deu 9:22), from which the place received the name of Massah and Jeribah; the striving at the water of strife, to the rebellion of the people against Moses and Aaron on account of the want of water at Kadesh (Num 20:1-13). At both places it was primarily the people who strove with Moses and Aaron, and thereby tempted God. For it is evident that even at Massah the people murmured not only against Moses, but against their leaders generally, from the use of the plural verb, “Give ye us water to drink” (Exo 17:2). This proving of the people, however, was at the same time a proof, to which the Lord subjected the heads and leaders of the nation, for the purpose of trying their faith. And thus also, in Deu 8:2., the whole of the guidance of Israel through the desert is described as a trial and humiliation of the people by the Lord. But in Moses and Aaron, the heads of the tribe of Levi, the whole of the tribe of Levi was proved. The two provings by means of water are selected, as Schultz observes, “because in their correlation they were the best adapted to represent the beginning and end, and therefore the whole of the temptations.”

Deu 33:12

Benjamin. - “The beloved of the Lord will dwell safely with Him; He shelters him at all times, and he dwells between His shoulders.” Benjamin, the son of prosperity, and beloved of his father (Gen 35:18; Gen 44:20), should bear his name with right. He would be the beloved of the Lord, and as such would dwell in safety with the Lord (עליו, lit., founded upon Him). The Lord would shelter him continually. The participle expresses the permanence of the relation: is his shelterer. In the third clause Benjamin is the subject once more; he dwells between the shoulders of Jehovah. “Between the shoulders” is equivalent to “upon the back” (vid., 1Sa 17:6). The expression is founded upon the figure of a father carrying his son (Deu 1:29). This figure is by no means so bold as that of the eagle’s wings, upon which the Lord had carried His people, and brought them to Himself (Exo 19:4; vid., Deu 32:11). There is nothing strange in the change of subject in all three clauses, since it is met with repeatedly even in plain prose (e.g., 2Sa 11:13); and here it follows simply enough from the thoughts contained in the different clauses, whilst the suffix in all three clauses refers to the same noun, i.e., to Jehovah.“To dwell upon God and between His shoulders is the same as to repose upon Him: the simile being taken from fathers who carry their sons while delicate and young” (Calvin).

There are some who regard Jehovah as the subject in the third clause, and explain the unheard-of figure which they thus obtain, viz., that of Jehovah dwelling between the shoulders of Benjamin, as referring to the historical fact that God dwelt in the temple at Jerusalem, which was situated upon the border of the tribes of Benjamin and Judah. To this application of the words Knobel has properly objected, that God did not dwell between ridges (= shoulders) of mountains there, but upon the top of Moriah; but, on the other hand, he has set up the much more untenable hypothesis, that the expression refers to Gibeon, where the tabernacle stood after the destruction of Nob by Saul. - Moreover, the whole nation participated in the blessing which Moses desired for Benjamin; and this applies to the blessings of the other tribes also. All Israel was, like Benjamin, the beloved of the Lord (vid., Jer 11:15; Psa 60:7), and dwelt with Him in safety (vid., Deu 33:28).

Deu 33:13-16

Joseph. - Deu 33:13. “Blessed of the Lord be his land, of (in) the most precious things of heaven, the dew, and of the flood which lies beneath, (Deu 33:14) and of the most precious of the produce of the sun, and of the most precious of the growth of the moons, (Deu 33:15) and of the head of the mountains of olden time, and of the most precious thing of the everlasting hills, (Deu 33:16) and of the most precious thing of the earth, and of its fulness, and the good-will of Him that dwelt in the bush: let it come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of him that is illustrious among his brethren.” What Jacob desired and solicited for his son Joseph, Moses also desires for this tribe, namely, the greatest possible abundance of earthly blessing, and a vigorous manifestation of power in conflict with the nations. But however unmistakeable may be the connection between these words and the blessing of Jacob (Gen 49:22.), not only in the things desired, but even in particular expression, there is an important difference which equally strikes us, namely, that in the case of Jacob the main point of the blessing is the growth of Joseph into a powerful tribe, whereas with Moses it is the development of power on the part of this tribe in the land of its inheritance, in perfect harmony with the different times at which the blessings were pronounced. Jacob described the growth of Joseph under the figure of the luxuriant branch of a fruit-tree planted by the water; whilst Moses fixes his eye primarily upon the land of Joseph, and desires for him the richest productions. “May his land be blessed by Jehovah from (מן of the cause of the blessing, whose author was Jehovah; vid., Psa 28:7; Psa 104:3) the most precious thing of the heaven.” מגד, which only occurs again in the Sol 4:13, Sol 4:16, and Sol 7:13, is applied to precious fruits. The most precious fruit which the heaven yields to the land is the dew. The “productions of the sun,” and גּרשׁ, ἅπ. λεγ. from גּרשׁ, “the produce of the moons,” are the fruits of the earth, which are matured by the influence of the sun and moon, by their light, their warmth. At the same time, we can hardly so distinguish the one from the other as to understand by the former the fruits which ripen only once a year, and by the latter those which grow several times and in difference months; and Eze 47:12 and Rev 22:2 cannot be adduced as proofs of this. The plural “moons” in parallelism with the sun does not mean months, as in Exo 2:2, but the different phases which the moon shows in its revolution round the earth. מראשׁ (from the head), in Deu 33:15, is a contracted expression signifying “from the most precious things of the head.” The most precious things of the head of the mountains of old and the eternal hills, are the crops and forests with which the tops of the mountains and hills are covered. Moses sums up the whole in the words, “the earth, and the fulness thereof:” everything in the form of costly good that the earth and its productions can supply. - To the blessings of the heaven and earth there are to be added the good-will of the Lord, who appeared to Moses in the thorn-bush to redeem His people out of the bondage and oppression of Egypt and bring it into the land of Canaan, the land flowing with milk and honey (Exo 3:2.). The expression “that dwells in the bush” is to be explained from the significance of this manifestation of God as shown at Ex 3, which shadowed forth a permanent relation between the Lord and His people. The spiritual blessing of the covenant grace is very suitably added to the blessings of nature; and there is something no less suitable in the way in which the construction commencing with וּרצון is dropped, so that an anakolouthon ensues. This word cannot be taken as an accusative of more precise definition, as Schultz supposes; nor is מן to be supplied before it, as Knobel suggests. Grammatically considered, it is a nominative to which the verb תּבואתה properly belongs, although, as a matter of fact, not only the good-will, but the natural blessings, of the Lord were also to come upon the head of Joseph. Consequently we have not יבוא (masc.), which רצון would require, but the lengthened poetical feminine form תּבואתה (vid., Ewald, §191, c.), used in a neuter sense. It, i.e., everything mentioned before, shall come upon Joseph. On the expression, “illustrious among his brethren,” see at Gen 49:26. In the strength of this blessing, the tribe of Joseph would attain to such a development of power, that it would be able to tread down all nations.

Deu 33:17

“The first-born of his ox, majesty is to him, and buffalo-horns his horns: with them he thrusts down nations, all at once the ends of the earth. These are the myriads of Ephraim, and these the thousands of Manasseh.” The “first-born of his (Joseph’s) oxen” (shor, a collective noun, as in Deu 15:19) is not Joshua (Rabb., Schultz); still less is it Joseph (Bleek, Diestel), in which case the pronoun his ox would be quite out of place; nor is it King Jeroboam II, as Graf supposes. It is rather Ephraim, whom the patriarch Jacob raised into the position of the first-born of Joseph (Gen 48:4.). All the sons of Joseph resembled oxen, but Ephraim was the most powerful of them all. He was endowed with majesty; his horns, the strong weapon of oxen, in which all their strength is concentrated, were not the horns of common oxen, but horns of the wild buffalo (reem, Num 23:22), that strong indomitable beast (cf. Job 39:9.; Psa 22:22). With them he would thrust down nations, the ends of the earth, i.e., the most distant nations (vid., Psa 2:8; Psa 7:9; Psa 22:28). “Together,” i.e., all at once, belongs rhythmically to “the ends of the earth.” Such are the myriads of Ephraim, i.e., in such might will the myriads of Ephraim arise. To the tribe of Ephraim, as the more numerous, the ten thousands are assigned; to the tribe of Manasseh, the thousands.

Deu 33:18-19

Zebulun and Issachar. - “Rejoice, Zebulun, at thy going out; and, Issachar, at thy tents. Nations will they invite to the mountain; there offer the sacrifices of righteousness: for they suck the affluence of the seas, and the hidden treasures of the sand.” The tribes of the last two sons of Leah Moses unites together, and, like Jacob in Gen 49:13, places Zebulun the younger first. He first of all confirms the blessing which Jacob pronounced through simply interpreting their names as omnia, by calling upon them to rejoice in their undertakings abroad and at home. “At thy tents” corresponds to “at thy going out” (tents being used poetically for dwellings, as in Deu 16:7); like “sitting” to “going out and coming in” in 2Ki 19:27; Isa 37:28; Psa 139:2; and describes in its two aspects of work and production, rest and recreation. Although “going out” (enterprise and labour) is attributed to Zebulun, and “remaining in tents” (the comfortable enjoyment of life) to Issachar, in accordance with the delineation of their respective characters in the blessing of Jacob, this is to be attributed to the poetical parallelism of the clauses, and the whole is to be understood as applying to both in the sense suggested by Graf, “Rejoice, Zebulun and Issachar, in your labour and your rest.” This peculiarity, which is founded in the very nature of poetical parallelism, which is to individualize the thought by distributing it into parallel members, has been entirely overlooked by all the commentators who have given a historical interpretation to each, referring the “going out” to the shipping trade and commercial pursuits of the Zebulunites, and the expression “in thy tents” either to the spending of a nomad life in tents, for the purpose of performing a subordinate part in connection with trade (Schultz), or to the quiet pursuits of agriculture and grazing (Knobel). They were to rejoice in their undertakings at home and abroad; for they would be successful. The good things of life would flow to them in rich abundance; they would not make them into mammon, however, but would invite nations to the mountain, and there offer sacrifices of righteousness. “The peoples” are nations generally, not the tribes of Israel, still less the members of their own tribes. By the “mountain,” without any more precise definition, we are not to understand Tabor or Carmel any more than the mountain land of Canaan. It is rather “the mountain of the Lord’s inheritance” (Exo 15:17), upon which the Lord was about to plant His people, the mountain which the Lord had chosen for His sanctuary, and in which His people were to dwell with Him, and rejoice in sacrificial meals of fellowship with Him. To this end the Lord had sanctified Moriah through the sacrifice of Isaac which He required of Abraham, though it had not been revealed to Moses that it was there that the temple, in which the name of the Lord in Israel would dwell, was afterwards to be built. There is no distinct or direct allusion to Morah or Zion, as the temple-mountain, involved in the words of Moses. It was only by later revelations and appointments on the part of God that this was to be made known. The words simply contain the Messianic thought that Zebulun and Issachar would offer rich praise-offerings and thank-offerings to the Lord, from the abundant supply of earthly good that would flow to them, upon the mountain which He would make ready as the seat of His gracious presence, and would call, i.e., invite the nations to the sacrificial meals connected with them to delight themselves with them in the rich gifts of the Lord, and worship the Lord who blessed His people thus. For the explanation of this thought, see Psa 22:28-31. Sacrifice is mentioned here as an expression of divine worship, which culminated in sacrifice; and slain-offerings are mentioned, not burnt-offerings, to set forth the worship of God under the aspect of blessedness in fellowship with the Lord. “Slain-offerings of righteousness’ are not merely outwardly legal sacrifices, in conformity with the ritual of the law, but such as were offered in a right spirit, which was well-pleasing to God (as in Psa 4:6; 51:21). It follows as a matter of course, therefore, that by the abundance of the seas we are not merely to understand the profits of trade upon the Mediterranean Sea; and that we are still less to understand by the hidden treasures of the sand “the fish, the purple snails, and sponges” (Knobel), or “tunny-fish, purple shells, and glass’ (Ps. Jon.); but that the words receive their best exposition from Isa 60:5-6, Isa 60:16, and Isa 66:11-12, i.e., that the thought expressed is, that the riches and treasures of both sea and land would flow to the tribes of Israel.

Deu 33:20-21

Gad. - “Blessed be He that enlargeth Gad: like a lioness he lieth down, and teareth the arm, yea, the crown of the head. And he chose his first-fruit territory, for there was the leader’s portion kept; and he came to the heads of the people, he executed the justice of the Lord, and his rights with Israel.” Just as in the blessing of Noah (Gen 9:26) the God of Shem is praised, to point out the salvation appointed by God for Shem, so here Moses praises the Lord, who enlarged Gad, i.e., who not only gave him a broad territory in the conquered kingdom of Sihon, but furnished generally an unlimited space for his development (vid., Gen 26:22), so that he might unfold his lion-like nature in conflict with his foes. On the figure of a lioness, see Gen 49:9; and on the warlike character of the Gadites, the remarks on the blessing of Jacob upon Gad (Gen 49:19). The second part of the blessing treats of the inheritance which Gad obtained from Moses at his own request beyond Jordan. ראה, with an accusative and ל, signifies to look out something for oneself (Gen 22:8; 1Sa 16:17). The “first-fruit” refers here to the first portion of the land which Israel received for a possession; this is evident from the reason assigned, חלקת שׁם כּי, whilst the statement that Gad chose the hereditary possession is in harmony with Num 32:2, Num 32:6, Num 32:25., where the children of Gad are described as being at the head of the tribes, who came before Moses to ask for the conquered land as their possession. The meaning of the next clause, of which very different explanations have been given, can only be, that Gad chose such a territory for its inheritance as became a leader of the tribes. מחקק, he who determines, commands, organizes; hence both a commander and also a leader in war. It is in the latter sense that it occurs both here and in Jdg 5:14. מחקק חלקת, the field, or territory of the leader, may either be the territory appointed or assigned by the lawgiver, or the territory falling to the lot of the leader. According to the former view, Moses would be the mechokek. But the thought, that Moses appointed or assigned him his inheritance, could be no reason why Gad should choose it for himself. Consequently מחקק חלקת can only mean the possession which the mechokek chose for himself, as befitting him, or specially adapted for him. Consequently the mechokek was not Moses, but the tribe of Gad, which was so called because it unfolded such activity and bravery at the head of the tribes in connection with the conquest of the land, that it could be regarded as their leaders. This peculiar prominence on the part of the Gadites may be inferred from the fact, that they distinguished themselves above the Reubenites in the fortification of the conquered land (Num 32:34.). ספוּן, from ספן, to cover, hide, preserve, is a predicate, and construed as a noun, “a thing preserved.” - On the other hand, the opinion has been very widely spread, from the time of Onkelos down to Baumgarten and Ewald, that this hemistich refers to Moses: “there is the portion of the lawgiver hidden,” or “the field of the hidden leader,” and that it contains an allusion to the fact that the grave of Moses was hidden in the inheritance of Gad. But this is not only at variance with the circumstance, that a prophetic allusion to the grave of Moses such as Baumgarten assumes is apparently inconceivable, from the simple fact that we cannot imagine the Gadites to have foreseen the situation of Moses’ grave at the time when they selected their territory, but also with the fact that, according to Jos 13:20, the spot where this grave was situated (Deu 34:5) was not allotted to the tribe of Gad, but to that of Reuben; and lastly, with the use of the word chelkah, which does not signify a burial-ground or grave. - But although Gad chose out an inheritance for himself, he still went before his brethren, i.e., along with the rest of the tribes, into Canaan, to perform in connection with them, what the Lord demanded of His people as a right. This is the meaning of the second half of the verse. The clause, “he came to the heads of the people,” does not refer to the fact that the Gadites came to Moses and the heads of the congregation, to ask for the conquered land as a possession (Num 32:2), but expressed the thought that Gad joined the heads of the people to go at the head of the tribes of Israel (comp. Jos 1:14; Jos 4:12, with Num 32:17, Num 32:21, Num 32:32), to conquer Canaan with the whole nation, and root out the Canaanites. The Gadites had promised this to Moses and the heads of the people; and this promise Moses regarded as an accomplished act, and praised in these words with prophetic foresight as having been already performed, and that not merely as one single manifestation of their obedience towards the word of the Lord, but rather as a pledge that Gad would always manifest the same disposition. “To do the righteousness of Jehovah,” i.e., to do what Jehovah requires of His people as righteousness - namely, to fulfil the commandments of God, in which the righteousness of Israel was to consist (Deu 6:25). יתא, imperfect Kal for יאהת or יאתּה; see Ges. §76, 2, c., and Ewald, §142, c. “With Israel:” in fellowship with (the rest of) Israel.

