Deuteronomy 33:14

14 of the apples of the fruits of the sun, and moon; (with precious fruits, ripened by the sun, over the months;)

Deuteronomy 33:14 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 33:14

And for the precious fruits [brought forth] by the sun
Which has a wonderful influence upon many and most of the fruits of the earth, to produce them out of their seeds in it, to bring them forward, to ripen and perfect them, and to make them rich and excellent. Jarchi says,

``the land of Joseph lay open to the sun, and it sweetened the fruits of it;''

it improved them, and made them more valuable; and this is spiritually true of Christ the sun of righteousness, to whose influence are owing the blessings of grace, redemption, peace, pardon, and justification, and the graces of the Spirit, faith, hope, and love, and by what believers are filled with, the fruits of righteousness, see ( Malachi 4:2 ) ( Philippians 1:11 ) ;

and for the precious things put forth by the moon;
the fruits which the moon helps forward by its coolness and moisture; and those the above Jewish writer says are cucumbers and gourds; and as various creatures are affected by the moon, it is observed by a naturalist ^F15, that onions, when the moon waxes old, increase, and flag when it is young; and Pliny says ^F16, that at the increase of the moon all sort of corn grows bigger and larger; but a late learned writer ^F17 remarks, that though upon the pressure of the moon on the globe many things depend, as the ebbing and flowing of the sea, epileptic and convulsive paroxysms, yet it does not appear that this pressure exerts its power on plants, so as to thrust them forth, and therefore thinks this respects the ejection or protrusion of monthly fruits; for the word here used is in the plural number, and signifies "months"; and so Onkelos paraphrases the words,

``it produces precious fruits at the beginning of every month;''

or ripe fruit at the beginning of every month, as the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem; for the spiritual meaning, see ( Revelation 22:2 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 Dalecamp. in Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 2. c. 41.
F16 Nat. Hist. l. 18. c. 30.
F17 Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. vol. 3. p. 437.

Deuteronomy 33:14 In-Context

12 And he said to Benjamin, The most loved of the Lord shall dwell trustily in him; he shall dwell all day as in a chamber, and he shall rest betwixt the shoulders of the Lord. (And he said of the tribe of Benjamin, The beloved of the Lord shall dwell trustily in him; they shall live all day long like in a secure place, and they shall rest between the shoulders of the Lord.)

13 Also he said to Joseph, His land is of the Lord's blessing; of the apples of heaven, and of the dew, and of water lying beneath; (And he said of the tribe of Joseph, Their land is blessed by the Lord, with precious fruits watered from the heavens above, and from the streams flowing beneath;)

14 of the apples of the fruits of the sun, and moon; (with precious fruits, ripened by the sun, over the months;)

15 [and] of the top of eld mountains, and of the apples of everlasting little hills; (with precious fruits, from the tops of the old mountains, and from the everlasting little hills;)

16 and of the fruits of the land, and of the fullness thereof. The blessing of him that appeared in the bush come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the foretop, that is, the crown of the head, of the Nazarite, or (the) holy (one), among his brethren. (with the fruits, and other crops, of the land, in all its fullness. May these blessings of him who appeared in the bush come upon Joseph's head, yea, upon the tribe of him who was separated from his brothers/who was the leader of his brothers.)