Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 33:3
Yea, he loved the people; all his saints [are] in thy hand: and they sat down at thy feet; [every one] shall receive of thy words.
3. he loveth ] Heb. partic. obeb, only here; the meaning is assured from other Semitic dialects.
the peoples ] If the Heb. is accepted render tribes. But LXX has his people.
his saints ] Not in an ethical sense, but as hallowed, or set apart, to Him; either all Israel or more probably their specially consecrated warriors; see Deu 2:34, Deu 20:2 ff., and cp. the other form of the same root, m e uddashaw for warriors in Isa 13:3.
thy hand ] So Sam. LXX; Luc. his hands, Vulg. his hand; Pesh. he blesses.
The text of the next couplet is uncertain; they sat down is a doubtful conjecture from the Ar. of the meaning of the Heb. verb otherwise unknown. But warriors do not sit. The LXX these are under thee and Sam. they humble, or submit, themselves suggest they fall in (in their ranks) which suits the following at thy feet, i.e. behind thee; cp. Jdg 5:15 rushed forth at his feet, 1Sa 25:42; shall receive, Heb. imperf. better rendered as a present take up. Ball conjectures, they went at his feet, they travelled in his ways, and Berth. he sustains thy lot and keeps his covenant with thee, both ingenious but unsupported by textual evidence, and the former tame.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
3 6 ( 4 7). Nor shall Ammonites, nor Moabites, nor their Descendants Enter the Congregation (3), for these nations gave no provision to Israel on the way from Egypt (4 a), but he (?) hired Balaam to curse Israel (4 b, 5); Israel must never seek their welfare (6). Deu 33:3 is quoted in Lam 1:10: evidence in favour, but not conclusive, of its being an original part of D’s code. The originality of Deu 33:4-6 is more doubtful.
They make the law longer than the others of this group, cp. the deuteronomic additions to the ‘Ten Words.’ Deu 33:3 is sufficiently accounted for, through its connection with the previous law, by the incestuous origin of Ammon and Moab (J, Gen 19:30-38); but Deu 33:4-6 besides being quotations (see below) give other reasons for the law. The question is further complicated by the introduction of Balaam, not mentioned in chs. 1 3, and the difference between Deu 33:4 a and Deu 2:29. But whether Deu 33:3 is an earlier law to which D or editors have added (at different times) the two quotations, Deu 33:4-6; or whether Deu 33:3 is D’s own law, to which editors have added the rest it is impossible to say. On Ammon and Moab see ch. 2.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The people are the twelve tribes, not the Gentiles; and his saints refer to Gods chosen people just before spoken of. Compare Deu 7:18, Deu 7:21; Exo 19:6; Dan 7:8-21.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 3. Yea, he loved the people] This is the inference which Moses makes from those glorious appearances, that God truly loved the people; and that all his saints, kedoshaiv, the people whom he had consecrated to himself, were under his especial benediction; and that in order to make them a holy nation, God had displayed his glory on Mount Sinai, where they had fallen prostrate at his feet with the humblest adoration, sincerely promising the most affectionate obedience; and that God had there commanded them a law which was to be the possession and inheritance of the children of Jacob, De 33:4. And to crown the whole, he had not only blessed them as their lawgiver, but had also vouchsafed to be their king, De 33:5.
Dr. Kennicott proposes to translate the whole five verses thus: –
— Verse 1. And this is the blessing wherewith Moses, the man of God, blessed the children of Israel before his death. And he said,
2. Jehovah came from SINAI,
And he arose upon them from SEIR;
He shone forth from Mount PARAN,
And he came from MERIBAH-KADESH:
From his right hand a fire shone forth upon them.
3. Truly, he loved the people,
And he blessed all his saints:
For they fell down at his feet,
And they received of his words.
4. He commanded us a law,
The inheritance of the congregation of Jacob.
5. And he became king in Jeshurun;
When the heads of the people were assembled,
Together with the tribes of Israel.
We have already seen that Dr. Kennicott reads Meribah-Kadesh, the name of a place, instead of meribeboth kodesh, which, by a most unnatural and forced construction, our version renders ten thousands of saints, a translation which no circumstance of the history justifies.
Instead of a fiery law, esh dath, he reads, following the Samaritan version, esh ur, a fire shining out upon them. In vindication of this change in the original, it may be observed,
1. That, though dath signifies a law, yet it is a Chaldee term, and appears nowhere in any part of the sacred writings previously to the Babylonish captivity: torah being the term constantly used to express the Law, at all times prior to the corruption of the Hebrew, by the Chaldee.
