Deuteronômio 33
Charles Spurgeon · Citado em PreceptAustin
Deuteronômio 33
Spurgeon: Some of you are enduring deep affliction. In your extraordinary trial, remember the depth of divine faithfulness. You may be unable to comprehend why, but I urge you to believe in the firmness and stability of divine affection. You will have comfort in proportion to your trials. If you have shallow sorrows you will receive shallow graces (Ed: Compare "variegated" [Gk = poikilos = various "sizes" and "shapes" of] trials in 1 Peter 1:6+ with manifold or "variegated" [poikilos] grace in 1 Peter 4:10+, grace of just the right "size" and "shape" for your trial). If you have deep afflictions you will obtain deeper proof of God’s faithfulness. I could lay down and die when I think of life’s trials, but like Sarah (Ge 21:6) I recover and laugh when I remember that the eternal God is our refuge and that underneath are the everlasting arms (Deut. 33:27). God will not fail. God will not take away His hand until He has finished His purpose concerning us (cp Phil 1:6+). Great trials bring great promises. Much afflicted one, there are great and mighty words that are not meant for saints of easier experiences. You will drink from the deep golden goblets reserved for those giants who can drink a great portion of wormwood, but God will also supply deep drinks of the well-refined wines on the lees (Isaiah 25:6-Spurgeon sermon). Trials greatly enlarge the soul. Thus I do not want, in my better mind, to escape great trials, since they involve great graces. If my strength shall be as my days (Deut. 33:25), then let my days be long and dark, for my strength will be mighty, God will be glorified, and I will be blessed. I earnestly urge every tested Christian to dwell on this truth, for it may be a great comfort. There is love, immortal and unchanging love, in heaven toward you, which will never grow cold. You will be helped. God would sooner cease to be than cease to be faithful. Be of good courage, for today He will strengthen your heart. He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater, He sendeth more strength when the labors increase; To added affliction He addeth His mercy, To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace. --Annie Johnson Flint Deuteronomy 33:28 "So Israel dwells in security, The fountain of Jacob secluded, In a land of grain and new wine; His heavens also drop down dew. Israel: Ex 33:16 Nu 23:9 Jer 23:6 Jer 33:16 Eze 34:25 Rev 21:27 22:14,15 the fountain: De 8:7,8 Ps 68:26 Pr 5:15-18 Isa 48:1 his: De 33:13 11:11 32:2 Ge 27:28 Related Passages: Jeremiah 23:6 “In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell securely; And this is His name by which He will be called, ‘The LORD our righteousness.’ Jeremiah 33:16+ ‘In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell in safety; and this is the name by which she will be called: the LORD is our righteousness.’ Ezekiel 34:25 “I will make a covenant of peace with them and eliminate harmful beasts from the land so that they may live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. ISRAEL WILL DWELL IN SECURITY AND PROSPERITY! So Israel dwells in security - "Israel lives in safety" (Dt 33:28NET) The Septuagint has the verb kataskenoo which means to pitch one's tent and thus to rest which is combined with the verb peitho which means confidence and in the perfect tense describes enduring confidence! A perfect picture of confident rest. Security (0983) betach means security, confidence (belief that one is safe and secure - Isa 32:17, Job 24:23, Mic 2:8). In its first occurrence betach emphasizes the status of a city which was certain of not being attacked (Ge 34:25). All three uses in Psalms speak of God enabling us to dwell securely (Ps. 4:8; 16:9; 78:53) It is primarily a positive term: to dwell in safety because of God’s protection (Lev. 25:18); to lie down safely or in security (Hos 2:18); to walk securely or assuredly (Pr. 10:9). The fountain of Jacob secluded - Secluded is the Hebrew word for isolation, and this extends the idea of "security" in the first phrase. If one view the fountain of Jacob as a parallel phrase, the description is not of literal springs of water but of Israel itself. The literal rendering supports this interpretation "And Israel doth tabernacle in confidence alone; The eye of Jacob is unto a land of corn and wine." (Dt 33:28YLT) The English of the Septuagint has "And Israel shall dwell in confidence alone on the land of Jacob." (Dt 