The passage discusses the blessings Moses spoke over Joseph and his tribes, focusing on God's goodwill, which is seen as the source and sweetener of all blessings. It reflects on Joseph's separation and distinction from his brethren, as well as the fruitfulness of the land allotted to him. Ultimately, the text emphasizes the importance of recognizing God's favor in both spiritual and temporal blessings, and underscores that even trials can be viewed positively as manifestations of God’s goodwill.

1. DEUTERONOMY 33 VERSE 16-19
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
16 with the best gifts of the earth and its fullness
and the favor of him who dwelt in the burning bush.
Let all these rest on the head of Joseph,
on the brow of the prince among[e] his brothers.
CLARKE, “The good will of him that dwelt in the bush - The favor of him who appeared in the
burning bush on Mount Sinai, who there, in his good will - mere love and compassion, took Israel
to be his people; and who has preserved and will preserve, in tribulation and distress, all those
who trust in him, so that they shall as surely escape unhurt, as the bush, though enveloped with
fire, was unburnt.
The top of the head, etc. - The same words are used by Jacob in blessing this tribe, Gen_49:26.
The meaning appears to be that God should distinguish this tribe in a particular way, as Joseph
himself was separated, nazir, a Nazarite, a consecrated prince to God, from among and in
preference to all his brethren. See the notes on Gen_49:25, etc.
GILL, “And for the precious things of the earth, and fulness thereof,.... Corn of all sorts
produced out of the earth, and grass that grows out of it, and cattle that feed upon it; for all
which some part of the land of Joseph, particularly Bashan, was famous; as for the oaks that
grew on it, so for the pasturage of it, and the cattle it bred, Deu_32:14; see Psa_22:12,
and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush; the angel of the Lord, the Word and Son of
God, who appeared to Moses in the bush, and made himself known as the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob; and expressed his good will to Israel, by sending Moses to deliver them out of
their bondage: and the favour and good will of the same divine Person is here wished for, and
which has appeared in his assumption of human nature, obedience, sufferings, and death,
Luk_2:14. The bush was an emblem of Israel, and the state they were then in, and of the church
of Christ; of which See Gill on Exo_3:2; and where Christ may be said to dwell, as he did among
men, when he was made flesh, and does dwell in the midst of his churches, and in the hearts of his
people by faith:
let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph; that is, in all things, as Onkelos; or all these
blessings, as the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem; all before mentioned, let them come
openly and visibly, and in great plenty, upon the posterity of Joseph, who was a type of Christ,
the head of the righteous, on whom all the blessings of grace are, and from whom they descend to
all his spiritual offspring, Pro_10:6,
and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren; when he was sold by
them into Egypt; the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem are,and was shining in the glory of
his brethren;''that is, when he was a ruler in Egypt, and had honour from his brethren there, and
was beautiful and glorious among them, as a Nazarite, as the word here used signifies, see

2. Lam_4:7; and may he applied to Christ, who was chosen from among the people, and separated
from sinners, and called a Nazarene, Psa_89:19.
HENRY, “II. The blessing of Joseph, including both Manasseh and Ephraim. In Jacob's blessing
(Gen. 49) that of Joseph is the largest, and so it is here; and thence Moses here borrows the title
he gives to Joseph (Deu_33:16), that he was separated from his brethren, or, as it might be read, a
Nazarite among them, both in regard of his piety, wherein it appears, by many instances, he
excelled them all, and of his dignity in Egypt, where he was both their ruler and benefactor. His
brethren separated him from them by making him a slave, but God distinguished him from them
by making him a prince. Now the blessings here prayed for, and prophesied of, for this tribe, are
great plenty and great power.
1. Great plenty, Deu_33:13-16. In general: Blessed of the Lord be his land. Those were very
fruitful countries that fell into the lot of Ephraim and Manasseh, yet Moses prays they might be
watered with the blessing of God, which makes rich, and on which all fruitfulness depends. Now,
(1.) He enumerates many particulars which he prays may contribute to the wealth and
abundance of those two tribes, looking up to the Creator for the benefit and serviceableness of all
the inferior creatures, for they are all that to us which he makes them to be. He prays, [1.] For
seasonable rains and dews, the precious things of heaven; and so precious they are, though but
pure water, that without them the fruits of the earth would all fail and be cut off. [2.] For
plentiful springs, which help to make the earth fruitful, called here the deep that coucheth
beneath; both are the rivers of God (Psa_65:9), and he made particularly the fountains of waters,
Rev_14:7. [3.] For the benign influences of the heavenly bodies (Deu_33:14), for the precious
fruits (the word signifies that which is most excellent, and the best in its kind) put forth by the
quickening heat of the sun, and the cooling moisture of the moon. “Let them have the yearly
fruits in their several months, according to the course of nature, in one month olives, in another
dates,” etc. So some understand it. [4.] For the fruitfulness even of their hills and mountains,
which in other countries used to be barren (Deu_33:15): Let them have the chief things of the
ancient mountains; and, if the mountains be fruitful, the fruits on them will be first and best
ripened. They are called ancient mountains, not because prior in time to other mountains, but
because , like the first-born, they were superior in worth and excellency; and lasting hills, not
only because as other mountains they were immovable (Hab_3:6), but because the fruitfulness of
them should continue. [5.] For the productions of the lower grounds (Deu_33:16): For the
precious things of the earth. Though the earth itself seems a useless worthless lump of matter, yet
there are precious things produced out of it, for the support and comfort of human life. Job_28:5.
Out of it cometh bread, because out of it came our bodies, and to it they must return. But what are
the precious things of the earth to a soul that came from God and must return to him? Or what is
its fulness to the fulness that is in Christ, whence we receive grace for grace? Some make these
precious things here prayed for to be figures of spiritual blessings in heavenly things by Christ, the
gifts, graces, and comforts of the Spirit.
SPURGEON, “MOSES died blessing the people. This showed his meekness, for they had been his
plague all his life, and yet his last
word with them is full of blessing. He has a blessing for all the tribes, though all the tribes had in
turn grieved his spirit.
It is a graceful thing to die scattering benedictions—for the old man to feel that life is just about
over, and that before he
dies he will distribute his legacies—legacies of benediction. It is the most graceful way of

3. departing out of this life to
another, leaving a blessing behind, while we, ourselves, are going into the fullness of the blessing
to come. But the blessing of Moses was graceful at the close of his life because it was constant
with all of his life that went before. Had he lived
cursing, it would have been absurd, if not impious, to die blessing. I would not wish to have that
man’s benediction in
words on his deathbed who never gave a benediction in actions while he was in his life. But the
whole course of Moses’ life
was that of blessing the people. He had been a nursing father to them. He carried them in his
bosom. Often he stood in
the gap between them and an angry God. He had spared them by acting as a Mediator when the
sword of vengeance was
drawn against them. Countless blessings had been bestowed upon them through him. Was it not
his rod that worked
wonders in the field of Zoan? Was it not his hand which was stretched over the Red Sea, by
which God made a way for his
people? Did not his rod, when it smote the rock, bring forth the liquid stream? Was it not by his
voice that God communicated to them that the manna should drop around their camps? He had
blessed them from the very first moment that he
had come into contact with them, for he came forth from the palace of Pharaoh, giving up all the
riches that might have
been his, that he might side with his brethren and began to fight their battles, smiting the
Egyptian and hiding his body
in the sand. It was from this cause that he was banished from the courts and when he returned,
again, it was with the same
resolute determination to abide with his people, and the same warm heart towards them.
Brothers and Sisters, if you
wish to give your children a blessing when you die, be a blessing to them while you live! If you
would make your last
words worth the hearing, let your whole life be worth the seeing. It is graceful to die blessing, but
let it be always consistent with the blessedness of our former life.
The particular blessing which he gave to Joseph shall now have our attention and, first, we shall
notice the blessing,
itself, which he wished to Joseph. And, secondly, the peculiar form in which he worded it. And,
when we have thought
that over, it shall be in our heart to wish the same to all who are present here. First, then, let us
look at—
I. THE GREAT BLESSING WHICH MOSES WISHED CONFERRED UPON JOSEPH.
The good will of God—“the good will of Him that dwelt in the bush.” I would like any man’s
good will. The better
the man is, the more I would desire to have his good will. If it did not come to the benefacit or the
good doing, I would
like him to think benevolently towards me, to have his good will, if I never derived any particular
good directly from
him. One does not like to go to bed and feel you have an ill will from any man. Certainly, it is
always well to feel that we
have no ill will, ourselves, towards any, but that our good will reaches out to all! One would like
to have the good will of
wise men who could counsel us, and of great men who could help us. One would like to have the

