Day 624: Everlasting arms - Deuteronomy 33 vs 22 - 29
22 And of Dan, Moses said, “Dan is a lion's cub that leaps from Bashan.” 23 And of Naphtali he said, “O Naphtali, sated with favour, and full of the blessing of the Lord, possess the lake and the south.” 24 And of Asher he said, “Most blessed of sons be Asher; let him be the favourite of his brothers, and let him dip his foot in oil. 25 Your bars shall be iron and bronze, and as your days, so shall your strength be.
26 “There is none like God, O Jeshurun, who rides through the heavens to your help, through the skies in his majesty. The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. 27 And he thrust out the enemy before you and said, destroy. 28 So Israel lived in safety, Jacob lived alone, in a land of grain and wine, whose heavens drop down dew. 29 Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord, the shield of your help, and the sword of your triumph! Your enemies shall come fawning to you, and you shall tread upon their backs.” Deuteronomy 33:22-29 (English Standard Version)
Moses didn't say much about the tribes of Dan and Naphtali. When Jacob had spoken of the man from whom the tribe took it's name, he had said: “Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a viper by the path that bites the horse's heels so that his rider falls backwards.” (Genesis 49:17) When the tribe of Dan eventually got their land they set up a carved image. In Amos 8:14 the prophet Amos used the phrase: “As your god lives, O Dan.” But it was said in a negative sense.
Things sounded better for the tribe of Naphtali. (vs 23) They ended up settling in an area west of a large lake which became known as the Sea of Galilee. Over a 1000 years later it was the region where Jesus ministered and called His first disciples. In that way they were definitely blessed of the Lord. What was the lovely blessing Moses spoke over the tribe of Asher? (vs 25)
Apart from being liked by the other tribes, it seems they were promised security and daily strength from the Lord. It's not in our power to pass on the lovely promise of “as your days, so shall your strength be” to other Christians, but it is a prayer we can pray to God for them, and for ourselves too. Lord, as we pray for daily bread, so we pray too for your strength for today.
As I said in an earlier post, some of the words Moses spoke over Israel’s tribes were a 'mixed' blessing. But the words spoken over the nation as a whole (in vs 26-29) were a pure blessing. Using the fond name God had given them of Jeshurun, what does he say God's relationship to them was? (vs 26)
He is the eternal God who 'rides through the sky in majesty'. It was a figurative picture of God's grandeur. But God Himself, not just the land He was giving them, was their true dwelling place, and His arms were ever underneath them to protect them. Verses 28-29 describe how just as God had given Jacob a place to stay when he was a pilgrim in the land, so He was now giving them a land, and they would triumph over their foes through the Lord. Moses sums it up in the phrase: “Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord.” (vs 29)
The wonderful thing for Christians from all over the world is that we have been brought into the blessing of being 'a people saved by the Lord'! The apostle Paul said that before the gospel came to us we “were separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” (Ephesians 2:12) Then he says: “But now, in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ . . . so then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.” (Ephesians 2:13, 19-20) God is our dwelling place, and His eternal arms are underneath us! Hallelujah.