Deuteronomy - Lesson 34

As is customary in many of our worship services, Moses ends this extended, protracted worship service with a benediction, the blessing of the congregation, only he does it by tribe. 

Let's remind ourselves where we are in the plot of this. We have reached the last couple of frames. The benedictions come just before the account of the death of Moses in chapter 34. In fact, I imagine I may comment on this later, I imagine that after having taught the song as Moses is going up the mountain, Nebo, the Lord has said, Come up to me at the end of Chapter 32. As he's walking up, he turns around and sees the camp there below him. And working his way around, he has a blessing for each of the tribes. That's the image I have in mind. Of course, this is in very soft lead pencil and don't know if it says much about the message, but in any case, it does give realism to the picture. 

So, let's talk about the context of Moses’ farewell benedictions in Deuteronomy 33. After the blessing, I mean, after the national anthem of chapter 32, the narrator has inserted a few verses of narrative which conclude that segment, but then it shifts from the narrative conclusion (actually, we could have had it on here) from the narrative conclusion at the bottom of the song 32:44 to 47. Without a signal, it shifts into an introduction to the next section. The chapter division is obviously unfortunate. It breaks up what is actually happening. 

So, in 32:48-33a, we have the Lord's announcement to Moses, It's over. And now you have a chronological note. 

“That very day Yahweh spoke to Moses, 
‘Go up this mountain of Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel for a  possession 
’And die on the mountain which you go up, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died in Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, 
because you broke faith with me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, and because you did not treat me as holy in the midst of the people of Israel.
Indeed, you may see the land before you,” that's what you asked for, have a look. “But you may not go there into the land that I am giving to the people of Israel.” 

Well, that's the background to this. 

And then the next thing we hear, “Now this is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the sons of Israel.” There isn't actually a transition, but it's a sudden shift. And that's where I imagine Moses turns around, he's climbing up and he looks over the plain of Moab and sees the Israelites down below. 

Well, the structure of the benedictions themselves is very clear. 

You have a narrative preamble, 33:1. 
Then you have, like we had for the national anthem, a hymnic exordium. 
Then the tribal benedictions one after the other, beginning with Reuben and ending with Asher. 
And then a hymnic coda. 

Now if we put the hymnic exordium and the coda together, they're virtually the same length. One is 43 words; the other one is 45 words; they read like one continuous text.

“Yahweh came from Sinai 
and dawned upon them from Seir; 
He shone forth from Mt. Paran; 
accompanied by myriads of holy ones, 
and fire emanating from His right. 

“O You who loves the peoples, 
all Your holy ones were in Your hand. 
So they followed in Your steps, 
receiving direction from You. 

“Moses charged us with the Torah, 
as a possession of the assembly of Jacob. 
Thus he became king in Jeshurun, 
when the heads of the peoples were gathered, 
all the tribes of Israel together.” 

Skipping to 26.

“There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, 
who rides on the heavens to help you 
and on the clouds in His majesty. 

“The eternal God is your refuge, 
and underneath are His everlasting arms. 
He will drive out your enemy before you, 
saying, ‘Destroy him!’ 

“So Israel will live in safety alone; 
Jacob's spring is secure 
in a land of grain and new wine, 
where the heavens drop dew. 

“How privileged you are,” traditionally, blessed are you, but this is Ashere, not Baruch. 
“How privileged you are, O, Israel! 
Who is like you,
A people saved by Yahweh? 
He is your shield and helper, 
your glorious sword. 
Your enemies will cower before you, 
and you will trample down their high places.” 

When we read the blessings themselves, (we'll come back to the exordium and to the coda again), but when we read the blessings themselves, our first impulse is to compare this with Genesis 49, where Jacob blesses his sons as sons. Here, Moses is blessing Jacob's sons as tribes. And that's the difference. 

Both blessings, benedictions, are embedded in death narratives. It's the story of Jacob's death; here it's the story of Moses’ death. Both are cast in poetic form, both deal serially with the descendants of Jacob, both use imaginative figures of speech. This is poetry. Those are the similarities. 

