Deuteronomy 33:13

And of Joseph he said,.... The tribe of Joseph, as the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem: blessed of the Lord [be] his land; as the lands inherited by his sons were extremely fruitful, the countries

And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the LORD be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, Of Joseph he said, Blessed of the Lord be his land.

His portion shall be excellent, and endowed with choice blessings from God, as it here follows. For the precious things of heaven, i.e. the precious fruits of the earth brought forth by the influences of heaven, the warmth of the sun, and the rain which God will send from heaven. For the deep that coucheth beneath; the springs of water bubbling out of the earth.

Deuteronomy 33:13 And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the LORD [be] his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath,Ver. 13. And of Joseph.]

(13) And of Joseph he said.—The remark of Rashi is especially applicable here. “Thou wilt find in the case of all the tribes, that the blessing of Moses is drawn from the fountain of the blessing of Jacob.” As the voice of Judah, the office of Levi, and the situation of Benjamin are singled out for notice, so the land of Joseph is blessed. The deep that coucheth beneath.—Rashi observes that “the deep ascends in vapour, and also gives moisture from below.”

Verse 13. Blessed - be his land] The whole of this passage certainly relates to the peculiar fertility of the soil in the portion that fell to this tribe which, the Jews say, yielded a greater abundance of all good things than any other part of the promised land. The precious things of heaven] The peculiar mildness and salubrity of its atmosphere. For the dew] A plentiful supply of which was a great blessing in the dry soil of a hot climate. The deep that coucheth beneath] Probably referring to the plentiful supply of water which should be found in digging wells: hence the Septuagint have αβυσσωνπηγων, fountains of the deeps. Some suppose there has been a slight change made in the word מטל mittal, for the dew, which was probably at first מעל meal, FROM ABOVE, and then the passage would read thus: For the precious things of heaven FROM ABOVE, and for the deep that coucheth BENEATH. This reading is confirmed by several of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS. The Syriac and Chaldee have both readings: The dew of heaven from above.

13And of Joseph he said: Blessed of the Lord be his land, With the wealth of heaven above, And the deep that crouches beneath. 14With the wealth of the crops of the sun, And the wealth of the yield of the moons. 15With the best (?) from the hills of yore, And the wealth of the ancient heights. 16Even the wealth of the land and its fulness, And His favour who dwelt in the Bush. May they come on the head of Yosιph, On the skull of the crowned of his brothers! 17His firstling bull’s be the splendour, And his horns the horns of the wild ox! With them he thrusteth the peoples Together to the ends of the earth. These be the myriads of Ephraim, And these the thousands of Manasseh. The rather longer Blessing of Joseph in Genesis 49:22-26 dwells similarly on the richness of the territory, and on the primacy, of Joseph among the tribes. But it reflects, as this does not, a contest with foreign foes in which he has suffered severely, yet his strength is maintained by the help of the Mighty One of Jacob (the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel?), the God of thy father. The following are close parallels: Deuteronomy 33:13 with Genesis 49:25 c, d; Deuteronomy 33:16 c, d with 26 c, d. See Ryle’s notes. 13. For] Rather with or from, and so throughout 13–16. precious things] Heb. meged, exact meaning uncertain. It is found only here and in Son 4:13; Son 4:16; Son 7:13 (14) where its plur. is used with fruits: R.V. and Budde precious fruits, Haupt most luscious fruitage. Here it is similarly rendered by Steuern. ‘das Kφstlichste,’ Marti ‘das Herrlichste,’ Berth. ‘kφstliche Gabe.’ But from the Ar. analogue it is as likely that it meant lavishness, profusion or wealth. Sam. has issue or profluence. LXX in Deuteronomy 33:13 ἀπὸὡρῶν, in Deuteronomy 33:14 and Deuteronomy 33:16 καθʼ ? ὤραν, but in Deuteronomy 33:15 ἀπὸκορυφῆς reading rτsh twice. for the dew] So Sam. LXX. Read (with the change of one consonant) from above as in Genesis 49:25. the deep] Heb. Tehτm without the art. as always, because originally the proper name of the mythical monster, Bab. Tiβmat, identified with the Ocean and its supposed extension below, as well as around, the earth, the source of springs and fountains; cp. LXX ἀπὸἀβύσσωνπηγῶν. The personification further survives in the epithet couching or crouching. See on Deuteronomy 8:7.

Comparing the words of Moses with those of Jacob, it will be seen that the patriarch dwells with emphasis on the severe conflicts which Joseph, i.

13. Of Joseph he said — In Genesis 49:22, Joseph is described as a fruitful tree planted by the water. Moses in poetic language portrays the prosperity and power of the two tribes descended from the sons of Joseph.