Naphtali's position was in the north of Canaan, and had its southern border adjacent to the sea of Galilee. A large proportion of our Lord's ministrations were bestowed on the inhabitants within this district. Obviously the heads of this tribe in Moses' day aspired after the best possessions.
I. WE OBSERVE HERE THE BEST HUMAN AMBITION, "Satisfied with favor." It is scarcely conjecture that imports into Moses' words the meaning, "the favor of God;" for in the next clause he mentions distinctly the "blessing of the Lord." No other favor can satisfy save the "favor of Jehovah." This is all-sufficient - an ocean, in which the soul of man can bathe itself with amplest delight. This phrase, "the favor, or grace, of God," includes everything which God can supply for human need. In it is embraced light, pardon, Divine friendship, purity, peace, strength, liberty, rest. A comprehensive prayer is this, "Oh, satisfy me early with thy mercy!"
II. WE NOTE THE BEST AMBITION SATISFIED. "Full with the blessing of the Lord." We often desire inferior good, and desire in vain. The love of God is too deep and wise to indulge our foolish requests. But when we ask for highest good, and desire it earnestly, we never fail to obtain. What man ever sued for grace and was sent empty away? No; God's chief complaint is that we come too seldom, and ask too little at his hands. Still he says to us, "Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it." The possession and wise use of God's grace enlarges our capacity to receive. It is a cure for all murmuring and discontent.
III. WE SEE HOW, WITH THE HIGHEST BLESSING, GOD GIVES THE LOWER UNASKED. Naphtali desired to be satisfied with the Divine favor; and a voice was commissioned to say, "Possess thou the sea and the south." It is a recognized method of God's procedure that when men ask for spiritual riches, God grants both spiritual and temporal good. In Gibeah, God appeared to Solomon, and proposed to him, "Ask what I shall give thee;" and when Solomon craved to possess the gift of wisdom, his generous God assured him that not only should wisdom be his, but things he had not asked-even unprecedented riches and honor. To the same effect, our Lord affirmed, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all other (needed) things shall be added unto you." He is" able to do for us exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think." - D.
And of Naphtali he said.
It may seem to anyone who looks upon a map of Canaan as divided amongst the tribes, that this definition of locality is far enough from corresponding with the facts. Simeon's lot would better answer to the description here, for he did occupy the southwest corner of the Promised Land; whilst Naphtali's territory was in the extreme north, and had another tribe, Asher, on its western border. Hence it is probable that the Hebrew word translated "west" should have here another meaning which very frequently belongs to it, and should be rendered "sea," referring to the well-known sea of Chinnereth, or Gennesaret. This interpretation would agree very happily with the actual boundaries of Naphtali upon the map; for by far the greater portion of this famous lake belonged to the tribe, and its southern border stretched in a right line westward from the sea until it met the frontier of Asher's lot. The most ancient Jewish interpreters adopt this explanation of the blessing, and point out how well the appearance and resources of Naphtali's portion justify the enthusiastic language of congratulation which Moses has employed. In the days when they wrote, the plain of Gennesaret and the great inland district of Galilee which stretched northward to the roots of Lebanon, were the most populous and flourishing parts of Palestine. The first fruits were brought to the temple at Jerusalem from Mount Naphtali before they were ripe for gathering anywhere else; so that the men of this tribe were always the first to receive the benediction of Jehovah's priests upon each new harvest. Solomon drew from this same region the largest supplies of food for the expensive entertainment of his court; and in David's time, Naphtali, with Zebulun's aid, was able to feast all Israel abundantly for three days with stores which they brought up to Hebron "on asses, and on camels, and on mules, and on oxen." This was an ample fulfilment in temporal things of the blessing which Moses pronounced upon the tribe. But there is a passage in Isaiah (
Isaiah 9:1, 2; comp.
