EXPOSITION LXXV.

DEUTERONOMY Xxxiii. 18-25.

18. And of Zebulun he said, Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out; and, Issachar, in thy tents.

19. They shall call the people unto the mountain ; there they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness: for they shall suck of the abundance of the seas, and of treasures hid in the sand.

Zebulun and Issachar are here united in one blessing, as the children of Leah; and probably, for the same reason, their territories were afterwards adjoining to each other in the land of Canaan. The lot of Zebulun touched upon the Mediterranean, while that of Issachar was separated from the sea, by the half tribe of Manasseh. There was evidently a reference to this difference of position, in the difference of the blessing; for of Zebulun it was predicted, that he should rejoice in his going out, and of Issachar in his remaining at home. It is interesting to remark how precisely this blessing of Moses agrees, not only with the territorial possessions of Zebulun, and with what came to pass in after years, but with the original blessing pronounced upon this tribe by

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their great progenitor, Jacob himself: "Zebulun shall dwell safely at the haven of the sea, and he shall be for a haven of ships." "This was

the going out," in which he was to rejoice, and "to suck of the abundance of the seas;" for we find he became a very thriving and prosperous tribe in trading by sea, while Issachar contented himself with his flocks and herds. It was thus also that Zebulun had, in a peculiar manner, the opportunity of calling the people, or the nations, "unto the mountain," on which the Lord's house was afterwards established; while who shall say, that there might not here be a reference even to a higher and a more distant blessing, when, as we are told in the Gospel, "The land of Zabulun, and the land of Naphthalin, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; the people which sat in darkness saw a great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up.”

How important to us, as a nation, is the consideration that the same tribe which should be blessed by "the abundance of the seas," was expected also to use that abundance, and the influence which their naval superiority bestowed upon them, not merely to" suck" out these advantages, in the expressive language of Scripture, but in calling the nations with whom they

trafficked, to" offer sacrifices of righteousness." Never shall we fulfil our great duties, and, we believe, our great destiny, as a nation, until we learn that commerce and Christianity should travel hand in hand; that no vessel should leave our shores without carrying forth the bread of life; and that in all our colonisations and settlements, our first object should be, to endeavour to advance the knowledge and the glory of our God, and the spiritual kingdom of our Redeemer. Had this been the feeling and spirit in which all our enterprises had been undertaken, how dif ferent at this moment might have been the state of those distant possessions which the Almighty has been pleased to bestow upon our arms! while, instead of our present precarious tenure of the vast Eastern continent, it might have been for ever united to us in the bonds of the brotherhood of the Gospel of Christ.

20. And of Gad he said, Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad: he dwelleth as a lion, and teareth the arm with the crown of the head.

21. And he provided the first part for himself, because there, in a portion of the lawgiver, was he seated; and he came with the heads of the people, he executed the justice of the Lord, and his judgments with Israel.

The blessing of Gad evidently implies, how

ever obscurely worded, that this should be a fierce and valiant tribe, " dwelling as a lion;" and this seems fully corroborated, when mention is made of them in the book of Chronicles, as going over to David, where they are thus described : men of might, and men of war, fit for the battle, that can handle shield and buckler, whose faces were like the faces of lions :" they put to flight all them of the valleys, both toward the east and toward the west."* It may seem, at first sight, a little at variance with the warlike attributes of this tribe, when it is predicted, "In a portion of the lawgiver was he seated," as though he were to exercise some judicial authority over his brethren. But upon examining the settlement of Gad, we find this prediction capable of a very different, and very obvious interpretation. It says, " He provided the first part for himself;" this was fulfilled by his having the territories of Sihon, which were the first conquered; while the declaration that he should be seated in a portion of the lawgiver," appears to have been fulfilled by Gad receiving his settlement from the hand of Moses, the lawgiver of Israel, while the nine tribes and a half received them from the hand of Joshua.+

* 1 Chron. xii. 8, 15.

+ Joshua xiii. 7, 8.

22. And of Dan he said, Dan is a lion's whelp: he shall leap from Bashan.

23. And of Naphtali he said, O Naphtali, satisfied with favour, and full with the blessing of the Lord: possess thou the west and the south.

24. 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.

25. Thy shoes shall be iron and brass and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.

These concluding blessings upon the three remaining tribes of Dan and Naphtali and Asher, are all obviously filled with both spiritual and temporal mercies; while the promise with which they are wound up, has ever been among the choicest possessions of the church of God," As thy days, so shall thy strength be." How many a sinking sufferer has looked to this and been holpen for surely the Lord's arm is not shortened that it should fulfil this blessed promise only to his church of old; no, thousands and tens of thousands of the redeemed family of our Lord have pleaded this blessed promise, and have not been sent empty away. Is our day a day of health and prosperity, replete with those trials, under which some of the strongest have fallen, great is our need of guiding and restraining grace, and if we earnestly seek it in the