Deuteronomy 33:26

These are the last words of all that ever Moses, that great writer, that great dictator, either wrote himself or had written from his dictation; they are therefore very remarkable, and no doubt we shall find them very improving. Moses, the man of God (who had as much reason as ever any mere man had to know both), with his last breath magnifies both the God of Israel and the Israel of God. They are both incomparable in his eye; and we are sure that in this his judgment of both his eye did not wax dim.

I. No God like the God of Israel. None of the gods of the nations were capable of doing that for their worshippers which Jehovah did for his: There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, Deu 33:26. Note, When we are expecting that God should bless us in doing well for us we must bless him by speaking well of him: and one of the most solemn ways of praising God is by acknowledging that there is none like him. Now, 1. This was the honour of Israel. Every nation boasted of its god; but none had such a God to boast of as Israel had. 2. It was their happiness that they were taken into covenant with such a God. Two things he takes notice of as proofs of the incontestable pre-eminence of the God of Jeshurun above all other gods: (1.) His sovereign power and authority: He rides upon the heavens, and with the greatest state and magnificence on the skies. Riding on the heavens denotes his greatness and glory, in which he manifests himself to the upper world, and the use he makes of the influences of heaven, and the productions of the clouds, in bringing to pass his own counsels in this lower world: he manages and directs them as a man does the horse he rides on. When he has any thing to do for his people he rides upon the heavens to do it; for he does it swiftly and strongly: no enemy can either anticipate or obstruct the progress of him that rides on the heavens. (2.) His boundless eternity; he is the eternal God, and his arms are everlasting, Deu 33:27. The gods of the heathen were but lately invented, and would shortly perish; but the God of Jeshurun is eternal: he was before all worlds, and will be when time and days shall be no more. See Hab 1:12.

II. No people like the Israel of God. Having pronounced each tribe happy, in the close he pronounces all together very happy, so happy in all respects that there was no nation under the sun comparable to them (Deu 33:29): Happy art thou, O Israel, a people whose God is the Lord, on that account truly happy, and none like unto thee. If Israel honour God as a non-such God, he will favour them so as to make them a non-such people, the envy of all their neighbours and the joy of all their well-wishers. Who is like unto thee, O people? Behold, thou art fair, my love, says Christ of his spouse. To which she presently returns, Behold thou art fair, my beloved. What one nation (no, not all the nations together) is like thy people Israel? Sa2 7:23. What is here said of the church of Israel and the honours and privileges of it is certainly to be applied to the church of the first-born, that are written in heaven. The Christian church is the Israel of God, as the apostle calls it (Gal 6:16), on which there shall be peace, and which is dignified above all societies in the world, as Israel was.

1. Never were people so well seated and sheltered (Deu 33:27): The eternal God is thy refuge. Or, as the word signifies, "thy habitation, or mansion-house, in which thou art safe, and easy, and at rest, as a man in his own house." Every Israelite indeed is at home in God; the soul returns to him, and reposes in him as its resting-place (Psa 116:7), its hiding-place, Psa 32:7. And those that make him their habitation shall have all the comforts and benefits of a habitation in him, Psa 91:1. Moses had an eye to God as the habitation of Israel when they were wandering in the wilderness (Psa 90:1): Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations. And now that they were going to settle in Canaan they must not change their habitation; still they will need, and still they shall have, the eternal God for their dwelling-place; without him Canaan itself would be a wilderness, and a land of darkness.

2. Never were people so well supported and borne up: Underneath are the everlasting arms; that is, the almighty power of God is engaged for the protection and consolation of all that trust in him, in their greatest straits and distresses, and under the heaviest burdens. The everlasting arms shall support, (1.) The interests of the church in general, that they shall not sink, or be run down; underneath the church is that rock of ages on which it is built, and against which the gates of hell shall never prevail, Mat 16:18. (2.) The spirits or particular believers, so that, though they may be oppressed, they shall not be overwhelmed by any trouble. How low soever the people of God are at any time brought, everlasting arms are underneath them to keep the spirit from sinking, from fainting, and the faith from failing, even when they are pressed above measure. The everlasting covenant, and the everlasting consolations that flow from it, are indeed everlasting arms, with which believers have been wonderfully sustained, and kept cheerful in the worst of times; divine grace is sufficient for them, Co2 12:9.

3. Never were people so well commanded and led on to battle: "He shall thrust out the enemy from before thee by his almighty power, which will make room for thee; and by a commission which will bear thee out he shall say, Destroy them." They were now entering upon a land that was in the full possession of a strong and formidable people, and who, being its first planters, looked upon themselves as its rightful owners; how shall Israel justify, and how shall they accomplish, the expulsion of them? (1.) God will give them a commission to destroy the Canaanites, and that will justify them, and bear them out in it, against all the world. He that is sovereign Lord of all lives and all lands not only allowed and permitted, but expressly commanded and appointed the children of Israel both to take possession of the land of Canaan and to put the sword to the people of Canaan, which, being thus authorized, they might not only lawfully but honourably do, without incurring the least stain or imputation of theft by the one or murder by the other. (2.) God will give them power and ability to destroy them; nay, he will in effect do it to their hands: he will thrust out the enemy from before them; for the very fear of Israel shall put them to flight. God drive out the heathen to plant his people, Psa 44:2. Thus believers are more than conquerors over their spiritual enemies, through Christ that loved them. The captain of our salvation thrust out the enemy from before us when he overcame the world and spoiled principalities and powers on the cross; and the word of command to us is, "Destroy them; pursue the victory, and you shall divide the spoil."

4. Never were people so well secured and protected (Deu 33:28): Israel shall then dwell in safety alone. Those that dwell in God, and make his name their strong tower, dwell in safety; the place of their defence is the munitions of rocks, Isa 33:16. They shall dwell in safety alone. (1.) Though alone. Though they contract no alliances with their neighbours, nor have any reason to expect help or succour from any of them, yet they shall dwell in safety; they shall really be safe, and they shall think themselves so. (2.) Because alone. They shall dwell in safety as long as they continue pure, and unmixed with the heathen, a singular and peculiar people. Their distinction from other nations, though it made them like a speckled bird (Jer 12:9), and exposed them to the ill-will of those about them, yet was really their preservation from the mischief their neighbours wished them, as it kept them under the divine protection. All that keep close to God shall be kept safely by him. It is promised that in the kingdom of Christ Israel shall dwell safely, Jer 23:6.