Deu 33:22

Dan is “a young lion which springs out of Bashan.” Whilst Jacob compared him to a serpent by the way, which suddenly bites a horse’s feet, so that its rider falls backward, Moses gives greater prominence to the strength which Dan would display in conflict with foes, by calling him a young lion which suddenly springs out of its ambush. The reference to Bashan has nothing to do with the expedition of the Danites against Laish, in the valley of Rehoboth (Jdg 18:28), as this valley did not belong to Bashan. It is to be explained from the simple fact, that in the regions of eastern Bashan, which abound with caves, and more especially in the woody western slopes of Jebel Hauran, many lions harboured, which rushed forth from the thicket, and were very dangerous enemies to the herds of Bashan. Even if no other express testimonies to this fact are to be found it may be inferred from the description given of the eastern spurs of Antilibanus in the Song of Sol. (Sol 4:8), as the abodes of lions and leopards. The meaning leap forth, spring out, is confirmed by both the context and dialects, though the word only occurs here.

Deu 33:23

Naphtali. - “O Naphtali, satisfied with favour, and full of the blessing of Jehovah; of sea and south shall he take possession.” If the gracefulness of Naphtali is set forth in the blessing of Jacob, by comparing it to a gazelle, here Moses assures the same tribe of satisfaction with the favour and blessing of God, and promises it the possession of the sea and of the south, i.e., an inheritance which should combine the advantages of the sea - a healthy sea-breeze - with the grateful warmth of the south. This blessing is expressed in far too general terms for it to be possible to interpret it historically, as relating to the natural characteristics of the inheritance of the Naphtalites in Canaan, or to regard it as based upon them, apart altogether from the fact, that the territory of Naphtali was situated in the north-east of Canaan, and reached as far as the sea of Galilee, and that it was for the most part mountainous, though it was a very fertile hill-country (Jos 19:32-39). ירשׁה is a very unique form of the imperative, though this does not warrant an alteration of the text.

Deu 33:24-25

Asher. - “Blessed before the sons be Asher; let him be the favoured among his brethren, and dipping his foot in oil. Iron and brass be thy castle; and as the days of thy life let thy rest continue.” Asher, the prosperous (see at Gen 30:15), was justly to bear the name. He was to be a child of prosperity; blessed with earthly good, he was to enjoy rest all his life long in strong fortresses. It is evident enough that this blessing is simply an exposition of the name Asher, and that Moses here promises the tribe a verification of the omen contained in its name. מבּנים בּרוּך does not mean “blessed with children,” or “praised because of his children,” in which case we should have בּניו; but “blessed before the sons” (cf. Jdg 5:24), i.e., blessed before the sons of Jacob, who were peculiarly blessed, equivalent to the most blessed of all the sons of Israel. אחיו רצוּי does not mean the beloved among his brethren, acceptable to his brethren, but the one who enjoyed the favour of the Lord, i.e., the one peculiarly favoured by the Lord. Dipping the foot in oil points to a land flowing with oil (Job 29:6), i.e., fat or fertile throughout, which Jacob had already promised to Asher (see Gen 49:20). To complete the prosperity, however, security and rest were required for the enjoyment of the blessings bestowed by God; and these are promised in Deu 33:25. מנעל (ἅπ. λεγ.) does not mean a shoe, but is derived from נעל, to bolt (Jdg 3:23), and signifies either a bolt, or that which is shut fast; a poetical expression for a castle or fortress. Asher’s dwellings were to be castles, fortresses of iron and brass; i.e., as strong and impregnable as if they were built of iron and brass. The pursuit of mining is not to be thought of as referred to here, even though the territory of Asher, which reached to Lebanon, may have contained brass and iron (see at Deu 8:9). Luther follows the lxx and Vulgate, and renders this clause, “iron and brass be upon his shoes;” but this is undoubtedly wrong, as the custom of fastening the shoes or sandals with brass or iron was quite unknown to the Israelites; and even Goliath, who was clothed in brass from head to foot, and wore iron greaves, had no iron sandals, though the military shoes of the ancient Romans had nails in the soles. Moreover, the context contains no reference to war, so as to suggest the idea that the treading down and cursing of the foe are intended. “As thy days,” i.e., as long as the days of thy life last, let thy rest be (continue). Luther's rendering, “let thine old age be as thy youth,” which follows the Vulgate, cannot be sustained; for although דּבא, derived from דאב, to vanish away, certainly might signify old age, the expression “thy days” cannot possibly be understood as signifying youth.

The conclusion of the blessing corresponds to the introduction. As Moses commenced with the glorious fact of the founding of the kingdom of Jehovah in Israel, as the firm foundation of the salvation of His people, so he also concludes with a reference to the Lord their eternal refuge, and with a congratulation of Israel which could find refuge in such a God.

Deu 33:26-27

“Who is as God, a righteous nation, who rides in heaven to thy help, and in His exaltation upon the clouds. Abiding is the God of olden time, and beneath are everlasting arms: and He drives the enemy before thee, and says, Destroy.” The meaning is: No other nation has a God who rules in heaven with almighty power, and is a refuge and help to his people against every foe. Jeshurun is a vocative, and the alteration of כּאל into כּאל, “as the God of Jeshurun,” according to the ancient versions, is to be rejected on the simple ground that the expression “in thy help,” which follows immediately afterwards, is an address to Israel. Riding upon the heaven and the clouds is a figure used to denote the unlimited omnipotence with which God rules the world out of heaven, and is the helper of His people. “In thy help,” i.e., as thy helper. This God is a dwelling to His people. מענה, like the masculine מעון in Psa 90:1, and Psa 91:9, signifies “dwelling,” - a genuine Mosaic figure, to which, in all probability, the houseless wandering of the people in the desert, which made them feel the full worth of a dwelling, first gave rise. The figure not only implies that God grants protection and a refuge to His people in the storms of life (Psa 91:1-2, cf. Isa 4:6), but also that He supplies His people with everything that can afford a safe abode. “The God of old,” i.e., who has proved Himself to be God from the very beginning of the world (vid., Psa 90:1; Hab 1:12). The expression “underneath” is to be explained from the antithesis to the heaven where God is enthroned above mankind. He who is enthroned in heaven above is also the God who is with His people upon the earth below, and holds and bars them in His arms. “Everlasting arms” are arms whose strength is never exhausted. There is no need to supply “thee” after “underneath;” the expression should rather be left in its general form, “upon the earth beneath.” The reference to Israel is obvious from the context. The driving of the enemy before Israel is not to be restricted to the rooting out of the Canaanites, but applies to every enemy of the congregation of the Lord.

Deu 33:28

“And Israel dwells safely, alone the fountain of Jacob, in a land full of corn and wine; his heavens also drop down dew.” Because the God of old was the dwelling and help of Israel, it dwelt safely and separate from the other nations, in a land abounding with corn and wine. “The fountain of Jacob” is parallel to “Israel;” “alone (separate) dwells the fountain of Jacob.” This title is given to Israel as having sprung from the patriarch Jacob, in whom it had its source. A similar expression occurs in Psa 68:27. It completely destroys the symmetry of the clauses of the verse to connect the words, as Luther does, with what follows, in the sense of “the eye of Jacob is directed upon a land.” The construction of שׁכן with אל, to dwell into a land, may be explained on the ground that the dwelling involves the idea of spreading out over the land. On the “land of corn,” etc., see Deu 8:7 and Deu 8:8. אף is emphatic: yea his heaven, i.e., the heaven of this land drops down dew (vid., Gen 27:28). Israel was to be congratulated upon this.

Deu 33:29

“Hail to thee, O Israel! who is like thee, a people saved in the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who (is) the sword of thine eminence. Thine enemies will deny themselves to thee, and thou ridest upon their heights.” “Saved;” not merely delivered from danger and distress, but in general endowed with salvation (like Zec 9:9; see also Isa 45:17). The salvation of Israel rested in the Lord, as the ground out of which it grew, from which it descended, because the Lord was its help and shield, as He had already promised Abraham (Gen 15:1), and “the sword of his eminence,” i.e., the sword which had fought for the eminence of Israel. But because the Lord was Israel’s shield and sword, or, so to speak, both an offensive and defensive weapon, his enemies denied themselves to him, i.e., feigned friendship, did not venture to appear openly as enemies (for the meaning “feign,” act the hypocrite, see Psa 18:45; Psa 81:16). But Israel would ride upon their heights, the high places of their land, i.e., would triumph over all its foes (see at Deu 32:13).

Moses's Blessing on Israel. (b. c. 1451.)

1 And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. 2 And he said, The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them. 3 Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in thy hand: and they sat down at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words. 4 Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob. 5 And he was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were gathered together.

The first verse is the title of the chapter: it is a blessing. In the foregoing chapter he had thundered out the terrors of the Lord against Israel for their sin; it was a chapter like Ezekiel's roll, full of lamentation, and mourning, and woe. Now to soften that, and that he might not seem to part in anger, he here subjoins a blessing, and leaves his peace, which should descend and rest upon all those among them that were the sons of peace. Thus Christ's last work on earth was to bless his disciples (Luke xxiv. 50), like Moses here, in token of parting as friends. Moses blessed them, 1. As a prophet—a man of God. Note, It is a very desirable thing to have an interest in the prayers of those that have an interest in heaven; it is a prophet's reward. In this blessing Moses not only expresses his good wishes to this people, but by the spirit of prophecy foretells things to come concerning them. 2. As a parent to Israel; for so good princes are to their subjects. Jacob upon his death-bed blessed his sons (Gen. xlix. 1), in conformity to whose example Moses here blesses the tribes that were descended from them, to show that though they had been very provoking yet the entail of the blessing was not cut off. The doing of this immediately before his death would not only be the more likely to leave an impression upon them, but would be an indication of the great good-will of Moses to them, that he desired their happiness, though he must die and not share in it.

He begins his blessing with a lofty description of the glorious appearances of God to them in giving them the law, and the great advantage they had by it.

I. There was a visible and illustrious discovery of the divine majesty, enough to convince and for ever silence atheists and infidels, to awaken and affect those that were most stupid and careless, and to put to shame all secret inclinations to other gods, v. 2. 1. His appearance was glorious: he shone forth like the sun when he goes forth in his strength. Even Seir and Paran, two mountains at some distance, were illuminated by the divine glory which appeared on Mount Sinai, and reflected some of the rays of it, so bright was the appearance, and so much taken notice of by the adjacent countries. To this the prophet alludes, to set forth the wonders of the divine providence, Hab. iii. 3, 4; Ps. xviii. 7-9. The Jerusalem Targum has a strange gloss upon this, that, "when God came down to give the law, he offered it on Mount Seir to the Edomites, but they refused it, because they found in it, Thou shalt not kill. Then he offered it on Mount Paran to the Ishmaelites, but they also refused it, because they found in it, Thou shalt not steal; and then he came to Mount Sinai and offered it to Israel, and they said, All that the Lord shall say we will do." I would not have transcribed so groundless a conceit but for the antiquity of it. 2. His retinue was glorious; he came with his holy myriads, as Enoch had long since foretold he should come in the last day to judge the world, Jude 14. These were the angels, those chariots of God in the midst of which the Lord was, on that holy place, Ps. lxviii. 17. They attended the divine majesty, and were employed as his ministers in the solemnities of the day. Hence the law is said to be given by the disposition of angels, Acts vii. 53; Heb. ii. 2.

II. He gave them his law, which is, 1. Called a fiery law, because it was given them out of the midst of the fire (Deut. iv. 33), and because it works like fire; if it be received, it is melting, warming, purifying, and burns up the dross of corruption; if it be rejected, it hardens, sears, torments, and destroys. The Spirit descended in cloven tongues as of fire; for the gospel also is a fiery law. 2. It is said to go from his right hand, either because he wrote it on tables of stone, or to denote the power and energy of the law and the divine strength that goes along with it, that it may not return void. Or it came as a gift to them, and a precious gift it was, a right-hand blessing. 3. It was an instance of the special kindness he had for them: Yea, he loved the people (v. 32), and therefore, though it was a fiery law, yet it is said to go for them (v. 2), that is, in favour to them. Note, The law of God written in the heart is a certain evidence of the love of God shed abroad there: we must reckon God's law one of the gifts of his grace. Yea, he embraced the people, or laid them in his bosom; so the word signifies, which denotes not only the dearest love, but the most tender and careful protection. All his saints are in his hand. Some understand it particularly of his supporting them and preserving them alive at Mount Sinai, when the terror was so great that Moses himself quaked; they heard the voice of God and lived, ch. iv. 33. Or it denotes his forming them into a people by his law; he moulded and fashioned them as a potter does the clay. Or they were in his hand to be covered and protected, used and disposed of, as the seven stars were in the hand of Christ, Rev. i. 16. Note, God has all his saints in his hand; and, though there are ten thousands of his saints (v. 2), yet his hand, with which he measures the waters, is large enough, and strong enough, to hold them all, and we may be sure that none can pluck them out of his hand, John x. 28.

III. He disposed them to receive the law which he gave them: They sat down at thy feet, as scholars at the feet of their master, in token of reverence, in attendance and humble submission to what is taught; so Israel sat at the foot of Mount Sinai, and promised to hear and do whatever God should say. They were struck to thy feet, so some read it; namely, by the terrors of Mount Sinai, which greatly humbled them for the present, Exod. xx. 19. Every one then stood ready to receive God's words, and did so again when the law was publicly read to them, as Josh. viii. 34. It is a great privilege when we have heard the words of God to have opportunity of hearing them again. John xvii. 26, I have declared thy name, and will declare it. So Israel not only had received the law, but should still receive it by their prayers, and other lively oracles. The people are taught (v. 4, 5), in gratitude for the law of God, always to keep up an honourable remembrance both of the law itself and of Moses by whom it was given. Two of the Chaldee paraphrasts read it, The children of Israel said, Moses commanded us a law. And the Jews say that as soon as a child was able to speak his father was obliged to teach him these words: Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob.

1. They are taught to speak with great respect of the law, and to call it the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob. They looked upon it, (1.) As peculiar to them, and that by which they were distinguished from other nations, who neither had the knowledge of it (Ps. cxlvii. 20), nor, if they had, were under those obligations to observe it that Israel were under: and therefore (says bishop Patrick), "when the Jews conquered any country, they did not force any to embrace the law of Moses, but only to submit to the seven precepts of Noah." (2.) As entailed upon them; for so inheritances are to be transmitted to their posterity. And, (3.) As their wealth and true treasure. Those that enjoy the word of God and the means of grace have reason to say, We have a goodly heritage. He is indeed a rich man in whom the word of Christ dwells richly. Perhaps the law is called their inheritance because it was given them with their inheritance, and we so annexed to it that the forsaking of the law would be a forfeiture of the inheritance. See Ps. cxix. 111.

2. They are taught to speak with great respect of Moses; and they were the more obliged to keep up his name because he had not provided for the keeping of it up in his family; his posterity were never called the sons of Moses, as the priests were the sons of Aaron. (1.) They must own Moses a great benefactor to their nation, in that he commanded them the law; for, though it came from the hand of God, it went through the hand of Moses. (2.) He was king in Jeshurun. Having commanded them the law, as long as he lived he took care to see it observed and put in execution; and they were very happy in having such a king, who ruled them, and went in and out before them at all times, but did in a special manner look great when the heads of the people were gathered together in parliament, as it were, and Moses was president among them. Some understand this of God himself; he did then declare himself their King when he gave them the law, and he continued so long as they were Jeshurun, an upright people, and till they rejected him, 1 Sam. xii. 12. But it seems rather to be understood of Moses. A good government is a great blessing to any people, and what they have reason to be very thankful for; and that constitution is very happy which as Israel's, which as ours, divides the power between the king in Jeshurun and the heads of the tribes, when they are gathered together.

