Deuteronomy 33:18 - Meaning and Application

Zebulun and Issachar are blessed together here, because they were both sons of Jacob by Leah and lived near each other in Canaan. Moses says they should both have a good life and useful work. Zebulun is told to rejoice in going out, whether that means going out to war, where he risked his life on the battlefield (Judges 5:18), or going out by sea, since Zebulun became a harbor for ships (Genesis 49:13). Issachar is told to rejoice in his tents, meaning in his work at home, his farming, which was the kind of life most men in that tribe chose, because they saw that quiet land life was good (Genesis 49:14-15).

God wisely places people in different places and gives them different gifts and jobs for the good of all. Some are suited to books, some to the sea, some to war, some to farming, some to trade, and some to crafts. This is how God orders the common good, just as the parts of the body each have their own work. If the whole body were an eye, there would be no hearing (1 Corinthians 12:17). It was good for Israel that Zebulun became merchants and Issachar became farmers.

Whatever place and work God gives us, we should learn to fit ourselves to it. It is a great happiness to be content with our lot. Let Zebulun be glad in his going out, thank God for his gains, and bear the losses and troubles of trade without bitterness. Let him not look down on Issachar’s quiet tents. Let Issachar be glad in his tents, thankful for his calm and steady life, and not envy Zebulun’s travel and business. Every calling has both comforts and hardships, so we should bring our hearts into agreement with what Providence has made our work. That is truly a gift from God (Ecclesiastes 5:19).

Moses also says that both tribes would serve the honor of God and the life of religion in Israel. “They shall call the people to the mountain,” meaning they would invite others to the place of worship, the temple on the mountain, which Moses knew would be built there. This need not be limited to Zebulun alone. Since both tribes enjoyed the comfort of their work, both could also be expected to give God glory through it. They would do two things for God.

First, they would invite others to worship him. Zebulun, through his dealings with nearby nations, would use his wide contact with others to spread true religion and call people to the service of the God of Israel. Men who move widely among others should use that opportunity to recommend serious godliness. Such people are blessed, because they become a blessing to others. It would be a great good if trade with other lands helped spread the gospel. This may also point ahead to Christ and his apostles, whose ministry began in the land of Zebulun (Matthew 4:14-15). Then they called people to the mountain, that is, to the kingdom of the Messiah, the mountain of the Lord’s house (Isaiah 2:2).

Issachar, though he stayed at home and lived in tents, would also call his neighbors to go up to the sanctuary at the set times of the feasts. They may have done this because they were more zealous than their neighbors, since people who live quietly in the country often have more warmth in religion than people with more learning and outside contact. Or they may have been especially careful about the times of worship. Some old Jewish explanations take this verse to mean that Issachar’s men were scholars who used their learning to announce the feast days, since calendars were not common then. Another reads it as a call to compute the holy times at Jerusalem, when all Israel would gather to the house of God. This may help explain the later note that Issachar had understanding of the times to know what Israel should do (1 Chronicles 12:32). It also fits Zebulun’s later description as men ready for battle, skilled in war (1 Chronicles 12:33), which may throw light on this blessing.

Those who cannot, like Zebulun, bring outsiders into the church may still serve the church well by encouraging the people already inside it. It is good work to call people to God’s ordinances, to remind the forgetful, and to stir up the lazy. Some will follow if others lead them.

Second, they would not only invite others to worship, but also take part in it themselves. “There they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness.” They would not send others to the temple and stay home because of business. When they urged others to go quickly and pray before the Lord, they would also say, “We will go too” (Zechariah 8:21). The good we tell others to do, we should do ourselves. And when they came to the temple, they would not come empty, but would bring gifts according to how God had prospered them (1 Corinthians 16:2).

Moses also foretells that both tribes would become rich. Zebulun, who went abroad, would “suck of the abundance of the seas,” like merchants fed by the riches of the sea. Issachar, who stayed at home, would gain “treasures hid in the sands,” meaning the produce of the land, underground wealth, or the rich things the sea cast up, since Issachar’s land reached to the seashore.

Perhaps their success in bringing the people up to the mountain is hinted at in the words about sucking the abundance of the seas. Scripture uses a similar expression about bringing the nations into the church (Isaiah 60:5): “the abundance of the sea” will come to you. It also says, “You will suck the milk of the nations” (Deuteronomy 33:16). The idea is that these tribes would receive great blessings and prosperity.

It is also foretold that, once these tribes were enriched, they would give their gain to the Lord and their wealth to the Lord of the whole earth (Micah 4:13). The merchandise of Zebulun and the labor of Issachar would be holy to the Lord (Isaiah 23:18), because they would offer sacrifices of righteousness, meaning sacrifices made according to God’s law. We should serve and honor God with what he has given us. When he gives plenty, he expects a fitting return. Those who draw from the abundance of the seas and the treasures hidden in the sand should offer sacrifices of righteousness in proportion.

Next comes the blessing of the tribe of Gad (Deuteronomy 33:20, 33:21). Gad was one of the tribes already settled on the east side of the Jordan, where Moses was standing. Moses first foretells what this tribe would be. It would be enlarged, as it already had a broad inheritance, and God gets the glory for both its present and future size: “Blessed be he who enlarges Gad.” We see how Gad was enlarged through a war they carried on in a very religious way against the Hagarites, the descendants of Hagar (1 Chronicles 5:19, 5:20, 5:22). God must have the glory for every increase he gives us.

Moses also says Gad would be a brave and victorious tribe. If left alone, it would live safely and fearlessly like a lion. But if provoked, it would tear apart its enemies like a lion, breaking both the arm, meaning their strength, and the crown of the head, meaning their power and authority. In David’s time, there were Gadites whose faces were like lions (1 Chronicles 12:8). Some think Jehu belonged to this tribe, since the first time we read of him is at Ramoth-Gilead, which belonged to Gad, and they think this blessing may point to his brave deeds.

Moses also praises Gad for what the tribe had already done and was still doing. They had acted wisely for themselves when they chose their land first in a country already conquered: “He provided the first part for himself.” They had a real concern for their brothers, but their care started at home, and they wanted to be settled first. The Gadites were the first and most active in asking for land on that side of Jordan, and that is why they are mentioned before Reuben in that account (Numbers 32:2). So, while the other tribes received their land from Joshua the conqueror, Gad and his companions received theirs from Moses the lawgiver, and by it they were settled by law, or, as the word suggests, protected by special providence that watched over those who stayed behind while the men of war went forward with their brothers.

People will praise you when you do well for yourself, when you wisely provide first for your own good (Psalm 49:18). And God will praise you when you do well for your soul, which is truly your self, and provide first for that in what comes from the lawgiver. Gad also did well and bravely for his brothers, because the tribe came with the leaders of the people, before whom they went armed across the Jordan, to carry out the justice of the Lord against the Canaanites, under Joshua’s leadership. Later, they solemnly promised obedience to Joshua (Joshua 1:12, 1:16). This was what they had agreed to do when their land was assigned (Numbers 32:27), and they carried it out (Joshua 4:12). When the wars in Canaan were over, Joshua sent them away with a blessing (Joshua 22:7).

It is a blessed and honorable thing to help our brothers in their work, especially when we help carry out the justice of the Lord by resisting what offends him. This was counted to Phinehas as righteousness.