5. Never were people so well provided for: The fountain of Jacob (that is, the present generation of that people, which is as the fountain to all the streams that shall hereafter descend and be derived from it) shall now presently be fixed upon a good land. The eye of Jacob (so it might be read, for the same word signifies a fountain and an eye) is upon the land of corn and wine, that is, where they now lay encamped they had Canaan in their eye, it was just before their faces, on the other side the river, and they would have it in their hands and under their feet quickly. This land upon which they had set their eye was blessed both with the fatness of the earth and the dew of heaven; it was a land of corn and wine, substantial and useful productions: also his heavens (as if the heavens were particularly designed to be blessings to that land) shall drop down dew, without which, though the soil were ever so good, the corn and wine would soon fail. Every Israelite indeed has his eye, the eye of faith, upon the better country, the heavenly Canaan, which is richly replenished with better things than corn and wine.

6. Never were people so well helped. If they were in any strait, God himself rode upon the heavens for their help, Deu 33:26. And they were a people saved by the Lord, Deu 33:29. If they were in danger of any harm, or in want of any good, they had an eternal God to go to, an almighty power to trust to; nothing could hurt those whom God helped, nor was it possible that the people should perish which was saved by the Lord. Those that are added to the gospel Israel are such as shall be saved, Act 2:47.

7. Never were people so well armed. God himself was the shield of their help by whom they were armed defensively, and sufficiently guarded against all assailants: and he was the sword of their excellency, by whom they were armed offensively, and made both formidable and successful in all their wars. God is called the sword of their excellency because, in fighting for them, he made them to excel other people, or because in all he did for them he had an eye to his sanctuary among them, which is called the excellency of Jacob, Psa 47:4; Eze 24:21; Amo 6:8. Those in whose hearts is the excellency of holiness have God himself for their shield and sword - are defended by the whole armour of God; his word is their sword, and faith in it is their shield, Eph 6:16, Eph 6:17.

8. Never were people so well assured of victory over their enemies: They shall be found liars unto thee; That is, "shall be forced to submit to thee sorely against their will, so that it will be but a counterfeit submission; yet the point shall be gained, for thou shalt tread upon their necks" (so the Septuagint), which we find done, Jos 10:24. "Thou shalt tread down their strong-holds, be they ever so high, and trample upon their palaces and temples, though esteemed ever so sacred. If thy enemies be found liars to thee" (so some read it), "thou shalt tread upon their high places; if they will not be held by the bonds of leagues and treaties, they shall be broken by the force of war." Thus shall the God of peace tread Satan under the feet of all believers, and shall do it shortly, Rom 16:20.

Now lay all this together, and then you will say, Happy art thou, O Israel! Who is like unto thee, O people! Thrice happy the people whose God is the Lord.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Deu 33:26 [There is] none like unto the God of Jeshurun, [who] rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky.

Ver. 26. Who rideth upon the heaven.] Having the celestial creatures for his cavalry, and the terrestrial for his infantry; how then can his want help?

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Deu_33:26-29

There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun.

The God of Jeshurun

Are we to understand this passage as revoking all the threatened judgments previously denounced against Israel? No. But Moses saw, amidst all the rebellion with which Israel as a nation was to be chargeable, and amidst all the reverses which they were consequently to experience, that the true Israel would be preserved, defended, and cared for. That in these words Moses addresses the true Israel, the spiritual seed of Abraham, is evident from the name he gives them Jeshurun, upright, or righteous. He begins by exalting the God of Jeshurun above all other gods; and he does so in language fitted to impress them with a conviction of the utter impotency of the gods of the nations.

1. The description conveys the idea of glorious majesty, absolute sovereignty, power infinitely beyond comprehension or resistance. But while thus reminding them of this view of the Divine character, he introduces it in a connection fitted to awaken confidence. He does not merely tell them that the God of Jeshurun rideth on the heaven, but that He does so as Jeshuruns help; and that if He revealed His own excellence and glory, it was in working out their deliverance, and making bare His holy arm for their protection. There as none like, etc. What peace should this truth inspire! What patience should it inspire! What confidence should it awaken and keep alive, even in circumstances the most gloomy and perplexing! If it does not produce this effect, must it not be because they are remaining contentedly in doubt whether they have really been justified and accepted with God, or are culpably insensible to the value of their privileges in having all their best interests bound up with the manifestation of His own glory?

2. The security of Gods justified people is still further set forth. God is declared to be their refuge, or rather dwelling place--not a temporary, but a perpetual refuge; and they are reminded that He is the eternal God, unchangeable in His being, and equally unchangeable in His purpose. They might feel at times as if they were altogether unequal to any new conquest over the adversaries which still remained to be subdued; but God Himself was to thrust out the enemy from before them, and to say, Destroy them. So it is, and has always been, in regard to the spiritual conflict of believers. The Scripture saints, in relating their experience--their fears and hopes, dangers and deliverances, seasons of depression and times of triumph, painful struggles with temptation and the strength by which they successfully resisted it--employ the very language which might have been appropriately used to describe the conflicts and conquests of Israel in Canaan (Psa_27:3; Psa_72:5; Psa_91:1-4). To all who know anything experimentally of the spiritual warfare of the believer, such language will be not only intelligible, but faithfully descriptive of what they have experienced, and in so far as they have been enabled to contend successfully with the risings of a corrupt nature within, the temptations of a sinful world without, the suggestions of Satan--with everything that would have brought their spiritual interests into jeopardy, everything that would have marred their peace and robbed them of their comfort--and in so far as they can now cherish the good hope of ultimately gaining the victory over all these, their spiritual enemies, it is because they have experienced the faithfulness of this declaration.

3. From this description of the conflict of Gods people, Moses proceeds to foretell their final and glorious triumph. Israel then shall dwell, etc. Viewing this prediction merely as referring to the settlement of Israel in Canaan, it was, in the first instance at least, only partially fulfilled. Israel did not so conquer the land as to dwell either in safety or alone. Through their unbelief, the command, Destroy, which otherwise would have been accompanied by a Divine power, was not fully carried into effect. But even had Israel literally dwelt alone and in safety, yet it would have been but a type of the still more glorious state of things to which Moses was instructed to direct the faith and hope of the Church. Nothing short of the glory of the latter day can exhaust the meaning of this passage. Many generations, indeed, have passed away, and we, too, may follow them, and still the prediction remain unfulfilled. But we have in Moses an example of the satisfaction and delight with which the saints of old contemplated the future prosperity of the Church, even when they should be gathered to their fathers; for though he was not to enter on the promised land, or participate in the rich blessings which awaited Israel there, yet could any one of them, even the man who had the prospect of sharing the longest and the most largely in these blessings, have expressed himself more joyously and with warmer gratitude in that prospect than Moses did in his last words to Israel? (R. Gordon, D. D.)

