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Last Words of Moses - Deut #54. Last Words of Moses - Deut. 33 Following his song the next act of Moses is to bless the people before he himself departs them and this world. Many commentators note that this song was most likely recorded by Joshua who similarly recorded the death of Moses. The song of blessing has some similar characteristics to the blessing of Jacob in Genesis 49. One major feature of the blessing from Moses is the absence of the tribe of Simeon. Much of the blessing is in the 3rd person leading to the conclusion as Joshua as author, redactor or recorder of the blessing. The blessing begins with God having appeared on three mountains, Sinai, Seir and Paran. Jewish tradition said that God first offered the Torah to the firstborns, Esau on Sier and Ishmael at Paran. They rejected the Torah which was then accepted by Israel. God appears with a large but undisclosed number of angels. Tradition says that there was one angel for every man of Israel, which has given rise to the belief in personal ‘guardian angels’. Another tradition, reflected in Paul in Galatians3:19 and Hebrews 2:2, that those angels also carried and delivered the Torah to Moses. God brings the Torah and is also proclaimed King over Jeshurun, which is Israel. We see the connection of kingship with the Torah, as one of the few commands given to a king is to write a personal copy of the Torah upon ascension to the throne. What follows next are the blessings to the tribes, bar Simeon. Reuben and Judah receive brief blessings whereas Levi seems to deserve an extended one. Jewish tradition has given each tribe a sigil, a sign that represents them according to the blessings of Jacob and Moses. It is not always clear why those sigils were awarded to certain tribes. For example, Judah has the sigil of the lion and Benjamin the sigil of wolf, both which are sourced from Jacobs blessing and not Moses. In Moses blessing Dan is described as the lions cub and Gad is a lion. Zebulon has the sigil of a boat and is blessed as a trader yet his territory is landlocked with no access to the sea. Zebulon and Issachar are blessed together, with Issachar remain in tents and Zebulon going out. This has been exegete to show the connection between study of Torah and supporting those who study Torah. Issachar remains inside the Bet Midrash and occupies himself with study and then teaches others, notably Zebulon who returns the favour by access to water and conducting himself with trade and merchandise. Zebulon then uses his accrued wealth to support Issachar in his studies. Levi is blessed with the Urim and Thumim, which are some sort of divine communication device that allows direct dispatches and communiques to Heaven. This becomes his sigil and coincides with his role as teacher of the Torah to the tribes, a role that has been supplanted by Rabbinic Judaism. Benjamin has the blessing of the beloved resting in his territory. Jewish exegesis says the beloved is the Temple and notes that the first king was from Benjamin. Joseph gets an extended blessing with Ephraim and Manasseh occupying the largest territory and many of the northern Israelite kings coming from Ephraim. Perhaps this leads to the tribe of Ephraim becoming synonymous with Israel in the prophets. Dan is noted as being in Bashan, the northern area of the Golan Heights, which was not his allotted land around the coastal plains of Tel Aviv, again indicating a later redactor to scribe the blessing of Moses. There are no satisfying answers as to the exclusion of Simeon here as he is included again in the prophecy of Ezekiel 48. We now turn to the death of Moses. .
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