Deuteronomy 32, we considered last week the song of witness. The people of Israel were supposed to sing to remind them of God's goodness, God's faithfulness, God's demand upon them. It would serve by way of reminder for them to encourage them to obey in the land, or it would serve as a witness against them when they were guilty of violating the covenant that the Lord God had made with them. So we finished at chapter 32, verse 47.
So pick up reading at chapter 32, verse 48, and read through chapter 33. And basically we find ourselves in the last portion of this covenantal document, the section dealing with succession, with reference to the covenant. We see this transition going from Moses to Joshua after this final blessing. Next week, God willing, in chapter 34, not God willing we'll see the death of Moses, but God willing we'll be back here on Wednesday night.
That will conclude our study in the book of Deuteronomy. And then the Lord willing, we'll continue through studying the books of Joshua and Judges to see how the people fared. with reference to the mandate to enter into the land of Canaan and to conquer the land as the Lord God had commanded. So beginning in chapter 32 at verse 48. Then the Lord spoke to Moses that very same day, saying, Go up this mountain of the Abirim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, across from Jericho.
View the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel as a possession, and die on the mountain which you ascend. and be gathered to your people, just as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, because you trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, because you did not hallow me in the midst of the children of Israel. Yet you shall see the land before you, though you shall not go there, into the land which I am giving to the children of Israel. Now this is the blessing with which Moses, the man of God, blessed the children of Israel before his death. And he said, the Lord came from Sinai and dawned on them from Seir.
He shone forth from Mount Paran. And he came with ten thousands of saints. From his right hand came a fiery law for them. Yes, he loves the people.
All his saints are in your hand. They sit down at your feet. Everyone receives your words. Moses commanded a law for us, a heritage of the congregation of Jacob.
And he was king in Jeshurun when the leaders of the people were gathered, all the tribes of Israel together. Let Reuben live and not die, nor let his men be few. And this he said of Judah, Hear, Lord, the voice of Judah, and bring him to his people. Let his hands be sufficient for him, and may you be a help against his enemies.
And of Levi he said, let your Thummim and your Urim be with your Holy One, whom you tested at Massah, and with whom you contended at the waters of Meribah, who says of his father and mother, I have not seen them, nor did he acknowledge his brothers or know his own children, for they have observed your word and kept your covenant. They shall teach Jacob your judgments, and Israel your law. They shall put incense before you, and a whole burnt sacrifice on your altar. Bless his substance, Lord, and accept the work of his hands.
Strike the loins of those who rise against him, and of those who hate him, that they rise not again. Of Benjamin, he said, the beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him who shelters him all day long, all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders. And of Joseph, he said, blessed of the Lord is his land with the precious things of heaven, with the dew and the deep lying beneath, with the precious fruits of the sun, with the precious produce of the months. with the best things of the ancient mountains, with the precious things of the everlasting hills, with the precious things of the earth and its fullness, in the favor of him who dwelt in the bush. Let the blessing come on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers.
His glory is like a firstborn bull, and his horns like the horns of the wild ox. Together with them, he shall push the peoples to the ends of the earth. They are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh. And of Zebulun, he said, rejoice Zebulun in your going out, and Issachar in your tents.
They shall call the peoples to the mountain. There they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness, for they shall partake of the abundance of the seas and of treasures hidden in the sand. And of Gad, he said, blessed is he who enlarges Gad. He dwells as a lion and tears the arm and the crown of his head.
He provided the first part for himself because a lawgiver's portion was reserved there. He came with the heads of the people. He administered the justice of the Lord and his judgments with Israel. And of Dan, he said, Dan is a lion's whelp.
He shall leap from Bashan. And of Naphtali, he said, O Naphtali, satisfied with favor and full of the blessing of the Lord, possess the West and the South. And of Asher, he said, Asher is most blessed of sons. Let him be favored by his brothers and let him dip his foot in oil.