6 Let Reuben live, and not die; and let not his men be few. 7 And this is the blessing of Judah: and he said, Hear, Lord , the voice of Judah, and bring him unto his people: let his hands be sufficient for him; and be thou a help to him from his enemies.

Here is, I. The blessing of Reuben. Though Reuben had lost the honour of his birthright, yet Moses begins with him; for we should not insult over those that are disgraced, nor desire to perpetuate marks of infamy upon any, though ever so justly fastened at first, v. 6. Moses desires and foretells, 1. The preserving of this tribe. Though a frontier tribe on the other side Jordan, yet, "Let it live, and not be either ruined by its neighbours or lost among them." And perhaps he refers to those chosen men of that tribe who, having had their lot assigned them already, left their families in it, and were now ready to go over armed before their brethren, Num. xxxii. 27. "Let them be protected in this noble expedition, and have their heads covered in the day of battle." 2. Let it be a numerous tribe; though their other honours be lost, so that they shall not excel, yet let them multiply." Let Reuben live and not die, though his men be few; so bishop Patrick, thinks it may be rendered. "Though he must not expect to flourish (Gen. xlix. 4), yet let him not perish." All the Chaldee paraphrasts refer this to the other world: Let Reuben live in life eternal, and not die the second death, so Onkelos. Let Reuben live in this world, and not die that death which the wicked die in the world to come, so Jonathan and the Jerusalem Targum.

II. The blessing of Judah, which is put before Levi because our Loud sprang out of Judah, and (as Dr. Lightfoot says) because of the dignity of the kingdom above the priesthood. The blessing (v. 7) may refer either, 1. To the whole tribe in general. Moses prays for, and prophesies, the great prosperity of that tribe. That God would hear his prayers (see an instance, 2 Chron. xiii. 14, 15), settle him in his lot, prosper him in all his affairs, and give him victory over his enemies. It is taken for granted that the tribe of Judah would be both a praying tribe and an active tribe. "Lord," says Moses, "hear his prayers, and give success to all his undertakings: let his hands be sufficient for him both in husbandry and in war." The voice of prayer should always be attended with the hand of endeavour, and then we may expect prosperity. Or, 2. It may refer in particular to David, as a type of Christ, that God would hear his prayers, Ps. xx. 1 (and Christ was heard always, John xi. 42), that he would give him victory over his enemies, and success in his great undertakings. See Ps. lxxxix. 20, &c. And that prayer that God would bring him to his people seems to refer to Jacob's prophecy concerning Shiloh, That to him should the gathering of the people be, Gen. xlix. 10. The tribe of Simeon is omitted in the blessing, because Jacob had left it under a brand, and it had never done any thing, as Levi had done, to retrieve its honour. It was lessened in the wilderness more than any other of the tribes; and Zimri, who was so notoriously guilty in the matter of Peor but the other day, was of that tribe. Or, because the lot of Simeon was an appendage to that of Judah, that tribe is included in the blessing of Judah. Some copies of the LXX. join Simeon with Reuben: Let Reuben live and not die; and let Simeon be many in number.

8 And of Levi he said, Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy holy one, whom thou didst prove at Massah, and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah; 9 Who said unto his father and to his mother, I have not seen him; neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew his own children: for they have observed thy word, and kept thy covenant. 10 They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law: they shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon thine altar. 11 Bless, Lord , his substance, and accept the work of his hands: smite through the loins of them that rise against him, and of them that hate him, that they rise not again.

In blessing the tribe of Levi, Moses expresses himself more at large, not so much because it was his own tribe (for he takes no notice of his relation to it) as because it was God's tribe. The blessing of Levi has reference.

I. To the high priest, here called God's holy one (v. 8), because his office was holy, in token of which, Holiness to the Lord was written upon his forehead. 1. He seems to acknowledge that God might justly have displaced Aaron and his seed, for his sin at Meribah, (Exod. xvii. 7), which might be very remarkable, and which God might have an eye to in conferring the priesthood upon him, though no mention is made of it there. All the Chaldee paraphrasts agree that it was a trial in which he was found perfect and faithful, and stood in the trial; therefore not that, Num. xx. 2. He prays that the office of the high priest might ever remain: Let thy thummim and thy urim be with him. It was given him for some eminent piece of service, as appears, Mal. ii. 5. "Lord, let it never be taken from him." Notwithstanding this blessing, the urim and thummim were lost in the captivity, and never restored under the second temple. But this prayer has its full accomplishment in Jesus Christ, God's Holy One, and our great high priest, of whom Aaron was a type: with him who had lain in the Father's bosom from eternity the urim and thummim shall remain; for he is the wonderful and everlasting counsellor. Some translate the thummim and urim appellatively, the rather because the usual order is here inverted, and here only. Thummim signifies integrity, and Urim illumination: Let these be with thy holy one, that is, "Lord, let the high priest ever be both an upright man and an understanding man." A good prayer to be put up for the ministers of the gospel, that they may have clear heads and honest hearts; light and sincerity make a complete minister.

II. To the inferior priests and Levites, v. 9-11.

1. He commends the zeal of this tribe for God when they sided with Moses (and so with God) against the worshippers of the golden calf (Exod. xxxii. 26, &c.), and, being employed in cutting off the ring-leaders in that wickedness, they did it impartially: the best friends they had in the world, though as dear to them as their next relations, they did not spare if they were idolaters. Note, Our regard to God and to his glory ought always to prevail above our regard to any creature whatsoever. And those who not only keep themselves pure from the common iniquities of the times and places in which they live, but, as they are capable, bear testimony against them, and stand up for God against the evil-doers, shall have special marks of honour put upon them. Perhaps Moses may have an eye to the sons of Korah, who refused to join with their father in his gain-saying, Num. xxvi. 11. Also to Phinehas, who executed judgment, and stayed the plague. And indeed the office of the priests and Levites, which engaged their constant attendance, at least in their turns, at God's altar, laid them under a necessity of being frequently absent from their families, which they could not take such care of, nor make such provision for, as other Israelites might. This was the constant self-denial they submitted to, that they might observe God's word, and keep the covenant of priesthood. Note, Those that are called to minister in holy things must sit loose to the relations and interests that are dearest to them in this world, and prefer the gratifying of the best friend they have, Acts xxi. 13; xx. 24. Our Lord Jesus knew not his mother and his brethren when they would have taken him off from his work, Matt. xii. 48.

2. He confirms the commission granted to this tribe to minister in holy things, which was the recompence of their zeal and fidelity, v. 10. (1.) They were to deal for God with the people: "They shall teach Jacob thy judgments and Israel thy laws, both as preachers in thy religious assemblies, reading and expounding the law (Neh. viii. 7, 8), and as judges, determining doubtful and difficult cases that were brought before them," 2 Chron. xvii. 8, 9. The priests' lips kept this knowledge for the use of the people, who were to ask the law at their mouth, Mal. ii. 7. Even Haggai, a prophet, consulted the priests in a case of conscience, Hag. ii. 11, &c. Note, Preaching is necessary, not only for the first planting of churches, but for the preserving and edifying of churches when they are planted. See Ezek. xliv. 23, 24. (2.) They were to deal for the people with God, in burning incense to the praise and glory of God, and offering sacrifices to make atonement for sin and to obtain the divine favour. This was the work of the priests, but the Levites attended and assisted in it. Those that would have benefit by their incense and offerings must diligently and faithfully observe their instructions.

3. He prays for them, v. 11. (1.) That God would prosper them in their estates, and make that which was allotted them for their maintenance comfortable to them. Bless, Lord, his substance. The provision made for them was very plentiful, and came to them easily, and yet they could have no joy of it unless God blessed it to them; and, since God himself was their portion, a particular blessing might be expected to attend this portion. Bless, Lord, his virtue; so some read it. "Lord, increase thy graces in them, and make them more and more fit for their work." (2.) That he would accept them in their services: "Accept the work of his hands, both for himself and for the people for whom he ministers." Acceptance with God is that which we should all aim at, and be ambitious of, in all our devotions, whether men accept us or no (2 Cor. v. 9), and it is the most valuable blessing we can desire either for ourselves or others. (3.) That he would take his part against all his enemies: Smite through the loins of those that rise against him. He supposes that God's ministers would have many enemies: some would hate their persons for their faithfulness, and would endeavour to do them a mischief; others would envy them their maintenance, and endeavour sacrilegiously to deprive them of it; others would oppose them in the execution of their office and not submit to the sentence of the priests; and some would aim to overthrow the office itself. Now he prays that God would blast all such attempts, and return the mischief upon the heads of the authors. This prayer is a prophecy that God will certainly reckon with those that are enemies to his ministers, and will keep up a ministry in his church to the end of time, in spite of all the designs of the gates of hell against it. Saul rose up against the Lord's priests (1 Sam. xxii. 18), and this filled the measure of his sin.

12 And of Benjamin he said, The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him; and the Lord shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders. 13 And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, 14 And for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon, 15 And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, 16 And for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren. 17 His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.

Here is, I. The blessing of Benjamin, v. 12. Benjamin is put next to Levi, because the temple, where the priests' work lay, was just upon the edge of the lot of this tribe; and it is put before Joseph because of the dignity of Jerusalem (part of which was in this tribe) above Samaria, which was in the tribe of Ephraim, and because Benjamin adhered to the house of David, and to the temple of the Lord, when the rest of the tribes deserted both with Jeroboam. 1. Benjamin is here called the beloved of the Lord, and the father of this tribe was Jacob's beloved son, the son of his right hand. Note, Those are blessed indeed that are beloved of the Lord. Saul the first king, and Paul the great apostle, were both of this tribe. 2. He is here assured of the divine protection: he shall dwell safely. Note, Those are safe whom God loves, Ps. xci. 1. 3. It is here intimated that the temple in which God would dwell should be built in the borders of this tribe. Jerusalem the holy city was in the lot of this tribe (Josh. xviii. 28); and though Zion, the city of David, is supposed to belong to Judah, yet Mount Moriah, on which the temple was built, was in Benjamin's lot. God is therefore said to dwell between his shoulders, because the temple stood on that mount, as the head of a man upon his shoulders. And by this means Benjamin was covered all the day long under the protection of the sanctuary (Ps. cxxv. 2), which is often spoken of as a place of refuge, Ps. xxvii. 4, 5; Neh. vi. 10. Benjamin, dwelling by the temple of God, dwelt in safety by him. Note, It is a happy thing to be in the neighbourhood of the temple. This situation of Benjamin, it is likely, was the only thing that kept that tribe in adherence with Judah to the divine institutions, when the other ten tribes apostatized. Those have corrupt and wicked hearts indeed who, the nearer they are to the church, are so much the further from God.

II. The blessing of Joseph, including both Manasseh and Ephraim. In Jacob's blessing (Gen. xlix.) that of Joseph is the largest, and so it is here; and thence Moses here borrows the title he gives to Joseph (v. 16), that he was separated from his brethren, or, as it might be read, a Nazarite among them, both in regard of his piety, wherein it appears, by many instances, he excelled them all, and of his dignity in Egypt, where he was both their ruler and benefactor. His brethren separated him from them by making him a slave, but God distinguished him from them by making him a prince. Now the blessings here prayed for, and prophesied of, for this tribe, are great plenty and great power.

1. Great plenty, v. 13-16. In general: Blessed of the Lord be his land. Those were very fruitful countries that fell into the lot of Ephraim and Manasseh, yet Moses prays they might be watered with the blessing of God, which makes rich, and on which all fruitfulness depends. Now,

(1.) He enumerates many particulars which he prays may contribute to the wealth and abundance of those two tribes, looking up to the Creator for the benefit and serviceableness of all the inferior creatures, for they are all that to us which he makes them to be. He prays, [1.] For seasonable rains and dews, the precious things of heaven; and so precious they are, though but pure water, that without them the fruits of the earth would all fail and be cut off. [2.] For plentiful springs, which help to make the earth fruitful, called here the deep that coucheth beneath; both are the rivers of God (Ps. lxv. 9), and he made particularly the fountains of waters, Rev. xiv. 7. [3.] For the benign influences of the heavenly bodies (v. 14), for the precious fruits (the word signifies that which is most excellent, and the best in its kind) put forth by the quickening heat of the sun, and the cooling moisture of the moon. "Let them have the yearly fruits in their several months, according to the course of nature, in one month olives, in another dates," &c. So some understand it. [4.] For the fruitfulness even of their hills and mountains, which in other countries used to be barren (v. 15): Let them have the chief things of the ancient mountains; and, if the mountains be fruitful, the fruits on them will be first and best ripened. They are called ancient mountains, not because prior in time to other mountains, but because, like the first-born, they were superior in worth and excellency; and lasting hills, not only because as other mountains they were immovable (Hab. iii. 6), but because the fruitfulness of them should continue. [5.] For the productions of the lower grounds (v. 16): For the precious things of the earth. Though the earth itself seems a useless worthless lump of matter, yet there are precious things produced out of it, for the support and comfort of human life. Job xxviii. 5. Out of it cometh bread, because out of it came our bodies, and to it they must return. But what are the precious things of the earth to a soul that came from God and must return to him? Or what is its fulness to the fulness that is in Christ, whence we receive grace for grace? Some make these precious things here prayed for to be figures of spiritual blessings in heavenly things by Christ, the gifts, graces, and comforts of the Spirit.

(2.) He crowns all with the good-will, or favourable acceptance, of him that dwelt in the bush (v. 16), that is, of God, that God who appeared to Moses in the bush that burned and was not consumed (Exod. iii. 2), to give him his commission for the bringing of Israel out of Egypt. Though God's glory appeared there but for a while, yet it is said to dwell there, because it continued as long as there was occasion for it: the good-will of the shechinah in the bush; so it might be read, for shechinah signifies that which dwelleth; and, though it was but a little while a dweller in the bush, yet it continued to dwell with the people of Israel. My dweller in the bush; so it should be rendered; that was an appearance of the divine Majesty to Moses only, in token of the particular interest he had in God, which he desires to improve for the good of this tribe. Many a time God has appeared to Moses, but now that he is just dying he seems to have the most pleasing remembrance of that which was the first time, when his acquaintance with the visions of the Almighty first began, and his correspondence with heaven was first settled: that was a time of love never to be forgotten. It was at the bush that God declared himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and so confirmed the promise made to the fathers, that promise which reached as far as the resurrection of the body and eternal life, as appears by our Saviour's argument from it, Luke xx. 37. So that, when he prays for the good-will of him that dwelt in the bush, he has an eye to the covenant then and there renewed, on which all our hopes of God's favour must be bottomed. Now he concludes this large blessing with a prayer for the favour or good-will of God, [1.] Because that is the fountain and spring-head of all these blessings; they are gifts of God's good-will; they are so to his own people, whatever they are to others. Indeed when Ephraim (a descendant from Joseph) slid back from God, as a backsliding heifer, those fruits of his country were so far from being the gifts of God's good-will that they were intended but to fatten him for the slaughter, as a lamb in a large place, Hos. iv. 16, 17. [2.] Because that is the comfort and sweetness of all these blessings; then we have joy of them when we taste God's good-will in them. [3.] Because that is better than all these, infinitely better; for if we have but the favour and good-will of God we are happy, and may be easy in the want of all these things, and may rejoice in the God of our salvation though the fig-tree do not blossom, and there be no fruit in the vine, Hab. iii. 17, 18.

