Deuteronomy 32-33

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Deuteronomy 32:13-52

“He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock; 14 butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape. 15 But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation. 16 They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger. 17 They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not. 18 Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee. 19 And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters. 20 And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith. 21 They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. 22 For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains. 23 I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them. 24 They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust. 25 The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs. 26 I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men: 27 were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the LORD hath not done all this. 28 For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them. 29 O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end! 30 How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up? 31 For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges. 32 For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter: 33 Their wine is poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps. 34 Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures? 35 To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste. 36 For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left. 37 And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted, 38 which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? let them rise up and help you, and be your protection. 39 See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. 40 For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever. 41 If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me. 42 I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy. 43 Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people. [end of song] 44 And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun. 45 And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel: 46 And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law. 47 For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it. 48 And the LORD spake unto Moses that selfsame day, saying, 49 Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is in over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession: 50 and die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people: 51 because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel. 52 Yet thou shalt see the land before thee; but shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel.”

Introduction

[Audio version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED612]

“We are in this song that God has given to Moses to give to the children of Israel, it is both an encouragement, it’s a challenge, it’s a reproof, it is a prophecy. The first stanza, verses 1 to 4 speak to us of the character of God. Verses 5 to 14 speak of his kindness to own. We’re kind of in this section, we got as far as the eagle stirring up her nest. Let’s read down beginning in verse 5, “They have corrupted themselves; their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation. Do ye thus” ‘is this how you repay’ “requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee? Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee. When the most High divided the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel [that’s 70]. For the LORD’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.” (verses 5-12) This is as far as we’ve come now.

‘You’ve Lightly Esteemed The Rock Of Your Salvation’--God’s Judgment On His People