Your sandals shall be iron and bronze as your days, so shall your strength be. There is no one like the God of Jeshurun. who rides the heavens to help you, and in his excellency on the clouds. The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He will thrust out the enemy from before you, and will say, destroy.
Then Israel shall dwell in safety, the fountain of Jacob alone, in a land of grain and new wine. His heaven shall also drop due. Happy are you, O Israel, who is like you, a people saved by the Lord, the shield of your help and the sword of your majesty. Your enemies shall submit to you, and you shall tread down their high places.
Amen.
Introduction and Structure of the Chapter
Well, tonight, the Lord willing, we'll look at the latter part of chapter 32, the instruction to Moses concerning his death, verses 48 to 52. And then in chapter 33, we'll see the blessing of the tribes. Moses' last words. We can tell a lot about a man. by the last thing that he says.
Some of the blessings are a bit puzzling to me. We're going to just skim through them, not go in great detail. I'm sort of relying on one of the commentators, Christopher Wright. Some of the language is just a little bit difficult to know for certain.
I think the main ideas we can certainly pull out. But if you notice these blessings in chapter 33, there's an introduction And there's a conclusion. There's a statement concerning God's glorious appearance at Sinai in verses 1 to 5. The blessings follow in chapter 33, 6 to 25, and then 26 to 29 is that conclusion. that last statement of Moses, the man of God, prior to his death on Mount Nebo.
Instruction Concerning Moses' Death
So we'll look at, first of all, the instruction concerning his death. Verse 48, Then the Lord spoke to Moses that very same day, saying, So this is after the Song of Witnesses composed, this is after the final arrangements have been made, this is after the public identifying of Joshua, the son of Nun, as the successor in terms of who will lead the people into Israel. Moses knows this time is coming. God now speaks specifically to him, gives him his instruction for the end.
He says, go up this mountain of the Abireem, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, across from Jericho.
Moses' View of the Promised Land
So he's in a position, Transjordan, the other side, the east side of the Jordan on Mount Nebo, where he'd get a good view of the promised land on the western side of the Jordan River. And he is given that instruction specifically to take a look, to take a glimpse, view the land of Canaan which I give to the children of Israel as a possession. As we have seen so many times in the book of Deuteronomy, God the Lord reminds the people that the gift or that the land they are receiving is a gift. It is based on His promise made to Abraham and we ought not to miss that.
Every time the Lord refers to this land that He gives to the children of Israel as a possession, it highlights His graciousness. They didn't deserve the gift. They didn't earn the gift. It is a gift. it also highlights his faithfulness when the Lord God back in Genesis chapter 12 calls Abram out of Ur of the Chaldeans and then he makes him a land promise several hundred years had passed until this time at Moab.
So when the Lord God says this is the land that I am giving to the children of Israel, His graciousness in terms of the gift itself, but His faithfulness in securing that promise to His people. So Moses is to take a glimpse He is to take a view, he is to look upon the land. Some of the commentators suggest that this was almost a legal transaction, it was almost a legal sort of a contractual thing, that when somebody was about to take possession of a land, they would view it, they would look it over, similar to buying a car. or a house. You give it a once over.
You make sure everything is good. That's all part of the transaction. Some have seen a parallel when God initially makes the land promise to Abraham in Genesis chapter 13. Remember that he tells them to look to the north and look to the south and look east and look west.
And he says, this is the land that I am giving to you. So by way of covenant, the Lord God has promised this possession to his people out of his grace and in his faithfulness he is now making good on that particular promise. So he tells him to go up view the land of Canaan which I give to the children of Israel as a possession and I want you Moses to die on the mountain which you ascend and be gathered to your people, just as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people." That's recorded for us in the book of Numbers. When Aaron died and they bereaved him for a period of time, Numbers chapter 20 verses 22 to 29.
The death of Aaron took place back then. So he's saying, just as Aaron went, so are you going to go. And
Moses' Transgression and Its Consequence
here is the reason why, Moses. Here is why you're not going to enter into the promised land. Verse 51, it's come up already in the book of Deuteronomy. It's come up in the book of Numbers, to be sure.
