The Blessing of Moses is a poem that appears in Deuteronomy at 33:2-27. According to the modern documentary hypothesis the poem was an originally seperate text, that was inserted by the deuteronomist into the second edition (of 2), of the text which became Deuteronomy (i.e. was an addition in 'Dtr2'). Poetry (ancient Greek: poieo = create) is an art form in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or instead of, its notional and semantic content. ... Jump to: navigation, search Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible. ... Jump to: navigation, search The documentary hypothesis is a theory proposed by many historians and academics in the field of linguistics and source criticism that the Five Books of Moses (the Torah) are in fact a combination of documents from different sources rather than authored by one individual. ... The Deuteronomist (D) is one of the sources of the Torah postulated by the documentary hypothesis that treats the texts of Scripture as products of human intellect, working in time. ...

The poem presents an opinion of the merits and attributes of each of the Tribes of Israel, and so can be compared with the Blessing of Jacob, which has the same theme. However, there is very little in common between the poems, except for describing one of the tribes as a judge, and another as a lion's whelp, though in the Blessing of Moses it is Gad that is the judge and Dan the whelp, whereas in the other poem it is Dan that is the judge and Judah the whelp. Also, unlike the Blessing of Jacob, that of Moses is positive towards all the mentioned tribes. This is a list of the Tribes of Israel. ... Jump to: navigation, search Binomial name Panthera leo (Linnaeus, 1758) The Lion (Panthera leo) is a mammal of the family Felidae. ... The Tribe of Gad (גָּד soldier, Standard Hebrew Gad, Tiberian Hebrew Gāḏ) is one of the Hebrew tribes, founded by Gad son of Jacob, who was born to Zilpah, the handmaiden of Jacobs first wife, Leah. ... The Tribe of Dan (דָּן Judge, Standard Hebrew Dan, Tiberian Hebrew Dān) is one of the Hebrew tribes, which the Bible claims was founded by Dan, son of Jacob and Bilhah, Rachels maidservant (Genesis 30:4). ...

The poem notably does not describe Simeon, which may provide a date for the composition of the poem, as Simeon are believed to have gradually lost their tribal identity, since its traditional territory was wholly within that of Judah. The poem also only mentions each tribe briefly, except for the Joseph tribes and Levi, which may indicate both that the poem originated within the Levite priesthood, within the territory of the Joseph tribes, or more generally the northern kingdom of Israel, where Ephraim, a Joseph tribe, was the most prominent. This entry incorporates text from Eastons Bible Dictionary, 1897, with some modernisation. ... The Tribe of Judah (יְהוּדָה Praise, Standard Hebrew Yəhuda, Tiberian Hebrew Yəhûḏāh) is one of the Hebrew tribes, founded by Judah son of Jacob. ... The Tribe of Joseph is not usually listed with the Hebrew tribes although Joseph is one of Jacobs twelve sons, the eldest of Rachel. ... In the Jewish tradition, a Levite (לוי Attached, Standard Hebrew Levi, Tiberian Hebrew Lēwî) is a member of the Hebrew tribe of Levi. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Kingdom of Israel (Hebrew: מַלְכוּת יִשְׂרָאֵל, Standard Hebrew Malḫut Yisraʼel, Tiberian Hebrew Malḵûṯ YiÅ›rāʼēl) was the Kingdom proclaimed by the Israelite nation around 1050 BCE. The nation itself was formed as the Israelites left the Land of Goshen, Egypt during the Exodus at... Tribe of Ephraim (Hebrew alphabet אֶפְרַיִם / אֶפְרָיִם double fruitfulness, Standard Hebrew Efráyim, Tiberian Hebrew ʾEp̄ráyim / ʾEp̄rāyim) - took precedence over that of Manasseh by virtue of Jacobs blessing (Gen. ...

It is difficult to establish the connection of the blessing of Moses with that of Jacob. Most authorities maintain that the former depended directly upon the latter; and their chief argument is based on the passage on Joseph, part of which is contained also in Jacob's blessing. But there can hardly be a doubt that the passage on Joseph in Jacob's blessing was amplified from the material contained in the blessing of Moses. Otherwise a similar argument might be based upon the same arrangement in each blessing of the tribes of Zebulun and Issachar, and upon other points of agreement which, however, indicate a similarity of the matter rather than any direct connection. At all events, there are striking differences between the two blessings.