33:28LXE) As Merrill explains fountain of Jacob "is a figurative way of describing Jacob’s offspring, the descendants of his sons who came to comprise the nation Israel. They would live in a land of abundance of crops and of life-giving moisture, a land described elsewhere as one “flowing with milk and honey” (cf. Gen 27:28; Exod 3:8, 17; Lev 20:24; Num 13:27; Deut 6:3; 11:9; 26:9, 15; 27:3; 31:20; 32:13). (NAC) In a land of grain and new wine; His heavens also drop down dew - When would this be fulfilled? There was a partial fulfillment when Israel first conquered the Promised Land, but it was not long before their disobedience resulted in God's wrath beginning to be poured out on them. And by the time of the book of Judges, they were repeatedly being invaded by enemies. The full fulfillment awaits the time when Israel receives Messiah in the New Covenant. Ezekiel repeatedly mentions a time of security for Israel as in Ezekiel 28:26 which says “They will live in it securely (betach); and they will build houses, plant vineyards and live securely (betach) when I execute judgments upon all who scorn them round about them. Then (WHEN? WHEN THEY ARE LIVING SECURELY) they will know that I am the LORD their God.’” That last phrase "they will know that I am the LORD their God" is a term related to covenant and most likely speaks of the time when Israel has entered the New Covenant at the end of this age. If one studies the other mentions of security (betach), compare the uses of betach in the following passages Ezek. 34:25"I will make (karath) a covenant of peace with them and eliminate harmful beasts from the land so that they may live securely (betach) in the wilderness and sleep in the woods." Ezekiel 34:27 “Also the tree of the field will yield its fruit and the earth will yield its increase, and they will be secure (betach). on their land. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bars of their yoke and have delivered them from the hand of those who enslaved them." Ezekiel 34:28 “They will no longer be a prey to the nations, and the beasts of the earth will not devour them; but they will live securely (betach), and no one will make them afraid. This clearly a description of a land finally fully flowing with milk and honey, as Yahweh had always promised Israel if they would only be obedient to Him. The implication is clear that now they are obedient to Him (see how they are enabled to obey in Ezekiel 36:26-27+). This has not yet transpired, for even modern Israel, while prosperous and militarily strong, they are not as a nation that proclaims "the LORD is our righteousness." (see Jeremiah 33:16+) and they certainly do not dwell in security! It follows that Moses is alluding to the day described by Paul in Romans 11:26+ when "all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.” Zechariah 12:10+ describes it this way "“I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn." MacArthur agrees writing that "This pledge was only partially fulfilled after they entered the Land, but it awaits a complete fulfillment in the kingdom of Messiah." (MacArthur Study Bible) Deuteronomy 33:28a The Dew of Heaven - Faith's Checkbook - C H Spurgeon “His heavens shall drop down dew.”—Deuteronomy 33:28 WHAT the dew in the East is to the world of nature, that is the influence of the Spirit in the realm of grace. How greatly do I need it! Without the Spirit of God I am a dry and withered thing. I droop, I fade, I die. How sweetly does this dew refresh me! When once favored with it, I feel happy, lively, vigorous, elevated. I want nothing more. The Holy Spirit brings me life and all that life requires. All else without the dew of the Spirit is less than nothing to me: I hear, I read, I pray, I sing, I go to the table of communion, and I find no blessing there until the Holy Ghost visits me. But when He bedews me, every means of grace is sweet and profitable. What a promise is this for me! “His heavens shall drop down dew.” I shall be visited with grace. I shall not be left to my natural drought, or to the world’s burning heat, or to the sirocco of Satanic temptation. Oh, that I may at this very hour feel the gentle, silent, saturating dew of the Lord! Why should I not? He who has made me to live as the grass lives in the meadow will treat me as He treats the grass; He will refresh me from above. Grass cannot call for dew as I do. Surely, the Lord who visits the unpraying plant will answer to His pleading child. Perhaps you've never