Moses rebelled. Moses trespassed. Moses transgressed against the Lord. And as a result, he himself would not enter into the land. nevertheless he gets this glimpse, he gets this view, he gets to see what this land looks like that God is giving to the children of Israel.
Because you trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah, Kadesh, in the wildernesses of Zin, because you did not hallow me in the midst of the children of Israel. You remember that particular instance, Numbers 20 verses 1 to 13. Moses was told to speak to the rock. Did Moses speak to the rock?
No, Moses struck the rock twice. Now some say that the act of disobedience is what dishonored God, or what did not hallow God. One man, Harmon, says instead of simply speaking to the rock, Moses struck it with his staff. God's holiness had not been upheld because the people should have been shown that water came out of the rock by divine intervention, not human power.
In other words, this striking of the rock might have sent the wrong message to the children of Israel, that it was something in the instrumentality of Moses beating that rock that caused the water to flow. Either way, whatever the specific instance is, the bottom line is that when Moses disobeyed the Lord, instead of speaking to the rock, he strikes it twice, God is dishonored among the children of Israel. We ought to understand that that is no light thing. That is no small thing.
God's honor and God's glory is primary. That is first and foremost. Remember the specific pattern in the Lord's Prayer. Before we pray for our food, before we pray for our forgiveness, and before we pray for our protection, we pray first for the glory of God.
Hallowed be your name. We pray for the coming of the kingdom and we pray for the doing of his will on earth as it is in heaven. God comes first. We must understand that.
And because Moses took matters into his own hand, it would keep him ultimately out of the land of promise. Harmon goes on to say, whereas Aaron died and was buried on Mount Hor as an act of grace, Moses is permitted a glimpse of the promised land. Having sung the song to Israel, the singer is now dismissed in order to make way for the new representative of the Lord." And I love that as we read through this section of Scripture, you don't find any murmuring on the part of Moses. You don't find any grumbling.
You don't find any, but this isn't fair, Lord. This isn't right, Lord. Do you know what I've been through in terms of bringing these people here? You trespassed against me, Moses.
You sinned against my command. You are not going to enter into the promised land. Moses understands that. He's compliant.
Now, interestingly enough, the book ends with a statement concerning Moses. Moses, there was never a prophet like Moses. Even Joshua himself would rely upon the priesthood. Joshua himself would rely on those men to get revelation from the Lord God Most High.
Not so Moses. Moses had an intimacy with God such as no one ever had other than the Lord Jesus. That's what the end of the book testifies concerning this very godly and very upright man. So he gets this view of the land according to verse 52.
Yet you shall see the land before you, though you shall not go there, into the land which I am giving to the children of Israel. Again, a viewing of the land like this may have been part of a known legal process which was normal when acquiring a possession. And so having done this, having prepared the way, now Moses blesses the tribes in Israel. Does anybody remember who else did this prior to Moses?
Who else blessed the tribes of Israel? Jacob, absolutely. It was quite common for a leader, for a father, before he entered into his rest, to bless his sons, to bless the various tribes. Certainly, if you were on your deathbed, you'd want your children to come in so you could bless them, speak a word to them, encourage them. comfort them, pass some wisdom along to them.
It was something very common and this is what Moses undertakes. He bore a special relationship not only to God but also to the nation of Israel. He loved these people. I mean he offered up himself for these people.
These people taxed him, they tried him, they plagued him, he had difficulties and yet all throughout the case he loved them and his affections were upon them and he always wanted the best for this nation of Israel.
Moses' Blessing of the Tribes
And so that's what we have here in chapter 33. I mentioned there is an introduction that is essentially a description of the glorious appearance of God at Sinai, verses 1 to 5. Now the commentaries tell me that there's a lot of difficulties in translation, a lot of difficulties in the text, specifically in verses 2 to 5. That's why there might be differences in terms of translation between some of the versions that are being read here.
