Before Moses dies, he gives his blessing to the tribes of Israel, just as Isaac (Gen. 27:27) and Jacob (Gen. 49:1–28) have done. Here for the first time he is called “the man of God,” thus linking him with the prophets of whom this same title is used later on (1 Sam. 9:6, 10). These deathbed blessings played a key role in the Near East and were valid in a court of law even though they were given orally and often were in a poetic form, which makes their interpretation and translation quite difficult (cf. the various Bible versions for somewhat different translations of this chapter). Moses begins by likening the coming of God on Mount Sinai to a glorious sunrise (33:2), attended by myriads from his heavenly armies. Just as the Song of Moses (32:1–43) pictures a bleak future, this chapter p…