“He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock,” the floral and the blessing of pollination and the fulness of the land, “and oil out of the flinty rock;” the terraces and olive vineyards, “butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan,” which was known for the health of their cattle and so forth, “and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat;” the kernels of wheat are huge, “thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.” God blessing in every way. And now he begins to challenge, “But Jeshurun” which is an idiom, it isn’t an individual, it’s “the upright,” the one that God had led, the one that he had blessed, and then he comes back to “and then he forsook me. So Jeshurun, the upright, who God blessed in all of these ways, whom he cared for, who he brought into being “waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick,” He is going to liken him to a sheep just being rebellious. He’s speaking of the blessings and growth because of his kindness, “thou art covered with fatness;” ‘every appearance of health is yours,’ “then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.” (verses 13-15) “he forsook,” it means to abandon. Now this is probably prophetic to a point, describing the blessings that would come upon Israel, and how Israel would turn away. Certainly they have those problems on and off in their wilderness journey, they’re at the edge of the Promised Land now. But in all of this there’s something for us. You know, we come to the Faith, when we first get saved we’re excited about the things the Lord extends to us, of his grace, we’re in the period of our first love, the time of espousal, he compares it to Israel, or we’re just so in love with the Lord. And somehow as time goes on, we take things for granted, we grow fat, we kind of fatten up, we become discerning instead of loving, where we perceive that as maturity. And then it says we begin to kick, we begin to forget, we begin to abandon our walk, he says here, “and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.” There’s something where we get more, and the nation will do this, and the individual will do this, we get more absorbed with the blessing than the Blesser, certainly that’s the problem with this country, and misinterpretation of our own history, we’ve become more absorbed with the blessing, the industrial might, and the military strength, and the financial, supposed, financial strength, and forgotten to be on our knees, forgotten there’s a moral character to stand behind that kind of blessing. We have forgotten, and an individual can do the same thing, to forget, to begin to scorn or take lightly the very One who in the beginning rescued them from the world, gave them a reason to live, changed their lives where they were worth something, and somehow as it goes on we can kind of take that to ourselves. And here God is comparing Israel to someone whose going through these kind of changes. He says “They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger.” (verse 16) Isn’t it interesting, with strange gods, with abominations they provoked him to anger? You know, are we jealous over him? Isn’t it interesting that he can be jealous over us. “They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.” (verse 17) Now certainly this is prophetic. They began to embrace the gods of the nations where they would go, they began to embrace the standards and the ethics of the worship of those gods in the nation where they would go, instead of remaining separate. He says “Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.” (verse 18) Now verse 18 is beautiful, it is in a parental context in the Hebrew. The idea is, ‘Of the Rock that fathered thee you were unmindful.’ “and hast forgotten God that” literally ‘brought thee forth in pain,’ in the birth pains. And God is saying here, ‘You know, I fathered you,’ there’s a relationship here, there’s something, ‘I brought you forth as a father brings forth a son, I in pain brought you forth as a mother brings forth a child, my relationship with you is not something I want to mandate,’ there was a great emotion, a great attachment, a great love attached to all of this. And he’s saying “And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.” (verse 19) these false gods and this idolatry, “And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith.” (verse 20) They had no desire to see his face. “They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.” (verses 21-22) I don’t feel like I want to be there as I read through that verse. “I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.” (verse 23) Now he begins to talk about what that is. Interesting, when we study the life of David, at the end of his life, he began to number the children of Israel. And evidently in that, in some regard, he was taking pride in their strength, and it says Satan was there tempting him, in false confidence and so forth. And then God offered him three judgments, and he said that he’d rather cast himself into the hands of the LORD, and a plague came upon the nation. And David in his repentance then went to the threshingfloor of Ornan and he offered a sacrifice, and it says when the angel put his sword back into its sheaf the plague was ceased. That’s a very strange idea for us. There was in the physical, amongst human beings, there was some type of plague spreading amongst the people. In the heavenlies, the picture we have is there’s an angel swinging some sword, and is causing that plague in the physical, and when David offered to the LORD and repented, it says the angel put that sword back into its sheaf and the plague was stayed. What an interesting picture. And here God in those idioms says ‘I will spend my arrows upon them,’ and here he tells us, “They shall be burnt with hunger,” one of his arrows, “and devoured with burning heat,” the idea is the drought, “and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them,” one of his arrows, “with the poison of serpents of the dust. The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.” (verses 24-25) Now he’s talking about his judgment coming, certainly we see Nebuchadnezzar surrounding Jerusalem [before him was the captivity and deportation of the 10-northern tribes of Israel by the Assyrian Empire in 721BC], we see things like this taking place. And now listen to what he says in verse 26, “I said, I would scatter them into corners,” literally ‘scatter them to pieces,’ “I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men: were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the LORD hath not done all this.” (verses 26-27) Now what he says is, ‘I’m going to bring my judgment to a degree, I will govern that, because my fear is, that mankind will perceive their enemies as being victorious, and it won’t be recognized that it’s my hand.’ He says ‘My judgment is not in this, it’s not just coming to destroy,’ God says ‘When I chasten, and when I judge, it isn’t just so people can sit around and say, ‘Man, this country really whupped this country,’ he says ‘I’m afraid that might happen. What I want them to recognize is it’s my hand, because in my judgment and in my chastening, not only is the chastening itself accomplished, but it is to be instructive, it is to be seen, and it is to bring about repentance, it is to be a warning, it is to be a lesson.’ And God said ‘I don’t want to bring my judgment upon them with another nation, and have them totally destroyed.’ “I said, I would scatter them into corners,” ‘scatter them to pieces,’ “I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men: were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the LORD hath not done all this.” (verses 26-27) He wants to be known in his dealing with his people, no doubt as he has been.