Israels God and Gods Israel

I. Israels God. Truly, when Moses looked upon the gods of Egypt--a country so superstitious that the satirist wrote of them, O happy nation, whose gods grow in their own gardens--when he heard the wild mythology of their idolatry, he might well say, There is none among them that is like unto the God of Jeshurun, Perhaps Moses had seen those vast catacombs of idolised animals which Egyptian discoverers have lately opened, where the crocodiles, cats, and birds, which had been worshipped in life, were afterwards carefully consigned. Wise as Egypt professed to be, she preserved her dead gods in myriads. Truly, the fancies of the most civilised nations have invented no deity comparable for a moment to the living God who made the heavens and the earth. Moses, in the particular words here used, seems to intimate that there is none like the God of Jeshurun as the ground of our confidence, Now, ye who have trusted in God, remember there is room for you to trust Him still more; and the more you shall confide in Him, the more emphatically will you declare, There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun. If we rely upon men, we put trust in fickleness itself. Fall back upon yourselves, lean upon your fellow creatures, trust upon earth-born confidences, and ye fall Upon a rotten foundation that shall give way beneath you; but rest upon your God alone, and the stars in heaven shall fight for you, and things present and things to come, and heights, and depths, and all the creatures subservient to the will of the omnipotent Creator, shall work together for good to you seeing that you love God and are depending upon His power.

II. Israels safety. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. Two sentences, with a little variation of expression, containing essentially the same sense. God is first said to be the refuge of His people, that is, when they have strength enough to fly to Him He protects them; but it is delightfully added, underneath are the everlasting arms, that is, when they have not strength enough to flee to Him, but faint where they stand, there are His arms ready to bear them up in their utmost extremity. I will mention some times when a Christian needs these arms peculiarly. These are when he is in a state of great elevation of mind. Sometimes God takes His servants and puts them on the pinnacle of the temple. Satan does it sometimes; God does it too--puts His servants up on the very pinnacle, where they are so full of joy that they scarce know how to contain themselves, whether in the body or out of the body they cannot tell. Well, now, suppose they should fall! for it is so easy for a man, when full of ecstasy and ravishment, to make a false step and slip. Ah! but, in such moments, underneath are the everlasting arms. They are safe enough, as safe as though they were in the valley of humiliation, for underneath are the arms of God. Sometimes He puts a man in such a position in service--there must be leaders in the Lords Church, captains and mighty men of war--and the Lord sometimes calls a man and says to him, Now, be Moses to this people. Such positions are fraught with temptation; but is Gods servant in greater danger than an ordinary Christian? Yes, he is, if left to himself; but he will not be left to himself, for God does not treat His captains as David treated Uriah, and put them in the forefront of the battle, to leave them, that they may be slain by the enemy. No, if our God calls a man to tread the high places of the field, that man shall say with Habakkuk, He will make my feet like hinds feet, and He will make me to walk upon mine high places. Underneath are the everlasting arms. Another period of great need is after extraordinary exaltations and enjoyments, when it often happens that Gods servants are greatly depressed. In the wilderness, all alone, you hear Elijah cry, Let me die, I am no better than my fathers. Yes, the man who never was to die at all, prayed that he might die. Just so, high exaltations involve deep depressions. But what was under Elijah when he fell down in that fainting fit under the juniper tree? Why, underneath were the everlasting arms. So shall it be with you who are called thus to fall into the depths of depression; the eternal arms shall be lower than you are.

III. Israels future. You have seen a man in our streets with a telescope, through which you may see Venus, or Saturn, or Jupiter. Now, if that gentleman, instead of revealing the stars, could fix up a telescope, and undertake that everybody who looked through it could see his future life, I will be bound to say he would make his fortune very speedily, for there is a great desire amongst us all to know something of the future. Yet we need not be so anxious, for the great outlines of the future are very well known already. We have it on the best authority, that in the future as in the past, we shall meet with difficulties, and contend with enemies. My text, like the telescope, reveals to those who trust in God what will become of their difficulties, and we see that they are to be overcome. God will work, and you will work. He shall thrust out your enemies, and He shall say to you, Destroy them. It is a grand thing to go straight on in the path of duty, believing that God will clear the road. Like the priests, when they came to the edge of Jordan, and saw the billows rolling up, yet on they went, and not so much as one of them was touched by the waves, for as they put down their feet the waters receded. Oh, it must have been grand to be the first man in that march--to see the waters flow away before your feet! So shall it be with you: the water shall come up to where you are, yet it shall not touch you; you shall find it disappear as you by faith advance.

IV. Israels blessedness.

1. Israel then shall dwell alone. Dwelling with God in communion, having with Him one object, one affection, one desire, we dwell apart from the rest of mankind, coming out daily more and more from them, and desiring to be nearer and nearer to Christ, and farther and farther from men. Here we dwell safely; nowhere safe except when alone with God, but always safe then.

2. Abundant provision. The fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine. Gods people are to be supplied from a fountain, and around that fountain there shall always be a superabundance of corn for their necessities, and of wine for their comfort and their luxury. Those who come to God receive no stinted allowance, they are gentlemen commoners upon the bounty of God. There is a daily portion allotted to them, and it is measured on a princely scale, equal to the dignity of the new birth. We drink from an ever overflowing fountain.

3. Celestial unction. Also His heavens shall drop down dew. How we want this! How dry we get, how dull, how dead, unless the Lord visit us! The Oriental knew the value of dew. When he saw the green pastures turn brown and at last dry up, till they were nothing but dust and powder, how he sought for the shower, and the dew; and when it came, how thankful was he! When that dew of the Holy Spirit is gone from us, what dead prayers, what miserable songs, what wearisome preaching, what wretched hearing! Oh, there is death everywhere when the Holy Spirit is denied us; but we need not be without Him, for He is in the promise--His heaven shall drop down dew. The words read as if there were much dew, superabundance of moisture. So, indeed, we may have the Holy Spirit most copiously if we have but faith enough. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The God of Jeshurun

I. The appellation given to Jehovah. The term Jeshurun is a collective term used, just as Israel, Jacob, etc., to designate the covenant people--the people who, like Israel of old, have received a Divine call to come out from the world and be separate; who, in obedience to this Divine call, have separated themselves unto the Lord, and have entered into a solemn and public covenant with Him in which they have engaged to be His, and in which He has been graciously pleased to receive them, so that they now constitute His peculium. Jeshurun is, in other words, a symbolical designation of the Church. The text, therefore, represents God as sustaining to those who are members of the Church a relation that He does not and cannot sustain to one who is outside its fold. But there must be special reason for using this particular term to designate the Church. Viewed etymologically we find Jeshurun seems to be the plural diminutive of the word upright. It may, therefore, probably be best translated the children of uprightness. This is Gods designation of the Church, indicative of its true character and mission in the world. Its mission is through the power of Divine grace to set upright that which has fallen. Its first work is to lift truth out of the dust; to free it from the incubus of error and superstition under which it has been borne down; to vindicate it, to defend it against all assaults of error, and to preserve it pure from all the inventions and sophistries of men. Broader, even yet, is the mission of the Church in establishing and maintaining uprightness in the earth. It is designed of God to be the great conservator of virtue, the great bulwark of morality, the efficient safeguard of the rights and liberties, of the intelligence and virtue, of the beneficence and charity that now beautify and gladden the world.