thought of it, but dew is one of God's ingenious inventions. On clear nights, water vapor in the air gathers around each blade of grass, condenses, and forms billions of water droplets to refresh plants and to water the earth. When the Lord wanted to impress Job with His creative energy, He asked him, "Who fathered the drops of dew?" (Job 38:28). The promise of dew represented a free blessing that would come upon the Jewish people every day (Gen. 27:28; Deut. 33:13, 28). In Palestine it rains little from April to October, and if it weren't for the dew, all vegetation would perish during summer months. The rabbis taught that rainfall in Israel was dependant on the moral behavior of the people, and times of drought were considered disciplinary actions to correct disobedience. The dew, however, wasn't dependant on moral behavior. It was just a free, constant blessing from God. The morning dew is God's way of telling us that every morning is a fresh start, and every day is sprinkled with His compassions. (Robert
Deuteronômio 33
Spurgeon: If you are in personal danger, or in the midst of a storm, or facing illness, and if you hear a voice saying, “Surely the Lord is in this place,” you will be perfectly at rest. The anxious air grows pure if He is there. Lightning cannot strike you, or if it does it will be joy. The storm cannot devour you, nor can the hungry ocean engulf you, or if one does it is happiness if God is there. There is no need to fear. Nervousness is wickedness when “the eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms; He will thrust out the enemy from before you” (Deut. 33:2 C H Spurgeon comments on the Comforting Doctrine, the Omnipresence of God Who "everywhere surrounds" His Beloved (1Th 1:4+) Children (1Jn 3:1+) on all sides: Indeed, they dwell in Him. (See related topic "In Christ"): "The passage before us shows that the Lord is ABOVE, for we read, “There is no one like God, O Jeshurun (Israel), Who rides upon the heaven to help (Hebrew = ezer; Lxx = boethos;cp His great Name = Jehovah Ezer) you, on the clouds in majesty.” (Dt 33:26-Spurgeon's note) Assuredly He is AROUND them, for “The eternal God is thy refuge;” and He is BEFORE them, for “He shall thrust out the enemy from before thee and shall say 'Destroy them.'” Here according to the text the LORD is also UNDER His saints, for “Underneath are the everlasting arms.” “LORD, Thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations” (Ps 90:1+;; Spurgeon's sermon) and by Thee we are everywhere surrounded as the earth by the atmosphere." “Within Thy circling power I stand; On every side I find Thy hand; Awake, asleep, at home, abroad, I am surrounded still with God.” OUR DWELLING PLACE: THE ETERNAL GOD Spurgeon: The word REFUGE ("dwelling place") may be translated “abiding place” which gives the thought that God is our Abode, our Home. There is a fulness and sweetness in the metaphor, for dear to our hearts is our home, although it be the humblest cottage or the scantiest garret (attic) and dearer far is our blessed God, in Whom we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28+). IT IS AT HOME that we feel safe: we shut the world out and dwell in quiet security. So when we are with our God we “fear no evil.” He is our Shelter and Retreat, our Abiding Refuge (Ps 62:7+). AT HOME we take our rest; it is there we find repose after the fatigue and toil of the day. And so our hearts find rest in God, when, wearied with life’s conflict, we turn to Him, and our soul dwells at ease (Ps 37:7+, Spurgeon Sermon #1, Spurgeon Sermon #2; Mt 11:28-30+, read Jer 6:16-Spurgeon sermon). AT HOME, also, we let our hearts loose: we are not afraid of being misunderstood, nor of our words being misconstrued. So when we are with God we can commune freely with Him, laying open all our hidden desires; for if the “secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him,” (Ps 25:14-Spurgeon sermon; Additional Note) the secrets of them that fear Him ought to be & must be, with their Lord. HOME TOO is the place of our truest and purest happiness & it is in God that our hearts find their deepest delight. We have joy in Him which far surpasses all other joy ("fulness of joy" Ps 16:11+). IT IS ALSO FOR HOME that we work and labour. The thought of it gives strength to bear the daily burden and quickens the fingers to perform the task and in this sense we may also say that God is our Home. Love to Him strengthens us. We think of Him in the person of His dear Son and a