2. That the word itself is obscure in its present situation, as the Hebrew Bibles write it and esh in one word eshdath, which has no meaning; and which, in order to give it one, the Massorah directs should be read separate, though written connected.
3. That the word is not acknowledged by the two most ancient versions, the Septuagint and Syriac.
4. That in the parallel place, Hab 3:3-4, a word is used which expresses the rays of light, karnayim, horns, that is, splendours, rays, or effulgence of light.
5. That on all these accounts, together with the almost impossibility of giving a rational meaning to the text as it now stands, the translation contended for should be adopted.
Instead of All his saints are in his hand, Dr. Kennicott reads, He blessed all his saints – changing beyadecha, into barach, he blessed, which word, all who understand the Hebrew letters will see, might be easily mistaken for the other; the daleth and the resh being, not only in MSS., but also in printed books, often so much alike, that analogy alone can determine which is the true letter; and except in the insertion of the yod, which might have been easily mistaken for the apex at the top of the beth very frequent in MSS., both words have the nearest resemblance. To this may be added, that the Syriac authorizes this rendering.
Instead of leraglecha, and middabberotheycha, THY feet, and THY words, Dr. Kennicott reads the pronouns in the third person singular, leraglaiv and middabberothaiv, HIS feet, HIS words, in which he is supported both by the Septuagint and Vulgate. He also changes yissa, HE shall receive, into yisseu, THEY shall receive.
He contends also that Mosheh, Moses, in the fourth verse, was written by mistake for the following word morashah, inheritance; and when the scribe found he had inserted a wrong word, he added the proper one, and did not erase the first. The word Moses, he thinks, should therefore be left out of the text, as it is improbable that he should here introduce his own name; and that if the word be allowed to be legitimate, then the word king must apply to him, and not to GOD, which would be most absurd. See Kennicott’s first Dissertation, p. 422, &c.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The people, i.e. the tribes of Israel, which are called people, Gen 48:19; Jdg 5:14; Act 4:27. The sense is, This law, though delivered with fire, and smoke, and thunder, which might seem to portend nothing but hatred and terror, yet in truth it was given to Israel in great love, as being the great mean of their temporal and eternal salvation. And although God shows a general and common kindness to all men, yet he loved this people in a singular and peculiar manner.
All his saints; all Gods saints or holy ones, i.e. his people, as they are now called, the people of Israel, who are all called holy, Exo 19:6; Num 16:3; Deu 7:6; Dan 7:25; 8:24; 12:7, because they all professed to be so, and were obliged to be so, and many of them were such; though some appropriate this to the true saints in Israel.
Are in thy hand, or, were in thy hand, i.e. under Gods care, to protect, and direct, and govern them, as that phrase signifies, Num 4:28,33; Joh 10:28,29. These words are spoken to God; and for the change of persons, his and thy, that is most frequent in the Hebrew tongue. See Dan 9:4. This clause may further note Gods kindness to Israel in upholding and preserving them when the fiery law was delivered, which was done with so much dread and terror, that not only the people trembled and were ready to sink under it, Exo 20:18,19, but even Moses himself did exceedingly fear and quake, Heb 12:21. But in this fright God sustained both Moses and the people in or by his hand, whereby he in a manner hid and covered them, that no harm might come to them by this terrible apparition.
They sat down at thy feet, like scholars, to receive instructions and counsels from thee. He alludes either,
1. To the manner of disciples among the Jews, who used to sit at their masters feet, Luk 10:39; Act 22:3. See also Gen 49:10; 2Ki 4:38. But it is doubtful whether this custom was so ancient as Moses. Or,
2. To the place where the people waited when the law was delivered, which was at the foot of the mount.
Shall receive of thy words; the people, easily understood from the foregoing words, did or will receive or submit to thy instructions and commands. This may respect either,
