Deuteronomy 33:20,21 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Ver. 20, 21. And of Gad he said— This warlike tribe, having applied to Moses for the country of Sihon king of the Amorites, and obtained it, is not improperly compared by him to a lion resting after he is satiated with his prey. Moses seems indirectly to commend their prudence in having chosen so large and so good a tract of land for themselves; and concludes with reminding them of the conditions on which their grant of it was founded, viz "That, after they had built cities for their wives, their children, and their flocks, they should lead the armies of the Israelites, and not return to their houses, until they had completed the conquest of the devoted inhabitants of Canaan." Conformably to the ideas given in this general argument, Durell renders the passage thus;—Ver. 20. Blessed is Gad with a large country:—he hath rested as a lion,—and hath torn the shoulder with the head:—for he provided the first part for himself.—21. When there, in the decreed portion, he was secured;—then he went with the heads of the people;—he executed the righteousness of the Lord,—and his judgments with Israel." That Gad's was a large country will appear to any one who examines it. That the tribe answered to the allegory of a lion resting after being satiated with his prey, will appear from 1 Chronicles 5:18; 1 Chronicles 12:8. See Genesis 49:9. Tearing the arm, or the shoulder, with the head, implies the destruction of princes with their power; for princes are the arms of the state, and kings the head. What the righteousness of the Lord and his judgments were, the context plainly points out; namely, the extirpation of the seven nations of Canaan, whose sins, being grown to maturity, called aloud for the hand of justice to root them out before they spread their baneful influence farther.