A Farewell Blessing

What makes you unique?

A Nation Blessed

Deuteronomy 33:1–5 ESV

1 This is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the people of Israel before his death. 2 He said, “The Lord came from Sinai and dawned from Seir upon us; he shone forth from Mount Paran; he came from the ten thousands of holy ones, with flaming fire at his right hand. 3 Yes, he loved his people, all his holy ones were in his hand; so they followed in your steps, receiving direction from you, 4 when Moses commanded us a law, as a possession for the assembly of Jacob. 5 Thus the Lord became king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people were gathered, all the tribes of Israel together.

Rueben

Deuteronomy 33:6 ESV

6 “Let Reuben live, and not die, but let his men be few.”

Genesis 49:3–4 ESV

3 “Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the firstfruits of my strength, preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power. 4 Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence, because you went up to your father’s bed; then you defiled it—he went up to my couch!

He slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah (Gen 35)

Judah

Deuteronomy 33:7 ESV

7 And this he said of Judah: “Hear, O Lord, the voice of Judah, and bring him in to his people. With your hands contend for him, and be a help against his adversaries.”

Levi

Deuteronomy 33:8–11 ESV

8 And of Levi he said, “Give to Levi your Thummim, and your Urim to your godly one, whom you tested at Massah, with whom you quarreled at the waters of Meribah; 9 who said of his father and mother, ‘I regard them not’; he disowned his brothers and ignored his children. For they observed your word and kept your covenant. 10 They shall teach Jacob your rules and Israel your law; they shall put incense before you and whole burnt offerings on your altar. 11 Bless, O Lord, his substance, and accept the work of his hands; crush the loins of his adversaries, of those who hate him, that they rise not again.”

Benjamin

Deuteronomy 33:12 ESV

12 Of Benjamin he said, “The beloved of the Lord dwells in safety. The High God surrounds him all day long, and dwells between his shoulders.”

Joseph

Deuteronomy 33:13–17 ESV

13 And of Joseph he said, “Blessed by the Lord be his land, with the choicest gifts of heaven above, and of the deep that crouches beneath, 14 with the choicest fruits of the sun and the rich yield of the months, 15 with the finest produce of the ancient mountains and the abundance of the everlasting hills, 16 with the best gifts of the earth and its fullness and the favor of him who dwells in the bush. May these rest on the head of Joseph, on the pate of him who is prince among his brothers. 17 A firstborn bull—he has majesty, and his horns are the horns of a wild ox; with them he shall gore the peoples, all of them, to the ends of the earth; they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.”

Zebulun

Deuteronomy 33:18–19 ESV

18 And of Zebulun he said, “Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out, and Issachar, in your tents. 19 They shall call peoples to their mountain; there they offer right sacrifices; for they draw from the abundance of the seas and the hidden treasures of the sand.”

Gad

Deuteronomy 33:20–21 ESV

20 And of Gad he said, “Blessed be he who enlarges Gad! Gad crouches like a lion; he tears off arm and scalp. 21 He chose the best of the land for himself, for there a commander’s portion was reserved; and he came with the heads of the people, with Israel he executed the justice of the Lord, and his judgments for Israel.”

Dan

Deuteronomy 33:22 ESV

22 And of Dan he said, “Dan is a lion’s cub that leaps from Bashan.”

Naphtali

Deuteronomy 33:23 ESV

23 And of Naphtali he said, “O Naphtali, sated with favor, and full of the blessing of the Lord, possess the lake and the south.”

Asher

Deuteronomy 33:24–25 ESV

24 And of Asher he said, “Most blessed of sons be Asher; let him be the favorite of his brothers, and let him dip his foot in oil. 25 Your bars shall be iron and bronze, and as your days, so shall your strength be.

Different by Design

Ephesians 4:1–7 ESV

1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

Unity and Uniqueness

Ephesians 4:11–16 ESV

11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

You have been blessed

What will you do with that blessing?