The Blessing of Moses Introduced in Deuteronomy 33:1 this Poem has three parts: (1) Deuteronomy 33:2, Proem, on the origin of the people Israel; (2) Deuteronomy 33:6, Blessings on its tribes; (3) Deuteronomy 33:26, Epilogue, returning to the whole people in close continuation of the Proem. Question... [ Continue Reading ]
An editor's introduction; note _children of Israel_, not D's _all Israel_. _the blessing … blessed_ This title is not given to the less hopeful oracles assigned to Jacob in Genesis 49. Great sanctity was ascribed to the words of a dying father or leader on the fortunes of his sons or followers, for... [ Continue Reading ]
(2 9). Four Laws: Of Right to Enter the Congregation There shall not enter any eunuch (Deuteronomy 33:1); nor the son of an unlawful marriage, nor descendants (Deuteronomy 33:2); nor Ammonite, nor Moabite, nor descendants (Deuteronomy 33:3-6); but the third generation of Edomite or Egyptian may ent... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Lord Jehovah_; as frequently, the Divine Name opens the poem; see on Deuteronomy 1:6. _Sinai_ See Deuteronomy 1:2; Deuteronomy 1:6, on Ḥoreb, and on the view that the mountain lay in Se-îr cp. Judges 5:4. _rose_ Like the sun: _rays_, or _beams_, forth. _unto them_ So Heb. and Sam. But LXX, T... [ Continue Reading ]
The Proem The Origin of Israel The Revelation by which the tribes became a nation is described in the mingled figures of a dawn and a thunderstorm, theophanies frequent in the Ar. poetry of the desert where natural phenomena suggestive of divine appearance and power are few (hardly more than these... [ Continue Reading ]
_he loveth_ Heb. partic. _ḥobeb_, only here; the meaning is assured from other Semitic dialects. _the peoples_ If the Heb. is accepted render _tribes_. But LXX has HIS PEOPLE. _his saints_ Not in an ethical sense, but as HALLOWED, or _set apart, to Him_; either all Israel or more probably their sp... [ Continue Reading ]
( 4 7). Nor shall Ammonites, nor Moabites, nor their Descendants Enter the Congregation (3), for these nations gave no provision to Israel on the way from Egypt (4 _a_), but he (?) hired Balaam to curse Israel (4 _b_, 5); Israel must never seek their welfare (6). Deuteronomy 33:3 is quoted in Lament... [ Continue Reading ]
_Moses commanded us a law_ The change to 1st pers. plur. (but LXX B _you_), the introduction of Moses" name, and the fact that the line is an odd one, raise the suspicion that it is a gloss. Law, Heb. _Tôrah_, in its widest sense (see on Deuteronomy 1:5; Deuteronomy 1:31); omit _a_. If the line be r... [ Continue Reading ]
4A. _met you not_, etc.] The appearance of the Pl. address marks a quotation as in Deuteronomy 9:7 f. According to Deuteronomy 2:29 Moab _sold bread and water_to Israel. _when ye came forth out of Egypt_ Whoever wrote this clause (D or an editor) its perspective is that not of Moses in the land of... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he_ BECAME _king in Jeshurun_ i.e. Jehovah. Graf, Wellh., Stade render _and there was a king_, i.e. Saul, but Saul is not relevant here. On _Yeshurun_see Deuteronomy 32:15.... [ Continue Reading ]
The Blessing Proper 6 R e" ubén, may he live and not die, Though few be his men.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou shalt not seek_, etc.] So Ezra 9:12 of the peoples of the land. But Jeremiah (Jeremiah 29:7) counselled the exiled Jews to seek the peace of Babylonia. The spirit of his counsel is as much in advance of the spirit of this law, as Isaiah 56:3 ff. is in advance of Deuteronomy 33:1. 7, 8 ( 8, 9)... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou shalt not abhor_ regard as an abomination, ritually alien or -unclean." see on Deuteronomy 7:26. _stranger_ GUEST, or _client_. Heb. _gçr_. See introductory note above. _bring him in_ Not _back_. Judah is isolated from the rest of the nation, but whether this refers to that early isolation,... [ Continue Reading ]