4. good will of angels, to
know that they cheerfully obey the Divine Command to watch over us. But how much superior to
all this is the good will
of God—the good will of Him whose will is power, whose wish is fact, who has but to will it and
the good that is willed
becomes our good in very deed! Oh, ‘tis a high blessing to have the good will of God! Beloved,
our heart wishes this to 2 A Remarkable Benediction Sermon #3540
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everyone here present, and every Christian wishes this for their children, wishes it for their
household, wishes it for their
neighbor, wishes it for their fellow countrymen. May the good will of God be with you!
For, Beloved, in the first place, this is the fountain of every blessing. It is from the good will of
God that every good
thing which comes to us takes its rise. Election is according to the pleasure of His good will. He
chose us because He
would choose us—because He had a good will towards us. Redemption springs from that good
will. What else but good
will could give the Savior to such unworthy ones as we were? Our calling into the Divine Life is a
work of His good will!
Our preservation in that life, our growth in it and all the blessings with which God loads that life
to make it blessed—all
these are fruits of His good will! You cannot find a single blessing that comes to us by the way of
merit. We may say of
every blessing, it is according to His loving kindness and His tender mercies. He forgave us
because He had a good will
towards us. He restored us from our wanderings because of His good will. He daily cleanses us
and He makes us meet for
the inheritance of the saints in light—and all because of His good will. To what else can we
ascribe the Covenant of
Grace? To what else can all the blessings which are pledged to us by that Covenant be
attributed? It is according to His
good will. In wishing, therefore, to anyone that he may have the good will of God that dwelt in
the bush, you are wishing to him the fountainhead of all mercies—you are wishing to him the
infinity, the immensity, the Immutability of the
goodness and love of God! It is a comprehensive blessing—and who is able to tell all its heights
and depths?
The good will of God is also the sweetener of all other blessings. It is the source of them! It is the
sweetener of them.
Everything that comes from God to us derives a double blessedness when we feel that they are
the fruit of His good will.
Take spiritual mercies—though they are, in themselves, so rich that none can estimate their
value, yet is there a peculiar
brightness put upon them when we know these come from God’s love! These are all tokens of His
favor towards us, His
people. And truly, Brothers and Sisters, the lower mercies of daily life become more blessed to us
as we know they come
from His good will! As you cut that loaf of bread, each slice of it is flavored with His good will.
When you put on your
garments tomorrow morning, though they are those in which you exercise your toilsome labors,

5. yet are they tokens of
God’s good will as much as those coats of skins which God gave to our first parents! Yes,
Beloved, sitting here tonight,
this air we breathe, the power to breathe it and the health which enabled us to come up to the
House of Prayer, and this
House, itself, and the ears with which we hear the words, and the good tidings which are given us
to hear—all these are
of His good will, and are the sweeter because we recognize the favor of God in them!
Oh, to have temporal blessings with a curse—that is a dreadful thing! I hardly know a text more
fearful to contemplate than that one, “I will curse your blessings.” Oh, if God makes any bitter,
how bitter the wormwood and the gall
must be! If He puts death in the pot in which the broth is made to sustain life, what death must
there be when He shall
deal out the poisoned cup of His eternal wrath to the ungodly! Sweet, indeed, are blessings when
they are thus honeyed
with His love, but would they be if, instead thereof, they were seasoned and salted with His
wrath? Be thankful, Christian, for I will venture to say that this makes even our trials pleasant to
us when we know that they also are the fruits of
His good will! We cannot always make our hearts believe that the rod is a good thing. We cannot
always persuade our
unbelief that our dark, heavy, gloomy hours are really for our good—but they are so—and we
shall believe this when we
perceive that they are sent out of good will to us! Not out of anger, but out of love—love to us that
He may love us right
up out of our sins, love us away from our infirmities and love us into a higher state of Grace—
attracting us by His Divine Love till we become like He! Note, then, the two things—it is a great
blessing because it is the source of all blessings, and the sweetener of all blessings!
But the next consideration about this is—and let us carefully notice it—that, nevertheless, it
surpasses all other
blessings. The good will of Him that dwelt in the bush is a greater blessing than all the blessings
in the world—what if I
say in Heaven, itself? Besides, Brothers and Sisters, all the blessings in the world without this are
less than nothing! And
if they were all gone, if that were conceivable, and yet we had this left to us, we need not regret
the loss of all, since we
should find all in God! You remember how the old Puritan put it? He had been rich and then was
brought to poverty,
and he said he didn’t find much difference, for, he said, when he was rich, he found God in all,
and now that he was poor,
he found all in God! Perhaps the latter is the higher state of the two. Without God, alas, my Soul,
if you were in Paradise! But with God, oh, joy and bliss if you were in prison! All the things put
together shall perish in the using—like
leaves of the forest, they shall wither before long. But You, my God, are an unwithering Tree of
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shall always have shade—I shall sit down beneath Your shadow with great delight, and shall
always have food, for Your
fruit is sweet unto my taste. I will rejoice in You, for Your good will is better than all things!
I will tell you what it is—you who have not this good will. If you should lose everything else and

6. you have to win it,
you would make a good bargain. If you have not God’s good will and could not have it except by
losing the sight of your
eyes, and the hearing of your ears, and the renouncing of all your bodily and mental faculties—if
you could not have the
good will of God without losing house, home and friends, you might cheerfully, gladly, at once
close in with the negotiation and say, “Let me have God’s good will and I will take whatever He
pleases, or lose whatever He takes!” But let me
remind you that you have not to lose these things to get His good will. If you have His good will,
you may know it by
this—will you accept the gift which He presents to you in His dear Son? Having nothing, will you
take Christ to be
yours? Being naked, and poor, and miserable, will you let Him be your raiment and your riches?
If so, You have God’s
will, you have God’s good will, for you have Christ, who is the good will of God towards us,
Incarnated in the flesh. The
Lord grant each one of us, then, this blessing—to have His good will. And now, secondly—
II. THIS BLESSING IS PUT IN A VERY PECULIAR FORM.
He says, “The good will of Him that dwelt in the bush.” And why did he put it so? Was it, first,
because Moses
looked back to the appearance of God in the bush with peculiar delight on account of its being
the first manifestation of
God to his soul? I have no doubt that Moses had fellowship with God, before, but we do not read
that he ever had an appearance of the Divine Being to him until he was at the back side of the
desert near to Horeb. And there he saw God in
the burning bush. Beloved, we always set most store—at least I do—in our memory upon the first
appearance of God to
us. It brings the tears to my eyes when I recollect those words of the old hymn—
“Do mind the place, the spot of ground,
Where you did meet Jesus!”
Ah, I do mind it, and always shall, while memory holds her seat! I may forget anything else, but I
shall never forget that!
And though I have had many, many manifestations to the comfort of my heart, yet that first one
has peculiar charms.
And I do not marvel that Moses called his God, The God Who Dwelt in the Bush. Now, have not
some of you remembrances of the first days when the love of your espousals was warm in you,
and when the manifestations of Jesus were
bright to you? Well then, wish to others that the good will of God, who appeared to you behind
the hedge, or out in the
field, or down in the saw pit, or at your bedside in your chamber—the good will of Him that said
to you, “I have blotted
out your sins like a cloud”—wish that that good will may rest upon your kinsfolk and your
friends!
Is it not also very likely that Moses mentioned that peculiar circumstance in his blessing because
God on that occasion pledged Himself to him? He gave that burning bush to be a token to Moses,
and a sign. And that token had been
redeemed—and that good old man, at the end of the last 40 years of his life, remembered how
God had appeared to him
when he was 80 years of age and given him that pledge! And now that he was 120 years old, God

7. had redeemed it! He had
been true to him for 40 years. Have not we some pledges and tokens? Have not you some place
where the Lord appeared
to you and said, “Certainly, I will be with you, and will bring you again unto this place”? Are
there no remembrances in
your soul in which a faithful God has pledged His promise to you, and has redeemed it? If so,
each man will know his own
case, and each man, if he speaks naturally, will wish a blessing for others, according to his own
experience of the blessed
God! I do not wonder that after Moses had seen God redeem the token of the burning bush, when
he wished to convey the
idea that the good will of a faithful Covenant-keeping God should rest upon His servant Joseph—
the tribe thereof—
should say, “The good will of Him that dwelt in the bush.”
Moreover, at that time, in the bush God did show Himself as a Covenant God. He began thus, “I
am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” He was a Covenant God.
Brothers and Sisters, may you have the
good will of a Covenant God! I often wonder what those do who do not know the Covenant of
Grace. It seems to me to
be the richest well of consolation that God has ever dug—the Covenant ordered in all things and
sure. It was the stay of
David on his deathbed. It is the comfort of many of God’s Davids in the battle of life. I wish
tonight with all my heart,
dear Friends, that you may not look for the good will of an absolute God out of Christ, but look
for and enjoy the will of
God who has pledged Himself to you in your Representative, Christ Jesus, in the Eternal
Covenant of His Love. I think
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And, perhaps Moses looked upon that bush as the place of His call to a more active life, and
regarded God in a different light from that time forth from what he had ever regarded Him
before. His own name was Moses. He was drawn out
of the water and now he might have changed his name, for God had called him out of the fire!
Now he saw the God of
fire. Oh, there are some Believers that have never got to this. They, I hope, have renounced the
world as Moses did when
he counted the reproach of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt! They have also
got into the wilderness
where Moses was—they are separated, they love contemplation and they live near to God—but
they have never been
called into active service. That third 40 years of Moses’ life was the crowning part of all his
career. The 40 years with
Pharaoh, the 40 years in the desert, all prepared him for the 40 years in the wilderness with his
people. But some Christians have not begun that last period of their lives! I wish they had, and I
shall be glad and rejoice if, tonight, the Lord
should appear to any of His servants and call them, saying, “I have called you to bring sinners
out of Egypt, and to set
them free.” If He ever does, when you come in later times to pronounce a blessing upon others,

