The Pulpit Commentary — Deuteronomy — Section 521

l.n"· wRs given; cf. Ps. xx., xxi., v,·here might return in triumph, being helped of I lm·id not only speRks ol himself in the the Lord. Let hi1 hand■ be 1uffl.oient for I hir<l person, but iiddr<.'sses such prRyere him; :ra&her, with hi.8 hands he contmdeth rnr himself RB could only be offered by the for it (to wit, his people). :r:, here is not the v. J"'opl<-' for tlwir king (cf. Riso Ju<lg. 12, adj. much, enough, but the pnrt. of the verb I .'i; Hab. iii. 19). Even the inheritanoe of ::i•-,, to contend, to strive ; and 1111 is the the oongregation. The "even," which the aoous. of i11strmncnt. The renderi~•g iu the lrnnslutors of the Authorizod Version hnve Authorize,! Version is grammatically poesi- inserted hl're, were better omitted; tho ble; but the meaning thereby b.-ought out is wnr<ls are in npposition to "law." The not in keeping with the sentiment of the Law which Moses communiented to lsrnel pnssnge: for if Judnh's hands, i.e. his own was to remnin with them as the inheritance power and resources, were sufficient for him, of the l'ongregnt.ion. The Bishops' Bible what need had he ofhelp from the Lord? nnd the Geneva Version ha"l"e, more corrnctly, Vers. 8-11.-The blessing on Levi is "fnr an inheritance of the Congregation." also in the form of a prayer. In Jacob's Ver. 5.-Some refer this to Hoses, but blessing, Simeon is joined with Levi, but Moses was never reeognized as king in Moses passes him over allogethcr, probably l~racl : he "wn.s faithful in all his house as because, as Jacob foretold, he was to be a scrrnnt" (Hob. iii. 5); but Jehovah alone scattered among bis brethren (Gen. xlix. 7), was .King (Exod. X\". 18; Ps. xh-ii. 6, 7). and so lose his tribal individuality. Simeon, Jeshurun (cf. eh. xxxii. 5). The gathering however, is included in the general blessing together refers to the n.sscmbling of the pronounced on Israel; and as this tribe people at Sinai, when Jehovah came forth received a number of towns within the as their King to give them his Law. territory of Judah (Josh. xix. 2-9), it was Y ers. 6-25. - Bl.essings on the tribM probably regarded as included in the bless- iudfridually. With these may be comp11.red ing on that tribe. Thy Thummim and thy the blessing which Jacob pronounced on Urim; thy Right and thy Light (cf. Exod. his sons llS representing the tribes of xxviii. 30). 'fhe high priest wore the breast-plate on which these were placed which they were the heads. The two when he went in before the Lord: and this resemble ench other in many points: the is here represented as the prerogative of the differences are such as naturally arose whole tribe. Thy holy one; i.e. Levi, the from the different relations of the speakers • tribe-father, representing the whole tribe to to the objects of their address, and the which the blessing applies: hence in the following verses the verb passes into the changes in the condition o.nd prospects of plural. For "holy one," it would be better the tribes which during the lapse of to read "pious" or "godly one:" literally, centuries had come to pass. the man thy pious one. Some would render Yer. 6.-And let not his men be few. "the mau thy favoured one," or "the man The ncgati1'e, thot11?"h 11ot expressed in the of thy friendship;" but this is wholly arbi- Hebrew, is to be carried into this clause trary, the word (7'1?';) has no such meaning. from the pre,eding. Thuugh the rights of To explain this mo1·e particularly, reference is primogeniture had been withdrawn from made to the trials al Maseah and the waters Reuben, and Jacob had declarc·d that he of Meribah (strife), when the people rebelled should not excel, Moses here assures the and murmured against Moses and A1non, tribe of eontiuuauce, and even prosperity. whereby the piety of these men was put to the Their nnmher was not to be small: which test, and in them, the heads of the tribe of was, perhaps, said to comfort them, iu view Levi, the whole tribe was proved. (Ou Mas- of the fact that their nnmhers had greatly sah, see Exod. xvii. 1-7; and on the waters diminished in the course of their wanderings ofstrife,seeNumb.xx.1-13.) In these trials, in the desert (comp. Numb. i. 21 with xxvi Levi bad proved himself faithful ond godly, 7). At no time, however, was this tribe having risen up in defence of the honour of nnmerollS ea compared with the others; Jehovah, aud in support of hie covenant, nor was it ever distinguished either by the though in the latter case both Moses and enterprise of its members or by the emi- Aaron stumbled. Who said unto his father nence of any of tl1ern in the councils of the and to his mother, etc. Thie refers to what nat.ion or the management of affairs. is narrated in Exod. xxxii. 26-29, when the Ver. 7.-The blessing on Jurlah is in the Levites drew their swords against their form of prayer to Jd1ovah. As Jacobha<l pro- brethren at the command of Moses, to mised to J uct.L supremacy over hiil bretl.ren execute judgme11t without respect of per- and ~u=ss in war, so Moses here names son, because of the sin of the people in the him next 11fter Reuben, whose pre-eminence matter of the golden calf (cf. also Numb. xxv. he_ had assumed, and prays for him that, 8, 11.11d, for the pl'inciple hero implicitly IOlllg forth at the bead of the tribes, he commended, see Matt. x. 37; x~. 29; Luke DB. XXXIIl, l-2!J,] 'l'IIE BOOK OF !>EU'rEltONOMY,