Commentaria in Deuteronomium
Allegorically, Joseph the Nazarite, sold by his brethren, signifies Christ the Nazarite, sold by Juda and his Jews, and delivered to Pilate and to death. His beauty is as a bull’s: because Christ is to some gentle as a saviour, to others fierce as a judge, like a bull. His horns are the horns of the cross: by which cross he now through faith tosses all the nations, subjecting them to himself, and transferring the believing and Saints from earth to heaven, and at the end of the world he shall toss all the unbelieving and reprobate by judgment and sentence of condemnation, scattering and hurling them from the earth into hell. So Tertullian, book Against the Jews, chap. x; Ambrose, book On the Blessings of the Patriarchs, chap. xi; Augustine, Question LVI; Rabanus here, and Justin Against Trypho, p. 70, where he teaches that the horns of the monoceros (for so he reads with the Septuagint, who everywhere for rhinoceros render monoceros, that is, unicorn) bear the type and likeness of the cross. See what was said on Numbers xxi, 9. Hear Tertullian, who, having cited this place of Deuteronomy, subjoins: “Not indeed was the one-horned rhinoceros designated, nor the two-horned minotaur; but Christ was signified in it, a bull, by both dispositions, to some fierce as judge, to others gentle as saviour: whose horns would be the extremities of the cross. For in the yard-arm of a ship, which is part of a cross, the extremities are called horns: and the unicorn is the pole of the middle stake. By this power of the cross, and in this fashion horned, he both now tosses all nations by faith, taking them from earth to heaven, and then will toss them by judgment, casting them down from heaven to earth.”
18. AND TO ZABULON HE SAID: REJOICE, ZABULON, IN THY GOING OUT,—namely in harbours, voyages and journeys for thy trading. For the Zabulonites dwelt on the shore of the Mediterranean sea. See what was said on Genesis xlix, 13.
AND ISSACHAR IN THY TABERNACLES,—because the Issacharians were to be at leisure at home in quiet, not for merchandise, but for agriculture.
19. THEY SHALL CALL THE PEOPLE TO THE MOUNTAIN (as if to say: Issachar and Zabulon, both by word: for among them were doctors; and by their example, will invite other tribes to the temple on mount Sion, that in it piously and religiously they may adore and worship God, and there they shall sacrifice) VICTIMS OF JUSTICE (that is, lawful and just, prescribed by the law of God. Secondly, “of justice,” that is, from wealth gained not unjustly, but justly, says Cajetan), BECAUSE (as follows) THEY SHALL SUCK AS MILK THE ABUNDANCE OF THE SEA (as if to say: Because they shall receive merchandise and wealth of every kind brought by ships over the waves of the sea), AND THE HIDDEN TREASURES OF THE SANDS,—namely gems, gold and metals, which are dug from the earth (for these are mingled with sands and hidden like treasures), they shall receive brought by sea. The Septuagint render, the riches of the sea shall nurse thee, and the maritime marts of the dwellers; or, as Theodoret reads, they shall suck the riches of the sea, and the trade of those dwelling by the sea; Onkelos, they shall eat the substance of the peoples, and the treasures which are hidden in the sand shall be revealed to them (2).
20. AND TO GAD HE SAID: BLESSED BE GAD IN HIS BREADTH.—The Hebrew is, Gad shall enlarge himself, that is, shall obtain a broad and ample lot and possession in Chanaan, as is plain from Josue xiii, 24 (1).
HE HATH RESTED AS A LION, AND HATH SEIZED THE ARM AND THE TOP OF THE HEAD,—as if to say: The tribe of Gad shall be dauntless and very strong as a lion, who at once seizes head and shoulders, that is, who as at one stroke tears or breaks from his prey, namely from the animal which he hunted, the head and shoulders.
21. AND HE SAW HIS PREEMINENCE.—In Hebrew, and he saw his beginning, that is, as the Chaldee, he shall receive his part in the beginning (2). For the beginning of the lot and possession of the Hebrews was the land of Og and Sehon, which the Gadites possessed before the other tribes crossed the Jordan and obtained their lot in Chanaan; as if to say: The tribe of Gad first chose for itself a lot and dominion, and already possesses it before the other tribes, in the land of the kings Og and Sehon.
AND HE SAW (that is, soon will see and know) THAT IN HIS PART (that is, lot) THE TEACHER WAS LAID UP,— where Moses the lawgiver was buried: so the Chaldee; for near mount Nebo, this side of the Jordan, Moses was buried. For though Nebo and the sepulchre of Moses were properly in the tribe of Ruben, yet because it was beyond the Jordan, in which region the Gadites stood out and as it were held sway, hence Scripture attributes this to them. Moses hints that the Gadites sought this lot, not only for the pastures of their flocks, but also because they knew that in it Moses, their leader and lawgiver, was to be buried. For they knew that Moses was forbidden by God to cross the Jordan, and therefore would die this side of the Jordan, in their lot. Vatablus renders otherwise, namely, he saw there (in his lot) the part of the vaulted lawgiver, that is, the vaulted and splendid palaces of the princes; but this is new and obscure (3).