II. The action ascribed to Jehovah. Who rideth upon the heaven. It is the same bold figure, so often used by the inspired Psalmist, as when he represents Jehovah as making the clouds His chariot, or as riding upon the wings of the wind. It is the glory of natural law that it is the power which God wields, the chariot upon which God rides. The more majestic modern science shows it to be, the more do our hearts rejoice in it as a fitting vehicle for the triumphant progress of our King. Let the agnostic blindly worship the material chariot if he will, his eye dazzled with the effulgence of its glittering wheels, and his ear fascinated with its music as it glides over the celestial pavement; be it ours to pay our homage to Him who rides upon it, whose eye of intelligence looks down into ours, whose heart of love beats in sympathy with ours, and whose firm hand upon the rein assures us that all things are working together for our eternal good.

III. The object of Jehovah in thus doing. This riding of the God of Jesburun upon the heaven is in His peoples help. The chariot was the most formidable of all the implements of ancient warfare. The celerity with which it swept across the field of action; the momentum with which it crushed its way over the prostrate forms of opposing hosts; the vantage it afforded to the warrior by its elevated platform and protecting rail, and the carnage wrought by the sharp blades upon its axles as they hewed their way through the masses like scythes through the ripened grain: these made it of all engines of war the most effective and the most terrible. The children of Israel fled in dismay as they heard the rumble of Pharaohs chariot wheels. When intercepted by the waters of the Red Sea they stood cowering with affright as they saw the gleam of the chariots in the sunlight. Moses, therefore, introduces an element of encouragement peculiarly appropriate to the circumstances and experiences of the people when he represents Jehovah as an infinite charioteer riding majestically forth upon the heaven, keeping ever near His people in their wilderness journey, and ready in the hour of their conflict and peril to appear for their relief and for the discomfiture of their foes. It was just the assurance needed by a host who felt the inferiority of their equipment and resources to those of the enemies with whom they would have to contend. But without discarding from our view the special symbolism of the text, what can be more inspiring to the Church in this age, and in the midst of her present conflicts, than this thought of her Jehovah-Jesus, sitting upon the circle of the heavens, holding in His hands the reins of Gods providential government; keeping pace in the march of His providence with the progress of the Church; then always nearest when she is in her times of greatest peril; holding all the powers of heaven, earth, and hell in subjection to Himself, and plucking His grandest victories over the powers of darkness out of the very jaws of apparent defeat? (T. D. Witherspoon, D. D.)

God and the true

1. The last words of a truly great man.

2. Referring to subjects of the highest moment.

I. The incomparable God of the good.

1. His activity. Never slumbers or sleeps. The universe moves because He moves.

2. His grandeur.

3. His eternity.

II. The incomparable blessedness of the good.

1. None are so well protected from the perils of life.

2. None are so well supported under the trials of life.

3. None are so certain of conquering the enemies of life.

4. None are so enriched with the enjoyments of life,

These they shall possess--

(1) in safety;

(2) in rich variety;

(3) under the guardianship of God. (Homilist.)

The last words of Moses

Moses the man of God (who had as much reason as ever any mere man had to know both) with his last breath magnifies both the God of Israel and the Israel of God, They are both incomparable in his eye; and we are sure, in this his judgment of both, his eye did not wax dim.

I. No God like the God of israel.

1. This was the honour of Israel. Every nation boasted of its God, but none had such a God to boast of as Israel had.

2. It was their happiness that they were taken into covenant with such a God. Two things he notes as proofs of the incontestable preeminence of the God of Jeshurun--

(1) His sovereign power and authority (verse 26).

(2) His boundless eternity (verse 27).

II. No people like the Israel of God.

1. Never was people so well seated and sheltered (verse 27).

2. Never was people so well supported and borne up. The everlasting arms shall support--

(1) The interests of the Church in general, that they should not sink or be run down.

(2) The spirits of particular believers; so that, though they may be oppressed, they shall not be overwhelmed by any trouble.

3. Never was people so well commanded and led on to battle.

4. Never was people so well secured and protected (verse 28). Israel then shall dwell in safety alone.

(1) Though alone; though they contract no alliances with their neighbours, nor have any reason to expect help or succour from any of them, yet they shall dwell in safety, they shall really be safe, and they shall think themselves so.

(2) Because alone; they shall dwell in safety as long as they continue pure and unmixed with the heathen, a singular, and peculiar people. Their distinction from other nations, though it made them like a speckled bird (Jer_12:9), and exposed them to the ill-will of those about them, yet it was really their preservation from the mischief their neighbours wished them, as it kept them under the Divine protection. All that keep close to God shall be kept safe by Him. It is promised that in the kingdom of Christ Israel shall dwell safely (Jer_23:6).

5. Never was people so well provided for. The fountain of Jacob, i.e. the present generation of that people, which is as the fountain to all the streams that shall hereafter descend and be derived from it, shall now presently be fixed upon a good land. The eye of Jacob (so it might be read, for the same word signifies a fountain and an eye) is upon the land of corn and wine, i.e. where they now lay encamped they had Canaan in their eye; it was just before their faces, on the other side the river; and they would have it in their hands and under their feet quickly.

6. Never was people so well helped (verse 26). They that are added to the Gospel Israel are such as shall be saved (Act_2:47).

7. Never was people so well armed. God Himself was the shield of their help, by whom they were armed defensively, and sufficiently guarded against all assailants; and He was the sword of their excellency, by whom they were armed offensively, and made both formidable and successful in all their wars. God is called the sword of their excellency, because, in fighting for them, He made them to excel other people; or, because in all He did for them He had an eye to His sanctuary among them, which is called the excellency of Jacob (Psa_47:4; Eze_24:21; Amo_6:8). Those in whose hearts is the excellency of holiness, have God Himself for their shield and sword, are defended by the whole armour of God; His word is their sword, and faith in it is their shield (Eph_6:16-17).

