Deuteronomy 33:8

And of Levi he said, Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy holy one, whom thou didst prove at Massah, and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah;

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(8) And of Levi.—Next to Joseph, this tribe has the largest share in Moses’ last words, as we might naturally expect, it being his own tribe. The character of the priest is the principal subject. The blessing may be thus paraphrased: “Let thy Thummim and thy Urim (the chief high-priestly ornaments) be ever with some saintly man of thine, like him whom thou (Israel) didst tempt in Massah, and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah (Moses’ own departed brother Aaron is alluded to, for the people murmured against them both in both places), like him (Eleazar or Phinehas) who said to his father and to his mother, ‘I have not seen him,’ &c. These are the priests that shall teach Jacob thy judgments and Israel thy law.” The conduct of the tribe of Levi at Sinai is alluded to, when they stood by Moses and slew the idolaters. Who headed them on that occasion we are not told. Eleazar or Phinehas may be intended. The conduct of Phinehas (in Numbers 25) is also a case in point. As Rashi observes, “his father and his mother, his brethren and children” cannot be taken literally, because the tribe of Levi on the whole was faithful. The fathers, mothers, brethren, and children chiefly belonged to the other tribes.

Let thy Thummim and thy Urim.—See Exodus 28:30. “Thy Thummim and thy Urim” may refer to Israel, or to Levi, or to Jehovah Himself. In the last case, He must be thought to have tried Levi at Massah, and striven with Moses and Aaron at the waters of Meribah. It is not at all easy to distribute the pronouns with certainty in this speech.

If the writer of Deuteronomy was unconscious of any difference between priest and Levite, how is the mention of Urim and Thummim to be explained?

Benson Commentary

Deuteronomy 33:8. Of Levi he said — Said to God in prayer. Let thy Thummim, &c. — That is, the Thummim and Urim which are thine, O Lord, by special institution and consecration, (understanding thereby the ephod, in which they were put, the high-priesthood to which they were appropriated, and withal the gifts and graces signified by them, and necessary for the discharge of that high office,) be with thy holy one — That is, with that priest whom thou hast consecrated to thyself, and who is holy in a more peculiar manner than the people are. He means let the family of Aaron perpetually retain the priesthood, and be endued with that uprightness in the discharge of their duty and that light and knowledge in divine things which are signified by the Thummim and Urim. Notwithstanding this blessing, the Urim and Thummim were lost in the captivity, and never restored under the second temple. But they have their full accomplishment in Jesus Christ, God’s Holy One, and our great High-Priest, of whom Aaron was but a type. With him, who had lain in the Father’s bosom from eternity, the Urim and Thummim shall ever remain, for he is the wonderful and everlasting Counsellor. Whom thou didst prove at Massah — That is, try and rebuke, but yet didst not take away the priesthood from him. With whom thou didst strive — Whom thou didst reprove and chastise. Le Clerc, however, refers these words to the people. Whom thou, O Israel, didst prove or tempt at Massah, and with whom thou didst strive, &c. — Which happened twice. See Exodus 17:2, and Numbers 20:2. In both these places, it appears that Aaron was tempted, and tried, and strove against, by the people no less than Moses.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