But the differences are also quite remarkable. Whereas the prose preamble to Genesis 9 intentionally sets the context for the blessing of Jacob, the preamble to Deuteronomy 33 simply declares the fact that Moses pronounced the blessing prior to his death without formally declaring that he had assembled the people before him. Well, I think we've actually assumed that because the whole book is about the assembly before him so we don't need that. And if anything, it's on his departure from the assembly that we have this. 

Second. Whereas Genesis 49 obviously deals with the future of Jacob's descendants, the respective blessings concern individual sons. occasionally alluding to the personal experiences of the characters. In the Jacob ones, you'll have references to Reuben misbehaving and stuff like that. Well, the blessings of Deuteronomy 33 are addressed to the tribes far removed from what we call the patronymics, the men who gave the tribes their names. So, there's nothing personal here. 

Third, whereas the blessings in Genesis 49 tend to be cast as predictions of the future, they're virtual oracles, prophecies, the blessings of Deuteronomy 33, sound more like prayers for the future or wishes. They are cast in jussive form rather than in indicative form. These are Moses’ wishes for the future. They are called blessings in verse 1. (Or is it verse 2?) But they are not cast as traditional blessings. 

Four. Whereas Genesis 49 arranges the blessings more or less in birth order, Deuteronomy 33 is based either on a post-settlement geography (how do we know this? Dan is associated with northern tribes), or sociopolitical significance in Moses time.

So here I've got the two in the order that they appear and we have Reuben is first in both, he is the oldest. And then we have Simeon and Levi. Deuteronomy fronts Judah ahead of Levi. Then we have the first grouping of three are the same. Then we have Judah. And after that they really change. Deuteronomy 33 doesn't have separate blessings for Zebulun and Issachar; they are combined here, put together. Dan is in a different order. Gad is immediately opposite, but the order of this is actually quite different.

If you look at the Genesis one, you notice we have Leah people at the front end; and we have Joseph and Benjamin, the Rachel people, at the back end. And in between are the sons of the handmaidens of Rachel and Leah. Whereas that doesn't seem to be so much of an issue on the right-hand side. I think it's a reflection of the personal stories of these people. Benjamin is brought very high up in Deuteronomy, as opposed to way down at the bottom, as is Joseph. So, the Rachel tribes, we've got three Leah tribes and then two Rachel tribes, and then the handmaid tribes are at the end. 

Well, how do we look at this then? In this map, with the numbers I impose on it, you will see the order in which they appear. So, we begin with Reuben and then Judah, and then I have (3) Levi. (Levi doesn't actually have any territory so that's where the temple is.) And then (4), Benjamin, and then (5) is Ephraim, and (6) is Issachar, and Gad, and Dan down here and then Naphtali. Asher is number (10). Five is Manasseh. There isn't a separate one for the half tribe of Manasseh on the other side. That's an interesting approach to this text. The arrangement of the tribes in Deuteronomy 33. 

Well, let's then. I mean, what is Dan doing at number (8) here, next to number (9) and number (10). Well, of course, by then we know later on the Danites never did get this. They moved north. In fact, the Danites stole property from Naphtali. The town of Dan, Laish, is in Naphtalite territory. And actually, after this, the tribe of Dan never plays a role in anything. You have the city of Dan and Naphtali all around. So, it's the city of Dan remains significant, for good and for ill. But it's interesting what happens to Dan. which suggests to me that whoever put this text together did it after Judges 18 where the Danites move north. We'll talk about the implications of that for authorship in a moment. 

Well, the center of gravity, if you look at the center of gravity, is reflected in the attention devoted to the respective tribes. And here is my list of the tribes, a graph of the tribes. How many verses are devoted, or is this word count? I've forgotten. But the respective lengths of each of the blessings in Genesis, in red, and in Deuteronomy. In this instance, the center of gravity is clearly Levi and Joseph. 

Why do Levi and Joseph get more attention than the others? Not even Judah. I have a theory. It relates to who are the people at the helm here? Moses. And by now Phinehas probably; they’re Levites. Where's Joseph in this picture? That's Joshua. Joshua is an Ephraimite, and it could well be that, as he's going up the hill, Moses has a special soft spot for these two. I don't know. It's just hypothetical. Center of gravity in Levi and Joseph rather than Judah and Joseph. 

