"[2] Moses begins with praise of YHWH, who had revealed himself to his beloved nation, and then passes on to the blessing of the different tribes.
He mentions first the tribes of the south, beginning with Reuben and Judah, and then those of the north, Dan, Naphtali, and Asher.
Exodus 32:26–30, Moses declares that this tribe shall be the teachers of the Law and the priestly representatives of Israel before YHWH.
Mount Tabor and the sandy shore and seacoast figure forth the happiness of the tribes of Issachar and Zebulun (verses 18–19).
Gad is as strong as a lion; he selected the land which was to be the last home of the legislator of Israel (verses 20–21; cf.
Here the prophet returns to the opening words of the blessing, praising YHWH and proclaiming the glory and honor of Israel.
Most authorities maintain that the former depended directly upon the latter; and their chief argument is based on the passage on Joseph, part of which is contained also in Jacob's blessing.
While in the latter Simeon and Levi (compare Genesis 34) are censured on account of their sin and are threatened with dispersion in Israel (Gen. 49:5-7), the blessing of Moses does not mention Simeon at all; and in it Levi appears as the tribe of priests, although not yet assured of the sacerdotal office, nor respected for holding it.
And while again the passage on Joseph in the one designates a period in which this tribe successfully defended itself against its enemies, the corresponding passage in the other (Gen. 49:22ff) points to a time when Ephraim maintained his power undiminished and defeated his enemies on all sides: "His [Joseph's] glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth" (Deut.
It more probably refers to the time of Jeroboam II, who was more successful than any of his predecessors in defeating Israel's enemies.
August Dillmann's statement (in his Commentary on Numbers and Deuteronomy, p. 415) that the blessing of Judah points to the period immediately after the separation of the two kingdoms is "hardly correct" (JE).
He bases his opinion on the fact that the praise of Levi and Benjamin, together with what is said about Judah and Joseph, could apply only to this period.
Steuernagel suggests that the allusion might be to the victory of the Edomites (II Kings 14:7), which perhaps put a stop to the distress caused Judah by Edom.