‘O That They Were Wise--That They Would Consider Their Latter End’

“For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them.” and listen to what he says, “O that they were wise,” and listen to how he describes that, “that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!” (verses 28-29) God says wisdom is this, that they would consider their latter end. There are consequences, there is never sin or rebellion without consequences. God said ‘O that they were wise, that they would think this out.’ I trust that you this evening, as I have, have considered your latter end, you’ve thought this out to completion. For you and I we have an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away. It has to come to the unbeliever, finally, where they realize ‘Wait, I’m in sin, if any of this is true, I’m lost, I have not thought this all the way out. I haven’t taken this process to where it needs to go.’ Human beings, truth be told, are frail, and temporary, and life is way more fragile than we think that it is. And the LORD says here, I wish they were wise, I wish they had considered their latter end, I wish they had thought it all the way out to the end. Interesting, Moses writes Psalm 90, it’s the only Psalm we have from him. He says “Thou hast set our iniquities before thee,” notice this please, “our secret sins in the light of thy countenance, for all our days are passed away in thy wrath. We spend our years as a tale that is told, the days of our years are threescore years and ten,” 70 years, “and if by reason of strength, they be fourscore” if we live to be 80 “yet is there strength and labour and sorrow, for it is soon cut off and we fly away. Who knoweth the power of thine anger, even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath, so teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.” The only Psalm that Moses writes. Here he says ‘O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end.’ “How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up?” (verse 30) Now look, what he’s saying in this verse, he says how is it possible that one should chase a thousand or two should put 10,000 to flight, except this, their Rock, speaking of himself, the LORD hath sold them, and the LORD, Yahweh there, shut them up, or had handed them over? The point is, that’s the only way this can happen. They’re not thinking, they’re not considering their latter end, they haven’t taken the forethought, I wish they were wise. ‘How is it that such strange victories and defeats can take place, except God had allowed it, he’s sovereign, he handed them over.’

God’s Judgment On The Unbelievers--Their Enemies

Then he talks about the unbelievers, he says “For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.” with a capital R there, “For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter: their wine is poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps. Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures?” aren’t I the one in control? “To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.” (verses 32-35) By the way, Jonathan Edwards’ famous sermon Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God is from that part of this verse, his text was ‘Their foot shall slide in due time.’ He says here in verse 35, “To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.” God’s speaking of the enemies of Israel, in other words, he wants to chasten his people, he’s faithful to do that, but he doesn’t want the enemies of Israel ever to think that it’s something they’ve done, and he doesn’t want Israel to be obliterated, so people would think God is not strong, his enemies have done this. He says I just wish in this whole process they were thoughtful, they were wise, they were considering. Because he said the only reason they could be defeated like this is because I had given them over and allowed that to happen. Because he says the rock of the enemy, what their fortitude, what their strength, the things that are unmovable in their systems of thought and belief, it isn’t like our Rock. Speaking to Israel, or you and I, our Rock is a reality, and God says I can give them over, to me belongeth vengeance and recompence, that “their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.” They’re on the way, they’re not lingering. “For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.” (verse 36) Now isn’t this interesting? The LORD says here, that he will judge his own people. He will repent himself, he’s going to turn from the things he’s brought on them ‘when he sees that their power is gone, and there is none shut up or left.’ He says when they finally say “uncle,” when they don’t have nothing left. When they’ve rebelled to the point where they fall apart and they have nothing left, and they’re outa gas, and they’re ready to say “uncle,” when they realize that they’ve got no power left, God says they’ll see, and then, he says, I will repent myself, I will judge my own people. “And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted,” the lesson that they would learn, “which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings?” who have you offered yourself to? “let them rise up and help you, and be your protection.” (verses 37-38) He says ‘Where are you?’ that will be the thing that they will finally realize. And listen to what he says, isn’t he just like a parent, he says I’ve fathered you, brought you forth as a mother, now he’s saying to them, “Now” you ever do that with your kids? “Now,” you tell them not to do something, they smash their head ‘Aaaah!’ they’re screaming, you say “Now.” And he says now, “See now” ‘now that your power is gone, now that your idols don’t mean anything, now that they can’t produce anything,’ “See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.” (verse 39) Isn’t it sad, I pray ‘Lord, don’t ever let me be that stubborn, that I have to come to that point where I’m screaming ‘Uncle.” Because you know, he’s so gracious. Again, one of the verses I love, in Genesis, when Jacob sends his family across Jabok, it says ‘And Jacob was found alone, and there wrestled a man with him.’ And I find that the Lord will wrestle with me alone, he has no desire to wrestle with me in front of the whole congregation, he has no desire to humiliate me. He will come to me alone and wrestle with me there, in privacy. And it’s interesting, I watched that wrestling match, and Hosea tells us that Jacob refused to let go, but we get the truth in Hosea, and it’s with crying’s and supplications, he refuses to let go until the LORD blesses him, and it says the LORD turns around and says ‘What is thy name?’ And I have this strongest suspicion that when the LORD turned around and said that to him, you know Jacob was hanging onto him so he couldn’t get away, I think Jacob was hanging onto his heel, and the LORD looked down and said ‘What’s your name?’ and he said ‘Heel-catcher.’ He’d been trying to show him that his entire life, Jacob, Heel-catcher. And God said, ‘no more, Israel, governed by God.’ And he limped from that place. God says “See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me:” literally “beside me:” “I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.” (verse 39) He is sovereign. “For I lift up my hand” in an oath, is the idea “to heaven, and say, I live for ever. If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me. I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.” (verses 40-42) Pay them back is the idea. [I call verse 41-42 God’s ‘Boondock Saints’ prayer.] He says when I’m ready to go, I’ll go. And listen, here’s the very last verse of the song, and it’s so wonderful, “Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people:” Israel, “for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.” (verse 43) Isn’t it interesting, all that he said, this is how he closes. Ahmadinejad better read this. He better read the whole song, as a matter of fact, and learn to sing it. What a wonderful ending, God in love with his ancient people. He will deal with the adversaries, he will be merciful to his land and to his people.