In Genesis 49, God recognizes Judah, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah.” That's the anchor text. But the second one is again Joseph, which has a long... But of course, at that point Jacob is especially happy to have renewed his connection with Joseph and he blesses Joseph profusely. 

Date and provenance. What when was this document produced? And so, I suppose we have to distinguish between the date of the blessings and the date of the document, the collection of blessing. Probably two different things. 

A couple of clues here. One, the archaic language continues that we saw in chapter 3. It's poetry. So, it's got old fashioned language, which suggests to many scholars, including critical scholars, that this text is an ancient text, one of the oldest texts in all of scripture, whether or not you believe in Moses, because the language is old. 

Second, the picture of Israel as a nation. It's an assembly of tribes united by worship of Yahweh. There is no hint here of the division in 9:31, which, in my view, rules out most critical scholar theory that pushes everything way back there, way into the future. So, I think that it has to have been even put together before 9:31. 

The picture of the individual tribes does not match later images of what we had. For instance, after the book, there's limited attention to Judah. Even if this document was produced under David in David's time, that is the book of Deuteronomy as a book, the speeches are all authentically Mosaic, the song is Mosaic, the blessings are Mosaic. But put together like this, you would think that if it was after David, whoever put this thing together would give Judah more space, because by then Judah is number one. 

Levi's access to Tummim and Urim. I use the T rather than T-H intentionally, because in Hebrew, at the beginning of a word, the T letter is never soft. In the middle or end of a word after a vowel, bath, daughter, house, but you never start a word with T-H in Hebrew. So, it should be Tummim and Urim. And usually, we have Urim and Tummim. 

But in any case, Levi has access to the Tummim and Urim Elsewhere he's always associated with the high priest who has these stones in his breastplate. There isn't a hint of that in Deuteronomy, which suggests, in some significant circles, that this happened before the competition between the groups of priests. They're working together. 

There's a positive view of Benjamin, a very positive view of Benjamin in this one. After Judges 19, 20, and 21, you could never say this about Benjamin, and for sure, not after Saul. So that points to an early date. 

The emphasis on fertility rather than political power for Joseph. Later, Ephraim becomes the dominant political power in the North, already under Joshua actually, he's an Ephraimite. So, it’s Judah and Ephraim, become the names of the two kingdoms. But there's no hint of Ephraimite political power. 

There's a positive perspective on Dan. 

A positive view of Zebulun and Issachar. 

All of this points to a time of composition, and I think creation of the document, before everything went south. So, an early date. 

Well, how about the rest of Deuteronomy - the relationship. The struggle against idolatry is reflected in the exordium and in the coda, but not so much in the actual blessings of the tribes. So, you've got idolatry, Yahweh usurping the titles and characteristics of Canaanite deities. He is El, he is Rider of the Clouds. He is the Eternal One. These names come out of ancient Canaanite mythology. You have, the gods have these titles: El, Rider of the Clouds and Eternal One. Those are epithets attributed to Yahweh. So, it's at a time when we are still wrestling with that; we haven't caved in. 

With regard to the centralization of the cult. Here, the Levites burn incense on the altar. What I thought only Aaronites did? But here it’s Levites. But note: Zebulun and Issachar leading worship on Mount Tabor. Really? I have no idea where that happened, when that happened, if that happened, what kind of event this text is anticipating. But perhaps because Mount Tabor is this impressive mountain up there, up north, they're expecting that somewhere in the future, Zebulun and Issachar will be leading orthodox worship. Righteous sacrifices. Look at verse 19, “They will call the peoples to the mountain; There they will offer righteous sacrifices.” How does that work? So, we have an issue. 

The vocabulary of salvation, references to ordinances and the Torah clearly reflect a Deuteronomy view of the covenant, and the characterization of Israel as holy ones, the qĕdōšîm, verse three. This is very Deuteronomic. 

Fourth, the incomparability of Yahweh in the coda at the end certainly accords with the monotheistic perspectives of the book. Who is a God like Yahweh and who is a people like Israel because they have a God like Yahweh? This fits the book. 

Five, Yahweh’s appearance from Sinai and the portrayal of Moses as a mediator through whom the ordinances were given to Israel in verse 5, I think it is, and the one who charged the Levites to teach Torah. These all allude to the covenant we have been talking about in this. 