If your version is not the New King James and it reads a little bit differently, well, that is why apparently the text, the Hebrew underlying this section, is particularly difficult, and so translators do the best they can with that. But I think the main thoughts, the main ideas are certainly easy to emphasize and easy to relate to.
God's Glorious Appearance at Sinai
Notice, after making an introductory statement in verses 1 and 2, it says, the Lord came from Sinai and dawned on them from Seir. He shone forth from Mount Paran. And he came with 10,000 of his saints. Meredith Klein says, the appearing of the Lord as king of kings to proclaim his covenant was in radiant, sunrise-like glory over the eastern mountains of the Sinai Peninsula.
In attendance upon the king at his advent was a heavenly host of holy ones. So this Sinai event becomes paradigmatic or programmatic for Israel's history, what God does in Exodus chapter 19 is something that never before occurred. He redeems them, He brings them out of the land of Egypt, and now He comes to them as their lawgiver, as their Lord, as their covenant head, and as the one who loves them, as we read here in this particular section. But there's various places in the Scripture that appeal to this particular event, In like context, if you look at Judges 5 for a moment, in Judges chapter 5, the song of Deborah, the song of Deborah and Barak after they gained victory.
In Judges chapter 5 verse 4, Lord, when you went out from Seir, when you marched from the field of Edom, the earth trembled and the heavens poured. The clouds also poured water. The mountains gushed before the Lord. This Sinai before the Lord God of Israel.
So it's this event, this demonstration, this theophany. And what a theophany is, is a manifestation of God. We have seen the Lord. We have seen His presence.
He came down on Mount Sinai. He manifested His glory and His majesty unto us. It's a great way to introduce these blessings to this people. He's got the glorious appearance of God Most High.
He then gives the blessings and then the latter part of this particular section in chapter 33 is the incomparability of God Almighty, the uniqueness of Israel's God. Again, it all ties in with what we've already studied up to this point. Israel's God is not like the gods of the heathen. Remember Deuteronomy 6.4, Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
So what Moses is doing is he's bringing that theology of Deuteronomy. He's bringing that theology of Exodus, and He is bringing that weight of theology as that which the blessings hang upon. It's really a beautiful way that He calculates this particular section. In Psalm 68, verses 7 and 8, Psalm 68, verse 7 and 8, O God, when You went out before Your people, When you marched through the wilderness, Selah, the earth shook, the heavens also dropped rain at the presence of God.
Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel. And then the prophet Habakkuk refers to this as well. The prophet Habakkuk and the minor prophets. In chapter 3, verse 3, God came from Timan, the Holy One from Mount Paran.
His glory covered the heavens and the earth was full of His praise. His brightness was like the light. He had rays flashing from His hand, and there His power was hidden before Him when pestilence and fever followed at His feet. So back in chapter 33, The blessings are couched in, the blessings are surrounded by this understanding or this presentation or this doctrine of God.
We need to understand who our God is to truly value the blessings that come from His hand. We need to understand who our God is to truly value and understand. that the blessings are sure and true. If this God who is incomparable, this God who is unique, this God who is thundered at Sinai, promises to give you a land, and promises to provide protection, and promises to be your safety, then you ought not to doubt that. Remember that Moses has spoken prophetically.
He has spoken concerning the reality that the children of Israel are going to go into the land. They are going to sin. They are going to end up in exile. Here Moses is speaking as the older brother, as the father of Israel.
He's exhorting the people of God. He wants them to behold Yahweh. He wants them to understand who He is. And He wants them to find their comfort, refuge, and solace in Him and in Him alone.
So going back to chapter 33, we see the Lord at Sinai and then we see the law at Sinai. He came with ten thousands of saints or angels. From his right hand came a fiery law for them. Does the ESV have, he came with ten thousands of angels?
Holy ones, okay. What does it say? Okay, all right. We'll go with the New King James here.
