Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 33:2
And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand [went] a fiery law for them.
2 ( 3). Nor shall the Son of an Unlawful Marriage Enter the Congregation nor his Descendants.
bastard ] This meaning is derived from the LXX . More probably the Heb. mamzer (elsewhere only in Zec 9:6) signifies the offspring either of such unlawful unions as are exemplified in Deu 22:30 (Deu 23:1), which was the opinion of the Rabbis ( Mishnah, ‘Yebamoth’ Deu 4:13, cp. Levy, Chald. u. Neuhebr. Wrterbuch, sub voce), or of the equally forbidden marriages with foreign wives, Neh 13:23 ff.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
2. The Lord ] Jehovah; as frequently, the Divine Name opens the poem; see on Deu 1:6.
Sinai ] See Deu 1:2; Deu 1:6, on oreb, and on the view that the mountain lay in Se‘r cp. Jdg 5:4.
rose ] Like the sun: rays, or beams, forth.
unto them ] So Heb. and Sam. But LXX, Targ., Vulg. read to us. V. Gall (followed by Berth. and Marti) reads to his people.
shined forth ] Or flashed, so of God in Psa 50:2; Psa 80:1 (2), Psa 94:1; and Job.
Paran ] See Deu 1:1; mount Paran, as in Hab 3:3, is not to be identified with any one range in that mountainous wilderness: mount is collective.
came ] Better comes, hies or is sped; a vb common in Aram. but in Heb. used only in poetry.
from Merbath-Kadesh ] A probable conjecture from the Heb. merib e both-odesh = from holy myriads and LXX with myriads of adesh. Others propose, with him (so Sam. Pesh. Targ. instead of comes) were holy chariots ( mark e both-kodesh). From the Targ. with him were holy myriads arose the late Jewish belief that angels (cp. LXX in next clause) ministered at the giving of the Law, Act 7:53, Gal 3:19, Heb 2:2.
At his right hand ] Or from; confirmed by the Versions; yet it is possible that for mmno we should read miyyamn = from the South, in parallel to the previous lines.
was a fiery law ] Very questionable. The Heb. consonants ’sh d th are written as one word, but read by the Massoretes as two, ’esh dath = fire, law; but their construction is awkward and dath is a late word from the Persian and improbable here. Sam. reads two words, each = light; if the first be read as a vb we get the probable there flashed light. Dillm. adding two consonants reads a burning fire. By reading one word we have an equivalent of the Aram. ’ashidoth = lightning flashes; cp. Hab 3:4, He had horns (i.e. rays) from his hand. LXX , cp. Psa 104:4 his ministers a flame of fire. The line may be an intrusion; it is not one of a couplet.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
2 5. The Proem The Origin of Israel
The Revelation by which the tribes became a nation is described in the mingled figures of a dawn and a thunderstorm, theophanies frequent in the Ar. poetry of the desert where natural phenomena suggestive of divine appearance and power are few (hardly more than these and the rainbow); and used several times in Heb. poetry of Jehovah the Inhabiter of Sinai; Jdg 5:4 f., Hab 3:3 ff.; cp. Psa 18:29. and contrast 1Ki 19:11 f. See further Early Poetry of Israel, 56 ff.
2 The Lord from Sinai is come
And risen on us from Se‘r,
Hath flashed from the hills of Parn,
And sped from Merbath-adesh.
[From the South (?) blazed fire (?) on them.]
3 Lover indeed of His people,
His hallowed are all in His hand,
They, they fall in (?) at Thy feet,
They take up Thine orders.
4 [Moses commanded us law]
His domain is the Assembly of Jacob,
5 And King He became in Y e shurun,
When the heads of the people were gathered,
The tribes of Israel were one.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
By Seir is to be understood the mountain-land of the Edomites, and by mount Paran the range which forms the northern boundary of the desert of Sinai (compare Gen 14:6 note). Thus the verse forms a poetical description of the vast arena upon which the glorious manifestation of the Lord in the giving of the covenant took place.
With ten thousands of saints – Render, from amidst ten thousands of holy ones: literally from myriads of holiness, i. e., holy Angels (compare Zec 14:5). God is represented as leaving heaven where He dwells amidst the host of the Angels 1Ki 22:19 and descending in majesty to earth Mic 1:3.
A fiery law – more literally as in the margin, with perhaps an allusion to the pillar of fire Exo 13:21. The word is much disputed.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Deu 33:2-5
From His right hand went a fiery law for them.
Yea, He loved the people.
The law of antagonism
At first sight the text might seem to involve a contradiction, but closer consideration will show that it expresses a great truth, namely, that the severity of human life is an expression of the Divine goodness.
I. In nature. The fiery law published at Sinai is proclaimed from every mountaintop; it burns and blazes through all the earth; the sea also is crystal mingled with fire. Nature knows nothing of indulgence; she makes no concessions to ignorance, folly, or weakness. Nature is imperative, uncompromising, terrible. In our day the severity of nature has been recognised as the struggle for existence, and students have shown with great clearness and power how full the world is of antagonism and suffering; yet these same students distinctly perceive that the struggle for existence is at bottom merciful, and that whenever nature chooses an evil it is a lesser evil to prevent a greater.
1. They see the advantage of severity so far as all sound and healthy things are concerned. If the conditions of life are in any degree softened, it is to the detriment of the noble organisms concerned.
2. They see also the advantage of severity so far as defective things are concerned. It is better for the world at large that weak organisms should be eliminated, otherwise the earth would be filled with imperfection and wretchedness; it is better for the creatures concerned that they should perish, for why should a miserable existence be indefinitely prolonged?
II. In civilisation. It is not by gentle yielding restrictions, by pliant understandings, by soft phrases, by light penalties easily remitted, by facility and complaisance, by the coddling of the individual, and the pampering of the nations, but by laws most exacting and rigorous, that God governs the race and conducts it to ultimate perfection. And yet once more we may see that the fiery law is only a definition of love.