1. The peoples promise when they heard the law, that they would hear and do all that was commanded, Deu 5:27. Or,
2. The peoples duty to do so.
3. The peoples privilege, that they were admitted to receive so great a privilege as the words and laws of God were.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Yea, he loved the people,…. The people of Israel, of which his giving the law to them in such a glorious manner was an instance, and was a distinguishing blessing which other nations were not favoured with, see De 4:6; how much more is the love of God shown to his spiritual Israel and special people, by giving them his Gospel, the precious truths, promises, and ordinances of it, and, above all, in giving them his Son to be the Redeemer and Saviour of them, as revealed therein! these he embraces in his arms and in his bosom, as the word here signifies; admitting them to great nearness and familiarity with him, to commune with Father, Son, and Spirit, to a participation of all the blessings of grace here, and to the enjoyment of glory hereafter:
all his saints [are] in thy hand; not the sons of Levi, who were round about the ark, as Aben Ezra interprets it; rather all the people of Israel, who were chosen to be an holy people to the Lord above all people, and who were the care of his providence, protected by his power, and guided with his right hand; and were in a wonderful manner kept and preserved by him, both at the time of the giving of the law, and in their passage through the wilderness; it is eminently true of the chosen people of God, who are given to Christ, and made his care and charge, as all such who are sanctified and set apart by God the Father are, they are preserved in Christ, Jude 1:1; and these are sanctified in and by Christ, and by the Spirit of Christ, and so may be truly called his saints; and they are in the hands of Christ, as dear to him as his right hand, highly valued by him, held in his right hand; they are in his possession, are his peculiar people, portion, and inheritance, they are at his dispose, under his guidance and direction; and are in his custody and under his protection, and where they are safe from every enemy, and can never be snatched, taken, or removed from thence; see Joh 10:28; here they are put by the Father, as an instance of his love to them, and care of them, though not without the consent and desire of the Son, and this was done in eternity, when they were chosen in him:
and they sat down at thy feet; which may respect the position of the Israelites at the bottom of Mount Sinai, while the law was giving, which may be said to be the feet of the Lord, he being on the top of the mount, see Ex 19:17; all the Targums interpret it of the feet of the cloud of glory, they pitching their tents where that rested, Nu 9:17; some think it an allusion to scholars sitting at the feet of their masters to receive instructions from them, see
Ac 22:3; so the disciples and followers of Christ sit at his feet, attending on his word and ordinances with calmness and serenity of mind, with much spiritual pleasure and delight, and where they continue and abide; and which may denote their modesty and humility, their subjection to his ordinances, and readiness to receive his doctrines, and their perseverance in them, see Mr 5:15; the word signifies, in the Arabic language, to sit down at a table e, and so the word is used in the Arabic version of Mt 8:11; and the ancient manner being reclining, the guests might be said to sit at the feet of each, especially at the feet of the master; so Christ sits at his table, and his people with him at his feet, So 1:12;
[everyone] shall receive of thy words; of the words of the law, as the Israelites, who heard them and promised obedience to them, Ex 24:7; and would hear and receive them again, Jos 8:34; and so Christ’s disciples, everyone of them that hath heard and learned of the Father, and comes to him, and believes in him, receives the words or doctrines given him by the Father, Joh 17:8; so as to understand them, approve of them, love them, believe them, and act according to them; these they receive into their hearts as well as into their heads, with all readiness, gladness, and meekness; even everyone of the persons before described or loved by the Lord, are in the hands of Christ and sitting at his feet.
e Hence , “a table”, with the Talmudists. T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 42. 1. Pesach. fol. 110. 2. Kiddushin, fol. 81. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
3. Yea, he loved the people. (308) If it be preferred to apply this to the Gentiles, the sentence must be thus resolved, “Although He loves all human beings, still His saints are honored with His peculiar favor, in that He watches over their safety;” but it is more correct to expound it as referring only to the children of Abraham, whom He calls “peoples,” because, on account of the multitude into which they had grown, in their several tribes, they might be reckoned as so many nations. And since the particle אף, aph, (309) signifies prolongation of time, like adhuc in Latin, the following sense will be very satisfactory, that, Although the descendants of Abraham were divided into various races, and might therefore seem to be no longer a single family, nevertheless God still continued to regard them all with affection, and their numbers and divisions did not prevent Him from accounting them to be a single body. The sum is, that God’s favor towards them was not extinguished, either by the progress of time, or the increase of the people; but that it was constantly extended to the race of Abraham, however far or widely it might be spread.
It must, however, be observed, that in proof of His love, it is presently added, that they were in the hand of God. Hence we infer that, from the time that God has embraced us with His favor, He is the sure guardian of our safety; whence also arises the firm assurance of eternal life. The change of person, from the third to the second, throws no obscurity on the meaning. Since many hypocrites were mixed up with the faithful — for the Church of God has always been like a threshing-floor (310) — Moses restricts this special grace of God to those who willingly submit themselves to Him, and with pious teachableness embrace this instruction, by which sign he distinguishes between the true children of God, and those spurious or degenerate ones, who falsely assume the name. Where my translation is, “They cleaved to thy feet,” others render the words, “They were struck at thy feet,” but in my judgment constrainedly. Others extract from it a useful piece of instruction, that “they were subdued by God’s chastisements, so as to render Him obedience;” but the metaphor is rather taken from disciples, who, according to the common usage of the Hebrew language, are said to sit at their master’s feet, in order to attend more diligently. And this is confirmed by the context, for the faithful are said to have attached themselves to God’s feet, that they might receive of this words, i.e., profit by His instruction.