glimpse of the suffering face of the Redeemer constrains us to labor in His cause (2Cor 5:13-14+). We feel that we must work, for we have brethren yet to be saved and we have our Father’s heart to make glad by bringing home His wandering sons; we would fill with holy mirth the sacred family among whom we dwell. Happy are those who have thus the God of Jacob for their refuge!" OUR DWELLING PLACE: UNDERNEATH ARE HIS EVERLASTING ARMS Spurgeon: "God—the eternal God—is Himself our Support at all times, and especially when we are sinking in deep trouble. There are seasons wh...en the Christian sinks very low in humiliation. Under a deep sense of his great sinfulness, he is humbled before God till he scarcely knows how to pray, because he appears, in his own sight, so worthless. Well, child of God, remember that when thou art at thy worst and lowest, yet “UNDERNEATH” thee “ARE EVERLASTING ARMS.” (The Old Hymn "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" by Iris Dement) Sin may drag thee ever so low, but Christ’s great atonement is still under all. You may have descended into the deeps, but you cannot have fallen so low as “the uttermost”; and to the uttermost he saves (Hebrews 7:25KJV+). Again, the Christian sometimes sinks very deeply in sore trial from without. Every earthly prop is cut away. What then? Still underneath him are “THE EVERLASTING ARMS!” He cannot fall so deep in distress and affliction but what the covenant grace of an ever-faithful God will still encircle him. The Christian may be sinking under trouble from within through fierce conflict, but even then he cannot be brought so low as to be beyond the reach of the “everlasting arms”—they are underneath him; and, while thus sustained, all Satan’s efforts to harm him avail nothing. This assurance of support is a comfort to any weary but earnest worker in the service of God. It implies a PROMISE OF STRENGTH FOR EACH DAY, GRACE FOR EACH NEED AND POWER FOR EACH DUTY. And, further, when death comes, the promise shall still hold good. When we stand in the midst of Jordan (on "death's doorstep"), we shall be able to say with David, “I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.” (Psalm 23:4-Spurgeon sermon; Note) We shall descend into the grave, but we shall go no lower, for the eternal arms prevent our further fall. All through life, and at its close, we shall be upheld by the “EVERLASTING ARMS”—arms that neither flag nor lose their strength, for “THE EVERLASTING GOD FAINTETH NOT, NEITHER IS WEARY!" (Isaiah 40:28) CHARNOCK The eternal God is thy refuge. God is a perpetual refuge and security to His people. His providence is not confined to one generation; it is not one age only that tastes of His bounty and compassion. His eye never yet slept, nor hath He suffered the little ship of His church to be swallowed up, though it hath been tossed upon the waves; He hath always been a haven to preserve us, a house to secure us; He hath always had compassion to pity us, and power to protect us; He hath had a face to shine, when the world hath had an angry countenance to frown. He brought Enoch home by an extraordinary translation from a brutish world; and when He was resolved to reckon with men for their brutish lives, He lodged Noah, the phœnix of the world, in an ark, and kept him alive as a spark in the midst of many waters, whereby to rekindle a church in the world; in all generations He is a dwelling-place to secure His people here or entertain them above. Deuteronomy 33:26-29 Everlasting Arms After a pre-concert rehearsal in New York City’s Carnegie Hall, Randall Atcheson sat on stage alone. He had successfully navigated the intricate piano compositions of Beethoven, Chopin, and Liszt for the evening program, and with only minutes remaining before the doors opened, he wanted to play one more piece for himself. What came from his heart and his hands was an old hymn by Elisha Hoffman: What have I to dread, what have I to fear, Leaning on the everlasting arms? I have blessed peace with my Lord so near, Leaning on the everlasting arms. Those words echo the truth in the final blessing of Moses: “There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides the heavens to help you, and in His excellency on the clouds. The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:26-27). What a gift we have in our own arms and hands—they can swing a hammer, hold a child, or help a friend. But while our strength is limited, God’s boundless power on our behalf is expressed in might and gentle care. “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save” (Isaiah 59:1). “He will gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom” (Isaiah 40:11). The heavenly Father’s arms never tire of holding His children Robert