But this idea of the ten thousands of holy ones, the New King James has its saints. Does the NIV have angels, Steve? Or angels? The end of verse two.
Ten thousands or myriads. holy ones, okay. Regardless, what we have is the Lord manifests himself at Sinai and he manifests his law at Sinai. And it's probably this passage that the New Testament authors are referring to when they speak of the law as having been given through the mediation of angels. In Acts 7, for instance, in Stephen's testimony before the Sanhedrin.
I believe it's Acts chapter 7 at verse 35. Acts 735, this Moses whom they rejected saying, who made you a ruler and a judge, is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. He brought them out after he had shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea and in the wilderness for 40 years. Let's see here, is that, here we go, Act VII, I'm sorry, 53.
Act VII, 53. Who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it. Probably it's Deuteronomy 33.2 that's in the backdrop here. Galatians 3.19 speaks of the law as having come through the mediation or being attended by angels.
Galatians 3.19. What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions till the seed should come to whom the promise was made and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. And then again in Hebrews chapter 2, just simply showing you this because those three statements in the New Testament sometimes cause people a little bit of wonderment.
Well, Deuteronomy 33.2 is probably the likely backdrop for these references. Hebrews 2.2, for if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward." So the idea seems to be that when Yahweh is manifest at Sinai, he comes with his hosts, he comes with his armies, he comes with his attendants, he comes as a king would come. A king doesn't just wander in by himself, he's usually attended by a great retinue. He's attended by a great amount of people that are there with him and accompanying him.
That same idea is probably present here. Do you have a question? Messenger. Absolutely.
Absolutely. Same idea. Yeah. The word in Hebrew and Greek Not only means angel, you know, the sort of beings that we think of floating around, but it's messenger as well.
Like when you get to the book of Revelation, those angels in the churches, they're messengers. More than likely, they're the pastor or the bishop. So yes, messenger or angel. Good, good translation.
We see the Lord manifest at Sinai. We see the law given at Sinai. And then we see this in verse 3.
The Law Given in Love
Yes, he loves the people. It's an amazing statement. Is everybody, is that what the ESV's got? NIV's got that statement concerning the love?
Notice that there. The Lord loves the people. We need to understand that the law was given with a gracious backdrop. Right?
The preface, the introduction to the Decalogue is a statement of grace and redemption. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt. I brought you out of the house of bondage. It's based on that redemptive activity.
It is based on that act of grace. It is based on my power in delivering you that you shall have no other gods before me. That you shall not make for yourself an idol. that you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, that you shall not break my Sabbath day." You see, God redeems, God delivers by His grace, and then God causes people to live in a manner consistent with that redemption. And the same thing holds true here.
Yes, he loves the people. This manifestation at Sinai, this giving of the law at Sinai wasn't because the Lord hated them, it wasn't because he disdained them, it wasn't an act of spurning, it wasn't an act of rejection, but rather it highlights the loving character of God in the provision of the law. Now the law has multi-uses, it has three uses, and we see that in each one of those God is using it in a particular fashion that is calculated to do his people good. So we ought not to look at the law and say, oh what a pain, or what a burden, or what a grievous thing.
We ought to imitate the psalmist who said, oh how I love your law. We ought to imitate John the Apostle in 1 John who said, the commandments of God are not burdensome. If the commandments of God are burdensome, we need to check our heart. The problem isn't with the commandments.
The problem isn't with the law. God loves us, and God gave us this law in order to keep us under His wings. It's just like with our children. You don't tell your kid not to put his hand in the toaster because you hate him.
You tell him not to put his hand in the toaster because you love him. You tell him not to eat Twinkies until he throws up, not because you hate him, but because you love him. There's this idea in the church today that somehow law is a bad thing. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The Lord loves His people. The Lord speaks truth to his people. The Lord gives them that gift of the law for their well-being. Now, that's all assuming that we're using the law lawfully.