1. Take the struggle of man with nature. The tropical sun burns us; the Arctic cold freezes us; in temperate regions the changeability of the weather troubles us; everywhere we experience the fury of the elements. All climates and countries have their special inconveniences, inhospitalities, and scourges. But is not this conflict with nature part of the inspiration and programme of civilisation? Contending with the globe, we are like Jacob wrestling with the angel. The fight is long and hard amid the mystery and the darkness, and the great Power seems reluctant to bless us; but the breaking of the day comes, and we find ourselves blest with corn, wine, oil, purple, feasts, flowers. Ah! and with gifts far beyond those of basket and store–ripened intelligence, self-reliance, courage, skill, manliness, virtue.
2. Take the struggle of man with man. Society is a great system of antitheses. There are international rivalries–a relentless competition between the several races and nations for power and supremacy. The various peoples watch each other across the seas; the earth is full of feuds, stratagems, competitions. And within the separate communities what complex and unceasing emulations and antagonisms exist! But this social rivalry brings its rich compensations. Solicitude, fatigue, difficulty, danger, hunger, these are the true king-makers; and the misfortune with many rich families today is, that they are being gradually let down because they are losing sight of the wolf. The wolf not merely suckled Romulus; it suckles all kings of men. The wolf is not a wolf at all; it is an angel in wolves clothing, saving us from rust, sloth, effeminacy, cowardice, baseness, from a miserable superficiality of thought, life, and character.
III. In character. When we are called upon to perform duties utterly repugnant to flesh and blood, to suffer grievous losses, to experience bitterest disappointments, to bleed under social humiliations, to be tortured by pain, to lose those whose love was our life, to endure the great fight of afflictions which sooner or later comes upon us all, we may rationally and consolingly murmur to ourselves, This is a lesser evil to prevent a greater. For as the catastrophes of nature are, after all, but partial and temporary, preventing immeasurably greater calamities, so our physical pain, impoverishment, social suffering, severe toil, bereavement, and all our terrestrial woes are the lesser evils, saving us from the infinitely greater one of the superficiality, corruption, misery, and ruin of the soul. And not only is the fiery law a wall of fire securing our salvation from the abyss; it is also a call unto a high and splendid perfection. It shows the way to the dignities, freedoms, treasures, felicities, perfections, of the highest universe and the unending life.
1. Let us not reject the law of Sinai because of its severity. The musician with the harp believes in strait-lacing, and it is only when the strings are stretched nigh to the breaking that he brings out the finest music. So in human life, caprice, licence, abandonment mean dissonance and misery; only through obligation, duty, discipline do all the chords of our nature become tuned to the music of a sweet perfection.
2. Let us not reject the Lord Jesus because He comes to us with a cross. To attain the highest, we must be crucified with Christ.
3. Let us not shrink from the tribulations of life. Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, etc. The whole case is here. We must not consider the fiery trial a strange thing. It is the universal order. We witness it in all nature; we discern it in all the history of civilisation; it is the common experience. The fiery trial is not some ordeal peculiar to the Christian saints; it is appointed to the whole of humanity. We must not consider the fiery trial an uncompensated thing. The cross we carry is no longer a pitiless and crushing burden; we look to its ultimate design, and know it as the rough but precious instrument of our purification and perfecting. (W. L. Watkinson.)
All His saints are in Thy hand.
Saints in the Lords hand
These holy ones are distinguished by many things from each other. Some of them are in public life and some in private. Some are rich and some poor. Some are young and some old. But all are equally dear to God; and partakers of the common salvation; in which there is neither Jew nor Greek, for we are all one in Christ Jesus. This honour have all His saints–All His saints are in His hand.
1. In His fashioning hand. They are the clay, He is the potter; and He makes them vessels of honour, prepared unto every good work.
2. In His preserving hand. For now they are precious, they are the more exposed. They are called a crown and a diadem; and the powers of darkness would gladly seize it.
3. In His guiding hand. Though God, says Bishop Hall, has a large family, none of His children are able to go alone: they are too weak, as well as too ignorant. But fear not, says God: I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness.
4. In His chastening hand. (W. Jay.)
God and His saints
I. The Divine love which is the foundation of all. He loved the people. The word used here is probably connected with words in an allied language, which mean the bosom, and a tender embrace; so the picture we have is of the great Divine Lover folding the people to His heart, as a mother her child, and cherishing them in His bosom.
2. The word is in a form which implies that the act is continuous and perpetual. Timeless, eternal love–always the same.
3. Mark the place in the song where this comes in. It is the beginning of everything. This old singer, with the mists of antiquity round him, who knew nothing about the Cross or the historic Christ, who had only that which modern thinkers tell us is a revelation of a wrathful God, somehow or other rose to the height of the evangelical conception of Gods love as the foundation of the very existence of a people who are His.
4. If the question is asked, Why does God thus love? the only answer is, Because He is God. The love of God is inseparable from His being, and flows forth before, and independent of, anything in the creature which could draw it out. It is like an artesian well, or a fountain springing up from unknown depths in obedience to its own impulse.
II. The guardian care extended to all those that answer love by love. All His saints are in Thy hand.
1. A saint is a man that answers Gods love by his love. The root idea of sanctity or holiness is not moral character, goodness of disposition and action, but separation from the world and consecration to God. As surely as a magnet applied to a heap of miscellaneous filings will pick out every little bit of iron there, so surely will that love which God bears to the people, when it is responded to, draw to itself, and therefore draw out of the heap, the men that feel its impulse and its preciousness.
2. The saints lie in Gods hand.
(1) Absolute security; for, will He not close His fingers over His palm to keep the soul that has laid itself there?
