Deuteronomy 33:14
And for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon,
And for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun,.... Which has a wonderful influence upon many and most of the fruits of the earth, to produce them out of their seeds in it, to bring them forward, to ripen and perfect them, and to make them rich and excellent. Jarchi says,
"the land of Joseph lay open to the sun, and it sweetened the fruits of it;''
it improved them, and made them more valuable; and this is spiritually true of Christ the sun of righteousness, to whose influence are owing the blessings of grace, redemption, peace, pardon, and justification, and the graces of the Spirit, faith, hope, and love, and by what believers are filled with, the fruits of righteousness, see Malachi 4:2;
And for the precious things put forth by the moon; the fruits which the moon helps forward by its coolness and moisture; and those the above Jewish writer says are cucumbers and gourds; and as various creatures are affected by the moon, it is observed by a naturalist {o}, that onions, when the moon waxes old, increase, and flag when it is young; and Pliny says {p}, that at the increase of the moon all sort of corn grows bigger and larger; but a late learned writer {q} remarks, that though upon the pressure of the moon on the globe many things depend, as the ebbing and flowing of the sea, epileptic and convulsive paroxysms, yet it does not appear that this pressure exerts its power on plants, so as to thrust them forth, and therefore thinks this respects the ejection or protrusion of monthly fruits; for the word here used is in the plural number, and signifies "months"; and so Onkelos paraphrases the words,
"it produces precious fruits at the beginning of every month;''
or ripe fruit at the beginning of every month, as the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem; for the spiritual meaning, see Revelation 22:2.
{o} Dalecamp. in Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 2. c. 41.
{p} Nat. Hist. l. 18. c. 30.
{q} Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. vol. 3. p. 437.