Deuteronomy 33:13-1 7
IN BENJAMIN’S blessing we see Israel, “beloved of the Lord,” in the place of safety, favor and privilege. God in His grace will bring His redeemed people near to Himself, and this is true of both His earthly and heavenly saints.
Jerusalem was within Benjamin’s borders and there that magnificent temple was erected to Jehovah’s praise. There the tribes went up to worship, and from there in the coming day blessing will flow out to all the land, and to all the earth as well. When the land is divided in the millennium, Benjamin’s portion will be immediately next to Jerusalem, the city of the great King. To have Him as their Center and to be gathered around Him will be Israel’s special glory in those days to come.
And the Lord is going to have His own, the Church, His bride, with and around Himself in the heavenly glory, in the midst of blessings that will far outshine Israel’s privileges and glories. How precious to be gathered around Himself now.
“Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, and for the precious things brought forth by the sun, for the precious things put forth by the moon, and for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills... let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren.
“His 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: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.”
The sun’s radiance tells of God’s grace shining down upon His people. But it is Christ portrayed here who will bring down all these wondrous blessings. The Gentile intruders will all have been driven from the land to make way for the ten thousands of Ephraim and the thousands of Manasseh. Truly Israel in that day of glory will be as the sand of the sea and as the stars for multitude.
But all these blessings, so richly lavished, will be upon the head of Christ, the true Nazarite, who was “separated from His brethren.” All blessings are His whether of the heights above or the depths beath, and He shares them with His redeemed. In Joseph we see sufferings and glory put together and how much more so in Him of whom Joseph was but a faint shadow. The suffering and rejected One is crowned with the highest glory and honor.
Surely these things were written for our learning, dear Christian reader. “If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him.” 2 Tim. 2:1212If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: (2 Timothy 2:12).
ML-08/01/1976