Read Deuteronomy 33 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew Paragraphs:
33:1-6 {s} The giving of the Torah/ The blessing on Reuben
33:7 {p} The blessing on Judah
33:8-11 {s} The blessing on Levi
33:12 {s} The blessing on Benjamin
33:13-17 {s} The blessing on Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh)
33:18-19 {s} The blessing on Zebulun and Issachar
33:20-21 {s} The blessing on Gad
33:22-23 {s} The blessing on Dan and Naphtali
33:24-29 {s} The blessing on Asher/ The excellency of God
That the first paragraph and last paragraph share a blessing on one of the tribes, without them being in their own paragraph, put me in mind that this chapter might make its own Chiastic Structure. And, as it turns out, it does:
The addition of the proper name Jeshurun, rarely used in Scripture, forces the A pair together. (To test the structure, I mapped the substructure for 2A, since it is a partial paragraph; if the main structure wasn’t divided correctly, a partial paragraph would not make its own structure. But, it does.) The message of the A pair, to me, is that God’s Law is also Israel’s help, which, if followed, causes them to dwell in safety and plenty, for one of its purposes is to add blessing in this natural life, on this side of heaven.
If there are questions, these are good resources:
The Hebrew Root Word of the proper name Jeshurun is Strong’s H3474, ישר yashar – Christine Miller
Finding Messiah in Deuteronomy 33:1-29 – Christine Miller
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