At the end of his life, Moses conveys blessings on the tribes of Israel. It is natural to compare these blessings in Dt 33 with those given by Jacob in Genesis 49.
The statements in Genesis 49 are sometimes personal, directed at specific deeds of Jacob's sons. Here I am thinking particularly of what Jacob says to Reuben, who had slept with his wife Bilhah (Ge 35:22; 49:3-4); and what he says to Simeon and Levi, whom he rebukes for their role in the massacre at Shechem (Ge 34:25-31; 49:5-7).
On the other hand, the blessings in Deuteronomy seem to be more general and eschatological, looking beyond the problems foreseen in Dt 31-32 to a time of abundance in the Promised Land. There is nothing negative in the pronouncements of Deuteronomy 33. An eschatological thrust is evident, for example, in verse 19: "They shall call peoples to their mountain; there they offer right sacrifices." This verse is part of the blessing of Zebulun and Issachar, but can be seen in reference to Israel's role in bringing blessing to the nations, as in Isaiah 2:2-3.
The order in which the blessings are recorded is different in the two chapters. Daniel Block suggests that the order in Dt 33 may be roughly geographical according to where the tribes are destined to live in the Promised Land. Perhaps God had let Moses know something about this in advance. It is also the case that since this section became part of the text after Moses' death, a later writer may have arranged the blessings in this way.
"Let Reuben live, and not die," Moses says in Dt 33:6. When Moses gave the blessings, he was standing in the territory that Reuben would come to occupy. On the eastern boundary of Israel's holdings, this tribe would be vulnerable to enemy attacks. Perhaps this blessing reflects that concern.
No blessing of the tribe of Simeon is included. That may just be a random omission, or it may reflect the diminished state of the tribe of Simeon by that point. The division and scattering that Jacob had mentioned (Ge 49:7) seems to have come about, exacerbated by the tribe's role in the sin at Baal Peor (Nu 25:14). Simeon's holdings in the Promised Land would be within the territory of Judah.
The tribe of Levi, on the other hand, had been scattered and divided in a good way. This tribe had distinguished itself by helping Moses stop the golden calf incident (Ex 32) and ending the sin at Baal Peor (Nu 25). The priestly tribe now had an important role in serving at the tabernacle and teaching the other tribes. Moses gives his own tribe one of the longest blessings in the list (Dt 33:8-11).
In both Genesis 49 and Deuteronomy 33, Joseph is promised great prosperity. The blessings for Joseph in the two chapters are similar.
The high point of Genesis 49 is the blessing of Judah, which includes a prophecy of the coming of the Messiah. Kevin Chen sees a hint of a messianic prophecy in Deuteronomy 33: "Hear, O Lord, the voice of Judah, and bring him in to his people. With your hands contend for him, and and be a help against his adversaries." Chen suggests that "bring him in to his people" may mean "bring the Messiah to his people," with the remaining pronouns in the verse also referring to the Messiah.
There is more pronoun ambiguity in the blessing of Benjamin in 33:12, where the image could be one of Benjamin dwelling between God's shoulders, or one of God dwelling between Benjamin's shoulders, a possible reference to the temple that would be built later at Jerusalem.
Deuteronomy 34 pays tribute to Moses at his death. Verse 10, which was presumably written centuries later, emphasizes Moses' uniqueness. Up to the point of that writing, the Messiah (the "prophet like Moses" of Dt 18:15) had not arrived. This note at the end of the Pentateuch indicates that the Pentateuch does not tell the whole story of God's plan. There is much more of the story ahead.
In a short teaching at Church of the Messiah on October 14, 2023, Jack Starcher suggested that although God did not allow Moses to enter the Promised Land physically at that point, perhaps he did so later at the Transfiguration. Sometimes when God answers "no," Jack said, he answer is more specifically "not yet." Did God eventually reveal more of himself to Moses at the end of his life, in response to Moses' request in Exodus 33?
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