8. you will put it thus, “The
God that called me to preach the Gospel, the God that led me as His servant, be with you, each
one of you!” And if that is
the form in which you put the blessing, it will be a very rich one!
But now I will come back to the words again. What did Moses mean? We see why he used the
term, but what did he
mean by saying, “The good will of Him that dwelt in the bush be with you”? Did not he mean,
first, “May the blessings
of condescension ennoble you”? What condescension for God to dwell in a bush! Had the Eternal
dwelt in a cedar, it
would have been a stoop, but for Him to dwell in the uncouth-shaped, worthless shrub—a bush—
oh, this was matchless!
Oh, Beloved, may everyone of us know what it is for God to condescend to dwell with us! We are
as the bushes of the
heath. There is nothing in us that fits us for God’s mercy. What are we, and what is our father’s
house? Why should the
Lord look upon us—perhaps as little in talent as we are in merit, low in our own esteem—but
much more low in very
deed and truth? Oh, may the Lord deal with each one of you in His condescending way! He is
known to give His mercy
condescendingly. “He has put down the mighty from their seat and He has exalted them of low
degree. He has filled the
hungry with good things, but the rich He has sent away empty.” After that fashion may He deal
with you! And if He
should do so, then how ennobled will you be, for that bush in Horeb had a greater Glory about it
than the cedars of Lebanon! It was but a bush, but it was a bush in which God had dwelt! And
you, too—you will have to say, “Your gentleness has made me great. He has lifted the poor from
the dunghill and set him among princes, even the princes of His
people.” A drop of Grace gives more honor than a world of fame. One spark of love of Christ is
more ennobling to your
heart into which it falls than though it were all ablaze with the stars and orders of all the
knighthoods of the kingdom!
The love of God makes poor men truly rich, little men supremely great, the despised to be
honorable and the nothing to
be lifted up among the mighty! I wish you, then, Beloved, God’s condescending love to ennoble
you—“the good will of
Him that dwelt in the bush.” Or, as we might read it, “the good will of the Shekinah of the bush,”
for that is the very
same Shekinah that shone between the cherub wings! The good will of Him that dwells upon the
Throne in Heaven is the
good will of Him that dwells in humble and contrite hearts today!
But Moses, however, meant something more than that. Did not he mean that he wished to
Joseph’s tribe indwelling
and mysterious mercies—“the good will of Him that dwelt—dwelt in the bush”? It was a strange
dwelling. Can anyone
understand how God, who is everywhere, can be in one place in particular? And shall anyone tell
us how He, who is
greater than all space, should yet dwell in a bush—in a bush? He that sets the heavens on a blaze
with lightning and kindles all the stars, comes down and sets a bush aglow with His Divine

9. Presence! It is mysterious. Oh, may everyone of us
know the mysterious good will of the indwelling Spirit of God! Do you know it? Do you know it?
Oh, Beloved, as the
fire was in the bush, is the Spirit in you? Do you know He is there? Search yourselves! If He is
there, may He tell you—
and if He is not there, oh, may some sparks of that Divine Fire fall into your nature now—
enough, at least, to make you
desire more and set you longing and praying for the wondrous blessing of an indwelling Spirit!
Ignatius of old used to
call himself, “Theophorus,” or, “the God-Bearer.” Truly, every Christian is such a God-Bearer.
“I will dwell in them
and walk in them.” “I will put My Spirit within you, and you shall walk in My way.” Surely
Moses meant that—at least,
the sense is in his words. May you enjoy the mysterious indwelling and the blessings that come
from it!
Further, did not the man of God mean that he desired that Joseph might possess enlightening
blessings? “The good
will of Him that dwelt in the bush” means this—He set the bush alight and it became a luminary.
It had light. It gave
forth light. It had light more abundantly. It was a dark bush—God came into it and it caught the
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though it seems to have been daylight. He was watching his flock, but so bright was this that it
outshone the sun! And
Moses said, “I will turn aside and see this great sight.” A bush is not a great sight—it was God
that made the bush so
bright that it became a great sight! May you, Beloved, have the light of God’s Spirit to reveal to
you God’s Truth! And
may that light be in you so brightly that others may see it and learn God’s Truth through you!
What is the Scripture to
us, unless God shines on it? The Bible is only like a country signpost at the turning of a road in a
dark night. Unless there
is the Light of God to read it by, the signpost is of no service. We need the Spirit of God to shine
on the Scriptures! O
God, come into us and give us Your Light! We need You. Let this be a token of Your good will to
us.
But that is not all. Surely Moses meant, “May the Lord grant you the blessings of trial and the
blessings of preservation.” For all through the various branches and twigs of that bush, there
went a fire, a devouring fire, a fire that would
have licked it up as the blaze licks up the stubble in a single moment! Yet that fire in its nature
was preserving, as well as
consuming and, through the goodness of God, the bush was as safe when it was ablaze as it had
been before. Beloved,
how I wish for you that whenever fiery trials may come, the consuming fire may spend itself
upon your corruptions, but
oh, may God grant that there may be nothing in it that shall touch your better nature! May it be
a conserving as well as a
consuming fire! We do, some of us, acknowledge to have been in the furnace when it has been
heated very hot. Weary

10. nights have been appointed to us and days of anguish of body and of sinking of spirit. We have
lain cast out even from the
Presence of God, sometimes in our apprehensions, in the very deeps of the Valley of the Shadow
of Death, and God—
blessed be His name—He has sent the fire and come with it, and we have not been consumed, but
can sing this day of
judgment and of mercy! That mingled song is well set forth in the bush that burned, but was not
burnt—burned, but was
not consumed! I would not wish for any of you perfect immunity from trouble, lest you should
miss the coming through
tribulation into the inheritance of the Kingdom of God, but I do pray for you that when the
trouble comes, the God that
raised the trouble may come with it, so that you may be burned, but not consumed!
I will not tarry longer over this explanation of the text, but now most earnestly and from my
heart I wish to you, Beloved, this blessing. May “the good will of Him that dwelt in the bush”
dwell with you! In your dwellings, may His good
will dwell. Whatever your homes may be, may God be with you there. May His good will be with
your husband, with
your wife and your children, your servants, your business, your field, your estate. May He that
dwelt in the bush condescend to dwell in that little chamber and that narrow room! If a bush can
hold Him, so can your poor room! If a bush revealed Him, so can your bed—yes, and your
sickbed, too. Believe in it—that God’s good will can perfume every chamber of your dwelling,
can make your going out and your coming in to be blessed, and all your ways the same! I wish for
you, Beloved, that “the good will of Him that dwelt in the bush” may dwell with you wherever
you may be!
Are you like Moses just now, alone and solitary in a wilderness? Have you come into this great
city, and are you yet
feeling as if you were a lone person, as in a desert? May “the good will of Him that dwelt in the
bush” be with you and
may God reveal Himself to you in your solitude, as He did to the Prophet at Horeb. Perhaps you
will be called from this
day forth to conflict, as Moses stood before Pharaoh, and had to face the wrath of the king. May
you confound your adversaries and be very mighty for your God! Possibly God intends to give
you success in your service—like Moses, you
will bring out Israel from under bondage. May “the good will of Him that dwelt in the bush”
keep you sober in success
and humble in prosperity! Perhaps before you there shall soon be a difficulty as great as that
which met the children of
Israel before Pharaoh—you will come to the Red Sea—the rocks will be on either hand. Pursuers
may be behind you.
May the good will of Him that dwelt in the bush and was with Moses, be with you in the hour of
stern trial. Through
your Red Sea, may the Lord lead you, as He led the children of Israel like a flock!
Perhaps you will be subject to many provocations, as Moses was from the people whom he loved.
They spoke of stoning him. They murmured against the Lord and against His servant, Moses.
May you be as meek as Moses, because the
good will of Him that dwelt in the bush shall overshadow you! Possibly you may have a long life
of Christian service before you. It may be for 40 years you will have to carry a people in your
bosom, and nurture them for the Lord. My Brothers in the ministry, I wish the good will of Him

11. that dwelt in the bush to be with you through all your toilsome tasks.
Perhaps you are soon to die. Old age is creeping upon you. May you die like Moses, blessing the
people with the good
will of Him that dwelt in the bush with you to your last moment! And may your spirit climb her
Pisgah and look from
the top of Nebo, and have a view of the Glory to be revealed—the brooks that flow with milk and
honey, and the goodly
land! May you see it, even unto Lebanon, and in those last moments of yours, before your spirit
melts into Glory, may 6 A Remarkable Benediction Sermon #3540
6 www.spurgeongems.org Volume 62
“the good will of Him that dwelt in the bush” still be with you! Beloved, this is wished to you all!
And I speak not my
wish, but the benediction of the Lord upon all His servants, “The good will of Him that dwelt in
the bush be with you.”
But, alas, all here are not servants of God. Yet even to them will I—
III. ANXIOUSLY DESIRE THAT THIS WISH MAY BE FULFILLED TO YOU ALL.
Oh, Sinner, tonight may He that dwelt in the bush call you! Moses little thought of it. He was
keeping sheep, but a
burning bush was enough to attract him. These few simple, feeble, but affectionate words, may,
perhaps, be like the bush
to you. Or if not, perhaps, a trouble at home will come and be like a thorn bush to you. I pray it
may, and may God be in
the bush! I do desire that God would in some way speak to you careless ones and arrest you, for
you must come to know
Him, or you will everlastingly perish! And may you be humbled in the Presence of God, each one
of you, as Moses was,
for he took off his shoes, feeling that the place whereon he stood was holy ground, and he was
unholy. May you feel the
solemnity of your position—a dying man soon to meet his Maker—a guilty man soon to meet his
Judge—a despiser of
Christ soon to see Christ on His Throne! O Soul, may you put off your carelessness and have
done with your neglect, and
begin to pray! And as the Lord of the burning bush said to Moses that He knew the sorrows of
his people, I do pray, oh
Sinner, that when you stand humbly before the Presence of God, you may see that God has pity
upon you! May you look
to Jesus on the Cross and see where He was like a bush that was burned with the anger of God,
though not consumed—
and may you, as you look, hear Him say, “I know your sorrows, for I have borne your sins and
carried your transgressions for you.” And oh, may you find peace tonight!
Oh, it does not matter whether it is the back side of the desert, or the back gallery of the
Tabernacle, or down below,
beneath the galleries, or where it is—it will be a blessed spot to you if you find God tonight!
Moses could never forget
that spot near to Horeb, neither will you if the Lord should appear to you! It matters not who the
preacher is, though he
should be no more than a bush, yet shall he be an angel of God to you! The Lord grant that such
an appearance may come
to you by faith. May you look to Christ tonight, for, if not, you will have to see God, by-and-by, as