Matthew 4:1) which seems to intimate that there was a hidden spiritual reference in the lavish outpouring of "favour" from the Lord of which Naphtali is here assured. The first fruits of Messiah's ministry were to be vouchsafed to this same highly-favoured region, a city of which, Capernaum, was indeed chosen by the Lord Jesus as His dwelling place for one whole "acceptable year." Too little, indeed, did the men of Galilee understand their high privilege; and though they might have been satiated with the spiritual blessings which were thus brought to their door, they suffered the day of visitation to pass by them unused. Therefore the failure of their blessing in its highest sense serves now as a warning to the men who have received still better promises from God through Christ. Many of these are ready to boast that they are "full," and that they "reign as kings," being "rich, and increased with goods, and in need of nothing"; yet is there only one substantial ground on which to build these confident professions. In Christ are hid all treasures of spiritual blessing. He who has Christ is more than satisfied, but he who rejects Christ, or who lets Christ dwell near him unrecognised and unappropriated in His great salvation, is empty and beggared, though all riches of corn and wine may be increased to him (
1 Corinthians 3:21-23;
1 Corinthians 4:8;
Revelation 3:17-20).
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People
Asher,
Benjamin,
Dan,
Gad,
Israelites,
Issachar,
Jacob,
Joseph,
Levi,
Manasseh,
Moses,
Naphtali,
Reuben,
Seir,
ZebulunPlaces
Bashan,
Massah,
Meribah,
Moab,
Mount Paran,
Seir,
SinaiTopics
Abounding, Blessing, Favor, Favour, Fishes, Full, Glad, Grace, Inherit, Lake, Naphtali, Naph'tali, O, Pleasure, Possess, Possession, Satisfied, South, Southward, WestOutline
1. The majesty of God6. The blessings of the twelve tribes26. The excellence of IsraelDictionary of Bible Themes
Deuteronomy 33:23 6667 grace, in OT
8261 generosity, God's
8460 pleasing God
Deuteronomy 33:1-29
8638 benedictions
Library
Israel the Beloved
'The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by Him; and the Lord shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between His shoulders.'--DEUT. xxxiii. 12. Benjamin was his father's favourite child, and the imagery of this promise is throughout drawn from the relations between such a child and its father. So far as the future history of the tribes is shadowed in these 'blessings' of this great ode, the reference of the text may be to the tribe of Benjamin, as specially distinguished by Saul …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy ScriptureShod for the Road
'Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.' DEUT. xxxiii. 25. There is a general correspondence between those blessings wherewith Moses blessed the tribes of Israel before his death, and the circumstances and territory of each tribe in the promised land. The portion of Asher, in whose blessing the words of our text occurs, was partly the rocky northern coast and partly the fertile lands stretching to the base of the Lebanon. In the inland part of their territory …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture
God and his Saints
'He loved the people; all His saints are in Thy hand: and they sat down at Thy feet; every one shall receive of Thy words.'--DEUT. xxxiii. 3. The great ode of which these words are a part is called 'the blessing wherewith Moses blessed the children of Israel before his death.' It is mainly an invocation of blessing from Heaven on the various tribes, but it begins, as the national existence of Israel began, with the revelation of God on Sinai, and it lays that as the foundation of everything. It …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture
Shoes of Iron, and Strength Sufficient: a New Year's Promise
"And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil. Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be."--Deuteronomy 33:24-25. I once heard an old minister say that he thought the blessing of Asher was peculiarly the blessing of ministers; and his eyes twinkled as he added, "At any rate, they are usually blessed with children, and it is a great blessing for them if they are acceptable to their …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 35: 1889
"As Thy Days, So Shall Thy Strength Be"
In addressing you this morning, I shall first have to notice the self-weakness which is implied in our text; secondly, I shall come to the great promise of the text; and then I shall try and draw one or two inferences from it, ere I conclude. I. First, the SELF-WEAKNESS HINTED AT IN THE TEXT. To keep to my figure, if this promise be like a star, you know there is no seeing the stars in the daytime when we stand here upon the upper land; we must go down a deep well, and then we shall be able to discover …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 4: 1858
2D Day. Needful Grace.