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Spurgeon - As thy days, so shall thy strength be “As thy days, so shall thy strength be.” Deuteronomy 33:25 SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Psalm 91 What a varying promise it is! I do not mean that the promise varies, but adapts itself to all our changes. “As thy days, so shall thy strength be.” Here is a fine sunshiny morning; all the world is laughing; everything looks glad; the birds are singing, the trees seem to be all alive with music. “My strength shall be as my day is,” says the pilgrim. Ah! Pilgrim, there is a little black cloud gathering. Soon it increases; the flash of lightning wounds the heaven, and it begins to bleed in showers. Pilgrim, “As thy days, so shall thy strength be.” The birds have done singing, and the world has done laughing; but “as thy days, so shall thy strength be.” Now the dark night comes on, and another day approaches—a day of tempest, and whirlwind, and storm. Dost thou tremble, pilgrim?—“As thy days, so shall thy strength be.” “But there are robbers in the wood.”—“As thy days so shall thy strength be.” “But there are lions which devour me” “As thy days, so shall thy strength be.” “But there are rivers; how shall I swim them?” Here is a boat to carry thee over; “As thy days, so shall thy strength be.” “But there are fires: how shall I pass through them?” Here is the garment that will protect thee: “As thy days, so shall thy strength be.” “But there are arrows that fly by day.” Here is thy shield: “As thy days, so shall thy strength be.” “But there is the pestilence that walketh in darkness.” Here is thy antidote: “As thy days, so shall thy strength be.” Wherever you may be, and whatever trouble awaits you, “As thy days, so shall thy strength be.” Children of God, cannot you say that this has been true hitherto? I can. ALEX. McLAREN Each of us may be sure that if God sends us on stony paths He will provide us with strong shoes, and will not send us out on any journey for which He does not equip us well. M. A. KELTY. Watch your way, as a cautious traveller; and don’t be gazing at that mountain or river in the distance, and saying: “How shall I ever get over them?” but keep to the present little inch that is before you, and accomplish that in the little moment that belongs to it. The mountain and the river can only be passed in the same way; and when you come to them, you will come to the light and strength that belong to them. As thy days so shall thy strength be. I can do all things through Christ which strengthened me.—Phil. 4:13. He will not impose upon you one needless burden; He will not exact more than He knows your strength will bear; He will ask no Peter to come to Him on the water, unless He impart at the same time strength and support on the unstable wave; He will not ask you to draw water if the well is too deep, or withdraw the stone if too heavy. But neither at the same time will He admit as an impossibility that which, as a free and responsible agent, it is in your power to avert. He will not regard as your misfortune what is your crime. MACDUFF. Deuteronomy 33:26 "There is none like the God of Jeshurun, Who rides the heavens to your help, And through the skies in His majesty. none: Ex 15:11 Ps 86:8 Isa 40:18,25 43:11-13 66:8 Jer 10:6 Jeshurun: De 32:15 rides: Ps 18:10 68:4,33,34 104:3 Isa 19:1 Hab 3:8 THE INCOMPARABLE GOD OF JESHURUN There is none like the God of Jeshurun (4x in OT - Dt. 32:15, 33:5, 33:26; Isa. 44:2), Who rides the heavens to your help, And through the skies in His majesty - Jeshurun is a term of affection for Israel and is from yashar meaning “be upright." In Dt 33:7 Yahweh came to help Judah, but here He comes to help Israel. The Hebrew for help (ezer) is translated with boethos which pictures Jehovah running to Israel's aid on hearing the cry for help (cf Hebrews 2:18+ where com to the aid = boetheo and Hebrews 13:6+ where "Helper" = boethos). Merrill The image of Yahweh riding on the heavens and clouds (šāmayîm and šĕḥāqîm) is mythopoeic anthropomorphism adapted, no doubt, from pagan epic sources but with intensely polemic overtones against the depravity of pagan religious conception. The point was that it was not really Baal (or