Deuteronomy 33:13

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;)

Deuteronomy 33:13 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 33:13

And of Joseph he said
The tribe of Joseph, as the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem:

blessed of the Lord [be] his land;
as the lands inherited by his sons were extremely fruitful, the countries of lead and Bashan by Manasseh, and the fields of Samaria by Ephraim: Jarchi says,

``there was not in the inheritance of the tribes a land so full of all good things as the land of Joseph;''

typical of the church of Christ, the antitypical Joseph, which abounds with all good things through him, or of the better country in heaven:

for the precious things of heaven;
that is, the pleasant, precious, and excellent fruits, reproduced by the influence of the heavens, particularly showers of rain which descend from thence; emblems of the grace of God, and Gospel of Christ, which bring spiritual blessings to the sons of men on earth, and make them fruitful in every good word and work: for the dew; which descends also from heaven, and is of unspeakable use to the fruits of the earth, and is sometimes used as an emblem of the favour and goodness of God to his people, ( Hosea 14:5 ) ;

and for the deep that coucheth beneath;
that is, beneath the earth, and breaks out upon it, and waters it, and makes it fruitful, which happiness the land of Joseph had, as well as the rain and dew of heaven: this is to be understood of springs and fountains that flow out of the earth to the enriching of it; and so the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem paraphrase the words, and may be applied to Christ and to his Gospel, ( Song of Solomon 4:15 ) ( Isaiah 12:3 ) ( Joel 3:18 ) .

Deuteronomy 33:13 In-Context

11 Lord, bless thou the strength of him, and receive thou the works of his hands; smite thou the backs of his enemies, and they that hate him, rise they not. (Lord, bless thou their strength, and receive thou the works of their hands; strike thou the backs of their enemies, and they who hate them, let them never rise up again.)
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;)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.