_The children of the third generation … shall enter the_ CONGREGATION] Jeremiah 36:14 mentions a man under King Jehoiakim called _Yehudi_, i.e. Jew, whose great-grandfather was called _Kushi_, i.e. Egyptian, and whose father and grandfather had names derived from the name of Israel's God. 9 14 (10... [ Continue Reading ]
_When thou goest forth_ As Deuteronomy 20:1; Deuteronomy 21:10; cp. Deuteronomy 13:13 (14). _in camp_ Heb. [as] _a camp, maḥaneh_: a term used of the encampment itself, Deuteronomy 33:10 ff., Joshua 6:11; Joshua 6:14 1 Samuel 17:53, 2 Kings 7:16; of those who e [ Continue Reading ]
_among you_ Lit. _in thee_. _which chanceth him by night_ See Leviticus 15:16; and above on Deuteronomy 20:7. _judgements … law_ Heb. _Mishpaṭim … Torah_cp. Deuteronomy 17:9 ff. The earlier priest was a teacher and judge (Hosea 4:6; Micah 3:11); and of his functions these also come first here, and... [ Continue Reading ]
_when evening cometh on_ Genesis 24:63. The new day began then. _bathe himself_, etc.] Also prescribed in Leviticus 15:16. _substance_ Better STRENGTH or EFFICIENCY and so SERVICE, parallel to _work of his hands_. Yet it might mean _host, ranks_or _order_. Calvin retaining _substance_says -it appe... [ Continue Reading ]
_a place_ Heb. _hand_, of Jabbok-side in Deuteronomy 2:37, a man's place in the ranks, Numbers 2:17 (cp. Jeremiah 6:3). Here perhaps a _place aside_.... [ Continue Reading ]
_paddle peg_or _stake_, in Judges 5:26 of _tent-peg_, here a digging-stick, Scot. -dibble.... [ Continue Reading ]
_walketh walketh up and down_(also of God in J, Genesis 3:8, and 2 Samuel 7:6 f.). Cp. especially 1 Samuel 4:7, _a god is come into the camp_; and above Deuteronomy 20:1; Deuteronomy 20:4; Deuteronomy 20:13; Deuteronomy 21:10 of the presence of Jehovah with the host. On _deliver_cp.... [ Continue Reading ]
(16 26). Five Laws Various The subjects of these are not related. As to form, all are in the Sg. address (Steuern."s reasons for dividing them between his Sg. and Pl. authors are again inconclusive); and the first three (Deuteronomy 33:15-20) have negative openings similar to those of the group in... [ Continue Reading ]
( 16, 17). Of a Runaway Slave. If such escape to _thee_apparently Israel as a whole (cp. Deuteronomy 5:16), and therefore the slave, though not necessarily a Hebrew slave 1 [145] (Marti), is one who has escaped from a foreign master thou shalt not send him back, he shall dwell with thee, where he ch... [ Continue Reading ]
_deliver_ i.e. under arrest; cp. Joshua 20:5 (deut.), 1 Samuel 23:11 f. _a servant_ SLAVE or _bondman_, as elsewhere, e.g. Deuteronomy 5:14. _chief things_ Heb. _rôsh_(collect.) _tops_or rather _headlands_, see on Deuteronomy 3:27 and small print under Deuteronomy 12:2. Some conjecture _reshîth th... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH THEE SHALL HE DWELL] So the emphatic Heb. order. _In the midst of thee_, omitted by some LXX codd. and redundant, is probably a gloss. So also _within one of thy gates where_, etc., omitted by LXX. _oppress_ in D only here, in Exodus 22:21 (20) -wrong," Leviticus 19:33 -oppress" (both of the... [ Continue Reading ]
For these two hierodules the Heb. is _ḳadesh_(masc.) and _ḳedeshah_(fem.) and means simply _set apari, consecrated_(cp. above, pp. 108 ff.), the former being probably the unsexed man referred to in Deuteronomy 22:5; Deuteronomy 23:1. _The firstling of his bullock_ Ephraim, Genesis 48:13 ff. _wild-o... [ Continue Reading ]
_hire of a_ HARLOT] Both of the consecrated and common prostitute, cp. Hosea 9:1; Micah 1:7; Isaiah 23:17 f., Ezekiel 16:34. Mövers (_op. cit._) shows that in Phoenicia this hire was brought to the temple. _wages of a dog_ Heb. _meḥîr_, _wage_, Micah 3:11, elsewhere _price_or _payment_, e.g. 2 Samue... [ Continue Reading ]