33:6-23 The order in which the tribes are here blessed, is not the same as is observed elsewhere. The blessing of Judah may refer to the whole tribe in general, or to David as a type of Christ. Moses largely blesses the tribe of Levi. Acceptance with God is what we should all aim at, and desire, in all our devotions, whether men accept us or not, 2Co 5:9. This prayer is a prophecy, that God will keep up a ministry in his church to the end of time. The tribe of Benjamin had their inheritance close to mount Zion. To be situated near the ordinances, is a precious gift from the Lord, a privilege not to be exchanged for any worldly advantage, or indulgence. We should thankfully receive the earthly blessings sent to us, through the successive seasons. But those good gifts which come down from the Father of lights, through the rising of the Sun of righteousness, and the pouring out of his Spirit like the rain which makes fruitful, are infinitely more precious, as the tokens of his special love. The precious things here prayed for, are figures of spiritual blessing in heavenly things by Christ, the gifts, graces, and comforts of the Spirit. When Moses prays for the good will of Him that dwelt in the bush, he refers to the covenant, on which all our hopes of God's favour must be founded. The providence of God appoints men's habitations, and wisely disposes men to different employments for the public good. Whatever our place and business are, it is our wisdom and duty to apply thereto; and it is happiness to be well pleased therewith. We should not only invite others to the service of God, but abound in it. The blessing of Naphtali. The favour of God is the only favour satisfying to the soul. Those are happy indeed, who have the favour of God; and those shall have it, who reckon that in having it they have enough, and desire no more.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Thy holy one - i. e., Levi, regarded as the representative of the whole priestly and Levitical stock which sprang from him. The contrast between the tone of this passage and that of Genesis 49:5-7 is remarkable. Though the prediction of Jacob respecting the dispersion of this tribe held good, yet it was so overruled as to issue in honor and reward. The recovery of God's favor is to be traced to the faithfulness with which Moses and Aaron, who came of this tribe, served God in their high offices; and to the zeal and constancy which conspicuous persons of the tribe (e. g. Phinehas, Numbers 25:11 ff), and the whole tribe itself (compare Exodus 32:26), manifested on critical occasions in supporting the leaders of the people. The same reasons led to Levi's being selected for the special service of God in the sanctuary (Deuteronomy 10:8 ff, and Numbers 8:5 ff); and for the office of instructing their brethren in the knowledge of the Law. The events at Massah and Meribah, the one occurring at the beginning, the other toward the end, of the forty years' wandering, serve to represent the whole series of trials by which God proved and exercised the faith and obedience of this chosen tribe.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

8-10. of Levi he said—The burden of this blessing is the appointment of the Levites to the dignified and sacred office of the priesthood (Le 10:11; De 22:8; 17:8-11), a reward for their zeal in supporting the cause of God, and their unsparing severity in chastising even their nearest and dearest relatives who had participated in the idolatry of the molten calf (Ex 32:25-28; compare Mal 2:4-6).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy holy one; the Thummim and the Urim, which are thine, O Lord, by special institution and consecration; by which he understands the ephod, in which they were put, Exodus 28:30, by a synecdoche, and the high priesthood, to which they were appropriated, by a metonymy; and withal the gifts and graces signified by the Urim and Thummim, and necessary for the discharge of that high office, shall be with thy holy one, i.e. with that Levite, that priest, which thou hast consecrated to thyself, and which is holy in a more peculiar manner than all the people were, i.e. the priesthood shall be confined to and continued in Aaron’s family.

Whom thou didst prove: this seems added by way of anticipation; although thou didst try him, and rebuke him, and shut him out of Canaan for his miscarriage about fetching water out of the rock, yet thou didst not therefore take away the priesthood from him.

At Massah; not at that Massah mentioned Exo 17, which is also called

Meribah, where neither Moses nor Aaron are reproved, nor is Aaron so much as named, but at that other Meribah, Num 20, where this is expressed, which as it is called by one of the names of that place, Exo 17, to wit, Meribah, Num 20, so it may be here called by its other name, Massah; and well may the same names be given to those two places, because the occasion of them was in a great measure one and the same. Though this place may be otherwise rendered, whom thou didst try in trying, or with trial, i.e. whom thou didst exactly and thoroughly try, such repetitions being very frequent and elegant in the Hebrew language. And it may be observed, that in the Hebrew text here are two several prepositions, though the English translation render them both by at, here beth, in or with, and in the next branch al, at, or near, or concerning the waters of Meribah; which may seem to intimate that the former is not the name of the place, as the latter is: why else should they not have been expressed by the same preposition?

