Deuteronomy 33:3

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

And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount

The people, i.e. the tribes of Israel, which are called people, . 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 God’ s saints or holy ones, i.e. his people, as they are now called, the people of Israel, who are all called holy, 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 God’ s care, to protect, and direct, and govern them, as that phrase signifies, ,3,29. These words are spoken to God; and for the change of persons, his and thy, that is most frequent in the Hebrew tongue. See . This clause may further note God’ s 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, ,19, but even Moses himself did exceedingly fear and quake, . 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, . See also . 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 people’ s promise when they heard the law, that they would hear and do all that was commanded, . Or, 2. The people’ s duty to do so. 3. The people’ s privilege, that they were admitted to receive so great a privilege as the words and laws of God were.

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.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. Are in thy hand.] And so in a safe hand. And they sat down at thy feet.] As attentive and tractable disciples. See Acts 22:3 Luke 10:39 2 Kings 2:5. "Knowest thou not that the Lord will take thy master from thy head?" A phrase taken from their manner of sitting at the feet of their teachers.

(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. Matthew 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.

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, קדשיו 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, Deuteronomy 33:4. And to crown the whole, he had not only blessed them as their lawgiver, but had also vouchsafed to be their king, Deuteronomy 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 מריבה קדש Meribah-Kadesh, the name of a place, instead of מרבבת קדש 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, אש דת esh dath, he reads, following the Samaritan version, אש אור esh ur, a fire shining out upon them. In vindication of this change in the original, it may be observed, 1. That, though דת 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: תורה 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, Habakkuk 3:3-4, a word is used which expresses the rays of light, קרנים karnayim, horns, that is, splendours, rays, or effulgence of light. 5.

(2–9). Four Laws: Of Right to Enter the Congregation There shall not enter any eunuch (Deuteronomy 33:1); nor the son of an unlawful marriage, nor descendants (Deuteronomy 33:2); nor Ammonite, nor Moabite, nor descendants (Deuteronomy 33:3-6); but the third generation of Edomite or Egyptian may enter (Deuteronomy 33:7 f.).—These laws have negative openings like the preceding and like the series which follow in Deuteronomy 33:15-20 (Deuteronomy 33:16-21) after the interrupting law, Deuteronomy 33:9-14 (Deuteronomy 33:10-15); hence possibly their position just here. The form of address to Israel does not appear till Deuteronomy 33:4 a (Deuteronomy 33:5 a) where it is Pl., but in Deuteronomy 33:4-7 Sg. Other features are the use of ḳ ?ahal, congregation, for the commonwealth of Israel, not elsewhere in D, the difference of Deu 33:4 a (Deuteronomy 33:5 a) from Deuteronomy 2:29, the introduction of Balaam not mentioned in chs. 1–3, and the favourable treatment of Egyptians. Such data raise questions of the origin and structure of these laws as difficult as any we have met, and perhaps incapable of solution. Some take Deuteronomy 33:4-6 (Deuteronomy 33:5-7) as secondary, and the rest as original to D. But it is nearly as plausible to reckon part or all of Deu 33:4-6 as D’s addition to earlier laws and to argue for the primitive origin of these (see below). Berth. holds that all Deuteronomy 33:1-8 (Deuteronomy 33:2-9) is secondary, Deuteronomy 33:1-6 being from the time of Ezra and perhaps inserted by Ezra himself to correct the religious confusions which he found in Jerusalem. As there is nothing at that time to explain Deuteronomy 33:7 f. (Deuteronomy 33:8 f.) he boldly suggests the origin of this in the Maccabean period (Stellung d. Isr. zu d. Fremden, 142 ff., and his note on this passage). For answers to him see below.

“The people” are the twelve tribes, not the Gentiles; and his saints refer to God’s chosen people just before spoken of. Compare Deuteronomy 7:18, Deuteronomy 7:21; Exodus 19:6; Daniel 7:8-21.

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.