12. a consuming fire!
And remember this word, “Beware, you that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be
none to deliver you!” May
you never know the meaning of that, but on the contrary, may “the good will of Him that dwelt in
the bush” be with
you! Amen and amen.
ALEXANDER MACLAREN, “Deuteronomy 33:16 At the Bush
‘.. The goodwill of Him that dwelt in the bush.’— DEUT. xxxiii. 16
I Think this is the only reference in the Old Testament to that great vision which underlay
Moses’ call and Israel’s deliverance. It occurs in what is called ‘the blessing wherewith Moses,
the man of God, blessed the children of Israel before his death,’ although modern opinion tends
to decide that this hymn is indeed much more recent than the days of Moses. There seems a
peculiar appropriateness in this reference being put into the mouth of the ancient Lawgiver, for
to him even Sinai, with all its glories, cannot have been so impressive and so formative of his
character as was the vision granted to him when solitary in the wilderness. It is to be noticed that
the characteristic by which God is designated here never occurs elsewhere than in this one place.
It is intended to intensify the conception of the greatness, and preciousness, and all-sufficiency of
that ‘goodwill.’ If it is that ‘of Him that dwelt in the bush,’ it is sure to be all that a man can need.
I need not remind you that the words occur in the blessing pronounced on ‘Joseph’—that is, the
two tribes which represented Joseph—in which all the greatest material gifts that could be
desired by a pastoral people are first called down upon them, and then the ground of all these is
laid in ‘the goodwill of Him that dwelt in the bush.’ ‘The blessing—let it come on the head of
Joseph.’
So then here, first, is a great thought as to what for us all is the blessing of blessings—God’s
‘goodwill.’ ‘Goodwill’-the word, perhaps, might bear a little stronger rendering. ‘Goodwill’ is
somewhat tepid. A man may have a good enough will, and yet no very strong emotion of favour
or delight, and may do nothing to carry his goodwill into action. But the word that is employed
here, and is a common enough one in Scripture, always carries with it a certain intensity and
warmth of feeling. It is more than ‘goodwill’; it is more than ‘favour’; perhaps ‘delight’ would be
nearer the meaning. It implies, too, not only the inward sentiment of complacency, but also the
active purpose of action in conformity with it, on God’s part. Now it needs few words to show
that these two things, which are inseparable, do make the blessing of blessings for every one of us
—the delight, the complacency, of God in us, and the active purpose of good in God for us. These
are the things that will make a man happy wherever he is.
If I might dwell for a moment upon other scriptural passages, I would just recall to you, as
bringing up very strongly and beautifully the all-sufficiency and the blessed effects of having this
delight and loving purpose directed towards us like a sunbeam, the various great things that a
chorus of psalmists say that it will do for a man. Here is one of their triumphant utterances:
‘Thou wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt Thou compass him as with a shield.’ That crystal
battlement, if I may so vary the figure, is round a man, keeping far away from him all manner of
real evil, and filling his quiet heart as he stands erect behind the rampart, with the sense of
absolute security. That is one of the blessings that God’s favour or goodwill will secure for us.
Again, we read: ‘By Thy favour Thou hast made my mountain to stand strong.’ He that knows
himself to be the object of the divine delight, and who by faith knows himself to be the object of
the divine activity in protection, stands firm, and his purposes will be carried through, because
they will be purposes in accordance with the divine mind, and nothing has power to shake him.

13. So he that grasps the hand of God can say, not because of his grasp, but because of the Hand that
he holds, ‘The Lord is at my right hand; I shall not be greatly moved. By Thy favour Thou hast
made our mountain to stand strong.’ And again, in another analogous but yet diversified
representation, we read: ‘In Thee shall we rejoice all the day, and in Thy favour shall our horn
be exalted.’ That is the emblem, not only of victory, but of joyful confidence, and so he who
knows himself to have God for his friend and his helper, can go through the world keeping a
sunny face, whatever the clouds may be, erect and secure, light of heart and buoyant, holding up
his chin above the stormiest waters, and breasting all difficulties and dangers with a confidence
far away from presumption, because it is the consequence of the realisation of God’s presence. So
the goodwill of God is the chiefest good.
Now, if we turn to the remarkable designation of the divine nature which is here, consider what
rivers of strength and of blessedness flow out of the thought that for each of us ‘the goodwill of
Him that dwelt in the bush’ may be our possession.
What does that pregnant designation of God say? That was a strange shrine for God, that poor,
ragged, dry desert bush, with apparently no sap in its gray stem, prickly with thorns, with ‘no
beauty that we should desire it,’ fragile and insignificant, yet it was ‘God’s house.’ Not in the
cedars of Lebanon, not in the great monarchs of the forest, but in the forlorn child of the desert
did He abide. ‘The goodwill of Him that dwelt in the bush’ may dwell in you and me. Never mind
how small, never mind how sapless, never mind how lightly esteemed among men, never mind
though we make a very poor show by the side of the ‘oaks of Bashan’ or the ‘cedars of Lebanon.’
It is all right; the Fire does not dwell in them. ‘Unto this man will I look, and with him will I
dwell, who is of a humble and a contrite heart, and who trembleth at My word.’ Let no sense of
poverty, weakness, unworthiness, ever draw the faintest film of fear across our confidence, for
even with us He will sojourn. For it is ‘the goodwill of Him that dwelt in the bush’ that we evoke
for ours.
Again, what more does that name say? He ‘that dwelt in the bush’ filled it with fire, and it
‘burned and was not consumed.’ Now there is good ground to object to the ordinary
interpretation, as if the burning of the bush which yet remains unconsumed was meant to
symbolise Israel, or, in the New Testament application, the Church which, notwithstanding all
persecution, still remains undestroyed. Our brethren of the Presbyterian churches have taken the
Latin form of the words in the context for their motto— Nec Tamen Consumebatur . But I
venture to think that that is a mistake; and that what is meant by the symbol is just what is
expressed by the verbal revelation which accompanied it, and that was this: ‘I AM THAT I AM.’
The fire that did not burn out is the emblem of the divine nature which does not tend to death
because it lives, nor to exhaustion because it energises, nor to emptiness because it bestows, but
after all times is the same; lives by its own energy and is independent. ‘I am that I have
become,’—that is what men have to say. ‘I am that I once was not, and again once shall not be,’ is
what men have to say. ‘I am that I am’ is God’s name. And this eternal, ever-living, self-sufficing,
absolute, independent, unwearied, inexhaustible God is the God whose favour is as inexhaustible
as Himself, and eternal as His own being. ‘Therefore the sons of men shall put their trust beneath
the shadow of Thy wings,’ and, if they have ‘the goodwill of Him that dwelt in the bush,’ will be
able to say, ‘Because Thou livest we shall live also.’
What more does the name say? He ‘that dwelt in the bush’ dwelt there in order to deliver; and,
dwelling there, declared ‘I have seen the affliction of My people, and am come down to deliver
them.’ So, then, if the goodwill of that eternal, delivering God is with us, we, too, may feel that
our trivial troubles and our heavy burdens, all the needs of our prisoned wills and captive souls,
are known to Him, and that we shall have deliverance from them by Him. Brethren, in that

14. name, with its historical associations, with its deep revelations of the divine nature, with its large
promises of the divine sympathy and help, there lie surely abundant strengths and consolations
for us all. The goodwill, the delight, of God, and the active help of God, may be ours, and if these
be ours we shall be blessed and strong.
Do not let us forget the place in this blessing on the head of Joseph which my text holds. It is
preceded by an invoking of the precious things of Heaven, and ‘the precious fruits brought forth
by the sun. . . of the chief things of the ancient mountains, and the precious things of the lasting
hills, and the precious things of the earth and the fulness thereof.’ They are all heaped together in
one great mass for the beloved Joseph. And then, like the golden spire that tops some of those
campaniles in Italian cities, and completes their beauty, above them all there is set, as the shining
apex of all, ‘the goodwill of Him that dwelt in the bush.’ That is more precious than all other
precious things; set last because it is to be sought first; set last as in building some great structure
the top stone is put on last of all; set last because it gathers all others into itself, secures that all
others shall be ours in the measure in which we need them, and arms us against all possibilities of
evil. So the blessing of blessings is the ‘goodwill of Him that dwelt in the bush.’
In my text this is an invocation only; but we can go further than that. You and I can make sure
that we have it, if we will. How to secure it? One of the texts which I have already quoted helps us
a little way along t he road in answer to that question, for it says, ‘Thou, Lord, wilt bless the
righteous. With favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.’ But it is of little use to tell me
that if I am ‘righteous’ God will ‘bless me,’ and ‘compass me with favour.’ If you will tell me how
to become righteous, you will do me more good. And we have been told how to be righteous—‘If
a man keep My commandments My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our
abode with him.’ If we knit ourselves to Jesus Christ, and we can all do that if we like, by faith
that trusts Him, and by love, the child of faith, that obeys Him, and grows daily more like Him—
then, without a doubt, that delight of God in us, and that active purpose of good in God’s mind
towards us, will assuredly be ours; and on no other terms.
So, dear brethren, the upshot of my homily is just this—Men may strive and scheme, and wear
their finger-nails down to the quick, to get some lesser good, and fail after all. The greatest good
is certainly ours by that easy road which, however hard it may be otherwise, is made easy
because it is so certain to bring us to what we want. Holiness is the condition of God’s delight in
us, and a genuine faith in Christ, and the love which faith evokes, are the conditions. So it is a
very simple matter You never can be sure of getting the lower good You can be quite sure of
getting the highest. You never can be certain that the precious things of the earth and the fulness
thereof will be yours, or that if they were, they would be so very precious; but you can be quite
sure that the ‘goodwill of Him that dwelt in the bush’ may lie like light upon your hearts, and be
strength to your limbs.
And so I commend to you the words of the Apostle, ‘Wherefore we labour that, whether present
or absent, we may be well-pleasing to Him.’ To minister to God’s delight is the highest glory of
man. To have the favour of Him that dwelt in the bush resting upon us is the highest blessing for
man. He will say ‘Well done! good and faithful servant.’ ‘The Lord taketh pleasure’—wonderful
as it sounds—‘in them that fear Him, in them that hope in His mercy,’ and that, hoping in His
mercy, live as He would have them live.