The Song Ends--Moses Is Told To Climb Mount Nebo

Notice this, “And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun.” (verse 44) not most of these words, all of the words, plural, of this song, in the ears, didn’t show them a video, he gave them the Word, in the ears, that’s the entrance that God chooses here, of the people. “And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel: And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law.” (verses 45-46) all of the Word of God, isn’t it interesting, all of these things? The reason for it, “For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.” (verse 47) to search the Scripture, to study, to say Lord, show me, direct my life, reveal your will to me,’ if you sit alone with it, it rises up off the page, it will speak to you, it will challenge you. If you get alone in the morning, and you sit with the Bible, and you just sit with it, and you read it, it will raise up off the page and blow your mind. If you’re a night person, and you get alone at night, and you get quiet and you sit with it, it will speak to you. And he says ‘observe it, all of the words, the things that I have to say, for it is not a vain thing,’ I do enough vain things, empty things. Like that Monday night game, I knew right at the end they were going to loose, I spent all that time watching, I just knew it was going to go south. I’m excited though, but. ‘It’s not a vain thing for this, “because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.” (verse 47) It is your life, to take hold of the Word of God and to live in its pages, to find your life there. You know, as I read this, I think there’s got to be a pathos here, he knows, God’s told him, you’re not going to go over, they’re on the edge of the Promised Land, he can see Jericho, he can see all of those things he longed for, he’s not going to go over, he’s looking at the children of Israel, God has told him they’re going to fail in generations to come, and he’s looking at them, saying, Take hold of these things, teach them to your children, this is not a vain thing, it’s your very life. And I have to believe with a broken heart he’s given that exhortation. Verse 48, “And the LORD spake unto Moses that selfsame day, saying, Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is in over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession:” (verses 48-49) Moses, look at it, consider it, I want you to see it. Nebo the highest point over there. You know when you get down in the Jordan Valley, when we do go to Israel, Belvoir Castle we go to on the east side of the Jordan Valley, and we get there, and normally have a Bible study, and you can see the whole Jordan Valley, you can see Mount Hermon on a clear day, the Sea of Galilee all the way down to the Dead Sea, it is spectacular. And from the other side, from Nebo, evidently you can see the entire land, and you’re looking over into the land of Israel the whole way. He said “and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession: and die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people: because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel. Yet thou shalt see the land before thee; but shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel.” (verses 49b-52) It’s very simple to God, Moses is done, he’s finished his course. When we get to the end of chapter 34, it’s going to say “his eye was not dim, his natural forces were not abated,” it wasn’t because, you know, he had some tread left on him, just God said this is it, the end of this part of your journey, only of this part. [Because in reality, in the 1^st resurrection to immortality, Moses will be resurrected with all the saints, and rule and reign over the earth under our soon-coming King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ. Moses has a future! And we do too, if we stay the course.]…God’s going to say you’re not going to go, but now he sneaks in, in Matthew 17, to mount Hermon, the mount of transfiguration where he appears with Elijah [some feel this was a vision, not an actual appearance, one of those grey areas in Scripture, we’ll find out later], he gets in there, same Moses… “and be gathered unto thy people” isn’t it the way God looks at it, die, and be gathered to thy people, “as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people: because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel. Yet thou shalt see the land before thee;” God’s going to allow him to look at it… “but shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel.”