_lend upon usury_ EXACT INTEREST; the Eng. _usury_formerly meant like the Lat. _usura_no more than interest. Heb. _neshek_is lit. something _bitten off_; the denom. vb. is _to take_, or _make_one _pay, interest_. _usury of money_, etc.] The loans were more frequently in kind. _They_ CALL … _There t... [ Continue Reading ]
_foreigner_ See on Deuteronomy 15:3. _that the Lord thy God … thine hand unto_ See on Deuteronomy 12:7. _the land whither thou goest in_, etc.] See on Deuteronomy 7:1; Deuteronomy 8:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
( 22 24). Of Vows. A vow once made shall be paid without delay. God requires it, neglect is a sin (Deuteronomy 33:21). To forbear to vow is no sin, but every uttered promise of this kind must be observed (Deuteronomy 33:22 f.). In the Sg., somewhat redundant, and probably expanded (see on Deuteronom... [ Continue Reading ]
_vow_ Heb. _nadar_, as the parallel _nazar_shows, means originally -to dedicate." The term and the idea are found in practically all the Semitic languages. _be slack_ Lit. _be behind_, DELAY. _To pay,_lit. _to fulfil_. _sin_ _IN_ _thee_ Cp. Deuteronomy 15:9. _provided_ Lit. _saw_but = _saw to_.... [ Continue Reading ]
22 And of Dan he said: Dan, a whelp of a lion, He leaps from Bashán. 22. The situation assigned is that northern one, to which the tribe migrated from their earlier seat in the South (Judges 18:7). They settled at Laish (a poetical term for _lion_) or Leshem, thereafter called Dan, which is usual... [ Continue Reading ]
_as thou hast_ FREELY _vowed unto the Lord thy God_ LXX _to God_. _which thou hast promised_, etc.] Attached awkwardly to preceding, and probably a gloss. 24, 25 ( 25, 26). Of Use at Need of Others" Corn and Fruits. Grapes may be eaten on the spot but none carried away; ears of corn may be plucked... [ Continue Reading ]
_at thine own pleasure_ or _appetite_, Deuteronomy 12:20; Deuteronomy 14:26. _Thy fill_, which in Heb. follows this clause, may be a gloss on it. _vessel_ Heb. _keli_(Deuteronomy 22:5 _garment_), a sack (Genesis 43:11; 1 Samuel 17:40) or pot.... [ Continue Reading ]
_ears_ Heb. _melîlôth_only here; N.H. _melîlah_= the still soft ears. _sickle_ See on Deuteronomy 16:9. _bars_ Heb. _min-al_, found only here, but the meaning is confirmed by that of the similar form _man-ul_, Nehemiah 3:3, etc., and by the Sam. The _shoes_of A.V. and R.V. marg. and the LXX ὑπόδημ... [ Continue Reading ]
_like_ THE GOD OF _Jeshurun_ So Sam., LXX., Targ., Vulg.; but Heb. reads _like the God, O Yeshurun_. Parallels to this line are found in J, Exodus 8:10; Exodus 9:14; in the Poem, Exo 15:11; 2 Samuel 7:22, and above Deuteronomy 4:35; Deuteronomy 4:39; Deuteronomy 32:39. _excellency_ Rather LOFTINESS,... [ Continue Reading ]
The Epilogue 26 None like the God of Y e shurun! Riding the heavens to thy help, And the skies in His loftiness. 27 The Eternal God is thy refuge, And beneath are the arms everlasting. He drove out before thee the foe, And He said, Destroy! 28 So Israel dwelt securely, Secluded the fount... [ Continue Reading ]
_dwelling place_ As in Psalms 90:1. A.V. _refuge_; and some moderns _thy refuge_by emending the text. The LXX renders the line καὶ σκεπάσει σε Θεοῦ ἀρχή. _And underneath are the everlasting arms_ Berth. and Marti oddly declare this beautiful line unintelligible, on the ground that the arms of God in... [ Continue Reading ]
_fountain … alone_ For _fountain_, _-ain_, some propose _-am_, _people_. But the figure is emphatic and natural after the previous line: Israel's life shall flow unmixed, untainted with that of the expelled peoples.... [ Continue Reading ]
The metre here is irregular, the first line is overloaded, the third too short, but the text is mostly confirmed by the Versions. _shield_ God as shield, Genesis 15:1; Psalms 3:3 (4), Psalms 18:2; Psalms 18:30 (3, 31), Psalms 84:11 (12). _that is_ So Heb.; but omit with Sam. LXX. _excellency_ The... [ Continue Reading ]