2. Great power Joseph is here blessed with, v. 17. Here are three instances of his power foretold: (1.) His authority among his brethren: His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, or young bull, which is a stately creature, and therefore was formerly used as an emblem of royal majesty. Joshua, who was to succeed Moses, was of the tribe of Ephraim the son of Joseph, and his glory was indeed illustrious, and he was an honour to his tribe. In Ephraim was the royal city of the ten tribes afterwards. And of Manasseh were Gideon, Jephthah, and Jair, who were all ornaments and blessings to their country. Some think he is compared to the firstling of the bullock because the birthright which Reuben lost devolved upon Joseph (1 Chron. v. 1, 2), and to the firstling of his bullock, because Bashan, which was in the lot of Manasseh, was famous for bulls and cows, Ps. xxii. 12; Amos iv. 1. (2.) His force against his enemies and victory over them: His horns are like the horn of a unicorn, that is, "The forces he shall bring into the field shall be very strong and formidable, and with them he shall push the people," that is, "He shall overcome all that stand in his way." It appears from the Ephraimites' contests, both with Gideon (Judg. viii. 1) and with Jephthah (Judg. xii. 1), that they were a warlike tribe and fierce. Yet we find the children of Ephraim, when they had forsaken the covenant of God, though they were armed, turning back in the day of battle (Ps. lxxviii. 9, 10); for, though here pronounced strong and bold as unicorns, when God had departed from them they became as weak as other men. (3.) The numbers of his people, in which Ephraim, though the younger house, exceeded, Jacob having, in the foresight of the same thing, crossed hands, Gen. xlviii. 19. They are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and the thousands of Manasseh. Jonathan's Targum applies it to the ten thousands of Canaanites conquered by Joshua, who was of the tribe of Ephraim. And the gloss of the Jerusalem Targum upon the former part of this verse is observable, that "as the firstlings of the bullock were never to be worked, nor could the unicorn ever be tamed, so Joseph should continue free; and they would have continued free if they had not by sin sold themselves."

18 And of Zebulun he said, Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out; and, Issachar, in thy tents. 19 They shall call the people unto the mountain; there they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness: for they shall suck of the abundance of the seas, and of treasures hid in the sand. 20 And of Gad he said, Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad: he dwelleth as a lion, and teareth the arm with the crown of the head. 21 And he provided the first part for himself, because there, in a portion of the lawgiver, was he seated; and he came with the heads of the people, he executed the justice of the Lord , and his judgments with Israel.

Here we have, I. The blessings of Zebulun and Issachar put together, for they were both the sons of Jacob by Leah, and by their lot in Canaan they were neighbours; it is foretold,

1. That they should both have a comfortable settlement and employment, v. 18. Zebulun must rejoice, for he shall have cause to rejoice; and Moses prays that he may have cause in his going out, either to war (for Zebulun jeoparded their lives in the high places of the field, Judg. v. 18), or rather to sea, for Zebulun was a haven of ships, Gen. xlix. 13. And Issachar must rejoice in his tents, that is, in his business at home, his husbandry, to which the men of that tribe generally confined themselves, because they saw that rest was good, and when the sea was rough the land was pleasant, Gen. xlix. 14, 15. Observe here, (1.) That the providence of God, as it variously appoints the bounds of men's habitation, some in the city and some in the country, some in the seaports and some in the inland towns, so it wisely disposes men's inclinations to different employments for the good of the public, as each member of the body is situated and qualified for the service of the whole. The genius of some men leads them to a book, of others to the sea, of others to the sword; some are inclined to rural affairs, others to trade, and some have a turn for mechanics; and it is well it is so. If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? 1 Cor. xii. 17. It was for the common good of Israel that the men of Zebulun were merchants and that the men of Issachar were husbandmen. (2.) That whatever our place and business are it is our wisdom and duty to accommodate ourselves to them, and it is a great happiness to be well pleased with them. Let Zebulun rejoice in his going out; let him thank God for the gains and make the best of the losses and inconveniences of his merchandise, and not despise the meanness, nor envy the quietness, of Issachar's tents. Let Issachar rejoice in his tents, let him be well pleased with the retirements and content with the small profits of his country seats, and not grudge that he has not Zebulun's pleasure of travelling and profit of trading. Every business has both its conveniences and inconveniences, and therefore whatever Providence has made our business we ought to bring our minds to it; and it is really a great happiness, whatever our lot is, to be easy with it. This is the gift of God, Eccl. v. 19.

2. That they should both be serviceable in their places to the honour of God and the interests of religion in the nation (v. 19): They shall call the people to the mountain, that is, to the temple, which Moses foresaw should be built upon a mountain. I see not why this should be confined (as it is by most interpreters) to Zebulun; if both Zebulun and Issachar received the comforts of their respective employments, why may we not suppose that they both took care to give God the glory of them? Two things they shall do for God:—

(1.) They shall invite others to his service. Call the people to the mountain. [1.] Zebulun shall improve his acquaintance and commerce with the neighbouring nations, to whom he goes out, for this noble purpose, to propagate religion among them, and to invite them into the service of the God of Israel. Note, Men of great business, or large conversation, should wisely and zealously endeavour to recommend the practice of serious godliness to those with whom they converse and among whom their business lies. Such are blessed, for they are blessings. It were well if the enlargement of trade with foreign countries might be made to contribute to the spreading of the gospel. This prophecy concerning Zebulun perhaps looks as far as the preaching of Christ and his apostles, which began in the land of Zebulun (Matt. iv. 14, 15); then they called the people to the mountain, that is, to the kingdom of the Messiah, which is called the mountain of the Lord's house, Isa. ii. 2. [2.] Issachar that tarries at home, and dwells in tents, shall call upon his neighbours to go up to the sanctuary at the times appointed for their solemn feasts, either because they should be more zealous and forward than their neighbours (and it has been often observed that though those that with Zebulun dwell in the haven of ships, which are places of concourse, have commonly more of the light of religion, those that with Issachar dwell in tents in the country have more of the life and heat of it), and may therefore with their zeal provoke those to a holy emulation that have more knowledge (Ps. cxxii. 1); or because they were more observant of the times appointed for their feasts than others were. One of the Chaldee paraphrasts reads the foregoing verse, Rejoice, Issachar, in the tents of thy schools, supposing they would many of them be scholars, and would use their learning for that purpose, according to the revolutions of the year, to give notice of the times of the feasts; for almanacs were not then so common as they are now. And Onkelos more particularly, Rejoice, Issachar, when thou goest to compute the times of the solemnities at Jerusalem; for then the tribes of Israel shall be gathered to the mountain of the house of the sanctuary. So he reads the beginning of this verse; and many think this is the meaning of that character of the men of Issachar in David's time, That they had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do, 1 Chron. xii. 32. And the character which follows (v. 33) of the men of Zebulun, that they were such as went forth to battle, expert in war, perhaps may explain the blessing of that tribe here. Note, Those that have not opportunity as Zebulun had of bringing into the church those that are without may yet be very serviceable to its interest by helping to quicken, encourage, and build up, those that are within. And it is good work to call people to God's ordinances, to put those in remembrance that are forgetful, and to stir up those that are slothful, who will follow, but care not to lead.

(2.) They shall not only invite others to the service of God, but they shall abound in it themselves: There they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness. They shall not send others to the temple and stay at home themselves, under pretence that they cannot leave their business; but, when they stir up others to go speedily to pray before the Lord, they shall say, We will go also, as it is Zech. viii. 21. Note, The good we exhort others to we should ourselves be examples of. And, when they come to the temple, they shall not appear before the Lord empty, but shall bring for the honour and service of God according as he has prospered them, 1 Cor. xvi. 2. [1.] It is here foretold that both these tribes should grow rich. Zebulun that goes abroad shall suck of the abundance of the seas, which are full breasts to the merchants, while Issachar, that tarries at home, shall enrich himself with treasures hid in the sands, either the fruits of the earth or the underground treasures of metals and minerals, or (because the word for sand here signifies properly the sand of the sea) the rich things thrown up by the sea, for the lot of Issachar reached to the sea-side. Perhaps their success in calling the people to the mount is intimated by their sucking of the abundance of the seas, for we have a like phrase used for the bringing in of the nations to the church (Isa. lx. 5), The abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, and (v. 16), Thou shalt suck the milk of the Gentiles. It is foretold, [2.] That these tribes, being thus enriched, should consecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth, Mic. iv. 13. The merchandise of Zebulun, and the hire of Issachar, shall be holiness to the Lord (Isa. xxiii. 18), for thereof they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness, that is, sacrifices according to the law. Note, We must serve and honour God with what we have; and where he sows plentifully he expects to reap accordingly. Those that suck of the abundance of the seas, and of the treasures hid in the sand, ought to offer sacrifices of righteousness proportionable.

II. The blessing of the tribe of Gad comes next, v. 20, 21. This was one of the tribes that was already seated on that side Jordan where Moses now was. Now,

1. He foretells what this tribe would be, v. 20. (1.) That it would be enlarged, as at present it had a spacious allotment; and he gives God the glory both of its present and of its future extent: Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad. We find how this tribe was enlarged by their success in a war which it seems they carried on very religiously against the Hagarites, 1 Chron. v. 19, 20, 22. Note, God is to have the glory of all our enlargements. (2.) That it would be a valiant and victorious tribe, would, if let alone, dwell secure and fearless as a lion; but, if provoked, would, like a lion, tear the arm with the crown of the head; that is, would pull in pieces all that stood in his way, both the arm (that is, the strength) and the crown of the head (that is, the policy and authority) of his enemies. In David's time there were Gadites whose faces were as the faces of lions, 1 Chron. xii. 8. Some reckon Jehu to be of this tribe, because the first mention we have of him is at Ramoth Gilead, which belonged to Gad, and they think this may refer to his valiant acts.

2. He commends this tribe for what they had done and were now doing, v. 21. (1.) They had done very wisely for themselves, when they chose their lot with the first, in a country already conquered: He provided the first part for himself; though he had a concern for his brethren, yet his charity began at home, and he was willing to see himself first served, first settled. The Gadites were the first and most active movers for an allotment on that side Jordan, and therefore are still mentioned before the Reubenites in the history of that affair, Num. xxxii. 2. And thus, while the other tribes had their portion assigned them by Joshua the conqueror, Gad and his companions had theirs from Moses the law-giver, and in it they were seated by law; or (as the word is) covered or protected by a special providence which watched over those that were left behind, while the men of war went forward with their brethren. Note, Men will praise thee when thou doest well for thyself (when thou providest first for thyself, as Gad did), Ps. xlix. 18. And God will praise thee when thou doest well for thy soul, which is indeed thyself, and providest the first part for that in a portion from the law-giver. (2.) They were now doing honestly and bravely for their brethren; for they came with the heads of the people, before whom they went armed over Jordan, to execute the justice of the Lord upon the Canaanites, under the conduct of Joshua, to whom we afterwards find they solemnly vowed obedience, Josh. i. 12, 16. This was what they undertook to do when they had their lot assigned them, Num. xxxii. 27. This they did, Josh. iv. 12. And, when the wars of Canaan were ended, Joshua dismissed them with a blessing, Josh. xxii. 7. Note, It is a blessed and honourable thing to be helpful to our brethren in their affairs, and particularly to assist in executing the justice of the Lord by suppressing that which is provoking to him: it was this that was counted to Phinehas for righteousness.

22 And of Dan he said, Dan is a lion's whelp: he shall leap from Bashan. 23 And of Naphtali he said, O Naphtali, satisfied with favour, and full with the blessing of the Lord : possess thou the west and the south. 24 And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil. 25 Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.

Here is, I. The blessing of Dan, v. 22. Jacob in his blessing had compared him to a serpent for subtlety; Moses compares him to a lion for courage and resolution: and what could stand before those that had the head of a serpent and the heart of a lion? He is compared to the lions that leaped from Bashan, a mountain noted for fierce lions, whence they came down to leap upon their prey in the plains. This may refer either, 1. To the particular victories obtained by Samson (who was of this tribe) over the Philistines. The Spirit of the Lord began to move him in the camp of Dan when he was very young, as a lion's whelp, so that in his attacks upon the Philistines he surprised them, and overpowered them by main strength, as a lion does his prey; and one of his first exploits was the rending of a lion. Or, 2. To a more general achievement of that tribe, when a party of them, upon information brought them of the security of Laish, which lay in the furthest part of the land of Canaan from them, surprised it, and soon made themselves masters of it. See Judg. xviii. 27. And, the mountains of Bashan lying not far from that city, probably thence they made their descent upon it; and therefore are here said to leap from Bashan.

II. The blessing of Naphtali, v. 23. He looks upon this tribe with wonder, and applauds it: "O Naphtali, thou art happy, thou shalt be so, mayest thou be ever so!" Three things make up the happiness of this tribe:—1. Be thou satisfied with favour. Some understand it of the favour of men, their good-will and good word. Jacob had described this tribe to be, generally, courteous obliging people, giving goodly words, as the loving hind, Gen. xlix. 21. Now what should they get by being so? Moses here tells them they should have an interest in the affections of their neighbours, and be satisfied with favour. Those that are loving shall be beloved. But others understand it of the favour of God, and with good reason; for that only is the favour that is satisfying to the soul and puts true gladness into the heart. Those are happy indeed that have the favour of God; and those shall have it that place their satisfaction in it, and reckon that, in having that, they have enough and desire no more. 2. Be thou full with the blessing of the Lord, that is, not only with those good things that are the fruits of the blessing (corn, and wine, and oil), but with the blessing itself; that is, the grace of God, according to his promise and covenant. Those who have that blessing may well reckon themselves full: they need nothing else to make them happy. "The portion of the tribe of Naphtali" (the Jews say) "was so fruitful, and the productions so forward, though it lay north, that those of that tribe were generally the first that brought their first-fruits to the temple; and so they had first the blessing from the priest, which was the blessing of the Lord." Capernaum, in which Christ chiefly resided, lay in this tribe. 3. Be thou in possession of the sea and the south; so it may be read, that is, of that sea which shall lie south of thy lot, that was the sea of Galilee, which we so often read of in the gospels, directly north of which the lot of this tribe lay, and which was of great advantage to this tribe, witness the wealth of Capernaum and Bethsaida, which lay within this tribe, and upon the shore of that sea. See how Moses was guided by a spirit of prophesy in these blessings; for before the lot was cast into the lap he foresaw and foretold how the disposal of it would be.

III. The blessing of Asher, v. 24, 25. Four things he prays for and prophecies concerning this tribe, which carries blessedness in its name; for Leah called the father of it Asher, saying Happy am I, Gen. xxx. 13. 1. The increase of their numbers. They were now a numerous tribe, Num. xxvi. 47. "Let it be more so: Let Asher be blessed with children." Note, Children, especially children of the covenant, are blessings, not burdens. 2. Their interest in their neighbours: Let him be acceptable to his brethren. Note, It is a very desirable thing to have the love and good-will of those we live among: it is what we should pray to God for, who has all hearts in his hand; and what we should endeavour to gain by meekness and humility, and a readiness, as we have ability and opportunity, to do good to all men. 3. The richness of their land. (1.) Above ground: Let him dip his foot in oil, that is, "Let him have such plenty of it in his lot that he may not only anoint his head with it, but, if he please, wash his feet in it," which was not commonly done; yet we find our blessed Saviour so acceptable to his brethren that his feet were anointed with the most precious ointment, Luke vii. 46. (2.) Under ground: Thy shoes shall be iron and brass, that is, "Thou shalt have great plenty of these metals (mines of them) in thy own ground, which by an uncommon blessing shall have both its surface and its bowels rich:" or, if they had them not as the productions of their own country, they should have them imported from abroad; for the lot of this tribe lay on the sea-coast. The Chaldee paraphrasts understand this figuratively: "Thou shalt be strong and bright, as iron and brass." 4. The continuance of their strength and vigour: As thy days, so shall thy strength be. Many paraphrase it thus, "The strength of thy old age shall be like that of thy youth; thou shalt not feel a decay, nor be the worse for the wearing, but shalt renew thy youth; as if not thy shoes only, but thy bones, were iron and brass." The day is often in scripture put for the events of the day; and, taking it so here, it is a promise that God would graciously support them under their trials and troubles, whatever they were. And so it is a promise sure to all the spiritual seed of Abraham, that God will wisely proportion their graces and comforts to the services and sufferings he calls them out to. Have they work appointed them? They shall have strength to do it. Have they burdens appointed them? They shall have strength to bear them; and never be tempted above that they are able. Faithful is he that has thus promised, and hath caused us to hope in this promise.