If we're seeking justification or we're seeking to be accepted with God by the use of that law, again, the problem's not with the law. It's the way we're using it. It's our approach to it. But the law in and of itself, I mean, who would argue against that code?
Who would not want that code who has the Spirit of God in him? And as we understand the Bible itself, we see that Adam was made in God's image, he functioned in a lawful manner, he did what he was supposed to do prior to his fall. We see the presence of the Ten Commandments, those laws not the same exact speaking of them, but the substance is present even prior to Sinai. We see in Jeremiah 31 that God promises that in the New Covenant that law will be written on their hearts.
In other words, the Bible is not antinomian. The Bible is pro-law. The Bible is pro-nomos. It is pro a good and lawful use of the law.
We just need to understand its use, we need to understand how to employ it, and we need to pray to God to give us the Spirit so that we may indeed do so in a manner that is consistent with His revelation. So the Lord manifests Himself at Sinai, the Lord gives His law at Sinai, the Lord communicates His love to the people. And then verses 3 to 5 seem to be the response of Israel to their God. All the saints are in your hand, they sit down at your feet, everyone receives your words.
Moses commanded a law for us, excuse me, a heritage of the congregation of Jacob, and he was a king in Jeshurun. Anybody remember what Jeshurun means? No, it's sort of like a pet name. You might call Ellie Honey, Honey Boo Boo, or you know, Schnookums, or whatever it is you might call her.
That's a pet name. Jeshurun was a pet name. It was a term of affection that God gave to his people Israel. Interesting how it comes up a few times in these latter chapters in Deuteronomy.
Chapter 32, it was used in somewhat of an ironic way. Remember in this song of witness, in verses 15 to 18, it speaks of their apostasy. Verse 15 says, but Jeshurun grew fat and kicked. It literally means my upright one, more than likely.
So there it's being used ironically. My upright one grew fat and kicked. My upright one actually became obese and forsook God who made him. But over here in chapter 33, it's being used in that sort of pet name way.
He was king in Jeshurun. We see it used again later at the end of this particular chapter in verse 26. I think it comes up again in the prophet Isaiah at Isaiah chapter 44, verse 2. that that name Jeshurun appears in the scripture. So here it's this term of endearment where the people of God are responding to their king when the leaders of the people were gathered and all the tribes of Israel were together.
Blessings on Reuben and Judah
Now the blessings upon the twelve tribes. There's one tribe missing. One tribe is omitted. That is the tribe of Simeon.
I think Genesis 49.7 sort of indicates why that is. Genesis 49 and verse 7. Simeon and Levi, verse 5, are brothers. Instruments of cruelty are in their dwelling place.
Let not my soul enter their council. Let not my honor be united to their assembly. For in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they hamstrung an ox. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce. and their wrath, for it is cruel, I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel." Later on in the book of Joshua, we see that Simeon is merged with Judah in Joshua 19 verses 1 to 9.
So they do find a place in the land. But that tribe is missing. The pattern that is given here, I don't know if it is a specific pattern, but Reuben, Judah, and Levi, the first three mentioned, are sons of Levi. Benjamin and Joseph, sons of Rachel.
Zebulun and Issachar, sons of Leah. And then Gad, Dan, Naphtali, and Asher, sons of the handmaidens, Bilhah and Zilpah. is sort of the order that we find it going in, in terms of these blessings. And again, we're not going to spend a whole lot of time on this. Some of them are just very brief.
Verse 6, let Reuben live and not die, nor let his men be few. You mean that's it? That's all the blessing I get? Well, if you go back for just a moment to Reuben in Genesis chapter 49.
Genesis chapter 49. Verse 3, Reuben you are my firstborn, my might and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power. Unstable as water you shall not excel because you went up to your father's bed. Then you defiled it, he went up to my couch.
So Reuben was not held in high regards. Now obviously this conflicts with his position as the oldest brother, but he sinned grievously. And so what we find here in terms of the blessing, let Reuben live and not die, nor let his men be few. Just allow him to continue in the land and to make it.