And finally, the role of the land in the triangular deity: nation relationship, especially as the basis for Israel's prosperity and this emphasis is right in sync with the pictures we have in chapters 8 and 11. 

But note, there is no reference here to fulfillment of prophecy apart from the Urim and Tummim in the hands of the Levites. Moses doesn't talk about prophets will come in fulfillment of any words; that is absent. There's no reference to a future king, let alone a Davidic dynasty, which in my mind, points the blessings themselves, pre-David, they have to be because after David, we all know there is a king already. 

Conclusion. In my mind, the exordium and coda have been composed very early as a separate doxological hymn. So, the first five verses (I think it's the first five) and the last 1, 2, 3, 4 verses - these were once together as a single hymn. The blessing fragments appear to have been collected later. Headings were added to identify each fragment with a tribe. 

Now we have no idea if Moses uttered these words as he was walking up the mountain. Some scribe was probably present, probably a Levite, there were other literate people around who may have written down each of these blessings on a three-by-five card. Of course, we are now talking metaphorically. It could have been on potsherds, or on a fragment of parchment. And that, I imagine, potsherds may have been most likely, written on a potsherd. And then they're all put into a box or into a container. And we've got a collection of Moses’ blessings; these are the words of Moses. 

And this collection has no shape in that bag. The shape is given to it later so that the content is early but the order in which the editor (can we talk in those terms?) the order in which the editor arranges them reflects the editor’s time. Hence, Dan is up north. So, the blessings are early, but the text as we have it comes later. This is theory. 

The collection of blessings was inserted into the preexistent hymn, breaking it up into identical length, exordium, and coda.

The poetic product was inserted and integrated into the book of Deuteronomy and verse 1, composed by the final author of the book, if not the final author of the Pentateuch 

I don't know how the Pentateuch was produced in its final form. The Bible never says Moses wrote the Pentateuch. We shouldn't die in battle over absence of evidence. The Pentateuch says, Moses wrote down these speeches; that I'll die for. But did he write Deuteronomy? Did he utter these blessings? I'll say yes, the text tells me; whatever the text says, I'll accept. But I will not make it say more than it says. 

Well, let's begin our reflections on what we actually have. I am not going to take time to look at each of the tribes separately. That's a complicated picture and we can do that on our own. They're all little fragments. Each one deserves a little bit of comment. But most of my comments will be on that which really inspires, namely the beginning and the end. The blessings are cast as prayers for a localized audience. 

The exordium. 

“This is the blessing that Moses, the man of God, pronounced on the Israelites before his death.” 

That's a prosaic statement. Notice it identifies the genre of the text. If chapter 32 was a song, šîr; this is a blessing. But the word blessing never appears. But the author calls it a blessing. And it's not the traditional form of a blessing. They really turn out to be, these are Moses’ prayers, wishes, expressions of passion for the future of each tribe. 

Moses here is called the man of God, which could mean ‘the godly man.’ But I don't think necessarily so. It probably means the commissioned man of God, a mallach, an envoy of God. He pronounced on behalf of God the realities of the Israelites before his death.

And then, “He said: 
Yahweh came from Sinai 
and dawned upon them from Seir; 
He shone forth from Mount Paran; 
He came from the place of myriads of holy ones, 
with fire emanating from his right. 

O you who love the peoples, 
all his holy ones were in your hand. 
So they followed in your steps, 
receiving direction from you. 

When Yahweh [recte Moses] charged us this Torah, 
as a possession for the assembly of Jacob. 

Thus he became king in Jeshurun, 
when the heads of the people were gathered together, 
all the tribes of Israel together.” 

Well, we already talked about the nature of these utterances, cast as a blessing. But now we use the word loosely. A blessing is fundamentally a pronouncement of good will and an invocation of divine favor by one person on another, usually a superior to an inferior. 

But blessings play a very important role in the book of Genesis. They’re all over the place, of all sorts, but especially by heads of families on their children when they're dying, they pronounce a blessing upon the children. 

You remember Jacob wants to bless Joseph's two sons even before he goes, and you remember the story of how his arms crossed in order that he might bless the younger with a right hand and give him, grant him, supremacy over. So, Ephraim, the younger becomes the right-hand person, the virtual firstborn. Firstborn. 

