Deuteronomy 33:4

Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(4,5) “[Of] the law which Moses commanded us,

The inheritance of the congregation of Jacob,

When he (Moses) was king in Jeshurun,

In the gathering of the heads of the people,

The tribes of Israel together.”

This fourth verse, from its form, is evidently not what Moses said, but an explanatory parenthesis, inserted by the writer, who was probably Joshua. Upon “He was king in Jeshurun,” Rashi says, “The Holy One, blessed be He! the yoke of His kingdom is upon them for ever.” It may be so. “When the Lord your God was your king,” is Samuel’s description of the whole history of Israel previous to himself.

The certainty that the King of kings, the Messiah of Israel, was and is the Lawgiver and Teacher, and Keeper of all saints, and that there are none of that character who do not “sit at the feet of Jesus,” makes the real meaning of the passage perfectly plain, even though the exact grammatical relation of the clauses may be not beyond dispute.

Benson Commentary

Deuteronomy 33:4. Moses commanded us a law — Moses has been thought by some to speak this of himself, in the third person, because he intended the contents of this chapter, like the preceding song, to be learned by the Israelites, and repealed in their own persons. They are therefore supposed to say, Moses commanded us a law, &c. The inheritance of the congregation — The law is called their inheritance. because the obligation to observe it was hereditary, passing from parents to their children, and because this was the best part of their inheritance, the greatest of all those gifts which God bestowed upon them. So the psalmist thought, “Thy testimonies have I taken as a heritage for ever,” Psalm 119:111.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

33:1-5 To all his precepts, warnings, and prophecies, Moses added a solemn blessing. He begins with a description of the glorious appearances of God, in giving the law. His law works like fire. If received, it is melting, warming, purifying, and burns up the dross of corruption; if rejected, it hardens, sears, pains, and destroys. The Holy Spirit came down in cloven tongues, as of fire; for the gospel also is a fiery law. The law of God written in the heart, is a certain proof of the love of God shed abroad there: we must reckon His law one of the gifts of his grace.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

"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.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2-4. The Lord came—Under a beautiful metaphor, borrowed from the dawn and progressive splendor of the sun, the Majesty of God is sublimely described as a divine light which appeared in Sinai and scattered its beams on all the adjoining region in directing Israel's march to Canaan. In these descriptions of a theophania, God is represented as coming from the south, and the allusion is in general to the thunderings and lightnings of Sinai; but other mountains in the same direction are mentioned 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 rather the mountains on the southern border of the desert towards the peninsula [Robinson]. (Compare Jud 5:4, 5; Ps 68:7, 8; Hab 3:3).

ten thousands of saints—rendered by some, "with the ten thousand of Kadesh," or perhaps better still, "from Meribah" [Ewald].

a fiery law—so called both because of the thunder and lightning which accompanied its promulgation (Ex 19:16-18; De 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 were displayed on Sinai, the law was really given in kindness and love (De 33:3), as a means of promoting both the temporal and eternal welfare of the people. And it was "the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob," not only from the hereditary obligation under which that people were laid to observe it, but from its being the grand distinction, the peculiar privilege of the nation.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Moses speaks this of himself in the third person, which is very usual in the Hebrew language. The law is called their

inheritance, partly because the obligation of it was hereditary, passing from parents to their children, and partly because this was the best part of all their inheritance and possessions, the greatest of all those gifts and favours which God bestowed upon them.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Moses commanded us a law,.... The law was of God, it came forth from his right hand, Deuteronomy 33:2; it is of his enacting, a declaration of his will, and has his authority stamped upon it, who is the lawgiver, and which lays under obligation to regard it; but it was delivered to Moses, and by him to the children of Israel, on whom he urged obedience to it; and so it is said to come by him, and sometimes is called the law of Moses, see John 1:17,

even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob; which either describes the persons who were commanded to keep the law, the tribes of Jacob or congregation of Israel, who were the Lord's people, portion, and inheritance, Deuteronomy 32:9; or the law commanded, which was to be valued, not only as a peculiar treasure, but to be considered a possession, an estate, an inheritance, to be continued among them, and to be transmitted to their posterity, see Psalm 119:111; these are the words of the people of Israel, and therefore are thus prefaced in the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem,"the children of Israel said, Moses commanded, &c.''they were represented by Moses.

Geneva Study Bible

Moses commanded us a law, even the {e} inheritance of the congregation of Jacob.

(e) To us and our successors.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

4. Moses commanded us a law] The change to 1st pers. plur. (but LXX B you), the introduction of Moses’ name, and the fact that the line is an odd one, raise the suspicion that it is a gloss. Law, Heb. Tôrah, in its widest sense (see on Deuteronomy 1:5; Deuteronomy 1:31); omit a. If the line be retained, the next line is in apposition and we must render with Sam. (and LXX) a possession for the assembly of Jacob (cp. Psalm 119:111). But without changing the consonants we may read, His possession, or dominion, is the assembly of Jacob; a parallel to the next line. Assembly, Heb. ḳehillah, only here and Nehemiah 5:7, in D and elsewhere ḳahal (see on Deuteronomy 5:22 and Deuteronomy 23:1 (2)), the whole nation as a body politic. Possession elsewhere only in P, Exodus 6:8, and Ezek. (6 times) mostly of the land.

4a. met you not, etc.] The appearance of the Pl. address marks a quotation as in Deuteronomy 9:7 f. According to Deuteronomy 2:29 Moab sold bread and water to Israel.

when ye came forth out of Egypt] Whoever wrote this clause (D or an editor) its perspective is that not of Moses in the land of Moab but of a time long after when the whole forty years’ passage from Egypt was foreshortened.

4b, 5. Probably another quotation from a different source: (1) because of the change from the Pl. to the Sg. address (confirmed by LXX), and (2) because Heb. and the versions have he hired (not they as in EVV.), suggesting that in the context from which it was extracted this vb had a sing. nominative (Balak?). On the substance of Deuteronomy 33:4 b, Deuteronomy 33:5, see JE, Numbers 22:2 ff.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 4. - Moses here, identifying himself with the people, uses the third person, and includes himself among those to whom the Law was given; cf. Psalm 20, 21, where David not only speaks of himself in the third person, but addresses such prayers for himself as could only be offered by the people for their king (cf. also Judges 5:12, 15; Habakkuk 3:19). Even the inheritance of the congregation. The "even," which the translators of the Authorized Version have inserted here, were better omitted; the words are in apposition to "law." The Law which Moses communicated to Israel was to remain with them as the inheritance f the congregation. The Bishops' Bible and the Geneva Version have, more correctly, "for an inheritance of the congregation." Deuteronomy 33:4

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"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 Habakkuk 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 Psalm 20:1-9 and Psalm 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 (Deuteronomy 4:5-8); that was its most glorious possession, and therefore is called its true κειμήλιον" (Knobel). The subject in Deuteronomy 33:5 is not Moses but Jehovah, who became King in Jeshurun (see at Deuteronomy 32:15 and Exodus 15:18). "Were gathered together;" this refers to the assembling of the nation around Sinai (Deuteronomy 4:10.; cf. Exodus 19:17.), to the day of assembly (Deuteronomy 9:10; Deuteronomy 10:4; Deuteronomy 18:16).