26 There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky. 27 The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them. 28 Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew. 29 Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord , the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places.

These are the last words of all that ever Moses, that great writer, that great dictator, either wrote himself or had written from his dictation; they are therefore very remarkable, and no doubt we shall find them very improving. Moses, the man of God (who had as much reason as ever any mere man had to know both), with his last breath magnifies both the God of Israel and the Israel of God. They are both incomparable in his eye; and we are sure that in this his judgment of both his eye did not wax dim.

I. No God like the God of Israel. None of the gods of the nations were capable of doing that for their worshippers which Jehovah did for his: There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, v. 26. Note, When we are expecting that God should bless us in doing well for us we must bless him by speaking well of him: and one of the most solemn ways of praising God is by acknowledging that there is none like him. Now, 1. This was the honour of Israel. Every nation boasted of its god; but none had such a God to boast of as Israel had. 2. It was their happiness that they were taken into covenant with such a God. Two things he takes notice of as proofs of the incontestable pre-eminence of the God of Jeshurun above all other gods: (1.) His sovereign power and authority: He rides upon the heavens, and with the greatest state and magnificence on the skies. Riding on the heavens denotes his greatness and glory, in which he manifests himself to the upper world, and the use he makes of the influences of heaven, and the productions of the clouds, in bringing to pass his own counsels in this lower world: he manages and directs them as a man does the horse he rides on. When he has any thing to do for his people he rides upon the heavens to do it; for he does it swiftly and strongly: no enemy can either anticipate or obstruct the progress of him that rides on the heavens. (2.) His boundless eternity; he is the eternal God, and his arms are everlasting, v. 27. The gods of the heathen were but lately invented, and would shortly perish; but the God of Jeshurun is eternal: he was before all worlds, and will be when time and days shall be no more. See Hab. i. 12.

II. No people like the Israel of God. Having pronounced each tribe happy, in the close he pronounces all together very happy, so happy in all respects that there was no nation under the sun comparable to them (v. 29): Happy art thou, O Israel, a people whose God is the Lord, on that account truly happy, and none like unto thee. If Israel honour God as a non-such God, he will favour them so as to make them a non-such people, the envy of all their neighbours and the joy of all their well-wishers. Who is like unto thee, O people? Behold, thou art fair, my love, says Christ of his spouse. To which she presently returns, Behold thou art fair, my beloved. What one nation (no, not all the nations together) is like thy people Israel? 2 Sam. vii. 23. What is here said of the church of Israel and the honours and privileges of it is certainly to be applied to the church of the first-born, that are written in heaven. The Christian church is the Israel of God, as the apostle calls it (Gal. vi. 16), on which there shall be peace, and which is dignified above all societies in the world, as Israel was.

1. Never were people so well seated and sheltered (v. 27): The eternal God is thy refuge. Or, as the word signifies, "thy habitation, or mansion-house, in which thou art safe, and easy, and at rest, as a man in his own house." Every Israelite indeed is at home in God; the soul returns to him, and reposes in him as its resting-place (Ps. cxvi. 7), its hiding-place, Ps. xxxii. 7. And those that make him their habitation shall have all the comforts and benefits of a habitation in him, Ps. xci. 1. Moses had an eye to God as the habitation of Israel when they were wandering in the wilderness (Ps. xc. 1): Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations. And now that they were going to settle in Canaan they must not change their habitation; still they will need, and still they shall have, the eternal God for their dwelling-place; without him Canaan itself would be a wilderness, and a land of darkness.

2. Never were people so well supported and borne up: Underneath are the everlasting arms; that is, the almighty power of God is engaged for the protection and consolation of all that trust in him, in their greatest straits and distresses, and under the heaviest burdens. The everlasting arms shall support, (1.) The interests of the church in general, that they shall not sink, or be run down; underneath the church is that rock of ages on which it is built, and against which the gates of hell shall never prevail, Matt. xvi. 18. (2.) The spirits or particular believers, so that, though they may be oppressed, they shall not be overwhelmed by any trouble. 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 the faith from failing, even when they are pressed above measure. The everlasting covenant, and the everlasting consolations that flow from it, are indeed everlasting arms, with which believers have been wonderfully sustained, and kept cheerful in the worst of times; divine grace is sufficient for them, 2 Cor. xii. 9.

3. Never were people so well commanded and led on to battle: "He shall thrust out the enemy from before thee by his almighty power, which will make room for thee; and by a commission which will bear thee out he shall say, Destroy them." They were now entering upon a land that was in the full possession of a strong and formidable people, and who, being its first planters, looked upon themselves as its rightful owners; how shall Israel justify, and how shall they accomplish, the expulsion of them? (1.) God will give them a commission to destroy the Canaanites, and that will justify them, and bear them out in it, against all the world. He that is sovereign Lord of all lives and all lands not only allowed and permitted, but expressly commanded and appointed the children of Israel both to take possession of the land of Canaan and to put the sword to the people of Canaan, which, being thus authorized, they might not only lawfully but honourably do, without incurring the least stain or imputation of theft by the one or murder by the other. (2.) God will give them power and ability to destroy them; nay, he will in effect do it to their hands: he will thrust out the enemy from before them; for the very fear of Israel shall put them to flight. God drive out the heathen to plant his people, Ps. xliv. 2. Thus believers are more than conquerors over their spiritual enemies, through Christ that loved them. The captain of our salvation thrust out the enemy from before us when he overcame the world and spoiled principalities and powers on the cross; and the word of command to us is, "Destroy them; pursue the victory, and you shall divide the spoil."

4. Never were people so well secured and protected (v. 28): Israel shall then dwell in safety alone. Those that dwell in God, and make his name their strong tower, dwell in safety; the place of their defence is the munitions of rocks, Isa. xxxiii. 16. They shall dwell in safety alone. (1.) Though alone. Though they contract no alliances with their neighbours, nor have any reason to expect help or succour from any of them, yet they shall dwell in safety; they shall really be safe, and they shall think themselves so. (2.) Because alone. They shall dwell in safety as long as they continue pure, and unmixed with the heathen, a singular and peculiar people. Their distinction from other nations, though it made them like a speckled bird (Jer. xii. 9), and exposed them to the ill-will of those about them, yet was really their preservation from the mischief their neighbours wished them, as it kept them under the divine protection. All that keep close to God shall be kept safely by him. It is promised that in the kingdom of Christ Israel shall dwell safely, Jer. xxiii. 6.

5. Never were people so well provided for: The fountain of Jacob (that is, the present generation of that people, which is as the fountain to all the streams that shall hereafter descend and be derived from it) shall now presently be fixed upon a good land. The eye of Jacob (so it might be read, for the same word signifies a fountain and an eye) is upon the land of corn and wine, that is, where they now lay encamped they had Canaan in their eye, it was just before their faces, on the other side the river, and they would have it in their hands and under their feet quickly. This land upon which they had set their eye was blessed both with the fatness of the earth and the dew of heaven; it was a land of corn and wine, substantial and useful productions: also his heavens (as if the heavens were particularly designed to be blessings to that land) shall drop down dew, without which, though the soil were ever so good, the corn and wine would soon fail. Every Israelite indeed has his eye, the eye of faith, upon the better country, the heavenly Canaan, which is richly replenished with better things than corn and wine.

6. Never were people so well helped. If they were in any strait, God himself rode upon the heavens for their help, v. 26. And they were a people saved by the Lord, v. 29. If they were in danger of any harm, or in want of any good, they had an eternal God to go to, an almighty power to trust to; nothing could hurt those whom God helped, nor was it possible that the people should perish which was saved by the Lord. Those that are added to the gospel Israel are such as shall be saved, Acts ii. 47.

7. Never were people so well armed. God himself was the shield of their help by whom they were armed defensively, and sufficiently guarded against all assailants: and he was the sword of their excellency, by whom they were armed offensively, and made both formidable and successful in all their wars. God is called the sword of their excellency because, in fighting for them, he made them to excel other people, or because in all he did for them he had an eye to his sanctuary among them, which is called the excellency of Jacob, Ps. xlvii. 4; Ezek. xxiv. 21; Amos vi. 8. Those in whose hearts is the excellency of holiness have God himself for their shield and sword—are defended by the whole armour of God; his word is their sword, and faith in it is their shield, Eph. vi. 16, 17.

8. Never were people so well assured of victory over their enemies: They shall be found liars unto thee; That is, "shall be forced to submit to thee sorely against their will, so that it will be but a counterfeit submission; yet the point shall be gained, for thou shalt tread upon their necks" (so the LXX.), which we find done, Josh. x. 24. "Thou shalt tread down their strong-holds, be they ever so high, and trample upon their palaces and temples, though esteemed ever so sacred. If thy enemies be found liars to thee" (so some read it), "thou shalt tread upon their high places; if they will not be held by the bonds of leagues and treaties, they shall be broken by the force of war." Thus shall the God of peace tread Satan under the feet of all believers, and shall do it shortly, Rom. xvi. 20.

Now lay all this together, and then you will say, Happy art thou, O Israel! Who is like unto thee, O people! Thrice happy the people whose God is the Lord.

CHAP. XXXIII.

[non-Latin text not transcribed]

ANd this is the blessing wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the sons of Israel, before his death. And hee said, Iehovah came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; hee shined forth from mount Pharan, and hee came with ten thousands of Saints: from his right hand the fire of the Law for them. Yea, the lover of the peoples, all his Saints, are in thine hand, and they sate downe at thy feet, every one shall receive of thy words. Moses commanded us a Law, the inheritance of the Church of Iakob. And hee was in Ieshurun a King when the heads of the people gathered themselves together, the tribes of Israel.

Let Reuben live, and not die, and his men be a number.

And this (is the blessing) of Iudah: and he said, Heare, Iehovah, the voice of Iudah, and unto his people bring thou him: his hands be enough for him, and an helpe from his distressers be thou.

And of Levi he said, Thy Thummim and thy Vrim, with the man thy gracious saint, whom thou temptedst in Massah, contendedst with him at the waters of Meribah. Who said of his father, and of his mother, I respect him not, and his brethen hee acknowledgeth not, and his sonnes he knoweth not, for they observe thy saying, and keepe thy Covenant. They shall teach thy judgments unto Iakob, and thy Law unto Israel: they shall put incense in thy nostrill, and the whole burnt-sacrifice upon thine Altar. Blesse, O Iehovah, his power, and the worke of his hands favourably accept thou: smite thorow the loines of them that rise against him, and of them that hate him, that they rise not againe.

Of Benjamin he said, The beloved of Iehovah shall dwell in confident safety by him: he shall cover him all the day, and betweene his shoulders he shall dwell.

And of Ioseph hee said, Blessed of Iehovah be his land: for the precious things of the heavens, for the dew, and for the deepe that coucheth beneath. And for the precious things, the revenues of the Sunne; and for the precious things, the thrusting forth of the Moons; And for the chiefe things of the ancient mountaines; and for the precious things of the everlasting hills. And for the precious things of the earth, and the plenty thereof; and the favourable acceptation of him that dwelt in the bramble-bush, let it come on the head of Ioseph, and on the crowne of the head of the separated among his brethren. His glory (be like) the firstling of his bullock, and his hornes the hornes of an Vnicorne: with them he shall push the peoples together, to the ends of the land; and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasses.

And of Zabulon he said, Rejoyce Zabulon in thy going out, and Issachar in thy tents. They shall call the peoples to the mountaine, there they shall sacrifice the sacrifices of Iustice, 19 for they shall suck the abundance of the seas, and treasures hid in the sand.

And of Gad he said, Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad; as a couragious Lyon he dwelleth and teareth the arme with the crowne of the head. And he provided the first part for him, because there in a portion of the Law-giver was he protected; and he came with the heads of the people, he did the justice of Iehovah, and his judgments with Israel.

And of Dan he said, Dan is a renting Lions whelpe, he shall leap from Bashan.

And of Naphtali he said, Naphtali satisfied with favourable acceptation, and full with the blessing of Iehovah, possesse thou the Sea and the South.

And of Aser he said, Blessed with sons be Aser, let him be favourably accepted of his brethren, and dipping his foot in oyle. Iron and brasse thy shooes, and as thy dayes thy strength.

There is none like God, Ieshurun, who rideth upon the heavens for thy helpe, and in his excellency on the skies. The God of antiquity is thy mansion, and underneath are the armes of eternity, and he will thrust out the enemy from before thee, and will say destroy. And Israel shall dwell in confident safety alone, the fountaine of Iacob, upon a land of corne and new wine, also his heavens shall drop down deaw. O happy art thou Israel! who is like thee ô people? Saved by Iehovah the sheild of thy helpe, and whose sword is thy excellency, and thine enemies shall falsly deny unto thee, and thou shalt tread upon their high places.