The notion of firstborn doesn't have necessarily to do with birth order it. It's a sociological character of first in rank. Reuben is the firstborn, but by the time the story's over, he's definitely not first in rank. That goes either to Levi or to Judah or, I think, once they're in Egypt, Jacob treats Joseph as the first in rank.

But in any case, typically the favors involved, invoked, revolve around fertility, status, peace, and security. It's all about the triangle. And what Moses will do in these blessings is wish upon the people these four things: fertility, status, peace, and security. 

In blessings in Genesis, they were conferred in the presence of Yahweh. Genesis 27:7. 

The time at which blessings were pronounced on children were festive occasions. Remember Jacob, who's going blind, says to Esau, thinks he says to Esau, Make a nice meal like we've enjoyed all week here because I want to bless you. And so, they get ready for the festive occasion and he blesses Jacob. 

To be blessed is the opposite of being cursed, naturally. 

The content of blessing can be inspired by the senses of the person. Sometimes the blesser smells the person. Isaac smelled something on Jacob and the blessing reflects the smell. It happens. The senses are alive. 

The blessings could be multidimensional. They could include material prosperity, social dominance, divine protection. 

Interestingly, once it's been pronounced, it cannot be revoked. It's irrevocable. And I think this leads to one of the other things we’ll say, whether or not the speaker is blessing the person he thinks he is blessing, turns out to be irrelevant. In our courts of law, authorial intent would rule. He thought he was blessing Esau and he gave him the store. But he was blessing Jacob. And then Esau comes in and oy vey. He can't retract it. 

The benediction of a patriarch took precedence over natural and customary rights. That's Ephraim and Manasseh. 

At the time of the final blessing, the patriarch was considered to have prophetic ability to see and predict the future.

The inspiration of the blessings invoked derive from a variety of sources sometimes, case of Reuben, Simeon and Levi, what you've done in the past. I'm taking it out on you here. Sometimes they play on the person's name, sometimes the father's feelings toward the son. 

But they are accompanied by final instructions regarding the deposition of the deceased patriarch's body. 49. At the time of the blessing, then there are also instructions about I'm about to leave and what do you do with me now. 

The fact that the person being blessed was someone other than the one pronouncing the blessing thought he was, is immaterial. Thinking he was Esau, Isaac blessed Jacob and he couldn't pull it back. That is a problem that they fought with all their lives after that. 

Well, I want to skip ahead to a couple of other topics we need to talk about here. Moses was called here ‘the man of God.’ This is used of prophets in half a dozen other texts. There are lots of titles for prophets around: seer, visionary, Navi, one called of God. And here he is called the man of God, which I think is a man who has access to the counsel of God in that sense. 

Well, who is the beneficiary? It's the descendants of Israel. The great nations standing in front. These are the family of Jacob and Moses, in this blessing, stands as the patriarch before the whole group. This is an extended family. In contrast to God, who in Exodus 32 had said, Leave Me alone so My anger can burn against them and I can destroy them. I will make you, Moses, into a great nation. Here Moses stands up, and he could have said, You are the people of Moshe. But they're not the people of Moshe. They're the descendants of Israel. They're not Mushites. It is actually an interesting moment. 

There are a couple of other thematic things I want to talk about now. Notice in this exordium, the issue is about the arrival of the great king. Yahweh showed up. But look at the source, the origin. He came from Sinai, not to Sinai. He came from Seir. He came from Mount Paran, from the place of the myriads of holy ones and fire emanating.  This is obviously a reference to the theophany, I should say, audience at Mount Sinai, but that he should come from Seir, come from Sinai, come from Mount Paran, I think this already reflects the Israelites have been on the move. And wherever they have gone starting with Sinai, Yahweh has marched with them in the tabernacle, you know, as the fire and the cloud, and taken them to where they are supposed to rest every night, “He led them to their resting places.” 

But He is the great King. He is Yahweh who comes from these mountains. And if you want to see where we are, we can do this on the map. He comes from Seir. I am a traditionalist in the location of Mount Sinai down here, Jabal Mousa. I'm not a geographer, so I will not live or die on that one. But the image is, He comes from Mount Sinai. This is the only place in the book where the word Sinai occurs. Everywhere else, it's Horeb, everywhere else. 