(2) Submission. Do not try to get out of Gods hand. Be content to be guided, as the steersmans hand turns the spokes of the wheel and directs the ship.
III. The docile obedience of those that are thus guarded. They sat down at Thy feet; everyone shall receive of Thy words. These two clauses make up one picture, and one easily understands what it is. It presents a group of docile scholars, sitting at the Masters feet. He is teaching them, and they listen open-mouthed and open-eared to what He says, and will take His words into their lives, like Mary sitting at Christs feet, whilst Martha was bustling about His meal. But perhaps, instead of sitting down at Thy feet, we should read followed at Thy feet. That suggests the familiar metaphor of a guide and those led by him who without him knew not their road. As a dog follows his master, as the sheep their shepherd, so, this singer felt, will saints follow the God whom they love. Religion is imitation of God. They follow at His foot. That is the blessedness and the power of Christian morality, that it is keeping close at Christs heels, and that, instead of its being said to us, Go, He says, Come; and instead of us being bade to hew out for ourselves a path of duty, He says to us, He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. They receive His words. Yes, if you will keep close to Him, He will turn round and speak to you. If you are near enough to Him to catch His whisper He will not leave you without guidance. That is one side of the thought, that following we receive what He says, whereas the people that are away far behind Him scarcely know what His will is, and never can catch the low whisper which will come to us by providences, by movements in our own spirits, through the exercise of our faculties of judgment and common sense, if only we will keep near to Him. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
The Lord came, to wit, to the Israelites, i.e. manifested graciously and gloriously among them.
From Sinai, i.e. beginning at Sinai, where the first and most glorious appearance of God was, and so going on with them to Seir and Paran. Or, to Sinai, the particle mem oft signifying to, as is evident by comparing Isa 59:20, with Rom 11:26; 1Ki 8:30, with 2Ch 6:21; 2Sa 6:2, with 1Ch 13:6. See also Gen 2:8; 11:2; 13:11; 1Sa 14:15. Or, in Sinai; mem being put for beth, in, as Exo 25:18; Deu 15:1; Job 19:26; Psa 68:29; 72:16.
Rose up; he appeared or showed himself, as the sun doth when it riseth.
From Seir, i.e. from the mountain or land of Edom, which is called Seir, Gen 32:3; 36:8; Deu 2:4, to which place the Israelites came, Num 20:14, &c.; and from thence God led them on towards the Land of Promise, and then gloriously appeared for them in subduing Sihon and Og before them, and giving their countries unto them; which glorious work of Gods is particularly celebrated Jdg 5:4. But because the land of Seir or Edom is sometimes taken more largely, and so reacheth even to the Red Sea, as appears from 1Ki 9:26, and therefore Mount Sinai was near to it; and because Paran, which here follows, was also near Sinai, as being the next station into which they came from the wilderness of Sinai, Num 10:12; all this verse may belong to Gods appearance in Mount Sinai, where that glorious light which shone upon Mount-Sinai directly did in all probability scatter its beams into adjacent parts, such as Seir and Paean were; and so this is only a poetical and prophetical variation of the phrase and expression of the same thing in divers words, and God coming, or rising, or shining from or to or in Sinai, and Sear, and Paran note one and the same illustrious action of God appearing there with
ten thousands of his saints or holy angels, and there giving
a fiery law to them, as it here follows. And this interpretation may receive some strength from Hab 3:3, where this glorious march of God before his people is remembered; only teman, which signifies the south, is put for Seir, which is here, possibly to signify that that Seir which is here mentioned was to be understood of the southern part of the country of Seir or Edom, which was that part adjoining to the Red Sea. Others refer this of Seir to the brazen serpent, that eminent type of Christ, which was erected in this place.
Mount Paran; a place where God eminently manifested his presence and goodness, both in giving the people flesh which they desired, and in appointing the seventy elders, and pouring forth his Spirit upon them, Num 11; though the exposition mentioned in the foregoing branch may seem more probable. With
ten thousands of saints, i.e. with a a great company of holy angels, Psa 68:17; Dan 7:10, which attended upon him in this great and glorious work of giving the law, as may be gathered from Act 7:53; Gal 3:19; Heb 2:2; 12:22.
From his right hand; which both wrote the law and gave it to men; an allusion to men, who ordinarily write and give gifts with their right, and not with their left hand.
A fiery law. The law is called fiery, partly, because it is of a fiery nature, purging, and searching, and inflaming, for which reasons Gods word is compared to fire, Jer 23:29; partly, to signify that fiery wrath and curse which it inflicteth upon sinners for the violation of it, 2Co 3:7,9; and principally, because it was delivered out of the midst of the fire, Exo 19:16,18; Deu 4:11; 5:22,23.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2-4. The Lord cameUnder abeautiful metaphor, borrowed from the dawn and progressive splendorof the sun, the Majesty of God is sublimely described as a divinelight which appeared in Sinai and scattered its beams on all theadjoining region in directing Israel’s march to Canaan. In thesedescriptions of a theophania, God is represented as comingfrom the south, and the allusion is in general to the thunderings andlightnings of Sinai; but other mountains in the same direction arementioned with it. The location of Seir was on the east of the Ghor;mount Paran was either the chain on the west of the Ghor, or ratherthe mountains on the southern border of the desert towards thepeninsula [ROBINSON].(Compare Jdg 5:4; Jdg 5:5;Psa 68:7; Psa 68:8;Hab 3:3).
ten thousands ofsaintsrendered by some, “with the ten thousand ofKadesh,” or perhaps better still, “from Meribah”[EWALD].