(308) Lat., “the peoples.”
(309) A. V., “yea.”
(310) In the Fr. this expression is thus explained, — “ou les grains de ble sont cachez sous la paille;” where the grains of wheat are hidden beneath the straw.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(3) Yea, he loved.The connection appears to be this
From His right hand went a fire, a law for them (Israel).
Loving the peoples also;
(i.e., all who should hereafter become His people)
All His saints are in Thy hand:
(the hand of Him who spake on Sinai, and now speaketh from heaven)
And they are seated at Thy feet;
(the feet of the same heavenly Prophet. Comp. Mat. 5:1-2)
Every one shall receive of Thy words.
Or, possibly, He, that prophet, will take of thy (i.e., of Moses) words, We know he did so.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. Yea, he loved the people Keil’s explanation of this is, that Jehovah embraces all nations with his love. We think the reference is to Israel.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Ver. 3. Yea, he loved the people Durell, in agreement with Houbigant, after the Samaritan, renders this verse thus;
O loving Father of the people! All the saints are at thy hand; They shall fall down at thy feet; They shall receive of thy words.
All the saints seem to mean, the most righteous among the multitudes of the house of Israel, the people, mentioned in the line preceding. At thy hand may be either rendered so, or near thy hand: to indicate the waiting and constant readiness of good men to perform God’s commands; or it may be rendered, under thy hand; i.e. under thy care and protection. See Noldius, 6. & 30.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Sweet and beautiful expression, to denote GOD’S love and care of his people. They are within his grasp; they are held, and upheld by him. And tell me, my brother, if you and I are of his people, and in his hand, who, or what shall unclasp the arms of omnipotency? Rom 8:35 . Oh! precious, precious thought! LORD enable me to live more upon it.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Deu 33:3 Yea, he loved the people; all his saints [are] in thy hand: and they sat down at thy feet; [every one] shall receive of thy words.
Ver. 3. Yea, he loved the people. ] With a general love, with a common philanthropy. But the love of God in Christ is that we must all labour after; such a love as doth better for a man than restore him to sight, or raise him when bowed down. Psa 146:8
Are in thy hand.
And they sat down at thy feet.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Deuteronomy
GOD AND HIS SAINTS
Deu 33:3
The great ode of which these words are a part is called ‘the blessing wherewith Moses blessed the children of Israel before his death.’ It is mainly an invocation of blessing from Heaven on the various tribes, but it begins, as the national existence of Israel began, with the revelation of God on Sinai, and it lays that as the foundation of everything. It does not matter, for my purposes, in the smallest degree, who was the author of this great song. Whoever he was, he has, by dint of divine inspiration and of his own sympathy with the inmost spirit of the Old Covenant, anticipated the deepest things of Christian truth; and these are here in the words of our text.
I. The first thing that I would point out is the Divine Love which is the foundation of all.
Still further, the word is in a form in the Hebrew which implies that the act spoken about is neither past, present, nor future only, but continuous and perpetual. Thus it suggests to us the thought of timeless, eternal love, which has no beginning, and therefore has no end, which does not grow, and therefore will never decline nor decay, but which runs on upon one lofty level, with neither ups nor downs, and with no variation of the impulse which sends it forth; always the same, and always holding its objects in the fervent embrace of which the text speaks.
Further, mark the place in this great song where this thought comes in. As I said, it is laid as the beginning of everything. ‘We love Him because He first loved us’ was the height to which the last of the Apostles attained in the last of his writings. But this old singer, with the mists of antiquity around him, who knew nothing about the Cross, nothing about the historical 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 God’s love as the foundation of the very existence of a people who are His. Like an orchid growing on a block of dry wood and putting forth a gorgeous bloom, this singer, with so much less to feed his faith than we have, has yet borne this fair flower of deep and devout insight into the secret of things and the heart of God. ‘He loved the people’- therefore He formed them for Himself; therefore He brought them out of bondage; therefore He came down in flashing fire on Sinai and made known His will, which to know and do is life. All begins from the tender, timeless love of God.