Deuteronomy 33:1-25

“And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. 2 And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them. 3 Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in thy hand: and they sat down at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words. 4 Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob. 5 And he was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were gathered together. 6 Let Reuben live, and not die; and let not his men be few. 7 And this is the blessing of Judah: and he said, Hear, LORD, the voice of Judah, and bring him unto his people: let his hands be sufficient for him; and be thou an help to him from his enemies. 8 And of Levi he said, Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy holy one, whom thou didst prove at Masah, and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah; 9 who said unto his father and to his mother, I have not seen him; neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew his own children: for they have observed thy word, and kept thy covenant. 10 They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law: they shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon thine altar. 11 Bless, LORD, his substance, and accept the work of his hands: smite through the loins of them that rise against him, and of them that hate him, that they rise not again. 12 And Benjamin he said, The beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by him; and the LORD shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders. 13 And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the LORD be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, 14 and for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon, 15 and the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, 16 and for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren. 17 His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh. 18 And of Zebulun he said, Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out; and, Issachar, in thy tents. 19 They shall call the people unto the mountain; there they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness: for they shall suck of the abundance of the seas, and of the treasures hid in the sand. 20 And of Gad he said, Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad: he dwelleth as a lion, and teareth the arm with the crown of the head. 21 And he provided the first part for himself, because there, in a portion of the lawgiver, was he seated; and he came with the heads of the people, he executed the justice of the LORD, and his judgments with Israel. 22 And of Dan he said, Dan is a lion’s whelp: he shall leap from Bashan. 23 And of Naphtali he said, O Naphtali, satisfied with favour, and full with the blessing of the LORD: possess thou the west and the south. 24 And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil. 25 Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.”