a fiery lawso calledboth because of the thunder and lightning which accompanied itspromulgation (Exo 19:16-18;Deu 4:11), and the fierce,unrelenting curse denounced against the violation of its precepts(2Co 3:7-9).Notwithstanding those awe-inspiring symbols of Majesty that weredisplayed on Sinai, the law was really given in kindness and love (De33:3), as a means of promoting both the temporal and eternalwelfare of the people. And it was “the inheritance of thecongregation of Jacob,” not only from the hereditary obligationunder which that people were laid to observe it, but from its beingthe grand distinction, the peculiar privilege of the nation.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And he said,…. What follows, of which, in some things, he was an eye and ear witness, and in others was inspired by the Spirit of God, to deliver his mind and will concerning the future case and state of the several tribes, after he had observed the common benefit and blessing they all enjoyed, by having such a law given them in the manner it was:
the Lord came from Sinai; there he first appeared to Moses, and sent him to Egypt, and wrought miracles by him, and delivered his people Israel from thence, and when they were come to this mount he came down on it, as Aben Ezra, from Gaon, or he came “to” it; so to Zion, Isa 59:20, is “out of” or “from Zion”, Ro 11:26; here he appeared and gave the law, and from thence went with Israel through the wilderness, and conducted them to the land of Canaan:
and rose up from Seir unto them: not to the Edomites which inhabited Seir, as say Jarchi, and the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem, but to the Israelites when they compassed the land of Edom; and the Lord was with them, and gave them some signal proofs of his power and providence, kindness and goodness, to them; particularly, as some observe, by appointing a brazen serpent to be erected for the cure those bitten by fiery ones, which was a type of the glorious Redeemer and Saviour, and this was done on the borders of Edom, see Nu 21:4; for the words here denote some illustrious appearance of the Lord, like that of the rising sun; so the Targum of Onkelos,
“the brightness of his glory from Seir was shown unto us;”
and that of Jonathan,
“and the brightness of the glory of his Shechinah went from Gebal:”
he shined forth from Mount Paran: in which the metaphor of the sun rising is continued, and as expressive of its increasing light and splendour: near to this mount was a wilderness of the same name, through which the children of Israel travelled, and where the Lord appeared to them: here the cloud rested when they removed from Sinai; here, or near it, the Spirit of the Lord was given to the seventy elders, and from hence the spies were sent into the land of Canaan, Nu 10:12; in this wilderness Ishmael and his posterity dwelt, Ge 21:21; but it was not to them the Lord shone forth here, as say the above Jewish writers, and others d; but to the Israelites, for here Moses repeated the law, or delivered to them what is contained in the book of Deuteronomy, see De 1:1; beside, in a literal sense, as these mountains were very near one another, as Saadiah Gaon observes, the great light which shone on Mount Sinai, when the Lord descended on it, might extend to the other mountains and illuminate them, see Hab 3:3;
and he came with ten thousands of saints: or holy angels, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, and so Jarchi; which sense is confirmed by the authorities of Stephen the protomartyr, and the Apostle Paul, who speak of the law as given by the disposition of angels, they being present, attending and assisting on that solemn occasion, Ac 7:57; see Ps 68:17; the appearance of those holy spirits in such great numbers added to the grandeur and solemnity of the giving of the holy law to the people of Israel, as the attendance of the same on Christ at his second coming will add to the lustre and glory of it, Lu 9:26;
from his right hand [went] a fiery law for them: the Israelites; Aben Ezra thinks the phrase, “his right hand”, is in connection with the preceding clause; and the sense is, that fire came from the law, thousands of saints were at the right hand of God to surround Israel, as the horses of fire and chariots of fire surrounded Elisha; and the meaning of the last words, “a law for them”, a law which stands or abides continually; and so the Septuagint version is,
“at his right hand angels with him:”
no doubt that law is meant which came from God on Mount Sinai, by the ministration of angels, into the hand of Moses; called a fiery law, because it was given out of the midst of the fire, De 5:26; so the Targum of Onkelos,
“the writing of his right hand out of the midst of fire, the law he gave unto us;”
and because of its effects on the consciences of men, where it pierces and penetrates like fire, and works a sense of wrath and fiery indignation in them, by reason of the transgressions of it, it being the ministration of condemnation and death on that account; and, because of its use, it serves as a lantern to the feet, and a light to the path of good men: this law may include the judicial and ceremonial laws given at this time; but it chiefly respects the moral law, and which may be said to come from God, who, as Creator, has a right to be Governor of his creature, and to enact what laws he pleases, and from his right hand, in allusion to men’s writing with their right hand, this being written by the finger of God; and because a peculiar gift of his to the Israelites, gifts being given by the right hand of men; and may denote the authority and power with which this law came enforced, and Christ seems to be the person from whose right hand it came: see
Ps 68:17.
d Vid. Pirke Eliezer, c. 41.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
In the introduction Moses depicts the elevation of Israel into the nation of God, in its origin (Deu 33:2), its nature (Deu 33:3), its intention and its goal (Deu 33:4, Deu 33:5).
