Commentaria in Deuteronomium
11. BLESS, O LORD, HIS STRENGTH.—A prophecy by way of prayer concerning the Machabees, sprung from Levi; whence you may render the Hebrew thus: bless, O Lord, his army, and let the works of his hands be acceptable to thee, namely the wars which Levi through the Machabees is to wage against thy enemies; so Abulensis.
Note: Strength is here called, first, a strong and unconquered spirit, by which the Levites for God’s sake cut off affection for parents and brothers; secondly, the strong and strenuous vengeance which they exercised on those adoring the golden calf; thirdly, the warlike strength which the Machabees were to show against Antiochus and other enemies; for this the Hebrew chail signifies; thence soldiers and strenuous men are called anshe chail.
12. AND TO BENJAMIN HE SAID.—After Levi he blesses Benjamin, because in his lot the temple was to be built, in which the priests and Levites were to place incense and holocausts (2).
THE BEST BELOVED OF THE LORD.—Because as Jacob loved his Benjamin, so did God; whence first, he gave the sceptre and royal power in Saul (for he was of the tribe of Benjamin). Secondly, in the lot of Benjamin, namely in Jerusalem, he willed the temple to be built.
Mystically, all these belong to St. Paul, who was of the tribe of Benjamin. So Rabanus, Rupert and St. Ambrose, book On the Blessings of the Patriarchs, last chapter.
SHALL DWELL CONFIDENTLY IN HIM,—in his God, namely; as if to say: Benjamin in his lot shall dwell without fear: because he shall have God with him in the temple and his dwelling, and in it shall rest securely, and as it were dwell. He adds the reason: because God is in Benjamin, namely in his temple.
AS IN A BRIDE CHAMBER SHALL HE ABIDE ALL THE DAY LONG, AND SHALL REST BETWEEN HIS SHOULDERS.—It is a Hebraism: between his shoulders, that is, in the midst of the tribe of Benjamin; for what is between the shoulders is in the midst. Secondly, by shoulders he alludes to the site of the temple, which was on the high part of mount Moria, yet not on its summit, but, as the Hebrews hold, 24 cubits below its top, as the shoulders are below the head, and above the rest of the body. So Pererius on Genesis xlix, 27. Vatablus renders this in the optative thus: let him cover him all the day, and between his shoulders dwell; as if to say: O that the Lord might dwell in the midst of the tribe of Benjamin, and protect him at all times! And for this cause the tribe of Benjamin was most robust, being aided and strengthened by its God, as is plain from Judges xx, 16. Cajetan refers this to Benjamin, as if to say: Let Benjamin himself rest between the shoulders of God, nay in God Himself, as in his bride chamber. But the former sense is more fitting, that not Benjamin but God be understood here as the subject of the verb, and the Hebrew requires it (1). 13. TO JOSEPH ALSO HE SAID.—Joseph was brother of Benjamin: he had two offspring and tribes, namely Ephraim and Manasses, whom in the name of their father Joseph Moses here blesses (2).
OF (that is, in) THE BLESSING OF THE LORD BE HIS LAND,—as if to say: Blessed by the Lord shall be the land of Joseph; this is plain from the Hebrew.
OF THE FRUITS OF HEAVEN,—that is, in fruits which are born by the influence of heaven, the sun and the moon, it will be blessed, by the influence of heaven, sun, moon and stars.
AND OF THE DEEP THAT LIETH BENEATH,—as if to say: The land of Joseph, which Ephraim and Manasses shall occupy, shall be blessed on account of springs, gushing continually from the earth beneath, like an abyss, as from above it is blessed.
Which fruits shall be born on the top of the ancient mountains, or the summits of the everlasting hills, that is, which have been from the beginning of the world; for this is what, explaining it rhythmically, he subjoins: “Of the fruits of the everlasting hills.” Moses hints that these hills were fertile and fruit-bearing from the beginning of the world. These blessings Jacob also, father of Joseph, gave to Joseph, Genesis chap. xlix, verse 26.