Annotations. [non-Latin text not transcribed] Here beginneth the 54. and last Section, or Lecture of the Law: see Gen. 6. 9. THe man of God] which the Chaldee expoundeth, the Prophet of the Lord. So Samuel is called a man of God, 1 Sam. 9. 6, 7. and in v. 9. hee is also called a Seer, and this is added, he that is now (called) a Prophet, was before time called a Seer. So these three names are one: though a man of God is so named in respect of his divine calling to the ministerie (wherefore the minister of the New Testament is also called, a man of God, 1 Tim. 6. 11. 2 Tim. 3. 17.) a Seer is in respect of the Visions which they saw, Esay 1. 1. and a Prophet, for uttering the things seene and taught of God. See Gen. 20. 7. Exod. 7. 1. Vers. 2. from Sinai] or, as the Greeke translateth it, unto Sinai: for the Hebrew Min, which usually signifieth From, is sometime put for unto, by the interpretation of the Holy Ghost himselfe, as, from Baale of Iudah, 2 Sam. 6. 2. is by another Prophet explained to Baalah, 1 Chron. 13. 6. So the Deliverer shall come from (or out of) Sion, Rom. 11. 26. is the same that hee shall come unto Sion, Esay 59. 20. Min hashamajim, from heaven, 2 Chron. 6. 21. is El hashamajim, unto (or in) heaven, 1 King. 8. 30. Thus Mikkedem is to the East, or Eastward, Gen. 13. 11. Mitsts[illegible: 1 letter]phon is Northward, 1 Sam. 14. 5. and sundrie the like. Sinai is a mountaine in Arabia, Gal. 4. 25. where God gave his Law, Exod. 19. from (or out of) that mountaine, God came unto Israel, and (as the Chaldee interpreteth) was revealed there unto them; and from thence came with his people to conduct them towards Canaan. Or came unto Sinai, and to his people there. And this is the first chiefe blessing unto Israel, Gods Law, Tabernacle, Statutes, and Iudgments given them at Sinai: after which hee called them to journey towards the Land of promise, Deut. 2. 6, 7. rose up] as the Sunne ariseth; for of that rising the Hebrew word is properly used. The Chaldee translateth it, the brightnesse of his glory from Seir appeared unto us. So Esaias prophesying grace to the Church, saith, The glory of Iehovah is risen (as the Sunne) upon thee. And of the heavenly Ierusalem which Christ hath built, it is said, The Citie hath no need of the Sunne, neither of the Moone to shine in it; for the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lambe is the light thereof, Rev. 21. 23. from Seir] the mountaine of the Edomites, Deut. 2. 4. 5. As Israel compassed Edoms land, they were stung with fiery serpents for their murmuring: then God appointed the Brazen serpent (a figure of Christ) to be set up to heale them, Num. 21 4.—9. And here was a second degree of grace, whereby God shined unto them, as he doth unto us by his Gospell, after wee have beene under the Schoolemaster of his Law, Rom. 7. 4,—25. Gal. 3. 23, 24, 26. unto them] or, unto him, meaning Israel; therefore the Chaldee expoundeth it, unto us. shined forth] or, shined bright and cleare, as the Sunne shineth in his strength. This word is used for the cleare manifestation of Gods power, in saving his people, or punishing their enemies, Psal. 82. and 94. 1. and 50. 2. The Greeke here translateth, hee hastened from mount Pharan; the Chaldee, hee was revealed in his might upon mount Paran. Pharan] or Paran, the name of a mount, and of the wildernesse of the Ismaelites, Gen. 21. 21. thorow which Israel travelled, Num. 10. 12. Neere it, Moses by the Spirit of God explained the law more cleerly, & repeated this booke of Deuteron. Deut. 1. 1, &c. So the Prophet after speaketh, the Holy one (came) from mount Pharan Selah, Habak. 3. 3. Some of the Hebrewes understand these things otherwise thus, Hee rose up from Seir unto them, that is, to the sonnes of Esan, that they might receive the Law, but they would not. From thence hee went to the sonnes of Ismael, that they might receive it, but they would not. And then he came unto Israel. R. Sol. Iarchi on Deut. 33. So Ionathan in his Thargum on this place, and R. Eliezer in Pirkei, chap. 41. But unto us it sheweth the third degree of Gods grace, who after wee are come unto Christ by faith, doth sanctifie us by his Spirit, informing us in his truth and waies, and so prepareth us to enter into his heavenly rest, as by Moses he prepared Israel to enter into the Land of Canaan, Rom. 8. 2, 3,—11. Gal. 3. 2, 14. and 4. 6. and 5. 16, 18, of Saints] Hebr. of sanctitie; meaning spirits of sanctity, which Ionathan in his Thargum expoundeth, holy Angels. So Stephen saith, that Israel received the Law by thy disposition of Angels, Act. 7. 53. and Paul calleth the Law, the word spoken by Angels, Heb. 2. 2. So wee by grace in Christ are come to ten thousands of Angels, Heb. 12. 22. which are all ministring spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall bee heires of salvation, Heb. 1. 14. Compare Psal. 68. 18. Or by Saints wee may understand the Israelites, (as in v. 3.) with whom, or for whom God came from Sinai. from his right hand] to wit, went, or, at his right hand was. the fire of the Law] or, of the ordinance; Hebr. Esh dath (of which word Dath, the Greekes borrowed their word Tatto, to order, or ordaine the Legall fire, or the fiery Law) and it is so called, because the Lord spake those words out of the midst of the fine, Deut. 5. 22. and to shew the nature and effect of the Law, which is like fire, Ier. 23. 29. The Greeke translateth it, Angels Angels with him: the Chaldee thus, his right hand wrote out of the midst of fire, the Law he gave unto us. Answerable to this Legall fire is that fire of the Law of the Spirit, which was given with cloven tongues like fire, Act. 2. 3, 4. The Hebrewes say by tradition, that the Law appeared, written with blacke fire upon white fire, before the Lord. R. Moses Gerundens. and Sol. Iarchi on Deut. 33. which seemeth to be either mysticall or fabulous. Vnto us the fire of the Law is the Spirit of God, whiles wee being baptized with the holy Spirit, and with fire, Matth. 3. 11. are by the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Iesus, made free from the Law of sinne and death, Rom. 8. 2. Vers. 3. Yea the lover of the peoples] that is, yea (or certainly) hee loveth, or thou (O God) lovest the peoples, or protectest them. The Hebrew Chobeb signifieth a loving embracing, or hiding, as in the bosome; and so implyeth Love and Protection. And the peoples are meant of the tribes of Israel, as in Iudg. 5. 14. after thee Benjamin, among thy peoples; and in Act. 4. 27. the peoples of Israel. The Greeke translateth, And he spared his people: the Chaldee, yea, he loved them for tribes, that is, of his love chose and disposed them to be tribes. It may imply also the strangers converted unto God. And now in Christ there is neither Iew nor Greeke, neither bond nor free, for we are all one in him, Gal. 3. 28. all his Saints that is, the Saints of Israel, as the Chaldee expoundeth, all the Saints of the house of Israel. Or, the Saints of God, as in Psal. 34. 10. Feare Iehovah yee his Saints. So his Saints may be used for thy Saints; as his commandements, Dan. 9. 4. for thy commandements: see the notes on Deut. 5. 10. in thine hand] in thy power and custody, under thy guidance, care, and protection. Hand is often for power: so the Chaldee here translateth, with power hee brought them out of Egypt: and in the hand, is under the guidance and direction, Num. 4. 28, 33. so the Greeke here translateth, and all the sanctified ones are under thine hand. It noteth the safety of Gods people, as Christ saith of his sheepe, none shall plucke them out of mine hand, my Father which gave them mee is greater than all, and none is able to pluck them out of my fathers hand, Ioh. 10. 28, 29. sate downe] or, were set downe, were joyned: the Hebrew word T[illegible: 1 span] here used, is not found else-where; but after the Arabik, it signifieth to sit downe; and the Greeke word Thake[illegible: 1 letter] to sit, seemeth to bee borrowed of it. And it hath reference here to the Israelites, abiding at the foot of mount Sinai, to receive the Law, Exod. 19. and to the manner of Disciples sitting at their Masters feet, to bee taught; as Paul saith, hee was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, Act. 22. 3. The Greeke translateth, and they are under thee: the Chaldee, and they were led under thy cloud; respecting the guidance of Israel thorow the wildernesse, Num. 10. [illegible: 1 letter]1, 12. Other Hebrewes refer it to the peoples comming into the Sanctuary, to learne Gods commandements, for that is called the footstoole of his feet, (Psalme 99. 5. Ezek. 43. 7.) Chazkuni on Deut. 33. every one shall receive] or, hee (speaking of the people) shall receive: which the Greeke translateth, he received: the Chaldee, they received. Vers. 4. Moses commanded us] these are the words of the people, therefore Ionathan in his Thargum prefixeth, The sonnes of Israel said, Moses commanded, &c. The Law was first and properly of God; but being given by Moses ministery, it is called The Law of the Lord by the hand of Moses, 2 Chron. 34. 14. and thereupon the Law of Moses, 2 King. 14. 6. La[illegible: 1 letter]. 24. 44. Ioh. 7. 23. 1. Cor. 9. 9. And the particular things commanded of God in the Law, are said to bee commanded by Moses, Mar. 1. 44. and 10. [illegible: 1 word]. The Scripture it selfe openeth this phrase, for that which in 2 King. 21. 8. is written, Moses commanded them, is in 2 Chron. 33. 8. expounded, by the hand of Moses. inheritance] or, possession, to have and enjoy it to them and their posterity, as a thing of worth and excellency. Hereupon David saith, Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever, for they are the joy of mine heart, Psal. 119. 111. So men are said to inherit the premises, Heb. 6. 12. to inherit the blessing, Heb. 12. 17. 1 Pet. 3. 9. to inherit eternall life and salvation, Mat. 19. 29. Heb. 1. 14. the Church] or congregation; in Greeke, the Synagogue of Iakob, that is, of the posterity of Iakob, the twelve tribes; as Ionathan in his Thargum saith, The Church of the tribes of Iakob. Vers. 5. he was] Moses was in Iesurun a King; which the Greeke translateth, a Prince. So the Hebrewes (as Chazkuni on this place) say, Moses was the King: and Maimony in Misn. in Beth habchirah, chap. 6. sect. 11. Moses our master was a King. So Princes are called Kings, in Psal. 105. 30. Ier. 19. 3. Or it may be understood of God himselfe, that hee was their King, as 1 Sam. 12. 12. Ieshurun] in the Chaldee, Israel; see Deut. 32. 15. the heads] that is, the chiefe, the Governours, together with the people, as was at the giving of the Law, Exod. 19. 7,—17. Vers. 6. Let Reuben live] the Chaldee addeth, to life eternall. This blessing may respect Reubens sinne with his fathers Concubine, for which hee lost his birthright of his father, Gen. 35. 22. and 49. 4. and the sinne of the Princes of that tribe, which rebelled with Korah, Num. 16. 1. &c. But mercy is here promised in Christ, that hee should live before God among his brethren. So hee went armed before them against the Canaanites, Ios. 4. 12. and not die] the Chaldee expounds it, and let him not die the second death; (by which name the Scripture calleth eternall damnation, Revel. 20. 6. 14.) So Ionathan in his Thargum paraphraseth, Let Reuben live in this world, and not die with the death wherewith the wicked shall die in the world that is to come. It is very vsuall in the Scripture, to set downe things of importance and earnestnesse, by affirmation of the one part, and deniall of the other; as in Esay 38. 1. thou shalt dye and not live, Num. 4. 14. that they may live & not die, Ps. 118. 17. I shall not dye but live, Gen. 43. [illegible: 1 word]. that wee may live and not die, Ier. 20. 14. Cursed bee the day, &c. Let not that day be blessed, 1 Ioh. 2. 27. it is true, and is not lying, 1 Ioh. 2. 4. he is a lyar, and the truth is not in him, Ioh. 1. 20. he confessed and denied not, 1 Sam. 1. 11. and remember mee, and not forget thine handmaid, Deut. 9. 7. Remember, forget not, Deut. 32. 7. O people foolish, and not wise; and many the like. a number] by a number may be understood few: as in Deut. 4. 27. Gen. 34 30. men of number is a few men, so one numbred; and in Esay 10. 19. a number meaneth few; and then the former deniall not, is againe to bee repeated to this sense, and his men be not few in number. Examples of such understanding the word not are shewed in the Annotations upon Num. 4. 15. Otherwise, by a number is meant a great number; as the Greeke translateth, many in number. Onkelos the Chaldee Paraphrast expoundeth it, and let his sonnes receive their inheritance by their number: and Ionathan paraphraseth, Let his young men bee numbred with the young men of his brethren of the house of Israel. Vers. 7. the blessing of Iudah] the word blessing is to be understood from v. 1. And Ionathan in his Thargum supplieth it. So doth the Scripture often, as in 1 King. 22. 24. which way went the spirit? the word way is supplied from 2 Chron. 18. 23. and sundry the like, as is noted on Ger. 4. 20. and 24. 33. Here Iudah the fourth brother is in the second place, for the honour of the kingdome which was to be in this tribe, Gen. 4. 9. and hee marched formost of all the tribes, Num. 10. 14. so he is set before Levi here, (as he is also by his precious stone, in Revel. 21. 19.) Simeon his name is quite omitted in this blessing, for by his sinne of old hee lost his honour, and was to be scattered in Israel, Gen. 49. 5. 7. and his posterity for their sinne in the wildernesse were greatly diminished, that being at the first muster fifty nine thousand and three hundred men, Num. 1. he was at the latter muster but twenty two thousand and two hundred, Num. 26. 14. Neither were there any Iudges of his tribe, as God raised up of sundry others, Iudg. 2. 16. &c. Yet forasmuch as Simeons inheritance was in the midst of the inheritance of the sonnes of Iudah, Ios. 19. 1. and he went with his brother Iudah to fight against the Canaanites, Iudg. 1. 3. it is thought that his blessing was implied in Iudahs; and so Ionathan in his Thargum coupleth Simeon with Iudah, in this place. Howbeit the Greeke in many copies joyne Simeon with Reuben in the former blessing thus; Let Reuben live and not die, and let Simeon be many in number. the voice] when he praieth, as the Chaldee translateth, Receive, O Lord, the praier of Iudah, when hee goeth forth to warre. This blessing is to bee compared with Iakobs, who likeneth Iudah to a Lions whelpe, gone up from the prey, &c. Gen. 49. 9. and it had accomplishment in David, who was of Iudah, and a fighter of the Lords battels; in which hee often praied, as his Psalmes testifie. Likewise in Abijah and the Iewes against Israel, 2 Chron. 13. 14,—18. in Asa, warring against the Ethiopians, 2 Chron. 14. 11, 12, 13. in Iehosaphat fighting against the Ammonites, 2 Chron. 20. 5, 6,—18. in Ezekias against the Assyrians, 2 Chron. 32. 20, 21, 22. and others. But chiefly in Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Iudah, Revel. 5. 5. him God did heare alwaies, Ioh. 11. 42. bring thou him] the Chaldee addeth, in peace; and Thargum Ionathan addeth, from the battell in peace. This had accomplishment, as otherwise, so in Davids returne to his people and kingdome, 2 Sam. 19. 11,—15. and Christs returne unto Israel, whereof see Rom. 11. 26,—31. be enough for him] when he fighteth, as God taught Davids hands to warre, and his fingers to fight, Psalme 144. 1. and girded him with strength to battell, 2 Sam. 22. 35, 40. The Greek translateth, judge for him; the Chald. execute vengeance for him on them that hate him. So in Gen. 49. 8. thine hand (Iudah) shall bee in the necke of thine enemies. be thou] for by his owne strength no man shall prevaile, 1 Sam. 2. 9. Therefore David often acknowledged God to be his helper, Psal. 28. 7. and 40. 17. and 54. 4. and 63. 7. and 118. 7. &c. Vers. 8. of Levi] or, unto Levi, that is, the tribe or posterity of Levi: as in Thargum Ionathan it is said, And Moses the Prophet blessed the tribe of Levi, and said. thy Thummim and thy Vrim] by interpretation, thy perfections and thy Lights: these were mysteries put into the high Priests brest-plate; whereof see the Annotations on Exod. 28. 30. so they signifie here the graces and office of the Priesthood, which was committed to Aaron and his seed, till Christ came, who had the Priest-hood for ever, after a more excellent order, Heb. 6. 20. And the speech here may bee directed unto God, who gave these mysteries to the Priest: and so the Chald. explaineth it, Thummim & Vrim thou didst put upon the man that was found holy before thee: and Sol. Iarchi saith, Hee speaketh as to the Majestie of God. Or it may be spoken to the tribe of Levi, who had the Vrim and Thummim among them, but appropriate to one mā only, who was the high Priest, a figure of Christ. with the man] understand, be with the man, or, to the man, that is, they belong to him, with him they are, and so let them remaine. thy gracious saint] thy mercifull, pious, or holy one; or, of thy holy one: which title is given to God himselfe, (Ier. 3. 12.) to Christ, (Psal. 16. 10. with Act. 13. 35, 36, 37.) and to all godly men (Psal. 149. 5.) And here referring it to Aaron, or to Christ, the man thy holy one, may meane one thing, thy holy man, (as a man a Prince, in Exod. 2. 14.) or, if wee read it, the man of thine holy one, it is meant the man of God: and in Psal. 106. 