With whom thou didst strive, or, contend, i.e. whom thou didst reprove and chastise, as that phrase signifies, Isaiah 49:25 Jeremiah 2:9.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And of Levi he said,.... That is, Moses said of the tribe of Levi, as both the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem:

let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy Holy One; with Aaron, as the same Targums interpret it, who was of the tribe of Levi, and was a holy good man, a saint of the Lord, as he is called, Psalm 106:16; of the Urim and Thummim, which were with him and with every high priest; see Gill on Exodus 28:30; and though they were not in use under the second temple, yet had their fulfilment in Christ the antitype of Aaron, who may be chiefly here intended; who is after called the Lord's Holy One, as he is, both as God and man, holy in both his natures, divine and human, and in his life and actions; and with him are the true Urim and Thummim, lights and perfections, the light of nature, grace and glory, and all perfections, both divine and human; See Gill on Exodus 28:30 (i):

whom thou didst prove at Massah, and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah; which, as it may respect Aaron, may be understood either of the Lord's proving him and contending with him, by suffering the children of Israel to murmur against him and Moses, at the said places; when, according to the three Targums, he stood in the temptation, and was perfect and found faithful; or of Levi, who, with the rest of the tribes, tried him, and strove with him at the same places; though Jarchi says they did not murmur with the rest that murmured: as it may refer to Christ the antitype of Levi, the sense is, that the Urim and Thummim should be with the Holy One, the Messiah, whom thou, O Levi, with the rest of the tribes, tempted and strove with at the places mentioned; for it is expressly said, they tempted the Lord, Exodus 17:7; and which is interpreted of Christ, 1 Corinthians 10:9.

(i) See a Sermon of mine on this text, called "Levi's Urim and Thummim Found with Christ".

Geneva Study Bible

And of Levi he said, Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy holy one, whom thou didst prove at Massah, and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah;

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

8. The children of the third generation … shall enter the congregation] Jeremiah 36:14 mentions a man under King Jehoiakim called Yehudi, i.e. Jew, whose great-grandfather was called Kushi, i.e. Egyptian, and whose father and grandfather had names derived from the name of Israel’s God.

9–14 (10–15). Of the Holiness of the Camp

In camp Israel shall avoid every evil (Deuteronomy 33:9). If a man suffer from pollution he must leave the camp till evening, bathe and then return (Deuteronomy 33:10 f.). There shall be a place outside for natural needs, where a man shall cover with earth what comes from him (Deuteronomy 33:12 f.); Israel’s God, who walketh the camp, must not see shameful things (Deuteronomy 33:14).—In the Sg. address, like other laws of War, Deuteronomy 20:1-19 f., Deuteronomy 21:10-14, and with the same form of opening, and appeal to the same sacred reason.

The reason is D’s own, in his language, but the ideas behind the law were primitive: either, as in the case of the first, sexual uncleanness as a disqualification for service—already in practice in Israel (1 Samuel 21:5, 2 Samuel 11:11); or, as in the case of the second, the danger of leaving one’s excrement exposed, as though it might be used in magic against one (Frazer, Golden Bough, i. 327 f.; Schwally, Kriegsalterthümer, 61 f., 67). See further note introd. to ch. 20. This law is therefore possibly an earlier one, adapted and partly transformed by D. See below on Deuteronomy 33:14. A parallel in P, Numbers 5:1-4. For Brahminical laws for the same occasions see Beauchamp’s edition of Dubois, Hindu Manners, etc.,2 239 ff.

8 And of Levi he said:—

Give Leví Thy Thummím,

Thine Urím to the man of Thy grace,

Whom Thou didst prove at Probation

And strive with (?) at Waters-of-Strife;

9 Who said of his father and mother,

I do not regard them;

Nor avowed he his brothers,

Nor acknowledged his sons;

But Thine oracles they kept,

And guarded Thy covenant.

10 They deliver Thy judgements to Jacob,

And Thy law to Israel;

They set up smoke in Thy nostrils,

Holocausts up on Thine altar.