16. THE BLESSING OF HIM (God) THAT APPEARED (to Moses, Exodus iii, 2) IN THE BUSH, COME UPON THE HEAD OF JOSEPH, AND UPON THE CROWN OF THE NAZARITE AMONG HIS BRETHREN.—God is here named as appearing in the bush, because as God in the bush appeared to Moses alone, in a desert place, and made him leader of the people: so the prophet Ahias spoke to Jeroboam alone (who was of Ephraim and Joseph), and foretold him the kingdom of the ten tribes, and as it were made it over to him, 3 Kings xi, 29. The blessing therefore of God, who appeared to Moses in the bush, to be manifested through the prophet Ahias, and to come upon the head and crown of Joseph, was the royal crown; whence the Septuagint render, who was glorified upon the crown among his brethren. The same the Hebrew and our version hint, when explaining they subjoin: “And upon the crown of the Nazarite among his brethren;” for the merit of Joseph, by which he deserved this crown for his tribe, is insinuated when he is called Nazarite among his brethren: for because Joseph was sold by his brethren and separated, he deserved among them the principality and kingdom in his posterity. So Cajetan.
the land of Joseph, and it shall have abundance of fruits, dew and crops: for the preposition “of” here and in what follows is taken for “in”; for so the Hebrews often interchange the preposition beth with “in.”
Note: Joseph was a Nazarite, that is, separated: first, because he was holy among his brethren; secondly, because he was sold into Egypt, separated, and shut up in long imprisonment; thirdly, because in prison he remained unshorn, and grew his hair as a Nazarite, which afterwards, when he was brought out of it, was cut for him; he was shorn, Genesis xli, 14. So Rupert. Fourthly, because for these things he was separated and exalted to the principate in Egypt with Pharao. Fifthly, because for these same things he was to be separated and raised in his posterity to the royal crown. Sixthly, because this crown fell to him when Israel, that is, the ten tribes, separated themselves from the house of David, and from the two tribes, namely Juda and Benjamin, setting up for themselves, in place of Roboam, a king of their own, Jeroboam, who was of the tribe of Joseph. So Cajetan.
17. HIS BEAUTY AS OF THE FIRSTLING OF A BULLOCK (the Hebrew is shor, in Chaldee tor, whence the Greek and Latin taurus) (because, namely, Joseph for his beauty was desired to lewdness by his mistress, as by a wanton cow, as a young bull, comely, and excellent among the rest; but because he strongly resisted her lust, therefore it is added of him): HIS HORNS AS THE HORNS OF A RHINOCEROS (says Rupert. Secondly, and more aptly, as if to say: As the firstborn calf of a bull is beautiful, muscular, of robust and great body, because the strength is the father’s, in begetting and forming which the bull put forth his first and whole force: so also the tribe of Joseph, namely Ephraim, shall be most strong, and shall have warlike battle lines and horns, as strong as are the horns of the rhinoceros, with which) HE SHALL PUSH (that is, toss, rout, and as it were scatter to the wind) THE NATIONS (hostile) EVEN TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH, —namely of his own earth, and the neighbouring, namely Palestine and Syria; it is a hyperbole (1).
Note first: He compares Joseph to a bull, first, because he, for having preserved and well provided agriculture, was to be worshipped in Egypt; and his sepulchre was to be adorned with the image of an ox, which is the symbol of agriculture; see what was said on Genesis xli, at the end. Secondly, because his posterity, future kings, were to surpass others in strength and greatness, as the bull excels the herd. So Homer compares Agamemnon to a bull: for the bull is the symbol of a king, as Diogenes teaches, oration 2, in Dio.
Note secondly: He says horns, not horn, of the rhinoceros, because the rhinoceros, besides one hooked horn which he has on his nose, has another small horn above the nose, but very strong, as from Pausanias, Eucherius, Pierius, and the experience of the Portuguese our Raderus teaches in book I of Martial, On the Spectacles, epigram 22. Hence in Hebrew it is called reem, from the root raam, that is, he exalted, because he lifts his horn on high, either in the motion to strike, or rather because by strength and might he exalts his horn above the horns of all animals, that is, shows it stronger and more powerful. Wherefore the Psalmist, Psalm xci, 11: “My horn shall be exalted,” he says, “like the unicorn’s (in Hebrew reem, which others render nose-horned or rhinoceros),” as if to say: As the horns of other animals are surpassed in strength, beauty and solidity by the horn of the rhinoceros, so above the might and kingdoms of all kings and nations my kingdom and dominion shall be exalted and grow. So Villalpandus on Ezechiel xxviii.