NOVEMBER, 1878. THE BLESSING OF THE TRIBES; OR, HOW MOSES, THE MAN OF GOD, BLESSED THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL BEFORE HE DIED. BY THE REV. T. G. ROOKE, B.A., PRESIDENT OF RAWDON COLLEGE. C No. IX.-DAN AND NAPHTALI. Deut. xxxiii. 22, 23. THE section in Moses' blessing which is devoted to the tribe of Dan offers three significant points of contrast with all the other sections of the poem, but especially with those which immediately precede and follow it. It is the shortest of all. Even the brief two-lined stanza which concerns Reuben contains more words in the Hebrew original than are spared here for Dan; and this sudden economy of his utterances by the inspired Hebrew prophet is all the more noticeable because of the lavish scattering of his choicest flowers of eloquence upon the three preceding blessings of Joseph, of Zebulun and Issachar, and of Gad. Then there is no indication in the case of Dan as to the local inheritance which he should occupy in Canaan. In the case of the other tribes, from Benjamin onwards, Moses paints for us a kind of bird's-eye view of the portions which God was about to assign to them in the Promised Land; but although the lot of Dan invited this pictorial treatment as well as did any other, we have no description of any of its well-known features, its fertile cornlands, its sandy seaboard, or its gently swelling hills towards the east, where Sorek and Zorah gave their names to the choicest vintages of southern Palestine. Thirdly, there is no mention of, or allusion to, the Divine name in what Moses says concerning Dan. No word is used that could suggest any special relation as subsisting between this tribe and Israel's covenant God. And in this respect Dan stands absolutely alone amongst all his brethren. In every other stanza of this blessing Jehovah is made present to our view; implored on behalf of Reuben and Judah and Levi; cited to Joseph, to Asher, and Naphtali as the surety of their surpassing privileges; celebrated either as Lawgiver, Protector, or object of grateful adoration to Gad and to Benjamin, to Issachar and to Zebulun. But for Dan there is no hint that his "blessing" is guaranteed by God; for which reason alone we might hesitate to find any real "blessing" in these few words which it is our by no means easy task to explain. Nor does the history of the tribe do aught but confirm the un VOL. XXI. N.S. XI. happy suggestion which flows from all these features of brevity and of omission in Moses' words. That history is exceedingly meagre, and records very little to the credit of the Danites. The character of their ancestor, which seems also to have been transmitted to the tribe, was crafty, deceitful, and cruel. The greatest Danite hero, Samson, was as weak in his moral nature as he was strong in bodily might; nor is there any story in Sacred Writ more mournfully disappointing than his. In the Book of Judges this tribe has no small space appropriated to its doings, but the narrative is one of shame and of inexcusable sin against both universal laws of justice, humanity, and truth, and the special obligations of the Hebrew nation. Moreover, two incidental notices which we find in the later historical books suggest to us that the Danites disregarded the law of Moses, which forbade intermarriages with heathens, and also that they fell very early into the idolatrous practices of their Phoenician and Philistine neighbours a fact which, indeed, may be gathered from the earlier story to which reference has been made in Judges.* When we have noted the uniform tenor of these glimpses into the character and conduct of the tribe of Dan, we can hardly be surprised to find that no members of that tribe cared to return with Judah into the land of promise when the captivity in Babylon ended. No Danite name occurs in the lists which Ezra and Nehemiah compiled in reference to the returned exiles of Israel; and the only conclusion which can be drawn from that omission is, that all the tribe of Dan despised or neglected the opportunity of temporal redemption which God had given to His people as the earnest of a better spiritual blessing when Messiah should appear. How sad in its inferences is this single fact! But the sadness of the omen is increased when we read the list of the sealed in the Book of Revelation and find no mention in it of the tribe of Dan. The omission in this case is certainly intentional; and the only interpretation which can be put upon it is, that Dan had somehow forfeited his right to the blessings of Israel's covenant, and that for his special unfaithfulness and sin, his very name had been blotted out of the Lamb's book of life (see Exod. xxxii. 