WHO IS “JESHURUN?”
by Shawn Brasseaux
The name (or a variation) appears four times in the King James Bible:
- Deuteronomy 32:15: “But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.”
- Deuteronomy 33:5: “And he [Moses] was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were gathered together.”
- Deuteronomy 33:26: “There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky.”
- Isaiah 44:2: “Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen.”
A transliteration of the Hebrew word “Jeshuruwn”—simply meaning “upright”—it is a symbolic name for Israel, the position of honor JEHOVAH God desired for her. Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon defines it as such: “a poetical and (at the same time apparently) a tender and loving appellation of the people of Israel.” Of course, as verified in Deuteronomy chapter 32, national Israel did not live up to that high calling. Nevertheless, Deuteronomy chapter 33 and Isaiah chapter 44 encourage Israel: her salvation unto becoming God’s kingdom of priests will depend solely upon His efforts as opposed to hers. One day, when the Lord Jesus Christ returns, Israel will truly be “Jeshurun!”
Also see:
» “All Israel shall be saved?”
» Is God finished with the nation Israel?
» Have we been “grafted into Israel?”