Moses Prepares To Give A Final Blessing On Israel

“And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them.” (verses 1-2) Now it’s interesting, this old man remembering, this is the only time Sinai is used in the entire Book of Deuteronomy, it’s interesting, Moses thinking all the way back, no doubt, to the burning bush, and then as he comes back to that mountain, God telling him you’re going to come back to this mountain and so forth. “of saints,” Hebrew “the holy ones.” So coming with 10,000 of his holy ones is relative to the giving of his Law. We are told in Acts chapter 7, as Stephen is speaking to the San Hedren, it says ‘Which if the prophets have not your fathers persecuted, they have slain them which showed before the coming of the Just One, of whom you have now been the betrayers and murderers, who have received the Law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.’ Again, we’re told in the Book of Galatians, ‘Wherefore serveth the law, it was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come, to whom the promise was made, and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator,’ which was Moses. And then again in Hebrews it says ‘For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall then we escape if we neglect so great a salvation.’ So as we read this here, Moses is thinking of the scene. It says ‘God rose up from mount Seir, shined forth from mount Paran, he came with ten thousands of holy ones, no doubt his angels, and from his right hand there went a fiery law,’ just these scenes, you know, we read past them. God came down on mount Sinai, it tells us that the elders went as close as they could, and they saw his feet on a pavement of sapphire, and I think, what in the world, that would be etched on your memory for some time, and the sound of trumpets, and the entire mountain shaking, it says here there were myriads of angels involved in this whole process, the LORD coming down with the holy ones, his holy ones, the fiery law there, bringing it down. “Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in thy hand: and they sat down at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words. Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob.” (verses 3-4) Isn’t it interesting, it seems now someone else wrote this [I personally believe most of the Torah was dictated to Moses, who wrote it down, from the mouth of the LORD himself. It’s obvious the entire Book of Genesis had to have been dictated to Moses by Yahweh, because Moses couldn’t have had access to all that information]. “And he was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were gathered together.” (verse 5) [verse 5 shows in Scripture that Moses was actually a king, in God’s eyes.] Now this heads into once again, a blessing of the tribes, and we’ll move through this. You want to take note, when you look at the blessing of the tribes in Genesis 49, where Jacob has specific things to say to these tribes, some of them go through a metamorphosis, almost as though when Moses goes to bless after this great song, he’s not seeing all the failures that Jacob did, and yet there’s similar promises, and then it’s interesting to see the fulfilment in Joshua when the land is divided, it’s very interesting.