WHO WAS WITH THE PRINCES OF THE PEOPLE (that is, with the princes of the nine tribes, since in crossing the Jordan the Gadites went in front of the other tribes in battle array, to subdue the Chananeans, as Moses had commanded, and they themselves had promised him: and so Gad) DID THE JUSTICES OF THE LORD, AND HIS JUDGMENT WITH ISRAEL,—that is, Gad did what by his pact and duty towards God and towards his fellow tribesmen the Israelites he ought to do. So Vatablus.
22. TO DAN ALSO HE SAID: DAN IS A YOUNG LION, HE SHALL FLOW PLENTIFULLY FROM BASAN.—For “shall flow plentifully,” the Hebrew is the verb zanac, which is found only here, for which the Septuagint, Vatablus, Cajetan and others render, shall leap, and so explain it, as if to say: Dan like the whelp of a most strong and rapacious lion, such as used to be in Basan, shall spring forth, and rush upon enemies, so that it be a prophecy of Samson, who was a Danite, and most strongly leapt upon the Philistines. Again of the Danites suddenly rushing on Lais, Judges xviii. But more subtly our Interpreter with the Chaldee understood that here two blessings are given to the tribe of Dan, namely first, that it should be warlike, like a lion’s whelp, in Samson, and the other things just said; secondly, that in Dan should be the source of the Jordan, a river most celebrated in Scripture.
For which note: Moses plays on the word Dan. For now by Dan he understands the tribe, namely when he says: “Dan a lion’s whelp;” but presently by Dan he takes the fountain or river of the tribe of Dan, namely when he adds: “He shall flow plentifully from Basan;” yet the word could be taken in both places in the same way for the tribe and city of Dan, if you explain thus: The city of Dan shall flow plentifully, namely by its river Jordan, which it as it were sends forth from itself.
For which note secondly: Dan is a rivulet, which rises from the fountain Phiala, situated in Panium, at the roots of Libanus, by underground channels, and flows to the city, which thence likewise was called Dan (afterwards called Paneas, and Caesarea Philippi), and there another rivulet flows into it, whose name is Jor; whence from the confluence of both the names and the rivulets Jor and Dan, Jordan is formed and called; see Adrichomius in the Geographical Tables.
the holy land. Now because Dan, or rather Jordan, in this confluence, which is near the city of Dan, begins to flow with impetus, plentifully and as it were doubly, so that it waters and fertilizes the whole Basanitis, which begins near the city, hence it is said to leap from Basan: for so we commonly say fountains and rivers leap or spring down, when they run in plenty and with impetus and are borne headlong. Whence for “shall leap,” both our version and the Chaldee render, shall flow plentifully, as if to say: The rivulet Dan from Libanus and Panium shall flow into the city of Dan, and there flow together with the rivulet Jor, and become Jordan: wherefore it shall leap, that is, with impetus, and plentifully shall flow from Basan, because the region Basan begins near the city of Dan, and extends through the whole course of the Jordan, as far as the rivulet Jeboc.
Lyranus and Cajetan explain this somewhat differently, as if to say: The river Dan, which is the source of the Jordan, rises and is hidden in Panium and Phiala: thence by underground channels it bursts forth and leaps out in Basan, and is called Dan: now this bursting forth is here called leaping; but they err in chorography: for the river Dan does not burst forth in Basan, but long before it comes to Basan.
the wares that are carried from the south and from the sea, that is, from the west; these therefore Nephthali shall possess. For the Nephthalites were neighbours to the Phenicians, namely the Tyrians, Sidonians, etc., so that from them they could easily have the merchandise of the whole world.
24. TO ASER ALSO HE SAID: BLESSED BE ASER IN HIS CHILDREN,—as if to say: Aser shall beget many and comely offspring, whence he shall be pleasing and acceptable to his brethren.
AND LET HIM DIP HIS FOOT IN OIL,—let him abound in olive groves and oil, so that he could wash his feet in it, or in water, for abundance. A like phrase and catachresis is in the next verse and in Job xxix, 6, where Job says: “I washed my feet with butter.”
25. HIS SHOE SHALL BE IRON AND BRASS.—It is a catachresis, as if to say: Aser shall abound in brass and iron mines, as much as others abound in leather, so that from them he could make shoes for himself, if he would: a sign of which is the city Sarepta, which was given to this tribe, Josue xix, 30, which took its name from the metal smelting works; for tsaraph signifies to smelt: whence it is called Sarepta, as if you said, furnace or smelting city.