Which reminds us that Moses is referring to this in a metaphor; Horeb represents something to Moses. We can't be quite sure. It comes from the same root as the word for wasteland. And I have a private theory that, to Moses, Sinai was a disaster. It's a wasteland. Most people died. It's not with you God made the covenant, I mean, it's not with your fathers God made the covenant, but with us. I have a feeling that. But here in the poem, he's got to stick with the script and he can’t change it. 

So, He came from Sinai. He came from the wilderness of Paran. He came from Seir. These are the mountains east of the Arava here. This is the heartland of Edom. But God is associated with the south, the mountains, the desert. And He comes from there coming with His holy ones. This is a picture of Israel on the march. 

He comes in glory. He dawns, all the expressions, He shines forth. It's a brilliant place. In this image, Sinai is not so much the place of the law as the place of God's glorious presence. 

And of course, I think this reminds us of Exodus 19:4 - 6. “You've seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I carried you on eagle’s wings and brought you to Myself.” It's all about God. It's all about Yahweh. 

Some of these lines are extremely difficult. He came from the place of myriads of holy ones. Who are those myriads of holy ones? There is ambiguity here. Sometimes the holy ones are the sons of God, the courtiers of God in heaven. Council of holy ones. But the referent will change in this text in a little while we will see. The Israelites have become the holy ones. He came from the place of the holy ones, the heavenly court. But now He is marching on with a new band of holy ones. 

Later on, then, he talks about not only Sinai, Seir, Mt. Paran, but “from the midst of ten thousand holy ones,” that could be Kadesh (qōḏeš), holy ones. So, some think that there's a reference to Kadesh Barnea in that one. But that's a text problem. There are lots of text problems with this. 

“From his right angels came.” How they got angels out of this word is anybody's guess, because it's not the word for angels. But this is a very critical issue in later interpretation. There are no references to angels with that kind of language in this passage in the Hebrew. But this reading underlies a later tradition reflected in a variety of sources that angels served as mediators when the law was given at Sinai. If there is a biblical source for that tradition, this is it. This is it. 

Josephus: “The Israelites learned the noblest of their doctrines and the holiest of their laws through messengers sent by God.” There isn't a hint of this in the Pentateuch. The Pentateuch has God speaking the Decalogue directly to the people. All the rest He speaks directly to Moses, and Moses passes it on. No hint of intermediaries. 

Acts 7:53 Stephen speaks of his own people as those who received the law by angels under God's direction. Where does that come from? 

Galatians 3, Paul speaks of the laws having been put into effect through angels by a mediator. 

Hebrews 2:2, alluding to the heavenly host, refers to the law as binding, a binding word spoken by angels.

It's not here. Makes you wonder what New Testament authors are reading. Septuagintal versions? Other versions of this text? But at least four times you have this, plus Josephus and others. 

The important thing I think, for us to notice is how God is portrayed here. He's the king. This is the only place in Deuteronomy where He is actually called the king. In the curses, they will talk about, “the king whom you have chosen, who will be punished.” But Yahweh as king, is implicit in the whole book. He is the royal one. He is enthroned. He speaks. Israel is His vassal. This is royal. But here He's the king. 

He is the king. He is the lover of the peoples. I love some of these expressions. It's a strange word, ḥāḇaḇ ʿam., a lover of the peoples. 

The one who holds His people in His Hands. 

On the other hand, the people are the peoples, plural? I thought they were one people. My people Israel. But now I think he's talking tribes. Each of the tribes is a people. This is a very general category. 

The beloved of Yahweh. The holy ones. Lots of important one.  My holy ones. 

They are submissive to Yahweh. They follow in His steps; they receive His direction. 

The Israelites have become God's holy entourage as He marches from Sinai to Paran, to Seir to Kadesh Barnea, the Israelites are His royal entourage. 

Verses 1 and 2 paint a picture of the Lord's universal authority, sensitively balancing authority over a heavenly host with His authority over Israel. This statement highlights Israel's role in the Lord’s earthly agenda, what the angels are to cosmic administration, the Israelites are to the earthly. They are His agents. They are the people of His court. 

