Deuteronomy 33:2

Deuteronomy 33:2

And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them.

a. NLT: “The LORD came from Mount Sinai and dawned upon us[fn] from Mount Seir; he shone forth from Mount Paran and came from Meribah-kadesh with flaming fire at his right hand. [Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.]

b. ASV: And he said, Jehovah came from Sinai, And rose from Seir unto them; He shined forth from mount Paran, And he came from the ten thousands of holy ones: At his right hand was a fiery law for them. [Thomas Nelson & Sons first published the American Standard Version in 1901. This translation of the Bible is in the public domain.]

c. YLT: And he saith: -- 'Jehovah from Sinai hath come, And hath risen from Seir for them; He hath shone from mount Paran, And hath come with myriads of holy ones; At His right hand are springs for them. [The Young's Literal Translation was translated by Robert Young, who believed in a strictly literal translation of God's word. This version of the Bible is in the public domain.]

d. Classic Amplified: He said, The Lord came from Sinai and beamed upon us from Seir; He flashed forth from Mount Paran, from among ten thousands of holy ones, a flaming fire, a law, at His right hand. [Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation]

e. Septuagint: And he said, The Lord is come from Sina, and has appeared from Seir to us, and has hasted out of the mount of Pharan, with the ten thousands of Cades; on his right hand [were] his angels with him.

f. Stone Edition Torah/Prophets/ Writings: He said: HASHEM came from Sinai, having shone forth tho them from Seit, having appeared from mount Paran, and then approached with some of the holy myriads, from His right hand he presented the fiery Torah to them. [The Artscroll Series/Stone Edition, THE TANACH--STUDENT SIZE EDITION Copyright 1996, 1998 by Mesorah Publications, Ldt.]

1. “And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran…”

a. [And he] said [Strong: 559 'amar aw-mar' a primitive root; to say (used with great latitude):--answer, appoint, avouch, bid, boast self, call, certify, challenge, charge, + (at the, give) command(-ment), commune, consider, declare, demand, X desire, determine, X expressly, X indeed, X intend, name, X plainly, promise, publish, report, require, say, speak (against, of), X still, X suppose, talk, tell, term, X that is, X think, use (speech), utter, X verily, X yet.]

b. [the LORD [Strong: 3068 Yhovah yeh-ho-vaw' from 1961; (the) self-Existent or Eternal; Jehovah, Jewish national name of God:--Jehovah, the Lord.]

c. came [Strong: 935 bow' bo a primitive root; to go or come (in a wide variety of applications):--abide, apply, attain, X be, befall, + besiege, bring (forth, in, into, to pass), call, carry, X certainly, (cause, let, thing for) to come (against, in, out, upon, to pass), depart, X doubtless again, + eat, + employ, (cause to) enter (in, into, -tering, -trance, -try), be fallen, fetch, + follow, get, give, go (down, in, to war), grant, + have, X indeed, (in-)vade, lead, lift (up), mention, pull in, put, resort, run (down), send, set, X (well) stricken (in age), X surely, take (in), way.]

d. [from] Sinai [Strong: 5514 Ciynay see-nah'-ee of uncertain derivation; Sinai, mountain of Arabia:--Sinai.]

e. [and] rose up [Strong: 2224 zarach zaw-rakh' a primitive root; properly, to irradiate (or shoot forth beams), i.e. to rise (as the sun); specifically, to appear (as a symptom of leprosy):--arise, rise (up), as soon as it is up.]

f. [from] Sier [unto them][Strong: 8165 Se`iyr say-eer' formed like 8163; rough; Seir, a mountain of Idumaea and its aboriginal occupants, also one in Palestine:--Seir.]

g. [he] shinned forth[Strong: 3313 yapha` yaw-fah' a primitive root; to shine:--be light, shew self, (cause to) shine (forth).]

h. [from] mount [Strong:2022 har har a shortened form of 2042; a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figuratively):--hill (country), mount(-ain), X promotion.]

i. Paran [Strong: 6290 Pa'ran paw-rawn' from 6286; ornamental; Paran, a desert of Arabia:--Paran.]

2. “...and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them.”

a. [and he] came [Strong: 857 'athah aw-thaw' or matha {aw-thaw'}; a primitive root (collateral to 225 contraction); to arrive:--(be-, things to) come (upon), bring.]

b. [with] ten thousands [Strong:  7233 rbabah reb-aw-baw' from 7231; abundance (in number), i.e. (specifically) a myriad (whether definite or indefinite):--many, million, X multiply, ten thousand.]

c. [of] saints [Strong: 6944 qodesh ko'-desh from 6942; a sacred place or thing; rarely abstract, sanctity:--consecrated (thing), dedicated (thing), hallowed (thing), holiness, (X most) holy (X day, portion, thing), saint, sanctuary.]

d. [from his] right hand [for them] [Strong: 3225 yamiyn yaw-meen' from 3231; the right hand or side (leg, eye) of a person or other object (as the stronger and more dexterous); locally, the south:--+ left-handed, right (hand, side), south.]

e. [went a] fiery law [for them] [Strong: 799 'eshdath esh-dawth' from 784 and 1881; a fire-law:--fiery law.]

1). There is another witness that there were tens of thousands of angels at Sinai.

a). Psalm 68:17 The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place.

2). There is a Jewish tradition backed up by the New Testament that angels were used by God to deliver the Law on Mount Sinai. Here are two Jewish scources Josepheus and Michael Fishbane.

a). Josepheus, a Jewish historian, writes in his, Histories of the Jews,  Book 15, Chapter 5, Section 3, “And we for ourselves, we have learned from God the most excellent of our doctrines, and the most holy part of our law, by angels or ambassadors;…”

c). In his book, The Exegetical Imagination- On Jewish Thought and Theology, page 183, Michael Fishbane writes: “Rabbi Nahman says…Hence when the people of Israel at Sinai said, na’aseh ve-mishma (“Let us do and hear”; Exodus 24:7) they achieved a blissful moment of transcendence, when myriads of angels crowned each and every one with the manifest or exoteric meaning of Torah, the level of na’aseh (doing), and with its hidden or esoteric truth, called mishma (hearing).” 

3). Here are two messianic Jews 

a). a). Alfred Edersheim was a Messianic Jew. In his book, Bible History, Book 2, Chapter 10, p. 206, Note #10: “When we read that the law was “received by the ministration of angels”, we are not to understand by it that God Himself did not speak all these words, but either to refer it to those “ten thousands” of angels who were His attendants when He spoke on Sinai,” [Note D.C. The reference to “ten thousands of angels” is a quote of Deuteronomy 33:2.]

b). Jewish New Testament Commentary, David Stern, pp246, 247. “The verse of the Tanakh which comes closest to stating outright that the Torah…was delivered by angels  is found in Moshe’s [Moses’] final speech before his death: Adonai came from Sinai and rose from Seir to them; he shone forth from Mount Paran; and he came from the holy myriads;…at his right hand eshdat lamo (Deuteronomy 33:2. Hebrew eshdat lamo is taken by some Jewish commentator to mean, “was a fiery law (esh-dat) for them” The Septuagint translates the passage, “at his right hand were his angels with him”. Rashi says that the holy myriads” were angels. Strack and Billerbeck, in their six-volume Commentary of the New Testament from the Talmoud and Midrash (Munich: C.H. Beck’sche, 1975 reprint of 1926 original, in German), give several dozen citations from rabbinic literature showing that the idea of angelic mediation of the Torah was widespread.

4). New Testament witnesses.

a). Hebrews 2:2 For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward;

b). Galatians 3:19 Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.

c). Acts 7:54 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.