8. Never was people so well assured of victory over their enemies. They shall be found liars unto thee, i.e. shall be forced to submit to thee sore against their will, so that it will be but a counterfeit submission. Yet the point shall be gained, for thou shalt tread upon their necks (so the Seventy), which we find done (Jos_10:24). (Matthew Henry, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Deu 33:26. There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun — These are the last words that ever Moses wrote, perhaps the greatest writer that ever lived upon the earth. And this man of God, who had as much reason to know both as ever any mere man had, with his last breath magnifies both the God of Israel, and the Israel of God. Having blessed every particular tribe, he concludes with declaring the happiness of the whole nation, especially in this, that their God was not like the vain and foolish gods of other nations, but that eternal and infinite Being, who is matchless and inimitable in all perfections, and who had undertaken to be their protector, provider, and saviour, notwithstanding and in defiance of all their enemies. Who rideth upon the heavens in, or to, thy help — Who, in sending thee help, rides upon the heavens with the greatest state and magnificence, and makes them subservient to his will, by employing thunder, lightning, hail- stones, and all the artillery of the skies in thy behalf. His riding on the heavens denotes the greatness and glory in which he manifests himself to the upper world, and the use he makes of the influences of heaven and the products of the clouds, in bringing to pass his own counsels in this lower world. All these he manages and directs, as a man doth the horse he rides on. In his excellency on the sky — Or, In his magnificence on the clouds; that is, when he is pleased to display his grandeur and awful majesty in thy behalf, he rides upon the clouds, raises such storms and tempests as demonstrate those parts of nature to be entirely under his power and control.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 26-29. As Moses commenced by celebrating the glorious majesty of Jehovah when he appeared to establish his covenant with Israel, so he concludes with a reference to God as the eternal Refuge and the saving Help of his people.

There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun. The points and accents direct that this should be read, There is none like God, O Jeshurun; and though all the ancient versions read as does the Authorized Version, the Masoretic punctuation is vindicated here by the following thy help, which shows that Israel is here addressed.

Vers. 26-29. The glory of Israel"s God, and the blessedness of God"s Israel.

Ere Moses quite throws up his task, he gives us his view of Israel as a whole. He has had a word of blessing for tribe by tribe, and now he takes one last look at the whole nation, and viewing it in the light of that eternal world on which he is so soon to enter, his words are richer, riper, sweeter than any we yet have read. The name he gives to the people is very significant The word is found but four times in the Scriptures, viz. in Deu_32:15 Deu_33:5, Deu_33:26; Isa_44:2. Itseems to be a kind of diminutive from rv) and in the passage before us it appears to be used as a term of admiration and endearment; some would think it equivalent to "a righteous little people" (see Gesenius). Anyway, the root-notion of the word is connected with righteousness. And the fundamental conception which Moses has of the nation is that it is a nation in covenant with Jehovah on the righteous basis of sacrifice, and that it is one, moreover, which has righteousness for the corner-stone of its constitution and polity. And he pronounces them blessed in two senses: they have a God who is infinitely greater than all gods; they have privileges which make them greater than all other peoples. Hence we have a double theme to meditate upon, from the evangelic standpoint.

I NONE IS SO GLORIOUS AS ISRAEL"S GOD. It is one mark of Divine condescension that our God lets his people speak of him in language they can best understand; e.g. "None like unto the God of Jeshurun" is a phrase which would seem to imply that there may be some other gods, but none equal to the one God (cf. Mic_7:18; 1Sa_2:2) whereas in fact there is no other. Still, men of other nations worshipped other beings whom they deemed to be gods; and Israel"s God, in his infinite condescension, suffers himself to be put in contrast from them, although he is God alone.

1. He is "the eternal God." The word rendered "eternal" here is one which refers to God"s having existed from the eternal past. "From everlasting" he is God he is Jehovah. He changes not.

2. He is one who "rideth above the heaven," etc.; he is over all. In the glory of his transcendent majesty, all things are under his feet. "He maketh the clouds his chariot; he walketh upon the wings of the wind.

3. He is one who bears up Israel and all things in his arms. "Underneath are the everlasting arms arms spread out, expanded with the intent of bearing all. Everlasting arms," that will remain thus spread out and bearing all to eternity, without weariness, though they have borne the weight of all things from eternity.

4. He is one whose active energies are ever going before his people, to "thrust out" their enemies. Whatever would obstruct them shall be taken out of the way.

5. He himself is and will be the Dwelling-place in which his people can abide. Thy Refuge". (see Psa_90:1 Psa_91:2, Psa_91:9; Isa_4:6) It is not at all unlikely that the figure of God as a permanent Home to his people suggested itself to Moses by way of contrast, as the people had lived such a wandering life, and abode in tabernacles (so Keil). Let these five features which mark Israel"s God be put together. May we not well say, "Who is like to the God of Jeshurun?

II NONE CAN BE SO BLESSED AS GOD"S ISRAEL. This is seen whether we consider what God is to them, or what they have and are in, through, and from God.

1. Their blessedness arises from what God is to them; it is an incomparable blessedness. For:

(1) Who else has an eternal God?

(2) Who else has one so great in majesty?

(3) Who else has one so strong to bear?

(4) Who else has one so mighty to defend?

(5) Who else has one in whom is such a home?

Each of these five points, the correlatives of those under the first head, requires expansion.

2. It arises also from what they have and are in and through God.

(1) They have security. "Israel shall dwell in safety.

(2) Plenty shall be theirs. "The fountain Of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine." "They that fear the Lord shall not want any good thing.

(3) They shall have refreshment. "His heavens shall drop down dew." God will be "as the dew unto Israel.

(4) Victory shall be theirs.

(a) "Thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee: i.e. they threatened to destroy, and they are proved false.

(b) "Thou shalt tread upon their high places;" i.e. the high and fortified places in which they gloried shall be as ramparts over which you shall walk.

Who can desire to be more blessed than this? Yea, who can conceive of a greater blessedness? Is it not enough to set the heart a-longing? May not the remark be appropriately made in closing, that

It behooves each one of us to make sure that we are of the Israel of God, so that we may know this blessedness is ours!

Vers. 26-29. Israel"s happiness.

A noble climax! The round of blessing has been completed, and the dying lawgiver revels in the thought of the greatness and felicity thence resulting to favored Israel. One by one the tribes have passed before his eye, and he has sketched in outline, not indeed their actual future, but what might have been, what would have been their future, had they remained faithful to their God. The picture is largely an ideal one, though in the after-history of the tribes, in the lots assigned to them in Canaan, in the types of character exhibited by them, in the variety of their callings and destinies as in the ruins of a temple we may trace something of its original design we discern the fulfillment of many features of the prophecy. Moses" blessing on the tribes is at once a wish, a prayer, and a prediction: a wish that certain blessings may be theirs; a prayer that the blessings may be given; and a prediction of what, conditionally on obedience, would actually be realized. Reading the blessings, we think, as in the parable, of servants entrusted with certain talents to be used in their Lord"s service, but capable of making a bad as well as a good use of them. (Mat_25:14-31) The tribes, speaking generally, used theirs badly, and the blessings were not fulfilled. What applies to the blessing as a whole applies especially to this magnificent concluding passage. It is the ideal, not the actual Israel which stands here before the great lawgiver"s eye, and the language applies to the actual, only in so far as it was also the ideal, people of Jehovah. Its full application is to the Church of Christ the Church catholic and invisible.