11 Bless Thou his service, O Lord,

And accept the work of his hands!

Shatter his opponents’ loins,

And his haters past their opposing.

8. Thy Thummim, etc.] This line is overloaded and has no parallel. Prefix (with LXX) Give Levi, and the result is two parallel lines of 3 + 3 or 3 + 2 as above.

Thummim and Urim] In inverse order from other records of them in the O.T.:—1 Samuel 14:41 (LXX); P, Exodus 28:30, Leviticus 8:8; Ezra 2:63, Nehemiah 7:65. They were the two sacred lots used by the priest in giving decisions. See Dri.’s full note, Exod. 313 f.

thy godly one] Cp. LXX τῷ ἀνδρὶ τῷ ὁσίῳ; Heb. ’ish hasîdĕka, the man who showed thee ḥesed or true love; or, more probably from the context, to whom thou didst show ḥesed. It is possible to render to the men of him to whom thou, etc., i.e. Levi or Moses or Aaron. The emendation ḥasdĕka or ḥasadĕka, of thy grace, is attractive (Ball).

Whom thou didst prove at Massah, etc.] It is difficult if not impossible to harmonise this couplet with the stories of what happened at Massah = Probation and at Merîbah = Strife as told by JE, Exodus 17:1 b–7, and JP, Numbers 20:2-13 (cp. above Deuteronomy 6:16, Deuteronomy 9:22, Deuteronomy 32:51).

For at Massah the people is said to have striven with Moses and to have tempted or proved Jehovah; and at Meribah to have striven with Moses and Aaron for bringing them into the desert and with Jehovah Himself, who gave them water but blamed Moses and Aaron for want of faith. Here on the other hand it is Jehovah who proves, and contends with Levi, the tribe, who are not mentioned in the above narratives. It is possible to argue, however, that what happened at, Massah was God’s proving of Moses by means of a critical situation; and that at Meribah He did in His providence strive or debate with Moses and Aaron by similarly critical circumstances (cp. Psalm 81:7); and therefore that this couplet is a possible, if free, interpretation of the above narratives. In that case we may take its relative, whom, and thy godly one of the previous line either as meaning Moses or Aaron or the whole tribe as represented by them. There would remain the discrepancy that while this ‘Blessing’ implies that Levi issued successfully from the proof and strife put upon them by God; P, Numbers 20:12 f., records the failure of the faith of Moses and Aaron. Calvin seeks to remove this by regarding our couplet as ‘added by way of exception … Moses magnifies God’s mercy by this allusion in that He dignified Aaron with so great an honour, notwithstanding his having been overcome with impatience and fallen’; and he quotes the analogy of Christ’s call to Peter to feed His sheep after Peter had thrice denied Him (John 21:15-17).

