‘And of Naphtali he said, “O Naphtali, sated with favour, and full of the blessing of the Lord, possess the lake and the south.” And of Asher he said, “Most blessed of sons be Asher; let him be the favourite of his brothers, and let him dip his foot in oil. Your bars shall be iron and bronze, and as your days, so shall your strength be” (Deuteronomy 33:23-25).

When we come to Moses’ last two blessings, they are upbeat in nature as there is a strong sense of optimism about the future of these two tribes.

The blessing that is given to the tribe of Naphtali focuses on: ‘the blessing of the Lord’ and the favour his people can experience through that (v23).  The phrase: ‘possess the lake and the south’ refers to the area that was going to be allotted for that tribe, an area which boarded the Sea of Galilee.  The translation here causes some problems as the Hebrew word translated ‘Lake’ (yam) can mean ‘west’.  Allan Harman suggests that the context here means that this may refer to the Sea of Galilee and the southward area which was: ‘the fertile area of the Jordan Valley.’[1] But whatever it may mean the picture is a vivid one of a tribe that will grow and prosper in the years to come.

The final blessing concerns the tribe of Asher (vs24-25), who, as Harman points out, will: ‘live up to his name (blessed).’[2]  As with Jacobs blessing: ‘Asher’s food shall be rich, and he shall yield royal delicacies’, (Genesis 49:20) there are references to fertility of the area they are going to be allotted.  The Galilean Highlands were famous for their olive trees, so the phrase: ‘and let him dip his foot in oil’ (v24) is easily understood as the tribe benefiting from the good land that would give them agricultural abundance.  The description in verse 25 of strong fortifications was probably due to the area that they were going to be allotted.  It was in the northern part of the country and stretched along the coast with a major highway which would have been a natural invasion route.  The tribe would have wished for, and were probably going to take over, strong fortified cities that would give them the strength and protection they might need.

The picture that is painted, in these blessings of these two tribes, is of the Lord’s provision for his people in the most generous and practical way after they have entered the Land. How might we understand this today? Simply, by realizing that the Lord equips his people adequately. Does this always mean that we will be blessed materially, or that the Lord’s blessing is indiscriminately given? Not at all! Israel’s experienced in the years to come illustrates that! But the Lord does equip and enable his people to do his work in every age and generation, whatever the circumnutates, when they seek to be faithful to him!

[1] Allan Harman, Deuteronomy, The Commands of the Covenant God (Christian focus publications, Fearn, 2001) 282.

{2} Harman, Deuteronomy, 282.