"He is Faithful that Promised." "As thy days, so shall thy strength be."--DEUT. xxxiii. 25. Needful Grace. God does not give grace till the hour of trial comes. But when it does come, the amount of grace, and the nature of the special grace required is vouchsafed. My soul, do not dwell with painful apprehension on the future. Do not anticipate coming sorrows; perplexing thyself with the grace needed for future emergencies; to-morrow will bring its promised grace along with to-morrow's trials. …
John Ross Macduff—The Faithful Promiser
Covenanting Predicted in Prophecy.
The fact of Covenanting, under the Old Testament dispensations, being approved of God, gives a proof that it was proper then, which is accompanied by the voice of prophecy, affording evidence that even in periods then future it should no less be proper. The argument for the service that is afforded by prophecy is peculiar, and, though corresponding with evidence from other sources, is independent. Because that God willed to make known truth through his servants the prophets, we should receive it …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting
Within what Tribe the Lake of Gennesaret Was.
By comparing the maps with the Talmudic writers, this question ariseth: for there is not one among them, as far as I know, which does not altogether define the sea of Gennesaret to be without the tribe of Naphthali; but the Talmudists do most plainly place it within. "The Rabbins deliver: The sea of Tiberias is in the portion of Naphtali; yea, it takes a full line for the nets on the south side of it: as it is said, 'Possess the sea and the south,' Deuteronomy 33:23." The Gloss is; "(Naphtali) had …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica
1872 the Need of a Home Further West --Burning of the Marchmont Home --Home Restored by Canadian Gifts --Miss Macpherson and Miss Reavell Arrive in Canada
The need of a Home further West--Burning of the Marchmont Home--Home restored by Canadian gifts--Miss Macpherson and Miss Reavell arrive in Canada--First visit to Knowlton in the East--Belleville Home restored by Canadian friends--Help for the Galt Home--Miss Macpherson returns to England--Miss Reavell remains at Galt. In her first letter on returning to England Miss Macpherson writes:-- "BELOVED FELLOW-WORKERS,--Once more at home among the old familiar scenes in the East of London, the sadness …
Clara M. S. Lowe—God's Answers
Second Part
Aphrahat the Persian Sage. 1. Name of Author of Demonstrations long Unknown.--The author of the Demonstrations, eight of which appear (for the first time in an English version) in the present volume, has a singular literary history. By nationality a Persian, in an age when Zoroastrianism was the religion of Persia, he wrote in Syriac as a Christian theologian. His writings, now known to us as the works of Aphrahat, were remembered, cited, translated, and transcribed for at least two centuries …
Ephraim the Syrian—Hymns and Homilies of Ephraim the Syrian
With Israel's God who Can Compare?
…
John Newton—Olney Hymns
On Deut. xxxiii. Ii
On Deut. xxxiii. II Hippolytus, the expositor of the Targum, has said that Moses, when he had finished this prophecy, also pronounced a blessing upon all the children of Israel, by their several tribes, and prayed for them. Then God charged Moses, saying to him, Go up to Mount Nebo, which indeed is known by the name of the mount of the Hebrews, which is in the land of Moab over against Jericho. And He said to him: View the land of Chanaan, which I am to give to the children of Israel for an inheritance. …
Hippolytus—The Extant Works and Fragments of Hippolytus
The Best Things Work for Good to the Godly
WE shall consider, first, what things work for good to the godly; and here we shall show that both the best things and the worst things work for their good. We begin with the best things. 1. God's attributes work for good to the godly. (1). God's power works for good. It is a glorious power (Col. i. 11), and it is engaged for the good of the elect. God's power works for good, in supporting us in trouble. "Underneath are the everlasting arms" (Deut. xxxiii. 27). What upheld Daniel in the lion's den? …
Thomas Watson—A Divine Cordial
Subterraneous Places. Mines. Caves.
