Deuteronomy 33:24
To Aser also he said: Let Aser be blessed with children, let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil.
Open Deuteronomy 33:24 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Aser quoque ait : Benedictus in filiis Aser, sit placens fratribus suis, et tingat in oleo pedem suum :
- Septuagint (Swete)
- Καὶ τῷ Ἀσὴρ εἶπεν Εὐλογητὸς ἀπὸ τέκνων Ἀσὴρ, καὶ ἔσται δεκτὸς τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς αὐτοῦ. βάψει ἐν ἐλαίῳ τὸν πόδα αὐτοῦ·
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וּלְאָשֵׁ֣ר אָמַ֔ר בָּר֥וּךְ מִבָּנִ֖ים אָשֵׁ֑ר יְהִ֤י רְצוּי֙ אֶחָ֔יו וְטֹבֵ֥ל בַּשֶּׁ֖מֶן רַגְלֽוֹ
Haydock's commentary
Blessed. He alludes to the name of Aser, which has this signification. (Haydock)
This tribe had been upon the increase in the desert, (Calmet) and now comprised 53,000 warriors. (Haydock)
The province of Galilee, where Aser dwelt, was one of the most fertile of all Chanaan, and noted for abundance of oil, Genesis xlix. 20. (Josephus, Jewish Wars iii. 2., and ii. 22.) (Calmet)
Oil. So Job (xxix. 6,) says, When I washed my feet with butter. (Menochius)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Ambrose Letter XLI: To Marcellina on the Same
20. But the Church has oil wherewith she dresses the wounds of her children, lest the hardness of the wound spread deeply; she has oil which she has received secretly. With this oil Asher washed his feet as it is written: “A blessed son is Asher, and he shall be acceptable to his brothers, and shall dip his feet in oil.” With this oil, then, the Church anoints the necks of her children, that they may take up the yoke of Christ; with this oil she anointed the Martyrs, that she might cleanse them from the dust of this world; with this oil she anointed the Confessors, that they might not yield to their labours, nor sink down through weariness; that they might not be overcome by the heat of this world; and she anointed them in order to refresh them with the spiritual oil.