Others explain the couplet as referring to a proof of the tribe Levi not recorded elsewhere (yet cp. Exodus 32:26 ff.). Others (e.g. Wellh. Hist. 184, Steuern.) translate for whom (instead of with whom) Thou didst strive—whom Thou didst champion, i.e. by giving them the power to bring forth water from the desert rocks. Yet it is also possible to read the vb as a Hiphil, whom Thou causedst to strive or whom Thou broughtest into strife.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 8-11. - The blessing on Levi is also in the form of a prayer. In Jacob's blessing, Simeon is joined with Levi, but Moses passes him over altogether, probably because, as Jacob foretold, he was to be scattered among his brethren (Genesis 49:7), and so lose his tribal individuality. Simeon, however, is included in the general blessing pronounced on Israel; and as this tribe received a number of towns within the territory of Judah (Joshua 19:2-9), it was probably regarded as included in the blessing on that tribe. Thy Thummim and thy Urim; thy Right and thy Light (cf. Exodus 28:30). The high priest wore the breast-plate on which these were placed when he went in before the Lord; and this is here represented as the prerogative of the whole tribe. Thy holy one; i.e. Levi, the tribe-father, representing the whole tribe to which the blessing applies; hence in the following verses the verb passes into the plural. For "holy one," it would be better to read "pious" or "godly one;" literally, the man thy pious one. Some would render "the man thy favored one," or "the man of thy friendship;" but this is wholly arbitrary, the word (חָסִיד) has no such meaning. To explain this more particularly, reference is made to the trials at Massah and the waters of Meribah (strife), when the people rebelled and murmured against Moses and Aaron, whereby the piety of these men was put to the test, and in them, the heads of the tribe of Levi, the whole tribe was proved. (On Massah, see Exodus 17:1-7; and on the waters of strife, see Numbers 20:1-13.) In these trials, Levi had proved himself faithful and godly, having risen up in defense of the honor of Jehovah, and in support of his covenant, though in the latter case both Moses and Aaron stumbled. Who said unto his father and to his mother, etc. This refers to what is narrated in Exodus 32:26-29, when the Levites drew their swords against their brethren at the command of Moses, to execute judgment without respect of person, because of the sin of the people in the matter of the golden calf (cf. also Numbers 25:8, and, for the principle here implicitly commended, see Matthew 10:37; Matthew 19:29; Luke 14:26). Because of their zealous devotion to the claims and service of the Lord, the dignity of the priesthood had been conferred on this tribe; and to them belonged the high office of being instructors of the people in Divine things, and of presenting the sacrifices of the people to the Lord. For those entrusted with such an office, nothing was more to be desired than that they should be blessed with power rightly to discharge the duties of their office, that their service should be accepted with favor, and that their enemies and haters should be foiled and rendered impotent; and for this Moses prays on their behalf. Deuteronomy 33:8

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Levi. - Deuteronomy 33:8, Deuteronomy 33:9. "Thy right and Thy light is to Thy godly man, whom Thou didst prove in Massah, and didst strive with him at the water of strife; who says to his father and his mother, I see him not; and does not regard his brethren, and does not know his sons: for they observed Thy word, and kept Thy covenant." This blessing is also addressed to God as a prayer. The Urim and Thummim - that pledge, which the high priest wore upon his breast-plate, that the Lord would always give His people light to preserve His endangered right (vid., Exodus 28:29-30), - are here regarded as a prerogative of the whole of the tribe of Levi. Thummim is placed before Urim, to indicate at the outset that Levi had defended the right of the Lord, and that for that very reason the right of the Urim and Thummim had been given to him by the Lord. "Thy holy one" is not Aaron, but Levi the tribe-father, who represents the whole tribe to which the blessing applies; hence in Deuteronomy 33:9 and Deuteronomy 33:10 the verb passes into the plural. To define more precisely the expression "Thy holy one," reference is made to the trials at Massah and at the water of strife, on the principle that the Lord humbles His servants before He exalts them, and confirms those that are His by trying and proving them. The proving at Massah refers to the murmuring of the people on account of the want of water at Rephidim (Exodus 17:1-7, as in Deuteronomy 6:16 and Deuteronomy 9:22), from which the place received the name of Massah and Jeribah; the striving at the water of strife, to the rebellion of the people against Moses and Aaron on account of the want of water at Kadesh (Numbers 20:1-13). At both places it was primarily the people who strove with Moses and Aaron, and thereby tempted God. For it is evident that even at Massah the people murmured not only against Moses, but against their leaders generally, from the use of the plural verb, "Give ye us water to drink" (Exodus 17:2). This proving of the people, however, was at the same time a proof, to which the Lord subjected the heads and leaders of the nation, for the purpose of trying their faith. And thus also, in Deuteronomy 8:2., the whole of the guidance of Israel through the desert is described as a trial and humiliation of the people by the Lord. But in Moses and Aaron, the heads of the tribe of Levi, the whole of the tribe of Levi was proved. The two provings by means of water are selected, as Schultz observes, "because in their correlation they were the best adapted to represent the beginning and end, and therefore the whole of the temptations."