16. Aaron is called the Saint of the LORD. temptedst] or triedst. This word is sometime spoken of God, as hee tempted Abraham, Gen. 22. 1. and the Israelites in the wildernesse, Deut. 8. 2, 15, 16. Sometime of men who are said to have tempted God and Christ, Exod. 17. 2. 1 Cor. 10. 9. in Massah] or, in the temptation; a place so called because there Israel tempted God, Exod. 17. 7. or, with temptation, and so it is no propet name. contendedst] or strive[illegible: 1 letter]st, pleadedst: this also is sometime spoken of God, whose contending with men, is the blaming and punishing of them, Esay 49. 25. Iob 10. 2. Ier. 2. 9. sometime of mens contending, as Israel did with the Lord at the waters of Meribah (or of Contention) Numb. 20. 13. By reason of this diversuse of these words, the understanding of this blessing is also divers, thus; Thy Thummim and thy Vrim (O God) be with the man thy gracious Saint, (Aaron and his seed) whom thou temptedst with tentation; contendedst with him (for his sinne) at the waters of Meribah, Num. 20. 12, 13. Or, thy Thummim and thy Vrim (O Levi) bee with (Aaron and his seed) the man of thy gracious (God) whom thou (with the other Israelites) temptedst in Massah, &c. Exod. 17. 2. Numb. 20. Or thus, Thy Thummim and thy Vrim (O Levi) is with (or [illegible: 1 letter]e longs unto) the man thy gracious Saint (Christ Iesus) whom thou temptedst in Massah, &c. 1 Cor. 10. 9. In this last sense, the weaknesse of the Leviticall Priesthood is implied, which kept not Vrim and Thummim, but lost them at the captivity of Babylon, Ezra 2. 63. and it is not knowne that they ever had them more, untill by Christ (our High Priest after the order of Melchisedek) they were restored by the Light and Truth of the Gospell. The Chaldee interpreteth it in Aarons or Levies praise, Thummim and Vrim thou didst put upon the man (or cloathedst with them the man) that was found holy before thee, whom thou tem ptedst with tentation, and hee was perfect; thou provedst him at the waters of contention, and hee was found faithfull. This may seeme not well to accord with the history in Num. 20. touching Aarons person: yet the Hebrews (as Sol. Iarchi on this place) say of the Levites, that they murmured not with the other murmurers. And of Levi God saith by his Prophet, My covenant was with him, life and peace, and I gave them to him for the feare where with he feared mee, &c. Mal. 2. 5. And againe, They kept his testimonies and the ordinance that hee gave them, Psal. 99. 7. The Greeke translateth, And of Levi hee said, Give yee Levi his Manifest-ones and his Truth, (that is, his Vrim and his Thummim) to the holy man whom they tempted in tentation, they reviled him at the water of Contradiction. This interpretation may well bee applied unto Christ also, as before is shewed. Vers. 9. who saith] or, who said. of his] or, unto his father, &c. I respect him not] I see not, or, looke not upon him. The Greeke translateth, That saith to his father and to his mother, I have not seene (or, I respect not) thee. This is meant either of the Priests continuall duty, who by the Law, if his father, mother, brother, or child did die, hee might not mourne for them, but carry himselfe as if hee did not respect, know, or care for them; as is said of the High Priest, that was anointed and cloathed with the ornaments, and had Vrim and Thummim upon his heart; for his father or for his mother he shall not bee defiled, neither shall hee goe out of the Sanctuary, &c. Levit. 21. 11, 12. Neither might Aaron mourne for his sonnes, or E[illegible: 2 letters]azar and Ithamar for their brethren Nadab and Abihu that were slaine, neither might they goe out from the doore of the Tabernacle, on paine of death, Lev. 10. 2,—7. For God would have them more to regard their function, and duty in his service, than any naturall affection whatsoever. And herein Christ was figured, (unto whom this blessing chiefly belongeth) who when hee was told, that his mother and his brethren stood without to speake with him, hee answered, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? &c. whosoever shall doe the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother, Mat. 12. 46,—50. This may also have reference to the Levites fact, who being commanded or Moses, killed every man his brother, friend, neighbour, and sonne, that had sinned in making and worshipping the golden Calfe, & so filled their hand (or consecrated themselves) unto the LORD, that hee might give upon them a blessing, Exod. 32. 26,—29. acknowledgeth not] or, acknowledged not: the first respecteth the Law, Lev. 21. the other their fact, Exod. 32. To this latter the Chaldee referreth it, translating thus, Who had no compassion on his father, or on his mother, when they were guilty of judgement; and accepted not the faces (or persons) of his brother, or of his sonne. his sonnes] or, his sonne, that is, any of his sonnes or children: see the notes on Deut. 2. 33. knoweth not] or, knew not. Here knowledge is used for care or regard, as in Iob 9. 21. knowing is opposed to disposing; and in 1 Thess. 5. 12. know them which labour among you, that is, regard them: and in Prov. 12. 10. a righteous man knoweth (that is, regardeth, or hath care of) the life of his beast. for they observe] that is, by Law are bound to observe, Levit. 21. or, they have observed in their practise, Exod. 32. The Greeke translateth it singularly, He hath observed thine oracles, and kept thy covenant. Vers. 10. They shall teach] or, Let them teach. As in v. 8. hee mentioned their gifts and calling, in v. 9. their sanctification; so here he teacheth their administration in the Word, Praier, and other ministeriall duties. For it is said, They shall teach my people (the difference) between the holy and prophane, and cause them to discerne betweene the uncleane and the cleane; and in controversie they shall stand in judgment, and they shall judge it according to my judgments &c. Ezek. 44. 23, 24. Compare also Levit. 10. 11. Deut. 17. 9, 10, 11. and 24. 8. and the commendation which God giveth of Levi, in Mal. 2. 6, 7. The Law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: hee walked with mee in peace and equity, and did turne many away from iniquity. For the Priests lips should keepe knowledge, and they should seeke the Law at his mouth, for hee is the Angell of the LORD of Hosts. unto Iakob] by Iakob and Israel, are meant, all the posterity of Iakob, and the weake with the strong: for the Church in respect of her infirmity is called Iakob, Amos 7. 2. 5. 8. and for her valour by faith is surnamed Israel: see the Annotations on Gen. 32. 28. Thus Christ commanded Peter to feed both his Lambes and his Sheepe, Ioh. 21. 15, 16. incense] the sweet perfume which the Priests burnt daily upon the golden Altar; a figure of Christs mediation with the praiers of the Saints, Revel. 8. 3. 4. See the notes on Exod. 30. This was the peculiar worke of the Priests, wherefore it is written, It pertaineth not unto the Vzziah, to burne incense unto the Lord, but to the Priests, the sonnes of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense, 2 Chron. 26. 18. in thy nostrill] or nose, that is, before the[illegible: 1 letter]; or, as the Greeke translateth, in thine anger: for the Hebrew Aph signifieth both Nose and Anger: and both agree well with the Priests worke; for when God in anger sent a plague among the people, Aaron put incense in his censor, and made attonement for the people, so the plague was staied, Num. 16. 46, 47, 48. the whole burnt-offering] Hebr. the Calil; whe[illegible: 1 letter]eof see Lev. 6. 22, 23. the Greeke here translateth it the continuall (oblation.) Hereby all other sacrifices are meant, which the Priests offered on the Lords Altar, Levit. 1. and 2. and 3. wherein the worke of Christ, offering himselfe for his Church, was figured. Vers. 11. his power] so the Greeke translateth, his strength; By power, is meant sometime an army of men, as Ezek. 37. 10. so here the first praier is for a blessing upon the persons which administred, that they might bee increased and strengthened in number and in knowledge. Wherefore the company of Levites is called an host or armie, Num. 4. 3. &c. In this sense Maimony (in treat. of the Release and Iubile, chap. 13. sect. 12.) expoundeth it, saying, The Levites are separated from the waies of the world, they wage not warre like the other Israelites, neither have they inheritance, &c. but they are the power (or armie) of God, as it is written, Blesse Lord his power. Sometime by power, riches and substance is meant, as in Deut. 8. 18. and so the Chaldee expoundeth it here. For whereas Levi had no inheritance among the tribes, but had the Lord, and his first-fruits, tithes, and offerings for their inheritance and livelihood, Num. 18. 20. 21. &c. Moses praieth for a blessing on this meanes of theirs. worke of his hands] all his administration, in doctrine, burning incense, sacrificing, &c. Compare Ezek. 43. 27. that rise against him] as Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, that rose up against Moses and Aaron, were all destroyed with their assistants, Num. 16. Vers. 12. Of Benjamin] or, Vnto Benjamin, who is blessed here before the other Tribes, and before his elder brother Ioseph, because the lot of his inheritance was betweene the sonnes of Iudah and the sonnes of Ioseph; and Ierusalem (where the Levites after administred in the Temple) belonged to Benjamin, Ios. 18. 11. 28. And in the heavenly Ierusalem (the Church of Christ) the first foundation is a Iasper, which was Benjamins stone, Rev. 21. 19. Exod. 28. 30. And when the other Tribes fell away from the Kingdome of Iudah, and Priesthood of Levi, Benjamin continued with them in the truth, 2 Chron. 11. 1. 3. 12, 13. Beloved] meaning the tribe of Benjamin, who as their father was beloved of Iakob, Gen. 44. 20. 22. 29. 30. so his posterity should be beloved of the Lord. shall dwell] or praier-wise, let him dwell. inconfident safety] that is, boldly, securely, safely. by him] by the Lord, who would tender this little tribe, as Iakob tendered Benjamin, whom he kept at home with him, Gen. 42. 4. So Benjamins posterity dwelt in Ierusalem and the coasts thereabout, by the Temple of God. hee shall cover him] or let him, meaning God, cover him: so the Greeke translateth, God overshadoweth him. The word meaneth a covering or protection from evill, as in Esay 4. 6. The Chaldee expoundeth it, he shall be a shield over him. all the day] or, every day; in Greeke, all daies, that is, continually and for ever. his shoulders] that is, Benjamins; & by shoulders are meant the coasts of his land, as Num. 34. 11. the shoulder of the sea of Chinnereth is the side or coast thereof. So this is a prophesie, that the temple (wherein God dwelt amongst his people) should be builded in Benjamins lot, and in the head or chiefe citie, which was Ierusalem. he shall] that is, God shall dwell: so the Chaldee translateth, and in his land the divine Majestie shall dwell. And when God had chosen mount Sion for his habitation, he said, This is my rest for ever, here will I dwell, Psal. 132. 14. Vers. 13. of Ioseph] or, unto Ioseph. Hee is next blessed, because the first birthright was derived unto him, 1 Chron. 5. 2. And his posterity were many and great in Israel, Ios. 17. 14,—18. his land] Iosephs inheritance in Canaan. And as the Land which the Lord curseth, yeeldeth not fruit, or bringeth forth thornes and briars, Gen. 4. 11, 12. and 3. 17, 18. so the land which hee blesseth, bringeth forth much and good increase, Psal. 65. 10,—14. The Hebrewes say, There was not of all the inheritance of the tribes, a land so full of all good things as Iosephs was. Sol. Iarchion Deut. 33. for the precious things] or, with dainty fruits. Of this word, see the Annotations on Gen. 24. 53. of the heavens] which God by the influences and moisture of the heaven and aire causeth the land to bring forth. And these were figures of spirituall blessings in heavenly things by Christ, whereby the barren nature of man is made fruitfull. for the dew] or, by the dew, and raine which maketh the earth to fructifie. So Isaac blessing Iakob, said, God give thee of the dew of the heavens, Gen. 27. 28. On the contrary, David said for a curse, yee mountaines of Gilboa, let there bee no dew, neither let there be raine upon you, 2 Sam. 1. 21. that coucheth beneath] or, that lieth under; whence waters spring out of the earth: so the Greeke translateth, of the deepes of the fountaines beneath. Likewise the Chaldee, for the welling fountaines and deepes that proceed from the deepe places of the earth beneath. See Gen. 7. 11. and Deut. 8. 7. This is another meane of fruitfulnesse, as in Ezek. 31. 4. The waters made him great, the deepe set him up on high, with her rivers running about his plants. And with this blessing Iakob blessed Ioseph, in Gen. 49. 25. but Moses here inlargeth it. Vers. 14. the revenues] that is, the fruits which by the warmth of the Sunne are brought forth. It is said by the Hebrews, that Iosephs land lay open to the Sunne, which made the fruits sweet. Sol. Iarchi on Deut. 33. the thrusting forth of the Moones] that is, fruits which every Moone thrusteth forth, or causeth to grow every moneth: for all fruits grew not at once; in one moneth they gathered summer fruits, in another Olives, in the third Dates, saith Chazkuni; and Sol. Iarchi addeth, There are some fruits which the Moone ripeneth, as Cucumbers, and Gourds. As the Sunne by warmth, so the Moone by moisture maketh the earth fruitfull. Vers. 15. chiefe things] Hebr. the head, that is, principall; the Greeke translateth it, the top of the mountaines. There fruits are first ripe. ancient mounts] Hebr. mountaines of antiquity, or, of prioritie, which were from the beginning: so after, hills of eternity, that is, everlasting hills; which are so called, because they are unmoveable and lasting, have beene from the beginning, and shall continue to the end of the world; or because of their continuall fruitfulnesse. So in Habak. 3. 6. Compare this with Iakobs blessing, Gen. 49. 26. Iosephs heritage in Canaan had many fertile mountaines and hills often mentioned, as Mount Ephraim, Iudg. 17. 1. the mountaines of Samaria, Amos 3. 9. and 4. 1. and 6. 1. Vers. 16. the plenty thereof] all creatures that fill the same, Psal. 24. 1. the favourable acceptation] or, the good will, favour. The Greeke translateth, and the things acceptable unto him that appeared in the Bramble-bush: the Chaldee thus, and the good will of him whose dwelling is in heaven, and unto Moses he appeared in the Bramble-bush. of him that dwelt] or, of my dweller, that is, of my God that dwelt in the bramble, that is, God wth appeared unto Moses there, Ex. 3. 2. where the Angel Christ appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bramble-bush, which burned, but was not consumed: a figure of Christs presence with his people in afflictions, that they perish not in them. let it] that is, let this blessing come, or, it shall come; the Greeke saith, let them come; the Chaldee, let all these things come: and the originall word come, implieth an abundant and speedy comming. Compare Gen. 49. 26. from whence Moses taketh this blessing. the crowne of the head] whereby is meant an open, apparant, and plentifull powring out of these blessings, as the like phrase is used also in curses, Psal. 7. 17. the separated among his brethren] or, the Nazirite of his brethren, meaning Ioseph, who was separated and exempted to be a choise and chiefe man among his brethren: as the Greeke translateth it, the honoured (or glorified) among his brethren: see the notes on Gen. 49. 26. So Chazkuni here explaineth it, Ioseph that was prince of all his brethren. Vers. 17. His glorie] or, Hee hath glory (or beauty, comelinesse) like his first-borne bullocke. The Chaldee expounds it, The chiefe of his sonnes, his glory, &c. And Chazkuni applieth it to Iosua, The first King which the holy blessed (God) chose him of Iosephs seed, was Iosua, &c. and a king is likened to a bullocke, which is king of beasts. hornes] which signifie strength, and glory, and kingdome, Psal. 75. 5, 11. and 112. 9. and 89. 18. 25. Luk. 1. 69. whereupon hornes are used to denote kings, Dan. 8. Revel. 17. of an Vnicorne] that is, of Vnicornes, the singular put for the plurall: it is a beast which will not be tamed, Iob 39. 9, 10, 11. See the notes on Num. 23. 22. push] in Chaldee, kill. So in Psal. 44. 6. ends of the land] or, of the earth, to wit, the land of Canaan, for Iosua with his hornes and armies conquered all that land. and they.] the hornes formentioned. So Chazkuni on this place saith, the hornes are the ten thousands of Ephraim, &c. And here he giveth to Ephraim the yonger, ten thousands, & to Manasseh the elder but thousands, according to Iakobs prophesie, that Ephraim should be greatest, Gen. 48. 19. and so was his increase greater than his brothers, in Num. 1. 33. 35. though in the last mustering of them, and now when Moses blessed them, the men of Manasseh were many moe than of Ephraim, Num. 26. 34. 37. See the notes on Gen. 48. 19. The ten thousands of Ephraim, are referred to Iosua and his men that conquered Canaan; the thousands of Manasses, to Gedeon and his men, (Iudg. 7.) by Sol. Iarchi, on Deut. 33. Vers. 18. of Zabulon] or, to Zabulon; and with him he joyneth Issachar his brother, (both sonnes of Lea,) as partner of his blessing. So these two joyned in one, and the foure next (the sonnes of the handmaids;) are set and blessed together next after Ioseph. And it is a tradition of the Hebrewes, that these five, Zabulon, Gad, Dan, Naphtali and Aser, were those five mentioned in Gen. 47. 