Love it! What a great and instructional answer.
Gary
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Pastor John,
I am reading in Deuteronomy 33:2. Can you help me understand “he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them.” What does this scripture mean? It’s confusing me because it makes me think of when the law was given to Moses, but when it talks about ten thousands of his saints it’s like the end time.
Sandra
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Thank you for the question, Sandra. You are right with both those thoughts. Here is our translation of Deuteronomy 33:1–3:
- This is the blessing with which Moses, the man of God, blessed the children of Israel before his death
- when he said, “Jehovah came from Sinai and appeared to them from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran. From His right hand came the Holy One with myriads; fire was his mandate.
- Yea, O beloved One of nations, in your hands are all His saints, and they follow in your steps, each one raised up through your words.”
Many times in the Old Testament, God’s prophets were moved to speak of an event in Israel’s history which was a figure of something which the Son of God, hidden during Old Testament time, would do in the future. This is one of those prophecies with a dual meaning. First, Moses led Israel from Mount Sinai toward Canaan’s land, coming up from the south (Seir). But the Spirit was also speaking through Moses of the future, for at some point after Jesus returns in power to reign a thousand years, with myriads of God’s saints with him (Rev. 19), he will destroy the Beast and the armies of the earth with flaming fire. At some point during all that, Jesus and his army of saints will go south from Israel to do something (we are not told what), and then he will return to Israel from that direction. Those verses from Deuteronomy are a reference to his coming from the south.
Here is an excerpt from my book, Revelation: (Going to Jesus.com – Revelation)
From the South
At some point in this brief battle, for reasons unknown to us, Jesus will go toward the south, but then return (Zech. 9:14). His return northward is mentioned a few times by the prophets: “God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. His majesty covered the heavens, and his praise filled the earth, and his brightness was like the dawn. Before him went a plague, and a flame went before his feet. He stood still and shook the earth; he looked and dispersed the nations” (Hab. 3:3–4a, 5–6a). And in the book of Deuteronomy, we find this prophecy from Moses: “The Lord came from Sinai, and appeared to them from Seir. He shone forth from Mount Paran. From His right hand came the Holy One with myriads; fire was his mandate” (Dt. 33:2).
The Father will then playfully give Jesus an opportunity to boast of his triumph by asking His Son, “Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah in red-stained garments, this man glorious in his apparel, marching in his mighty strength?” (Isa. 63:1a).
To which Jesus will gleefully respond, “It is I, who speaks in righteousness, mighty to save!” (Isa. 63:1b).
The Father, again: “How is it that there is red on your apparel, like a treader in a winepress?” (Isa. 63:2).
Jesus: “I have trodden the winepress. I trod them down in my anger and trampled them in my rage; their lifeblood spattered on my garments, and all my raiment was sullied. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redeemed ones had come. I trampled down the nations in my anger; I made them drunk with my rage, and I brought down their lifeblood to the earth” (Isa. 63:3a, 4, 6).
Then the Father and the Son will probably laugh together.
Deuteronomy 33:3 speaks of God’s people following Moses toward Canaan’s land. They were the ones God had raised up from slavery. But it is at the same time a prophecy of the saints who will be following Jesus after the resurrection; they are those whom God will have raised from the dead. The book of Jude mentions this:
Jude 1
- Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these men, saying, “Behold! The Lord is coming with ten thousands of his saints
- to execute judgment upon all, and to punish all the ungodly for all their ungodly deeds that they have performed in ungodliness, and for all the harsh things that the ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”
I hope that clears things up a little. Deuteronomy 33:1–3 is just one of those prophetic scriptures with two very real meanings.
Pastor John