15. 17 In majesty he is like a firstborn bull;
his horns are the horns of a wild ox.
With them he will gore the nations,
even those at the ends of the earth.
Such are the ten thousands of Ephraim;
such are the thousands of Manasseh.”
BARNES, “Rather: “The first-born of his” (i. e. Joseph’s) “bullock is his glory”: the reference
being to Ephraim, who was raised by Jacob to the honors of the firstborn (Gen_48:20, and is here
likened to the firstling of Joseph’s oxen, i. e., of Joseph’s offspring. The ox is a common emblem
of power and strength.
CLARKE, “His glory is like the firstling of his bullock - This similitude is very obscure. A
bullock was the most excellent of animals among the Jews, not only because of its acceptableness
in sacrifice to God, but because of its great usefulness in agriculture. There is something
peculiarly noble and dignified in the appearance of the ox, and his greatest ornament are his fine
horns; these the inspired penman has particularly in view, as the following clause proves; and it
is well known that in Scriptural language horns are the emblem of strength, glory, and
sovereignty; Psa_75:5, Psa_75:10; Psa_89:17, Psa_89:24; Psa_112:9; Dan_8:3, etc.; Luk_1:69;
Rev_17:3, etc.
His horns are like the horns of unicorns - reem, which we translate unicorn, from the
μ

16. monokeros of the Septuagint, signifies, according to Bochart, the mountain goat; and
according to others, the rhinoceros, a very large quadruped with one great horn on his nose,
from which circumstance his name is derived. See the notes on Num_23:22; Num_24:8. Reem is
in the singular number, and because the horns of a unicorn, a one-horned animal, would have
appeared absurd, our translators, with an unfaithfulness not common to them, put the word in
the plural number.
To the ends of the earth - Of the land of Canaan, for Joshua with his armies conquered all this
land, and drove the ancient inhabitants out before him.
They are the ten thousands of Ephraim, etc. - That is, The horns signify the ten thousands of
Ephraim, and the thousands of Manasseh. Jacob prophesied, Gen_48:19, that the younger should
be greater than the elder; so here Tens of thousands are given to Ephraim, and only thousands to
Manasseh. See the census, Num_1:33-35 (note).
GILL, “His glory is like the firstling of his bullock,.... Such as were in Bashan, a country
possessed by the posterity of Joseph, see Psa_22:12; and so might be called his bullock, or a
young bull, was reckoned both comely and majestic; so Menis or Mnevis, king of Egypt,
preferred a bull above all animals to be worshipped, because the most beautiful of all, as
Aelianus (w) relates; and Astarte, according to Sanchoniatho (x), put a bull's head upon her own,
as a sign of royalty or kingly power. The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem refer this to the
birthright which belonged to Reuben, and was taken from him, and given to Joseph, see 1Ch_5:2.
Some will have Joshua intended by the firstling of his bullock, so Jarchi; who was of the tribe of
Ephraim, and so famous for his strength and courage, his warlike exploits and victories, and the

17. glory, honour, and renown he obtained; and who was a type of Christ, the first and only begotten
Son of God, the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person; this is
applied to the Messiah in some ancient Jewish writings (y):
and his horns are like the horns of unicorns; of the monoceros or rhinoceros; and as the strength
of these creatures, as of others, lies in their horns, these are figures of the power and strength of
the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph; see Num_23:22,
with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth; not to the ends of the world,
as if the posterity of Joseph should carry their conquests and spread their dominion over all
people to the ends of the world, as the Targum of Jonathan suggests; but to the ends of the land
of Canaan, which was done by Joshua, when he smote the thirty one kings of that country. The
word push is used in allusion to the horns of creatures, with which they push, drive away from
them, or hurt and destroy those that annoy them:
and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh; though
Manasseh was the eldest son of Joseph, fewer are ascribed to him than to Ephraim the younger,
according to Jacob's prediction, Gen_48:19. This has been in a spiritual sense verified in Christ,
the antitype of Joseph, the horn of salvation, who by his great strength has vanquished all his,
and the enemies of his people, and even spoiled principalities and powers.
HENRY, “(2.) He crowns all with the good-will, or favourable acceptance, of him that dwelt in
the bush (Deu_33:16), that is, of God, that God who appeared to Moses in the bush that burned
and was not consumed (Exo_3:2), to give him his commission for the bringing of Israel out of
Egypt. Though God's glory appeared there but for a while, yet it is said to dwell there, because it
continued as long as there was occasion for it: the good-will of the shechinah in the bush; so it
might be read, for shechinah signifies that which dwelleth; and, though it was but a little while a
dweller in the bush, yet it continued to dwell with the people of Israel. My dweller in the bush; so
it should be rendered; that was an appearance of the divine Majesty to Moses only, in token of
the particular interest he had in God, which he desires to improve for the good of this tribe.
Many a time God has appeared to Moses, but now that he is just dying he seems to have the most
pleasing remembrance of that which was the first time, when his acquaintance with the visions of
the Almighty first began, and his correspondence with heaven was first settled: that was a time of
love never to be forgotten. It was at the bush that God declared himself the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, and so confirmed the promise made to the fathers, that promise which reached
as far as the resurrection of the body and eternal life, as appears by our Saviour's argument from
it, Luk_20:37. So that, when he prays for the good-will of him that dwelt in the bush, he has an
eye to the covenant then and there renewed, on which all our hopes of God's favour must be
bottomed. Now he concludes this large blessing with a prayer for the favour or good-will of God,
[1.] Because that is the fountain and spring-head of all these blessings; they are gifts of God's
good-will; they are so to his own people, whatever they are to others. Indeed when Ephraim (a
descendant from Joseph) slid back from God, as a backsliding heifer, those fruits of his country
were so far from being the gifts of God's good-will that they were intended but to fatten him for
the slaughter, as a lamb in a large place, Hos_4:16, Hos_4:17. [2.] Because that is the comfort and
sweetness of all these blessings; then we have joy of them when we taste God's good-will in them.
[3.] Because that is better than all these, infinitely better; for if we have but the favour and good-will
of God we are happy, and may be easy in the want of all these things, and may rejoice in the
God of our salvation though the fig-tree do not blossom, and there be no fruit in the vine,

18. Hab_3:17, Hab_3:18.
2. Great power Joseph is here blessed with, Deu_33:17. Here are three instances of his power
foretold: (1.) His authority among his brethren: His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, or
young bull, which is a stately creature, and therefore was formerly used as an emblem of royal
majesty. Joshua, who was to succeed Moses, was of the tribe of Ephraim the son of Joseph, and
his glory was indeed illustrious, and he was an honour to his tribe. In Ephraim was the royal city
of the ten tribes afterwards. And of Manasseh were Gideon, Jephthah, and Jair, who were all
ornaments and blessings to their country. Some think he is compared to the firstling of the
bullock because the birthright which Reuben lost devolved upon Joseph (1Ch_5:1, 1Ch_5:2), and
to the firstling of his bullock, because Bashan, which was in the lot of Manasseh, was famous for
bulls and cows, Psa_22:12; Amo_4:1. (2.) His force against his enemies and victory over them:
His horns are like the horn of a unicorn, that is, “The forces he shall bring into the field shall be
very strong and formidable, and with them he shall push the people,” that is, “He shall overcome
all that stand in his way.” It appears from the Ephraimites' contests, both with Gideon (Jdg_8:1)
and with Jephthah (Jdg_12:1), that they were a warlike tribe and fierce. Yet we find the children
of Ephraim, when they had forsaken the covenant of God, though they were armed, turning back
in the day of battle (Psa_78:9, Psa_78:10); for, though here pronounced strong and bold as
unicorns, when God had departed from them they became as weak as other men. (3.) The
numbers of his people, in which Ephraim, though the younger house, exceeded, Jacob having, in
the foresight of the same thing, crossed hands, Gen_48:19. They are the ten thousands of Ephraim,
and the thousands of Manasseh. Jonathan's Targum applies it to the ten thousands of Canaanites
conquered by Joshua, who was of the tribe of Manasseh. And the gloss of the Jerusalem Targum
upon the former part of this verse is observable, that “as the firstlings of the bullock were never
to be worked, nor could the unicorn ever be tamed, so Joseph should continue free; and they
would have continued free if they had not by sin sold themselves.”
JAMISON, “
KD, ““The first-born of his ox, majesty is to him, and buffalo-horns his horns: with them he
thrusts down nations, all at once the ends of the earth. These are the myriads of Ephraim, and these
the thousands of Manasseh.” The “first-born of his (Joseph's) oxen” (shor, a collective noun, as in
Deu_15:19) is not Joshua (Rabb., Schultz); still less is it Joseph (Bleek, Diestel), in which case the
pronoun his ox would be quite out of place; nor is it King Jeroboam II, as Graf supposes. It is
rather Ephraim, whom the patriarch Jacob raised into the position of the first-born of Joseph
(Gen_48:4.). All the sons of Joseph resembled oxen, but Ephraim was the most powerful of them
all. He was endowed with majesty; his horns, the strong weapon of oxen, in which all their
strength is concentrated, were not the horns of common oxen, but horns of the wild buffalo
(reem, Num_23:22), that strong indomitable beast (cf. Job_39:9.; Psa_22:22). With them he
would thrust down nations, the ends of the earth, i.e., the most distant nations (vid., Psa_2:8;
Psa_7:9; Psa_22:28). “Together,” i.e., all at once, belongs rhythmically to “the ends of the earth.”
Such are the myriads of Ephraim, i.e., in such might will the myriads of Ephraim arise. To the
tribe of Ephraim, as the more numerous, the ten thousands are assigned; to the tribe of
Manasseh, the thousands.