33). The words which Moses used concerning Dan seem to be merely a poetic description of the tribe under a figure that is purposely ambiguous. Coupled with a prediction that is intentionally limited in time and in scope, Dan is compared to "a lion's whelp," which might be taken as a very honourable figure, and which is intended in that sense in the case of certain other tribes of whom Moses or Jacob had spoken in their respective blessings. But the Scripture usage of this figure is perhaps as often descriptive of evil qualities as of those which are noble and admired. The lion and the young lion are often emblems of savage greed, of treacherous craft, and of godless self, * See 2 Chron. ii. 14; 1 Kings xii. 23-31; Judges xviii., xiv. 1–5, sufficiency (comp. Psa. xvii. 11: xxxiv. 10, &c.); and it is probably in this light that Moses designed to represent the character of the tribe of Dan when he said, "Dan is a lion's whelp: He shall leap from Bashan." He names Bashan, because it was in that region that the host of Israel was just then encamped. The Hebrews had recently conquered the rich territories of Sihon and of Og on the eastern bank of Jordan; and here, on the grassy hills and among the thick oak-groves which are so often mentioned in sacred poetry, Dan, the rearguard of Israel's army, was couching like a lion, gathering together his strength that he might leap across the stream to ravin amongst the accursed Canaanites whom divine justice had given over as helpless victims to his fury. But Moses gives us no hint of what should become of Dan when the first impulse of his lionlike leap should be exhausted. One might almost imagine that the prophetic vision had revealed to him this tribe as history shows him to us, wandering up and down the Promised Land, a disinherited, freebooting clan, searching for a place to dwell in, and grudging because it is not satisfied. Yet it was no deficiency in the Divine plan that reduced Dan to this precarious position among his brethren. A lot was provided for him in Canaan; and although it came out the last of all, it was by no means the least desirable of the twelve. It comprised a part of the plain of Sharon, which is still the granary of Palestine; and from thence it extended eastward over "the little hills" whose ridges are alike fertile for pasture, or corn, or summer fruits. But for this inheritance it was necessary that Dan should wage earnest war with the Philistines, who had only been partially expelled from their old possessions; and because the Danites disliked the labour and risk which their lot involved, they abandoned it, and sought out a new place for themselves in the far north of Canaan, within the borders of the Sidonians, among "a people quiet and secure." There, as the price of their future freedom from molestation by heathen neighbours, they mingled themselves with aliens and with strangers, from whom God had straitly charged them to be separate; and, little by little, they renounced all the distinctive marks of Jehovah's covenant. Who can wonder that, in prevision of this mournful history, the Spirit of God which spake by Moses should have cut off Dan from the "blessing" which all his brethren received? Or who will fail to recognise the solemn lesson which this type of the old covenant contains for those who, under Christ's new covenant, have been called to higher possibilities of blessing, and to a richer inheritance than Israel ever enjoyed? For it is impossible for these, if they should fall away, to have their promises and hopes renewed. From them must be taken away even that which they seemed to have. Because they have sinned against their Redeemer, He will blot them out of His book (Heb. vi. 4-8). NAPHTALI was own brother to Dan, for these two were the sons wife of Jacob and of Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid whom she gave as to her husband when she despaired of having children herself (Gen. xxx. 1-8). But there is a great contrast in the histories of these tribes, and the words of Moses concerning them respectively reflect that contrast very accurately. In the case of Dan, as we have seen, there is no reference at all to God; but for Naphtali there is an almost exuberant and rapturous identification of his destined lot in Canaan with the Divine purpose to make him "full of blessing." And whereas in regard to Dan there is not even the remotest indication of any local inheritance reserved for him, the bounds of Naphtali's habitation are pointed out with unusual precision. 