Lesson 142 - Senior
Memory Verse
"Happy is that people, whose God is the LORD" (Psalm 144:15).
Cross References
I The Majesty of God
1. One of the last official acts of Moses was to bless the Children of Israel, [DEU:33:1]; [GEN:49:1-28]; [LUK:24:50- 51].
2. Moses opened his blessing with a wonderful description of the glorious appearances of God as He gave the Law, [DEU:33:2]; [EXO:19:18-20]; [JUG:5:4-5].
3. God gave the Law to the Children of Israel because He loved them, [DEU:33:3]; [JER:31:1-3]; [1JN:4:19].
4. The Lord would have Israel ever remember Moses in connection with the giving of the Law, [DEU:33:4-5]; [JHN:1:17]; [ACT:7:37-38].
II Moses' Blessings
1. Reuben was blessed with long life and a large tribe, [DEU:33:6]; [NUM:26:2], [NUM:26:7].
2. Moses blessed Judah with the anticipation that they would be a praying people, active for God, [DEU:33:7]; [JUG:1:1-2]; [MIC:5:2]; [HEB:7:14].
3. The Levites received a gracious blessing because they were chosen of God, [DEU:33:8-11]; [EXO:32:26-29].
4. Benjamin received the promise of an inheritance next to the Lord's sanctuary, and rich blessings in connec-tion with it, [DEU:33:12]; [JOS:18:11-28]; [JUG:1:21].
5. Ephraim and Manasseh were included under the bountiful blessing of Joseph, [DEU:33:13-17]; [GEN:49:22-26].
6. Zebulun's and Issachar's blessing included a peaceful settlement and profitable employment, [DEU:33:18-19]; [JOS:19:10-23]; [1CH:12:32-33]; [ISA:2:3].
7. Gad was already blessed in the inheritance Moses, the lawgiver, had given him; he would receive the surety of that blessing after he helped his brethren conquer Canaan, [DEU:33:20-21]; [NUM:32:1-6], [NUM:32:16-17].
8. Dan was to be a fierce, warlike tribe, [DEU:33:22].
9. Naphtali was to be satisfied with favour, and full of the blessing of the Lord, [DEU:33:23]; [ISA:9:1-2]; [MAT:4:13-16].
10. Moses blessed Asher with a fourfold blessing, ending with the promise, "As thy days, so shall thy strength be," [DEU:33:24-25]; [PRO:3:3-4]; [ISA:40:29].
III The Excellency of Israel
1. Israel excelled among the nations because they trusted in the eternal God who is beyond comparison, [DEU:33:26-27]; [ISA:26:4]; [ISA:43:10-15]; [JUD:24-25].
2. Never before was a nation so well situated, sheltered, or blessed as Israel would be in the Promised Land, [DEU:33:28-29]; [2SM:7:23]; [PS:33:12]; [ROM:2:28-29].
Notes
The Last Blessing
The time was fast approaching when the Children of Israel would cross the River Jordan into the Promised Land; therefore Moses knew that he did not have much time left to spend in this world. Moses had been the leader, adviser, intercessor, and prophet for Israel over a period of 40 years and had learned to love these people more than he loved his own life. Whenever disease or plague came, Moses prayed; if enemies attacked, Moses sought God's counsel and help; whenever trouble arose in the camp, no matter what the cause, Moses, interceded with God until the condition was corrected. Truly Moses had borne the burdens of the people, and now he wished to show them one more kindness before he bade them farewell.
As Jacob had blessed his sons, and foretold their future, in his last days on earth (Genesis 49:3-28), so Moses in a similar manner blessed the individual tribes of Israel. It is wonderfully fitting that God should draw aside the curtains of time for a few moments and allow these outstanding religious leaders to see the events of history before those events took place.
Jesus' Blessing
These blessings remind us of another day when a wonderful Leader stood upon the mount blessing His people; and as he blessed them, Jesus was parted from the people and taken into Heaven ([LUK:24:51]). What a marvellous blessing it was that He gave to His people: "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever" (John 14:16). The blessings of that promise are fulfilled in the Latter Rain Gospel, which is in the world today. A glorious future Jesus described for His Church: "These signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover" (Mark 16:17, 18). Every true soldier of the Cross is made partaker of this marvellous blessing. The cap sheaf of all blessings is yet to come. The angels announced when Jesus went away: "This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven" (Acts 1:11).
The Spiritual Blessing
One difference stands out between the blessings that Jacob gave his sons, and Moses' blessings to the twelve tribes. The future that Jacob predicted was principally temporal, or pertaining to the national status of Israel, while Moses spoke of the spiritual as well as the temporal blessings in the land of Canaan. God wanted to give His people, then, the best in both the spiritual and physical realms, as He does today. The spiritual blessings given the Israelites are likewise for us today; and we see, in the temporal blessings of Canaan, a type of the greater spiritual blessings that are poured out upon hungry and aggressive pilgrims in this Gospel dispensation.
God had called Moses to lead the Church in the wilderness. Of all the people, none had received a brighter vision or a clearer understanding of the beauties and benefits of that Church than had Moses. As a true shepherd of Israel, the utmost endeavour of Moses was to portray the revelation in such a way that would encourage the people to take hold of God and never let go.
Such is the privilege and duty of every Christian today. A man is a Christian because he has embraced the truth of the Gospel. An operation of the Spirit of God upon his heart and a revelation by the Father, that "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16), make it possible for him to believe in Jesus. When the revelation of Jesus comes to the heart of man, there also comes a commission to go and tell others of the grace that he has found. The clearer the vision, the greater is the desire to tell the Story. Paul's testimony was: "Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: but shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judæa, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance" (Acts 26:19, 20). Cannot we hear the words of Jesus ringing in our heart, "Go, and do thou likewise" (Luke 10:37)?
