28 Israel dwells in safety, The fountain of Jacob alone, In a land of grain and new wine; Yes, his heavens drop down dew.
For from the top of the rocks I see him, From the hills I see him: behold, it is a people that dwells alone, And shall not be reckoned among the nations.
God give you of the dew of the sky, of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and new wine.
Of Joseph he said, Blessed of Yahweh be his land, For the precious things of the heavens, for the dew, For the deep that couches beneath,
"Bless God in the congregations, Even the Lord in the assembly of Israel!"
For how would people know that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Isn't it in that you go with us, so that we are separated, I and your people, from all the people who are on the surface of the earth?"
For Yahweh your God brings you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of springs and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig trees and pomegranates; a land of olive trees and honey;
My doctrine shall drop as the rain; My speech shall condense as the dew, As the small rain on the tender grass, As the showers on the herb.
Drink water out of your own cistern, Running water out of your own well. Should your springs overflow in the streets, Streams of water in the public squares? Let them be for yourself alone, Not for strangers with you. Let your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth.
I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause evil animals to cease out of the land; and they shall dwell securely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.
There will in no way enter into it anything profane, or one who causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.
Blessed are those who do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Deuteronomy 33
Commentary on Deuteronomy 33 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 33
Yet Moses has not done with the children of Israel; he seemed to have taken final leave of them in the close of the foregoing chapter, but still he has something more to say. He had preached them a farewell sermon, a very copious and pathetic discourse. After sermon he had given out a psalm, a long psalm; and now nothing remains but to dismiss them with a blessing; that blessing he pronounces in this chapter in the name of the Lord, and so leaves them.
Deu 33:1-5
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 (Lu. 24:50), like Moses here, in token of parting as friends. Moses blessed them,
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.
Deu 33:6-7
Here is,
Deu 33:8-11
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.
Deu 33:12-17
Here is,
Deu 33:18-21
Here we have,
Deu 33:22-25
Here is,
Deu 33:26-29
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.
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.