I THE BASIS OF ISRAEL"S HAPPINESS, viz. the relation which the tribes sustained to the eternal God. He was the God of Jeshurun of the righteous people. He was a God bound to them by covenant. They had been saved by him. He was their changeless Dwelling-place, Defender, and Support. All power in heaven and earth was at their service, and engaged for their defense. They had nothing to fear with a Protector so almighty; they had everything to hope for from one so able to save and bless. Precisely similar is the relation of God in Christ to the Church of believers.

II THE GREATNESS OF IT.

1. Complete as regards its elements. No element of good a-wanting. Rising from natural blessings, and safety and protection against enemies, they had also, in the favor of God and communion with him, every pledge of spiritual blessing.

2. Permanent. Enduring as the eternal God.

3. Exalting and ennobling to the soul of its possessor. Such a relation to God as Israel sustained should have wrought in the people, did in part work in them, a surpassing elevation of consciousness; was fitted to raise thought and feeling to the pitch of sublimity; should have made of them a great nation, in the best sense of the words, a nation great in thought, aspiration, and endeavor heroically great. A like elevation of spirit should characterize the people of Christ. J.O.

Vers. 26-29. The incomparable Savior.

In finishing the blessing of the people, Moses cannot refrain from bursting into a tribute of admiration for him who had brought them thus far. He speaks of God"s incomparable excellency, and how happy Israel was in relying upon his power. We shall notice the two thoughts in this order as cause and effect.

I THE INCOMPARABLE EXCELLENCY OF GOD. This is brought out in several particulars. And:

1. God is incomparably excellent in himself. He "rideth upon the heaven in his help, and in his excellency on the sky." The reference is believed to be to the Shechinah cloud, which passed in calm majesty along the upper heavens to indicate to Israel, or "Jeshurun," as Israel is here called, the way they should take. In no more beautiful way could God"s essential sovereignty be brought out. He moves in calm majesty among the spheres, the Ruler because Maker of them all. No one can for a moment be compared with him.

2. God is incomparably excellent as the Savior of his people. Israel experienced his help in the deliverance from Egypt, in the pilgrimage to Palestine, and they were about to experience still further favor in the success of the invasion. The language is most beautiful by which all this is conveyed. "The eternal God is thy Refuge;" to him who dwells in the eternities and who orders their processions, the difficulties of time must be as nothing. "Underneath are the everlasting arms," no weariness ever overtaking arms which are full of everlasting strength. "He shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them." Now, in all this we have a figure of the salvation which God extends still to men.

1. He delivers us from the bondage of sin;

2. he justifies us freely from all things;

3. he sanctifies us by his Spirit;

4. he protects and delivers us from all our enemies.

II THE CONSEQUENT HAPPINESS OF ISRAEL. What distinguishes Israel and renders them a happy people is the possession of such an incomparable Savior. It is not in Israel themselves, but in their God, that the cause of their happiness dwells. And is is well to remember this.

1. Frames and feelings are no proper foundation for our spiritual confidence. Anxious souls prolong their anxiety and postpone their peace by excessive introspection. Instead of occupying themselves with the incomparable excellency of their Savior, they occupy themselves with the incomparable vileness of their own hearts. No peace and joy can come from within.

2. The changeless Savior is a true Foundation for our confidence and hope. It is "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever," in whom we are asked to confide. He has every excellency which our necessities demand. He has the atonement and the sympathy and the intercessory powers we need to free us from deserved penalties and fit us for undeserved blessing.

3. We stand in consequence as an expectant people awaiting our entrance to the land of promise. For it is to be noticed that Israel were not only happy in their experience, but happy also in their hopes. They were about to enter the Promised Land. There they were to dwell safely alone, like the heavenly state where "the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest." They are to have plenty of corn and wine, as the redeemed have in heaven, where they eat angels" food and drink the new wine of the kingdom. They are to dwell under the fertilizing dews of heaven, as the redeemed shall under the benedictions of God. In hope, then, Israel was happy: and we too may "rejoice in hope of the glory of God. R.M.E.

Vers. 26-29. God, the crown of Israel"s glory.

As soon as Moses touches upon ills theme, language seems too poor to express the greatness of his thought too cold to convey the glowing ardor of his love. Here all metaphors fail; all comparisons are vain. God is above all imagery, or metaphor, or illustration. As there is none like him, so nothing can fitly express his deeds towards his chosen, tits conduct is, like himself, ineffable. As heaven is loftier than earth, so do God"s thoughts and ways transcend human conception.

I OBSERVE ISRAEL"S SOURCE OF GREATNESS. Without question, Israel"s source of greatness is God. Inconceivable as it is to mortal minds, the eternal Sovereign of the universe has come into intimate alliance with his chosen people. He is not simply God the abstract Deity he is the "God of Jeshurun." His eternity is brought into human use is available for human needs. In the eternal and unchangeable God we may dwell. He is our Refuge, our Dwelling-place, our Sanctuary. All the resources of his omnipotence are for us: beneath us "are the everlasting arms." But hath God arms? Hath he human members and organs? "He that formed the eye, shall he not see?" He that fashioned our arms and hands, hath he no instruments with which to support our sinking frame? Yea, "in him we live.

All the activities of his providential government are for us. "He rideth upon the heavens," like a king in his chariot, for our help. This is true, both for Israel collectively, and for every individual believer. In every decree that issues from his throne, he has us in view. All the machinery of his extended providence works with one design, viz. our advantage. He thinks, and plans, and executes, and overturns for one main end the final redemption of his people. God and we are one.

II ISRAEL"S SAFETY. "Thou shalt dwell in safety alone." From the foregoing premise, this is a sound and certain conclusion. "If God be for us," who can assail us successfully? What can prevail against omnipotence? What can penetrate the thick bosses of Jehovah"s shield? Fear in suck a case is unreasonable disloyalty. This globe must be shivered into a thousand atoms, all the forces in God"s universe must be rendered powerless and ineffective, the scepter of Jehovah must be broken, before any danger can touch the elect of God. Safe, beyond the specter of a fear, are hose whom God defends.

