Deuteronomy 33:18-19 - Moses' Blessing.

Trade and commerce subservient to evangelization.

There is room for considerable divergence of view with regard to some of the minutiae of this passage, on which the reader will consult the Exposition, and may also refer with great advantage to Keil, Jameson, and Wordsworth, on the blessing of Issachar and Zebulun. The following points, however, stand out with a fair degree of clearness:—

1. Zebulun and Issachar had the territory which corresponds to the Galilee of our Lord's time.

2. They had a fine piece of sea-beard, which would enable them to open up traffic with other nations.

3. They had also a considerable space inland, reaching to the lake of Gennesaret.

4. With this double advantage, there would be scope for the development of foreign and home trade.

5. They, having the inestimable blessings of the knowledge of God, of a pure faith, and of a holy worship, would be in a far better position religiously than any of the nations with whom they would carry on intercourse for the purposes of trade.

6. They would be made rich by the treasures of wealth brought to them from afar. "They shall suck of the abundance of the seas," etc.

7. They would make their traffic with other peoples a reason for and an opportunity of inviting them to join them in the sacrifices of righteousness (see Gesenius, sub verb . זֶבַח ). As other nations enriched them in temporal things, they would enrich other peoples in spiritual things (see a fine suggestive note by Bishop Wordsworth, in loc .). This was fulfilled "when the apostles and evangelists of Galilee went forth to evangelize all nations in the ships of the Christian Church." The apostles, "men of Galilee," called all nations to the mountain of the Lord's house on the day of Pentecost. A greater fulfillment awaits this passage (see Isaiah 60:5 , Isaiah 60:6 , Isaiah 60:16 ; Isaiah 66:11 , Isaiah 66:12 ). Hence the Holy Ghost, by the lawgiver, gives us here a great theme for homiletic teaching. The development of commerce subservient to evangelization .

I. The Church of God is here prospectively regarded as upon a " mountain " ( Deuteronomy 33:19 ; see this figure carried out in Isaiah 2:2 ; Micah 4:1 ).

II. From this mountain an invitation to the nations is to be sent forth; Deuteronomy 33:19 , "They shall call," etc. (cf. Isaiah 2:3 ; Micah 4:2 ; Zechariah 8:20-23 ; Isaiah 55:5 ).

III. There will be such national intercommunication as shall help to forward these world-wide invitations ( Isaiah 60:3 , Isaiah 60:4 ; Daniel 12:4 ; cf. Acts 2:5-11 ).

IV. The time will come when the Church of God shall be enriched by the glad inflowing of a people's wealth; Deuteronomy 33:19 , "For they shall suck," etc. (cf. Isaiah 60:9 , et seq .; Micah 4:13 ).

V. The nations at large shall then "offer sacrifices of righteousness" ( Deuteronomy 33:19 ; cf. Malachi 1:11 ; Romans 15:16 ; Hebrews 13:15 , Hebrews 13:16 ; 1 Peter 2:5 ).

Learn—

1. With what interest may believers contemplate the commercial progress of the age, and the increased facility of communication between people and people! Man is seeking to bring about all this, to serve himself. God overrules all for the higher purposes of his race, and governs the world in the interests of the Church.

2. How great a shame is it when men from Christian lands, in carrying on traffic with other nations, make such traffic a means of propagating corruption, lust, and crime!

3. Commerce may be "holiness unto the Lord," and will never reach its true splendor till such is the case ( Zechariah 14:20 ). Its stainless purity is of infinitely more moment than its extent or amount.