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Deuteronomy 33 Bible study: Underneath are the everlasting arms
Moses, called "the man of God" here for the first time in the Bible, blesses the tribes as Jacob did, but differently: Levi, whom Jacob said he would scatter, is blessed with the Thummim and Urim; Dan, not Judah, is "a lion’s cub"; Simeon isn't named. And God frames it all: "The eternal God is your dwelling place. Underneath are the everlasting arms" (33:27).
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“The eternal God is your dwelling place. Underneath are the everlasting arms. He thrust out the enemy from before you, and said, ‘Destroy!’”
Try it · Did you catch it?
“In Moses' blessing, Levi's blessing begins with the Thummim and the Urim.”
Is that in Deuteronomy 33, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
A blessing before his death
"This is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death" (33:1). The LORD had already told him, "Behold, your days approach that you must die" (31:14). Jacob did the same at the end of his life: "this is what their father spoke to them, and blessed them" (Genesis 49:28), and then he "breathed his last breath" (Genesis 49:33). So the Bible has two blessings of the tribes, one from Jacob and one from Moses, and this chapter is worth reading with Genesis 49 open beside it. And Moses is given a title here that the Bible hasn't used before: "the man of God" (33:1).
Where it leads to Jesus
Held, and no one can snatch them
Deuteronomy 33:27leads toJohn 10:28-29
Moses says, "Yes, he loves the people. All his saints are in your hand" (33:3), and "The eternal God is your dwelling place. Underneath are the everlasting arms" (33:27). Jesus says of his sheep, "I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand" (John 10:28), and "No one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand" (John 10:29). Jesus doesn't cite Deuteronomy 33, so setting them side by side is a reading. Some hear in Jesus' words the same safety Moses spoke of: God's own held in his hand, with his arms underneath them. Others read 33:27 in its own setting, the LORD who "thrust out the enemy from before you" (33:27) so that "Israel dwells in safety" (33:28), and read John 10 on its own, of the sheep who "hear my voice" (John 10:27).
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Deuteronomy 33
That was a taste
The rest of Deuteronomy 33 is waiting in Favor
- The LORD before the tribes, and after them
- Jacob's blessing and Moses' blessing
- Levi, in both blessings
- Joseph, in Jacob's words and in Moses'
- A dwelling place, and arms underneath
- 14 questions as you read
- 12 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
Favor reads the Bible in order, so you'll reach Deuteronomy 33 with everything before it in view. First week free, then $10 a month per person.
The Hebrew word behind it
יְשֻׁרוּןYeshurunsay ye-shoo-ROON
Strong's: "upright; Jeshurun, a symbolic name for Israel". Brown-Driver-Briggs: "poetic name of Israel, designating it under its ideal character". It comes only four times in the Hebrew Bible, three of them in Moses' song and blessing: "But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked" (32:15), "He was king in Jeshurun" (33:5), and "There is no one like God, Jeshurun" (33:26). The fourth is Isaiah: "you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen" (Isaiah 44:2). In this chapter it stands just before the blessings of the tribes begin (33:5) and just after they end (33:26).
For your group
Deuteronomy 33 Bible study questions
- 1Jacob and Moses both spoke a blessing over the tribes at the end of their lives (Genesis 49:28; 33:1). If you could speak one blessing over someone close to you, who would it be for, and what would you say?
- 2"The eternal God is your dwelling place. Underneath are the everlasting arms" (33:27). When have you been held up when you couldn't hold yourself up? What helped you see it?
- 3Levi "didn’t acknowledge his brothers, nor did he know his own children; for they have observed your word" (33:9). Where does following God pull against what the people closest to you expect? How do you handle it?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Deuteronomy 33 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home