Notice secondly we have Judah. Judah in verse 7. In this he said of Judah, hear Lord the voice of Judah and bring him to his people. Let his hands be sufficient for him and may you be a help against his enemies." It sounds like marshal, assistance, military aid, probably a reference to Judah's primary position in battle.
I think as the camps went out to battle, Judah was positioned to go out first. In the book of Judges, chapter 1 sees Judah in verses 1 to 20 being the warring tribe that goes out and does wondrous things. So what the blessing is, is that God would be sufficiency for him would protect him and would see over him.
Blessing on Levi: Teaching and Sacrifice
Levi is the third tribe mentioned in verses 8 to 11. Now notice, of Levi he said, let your thumim and your urim be with your Holy One. Those were the sacred stones that the high priest kept in a pouch on his chest and they were utilized to seek yes and no answers from the Lord. So I think the idea here is that God will bless this effort to seek his face when it comes to specific answers needful for the covenant community.
They are highlighted here as having been found faithful. Whom you tested at Massa and with whom you contended at the waters of Meribah." So they were faithful at Massah, they were faithful at Meribah, and remember that it was the Levites that carried out God's judgment after the golden calf incident, and after the children of Israel played the harlot with the daughters of Moab in Numbers chapter 25. So Levi was faithful to their calling, not perfect, not without sin, not without blemish. But notice what their specific tasks will be.
Well, verse 9, who says of his father and mother, I have not seen them, nor did he acknowledge his brothers or know his own children. I think the idea there is that they were first and foremost committed to the Lord. It's sort of like what Jesus said, whoever follows me and doesn't hate mother and father more than me cannot be my disciple. I think he's highlighting the fact that the tribe of Levi showed themselves faithful to the Lord.
That before mother, before father, before sons, before brothers, or before brothers and sisters, and all those filial obligations, God came first. And that's why it says, for they observed, or they have observed your word and kept your covenant. Now notice in verse 10, or verse 10 highlights the two specific tasks that the tribe of Levi would bear in the land of Israel among the covenant community. The first is that they would teach the law of the Lord.
The Levites would teach Jacob your judgments and Israel your law. When we get to the later prophets and we see when the nation's in bad shape, who does God come to deal with? More often than not, he calls upon the priests. The idea being that if the priests aren't teaching the law, the people aren't learning the law.
Look at that logic. And if the people aren't learning the law, they're certainly not obeying the law. And so in Hosea, for instance, in the prophet Malachi, for instance, in the prophet Jeremiah, you will see that God the Lord holds accountable the Levites for a failure to properly instruct the children of Israel. The people of God need to be taught.
The people of God need the Scripture. The people of God need exposition of the truth in order to receive that data so that they may indeed obey the living and true God. So one of the primary duties was teaching the law, and then secondly, it was offering sacrifice. Notice, they shall put incense before you and a whole burnt sacrifice on your altar.
That pretty much summarizes the entirety of the Levitical function. They were to teach the law of the Lord, they were to oversee the tabernacle, they were to oversee the temple, they were to make sure that the sacrifices were cut, the sacrifices were burned, the sacrifices were offered to the Lord God Most High. That is what the Lord instituted the tribe of Levi for. Wright says this, he says, through the priests, God came to the people in the teaching of the Torah.
Torah simply means law, and it refers to the first five books of Moses. So I think that is very perceptive, what he says. Through the priests, God came to the people in the teaching of the Torah. He goes on to say, through the priests, the people would come to God in the offering of the sacrifices.
So you see we have this priestly man, he's a mediator between the two parties. When he teaches the Torah, God comes to bless the people. When the priest goes and he offers, it's as if he's bringing the people into the presence of the God of heaven and earth. And so Levi was a key tribe in Israel and they were tasked with these two primary responsibilities.