Joshua Berman, a fine Jewish scholar, Orthodox Jewish scholar, and very friendly to evangelicals, and when we gather for discussions about the composition of the Pentateuch, rethinking the composition, that's the name of a colloquium we are part of, he's always there. And he says, I feel more at home among you people than my own people because you take the scriptures seriously, what they say. And so even Jewish scholars, they tear it apart and do all kinds of analytical stuff of it that he does not. 

But he argues in one of his books in Israel, every individual Israelite is a vassal of God as an individual, as well as the collective vassal of God. These are people who are part of God's heavenly court. 

Of course, this is an idealized picture of Yahweh’s holy ones. The Israelites don't function so holily very often. But we have to remember the context. The Divine King is about to lead His forces across the Jordan, and then in a campaign claim the land He promised. This is an army on the march. We're finally ready to go. And the Divine King is at the head of the battle. I think this is why once they cross the Jordan River, the first thing Joshua experienced is the captain of the Lord [recte captain of the host of the Lord] shows up. Just as a reminder, I'm here, I'm going ahead of you, and let's all go. This sets the context for the blessings that follow. 

But then he adds, curiously, when “Moses charged us with the Torah as a possession for the assembly of Jacob, thus he became king in Jeshurun.” He became king in Jeshurun at this moment? Well, I think actually what we've got now, what's happened on the plains of Moab, is the equivalent of what happened at Sinai. But this title, Jeshurun, applies to this generation.

Jeshurun is the pet name of God for Israel after the covenant relationship is established. From this point on Yahweh is officially recognized as the divine king of this population. That has not been a dominant motif until this point. And so, I think that's what's happening here. 

As Moses is going up to God, about to be buried by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, he looks back and he says, Look, these are the people, the people of the Lord. They're marching out in battle with the King in front of them. And it's also a signal, You people on the other side of the Jordan, watch out. Look who's coming: The King and all His holy ones. 

The emphasis on holy ones is profound here, which is a reminder that this is not just a secular thing that's happening here. It's not simply one nation taking over the territory of a bunch of little petty tribes. Some grand moment in the scheme of redemption is about to happen. A holy God, bringing a holy people to a holy land. That's what we've got to preserve, and that's the mission and the passion of Moses in this. 

Well, this is a grand story of Sinai; not only of Sinai, but of the sequel to Sinai, where Yahweh becomes the king of this generation. They are formally adopted as His sons. Now we learn they have a new name and a new vision ready to go. 

Well, there's lots more we can say about this. Yahweh’s kingship has been developed slowly up to this point in association with the exodus and the crossing of the Red Sea. 

You have a passing reference to Yahweh as king through His victory over the Amalekites, Exodus 17:16. 

Yahweh is king at Mount Sinai. The king: vassal relationship was formally established. 

Through the design of the tabernacle, a throne for the divine king was created, 1 Samuel 4:4, “Yahweh Sebaoth sits enthroned above the cherubim.” That's the throne of the King.

Through the oracle of Balaam, you've had allusions to the kingship of God, and now 

In the proclamation of the Torah and the supervision of the covenant renewal on the Plains of Moab, this generation has become the people of the King, King Yahweh. He is the one who goes ahead. 

And of course, you know the image from Isaiah 6, “In the year the King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and lifted up and His train filled the temple. And all the attendants were singing, ‘qāḏôš, qāḏôš, qāḏôš  Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is” literally “’the fullness of His glory.’” It's not, The whole Earth is full of His glory. It's not just the container. “The heavens declare the glory of God.” Not as if they're talking about something else out there, but in their very being they declare the glory of God. The whole Earth is the fullness of His glory. 

Similar to Isaiah's vision of Yahweh seated on the lofty throne attended by fiery heavenly courtiers. Seraphim. What are Seraphim? Those are serpents with wings. Quite common in Egyptian iconography, seraphim. They're not common. A seraph is a poisonous, seraphim. Elsewhere, these are poisonous, venomous serpents. But here they stand as guardians of the One enthroned. 