III ISRAEL"S ABUNDANCE. "The fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine." Jacob is represented as the fount or source of many people, all of whom shall find an abode in the land of corn and wine. Every want shall be met. In this "mountain, shall the Lord of hosts prepare a feast of fat things." In the paradise of God there flourishes on both sides of the stream, the tree of life, which bears twelve manner of fruits, and yieldeth her fruit every month. Here is a perennial supply and satisfying variety. And though this is expressed by material images, it sets forth substantial and eternal truth the very truth of God. In the kingdom of God there is provided whatever can please the eye, delight the ear, regale the appetite, relieve a need, gratify a sense. For perpetually does the voice of the King ring out a hearty welcome, "Eat, O friends; yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.

IV ISRAEL"S TRIUMPH. God"s triumph is Israel"s triumph also. God will not dissociate himself from his people. "His covenant is an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure." Yea, God"s conquests are not separate and distinct from ours. He conquers through us yea, by means of us. If we belong to the true Israel, God"s foes are our foes, God"s weapons are our weapons, God"s interests are our interests. Our excellent Sword in this warfare is God; he himself is" the Shield of our help." The contest may be protracted, severe, wavering; success may seem to hang in suspense; but beyond the smoke and dust and uncertainty of battle, faith clearly sees the final triumph, and hears the immortal pen, "Thou shalt tread upon their high places.

V ISRAEL"S TRANSCESDEST HAPPINESS. "Happy art thou, O Israel; who is like unto thee?" Surely, their happiness is complete, and impossible of enlargement, who repose themselves in the very heart of God, and dwell perpetually in his love! The utmost capacity of human speech is impotent to express their deep and satisfying joy. It is a thing to be experienced, not expressed. Such joy hath no vocabulary, no tongue. It is "joy unspeakable, and full of glory." What the noonday sun is to a glowworm"s spark, so is the joy of the righteous compared with the joys of earth. God"s own joy is conveyed to godly hearts. D.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The conclusion of the blessing corresponds to the introduction. As Moses commenced with the glorious fact of the founding of the kingdom of Jehovah in Israel, as the firm foundation of the salvation of His people, so he also concludes with a reference to the Lord their eternal refuge, and with a congratulation of Israel which could find refuge in such a God.

Deu 33:26-27

"Who is as God, a righteous nation, who rides in heaven to thy help, and in His exaltation upon the clouds. Abiding is the God of olden time, and beneath are everlasting arms: and He drives the enemy before thee, and says, Destroy." The meaning is: No other nation has a God who rules in heaven with almighty power, and is a refuge and help to his people against every foe. Jeshurun is a vocative, and the alteration of כּאל into כּאל, "as the God of Jeshurun," according to the ancient versions, is to be rejected on the simple ground that the expression "in thy help," which follows immediately afterwards, is an address to Israel. Riding upon the heaven and the clouds is a figure used to denote the unlimited omnipotence with which God rules the world out of heaven, and is the helper of His people. "In thy help," i.e., as thy helper. This God is a dwelling to His people. מענה, like the masculine מעון in Psa 90:1, and Psa 91:9, signifies "dwelling," - a genuine Mosaic figure, to which, in all probability, the houseless wandering of the people in the desert, which made them feel the full worth of a dwelling, first gave rise. The figure not only implies that God grants protection and a refuge to His people in the storms of life (Psa 91:1-2, cf. Isa 4:6), but also that He supplies His people with everything that can afford a safe abode. "The God of old," i.e., who has proved Himself to be God from the very beginning of the world (vid., Psa 90:1; Hab 1:12). The expression "underneath" is to be explained from the antithesis to the heaven where God is enthroned above mankind. He who is enthroned in heaven above is also the God who is with His people upon the earth below, and holds and bars them in His arms. "Everlasting arms" are arms whose strength is never exhausted. There is no need to supply "thee" after "underneath;" the expression should rather be left in its general form, "upon the earth beneath." The reference to Israel is obvious from the context. The driving of the enemy before Israel is not to be restricted to the rooting out of the Canaanites, but applies to every enemy of the congregation of the Lord.

Deu 33:28

"And Israel dwells safely, alone the fountain of Jacob, in a land full of corn and wine; his heavens also drop down dew." Because the God of old was the dwelling and help of Israel, it dwelt safely and separate from the other nations, in a land abounding with corn and wine. "The fountain of Jacob" is parallel to "Israel;" "alone (separate) dwells the fountain of Jacob." This title is given to Israel as having sprung from the patriarch Jacob, in whom it had its source. A similar expression occurs in Psa 68:27. It completely destroys the symmetry of the clauses of the verse to connect the words, as Luther does, with what follows, in the sense of "the eye of Jacob is directed upon a land." The construction of שׁכן with אל, to dwell into a land, may be explained on the ground that the dwelling involves the idea of spreading out over the land. On the "land of corn," etc., see Deu 8:7 and Deu 8:8. אף is emphatic: yea his heaven, i.e., the heaven of this land drops down dew (vid., Gen 27:28). Israel was to be congratulated upon this.

Deu 33:29

"Hail to thee, O Israel! who is like thee, a people saved in the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who (is) the sword of thine eminence. Thine enemies will deny themselves to thee, and thou ridest upon their heights." "Saved;" not merely delivered from danger and distress, but in general endowed with salvation (like Zac 9:9; see also Isa 45:17). The salvation of Israel rested in the Lord, as the ground out of which it grew, from which it descended, because the Lord was its help and shield, as He had already promised Abraham (Gen 15:1), and "the sword of his eminence," i.e., the sword which had fought for the eminence of Israel. But because the Lord was Israel's shield and sword, or, so to speak, both an offensive and defensive weapon, his enemies denied themselves to him, i.e., feigned friendship, did not venture to appear openly as enemies (for the meaning "feign," act the hypocrite, see Psa 18:45; Psa 81:16). But Israel would ride upon their heights, the high places of their land, i.e., would triumph over all its foes (see at Deu 32:13).

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

33:26 He rides across the heavens: Moses’ blessing of the tribes climaxes with praise to the Lord. Like a mighty warrior, God rides triumphantly through the skies on chariots of cloud (see 1:30).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun--The chapter concludes with a congratulatory address to Israel on their peculiar happiness and privilege in having Jehovah for their God and protector.

who rideth upon the heaven in thy help--an evident allusion to the pillar of cloud and fire, which was both the guide and shelter of Israel.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 26. There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun] We have already seen the literal meaning of Jeshurun, De 32:15; but besides its literal meaning, it seems to be used as an expression of particular affection: hence Calmet understands it as a diminutive of the word Israel. We know that τεκνοι, sons, in the mouth of St. John, signifies much less than τεκνια, which, properly translated, would be beloved children, a term which at once shows the helplessness of the offspring, and the tender affection of the parent. So Jeshurun may be understood here: and hence the Septuagint seem to have apprehended the full force of the word by translating it του ηγαπημενου, the beloved one, the object of God's especial delight.