Deu 33:2 “ Jehovah came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; He shone from the mountains of Paran, and came out of holy myriads, at His right rays of fire to them.” To set forth the glory of the covenant which God made with Israel, Moses depicts the majesty and glory in which the Lord appeared to the Israelites at Sinai, to give them the law, and become their king. The three clauses, “Jehovah came from Sinai…from Seir…from the mountains of Paran,” do not refer to different manifestations of God ( Knobel), but to the one appearance of God at Sinai. Like the sun when it rises, and fills the whole of the broad horizon with its beams, the glory of the Lord, when He appeared, was not confined to one single point, but shone upon the people of Israel from Sinai, and Seir, and the mountains of Paran, as they came from the west to Sinai. The Lord appeared to the people from the summit of Sinai, as they lay encamped at the foot of the mountain. This appearance rose like a streaming light from Seir, and shone at the same time from the mountains of Paran. Seir is the mountain land of the Edomites to the east of Sinai; and the mountains of Paran are in all probability not the mountains of et-Tih, which form the southern boundary of the desert of Paran, but rather the mountains of the Azazimeh, which ascend to a great height above Kadesh, and form the boundary wall of Canaan towards the south. The glory of the Lord, who appeared upon Sinai, sent its beams even to the eastern and northern extremities of the desert. This manifestation of God formed the basis for all subsequent manifestations of the omnipotence and grace of the Lord for the salvation of His people. This explains the allusions to the description before us in the song of Deborah (Jdg 5:4) and in Hab 3:3. – The Lord came not only from Sinai, but from heaven, “out of holy myriads,” i.e., out of the midst of the thousands of holy angels who surround His throne ( 1Ki 22:19; Job 1:6; Dan 7:10), and who are introduced in Gen 28:12 as His holy servants, and in Gen 32:2-3, as the hosts of God, and form the assembly of holy ones around His throne (Psa 89:6, Psa 89:8; cf. Psa 68:18; Zec 14:5; Mat 26:53; Heb 12:22; Rev 5:11; Rev 7:11). – The last clause is a difficult one. The writing in two words, “fire of the law,” not only fails to give a suitable sense, but has against it the fact that , law, edictum , is not even a Semitic word, but was adopted from the Persian into the Chaldee, and that it is only by Gentiles that it is ever applied to the law of God (Ezr 7:12, Ezr 7:21, Ezr 7:25-26; Dan 6:6). It must be read as one word, , as it is in many MSS and editions – not, however, as connected with , , the pouring out of the brooks, slopes of the mountains (Num 21:15), but in the form , composed, according to the probable conjecture of Bttcher, of , fire, and (in the Chaldee and Syriac), to throw, to shoot arrows, in the sense of “fire of throwing,” shooting fire, a figurative description of the flashes of lightning. Gesenius adopts this explanation, except that he derives from , to throw. It is favoured by the fact that, according to Exo 19:16, the appearance of God upon Sinai was accompanied by thunder and lightning; and flashes of lightning are often called the arrows of God, whilst shaadaah, in Hebrew, is established by the name ( Num 1:5; Num 2:10). To this we may add the parallel passage, Hab 3:4, “rays out of His hand,” which renders this explanation a very probable one. By “them,” in the second and fifth clauses, the Israelites are intended, to whom this fearful theophany referred. On the signification of the manifestation of God in fire, see Deu 4:11, and the exposition of Exo 3:2.
Deu 33:3 “ Yea, nations He loves; all His holy ones are in Thy hand: and they lie down at Thy feet; they rise up at Thy words.” is the subject placed first absolutely: “nations loving,” sc., is he; or “as loving nations – all Thy holy ones are in Thy hand.” The nations or peoples are not the tribes of Israel here, any more than in Deu 32:8, or Gen 28:3; Gen 35:11, and Gen 48:4; whilst Jdg 5:14 and Hos 10:14 cannot come into consideration at all, for there the word is defined by a suffix. The meaning of the words depends upon whether “all His holy ones” are the godly in Israel, or the Israelites generally, or the angels. There is nothing to favour the first explanation, as the distinction between the godly and the wicked would be out of place in the introduction to a blessing upon all the tribes. The second has only as seeming support in Dan 7:21. and Exo 19:6. It does not follow at once from the calling of Israel to be the holy nation of Jehovah, that all the Israelites were or could be called “holy ones of the Lord.” Least of all should Num 16:3 be adduced in support of this. Even in Dan 7 the holy ones of the Most High are not the Jews generally, but simply the godly, or believers, in the nation of God. The third view, on the other hand, is a perfectly natural one, on account of the previous reference to the holy myriads. The meaning, therefore, would be this: The Lord embraces all nations with His love, He who, so to speak, has all His holy angels in His hand, i.e., His power, so that they serve Him as their Lord. They lie down at His feet. The . . is explained by Kimchi and Saad. as signifying adjuncti sequuntur vestigia sua; and by the Syriac, They follow thy foot, from conjecture rather than any certain etymology. The derivation proposed by modern linguists, from the verb , according to an Arabic word signifying recubuit , innixus est , has apparently more to support it. , it rises up: intransitive, as in Hab 1:3; Nah 1:5; Hos 13:1, and Psa 89:10. is not a Hithpael participle (that which is spoken); for has not a passive, but an active signification, to converse (Num 7:89; Eze 2:2, etc.). It is rather a noun, , from , words, utterances. The singular, , is distributive: every one (of them) rises on account of thine utterance, i.e., at thy words. The suffixes relate to God, and the discourse passes from the third to the second person. In our own language, such a change in a sentence like this, “all His (God’s) holy ones are in Thy (God’s) hand,” would be intolerably harsh, but in Hebrew poetry it is by no means rare (see, for example, Psa 49:19).
