“Rejoice, Zebulun, in your [business] excursions... For you will be nourished by the bounty of the seas, and sefunei buried with sand” (Deut. 33:18-19).
Sounds great, right? The bounty of the seas, trade routes to faraway lands, the sweet smell of prosperity drifting in from the Mediterranean. But wait—what’s that about being "buried with sand"?
Many commentators understood the word sefunei (literally, "hidden") to mean "ships." The Hebrew word for ship, sefinah, comes from the idea that a vessel must be sealed—impenetrable to water.
Which brings us to an obvious question: Why would Moses bless Zebulun by saying his ships would be buried in sand?
Returning Empty
Typically, when a merchant ship sets sail to foreign lands, it returns laden with valuable goods—spices, textiles, exotic wares unavailable back home.
But if, for some reason, a ship doesn’t need or want to return with foreign merchandise, it still cannot sail back empty. Without weight, it would be at the mercy of the winds and currents. So sailors load the hull with sand and ballast to keep the ship steady.
Zebulun’s blessing was twofold: he would thrive in trade, bringing the bounty of Israel to distant lands—but he wouldn’t need to bring anything back. The Land of Israel would be so richly blessed that there’d be nothing worth importing. His ships, rather than hauling foreign treasures, would return buried with sand.
A Modern Twist
To a contemporary reader, this might sound like a strange blessing. In a world of global trade and free markets, who wouldn’t want to import the best the world has to offer?
But on a deeper level, Moses’ words carry a spiritual message.
More than any other tribe, Zebulun, as a traveling merchant, would engage with foreign cultures, philosophies, and ideologies. He would see the grandeur of great civilizations, hear their wisdom, and observe their way of life.
Moses' blessing to Zebulun was that, in his travels around the world, he would find nothing of true significance that he would feel the need to bring back home. No culture, no religion, no system of philosophical and ethical truths would strike him as superior to the Torah of Israel.Zebulun would explore the world—and return home knowing he already possessed the greatest treasure of all.