19. 18 About Zebulun he said:
“Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out,
and you, Issachar, in your tents.
BARNES, “Deuteronomy 33:18-19
Zebulun possessed a commodious sea-shore and the fisheries of the Lake of Tiberias: and was
therefore to thrive by commerce, and to rejoice in his “going out,” i. e., in his mercantile
enterprises. Issachar possessed a fertile inland district, and would therefore dwell at home and
prosper in agriculture. Both tribes distinguished themselves in the contest with Jabin (compare
Jdg_5:14-15, Jdg_5:18): and of Zebulun it is particularly noted that it produced the officers and
tacticians who led and marshalled the host which vanquished Sisera (see Jdg_5:14, and compare
1Ch_12:33).
CLARKE, “Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out - That is, Thou shalt be very prosperous in thy
coasting voyages; for this tribe’s situation was favorable for traffic, having many sea-ports. See
Gen_49:13 (note).
And, Issachar, in thy tents - That is, as Zebulun should be prosperous in his shipping and
traffic, so should Issachar be in his tents - his agriculture and pasturage.
GILL, “And of Zebulun he said,.... The tribe of Zebulun, as the Targums of Jonathan and
Jerusalem, with whom Issachar is joined, they being brethren, and of the same mother as well as
father; though Zebulun the youngest is set before Issachar the older, as in Jacob's blessing,
Gen_49:13,
rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out; in their going out to sea, to merchandise, to traffic in foreign
parts, it being a maritime tribe, see Gen_49:13; and so are called upon to rejoice and be thankful
for their safe preservation on the seas, and success in trade; and to this sense are the paraphrases
of Jonathan and Jerusalem: though Onkelos interprets it of their going out to war against their
enemies, and certain it is that they were also a warlike as well as a seafaring tribe; see Jdg_5:18,
and Issachar, in thy tents; being a tribe that stayed at home, and attended to husbandry, and
dwelt in tents, to take care of and feed their cattle; in doing which they should be prosperous, and
have occasion to rejoice, and be thankful to the Lord: though the Targums of Jonathan and
Jerusalem carry it to a different sense, to their schools, in which they dwelt: this tribe being, as
supposed, a learned tribe, studious, in the law; which is gathered from 1Ch_12:32.
HENRY, “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, Deu_33:18. Zebulun
must rejoice, for he shall have cause to rejoice; and Moses prays that he may have cause in his

20. 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 Zebulun was a haven of ships, Gen_49:13. And Issachar must rejoice in his
tents, that is, in his business at home, his husbandry, to which the men of that tribe generally
confined themselves, because they saw that rest was good, and when the sea was rough the land
was pleasant, Gen_49:14, Gen_49:15. Observe here, (1.) That the providence of God, as it
variously appoints the bounds of men's habitation, some in the city and some in the country,
some in the seaports and some in the inland towns, so it wisely disposes men's inclinations to
different employments for the good of the public, as each member of the body is situated and
qualified for the service of the whole. The genius of some men leads them to a book, of others to
the sea, of others to the sword; some are inclined to rural affairs, others to trade, and some have
a turn for mechanics; and it is well it is so. If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing?
1Co_12:17. It was for the common good of Israel that the men of Zebulun were merchants and
that the men of Issachar were husbandmen. (2.) That whatever our place and business are it is
our wisdom and duty to accommodate ourselves to them, and it is a great happiness to be well
pleased with them. Let Zebulun rejoice in his going out; let him thank God for the gains and
make the best of the losses and inconveniences of his merchandise, and not despise the meanness,
nor envy the quietness, of Issachar's tents. Let Issachar rejoice in his tents, let him be well pleased
with the retirements and content with the small profits of his country seats, and not grudge that
he has not Zebulun's pleasure of travelling and profit of trading. Every business has both its
conveniences and inconveniences, and therefore whatever Providence has made our business we
ought to bring our minds to it; and it is really a great happiness, whatever our lot is, to be easy
with it. This is the gift of God, Ecc_5:19.
JAMISON, “Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out — on commercial enterprises and voyages by sea.
and, Issachar in thy tents — preferring to reside in their maritime towns.
KD, “Zebulun and Issachar. - “Rejoice, Zebulun, at thy going out; and, Issachar, at thy tents.
Nations will they invite to the mountain; there offer the sacrifices of righteousness: for they suck the
affluence of the seas, and the hidden treasures of the sand.” The tribes of the last two sons of Leah
Moses unites together, and, like Jacob in Gen_49:13, places Zebulun the younger first. He first of
all confirms the blessing which Jacob pronounced through simply interpreting their names as
omnia, by calling upon them to rejoice in their undertakings abroad and at home. “At thy tents”
corresponds to “at thy going out” (tents being used poetically for dwellings, as in Deu_16:7); like
“sitting” to “going out and coming in” in 2Ki_19:27; Isa_37:28; Psa_139:2; and describes in its
two aspects of work and production, rest and recreation. Although “going out” (enterprise and
labour) is attributed to Zebulun, and “remaining in tents” (the comfortable enjoyment of life) to
Issachar, in accordance with the delineation of their respective characters in the blessing of
Jacob, this is to be attributed to the poetical parallelism of the clauses, and the whole is to be
understood as applying to both in the sense suggested by Graf,
HENRY LAW, “May the people of Zebulun prosper in their expeditions abroad. May the people
of Issachar prosper at home in their tents. They summon the people to the mountain to offer proper
sacrifices there. They benefit from the riches of the sea and the hidden treasures of the sand. Deut.
33:18-19

21. Two tribes come hand in hand. They are descendants of one mother, Leah--and they inherit
neighboring lots. Here they are colleagues in a common blessing--and drink, as fellows, of one
enriching cup.
It is a lovely sight, when brothers are co-heirs of grace. The Gospel-records brighten with such
pictures. Andrew and Simon are united by more than kindred-ties. John has a fellow-laborer in
James, his parent's son. Jude, and the other James, born of one father, are newborn of one Spirit.
Do not these instances exhort each pious brother to seek especially a brother's good? Do not they
bring the animating hope, that the door of success will open readily to such loving touch? Let
then no gracious brother rest, while any son of the same mother treads the downward path. In
prayer--by gentle example--by winning counsels, let him persevere, until union be cemented in
one center--Christ. God wills the effort. Will He be slow to bless?
How great, too, is the gain! For where is treasure like a brother plucked from the quarry of the
world, and placed a jewel in the diadem of Christ! Sweet is the walk, when such move side by side
to one eternal home.
Another thought stands at the threshold of this case. The younger ranks before the elder. This
cannot be without design. The same occurs, when Jacob's dying lips address them. Zebulun
precedes. Issachar, the first by birth, gives place. Similarly Jacob's right hand rests on the
younger, Ephraim. Manasseh has inferior honor. And other instances occur.
Reader, learn hence, that God sits supreme upon His throne. He holds a scepter swayed in love--
in wisdom--and in sovereign will. He raises one. He places others in a lower grade. Here showers
of grace descend. Here the dew falls in tiny drops. We see the fact. We know, that there is
purpose. But we trace not the origin of these decrees. In humble reverence we bow and we adore.
All must be wise, and just, and right. The day draws near, when clearer light shall show
consummate skill. The structure of the Church will then appear wondrous in perfection. Each
part is fixed by an unerring hand.
Let us now heed THE BLESSING. The first word sounds, Rejoice. This ever is our Gospel's
note. Joy is the gift, which Jesus's hands extend. This is the feast, to which true ministers invite.
When will a blinded world unlearn that silliest of fictions, that ways of faith are cheerlessness and
gloom! Let faithless men be honest, and they must confess, that their career is restless care--keen
disappointment--and self-wrought vexation. They pluck the thorn--not the flower. They feed on
husks--not on rich fruit. Their cup is wormwood--not the vine's juice. Their present is distress--
not peace. Their future is dismay--not hope. How different is the new-born heart! There constant
joy keeps court--joy in the Lord, who washes out all sin--who gives the key of heaven, and title-deeds
of endless bliss, and pledge of a weight of glory, and strength for the journey, and triumph
at the end. The mandate is not an unmeaning word, Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say,
Rejoice. Phil. 4:4.
But Zebulun has his peculiar place--so, too, has Issachar. Their calling differs. Zebulun's line
extends around the coast. His ships traverse the seas. His commerce is across the waves. While
Issachar reposes in inland scenes--and dwells in meadows and in valleys. His life is rustic
tranquillity. But whether in turmoil or in peace, joy is the heritage of both. May the people
of Zebulunprosper in their expeditions abroad. May the people of Issachar prosper at home in
their tents.
They have the happy knowledge, that all their labors are in appointed course--they go out, or
they tarry, under heavenly directive, and therefore with glad hearts.

