Deuteronomy 33:6-29 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Deuteronomy 33:6-7

Here is, I. The blessing of Reuben. Though Reuben had lost the honour of his birthright, yet Moses begins with him; for we should not insult over those that are disgraced, nor desire to perpetuate marks of infamy upon any, though ever so justly fastened at first, Deut. 33:6. Moses desires and foretels, 1. The preserving of this tribe. Though a frontier tribe on the other side Jordan, yet, ?Let it live, and not be either ruined by its neighbours or lost among them.? And perhaps he refers to... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Deuteronomy 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. I. To the high priest, here called God's holy one (Deut. 33:8), because his office was holy, in token of which, Holiness to the Lord was written upon his forehead. 1. He seems to acknowledge that God might justly have displaced Aaron and his seed, for his sin at Meribah,... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Deuteronomy 33:12-17

Here is, I. The blessing of Benjamin, Deut. 33:12. Benjamin is put next to Levi, because the temple, where the priests? work lay, was just upon the edge of the lot of this tribe; and it is put before Joseph because of the dignity of Jerusalem (part of which was in this tribe) above Samaria, which was in the tribe of Ephraim, and because Benjamin adhered to the house of David, and to the temple of the Lord, when the rest of the tribes deserted both with Jeroboam. 1. Benjamin is here called the... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Deuteronomy 33:18-21

Here we have, I. The blessings of Zebulun and Issachar put together, for they were both the sons of Jacob by Leah, and by their lot in Canaan they were neighbours; it is foretold, 1. That they should both have a comfortable settlement and employment, Deut. 33:18. Zebulun must rejoice, for he shall have cause to rejoice; and Moses prays that he may have cause in his going out, either to war (for Zebulun jeoparded their lives in the high places of the field, Jdg. 5:18), or rather to sea, for... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Deuteronomy 33:22-25

Here is, I. The blessing of Dan, Deut. 33:22. Jacob in his blessing had compared him to a serpent for subtlety; Moses compares him to a lion for courage and resolution: and what could stand before those that had the head of a serpent and the heart of a lion? He is compared to the lions that leaped from Bashan, a mountain noted for fierce lions, whence they came down to leap upon their prey in the plains. This may refer either, 1. To the particular victories obtained by Samson (who was of this... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Deuteronomy 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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 33:6

Let Reuben live, and not die ,.... As a tribe, continue and not be extinct, though they should not excel, because of the sin of their progenitor; and it may have a special regard to the preservation of them, of their families on the other side Jordan, while they passed over it with their brethren into Canaan, and of them in that expedition to help the other tribes in the conquest of the country and the settlement of them in it; which Jacob by a spirit of prophecy foresaw, and in a prayer of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 33:7

And this is the blessing of Judah ,.... Which follows; the same supplement of the words is made in the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem; but Aben Ezra thinks it refers to what goes before, that this, the same thing prayed for or prophesied of Reuben, belongs also to Judah, that he should live and not die; it may be in the wars in which that tribe would be and was engaged: and he said, hear, Lord, the voice of Judah ; in prayer, as all the Targums paraphrase it, which was eminently... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 33:8

And of Levi he said ,.... That is, Moses said of the tribe of Levi, as both the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem: let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy Holy One ; with Aaron, as the same Targums interpret it, who was of the tribe of Levi, and was a holy good man, a saint of the Lord, as he is called, Psalm 106:16 ; of the Urim and Thummim, which were with him and with every high priest; see Gill on Exodus 28:30 ; and though they were not in use under the second temple, yet... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 33:9

Who said unto his father and to his mother, I have not seen him ,.... Which some understand of the high priests who were of this tribe, and according to the law were not to defile themselves, or mourn for a father or mother, Leviticus 21:11 ; or rather, as others, of their having no respect to them in judgment, but determining all causes that came before them according to the law of God, and the rules of justice and equity, in the most impartial manner, without having any regard to the... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Deuteronomy 33:6-7

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Deuteronomy 33:8-11

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Deuteronomy 33:12-17

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Deuteronomy 33:18-21

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Deuteronomy 33:22-25

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Deuteronomy 33:26-29

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 33:6

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 33:7

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 33:8

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 33:9

Group of Brands