any other god) who rode in triumph in the heavens above, but it was the Lord alone who did so, he who is unique and solitary (cf. Ps 18:10; 68:33; 104:3). (New American Commentary) NET NOTE on Who rides the heavens - This title depicts Israel’s God as sovereign over the elements of the storm (cf. Ps 68:33). The picture is also of a God Who is instantly present with power to deliver in the time of need! The use of the phrase here may be polemical; Moses may be asserting that Israel’s God, not Baal (called the “rider of the clouds” in the Ugaritic myths), is the true divine king (cf. v. 5) who controls the elements of the storm, grants agricultural prosperity, and delivers his people from their enemies Help (05828) 'ezer is a masculine noun which means help, support. It can also refer to a helper or one who assists and serves another with what is needed. For example in the first OT use where Moses records "Then the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper ('ezer: LXX = boethos) suitable for him." (Ge 2:18) Ezer refers to aid or assistance that is given, whether material or immaterial. It is often Jehovah Who helps His people. Jehovah is called the shield or protection of Israel's help (Dt 33:29). The Septuagint translates 'azar most often with the word group that includes: boáo, boetheo, boethos, all conveying the general idea of running to the aid of one who cries out for help. Ezer - 21 verses - Gen. 2:18; Gen. 2:20; Exod. 18:4; Deut. 33:7; Deut. 33:26; Deut. 33:29; Ps. 20:2; Ps. 33:20; Ps. 70:5; Ps. 89:19; Ps. 115:9; Ps. 115:10; Ps. 115:11; Ps. 121:1; Ps. 121:2; Ps. 124:8; Ps. 146:5; Isa. 30:5; Ezek. 12:14; Dan. 11:34; Hos. 13:9 See also Ebenezer ("Stone of Help" - as in the Hymn "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing") Related Resource: Jehovah Ezer: The LORD our Helper: Easton's Bible Dictionary Jeshurun Fausset Bible Dictionary Jeshurun Holman Bible Dictionary Jeshurun Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible Jeshurun International Standard Bible Encyclopedia Jeshurun Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia Jeshurun McClintock and Strong's Bible Encyclopedia Jeshurun The Jewish Encyclopedia Jeshurun The Polemic against Baalism in Israel’s Early History and Literature -- Robert B. Chisholm Jr. Spurgeon - The Lord is the great joy and the delightful portion of his people. In nothing were the tribes of Israel so favoured as in having the true God to be their God. This was the great glory and the particular privilege of the chosen people, that the only living and Most High Jehovah had revealed himself to them and to their fathers, had taken them to be his people, and given himself to be their God. Truly, when Moses looked upon the gods of Egypt, a country so superstitious that the satirist wrote about them, “Oh happy nation, whose gods grow in their own gardens”—when he heard the wild mythology of their idolatry, he might well say, “There is no one among them all who is like the God of Jeshurun.” Perhaps Moses had seen those vast catacombs of idolized animals which Egyptian discoverers have recently opened, where the crocodiles, cats, and birds, which had been worshipped in life, were afterwards carefully consigned. Wise as Egypt professed to be, she preserved her dead gods in myriads. Dead gods! Hear it and be amazed at the folly of humanity. Truly, the imaginations of the most civilized nations have invented no deity comparable for a moment to the living God who made the heavens and the earth. The plagues of Egypt, as we have often been told, were all aimed against the gods of Egypt, and there was not a single deity adored by Egyptians that could stand against the Most High God. The river which they adored became loathsome to them when it was turned into blood, and yielded frogs in such abundance that the land stank. Their sacred insects swarmed until the very dust was full of horrible life, and the land was corrupted. Vain were their soothsayers and their idols, for Jehovah laughed them to scorn. Not only was Pharaoh put to the worst before Jehovah, but Egypt’s gods were humbled. When all the chivalry of Egypt came to the Red Sea, and descended into the space which God had cleared to make a highway for his people, when the bounding billows leaped upon them, covered as they were with the emblems of their false deities, and bearing standards inscribed with idolatrous signs, there was a triumph over all the idol gods as well as over their followers. Moses saw