Moses’ Blessing On The 12 Tribes Of Israel

So here it says in verse 6, “Let Reuben live, and not die; and let not his men be few.” He was so challenged in Genesis 49. [In Genesis 49, these “blessings” are more prophetic toward the tribe’s “latter days,” i.e. the end-times we live in, reflecting who each tribe would be nationally, as a separate nation living in this modern world (see https://unityinchrist.com/Genesis47-48.html and https://unityinchrist.com/Genesis49-50.html )] Remember, Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh would settle on the east side of the Jordan before they came into the land, and Moses would have to challenge them that they would have to go in and fight the battles of Canaan before they went into their inheritance, that their brethren would have to come into their inheritance before they could stay there. So, this blessing on Reuben, “Let Reuben live, and not die; and let not his men be few.” blessed in number of his inheritance. “And this is the blessing of Judah: and he said, Hear, LORD, the voice of Judah, and bring him unto his people: let his hands be sufficient for him; and be thou an help to him from his enemies.” (verse 7) Now Judah was the first tribe to go into battle all the time, they led the children of Israel, and there’s a request here about helping him in regards to his enemies. “Hear, LORD, the voice of Judah, and bring him unto his people” that’s interesting. Levi, verse 8, “And of Levi he said, Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy holy one, whom thou didst prove at Masah, and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah; who said unto his father and to his mother, I have not seen him; neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew his own children: for they have observed thy word, and kept thy covenant.” (verses 8-9) Now God pulls the old switch-er-oo here, all the way through the Bible it’s the Urim and the Thummim, and for some reason here Moses, maybe because he’s 120, he wrote down the Thummim and the Urim. Urim and Thummim, Lights and Perfection, it’s just for your information. They believe they were stones or jewels, separate in the high priest’s breastplate, they would take them out to help discern the will of God. He says “let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy holy one,” the high priest. “Neither did he acknowledge his brethren,” lonely place, serving like that, “nor knew his own children: for they have observed they word, and kept thy covenant.” “They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law: they shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon thine altar. Bless, LORD, his substance, and accept the work of his hands: smite through the loins of them that rise against him, and of them that hate him, that they rise not again.” (verses 10-11) They, the place of the Aaronic line, which was part of the tribe of Levi, the descendants of Aaron, and the tribe of Levi itself. “Bless, LORD, his substance,” not having an inheritance in the land like the other tribes. “smite through the loins of them that rise up against him,” I can appreciate that, that’s a great bumper-sticker, “and of them that hate him, that they rise not again.” Benjamin, “And Benjamin he said, The beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by him; and the LORD shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders.” (verse 12) Isn’t it interesting, the safest place to be is by him, “the beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by him,” not fortresses, not munitions, not swords, armies, he shall dwell in safety by him, there is no other place for you and I today that is safer. And it isn’t him by us, it’s us by him. ‘And Benjamin, to Benjamin, the beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by him,’ “and the LORD shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders.” Some feel just a picture of the last-born Benjamin leaning on the breast of a father, I love that imagery. Some feel that because in the original lot of Benjamin, Jerusalem was located there, that it sits between the mountains there, the Kidron Valley, that it’s speaking of that. Either way, there’s a blessing here, it seems of safety and of strength, what a beautiful promise. Verse 13, and I enjoy this, not just because it’s Joseph, ah, they’ve been carrying Joseph for 40 years, they took his body when they left Egypt, in the Passover, Exodus 13:19 says ‘After the passover night, and they took the bones of Joseph with them.’ So they’re keenly aware when they hear of any blessings on Joseph, they’ve been carrying him for a long time. I like the way blessings sound when they sound like this, “And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the LORD be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, and for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon, and the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, and for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren. His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.” (verses 13-17) this is not monetary wealth [I believe it is, based on who some think Joseph is in these end-times]. The things that God would have for us, isn’t that the blessing you want on your life, the precious things of heaven, the dew that comes down on Hermon, the mountains of Israel, where it refreshes and renews. The deep, the deep things of God, couched beneath. “and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush” speaking obviously of the burning bush, “and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush” Jehovah-God. Yes, he can judge his enemies, yes, he can chasten his people, he can be a fearsome and fearful God, but listen to him, “for the chief things of the ancient mountains, the precious things of the lasting hills, and for the precious things of the earth.” [I think it’s also important to realize just who Ephraim and Manasseh are in today’s world (see https://unityinchrist.com/Genesis47-48.html )] “they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.” that they would gather all under the banner of Joseph. Verse 18, “And of Zebulun he said, Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out; and, Issachar, in thy tents. They shall call the people unto the mountain; there they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness: for they shall suck of the abundance of the seas, and of the treasures hid in the sand.” (verses 18-19) Now that’s an interesting blessing, there are oil companies that have gone over there, drilling on the beaches in Haifa, believing that this is a prophecy of the fact that there’s oil underneath the sand, and they haven’t hit any, by the way…[And they won’t, it’s