23. "And of Naphtali he said: O Naphtali, satisfied with favour, It may, however, seem to any one who looks upon a map of Canaan as divided amongst the tribes, that this definition of locality is far enough from corresponding with the facts. Simeon's lot would better answer to the description here, for he did occupy the south-west corner of the Promised Land; whilst Naphtali's territory was in the extreme north, and had another tribe, Asher, on its western border. Hence it is probable that the Hebrew word translated "west" should have here another meaning which very frequently belongs to it, and should be rendered "sea," referring to the well-known sea of Chinnereth, or Gennesaret. This interpretation would agree very happily with the actual boundaries of Naphtali upon the map; for by far the greater portion of this famous lake belonged to the tribe, and its southern border stretched in a right line westward from that sea until it met the frontier of Asher's lot. 10 The most ancient Jewish interpreters adopt this explanation of the blessing, and point out how well the appearance and resources Naphtali's portion justify the enthusiastic language of congratulation which Moses has employed. In the days when they wrote, the plain of Gennesaret and the great inland district of Galilee which stretched northward to the roots of Lebanon, were the most populous and flourishing parts of Palestine. The firstfruits were brought to the Temple at Jerusalem from Mount Naphtali before they were ripe for gathering anywhere else; so that the men of this tribe were always the first to receive the benediction of Jehovah's priests upon each new harvest. Solomon drew from this same region the largest supplies of food for the expensive entertainment of his court; and in David's time, Naphtali, with Zebulun's aid, was able to feast all Israel abundantly for three days with stores which they brought up to Hebron "on asses, and on camels, and on mules, and on oxen." This was an ample fulfilment in temporal things of the blessing which Moses pronounced upon the tribe. But there is a passage in Isaiah's prophecies which seems to intimate that there was a hidden spiritual reference in the lavish outpouring of "favour' from the Lord of which Naphtali is here assured. The firstfruits of Messiah's ministry were to be vouchsafed to this same highly-favoured region, a city of which, Capernaum, was indeed chosen by the Lord Jesus as His dwelling-place for one whole "acceptable year." Too little, indeed, did the men of Galilee understand their high privilege; and though they might have been satiated with the spiritual blessings which were thus brought to their door, they suffered the day of visitation to pass by them unused. Therefore the failure of their blessing in its highest sense serves now as a warning to the men who have received still better promises from God through Christ. Many of these are ready to boast that they are "full," and that they "reign as kings," being "rich, and increased with goods, and in need of nothing;" yet is there only one substantial ground on which to build these confident professions. In Christ are hid all treasures of spiritual blessing. He who has Christ is more than satisfied, but he who rejects Christ, or who lets Christ dwell near him unrecognised and unappropriated in His great salvation, is empty and beggared, though all riches of corn and wine may be increased to him. "Therefore let no one glory in men; for all things are yours: whether ... the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's" (1 Cor. iii. 21-23, iv. 8; Rev. iii. 17-20). MIRIAM. WANDERING lights and little soft | looked for ever down into her babyshadows shifting down the mountain eyes; and, westward, her face had slope; the pencilling of trees against learned its first reverence in turna far, faint sky; a village nestled ing toward the Holy City-the away among blossoming fields; a great, proud city, which was waitgirl in a doorway, with the outline ing for its King. of vine-leaves on her forehead. It was a pretty picture. It fitted her, as she fitted into it. Why should it not, since it had had the moulding of her ? She had taken these all into her heart-not less the flowers and the sunlight than the silence of the mountain, and the stately front of the distant temple, and the chanting The winds from the olive-trees of the priests at eventide. They had cradled her earliest slumbers; had grown with her growth, and the flowers blossomed only to be her strengthened with her strength, and playmates; and the mellow Eastern made her-just Miriam ; that was sunlight told stories to her through all. Miriam with the round, warm, the vine-leaves, when she knew no happy cheeks, and the smile of a language but her mother's lullaby. child on her lips; with the hair low Above, the calm, perpetual hill-top on a forehead that held and hid its Isaiah ix. 1, 2; Comp. Matt. iv. 1. |