Reuben, Judah, and Levi
Moses' blessing to the tribe of Reuben was that they should live and not die. Perhaps Moses could foresee this tribe in a desperate spiritual struggle trying to serve God with that barrier, the Jordan River, between them and God's sanctuary. Jacob had said in his blessing that Reuben was unstable as water, and should not excel ([GEN:49:4]).
Though more than 200 years had passed since Jacob had spoken, the situation of Reuben had not changed appreciably. Judah received a blessing from both Moses and Jacob. Both blessings were more of the spiritual type, for it was from this tribe that the Messiah should come. Moses said that Judah would be a praying people, and that their prayers would be answered. God would allow the tribe of Judah to increase, and would cause them to triumph over their enemies.
The priesthood was given to the family of Aaron of the tribe of Levi. The blessing of this tribe was wholly spiritual. As the result of Levi's devoted service to God when Israel sinned at Mount Sinai and made the gold-en calf to lead them back to Egypt, God had said, "Wherefore Levi hath no part nor inheritance with his brethren; the LORD is his inheritance" (Deuteronomy 10:9). What greater blessing could anybody desire?
Other Tribes
Benjamin was recognised as the beloved of the Lord, no doubt, as the result of the position of esteem that he held with his father. Also the Lord could see that Benjamin's inheritance would contain a portion of the Lord could see that Benjamin's inheritance would contain a portion of the City of Jerusalem, the city that God loved and chose to put His name there.
Joseph was another tribe who received a blessing. This blessing contained the promise of both spiritual and physical prosperity. Moses asked for Joseph "the good will of him that dwelt in the bush," referring to the scene on Mount Horeb when God appeared in the midst of the burning bush ([EXO:3:2-3]).
Zebulun and Issachar seemed to receive a distinct call to influence their neighbours to serve God. Naphtali, too, was included in God's call. Later the prophets spoke more distinctly in this regard; and we find that during Jesus' ministry on earth, His headquarters were at Capernaum in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali ([MAT:4:13-15]). The land of Galilee, where Jesus found the multitudes who heard Him gladly and whence most of the Apostles came, was situated within the inheritance of these tribes.
The tribe of Asher received an outstanding spiritual blessing, "As thy days, so shall thy strength be." It is a promise that God would graciously support them under all their trials and troubles. It is also a promise sure to all the spiritual seed of Abraham that God will proportion the grace and strength to the services that He calls upon His children to perform and the sufferings that He calls upon them to go through.
Strength as Thy Days
The Lord will never ask His people to perform duties that are impossible of execution. They may seem impossible oftentimes, and no doubt they would be if man were left to his own devices to accomplish them. Here is where God's promise takes over, "As thy days, so shall thy strength be." This strength naturally depends upon a concurrence between God and man. On the part of God a mission or duty is assigned to the man for which, the strength of accomplishment is granted. On the part of the man there must be exercised all the grant-ed strength by which he pursues the course which is opened in the way of duty before him. When these two elements combine -" the strength of God and the willingness of man -" it is literally true that anything is possible.
When the call to Egypt, and the deliverance of the Children of Israel from bondage, came to Moses, he said: "Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?" (Exodus 3:11). He truly felt his own insufficiency to perform such a major undertaking. The Lord answered Moses, "Certainly I will be with thee" (Exodus 3:12); and that was enough. God's presence puts honour upon the worthless, wisdom into the foolish, and strength into the weak. Moses went froth strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, and who would dare to say that the mission was a failure?
Job's Strength
Job experienced this "strength as his day" in the day that the malicious darts of Satan were turned against him. That God's strength was supplied was proved by the fact that Job came through the test without sin. Perhaps Job was not conscious of God's strength at all; in fact, he wondered why God hid His face from view ([JOB:13:24]). A Christian need not be aware of that God-given strength in his life, but what he does need is a conscious knowledge of an absolute need for that strength for his duties, and a true faith in the Giver of every good and perfect gift. Then God can send a day to that man, such as there has never been any like it, for He would send the sufficient strength, and enable that man to go through with triumphant victory.
Moses' Last Words
As the blessing of the twelve tribes of Israel came to a close, the inspiration of God being upon him still, Moses magnified once more the God of Israel and the Israel of God. These are the last recorded words of Moses; therefore they are the more remarkable. The last words of a man, especially a God-fearing man, are noted with interest.
There is no god who can be compared with the God of Israel, "who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his Excellency on the sky. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms." Then Israel was protected on every side, and from above and beneath as well.
Is not this true of every child of God? We have an incomparable Father who protects us also from every side. He rules the heavens, therefore no trouble can come from that direction strong enough to overthrow us. He is our refuge on every side, hence "Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day" (Psalm 91:5). The everlasting arms support the child of God, from beneath. No Matter how low that child may be brought in persecution or trial, destitution or trouble, those everlasting arms are there to keep the spirit from fainting and the faith from failing to bring the soul back again into a wealthy place. Cannot we truly say with Paul, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31).
Questions
1. At what period in Moses' life did he bless the Children of Israel?
2. How did the blessing of Moses differ from the blessing that Jacob gave to his sons?
3. Which of the tribes of Israel did Moses say would be a praying people?
4. Why did the tribe of Levi receive such a wonderful blessing?
5. Name some of the things included in Joseph's blessing. Did Joseph receive any spiritual blessing from Moses?
6. What is meant by the promise, "As thy days, so shall thy strength be"?
7. Who was the refuge of the Children of Israel?
8. Who is the refuge of the child of God today? How?