Thus having taken some notice of the superficies of the land, let us a little search into its bowels. You may divide the subterraneous country into three parts: the metal mines, the caves, and the places of burial. This land was eminently noted for metal mines, so that "its stones," in very many places, "were iron, and out of its hills was digged brass," Deuteronomy 8:9. From these gain accrued to the Jews: but to the Christians, not seldom slavery and misery; being frequently condemned hither by …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica
Wesley's Hymns Reconsidered
Bernard Manning A paper read before the Cambridge University Methodist Society on February 9, 1939. SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE, sometime Scholar of Jesus College in the University of Cambridge, once wrote some ingenious verses {Metrical Feet: Lesson for a Boy.} to help his sons to remember the chief sorts of metre. If Coleridge had been a Methodist instead of a pilgrim from Anglicanism to Unitarianism and back again, he would have needed to do no such thing: he would have needed only to advise his boys …
Bernard L. Manning—The Hymns of Wesley and Watts: Five Papers
The Covenant of an Everlasting Priesthood
"That My covenant might be with Levi. My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared Me, and was afraid before My name. The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips; he walked with Me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity."--MAL. ii. 4-6. ISRAEL was meant by God to be a nation of priests. In the first making of the Covenant this was distinctly stipulated. "If ye will obey My voice, and keep My covenant, …
Andrew Murray—The Two Covenants
An Exposition on the First Ten Chapters of Genesis, and Part of the Eleventh
An unfinished commentary on the Bible, found among the author's papers after his death, in his own handwriting; and published in 1691, by Charles Doe, in a folio volume of the works of John Bunyan. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR Being in company with an enlightened society of Protestant dissenters of the Baptist denomination, I observed to a doctor of divinity, who was advancing towards his seventieth year, that my time had been delightfully engaged with John Bunyan's commentary on Genesis. "What," …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3
Manner of Covenanting.
Previous to an examination of the manner of engaging in the exercise of Covenanting, the consideration of God's procedure towards his people while performing the service seems to claim regard. Of the manner in which the great Supreme as God acts, as well as of Himself, our knowledge is limited. Yet though even of the effects on creatures of His doings we know little, we have reason to rejoice that, in His word He has informed us, and in His providence illustrated by that word, he has given us to …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting
Jesus Works his First Miracle at Cana in Galilee.
^D John II. 1-11. ^d 1 And the third day [From the calling of Philip (John i. 43). The days enumerated in John's first two chapters constitute a week, and may perhaps be intended as a contrast to the last week of Christ's ministry ( John xii. 1). It took two days to journey from the Jordan to Cana] there was a marriage [In Palestine the marriage ceremony usually began at twilight. The feast after the marriage was at the home of the bridegroom, and was sometimes prolonged for several days (Gen. xxix. …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel
Adam's Sin
Q-15: WHAT WAS THE SIN WHEREBY OUR FIRST PARENTS FELL FROM THE ESTATE WHEREIN THEY WERE CREATED? A: That sin was eating the forbidden fruit. 'She took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also to her husband.' Gen 3:3. Here is implied, 1. That our first parents fell from their estate of innocence. 2. The sin by which they fell, was eating the forbidden fruit. I. Our first parents fell from their glorious state of innocence. God made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions.' Eccl …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity
Mount Zion.
"For ye are not come unto a mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that no word more should be spoken unto them: for they could not endure that which was enjoined, If even a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned; and so fearful was the appearance, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake: but ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto …
Thomas Charles Edwards—The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Hebrews
Notes on the Third Century
Page 161. Line 1. He must be born again, &c. This is a compound citation from John iii. 3, and Mark x. 15, in the order named. Page 182. Line 17. For all things should work together, &c. See Romans viii. 28. Page 184. Lines 10-11. Being Satan is able, &c. 2 Corinthians xi. 14. Page 184. Last line. Like a sparrow, &c. Psalm cii. Page 187. Line 1. Mechanisms. This word is, in the original MS., mechanicismes.' Page 187. Line 7. Like the King's daughter, &c. Psalm xlv. 14. Page 188. Med. 39. The best …
Thomas Traherne—Centuries of Meditations
Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
Text: Romans 13, 8-10. 8 Owe no man anything, save to love one another: for he that loveth his neighbor hath fulfilled the law. 9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not covet, and if there be any other commandment, it is summed up in this word, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbor; love therefore is the fulfilment of the law. CHRISTIAN LOVE AND THE COMMAND TO LOVE. 1. This, like the two …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II
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