seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Deuteronomy 33:1 This is the blessing that Moses the man of God pronounced on the Israelites before his death. 2 He said:
“The Lord came from Sinai
and dawned over them from Seir;
he shone forth from Mount Paran.
He came with[a] myriads of holy ones
from the south, from his mountain slopes.
3 Surely it is you who love the people;
all the holy ones are in your hand.
At your feet they all bow down,
and from you receive instruction,
4 the law that Moses gave us,
the possession of the assembly of Jacob.
5 He was king over Jeshurun[c]
when the leaders of the people assembled,
along with the tribes of Israel.
and dawned over them from Seir;
he shone forth from Mount Paran.
He came with[a] myriads of holy ones
from the south, from his mountain slopes.
3 Surely it is you who love the people;
all the holy ones are in your hand.
At your feet they all bow down,
and from you receive instruction,
4 the law that Moses gave us,
the possession of the assembly of Jacob.
5 He was king over Jeshurun[c]
when the leaders of the people assembled,
along with the tribes of Israel.
a. Deuteronomy 33:2 Or from
b. Deuteronomy 33:2 The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain.
c. Deuteronomy 33:5 Jeshurun means the upright one, that is, Israel; also in verse 26.
I've been reading the commentaries for over an hour. I've even looked for kids videos to see if I could make this easier to understand. These verses seem to be the opening statement for the final blessing of the Israelites by Moses before his death. I've read these blessings before. It was a thing... the patriarch [father or leader] would call the sons [or nation] together and tell them what they imagine the future will hold.
Moses has already given them the law, as handed down by God. Moses has already warned them that in his vision of the future, based on the reality and experience of wandering around the desert for forty years with them, they are going to screw things up. He's already given them the layout of their new homes and divided the land of Canaan between the twelve tribes [with a few tribes on the other side of the Jordan River]. So he's not going to mess that up. Moses knew what happened to Esau and Jacob way back in Genesis. No one was going to steal the birthright of the Israelites by putting on a hairy coat or sell their birthright for a bowl of stew. All that has been decided.
Moses has already acted as a king and a father.... sort of. He was never anointed king. They didn't have kings. He was never chosen to be the Chief Priest. That was Aaron's job. [Oops, you remember Aaron... he's the one who said that golden calf just popped out of the smelting pot] He wasn't a Judge, thanks to his father-in-law [Exodus 18], who came up with the brilliant idea to have a judge from each tribe, taking the load off of Moses. He definitely wasn't their father.... there were over 2 million people when they left Egypt and Moses was simply part of that number but at the front of the parade because God wanted it that way.
Moses is on the top of the mountain overlooking the land of Canaan. Below him, all across the valley and even up on the next mountain... are the descendants of Jacob who became known as Israel. This is the beginning of the goodbye from the man named Moses.
This is from GodVine.
By "Seir" is to be understood the mountain-land of the Edomites, and by "mount Paran" the range which forms the northern boundary of the desert of Sinai (compare Genesis 14:6). Thus the verse forms a poetical description of the vast arena upon which the glorious manifestation of the Lord in the giving of the covenant took place.
With ten thousands of saints - Render, from amidst ten thousands of holy ones: literally from myriads of holiness, i. e., holy Angels (compare Zechariah 14:5). God is represented as leaving heaven where He dwells amidst the host of the Angels 1 Kings 22:19 and descending in majesty to earth Micah 1:3.
A fiery law - more literally as in the margin, with perhaps an allusion to the pillar of fire Exodus 13:21. The word is much disputed.
With ten thousands of saints - Render, from amidst ten thousands of holy ones: literally from myriads of holiness, i. e., holy Angels (compare Zechariah 14:5). God is represented as leaving heaven where He dwells amidst the host of the Angels 1 Kings 22:19 and descending in majesty to earth Micah 1:3.
A fiery law - more literally as in the margin, with perhaps an allusion to the pillar of fire Exodus 13:21. The word is much disputed.
I found an interesting picture and video while looking through the commentaries this morning.
Moses on the mountain top.
The Torah [all that law we've been reading] for children.
[video=youtube;R8MXDzY8U-Q]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8MXDzY8U-Q[/video]
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