This coda paints a picture of the exalted and triumphant Lord of the universe, Lord of the heavens, who is also the King eternal, king of Israel. This is important because in the face of Moses’ imminent death, like Isaiah, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord and I was worried, all stressed out.” And he goes to the temple and he gets this reassuring, It's okay, it's okay. The Lord sits enthroned. And that's what we have here. 

In the face of Moses’ imminent death, it was important to Moses to affirm publicly that although their human leader is leaving, the Israelites needn’t fear for they are the objects of Yahweh’s affection, three or four different words for that. They have a clear understanding of His character. They know His will. Therefore, cross the Jordan confidently, knowing that Yahweh, your King, leads the way into enemy territory. That will be a challenge. That will be a test. 

Well, I think I'm going to leave it at that for now. We could, with great benefit, look at each of the blessings. But I leave that to you. I have a brief conversation about that in my commentary on Deuteronomy. We can find some of it there. 

It's a grand opening and closing. 

The ending. I should make a few comments on the coda. A few more comments. There is none like - and it's in two parallel texts. The incomparability of the God of Israel leads to a discussion of the incomparability of Israel. 

“There's none like God, O Jeshurun.” And now Moses turns around and Moses calls Israel Jeshurun. “Who rides through the heavens to your help” That's a Baal metaphor. Baal is called The Rider of the Clouds in Canaanite literature. That's his title. He's riding the storm clouds. What's he saying? I've just taken over Baal’s territory. It's a magnificent anti-idolatry motif 

“Through the skies in His Majesty.” And of course, the comparison of that to a chariot is precipitated by the thunder that happens in rain, in rainstorms, because it's like the sound of chariot wheels on a cobblestone road. He rides the heavens. That's a sign of His presence. 

“The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the arms of the Eternal One. 
And He thrust out the enemy before them and said, Destroy!” 

I love this passage because in moments of stress and grief and tension and worry, pain, death, what comfort, what comfort. We lost a member of the family a short time ago, and this is the text that became very precious to us. 

“He rides the heavens to your help.” (He's above you.) 
“Underneath are the everlasting arms.” 
And he goes “before you saying, ‘Destroy!’” 

He's all around you. He watches over you. He carries you, dare we say on His chariot. 

“How privileged are you, O, Israel; 
Who is like you, a people rescued by Yahweh.” 

You want to talk about what the gospel is in Deuteronomy? That's it. Here's the summary of the gospel. But this is not only gospel, it's also mission: Saved for a purpose. You are the agents proclaiming the glory of God and governing, showing the world what life with God is like. 

Rescued. He's the shield of your help. The sword of your triumph. Your enemies will come fawning over you. And you shall tread the back - you shall tread upon their backs. Of course, that's a metaphor for what you do to a conquered enemy. You put your foot on the neck of the conquered person. This is a message of hope for the Israelites. 

But you notice what's happening here. On the one hand, you have a picture of God, what a great God. On the other hand, you have a picture of Israel, what a privileged people is. And then you have the consequence. 

“So Israel lives in safety, 
Jacob lives alone.” (That means unthreatened; it doesn't mean hermitage.) 

“In a land of grain and wine, 
whose heavens dropped down dew.” 

That comes from national anthem we just heard. This is a completion of the picture at the end of all the blessings. 

And now as you go through the blessings, you will see that this is about life. Life lived in the presence of God and as the agents of God. And for each of these tribes, Moses wishes the best. 

The amazing thing is he had such a, he's been so bitter with his folks, but he has it within him, even as God said, Moses, you're not going over there. And He tells them exactly why, Because you didn't defend My Holiness. (I've forgotten the exact expression here.) You're not going over. 

Even so, Moses can turn around and say, “The Lord bless you, the Lord keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, The Lord be gracious to you, and the Lord give you peace.” This is the message of a pastor on the way out. If only it were always that way. Well, and if only Moses had always felt this way. 

But it is a brilliant closing scene on the drama of Israel's story, this is the end of the Pentateuch, and of Moses’ personal biography. I am happy the author found it within him, even as he is true to the tradition, Moses, you blew it, he maintains this disposition toward Moses here. And he can let him do this. He can let him do. He doesn't spoil it for us. It's a great piece. 

All right. With that we’ll leave the blessing of Moses.