Deuteronomy 33:4

4 Moses gave us the LORD ’s instruction, the special possession of the people of Israel.

Deuteronomy 33:4 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 33:4

Moses commanded us a law
The law was of God, it came forth from his right hand, ( Deuteronomy 33:2 ) ; it is of his enacting, a declaration of his will, and has his authority stamped upon it, who is the lawgiver, and which lays under obligation to regard it; but it was delivered to Moses, and by him to the children of Israel, on whom he urged obedience to it; and so it is said to come by him, and sometimes is called the law of Moses, see ( John 1:17 ) ( John 7:19 John 7:23 ) ( 8:5 ) ;

[even] the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob;
which either describes the persons who were commanded to keep the law, the tribes of Jacob or congregation of Israel, who were the Lord's people, portion, and inheritance, ( Deuteronomy 32:9 ) ; or the law commanded, which was to be valued, not only as a peculiar treasure, but to be considered a possession, an estate, an inheritance, to be continued among them, and to be transmitted to their posterity, see ( Psalms 119:111 ) ; these are the words of the people of Israel, and therefore are thus prefaced in the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem,

``the children of Israel said, Moses commanded''

they were represented by Moses.

Deuteronomy 33:4 In-Context

2 “The LORD came from Mount Sinai and dawned upon us from Mount Seir; he shone forth from Mount Paran and came from Meribah-kadesh with flaming fire at his right hand.
3 Indeed, he loves his people; all his holy ones are in his hands. They follow in his steps and accept his teaching.
4 Moses gave us the LORD ’s instruction, the special possession of the people of Israel.
5 The LORD became king in Israel — when the leaders of the people assembled, when the tribes of Israel gathered as one.”
6 Moses said this about the tribe of Reuben: “Let the tribe of Reuben live and not die out, though they are few in number.”

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Hebrew of Jacob. The names “Jacob” and “Israel” are often interchanged throughout the Old Testament, referring sometimes to the individual patriarch and sometimes to the nation.
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