Jacob blesses his own sons
49
📚And Jacob called to his sons, and said, “Assemble yourselves, so that I can tell you what will happen to you in the last days.49:1 In this chapter Jacob is speaking as a prophet. In v 28 these predictions are called blessings. Blessings (or curses) spoken by inspiration of God were actually prophecies of the future. Compare Gen 9:25-27; 27.⚜
2 📚“Assemble yourselves and hear,
you sons of Jacob, and listen
to your father Israel.
3 📚“Reuben, you are my firstborn,
my might, and the beginning
of my strength,
excelling in dignity,
and excelling in power.
4 📚Unstable as water,
you will not excel,
because you went up to
your father’s bed;
then you defiled it.
He went up to my couch.
49:3-4 Gen 35:22; Deut 27:20; 1 Chron 5:1. Afterwards the tribe of Reuben was never noted for leadership or greatness. No judge, no prophet, no great leader of the people named in the Bible came from Reuben.⚜
5 📚“Simeon and Levi are brothers.
Instruments of violence are
in their habitations.
6 📚O my soul, do not come
into their secret.
Do not be united with
their assembly,
my honour, do not be united.
For in their anger
they slew a man,
and in their self-will they
dug down a wall.
7 📚Cursed be their anger,
for it was fierce;
and their wrath,
for it was cruel.
I will divide them in Jacob,
and scatter them in Israel.
49:7 Josh 19:1, 9; 21:4. Simeon was later scattered partly in Judah’s territory (Josh 19:2-9; with 15:26-32 and Neh 11:25-28), and partly among the tribes in the north of Israel (2 Chron 34:6). Levi had its towns throughout the other tribes of Israel and had no region of its own (Ex 32:26, 29; Num 18:20, 23; 35:2-8; Josh 21:1-42).⚜
8 📚“Judah, you are the one whom
your brothers will praise.
Your hand will be on the neck
of your enemies.
Your father’s children will bow
down to you 📖.
49:8 Judah probably means “praise”.⚜
9 📚Judah is a lion’s cub 📖.
From the prey, my son,
you have gone up.
He stooped down,
he crouched like a lion,
and like an old lion.
Who will rouse him up?
10 📚The sceptre 📖 will not depart
from Judah, nor a lawgiver
from between his feet,
until Shiloh 📖 comes.
And the gathering
of the people will be to him.
11 📚He ties his foal to the vine,
and his donkey’s colt
to the choice vine.
He washes his garments
in wine,
and his clothes in
the blood of grapes.
12 His eyes will be red with wine,
and his teeth white
with milk.
49:11-12 These verses suggest prosperity in a settled environment. Verse 12 may also be translated “His eyes will be dull from wine, his teeth white from milk”.⚜
13 📚“Zebulun will live at the haven
of the sea.
And he will be a
haven for ships.
And his border will be
as far as Sidon.
49:13 Zebulun later settled in the north of Israel not very far from the sea coast and from Sidon – close enough to be enriched by the abundance of the seas (Deut 33:18-19).⚜
14 📚“Issachar is a strong
donkey crouching
down between two burdens.
15 📚And he saw that restful
place was good,
and that the land was pleasant,
and bowed his shoulder
to bear loads,
and became a servant to tribute.
49:14-15 Jacob could predict no glorious future for this tribe. For the sake of life in a pleasant part of Canaan it would be willing to give up its freedom.⚜
16 📚“Dan will judge his people,
as one of the tribes of Israel.
17 📚Dan will be a serpent
by the road,
an adder in the path,
that bites the horses heels,
so that his rider falls
backwards.
18 📚“I wait for your salvation,
O LORD.
49:16-18 The name Dan means to judge or provide justice. However, this tribe failed miserably in this. At times it was more like a snake than a just judge. See Jud 18:1-31.⚜
19 📚“Gad, a troop will overcome him,
but he will overcome at last.
49:19 The tribe of Gad settled east of the Jordan River, away from the main land of Israel, and was exposed to the raids of enemy peoples on its borders (Num 32:1-5). Gad can also mean “attack” or “band of raiders”.⚜
20 📚“Asher, rich food will come
from him,
and he will yield royal dainties.
49:20 This tribe settled along the sea coast in Israel in a fertile part of the land.⚜
21 📚“Naphtali is a deer set free.
He gives beautiful words.
49:21 The last phrase of this verse is obscure. It may also be translated “it bears beautiful fawns”. This tribe settled around the Sea of Galilee and in the hill country north of it. This verse suggests a life free and fair. The words “set free” suggest a time of bondage from which they recover. See Jud 4:1-7; 5:18.⚜
22 📚“Joseph is a fruitful bough,
a fruitful bough by a well,
whose branches run over the wall.
23 📚The archers bitterly attacked him,
and shot at him,
and hated him.
24 📚But his bow remained firm,
and the arms of his hands
were made strong by the hands
of the mighty God of Jacob 📖
(from there 📖 is the Shepherd 📖,
the stone of Israel),
25 📚by the God of your father,
who will help you,
and by the Almighty 📖,
who will bless you with
blessings of heaven above,
blessings of the deep
that lies below,
blessings of the breasts,
and of the womb.
26 📚The blessings of your father have
surpassed the blessings of
my ancestors to the utmost
bounds of the everlasting hills.
They will be on the head
of Joseph,
and on the crown of
the head of him who was
separate from his brothers.
49:22-26 Jacob’s favorite son comes in for the longest and greatest blessing. But Joseph was the most worthy of all the sons of Jacob, and God was directing Jacob’s thoughts and words. The tribes that came from Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, later received some of the choicest parts of the land of Canaan as their portion. Ephraim was the leading tribe of Israel for at least three centuries and later was at the center of the northern kingdom of Israel. The prosperity of this tribe is referred to in Hos 12:8. Verse 23 refers to all Joseph’s sufferings at the hands of his brothers, and in Egypt.⚜
27 📚“Benjamin will be as
ravenous as a wolf.
In the morning he will
devour the prey,
and at night he will divide
the spoil”.
49:27 Benjamin was later a fierce and active tribe, as can be seen from Jud 19—21; Ps 68:27. Ehud (Jud 3:12-30), and Saul, Israel’s first king who was something like a wolf, came from Benjamin. This is true also of Saul of Tarsus – another “wolf” before he became a “sheep” (Acts 9:1-2; Phil 3:5).⚜
28 📚All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them, while blessing them. He blessed each one according to his appropriate blessing.
49:28 These blessings fitted the sons of Jacob in their character and history, and in God’s knowledge of the future.⚜
Death of Jacob
29 📚And he gave them a command, saying to them, “I am going to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30 📚in the cave in the field of Machpelah, which faces Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite as a possession for a burial site. 31 📚There they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah. There they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah. And there I buried Leah. 32 📚The purchase of the field and of the cave that is in it was from the children of Heth 📖”.
33 📚And when Jacob had finished commanding his sons, he drew his feet up onto the bed, and expired, and was gathered to his people 📖.