this, and therefore sang, “Who is like you, oh Lord, among the gods? who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?” Moses was often grieved when he saw the people of Israel going back in their thoughts to the foul idolatrous house of bondage, when he knew that they were ready at any time to make the image of Isis, the golden calf, and bow before it. He mourned that they harboured the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of their god, Remphan. He must have felt a holy horror that these images of mere demons, these pieces of gilded wood and carved stone, should ever be objects of Israel’s adoration. For what had they done? What could they do? They had eyes, but they could not see; hands, but they could not handle; feet, but they could not move; but the God of Jeshurun made the heavens, and then before their eyes made the heavens to drop with manna; he made the earth, and for their supply made the flinty rocks to flow with rivers. It was he who went before his people with a pillar of fire and cloud, made them victorious over all their enemies, and promised to bring them into the promised land. “Well,” said the man who had seen all this, “There is no one like the God of Jeshurun.” (Read Spurgeon's full sermon - Israel's God and God's Israel - Deuteronomy 33:26-28) QUESTION - What does it mean that God is the God of Jeshurun? ANSWER - In Isaiah 44:1–2, God comforts His people with these words: “But now listen, Jacob, my servant, Israel, whom I have chosen. This is what the Lord says— he who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you: Do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.” The name Jeshurun means “upright one” or “blessed one.” In the parallelism of Isaiah’s poetry, Jeshurun is a synonym for Jacob in the previous line. So we see that Jeshurun is a poetic reference to the nation of Israel. It is a term of endearment; the Greek Septuagint translates Jeshurun as “beloved one,” using a form of the word agape. The name Jeshurun is used four times in the books of Deuteronomy and Isaiah. In each case the name occurs in a poetic setting and refers to Israel, God’s beloved people. In Deuteronomy 32, Moses rehearses the history of Israel to that point, including a time when the Israelites were unfaithful to God in the wilderness: “Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; filled with food, they became heavy and sleek. They abandoned the God who made them and rejected the Rock their Savior” (Deuteronomy 32:15). As Moses begins his final blessings on the tribes of Israel, he says, “[The Lord] was king over Jeshurun when the leaders of the people assembled, along with the tribes of Israel” (Deuteronomy 33:5). Then, as Moses ends the same series of blessings, he says, “There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides across the heavens to help you and on the clouds in his majesty. The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:26–27). Israel could be called “Jeshurun” because of God’s mercy and forgiveness. Isaiah starts out his book with a condemnation of Israel’s sin, calling the people a “sinful nation . . . whose guilt is great” and a “brood of evildoers . . . given to corruption” (Isaiah 1:4). Yet God still tenderly calls them “Jeshurun,” the “upright one.” The children of Israel forsook the Lord: “They have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him” (verse 4). Yet God still lovingly calls them “Jeshurun,” the “beloved one.” Jeshurun is God’s grace on display. “He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:9–12). GotQuestions.org Deuteronomy 33:27 "The eternal God is a dwelling place, And underneath are the everlasting arms; And He drove out the enemy from before you, And said, 'Destroy!' eternal: 1Sa 15:29 Ps 90:1-2 102:24 Isa 9:6 25:4 57:15 Jer 10:10 Mic 5:2 1Ti 1:17 Heb 9:14 dwelling place: Ps 18:2 27:5 36:7 46:1,7,11 48:3 91:1,2,9,15 Pr 18:10 Isa 32:2 Lu 13:34 Php 3:9 underneath: Ge 49:24 Pr 10:25 Song 2:6 Isa 26:4 1Pe 1:5 Jude 1:24 drove out: De 9:3-5 Joh 10:28,29 Ro 8:2 16:20 Rev 20:2,3,10 OUR DWELLING PLACE: IN THE ALL ENCOMPASSING GOD The eternal God is a dwelling place (refuge) - "The everlasting God is a Refuge" (Dt 33:27NET) For Eternal God see El Olam: Everlasting God. (Note "eternal" here is not olam but qedem). THOUGHT - God Himself is our dwelling place and in the New Covenant God Himself dwells in His temple, our body! (cf Jn 14:23, 1 Cor 6:19-20+, 2 Cor 6:16+) It does not get much better than that - us in God and God in us! Try to wrap your mind around that truth! The next time you feel alone, meditate on the truth of you in God and God in you, forever and ever. Hallelujah! Amen! In Moses' great psalm, he elaborates on this great description of Elohim ... Psalm 90:1-2 A Prayer of Moses, the man of God. Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. 2 Before the mountains were born Or You gave birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. Spurgeon comments - Moses, in effect, says—wanderers though we be in the howling wilderness, yet we find a home in thee, even as our forefathers did when they came out of Ur of the Chaldees and dwelt in tents among the Canaanites. To the saints the Lord Jehovah, the self existent God, stands instead of mansion and rooftree; he shelters, comforts, protects, preserves, and cherishes all his own. Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the saints dwell in their God, and have always done so in all ages. Not in the tabernacle or the temple do we dwell, but in God himself; and this we have always done since there was a church in the world. We have not shifted our abode. Kings' palaces have vanished beneath the crumbling hand of time—they have been burned with fire and buried beneath mountains of ruins, but the imperial race of heaven has never lost its regal habitation. Go to the Palatine and see how the Caesars are forgotten of the halls which echoed to their despotic mandates, and resounded with the plaudits of the nations over which they ruled, and then look upward and see in the ever living Jehovah the divine home of the faithful, untouched by so much as the finger of decay. Where dwelt our fathers a hundred generations since, there dwell we still. It is of New Testament saints that the Holy Ghost has said, "He that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in God and God in him!" It was a divine mouth which said, "Abide in me", and then added, "he that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit." It is most sweet to speak with the Lord as Moses did, saying, "Lord, thou art our dwelling place", and it is wise to draw from the Lord's eternal condescension reasons for expecting present and future mercies, as the Psalmist did in the next Psalm wherein he describes the safety of those who dwell in God. Merrill - God the helper (ezer) is also God the refuge (maôn; cf. Ps 90:1; 91:9) who eternally exists to bear up his people (Deut 33:27a). A tender expression of this loving care occurs in Isa 40:11: Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, In His arm He will gather the lambs And carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes. Dwelling place (04585)(meonah) a feminine noun which means den (the ruins of desolate cities now the dwelling place of wild animals), habitation, refuge. Most frequently it designates the Lord’s dwelling place, i.e. heaven (always qualified with the word “holy”) and the temple (Ps 26:8). In Jer 21:13 it is a general figurative sense of God hunting for the habitations of people. Swanson - 1. animal den, lair, i.e., a place where wild animals live (Job 37:8; 38:40; Ps 104:22; Song 4:8; Am 3:4; Na 2:13); 2. refuge, i.e., a state of safety from danger as a figurative extension of a hiding place (Dt 33:27); 3. dwelling place, i.e., a place where one lives (Ps 76:2 God's "dwelling place also is in Zion"); 4.refuge, fortress, i.e., a construction that is a safe place from danger (Jer 21:13) Meonah - 9v - den(2), dens(4), dwelling place(2), habitations(1). Deut. 33:27; Job 37:8; Job 38:40; Ps. 76:2; Ps. 104:22; Song. 4:8; Jer. 21:13; Amos 3:4; Nah. 2:12 And underneath are the everlasting (olam) arms - This recalls the description of the picture of our God as like an "eagle" in Dt 32:11+ "Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, That hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions." Underneath is taḥat which in this context expresses the idea of support and stability. THOUGHT - Feeling unstable? Ponder your position! Under the omnipotent God's arms, which are omnipresent and everlasting! Really let that sink deep into your soul. Memorize this verse. Meditate on it (chew it thoroughly!) And then rest in this truth. The "hurricane" may still be blowing with ferocity, but in Yahweh's everlasting arms you are (as it were) firmly fixed in the "eye of the storm." (See picture depicting your position) Hold fast by faith (which is anchored to His Word of Truth) to the One Who holds you fast.