Israel's God, and God's Israel, have no fellows. What were all the gods of the nations, even supposing they were real beings, in comparison of the Almighty? And what nation under heaven could be compared to the Israel of God? It was, however, from God's excellence that they derived theirs.

Rideth upon the heaven, &c.] Unites heaven and earth in thy defence and support, and comes with irresistible velocity to succour and defend thee, and to discomfit thine adversaries.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(26) There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun.—Their rock is not as our Rock. For Jeshurun, see note on Deu_32:15.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

26. like the God of Jeshurun] So Sam., LXX., Targ., Vulg.; but Heb. reads like the God, O Yeshurun. Parallels to this line are found in J, Exo_8:10; Exo_9:14; in the Poem, Exo_15:11; 2Sa_7:22, and above Deu_4:35; Deu_4:39, Deu_32:39.

excellency] Rather loftiness, exaltation. Geddes sees an allusion to the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night. Of the divine sublimity only here and Psa_68:34 (35); also there with skies.

skies] Or less probably fine clouds; Geddes: ‘the subtile air.’ The word occurs only in the Second Isaiah, the late Jer_51:9, Job, Proverbs and Psalms, many of which are certainly late.

26–29. The Epilogue

26 None like the God of Yeshurun!—

Riding the heavens to thy help,

And the skies in His loftiness.

27 The Eternal God is thy refuge,

And beneath are the arms everlasting.

He drove out before thee the foe,

And He said, Destroy!

28 So Israel dwelt securely,

Secluded the fount of Jacob,

On a land of corn and wine,

His heavens too dropped with dew.

29 Happy thou Israel! Who is like thee?

A people saved by the Lord.

[He is] the shield of thy help,

And the sword that exalts thee;

Till thy foes come to thee fawning,

But thou on their heights dost march.

This section follows closely on to Deu_33:2-5, with which it may have been originally one poem.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The eternal God is thy refuge,.... God is eternal, from everlasting to everlasting; the Ancient of days, before all things, and all time; which is, and was, and is to come: the same is true of Christ, who is the everlasting Father, or Father of eternity, the true God, and eternal life; as appears from his nature, having the whole fulness, all the perfections of deity in him; from his office, as Mediator, in which he was set up from everlasting; from his concern in eternal election, in the everlasting covenant, and in the creation of all things out of nothing: and he is the refuge of his people, the antitype of the cities of refuge, to whom sinners, under a sense of sin, flee for refuge; and where they are safe from avenging justice, the wrath of God, the condemnation of the law, everlasting ruin and destruction, or the second death; or their "mansion", or "dwelling place" (k); which he has been in all generations, as Moses also says, Psa 90:1. Such is Christ to his people, who dwelt secretly in him from everlasting, being chosen in him, and given to him; and openly in conversion, where they dwell as in a strong hold, safely, quietly, comfortably, and pleasantly:

and underneath are the everlasting arms; that is, of God, which are the support of his people, and their protection, safety, and security; such as the arms of his everlasting love, which encircle them, and compass them about as a shield; his everlasting covenant, which is immovable, and in which they ever remain; eternal redemption and salvation, wrought out by Christ, which secures them from destruction; and everlasting power, by which they are kept and preserved as in a garrison; and everlasting consolation, which flows from all this: and so the arms of Christ, or his almighty power, are under the world, to uphold it in being; and under his church, to support it, on whose shoulders the government of it is; and under particular believers, whom he carries in his arms, embraces in his bosom, bears them up under all their afflictions and temptations, trials and exercises; nor will he ever suffer them to drop out of his arms, or to be plucked from thence:

and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; the Canaanites out of the land of Canaan, to make room for Israel, which he was just about to do, and quickly did. In like manner Christ thrusts out Satan and the spiritual enemies of his people, whom to dispossess is a work of mighty power; and not only so, but gives orders to destroy them, and does destroy them, and makes his people more than conquerors over them:

and shall say, destroy them; the Canaanites: to do which the people of Israel had an order from the Lord, Deu 7:1.

(k) "habitaculum", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Piscator, Cocceius.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Rather, There is none like unto God, O Jeshurun! See marginal reference and note.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Rightest, (rectissimi.) Hebrew yeshurun, "the beloved," Israel. (Haydock) --- Thither, as messengers. Hebrew, "The clouds are in his elevation," like so many steps to his throne. Who makest the clouds thy chariot, (ascensum tuum) who walkest upon the wings of the winds, Psalm ciii. 3. (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "He is the great ornament of the firmament." None is like to him in power and majesty. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Upon the heaven, i. e. upon the clouds, to succour thee from thence, by sending thunder and lightning upon thine enemies. See Psa 18:7; 68:34, &c.

In his excellency, or,

in his magnificence, i.e. magnificently, gloriously, and with great majesty as well as power.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

26. There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun — A better translation is, O Jeshurun, (or righteous nation,) there is none like God.

Who rideth upon the heaven in thy help — More literally rendered, riding through the heavens to thy help.

And in his excellency on the sky — Better, and in his majesty upon the clouds.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

There us none - These are the last words that ever Moses wrote, perhaps the greatest writer that ever lived upon the earth. And this man of God, who had as much reason to know both as ever any mere man had, with his last breath magnifies both the God of Israel, and the Israel of God. Unto the God of Jeshurun, who to help thee, rideth upon the heaven, and with the greatest state and magnificence, on the sky. Riding on the heaven denotes the greatness and glory, in which he manifests himself to the upper world, and the use he makes of the influences of heaven and the products of the clouds, in bringing to pass his own counsels in this lower world. All these he manages and directs, as a man doth the horse he rides on.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Jeshurun

This is another name for the people of Israel. It means "upright one." See how you translated this in Deuteronomy 32:15. (See: How to Translate Names)

rides through the heavens ... on the clouds

This is an image of Yahweh riding on clouds through the sky like a king on his chariot riding through a battlefield. AT: "rides through the heavens like a king rides through a battlefield ... on the clouds like a king on his chariot" (See: Metaphor)

to your help

"to help you." Moses speaks to the Israelites as if they were one man, so the word "you" here is singular. (See: Forms of You)

translationWords

God

heaven

majesty

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

אין כאל ישרון THERE IS NONE LIKE GOD, O JESHURUN — Know, O Israel, that there is none like God among all the gods of the peoples, and that their rock is not as your Rock.

רכב שמים — The meaning is: A RIDER UPON THE HEAVEN is the God who is your help, ובגאותו שחקים AND IN HIS MAJESTY he rides UPON THE SKIES.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.