Deu 33:4-5 “ Moses appointed us a law, a possession of the congregation of Jacob. And He became King in righteous-nation (Jeshurun); there the heads of the people assembled, in crowds the tribes of Israel.” The God who met Israel at Sinai in terrible majesty, out of the myriads of holy angels, who embraces all nations in love, and has all the holy angels in His power, so that they lie at His feet and rise up at His word, gave the law through Moses to the congregation of Jacob as a precious possession, and became King in Israel. This was the object of the glorious manifestation of His holy majesty upon Sinai. Instead of saying, “He gave the law to the tribes of Israel through my mediation,” Moses personates the listening nation, and not only speaks of himself in the third person, but does so by identifying his own person with the nation, because he wished the people to repeat his words from thorough conviction, and because the law which he gave in the name of the Lord was given to himself as well, and was as binding upon him as upon every other member of the congregation. In a similar manner the prophet Habakkuk identifies himself with the nation in ch. 3, and says in Hab 3:19, out of the heart of the nation, “The Lord is my strength,…who maketh me to walk upon mine high places,” – an expression which did not apply to himself, but to the nation as a whole. So again in Psa 20:1-9 and Psa 21:1-13, which David composed as the prayers of the nation for its king, he not only speaks of himself as the anointed of the Lord, but addresses such prayers to the Lord for himself as could only be offered by the nation for its king. “A possession for the congregation of Jacob.” “Israel was distinguished above all other nations by the possession of the divinely revealed law (Deu 4:5-8); that was its most glorious possession, and therefore is called its true ” ( Knobel). The subject in Deu 33:5 is not Moses but Jehovah, who became King in Jeshurun (see at Deu 32:15 and Exo 15:18). “Were gathered together;” this refers to the assembling of the nation around Sinai (Deu 4:10.; cf. Exo 19:17.), to the day of assembly (Deu 9:10; Deu 10:4; Deu 18:16).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
2 And he said, The Lord came from, Sinai. (305) In these words he reminds them that he is setting before them, a confirmation of the covenant, which God had made with them in this Law, and that it is nothing different from it; for this connection was of exceeding efficacy in establishing the certainty of the blessings, provided only the Law was duly honored; for nothing was better adapted to confirm the grace of God than the majesty which was displayed in the promulgation of the Law. Some, as I conceive improperly, translate it, — “God comes to Sinai,” whereas Moses rather means that he came from thence, when His brightness was made manifest. By way of ornament, the same thing is repeated with respect to Seir and Paran; and, since these three words are synonymous, therefore to go forth, to rise up, and to come, also represent the same thing, viz., that manifestation of the divine glory which should have ravished into admiration the minds of all; as though he had said that his blessings were to be received with the same reverence, as that which God had procured for His Law, when His face was conspicuously displayed on Mount Sinai. The Prophet Habakkuk (Hab 3:3) has imitated this figure, though with a different object, viz., that, the people might confidently rely upon his power, which had formerly been manifested to the fathers in visible brightness.
By “ten thousands of sanctity,” (306) I do not understand, as many do, the faithful, but the angels, by whom God was accompanied as by a royal retinue; for God also commanded the ark to be placed between the Cherubim, in order to show that the heavenly hosts were around Him. So in Isaiah, (Isa 6:6,) the Seraphim surround His throne; and Daniel says that he saw “ten thousand times ten thousand,” (Dan 7:10😉 thus designating an infinite multitude, as does Moses also by “ten thousand.” It is probable that both Paul and Stephen derived from this passage their statement that the Law was “ordained by Angels in the hand of a mediator,” (Gal 3:19; Act 7:53😉 for its authority was greatly confirmed by its having so many witnesses (obsignatores.)
The Law is placed at His right hand, not only as a scepter or mark of dignity, but as His power or rule of government; for He did not merely show Himself as a king, but also made known how He would preside over them. (307) The Law is called fiery, in order to inspire terror and to enforce humility upon them all; although I am not adverse to the opinion that Moses alludes in this epithet to the outward signs of fire and flame, of which he spoke in Exo 20:0. But, since the word דת, dath, means any statute or edict, some restrict it to the prohibition that none should more closely approach the mountain. In my own mind, however, there is no doubt but that it designates all the doctrine whereby God’s dominion is maintained.
(305) Lat., “ Went from Sinai.”
(306) A. V. ,” Ten thousands of saints. Ainsworth: “Heb., of sanctity; meaning, spirits of sanctity; which Jonathan in his Thargum expoundeth holy angels: — so we by grace in Christ are come to ten thousands of angels. Heb 12:22.”
(307) “Comme il vouloit presider, et estre honore de son peuple;” how He would preside, and be honored by this people. — Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(2)
And he said, Jehovah came from Sinai,
And dawned upon them from Seir;
He shone forth from mount Paran.
And there came from the ten thousands of holiness,
From His right hand, a fire of law [10] for them.
[10] On this expression see an additional note at the end of the book.
The appearance of God on Sinai is described as a sunrise. His light rose from Sinai, and the tops of the hills of Seir caught its rays. The full blaze of light shone on Paran. (Comp. Psa. 1:2 : Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.) He came with ten thousands of saints is a mere mistranslation. The preposition is from, not with. If the verb he came, in the fourth line, is taken to refer to God, we must translate: He came from ten thousands of saints (to sinful men). Rashi takes from to mean part of. There came some of His ten thousands of saints, but not all of them. I believe the true translation is what I have given. The law itself was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator (Gal. 3:19). It is called the word spoken by angels in Heb. 2:2. The language of Dan. 7:10A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him: thousand thousands ministered unto Himsupplies a complete parallel. The fiery law came from the ten thousands on His right hand; or from them, and from His right hand. This construction is by far the most simple, and agrees with what we read elsewhere.
ADDITIONAL NOTE ON Deu. 33:2. A FIERY LAW.