And if the question is asked, Why does God thus love? the only answer is, Because he is God. ‘Not for your sakes, O house of Israel . . . but for Mine own name’s sake.’ The love of God is self-originated. In it, as in all His acts, He is His own motive, as His name, ‘I am that I am,’ proclaims. It is inseparable from His being, and flows forth before, and independent of, anything in the creature which could draw it out. Men’s love is attracted by their perception or their imagination of something loveable in its objects. It is like a well, where there has to be much work of the pump-handle before the gush comes. God’s love is like an artesian well, or a fountain springing up from unknown depths in obedience to its own impulse. All that we can say is, ‘Thou art God. It is Thy nature and property to be merciful.’
‘God loved the people.’ The bed-rock is the spontaneous, unalterable, inexhaustible, ever-active, fervent love of God, like that with which a mother clasps her child to her maternal breast. The fair flower of this great thought was a product of Judaism. Let no man say that the God of Love is unknown to the Old Testament.
II. Notice how, with this for a basis, we have next the guardian care extended to all those that answer love by love.
Now, brethren, here is a question for each of us: Do I yield to that timeless, tender clasp of the divine Father and Mother in one? Do I answer it by my love? If I do, then I am a ‘saint,’ because I belong to Him, and He belongs to me, and in that commerce I have broken with the world. If we are true to ourselves, and true to our Lord, and true to the relation between us, the purity of character, which is popularly supposed to be the meaning of holiness , will come. Not without effort, not without set-backs, not without slow advance, but it will come; for he that is consecrated to the Lord is ‘separated’ from iniquity. Such is the meaning of ‘saint.’
‘All His saints are in Thy hand.’ The first metaphor of our text spoke of God’s bosom, to which He drew the people and folded them there. This one speaks of His ‘hand.’ They lie in it. That means two things. It means absolute security, for will He not close His fingers over His palm to keep the soul that has laid itself there? And ‘none shall pluck them out of My Father’s hand.’ No one but yourself can do that. And you can do it, if you cease to respond to His love, and so cease to be a saint. Then you will fall out of His hand, and how far you will fall God only knows.
Being in God’s hand means also submission. Loyola said to his black army, ‘Be like a stick in a man’s hand.’ That meant utter submission and abnegation of self, the willingness to be put anywhere, and used anyhow, and done anything with. And if I by my reception of, and response to, that timeless love, am a saint belonging to God, then not only shall I be secure, but I must be submissive. ‘All His saints are in Thy hand.’ Do not try to get out of it; be content to let it guide you as the steersman’s hand turns the spokes of the wheel and directs the ship.
Now, there is a last thought here. I have spoken of the foundation of all as being divine love, of the security and guardian care of the saints, and there follows one thought more:-
III. The docile obedience of those that are thus guarded.
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 own faculties of judgment and common-sense, if only we will keep near to Him. ‘Be ye not as the horse or as the mule, which have no understanding, whose mouths must be held in with bit and with bridle, else they will not come near to thee,’ but walk close behind Him, and then the promise will be fulfilled: ‘I will guide thee with Mine eye.’ A glance tells two people who are in sympathy what each wishes, and Jesus Christ will speak to us, if we keep close at His heels.
They that follow Him will ‘receive His words’ in another sense. They will take them in, and His words will not be wasted. And they will receive them in yet another sense. They will carry them out and do them, and His words will not be in vain.
So, dear brethren, the peace, the strength, the blessedness, the goodness, of our lives flow from these three stages, which this singer so long ago had found to be the essence of everything, recognition of the timeless tenderness of God, the yielding to and answering that love, so that it separates us for Himself, the calm security and happy submission which follow thereon, the imitation of Him in daily life, and the walking in His steps, which is rewarded and made more perfect by hearing more distinctly the whisper of His loving, commanding voice.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
loved. Hebrew “loveth”. Chabab, used only here, and only of Jehovah’s love to Israel.
hand . . . feet. Figure of speech Anthropopatheia. App-6.
they sat down. Figure of speech Synecdoche (of Part). App-6. Put for teaching thus received.
