Search Tools

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

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.

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 an help to him from his enemies.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Deuteronomy 33:1

33:1 blessed the children of Israel. When Jacob gave his prophecies relative to his twelve sons (Genesis 49:1-28), he was thinking especially of the personal character of each of the twelve, with the ways that character would manifest itself in the character of the tribe that would descend from him. Moses, however did not know the twelve patriarchs personally, but had become very familiar with the characteristics of their respective tribes. His prophetic blessings, therefore, deal more with the respective tribes as Moses had come to know them.

33:2 ten thousands of saints. Evidently there were myriads of holy ones with God on Mount Sinai as His right hand wrote the commandments for Israel on tables of stone. Note also references to angels at the giving of the law in Acts 7:53; Galatians 3:19; and Hebrews 2:2.

Deuteronomy 33:2

33:2 went a fiery law. The “saints” (that is “holy ones” ) with God at Mount Sinai were holy angels, all intensely interested in the developing plan of God, especially at this critical point in redemptive history. Note I Peter 1:12; Exodus 19:19; Psalm 68:17).

Deuteronomy 33:8

33:8 of Levi he said. Moses and Aaron had been of the tribe of Levi, so it is not surprising that his prayer for that tribe would be longer (Deuteronomy 33:8-11) than for any other except Joseph, (representing the two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh (Deuteronomy 33:13-17). On the Urim and Thummim, see the footnote on Exodus 28:30.

Deuteronomy 33:17

33:17 ten thousands of Ephraim. Moses’ prophetic prayer for Ephraim and Manasseh, the tribes descended from Joseph, was longer and more positive than for any other tribe. Joshua was from Ephraim (I Chronicles 7:20-27), and Ephraim eventually would become the most prominent tribe of the northern ten-tribe kingdom.

Deuteronomy 33:26

33:26 the God of Jeshurun. Deuteronomy 33:26-29 has all Israel in view again, rather than individual tribes. The beautiful themes of God as our refuge, cradling us in His “everlasting arms” has been a comfort and delight to God’s people all through the ages.

34:5 died there. Although Moses wrote the book of Deuteronomy as a whole, it is probable that Joshua wrote its closing verses found in Deuteronomy 34:5-12. It is possible, of course, that Moses himself wrote his own epitaph, by divine inspiration, but since no one knew his burial place (Deuteronomy 34:6), it would hardly be likely that he directly gave such a record to Joshua before he died. In some way Satan was also present at the scene (along with the archangel Michael–Jude 9), seeking to claim Moses’ body for some unrevealed but certainly nefarious purpose.

34:7 hundred and twenty years old. Moses had written that man’s normal life span by his day had decreased to 70 or 80 years (Psalm 90:10), yet God allowed him 120 years. At his death he was at least 60 years older than any man in Israel was (Numbers 14:29), except for Caleb and Joshua. Joshua died at age 110 (Joshua 24:29); Caleb outlived him but his age at death is not recorded.

The Institute for Creation Research

New Defender's Study Bible Notes

ICR Menu