22. This leads us to observe, how varied are the stations of man's calling! How diverse are positions!
Some reign in palaces--some toil in cottages. Some feast at plenty's table--some pine in poverty's
contracted cells. Purple and splendor deck a Dives--Lazarus lies a beggar at the gate. Some work
at looms--others in fields. Some climb the mast--others handle the spade. Some exercise the
mental powers--others strain the muscles of the body. Some soar in literature's highest flights--
some crawl unlettered to the grave. Some guide a nation's counsels--others are instruments to
execute these laws. Some are exalted to far higher work. They are ambassadors for Christ. Their
office is to tell aloud His wondrous love--to rouse the slumbering--to feed Christ's flock--to uplift
thoughts from earth--to spread soul-renovating truths--to build up saints in their most holy faith.
But perfect wisdom rules these varieties on life's stage. No being enters or recedes, but in
accordance with God's will. He speaks--they live. He speaks--they die. Entrance and exit are in
His hand. At His decree all kings, all beggars, breathe and expire. Both times and stations are
allotted by His mind. He raises to the pinnacles of earth--or veils in seclusion. He leads to walks
known and observed by all, or hides in garrets of obscurity. Let then the child of God live,
rejoicing in his day and lot. No change would be improvement. He best can serve his generation,
and advance his soul-concerns, by working cheerfully in his assigned position.
Believer, when you distinctly see the beckoning cloud; when you set forth, or rest, submissive to
clear guidance; banish fears--cast out all doubts--lift up the happy head--clap the exulting
hands--rejoice--give thanks. A heavenly Father cannot set you in wrong place. A loving Savior
cannot lead you in wrong paths. A gracious Spirit cannot endow you with wrong gifts. All is well.
Look up and follow, and, as you follow, sing, Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out--and Issachar
in your tents.
Next, there is WORK, in which these tribes concur. They are described as zealous to bring others
to know God--They shall call the people unto the mountain--there they shall offer the sacrifices
of righteousness. These words exhibit missionary features. We seem to see them mourning for
ignorance, and longing to impart truth--hating darkness, and yearning to infuse light; loving the
one true God, and ardent to call the wandering to His fold--the heavy-laden to His rest--the
worshipers of stocks and stones to Zion, the Gospel-mount.
Grace had made them to differ from the world around. Revelation had taught them the way of
life. They had received Christ-shadowing ordinances. Their worship was not degraded rites of
ignorance. Their altar and their victims were typal of the sin-removing Lamb. Their services
were bright with God's own truth. Thus, with burning hearts, they called the people unto the
mountain, where they offered the sacrifices of righteousness. They would not know, and love, and
serve, alone.
Believer, catch hence a gale to fan the fire kindled in your soul. Each child of God--in heart--in
lip--in life--should be a flame of enterprising zeal. Is he enlightened--called--selected--converted--
pardoned--comforted--sanctified--saved--only that SELF may live? Away with such unworthy
thought. Let the low slaves of Satan, let poor paltry worldlings, shiver in the freezing atmosphere
of SELF. Let their desires, with unplumed wing, hang heavily around their ease--their profit--
their indulgence--their debasing lusts. But let faith soar in higher regions, and break forth in
grander efforts, and spread in more ennobled work. Surely its sympathies should grasp the total
family of man! Surely its love should travel round the circuit of the globe! Surely its cry should
ever call poor sinners to the cross!
Awake, then, arouse; be up, be doing. What! shall souls perish, while you sleep? Shall hell
enlarge its borders, while you loiter? Shall Satan push on his triumphs, and you look on
indifferent? Shall superstition thrive, and you be silent? Shall ignorance grow darker, and you

23. care not? Forbid it, every feeling of pity--tenderness--humanity--compassion. Forbid it, every
thought of a soul's boundless worth. Forbid it, all the unutterable wonders wrapped in the name,
eternity. Forbid it, every pious wish to snatch immortals from undying woe--and to upraise them
to undying bliss. Forbid it, all your love to Jesus' glorious name--all your deep debt to His
atoning blood--all your delight in His appeasing cross. Forbid it, all your hope to see His face in
peace--and sit beside Him on His throne--and ever bask in heaven's unclouded sunshine. Forbid
it, your deliverance from hell--your title-deeds to heaven. Forbid it, your constant prayer,
Hallowed be Your name--Your kingdom come--Your will be done. Forbid it, your allegiance to
His rule--the statutes of His kingdom--the livery, which you wear. Forbid it, His awakening
example--His solemn and most positive command. Forbid it, every motive swelling in a Christian
heart.
Up, then, and act. Soul-death meets you at each turn. The world in its vast wideness perishes
untaught. The spacious fields are neither tilled nor sown. The many millions are heathen--and
therefore rushing hell-ward. Help, then, the missionary cause. You may--you can--you should.
The need is for men--for means. Can you go forth? Let conscience answer. If not, you yet can
pray, and give. Write shame--write base ingratitude--write treason to Christ's cause on every
day, which sees no effort from you for the heathen world.
Read not in vain how Zebulun and Issachar subserved this cause. They called the people to the
mountain. They strove to increase the sacrifices of righteousness.
The blessing adds, They benefit from the riches of the sea and the hidden treasures of the
sand. God will enrich them. Their traffic shall collect plenteous store. They trade for their God,
and their trade shall be full wealth. Who ever lost, who worked for Him!
Remember, that all gain is gainless, if unconsecrated. The worldling's bags have holes--his barns
soon empty--his coffers have no locks. Treasure laid out for God is laid up in safe keeping.
Believer, come then, restore to God what He entrusts to you. It will be paid back. But with what
interest? God only knows. And on what day? When the returning Lord shall reckon--when the
applauding voice shall say, Well done, good and faithful servant--enter into the joy of your
Lord. Matt. 25:21. But now you may have happy foretaste.
Will any put these humble lines aside, without much inward search? Let it not be so. Let every
heart enquire, Lord, am I Yours? Is my inheritance among Your chosen flock? Do I lie down in
their fair pastures? Do I draw water from their wells of life? Am I Your Zebulun--Your
Issachar? Is my life a clear testimony, that I serve Christ? Do I show, that I am alive by many
infallible proofs? Acts. 1:3.
If not, oh! let the prayer be heard, 'Lord, make me Yours, and keep me Yours forever. If other
lords have held me in their chains, may the vile bondage cease. Accept me, worthless as I am.
Draw me--we will run after You. Fit me--enable me--and my whole life shall be delighted
service. Supply me with the oil of grace, and then the flame of glowing toil shall blaze. A Zebulun
and Issachar in privilege will always be a Zebulun and Issachar in zeal.
SPURGEON, ““And of Zebulun he said, Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out.”—Deuteronomy
33:18
THE blessings of the tribes are ours; for we are the true Israel who worship God in the spirit,
and have no confidence in the flesh. Zebulun is to rejoice because Jehovah will bless his going

24. out; we also see a promise for ourselves lying latent in this benediction. When we go out, we will
look out for occasions of joy.
We go out to travel, and the providence of God is our convoy. We go out to emigrate, and the
Lord is with us both on land and sea. We go out as missionaries, and Jesus saith, “Lo, I am with
you unto the end of the world.” We go out day by day to our labor, and we may do so with
pleasure, for God will be with us from morn till eve.
A fear sometimes creeps over us when starting, for we know not what we may meet with; but this
blessing may serve us right well as a word of good cheer. As we pack up for moving, let us put
this verse into our traveling trunk; let us drop it into our hearts and keep it there; yea, let us lay
it on our tongue to make us sing. Let us weigh anchor with a song or jump into the carriage with
a psalm. Let us belong to the rejoicing tribe and, in our every movement, praise the Lord with
joyful hearts.
19 They will summon peoples to the mountain
and there offer the sacrifices of the righteous;
they will feast on the abundance of the seas,
on the treasures hidden in the sand.”
BARNES, “Deu_33:19
Unto the mountain - Compare Exo_15:17.
Sacrifices of righteousness - Sacrifices offered in a righteous spirit, and therefore well pleasing
to God (compare Psa_4:5; Psa_51:19).
Treasures hid in the sand - The riches of the seas in general. However, it is noteworthy that the
sand of these coasts was especially valuable in the manufacture of glass; and glass was a precious
thing in ancient times (compare Job_28:17). The murex from which the highly-prized purple dye
was extracted, was also found here. A typical reference to the conversion of the Gentiles is
strongly suggested by Isa_60:5-6, Isa_60:16; Isa_66:11-12.
CLARKE, “They shall call the people unto the mountain - By their traffic with the Gentiles (for
so I think ammim should be understood here) they shall be the instruments in God’s hands
of converting many to the true faith; so that instead of sacrificing to idols, they should offer
sacrifices of righteousness.
They shall suck of the abundance of the seas - That is, grow wealthy by merchandise.
And of treasures hid in the sand - Jonathan ben Uzziel has probably hit upon the true meaning
of this difficult passage: “From the sand,” says he, “are produced looking-glasses and glass in
general; the treasures - the method of finding and working this, was revealed to these tribes.”
Several ancient writers inform us that there were havens in the coasts of the Zebulunites in which
the vitreous sand, or sand proper for making glass, was found. See Strabo, lib. xvi.; see also
Pliny, Hist. Nat. l. xxxvi., c. 26; Tacitus, Hist. l. v., c. 7. The words of Tacitus are remarkable: Et
Belus amnis Judaico mari illabitur; circa ejus os lectae arenae admixto nitro in vitrum excoquuntur.
“The river Belus falls into the Jewish sea, about whose mouth those sands, mixed with nitre, are
collected, out of which glass is formed,” or which is melted into glass. Some think that the
celebrated shell-fish called murex, out of which the precious purple dye was extracted, is here