2. when Ioseph tooke of his brethren five men, and presented them before Pharaoh. Sol. Iarchi on Deut. 33. and Thargum Ionathan on Gen. 47. 2. Rejoyce Zabulon] that is, God so blesse thee, as thou maist have cause to rejoyce in thy prosperitie. thy going out] to trade in merchandise by shipping; for Zabulon, by Iakobs blessing, was to dwell at the haven of the Seas, &c. Gen. 49. 13. so here Moses blesseth him with good successe in his traffique, or going out to warres, as Gen. 14. 8. 2 Sam. 11. 1. and so the Chaldee here expoundeth it, in thy going out to warre against thine enemies. And in Iudg. 5. 18. Zabulon is commended for jeoparding their lives unto the death, in the high places of the field. and Issachar] to wit, rejoyce thou also. Issachar was elder brother to Zabulon, Gen. 30. 18. 20. yet Iakob blessed Zabulon first, Gen. 49. 13, 14. and so doth Moses here; and God in parting their inheritance preferreth Zabulon, giving him the third lot, and Issachar the fourth, Ios. 19. 10. 17. in thy tents] that is, in thy dwelling at rest, or tarrying at home; for so the remaining in tents, is opposed unto going forth to warres, or traffique, or hunting abroad, Ios. 22. 4. Iudg. 7. 8. and 5. 24. Gen. 25. 27. And tent is often used for ones home, house or citie; as, the tents of Iakob, Mal. 2. 12. where the Chaldee translateth, the cities of Iakob: so these tents of Issachar, meane his quiet life at home, differing from Zabulons going abroad to trade. Chazkuni (on this place) noteth, that Issachars land was good to sow, and hee sate in tents to keepe his fields; and Moses prayeth that hee might prosper and rejoyce in his fields. And so Iakob said unto him (in Gen. 49. 14.) couching betweene two bounds; betweene the limits, to keepe his fields. The Chaldee translateth, and Issachar in thy going to appoint the times of the solemne feasts in Israel: having reference to that which is written in 1 Chron. 12. 32. of the sonnes of Issachar, that had understanding for the times, to know what Israel ought to doe, &c. which some of the Hebrewes understand of the times and seasons of the yeare, new moones, and feasts. So Sol. Iarchi here expoundeth it, and Issachar, prosper in thy sitting in tents, for the Law, sitting and making intercalation of the years, & appointing the new moones; as it is said (in 1 Chron. 12. 32.) And of the sonnes of Issachar, that knew understanding for the times, &c. the heads of them were 200. they were heads of the Counsell, imployed hereabouts &c. Vers. 19. They shall call] or, let them call, and so shew their thankfulnesse to God, by inviting others to Gods house, and shewing them a good example, by their owne frequenting the Lords mountaine. the mountaine] mount Sion, where Moses by the Spirit, foresaw Gods Temple should be builded. The Chaldee paraphraseth, They shall gather the tribes of Israel to the mountaine of the house of the Sanctuarie. Though by peoples the Gentiles also may be implied, whom they having occasion to trade with, should provoke to true religion, as in Esai. 2. 2, 3. All nations shal flow unto it, and many people shall goe and say, Come yee, and let us goe up to the mountaine of the house of the Lord, &c. of justice] that is, just, righteous and acceptable sacrifices, offered in faith, according to Gods Law: as the way of justice, is a just and righteous way, Matt. 21. 32. So David exhorteth, Sacrifice yee the sacrifices of justice, and trust unto Iehovah, Psal. 4. 6. the abundance] in Greeke, the riches of the Sea; which the Chaldee expoundeth, they shall [illegible: 1 letter]at the riches of the peoples: taking seas figuratively for peoples, as is often in the Prophets. So in Esay 60. 5. 16. The abundance of the sea shall bee converted unto thee, &c. & thou shalt also sucke the milke of the Gentiles. treasures hid in the sand] or, hidden treasures of the sand. The Greeke translateth, the merchandise of the nations, that dwell by the sea coast. Vers. 20. inlargeth Gad] this may be understood of Gads inheritance, which the blessed God would inlarge, as he promised Israel, I will inlarge thy border, Exod 34. 24. Or understood of his person, and then his inlarging is his deliverance out of distresse, as in Psal. 4. 2. thou hast inlarged mee, when I was in distresse. So it hath reference to Gads troubles, prophesied in Gen. 49. 19. see the Annotations there; and the historie of Gads inlargement by Iephthah, in Iudg. 11. a couragious Lion] see this word in Gen. 49. 9. There were of the Gadites in Davids time mighty warriers, whose faces were like the faces of Lions, and were as swift as the Roes upon the mountaines, 1 Chron. 12. 8. the arme] this noteth strength, as the crowne of the head, principalitie; meaning that none should be so strong or excellent, but Gad should overcome them. The Greeke translateth, hee shall breake the arme and the Ruler: the Chaldee, he shall kill rulers with kings. This may have reference both to his warres in subduing the Canaanites, going armed before his brethren, Ios. 1. 12, 13, 14. and to that famous victorie which he got over the Hagarims, 1 Chron. 5. 18, 19, 21, 22. as also to the couragious acts of Iehu, 1 King. 9. and 10. chapters. Vers. 21. he provided the first part for him] or, as the Greeke translateth, he saw his first-fruits: or, he provided in the beginning (at the first) for himselfe. Gad, with Reuben, saw the Land of Iazer and Gilead, that it was a place for cattell; and the sonnes of Gad and of Reuben asked of Moses and of the Princes, that the land might be given them for a possession, Num. 32. 1,—5. It may also bee understood of the Lord, that he provided this first portion for Gad; or, that Gad himselfe saw, that is, enjoyed (as the Chaldee expoundeth it, received) his first part. Sol. Iarchi openeth it thus, Hee saw (or provided) to receive his portion in the land of Sihon and Ogh, which was the first-fruits (or beginning) of subduing the land. in a portion of the Law-giver] the portion which God by Moses the Law-giver gave unto Gad, Num. 32. 33. pretected] or, hidden, covered, sieled: there in the fenced Cities they left their wives and children under Gods protection, whiles they went to warre before their brethren, Num. 32. 26, 34, 35, &c. Ios. 1. 14. he came] that is, Gad came. with the heads] that is, the Princes and Captaines of the people, with whom Gad went to warre, Ios. 1. 14. and so it is a prophesie of a thing to come, as already done. Or, he came to the heads, to the Princes, when hee desired to have that land given him, Numb. 32. 2. But the former seemeth fittest; and so Sol. Iarchi explaineth it, They went armed before them when they conquered the land. justice] that which was just and right in the Lords eyes, and his judgements upon the Canaanites in destroying them: so Iosua commendeth their obedience, Ios. 22. 1, 2, 3. It may also have reference to other judgements, as those executed by Iehu, 2 King. 9. and 10. and by Elias the Prophet upon Baals Priests, 1 King. 18. Vers. 22. Lions whelpe] in Chaldee, strong as a Lions whelpe. In Gen. 49. 17. Iakob likened Dan to a Serpent, for his subtill and secret undermining of his enemies: Moses here likeneth him to a Lion, which signified his strength and prowesse, shewed when this tribe fought against Leshem, and smote it with the edge of the sword, Ios. 19. 47. Iud. 18. 27. 29. he shall leape] or, that leapeth; referring it to the Lion leaping from mount Basan, where Lions kept: for Basan was not Dans possession, but Manassehs, Deut. 3. 13. Numb. 32. 33. Ios. 13. 7, 8, 11. Chazkuni here saith, because Basan was a place of Lions and wilde beasts, he likeneth him to a Lion. The Chaldee expoundeth it, his land shall be watered with the rivers that run from Bashan. Vers. 23. Naphtali] in Greeke Nepthaleim. He was Dans brother, both of them borne of Bilbah Rachels handmaid; but God and Aser were of Zilpha, Leahs maid. Moses keepeth not Iakobs order (Gen. 49.) in blessing the tribes. satisfied with favourable acceptation] in Greeke, the satiety (or abundance) of acceptable things: hee meaneth, that the tribe of Naphtali should have in their land many good and acceptable fruits, through Gods favour and blessing. There also the light of Gods favour in Christ abundantly appeared, Matth. 4. 13, 15, 16. and Capernaum in this tribe was Christs Citie, Mar. 2. 1. Matth. 9. 1. wherein he did many mighty workes, Matth. 11. 23. the blessing of Iehovah] blessings given of him; and, as Chazkuni expoundeth it, Whosoever commeth into his land, and seeth the first ripe fruits, shall blesse the Lord for them. But the Greeke translateth, let him be filled with blessing of (or from) the Lord. the sea] this the Chaldee interpreteth, the sea of Ginosar, called in the new Testament the lake of Gennesaret, Luke 5. 1. in Hebrew Chinnereth, Numb. 34. 11. Deut. 3. 17. R. Sol. Iarchi here saith, The sea of Cinnereth fell to his portion. Vers. 24. with sonnes] or, for sonnes, for multitude of children; the Chaldee saith, with the blessing of sonnes: as in Asers tribe there were now 53. thousand and foure hundred men of warre, Num. 26. 47. let him be] in Greeke, he shall be acceptable to his brethren. dipping] in Greeke, hee shall dip his foot in oile, that is, shall have plenty of oile, that he may set his feet therein: according to Iakobs blessing, that his bread should be fat, Genes. 49. 20. Vers. 25. thy shooes] that is, the ground under thee shall have Mines of iron and brasse, that thy feet may seeme to be shod with them. This also may signifie his strength, to tread downe his enemies; as Christs feet were of fine brasse, Rev. 1. 15. thy strength] or, thy old age. The Hebrew Dobee (here only used,) is in Greek translated strength: and so the Chaldee expoundeth it, as the dayes of thy youth, thy strength. The Latine version, and others expound it old age, so named of weaknesse; meaning that his old age should be strong and lusty, as the daies of his youth. Others, fame, or report; that as his daies were, so his fame should be as long as he lived. Chazkuni saith, Daba is the same that Daab, weaknesse or debility, (as Cebes is the same that Ceseb a Lambe) and that it meaneth the daies of old age in which a man is weake; as if he should say, even in the time of their old age they shall be strong. Vers. 26. Ieshurun] that is, O Israel: see Deut. 32. 15. The Greeke translateth, There is none like the God of the Beloved-one: the Chaldee saith, there is no God like the God of Israel. This conclusion concerneth all the tribes of Israel in generall, celebrating the glory and goodnesse of God, communicated with his Church; and their participation of his graces, to their perpetuall happinesse. rideth] which is a signe of honour, and of his speedy comming to helpe his people: so in Psal. 68. 34. For which cause he is said also to ride upon the Cherub, 2 Sam. 22. 11. and to ride upon his horses and chariots of salvation, Hab. 3. 8. This was fulfilled in the warres against the Canaanites, Ios. 10. 10, 11, 13. and before, against the Egyptians, Exod. 9. 23. and 14. 24, 25. And Christ still rideth in heaven upon a white horse, to conquer the enemies, for his Churches sake, Rev. 6. 2. and 19. 11,—16. The Chaldee translateth, whose habitation (or divine majestie) is in the heavens. in thy helpe] or, for thy helpe: in Greeke, thine helper. in his excellency] or, for his high majestie, magnificence; in Chaldee, strength. So in Psal. 68. 35. Gods works are for the manifestation of his excellent glory, in the helpe and salvation of his people. skies] the highest heavens, which the Greeke calleth the firmament; the Chaldee, the heavens of heavens. Vers. 27. The God of antiquity] that is, the ancient (or eternall) God; which the Chaldee interpreteth, God that was from the beginning. Hereupon David intituleth him the God that sitteth from antiquity, (or abideth of old) Psal. 55. 20. and Asaph saith, God is my King from antiquity, Ps. 74. 12. And hee is before all things, and by him all things consist, Coloss. 1. 17. is thy mansion] or, will be thy habitation: or, prayer-wise, be thy mansion, that is, thy protection; as the Greeke translateth, will protect thee. So Moses saith, Lord, thou hast beene our mansion (or habitation,) in every generation and generation, Psal. 90. 1. Vnder this name Mansion, all things needfull are implied, both for life and salvation in this world, and in that which is to come, Iohn 14. 2. armes of eternitie] that is, eternall (or everlasting) armes: or, armes of the world. Israel is protected under Gods everlasting armes or power; God is their defence over and under: his left hand is under the head of his Church, and his right hand doth embrace her, Song 2. 6. The Greeke translateth, under the strength of the everlasting armes: the Chaldee expoundeth it, and by his Word the world was made. Sol. Iarchi explaineth it thus, and underneath his Mansion doe all strong armed dwell. The armes of the world were Sihon and Ogh, and the Kings of Canaan, which were the strength and power of the world, &c. but their strength was weakned before him. But the armes of eternity are rather meant here of the armes of the eternall God, who is most ancient without beginning; and eternall, without ending; who saith, I am the first, and I am the last: and besides me there is no God, Esay 44. 6. destroy] speaking to Israel, whom he would enable to destroy their enemies: the Greeke translateth, Perish, speaking to the enemy. So God by Christ, not onely preserveth his people from harme, but destroyeth him that hath the power of death, that is, the devill, Heb. 2. 14. and with him all other enemies perish. Vers. 28. alone] secure from enemies, as Ier. 49. 31. or, alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations, as Num. 23. 9. This dwelling in safety had accomplishment under Christ, of whom it is said, In his dayes Iudah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely, Ier. 23. 6. the fountaine] that is, the people which flow out of Iakob, as out of a well or fountaine: so that fountaine is here used for a river or streame issuing from a fountaine, as in Psal. 104. 10. and waters often signifie peoples, Rev. 17. 15. Thus David calleth them of the fountaine of Israel, Psal. 68. 27. and Esaias saith, which are come forth out of the waters of Iudah, Esay 48. 1. The Hebrew word sometime signifieth a fountaine, sometime an eye; in which latter sense some interpret it here, the eye of Iakob, shall looke unto a land of corne, &c. his heavens] the heaven or aire over the land of Israel, shall drop down deaw, whereby it shall be fruitfull. Thus Moses confirmeth to Iakobs seed the blessing which Isaak gave unto Iakob, Gen. 27. 28. Spiritually heavens signifie the ecclesiasticall estate, Revel. 4. 1. deaw and raine signifie heavenly doctrine, as Deuter. 32. 2. Vers. 29. who is like thee] not any people. So David said, What one nation in the earth is like thy people, like Israel, 2 Sam. 7. 23. See also Deut. 4. 7. by Iehovah] or, in Iehovah, that is, Christ, called Iehovah our righteousnesse, Ier. 23. 6. shield of thy helpe] that is, thine helpfull shield, which aideth thee against thine enemies; the Chaldee saith, strong for thine helpe; the Greeke, thy helper will shield (or protect) thee. sword, is thy excellency] in Greeke, thy glorie (or boasting:) that thou maist truly glory in his sword, not in thine own: as the Church doth in Psa. 44. 4, 7. they inherited not the land by their own sword: and, my sword shall not save me. Christ appeared with a two-edged sword in his mouth, Rev. 1. 16. and with a sword in his hand, as Prince of the Lords host, Ios. 5. 13, 14. and the sword of the spirit is the word of God, Ephes. 6. 17. shall falsly deny] shall dissemble that they were thine enemies, and faine to be friends for feare. This David acknowledged, the sonnes of the stranger falsly deny unto me, Psal. 18. 45. The Greeke translateth, shall lie unto thee. Chazkuni explaineth it thus, They that are enemies to thee in their heart, shall falsly deny unto thee through feare, & shall shew themselves thy friends, & shall be obedient to doe thy pleasure. And Sol. Iarchi giveth an example, as the Gibeonites which said, From a very farre countrey thy servants are come, &c. tread on their high places] or, on their heights: in Greeke, thou shalt ride upon their necke: see a like phrase in Psal. 66. 12. The Chaldee expoundeth it, thou shalt tread on the joynts of the neckes of their Kings: which thing was fulfilled in Iosuahs time, Ios. 10. 24, 25. By heights or high places, are meant all the high and fortified places, wherein the enemies kept for their safety; as mountaines, high walled Cities, &c. as David when he was safe from his enemies, rejoyceth that God had set him upon his high places, 2 Sam. 22. 34. And as it is the glory of God, that hee treadeth upon the high places of the earth, Amos 4. 13. Mich. 1. 3. and upon the high places (or heights) of the sea, Iob 9. 8. so he communicateth this glory to his people, that should vanquish all their enemies; as was also said in Deut. 32. 13. he made him ride on the high places of the earth. And by the weapons of their war-fare, which are mighty through God, they pull downe strong holds, and cast downe every high thing that exalteth it selfe against the knowledge of God, 2 Cor. 10. 4, 5. Death shall be swallowed up in victorie, 1 Cor. 15. and Satan himselfe shall be trodden underneath their feet, Rom. 16.