THE original expression, eshdath or esh dath, sometimes written as one word, and sometimes as two, has created some difficulty. Esh is fire, and dath, if taken as a distinct word, is law. But dath does not appear elsewhere in the Hebrew of the Old Testament, until we meet it in the book of Esther, where it occurs frequently. It is also found in Ezr. 8:36. In the Chaldee of Daniel and Ezra it occurs six times. Modern authorities assert that it is properly a Persian word. But since it is found in the Chaldee of Daniel, it was in use among the Chaldans before the Persian empire. The word has Semitic affinities. The Hebrewsyllable thth would have nearly the same meaning. A datum (or dictum) is the nearest equivalent that we have. There seems no reason to doubt that the word dath had obtained a place both in Chaldee and in Hebrew at the time of the Captivity. It is perfectly possible that its existence in Chaldee dates very much earlier. We must remember that Chaldee was the language of the family of Abraham before they adopted Hebrew. A Syrian ready to perish was my father, is the confession dictated by Moses in Deu. 26:5. Syriac and Chaldee in the Old Testament are names of the same language. In the Babylonish captivity the Jews really returned to their ancestral language. It is therefore quite conceivable that Chaldan words lingered among them until the Exodus; and this word dath, if it be a true Chaldan word, may be an example. But, obviously, these Chaldan reminiscences would be fewer as the years rolled on. The three Targums all take dath to be law in this place. The LXX. has angels (), instead of the combination eshdath. Possibly the word was taken as ashdoth (plural of the Chaldee ashda), meaning rays (of light?) and so angels. Comp., He maketh His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire; they ran and returned as a flash of lightning (Psa. 104:4; Eze. 1:14). It is also possible that the LXX. read r instead of d in the word which they had before them, and that they arrived at the meaning angels through the Hebrew word shrath, to minister. The confusion between r and d, which are extremely alike in Hebrew, is very common. The parallels referred to in the notes on the verse show that fiery law will yield a good sense. The only question is whether dath, law, can be reasonably supposed to have occurred in the Mosaic writings. If the word were at all generally known at that period, to whatever language it properly belonged, it would hardly have escaped such a man as Moses. I think it quite possible that the common translation may be right. The Hebrew commentators accept it. The only alternative I can suggest is that of the LXX., which cannot be verified with certainty.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from Mount Paran These expressions do not refer to different appearances of Jehovah, but to that signal manifestation of himself at the giving of the law. The language is highly poetical. It is as though Moses saw the glory of Jehovah shine forth from the lofty heights of Sinai to the heights of Edom on the east and to the mountains of Paran, which form the boundary of the desert, on the north. “The glory of the Lord who appeared upon Sinai sent its beams even to the eastern and northern extremities of the desert.” Keil. Comp. Jdg 5:4-5, and Hab 3:3.
And he came with ten thousands of saints Literally, from myriads of holiness. The expression is meant to describe Jehovah leaving his heavenly abode, where he dwells surrounded by holy ones, and coming down to announce the law to his people.
From his right hand went a fiery law for them Our English version here follows the Vulgate. As the Hebrew reads, the literal rendering would be fire of law, a fire which was a law for them. Gesenius thinks it would be better referred to the pillar of fire, (Exo 13:21,) which was as a law to direct them, than to the lightnings which Jehovah employs for his servants. Some Hebrew manuscripts write as one word. If this reading should be accepted it might be rendered so as to refer to flashes of lightning. Comp. Hab 3:4.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Deu 33:2-3 a
‘And he said,
Yahweh came from Sinai,
And rose from Seir to them;
He shone forth from mount Paran,
And he came from the ten thousands of holiness (quodesh),
At his right hand was a fiery law for them.
Yes, he loves the peoples;’
This is a vivid description of Yahweh in His glory coming to His people on Mount Sinai. Seir is Edom in which Mount Sinai is found, Paran the rough area in which it is, so that it, or a related mountain, could be called Mount Paran (compare Hab 3:3). The writer is looking back to that glorious day and giving rough directions of its whereabouts which will have been known to the people. These areas were not strictly defined. There were no maps that showed their boundaries, and place names for the same sites were many and varied as used by different peoples. But all knew that Seir and Paran referred to the wilderness to the South.
He came to His people from the multitudes of angels who formed His court, ‘ten thousands of holiness’, an indefinitely large number. And at His right hand He had a law written in fire, a heavenly Law, the law of the One Who appeared in fire, Who was like a flaming fire. And He came because of His love for His people, who were at that stage ‘peoples’ including a mixed multitude from many nations (Exo 12:38).
For a similar description of Yahweh’s coming from Mount Seir see Jdg 5:4-5; compare also Psa 68:7-8; Hab 3:3-7.
Deu 33:3 b
“All his holy ones are in your hand,
And they sat down at your feet;
Every one shall receive of your words.”
Here the ‘holy ones’ may well in this case represent His people, which He had previously called ‘a holy nation’ (Exo 19:6), who are also the holy servants of Yahweh. The change from ‘His’ to ‘your’ suggests that it is spoken to Moses. Thus Yahweh’s holy people are described as in Moses’ hand and sitting at His feet. He is their supreme authority and teacher. They would all receive his words, the words of that fiery Law that he had received from Yahweh. Moses was establishing his authority as the giver of the blessing to generations yet unborn.
Others see this as referring to the angels receiving Yahweh’s words that they might pass them on to Moses. For the Law was conveyed to him ordained of angels at the hand of a mediator (Act 7:53; Gal 3:19). ‘All His holy ones’ would then be a technical term for His angelic hosts. And the second person verbs would then be seen as addressed to either Yahweh or Moses depending on viewpoint.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Ver. 2. The Lord came from Sinai Moses endeavours, in the first place, to make the Israelites sensible of that most signal benefit which God had bestowed upon them, in assuming them to be his peculiar people: as if he had said, “Israel is the favourite nation to whom God was pleased, with most awful solemnity, to declare his laws, and take them into special covenant with himself at mount Sinai;” which mountain, as it was celebrated for the most awful display of the Divine Majesty, and for the grand covenant there made, has here the first place. As fire was a symbol of the Divine Presence, its moving from one place to another before the Israelites in their journies, is obliquely compared to the sun’s rising: he rose up; he shined forth. Seir and Paran, and the other places mentioned in Hab 3:3 either denote some of the principal encampments of the Israelites in the wilderness; or if, as many learned men think, they are only different parts of the same ridge of mountains as Sinai, they may be considered only as an amplification of what went before. Houbigant, whom Durell follows, reads unto us, instead of unto them. The change of persons, concerning which we spoke in the preceding chapters, is very frequent in this prophetic ode.