Dubious verses

The blessing of Moses, like Jacob's blessing, contains only a few benedictions, most of the verses describing the condition of the tribes at the time of the author. Like the text of Jacob's blessing, the text of these verses is not intact: the beginning (verses 2 and 3) has suffered much mutilation; and even with the help of the versions it is impossible to fill the gap. Perhaps the introduction and the conclusion were not written by the author of the blessing itself. Steuernagel, in his commentary on Deuteronomy, points out that the transition from verse 5 to verse 6 and from verse 25 to verse 26 is very abrupt, and that the contents of the introduction and the conclusion are of an entirely different nature from that of the other verses. Verses 26 et seq. seem to connect with verse 5; and the assumption is natural that the benedictory verses were later insertions. Verses 9 and 10 presumably were also the work of a later author.

Probable Date of Origin.

However that may be, it is certain that the blessing of Moses is of later date than the kernel of Jacob's blessing. While in the latter Simeon and Levi (comp. Gen. xxxiv.) are censured on account of their sin and are threatened with dispersion in Israel (Gen. xlix. 5-7), the blessing of Moses does not mention Simeon at all; and in it Levi appears as the tribe of priests, although not yet assured of the sacerdotal office, nor respected for holding it. Rather he meets with persecutions, and these probably from the persons who dispute his right to the priesthood (Deut. xxxiii. 8 et seq.). While in Jacob's blessing Reuben is threatened with the loss of his birthright, the wish is expressed in the other blessing: "May Reuben live, and not die; and may not his men be few." This is a clear indication that Reuben before this time had sunk into a state of absolute insignificance. And while again the passage on Joseph in the one designates a period in which this tribe successfully defended itself against its enemies, the corresponding passage in the other (Gen. xlix. 22 et seq.) points to a time when Ephraim maintained his power undiminished and defeated his enemies on all sides: "His [Joseph's] glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth" (Deut. xxxiii. 17). This verse certainly refers to a later time than the Syrian wars under Ahab. It more probably refers to the time of Jeroboam II., who was more successful than any of his predecessors in defeating Israel's enemies. It is likely that the passage on Gad alludes to the same period, in which this tribe successfully withstood the Syrians.

Dillmann's statement (in his Commentary on Numbers and Deuteronomy, p. 415) that the blessing of Judah points to the period immediately after the separation of the two kingdoms is hardly correct. He bases his opinion on the fact that the praise of Levi and Benjamin, together with what is saidabout Judah and Joseph, could apply only to this period. Steuernagel suggests that the allusion might be to the victory of the Edomites (II Kings xiv. 7), which perhaps put a stop to the distress caused Judah by Edom. Perhaps, also, the allusion might be to the situation described in II Kings xii. 18 et seq. At all events, without stretching a point, such passages as those on Benjamin and Levi may be assumed to refer to the beginning of the eighth century B.C., and the passage on Joseph hardly presupposes the period of Jeroboam I. Hence Reuss ("Gesch. der Heiligen Schriften des Alten Testaments," p. 213), Cornill ("Einleitung in das Alte Testament," p. 72), and others are justified in considering the blessing of Moses to have originated in the eighth century B.C. In any case, none of the verses indicates the authorship of Moses; this tradition is not implied in any feature of the blessing itself, and is merely referred to in the introductory and closing verses (xxxi. 30, xxxii. 44a), which are intended to furnish a setting to the poem and to establish the connection between its various sections.

External links

• The blessing of Moses, in isolation, at wikisource

References

• R. H. Graf, Der Segen Moses, 1857;
• C. J. Ball, The Blessing of Moses, in Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archeology, 1896, pp. 118-137;
• A. Van der Flier, Deuteronomium, 1895, p. 33;
• A. Kamphausen, Das Lied Moses;
• Klostermann, Das Lied Moses und das Deuteronomium, in Theologische Studien und Kritiken, 1871-1872 (a series of articles).