Now the specific prayer, supplication, petition, request is simply found in verse 11. Bless his substance, Lord, and accept the work of his hands. Strike the loins of those who rise against him, and of those who hate him, that they rise not again. In other words, Lord, receive their sacrifices, bless their teaching, and destroy their enemies.
Let the tribe of Levi function in a good way, so that the nation of Israel will profit. Because if the priests have gone astray, then more often than not, the people will go astray too. We are sheep, brethren, we follow leaders. And when leaders take us down wrong paths, we are going to end up in a bad state.
That's why we emphasize we ought to make sure that people that are charged with teaching the Word know what they're doing, they understand the truth, so that they can rightly and effectively communicate that truth to the people of God, because it is that important. What we learn in terms of scriptural truth is absolutely crucial for our health and our well-being as Christians. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And if we have bad teachers, and we have bad doctrine, and we have bad theology, we're going to have bad practice.
And that is precisely what would eventually occur in the nation of Israel as the priests were deficient in their calling to teach and to sacrifice. Notice they weren't to do a million things, they were to do two things and do them well. Most people aren't able to do 5, 10, 15, 20 things with any degree of accuracy. God says, I want you Levites to do these things.
In fact, in the tribe of Levi, there was a further division of labor. Not all the Levites were necessarily priests that were offering sacrifice. So within that one tribe, there were specialties in amongst that particular allotment.
Blessings on Benjamin and Joseph
The next tribe is Benjamin. Benjamin. Essentially, what the blessing is, is safety and shelter provided by the Lord. How does ESV translate the end of verse 12?
He shall dwell between his shoulders. Okay, some suggest it's weapons and God is there. I don't know the particulars, but what it seems to be is safety and shelter provided by the Lord. The next tribe is Joseph.
And this is the longest, really, of the blessings upon the tribes. And there's two primary thoughts here. First, material prosperity, and secondly, military might. Material prosperity, verses 13 to 16, blessed of the Lord is his land. with the precious things of heaven, with the dew and the deep lying beneath, with the precious fruits of the sun, with the precious produce of the months, with the best things of the ancient mountains, with the precious things of the everlasting hills, with the precious things of the earth and its fullness, and the favor of Him who dwelt in the bush.
Let the blessing come on the head of Joseph and on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers." So material blessing, material prosperity. But notice that reference to God who dwelt in the bush. Isn't that beautiful? There might be a polemic here.
There might be an argument here against the sort of ideas that are going to be rampant in the land. You see, when the rain would fall in Canaan, they wouldn't praise Yahweh, they'd praise Baal. When the sun shone in Canaan, they wouldn't praise Yahweh, they'd praise whatever God. See, what the Lord God is saying is don't worship the creature, don't worship nature, don't worship the sun, don't worship the moon, don't worship those things.
Those are blessings from the hand of Him who dwelt in the bush. The only reference to God dwelling in the bush in the Old Testament outside of the Exodus 3 event. It's quite an amazing statement. I'll read a quote in just a moment.
But material prosperity. Harmon makes this observation. The abundance of food for Joseph's descendants is a fitting blessing, seeing that Joseph was the one who in the time of famine had kept Egypt and the surrounding nations supplied with food. I mean, that's what's going on here.
Make sure Joseph has plenty to eat. And then military might, verse 17, His glory is like a firstborn bull, and his horns like the horns of the wild ox. Together with them he shall push the peoples to the ends of the earth. They are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.
Ephraim and Manasseh, of course, are Joseph's sons.
Scripture References
- Genesis 12; 13; 49:3; 49:7
- Numbers 20:1-13; 20:22-29; 25
- Deuteronomy 6:4; 32:15-18; 32:48; 32:51; 32:52; 33:1-5; 33:6-25; 33:26-29
- Joshua 19:1-9
- Judges 1:1-20; 5:4
- Psalms 68:7-8
- Isaiah 44:2
- Jeremiah 31
- Habakkuk 3:3
- Acts 7:35; 7:53
- Galatians 3:19
- Hebrews 2:2
- 1 John 5:3