He came with ten thousands of saints, &c. Houbigant renders this, He came with ten thousands of his saints, who are at his right hand, and minister unto him. Durell renders it,
The Holy One came with multitudes; From his right hand issued streams unto them:
That is, says he, streams of light; God having been represented before as rising like the sun, then shining forth, and now issuing thunderings and lightnings from his right hand, as was the case at the delivery of the law. For his critical explanation of the Hebrew word, we refer to his note; which word, thus explained, he observes, will make this law answer exactly to part of the 4th verse of the song of Habakkuk above-mentioned. There were rays of light (diverging from a point, not unlike a horn) issuing out of his hand. According to the common interpretation of the passage, the sacred writer refers to the ministering angels who attended at the giving of the law, therefore called fiery, because it was given out of the midst of the appearance of fire. See the passages in the Margin of our Bibles, and Exo 16:18. Deu 4:12; Deu 5:22; Deu 5:33.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Moses begins his blessing, with looking first at him that blesseth. What begins in GOD, will end in GOD. Mount Seir, and Mount Paran, were two mountains some little distance from Mount Sinai. And it is probable, that when the LORD came down upon Mount Sinai, the reflection of the glory shined upon those two mountains. The first giving of the law was accompanied with splendor, and the retinue of angels: for the law is said to be given by the disposition of angels. Act 7:53 ; Gal 3:19 ; Heb 2:2 . The second revelation of the fulfilled law by the Son of GOD, when he shall come again without sin unto salvation, it is said, will be accompanied with angels. Jud 1:14-15 . The law is called a fiery law, because, it was given out of the midst of the fire of Mount Sinai. Deu 4:33 . And is it not equally a fiery law now, under the gospel, when it is brought home to the sinner’s heart, in a way of conviction, by the Spirit of judgment, and the Spirit of burning. Compare, Isa 4:4 with Joh 16:8 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Deu 33:2 And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand [went] a fiery law for them.
Ver. 2. Went a fiery law for them. ] This fire wherein the law was given, and shall be required, is still in it, and will never out; hence are those terrors which it flasheth in every conscience that hath felt remorse of sin. Every man’s heart is a Sinai, and resembles to him both heaven and hell. “The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.” 1Co 15:56
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The LORD = Jehovah. App-4.
came. Hebrew. bo’, to come, or enter on business. Compare Hab 3:3.
rose up. Hebrew zarah, to break forth as light.
shined forth. Hebrew. yaph’a, to shine forth in glory.
came. Hebrew. ‘athah, to come with speed. Compare maran-athah = the LORD cometh, 1Co 16:22.
saints = holy ones, i.e. angels. Compare Psa 68:17. Act 7:53. Gal 1:3, Gal 1:19. Hab 2:2. Jud 1:14 And see note on Exo 3:5.
law. Hebrew. dath, an edict, or mandate. Imperial mandate.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
came from Sinai: Exo 19:18-20, Jdg 5:4, Jdg 5:5, Hab 3:3
ten thousands: Psa 68:7, Psa 68:17, Dan 7:9, Act 7:53, Gal 3:19, 2Th 1:7, Heb 2:2, Jud 1:14, Rev 5:11
a fiery law: Heb. a fire of law, Deu 5:22, 2Co 3:7, 2Co 3:9, Gal 3:10, Heb 12:20
Reciprocal: Exo 19:6 – a kingdom Exo 19:11 – the Lord Num 10:12 – the wilderness Deu 1:1 – Paran Deu 5:25 – this great Deu 11:29 – General Jos 11:17 – that goeth 1Ki 11:18 – Paran Neh 9:13 – camest Job 5:1 – the saints Psa 50:2 – God Psa 50:5 – my saints Psa 80:1 – shine Psa 89:5 – in the congregation Psa 147:19 – showeth Isa 30:27 – burning Isa 33:22 – lawgiver Dan 4:13 – an holy Dan 7:10 – thousand thousands Dan 8:13 – one saint Zec 14:5 – and all Mar 8:38 – when Gal 4:25 – Sinai Eph 3:18 – with 1Th 3:13 – with 2Th 1:9 – the glory Heb 12:22 – an innumerable
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Deu 33:2. The Lord came Namely, to the Israelites; manifested himself graciously and gloriously among them. He begins with this, that he may, in the first place, make them sensible of that most signal blessing which God had bestowed upon them, in choosing them to be his peculiar people. From Sinai Beginning at Sinai, where the first appearance of God was. And rose up from Seir unto them, &c. The plain meaning of the word is, that the same divine presence which was manifested to them on mount Sinai, accompanied them through all their journeys and encampments, especially about mount Seir and Paran, the principal places of their abode, till they came to the plains of Moab, where they were now encamped. Rose up from Seir Namely, when, upon the removal of the cloud of glory, they marched from the neighbourhood of Idumea, in which is mount Seir. The original word signifies that his presence rose upon them like the sun from the mount, (Mal 4:2,) and spread abroad his beams upon them from Paran, namely, when they encamped below that mount, whither they came from the wilderness of Sinai, Num 10:12; Num 13:1-3. Here God eminently manifested his presence and goodness, both in giving the people flesh, which they desired, and in appointing the seventy elders, and pouring forth his Spirit upon them. He came with ten thousands of his saints Or holy ones, that is, angels, who attended him at the giving of the law, Psa 68:17; see also Act 7:53; Gal 3:19, and Heb 2:2. From his right hand An allusion to the manner of men, who ordinarily both write and give gifts with their right hands. Thus God both wrote and gave the law. A fiery law The law is termed fiery, because, like fire, it is of a searching, purging, and enflaming nature; because it inflicts fiery wrath on sinners for the violation of it, and principally, because it was delivered out of the midst of fire.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
33:2 And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten {b} thousands of saints: from his right hand [went] a fiery law for them.
(b) Meaning, infinite angels.