shall receive = bore, or carried away.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
he loved: Deu 7:7, Deu 7:8, Exo 19:5, Exo 19:6, Psa 47:4, Psa 147:19, Psa 147:20, Jer 31:3, Hos 11:1, Mal 1:2, Rom 9:11-13, Eph 2:4, Eph 2:5, 1Jo 4:19
all his saints: Deu 7:6, 1Sa 2:9, Psa 31:15, Psa 50:5, Jer 32:40, Joh 10:28, Joh 10:29, Joh 17:11-15, Rom 8:35-39, Col 3:3, Col 3:4, 1Pe 1:5
they sat: Luk 2:46, Luk 8:35, Luk 10:39, Act 22:3
shall receive: Pro 2:1, 1Th 1:6
Reciprocal: Deu 23:5 – because the 2Ki 2:3 – thy master Job 5:1 – the saints Psa 12:7 – thou shalt Psa 31:23 – for the Psa 60:5 – That Psa 146:8 – loveth Pro 2:8 – and Ecc 9:1 – that the Eph 3:18 – with
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE PROTECTING HAND
All His saints are in Thy hand.
Deu 33:3
The text shows us how elaborately God lays out His whole being as altogether engaged for His own people,first His heart; then His hand; then His feet; then His lips. Yea, He loved the people; all His saints are in Thy hand: and they sat down at Thy feet; every one shall receive of Thy words.
I. A saint means three things.He is (a) a being whom God has set apart for Himself. In this sense David said: I am holy. In this sense the whole Church are saints. (b) A saint is a person in whom sanctification is going on. Every one in whom the Holy Ghost is acting at this moment is a saint. Those who are perfected in holiness are saints indeed.
II. Saints are in Gods hands: (1) as property; (2) in order that He may deal with them as He sees fit; (3) in order that He may hold them up; (4) in order that He may keep them always near Him.
III. And they sat down at Thy feet.The passage combines the two ideas of rest and teaching.
Rev. Jas. Vaughan.
Illustration
(1) The Divine discipline of life is designed to awaken man to the development of his own powers. The instinct of the eagle in breaking up her nest is to arouse the native energies of her young. The power of flight is in them, but unknown, because it has never been called into play; it is a slumbering faculty, and must be awakened into action. Mans soul is formed into Gods image by the right action of his spiritual powers, and these powers are only awakened by the activity of God. (1) The great purpose of all spiritual discipline is to render men Divine. By the very constitution of the soul, the Godlike image must be formed by awakening the energies that lie slumbering within. The soul contains in itself the germinal forces of the life it may possess in the future ages. (2) The image of the text suggests the methods of Divine action: the stimulating and the exemplary. The eagle breaks up her nest, and is not the voice of lifes experiences Gods summons to man to rise and live to Him? God sends a shock of change through our circumstances.
(2) This song presents Gods dealings with Israel from first to last, as well as their sin and the Divine wrath and judgment which follow. See how it maps out their history, as Moses had already told it them in chapter 28. First, Gods goodness is set forth (vv. 714); then, their idolatrous wickedness (vv. 1518); next, their punishment (vv. 1925); Gods reasons for not utterly destroying them (vv. 2634); and their redemption at last (vv. 3543).
(3) Notice (1) The Divine Love which is the foundation of all security. (2) The guardian care which is extended to all who answer love by love. (3) The docile obedience of those that are thus guarded.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Deu 33:3. He loved the people The tribes of Israel. The sense is, this law, though delivered with fire, and smoke, and thunder, which might seem to portend nothing but hatred and terror, yet in truth was given to Israel in great love, as being the great mean of their temporal and eternal salvation. Yea, he embraced the people, and laid them in his bosom! So the word signifies, which speaks not only the dearest love, but the most tender and careful protection. All Gods saints or holy ones, that is, his people, were in thy hand, that is, under Gods care, to protect, direct, and govern them. These words are spoken to God; the change of persons, his and thy, is most frequent in the Hebrew tongue. This clause may further signify Gods kindness to Israel, in upholding them when the fiery law was delivered, which was done with so much terror that not only the people were ready to sink under it, but even Moses did exceedingly fear and quake. But God sustained both Moses and the people, in or by his hand, whereby he, in a manner, covered them, that no harm might come to them. At thy feet Like scholars, to receive instructions. He alludes to the place where the people waited when the law was delivered, which was at the foot of the mount. Every one Of the people will receive or submit to thy instructions and commands. This may respect either the peoples promise when they heard the law, that they would hear and do all that was commanded; or, their duty to do so.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
33:3 Yea, he loved the people; {c} all his saints [are] in thy hand: and they sat down at {d} thy feet; [every one] shall receive of thy words.
(c) Hebrew, his saints, that is, the children of Israel.
(d) As thy disciples.