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Patriarchs and Prophets
For the last time Moses stood in the assembly of his people. Again
the Spirit of God rested upon him, and in the most sublime and touch-
ing language he pronounced a blessing upon each of the tribes, closing
with a benediction upon them all:
“There is none like unto God, O Jeshurun,
Who rideth upon the heaven for thy help,
And in His excellency on the skies.
The eternal God is thy dwelling place,
And underneath are the everlasting arms:
And He thrust out the enemy from before thee,
And said, Destroy.
And Israel dwelleth in safety,
The fountain of Jacob alone,
In a land of corn and wine;
Yea, His heavens drop down dew.
Happy art thou, O Israel:
Who is like unto thee, a people saved by Jehovah,
The shield of thy help.”
Deuteronomy 33:26-29
, R.V.
Moses turned from the congregation, and in silence and alone made
his way up the mountainside. He went to “the mountain of Nebo, to
the top of Pisgah.” Upon that lonely height he stood, and gazed with
undimmed eye upon the scene spread out before him. Far away to the
west lay the blue waters of the Great Sea; in the north, Mount Hermon
stood out against the sky; to the east was the tableland of Moab, and
beyond lay Bashan, the scene of Israel’s triumph; and away to the
south stretched the desert of their long wanderings.
In solitude Moses reviewed his life of vicissitudes and hardships
since he turned from courtly honors and from a prospective kingdom
in Egypt, to cast in his lot with God’s chosen people. He called to mind
those long years in the desert with the flocks of Jethro, the appearance
of the Angel in the burning bush, and his own call to deliver Israel.
Again he beheld the mighty miracles of God’s power displayed in
behalf of the chosen people, and His long-suffering mercy during the
years of their wandering and rebellion. Notwithstanding all that God
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