Deuteronomy 33:28, commentary and pictures

The verse belongs to Moses' final prophetic blessing of Israel, spoken by divine inspiration as a general blessing following the individual blessings on the tribes. In that final blessing Simeon is not mentioned. The chapter containing the verse was put into verse to be sung by the Israelites, taught to their children, and sung with musical instruments as they traveled through the wilderness. That singing was meant to keep the people cheerful on their journey with praise and rejoicing rather than murmuring, to relieve the monotony of pilgrim travel, and to entertain, profit, instruct, and encourage the youth and the entire families.

The verse teaches that the eternal, self-existent God is the refuge and dwelling place of His people, with everlasting arms underneath them. He rides the heavens to help them and gives strength for each day. He drives out the enemy from before them and commands the destruction of their foes. The title of God as everlasting embraces past, present, and future, for He is from everlasting to everlasting.

Because of that care, Israel dwells secure and set apart alone, and the fountain of Jacob rests upon a fertile land yielding grain and wine, with dew and moisture falling from heaven. Those whom the Lord saves in this way are happy and unlike any other people, for He publishes His name and greatness to them as the shield of their help and the sword of their excellency. The secure, exalted position set forth in the verse was to be Israel's by living in obedience to God's law, and its blessed excellence and safety would continue only as the people obeyed God and relied on and took hold of His strength.