25. intended by the treasure hid in the sand: this also Jonathan introduces in this verse. And others
think that it is a general term for the advantages derived from navigation and commerce.
GILL, “They shall call the people unto the mountain,.... To the mountain of the house of the
sanctuary, as all the three Targums; to the temple built on a mountain, which Moses by a spirit
of prophecy foresaw would be, to which the tribes of Zebulun and Issachar would not only come
up themselves, though at the more distant parts of the land; but call and urge others, both
Israelites and Gentiles, to do the same, partly by their example, and partly by persuasions and
arguments; not the tribes of Israel that lay nearest them only, but the Heathens, the Tyrians and
Sidonians, on whom they bordered, and the Gentiles in Galilee of the Gentiles, which were
neighbours to them; a like instance see in Isa_2:2; and perhaps this may have respect to the times
of Christ and his apostles, and to their being in those parts where the Gospel was preached, and
many people were called, Mat_4:13,
there they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness; or true sacrifices, as the Targums of Jonathan
and Jerusalem, in opposition to illegitimate ones, which were not according to the law, that had
blemishes and defects in them, and to such as were gotten by robbery, or in an unlawful way; and
may signify all righteous actions and good works done in faith, and from right principles, though
not to be depended upon for a justifying righteousness before God; and all spiritual sacrifices,
especially the sacrifices of praise for all blessings, and particularly for the righteousness of
Christ; and these are to be offered in the church of God, and upon the altar, which sanctifies
every gift, and from whence they come up with acceptance to God:
for they shall suck of the abundance of the sea; get a great deal of riches by trading at sea, and
therefore under great obligations to offer sacrifices to the Lord, by whom they were prospered:
and of the treasure hid in the sand; as gold and silver, pearls and corals, and the like, extracted
from thence; or riches buried there through shipwrecks; or it may design the great wealth and
riches they got by glass made of sand, taken out of the river Belus, which washed the coast of the
tribe of Zebulun, as many historians relate (z).
HENRY, “ That they should both be serviceable in their places to the honour of God and the
interests of religion in the nation (Deu_33:19): They shall call the people to the mountain, that is,
to the temple, which Moses foresaw should be built upon a mountain. I see not why this should be
confined (as it is by most interpreters) to Zebulun; if both Zebulun and Issachar received the
comforts of their respective employments, why may we not suppose that they both took care to
give God the glory of them? Two things they shall do for God: -
(1.) They shall invite others to his service. Call the people to the mountain. [1.] Zebulun shall
improve his acquaintance and commerce with the neighbouring nations, to whom he goes out, for
this noble purpose, to propagate religion among them, and to invite them into the service of the
God of Israel. Note, Men of great business, or large conversation, should wisely and zealously
endeavour to recommend the practice of serious godliness to those with whom they converse and
among whom their business lies. Such are blessed, for they are blessings. It were well if the
enlargement of trade with foreign countries might be made to contribute to the spreading of the
gospel. This prophecy concerning Zebulun perhaps looks as far as the preaching of Christ and

26. his apostles, which began in the land of Zebulun (Mat_4:14, Mat_4:15); then they called the
people to the mountain, that is, to the kingdom of the Messiah, which is called the mountain of the
Lord's house, Isa_2:2. [2.] Issachar that tarries at home, and dwells in tents, shall call upon his
neighbours to go up to the sanctuary at the times appointed for their solemn feasts, either
because they should be more zealous and forward than their neighbours (and it has been often
observed that though those that with Zebulun dwell in the haven of ships, which are places of
concourse, have commonly more of the light of religion, those that with Issachar dwell in tents in
the country have more of the life and heat of it), and may therefore with their zeal provoke those
to a holy emulation that have more knowledge (Psa_122:1); or because they were more observant
of the times appointed for their feasts than others were. One of the Chaldee paraphrasts reads
the foregoing verse, Rejoice, Issachar, in the tents of thy schools, supposing they would many of
them be scholars, and would use their learning for that purpose, according to the revolutions of
the year, to give notice of the times of the feasts; for almanacs were not then so common as they
are now. And Onkelos more particularly, Rejoice, Issachar, when thou goest to compute the times
of the solemnities at Jerusalem; for then the tribes of Israel shall be gathered to the mountain of the
house of the sanctuary. So he reads the beginning of this verse; and many think this is the
meaning of that character of the men of Issachar in David's time, That they had understanding of
the times to know what Israel ought to do, 1Ch_12:32. And the character which follows (v. 33) of
the men of Zebulun, that they were such as went forth to battle, expert in war, perhaps may
explain the blessing of that tribe here. Note, Those that have not opportunity as Zebulun had of
bringing into the church those that are without may yet be very serviceable to its interest by
helping to quicken, encourage, and build up, those that are within. And it is good work to call
people to God's ordinances, to put those in remembrance that are forgetful, and to stir up those
that are slothful, who will follow, but care not to lead.
That they should both be serviceable in their places to the honour of God and the interests of
religion in the nation (Deu_33:19): They shall call the people to the mountain, that is, to the
temple, which Moses foresaw should be built upon a mountain. I see not why this should be
confined (as it is by most interpreters) to Zebulun; if both Zebulun and Issachar received the
comforts of their respective employments, why may we not suppose that they both took care to
give God the glory of them? Two things they shall do for God: -
(1.) They shall invite others to his service. Call the people to the mountain. [1.] Zebulun shall
improve his acquaintance and commerce with the neighbouring nations, to whom he goes out, for
this noble purpose, to propagate religion among them, and to invite them into the service of the
God of Israel. Note, Men of great business, or large conversation, should wisely and zealously
endeavour to recommend the practice of serious godliness to those with whom they converse and
among whom their business lies. Such are blessed, for they are blessings. It were well if the
enlargement of trade with foreign countries might be made to contribute to the spreading of the
gospel. This prophecy concerning Zebulun perhaps looks as far as the preaching of Christ and
his apostles, which began in the land of Zebulun (Mat_4:14, Mat_4:15); then they called the
people to the mountain, that is, to the kingdom of the Messiah, which is called the mountain of the
Lord's house, Isa_2:2. [2.] Issachar that tarries at home, and dwells in tents, shall call upon his
neighbours to go up to the sanctuary at the times appointed for their solemn feasts, either
because they should be more zealous and forward than their neighbours (and it has been often
observed that though those that with Zebulun dwell in the haven of ships, which are places of
concourse, have commonly more of the light of religion, those that with Issachar dwell in tents in
the country have more of the life and heat of it), and may therefore with their zeal provoke those
to a holy emulation that have more knowledge (Psa_122:1); or because they were more observant

27. of the times appointed for their feasts than others were. One of the Chaldee paraphrasts reads
the foregoing verse, Rejoice, Issachar, in the tents of thy schools, supposing they would many of
them be scholars, and would use their learning for that purpose, according to the revolutions of
the year, to give notice of the times of the feasts; for almanacs were not then so common as they
are now. And Onkelos more particularly, Rejoice, Issachar, when thou goest to compute the times
of the solemnities at Jerusalem; for then the tribes of Israel shall be gathered to the mountain of the
house of the sanctuary. So he reads the beginning of this verse; and many think this is the
meaning of that character of the men of Issachar in David's time, That they had understanding of
the times to know what Israel ought to do, 1Ch_12:32. And the character which follows (v. 33) of
the men of Zebulun, that they were such as went forth to battle, expert in war, perhaps may
explain the blessing of that tribe here. Note, Those that have not opportunity as Zebulun had of
bringing into the church those that are without may yet be very serviceable to its interest by
helping to quicken, encourage, and build up, those that are within. And it is good work to call
people to God's ordinances, to put those in remembrance that are forgetful, and to stir up those
that are slothful, who will follow, but care not to lead.
JAMISON, “shall suck of the abundance of the seas, and of treasures hid in the sand — Both
tribes should traffic with the Phoenicians in gold and silver, pearl and coral, especially in murex,
the shellfish that yielded the famous Tyrian dye, and in glass, which was manufactured from the
sand of the river Belus, in their immediate neighborhood.
KD, ““Rejoice, Zebulun and Issachar, in your labour and your rest.” This peculiarity, which is
founded in the very nature of poetical parallelism, which is to individualize the thought by
distributing it into parallel members, has been entirely overlooked by all the commentators who
have given a historical interpretation to each, referring the “going out” to the shipping trade and
commercial pursuits of the Zebulunites, and the expression “in thy tents” either to the spending
of a nomad life in tents, for the purpose of performing a subordinate part in connection with
trade (Schultz), or to the quiet pursuits of agriculture and grazing (Knobel). They were to rejoice
in their undertakings at home and abroad; for they would be successful. The good things of life
would flow to them in rich abundance; they would not make them into mammon, however, but
would invite nations to the mountain, and there offer sacrifices of righteousness. “The peoples”
are nations generally, not the tribes of Israel, still less the members of their own tribes. By the
“mountain,” without any more precise definition, we are not to understand Tabor or Carmel any
more than the mountain land of Canaan. It is rather “the mountain of the Lord's inheritance”
(Exo_15:17), upon which the Lord was about to plant His people, the mountain which the Lord
had chosen for His sanctuary, and in which His people were to dwell with Him, and rejoice in
sacrificial meals of fellowship with Him. To this end the Lord had sanctified Moriah through the
sacrifice of Isaac which He required of Abraham, though it had not been revealed to Moses that
it was there that the temple, in which the name of the Lord in Israel would dwell, was afterwards
to be built. There is no distinct or direct allusion to Morah or Zion, as the temple-mountain,
involved in the words of Moses. It was only by later revelations and appointments on the part of
God that this was to be made known. The words simply contain the Messianic thought that
Zebulun and Issachar would offer rich praise-offerings and thank-offerings to the Lord, from the
abundant supply of earthly good that would flow to them, upon the mountain which He would