important to realize just who Zebulun was prophecied to be in “the latter days,” Holland, “sucking of the abundance of the seas,” the seaport of Rotterdam is the largest and busiest seaport in all of Europe (see the link for Genesis 49).] “And of Gad he said, Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad: he dwelleth as a lion, and teareth the arm with the crown of the head. And he provided the first part for himself, because there, in a portion of the lawgiver, was he seated; and he came with the heads of the people, he executed the justice of the LORD, and his judgments with Israel.” (verses 20-21) Again, Reuben, Gad, half the tribe of Manasseh, settled east of Jordan. Verse 22, “And of Dan he said, Dan is a lion’s whelp: he shall leap from Bashan.” Dan, leaving his territory, we’ll see in the Book of Judges, interesting, moving north. [Dan is one of the 10-Lost Tribes of Israel that is historically identifiable, Tuatha de Danaan is the ancient name of the founding tribe of Ireland, and it means Tribe of Dan in ancient Gaelic. Denmark is the other half of the tribe that move northwestward in their migration out of the land of Israel after 721BC.] “And of Naphtali he said, O Naphtali, satisfied with favour, and full with the blessing of the LORD: possess thou the west and the south.” (verse 23) This is a great one. I want that blessing every morning when I get up, nice cup of coffee, my Bible, sit alone, and I get it sometimes, satisfied with favour, man, sometimes the tears come, I’m so overwhelmed, “satisfied with favour, and full of the blessing of the LORD.” Man, oh man, sometimes doesn’t it come, isn’t it wonderful when we’re alone with him, and he just pours that on us? “possess thou the west and the south.” Either side of the Sea of Galilee there. “And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil. Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.” (verses 24-25) [btw, the Hebrew word “Asher” means “Happy.” A Jewish family I grew up next door to, the father’s youngest child, a daughter, they named her Happy, obviously her name in Hebrew was Asher. I never realized the play on words or significance of her name until after I was called, saved.] Now this is another one, they thought that must mean that there’s oil in Asher, there’s companies that have been drilling there for a long time. One of the interesting things is when you go through that territory today, olive vineyards after olive vineyards after olive vineyards, I don’t know what they’re going to hit under the ground, but that place produces a lot of olive oil. Man it’s great stuff over there too. If they hit oil, that’s fine with me, but there’s enough of it already fulfilled here. Probably if they hit, by the way, what I hear, is underneath the Dead Sea, that there’s a low lying field that they’re not talking about. Now if that’s true, a low lying field means that as they pump and pump out of there, the oil in Saudi Arabia will go down, because theirs is the low lying field, and starting about ,1800 foot below, it’s the lowest place on the earth, so you got a good start there, and nobody in the Middle East will be happy if that’s true. Not that anybody in the Middle East is happy anyway. I don’t know if they’re going to find it in Naphtali, it’s fine with me. “and let him dip his foot in oil. Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.” (verses 24b-25) the idea is the mineral wealth there in the area. [Comment: Pastor Joe is not taking into consideration that none of the 10 northern tribes of Israel are anywhere near the land of Israel today, and that by the very prophecies about them given in Genesis 49, they are now individual nations located somewhere else in the world. So verse 25, speaking of Naphtali having shoes of iron and brass is talking about their mineral wealth that they possess where they reside now in the world. If Steven Collins in his book about who the Ten Tribes are is correct, Naphtali is Sweden, and Sweden has very rich metallic wealth, Swedish steel is renown.] “and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.” I want that one, what a blessing, when your days and your strength finish together. Sometimes God will allow strength to finish before days, and sadly we have to see someone languish, I’m not wise enough to make decisions on that. As everybody is saying today, ‘That’s above my paygrade.’ But how wonderful when our days and our strength run out together, what a wonderful thing that is. I remember we had a guy in the church years ago, he collapsed, they put him in bed, brought him into hospice, they came in the morning, the bed was empty, they looked, the car was gone, he went out to get donuts and coffee, and they were all yelling at him, he was saying ‘If I feel bad, I’ll pull over.’ He just went kaboom! that’s the way to go. That’s a blessing from God, as thy days, so shall thy strength be, what a wonderful thing for them to last together. Well, we should save the rest of this for next week. Ah, we have Moses passing, we have the very last words of Moses, I’ll read through them, but I want to take some time with them. “There is none like unto the God of [the upright] Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them. Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop with dew. Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places.” (verses 26-29) Man, we are looking all the way to the Kingdom now. So what an interesting last group of words from Moses. And then it says Moses went up from the Plains of Moab, up to mount Nebo. We’ll come to there next week. I encourage you read ahead from verse 26 through the end of this chapter, and then we’ll look at these things next week. Let’s have Rob and the musicians come, and we’ll sing a song or two, we got an extra three minutes here, you can stand if you like, I encourage you, you don’t have to run out this evening, you can take some time with someone if they need prayer, and pray with them. I might just say, Lord, make that mine, Satisfied with favour, full of the blessing of the LORD, let me have that, Lord, safety Lord, by your side Lord, give that to me, so many of these incredible blessings here. As thy days, so shall thy strength be, Lord strengthen me all the days of my life, grant that to me. Look, we know these bodies are temporary, they’re wearing out, but we want relative health so we can be mobile, so we can preach the Gospel, so we can share the love of Christ, and we want everything to go at one time, snap! That’s a good way to go. Let’s stand, let’s pray…[transcript of a connective expository sermon on Deuteronomy 32:1-52 and Deuteronomy 33:1-25, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]