Genesis 49

Ge 49:1-33.

PATRIARCHAL

BLESSING.

1. Jacob called unto his sons--It is not to the sayings of the

dying saint, so much as of the inspired prophet, that attention is

called in this chapter. Under the immediate influence of the Holy

Spirit he pronounced his prophetic benediction and described the

condition of their respective descendants in the last days, or future

times.

Ge 49:3, 4.

REUBEN forfeited by his crime the rights and

honors of primogeniture. His posterity never made any figure; no judge,

prophet, nor ruler, sprang from this tribe.

Ge 49:5-7.

SIMEON AND LEVI were

associate in wickedness, and the same prediction would be equally

applicable to both their tribes. Levi had cities allotted to them

(Jos 21:1-45)

in every tribe. On account of their zeal against idolatry, they were

honorably "divided in Jacob"; whereas the tribe of Simeon, which was

guilty of the grossest idolatry and the vices inseparable from it, were

ignominiously "scattered."

Ge 49:8-12.

JUDAH--A high pre-eminence is destined to this

tribe

(Nu 10:14;

Jud 1:2).

Besides the honor of giving name to the Promised Land, David, and a

greater than David--the Messiah--sprang from it. Chief among the

tribes, "it grew up from a lion's whelp"--that is, a little power--till

it became "an old lion"--that is, calm and quiet, yet still

formidable.

10. until Shiloh come--Shiloh--this obscure word is variously

interpreted to mean "the sent"

(Joh 17:3),

"the seed"

(Isa 11:1),

the "peaceable or prosperous one"

(Eph 2:14)

--that is, the Messiah

(Isa 11:10;

Ro 15:12);

and when He should come, "the tribe of Judah should no longer boast

either an independent king or a judge of their own" [CALVIN]. The Jews have been for eighteen centuries

without a ruler and without a judge since Shiloh came, and "to Him the

gathering of the people has been."

Ge 49:13.

ZEBULUN was to have its lot on the seacoast, close

to Zidon, and to engage, like that state, in maritime pursuits and

commerce.

Ge 49:14, 15.

ISSACHAR--

14. a strong ass couching down between two burdens--that is, it

was to be active, patient, given to agricultural labors. It was

established in lower Galilee--a "good land," settling down in the midst

of the Canaanites, where, for the sake of quiet, they "bowed their

shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute."

Ge 49:16-18.

DAN--though the son of a secondary wife, was to be

"as one of the tribes of Israel."

17. Dan--"a judge."

a serpent . . . an adder--A serpent, an adder, implies

subtlety and stratagem; such was pre-eminently the character of Samson,

the most illustrious of its judges.

Ge 49:19.

GAD--This tribe should be often attacked and

wasted by hostile powers on their borders

(Jud 10:8;

Jer 49:1).

But they were generally victorious in the close of their wars.

Ge 49:20.

ASHER--"Blessed." Its allotment was the seacoast

between Tyre and Carmel, a district fertile in the production of the

finest corn and oil in all Palestine.

Ge 49:21.

NAPHTALI--The best rendering we know is this,

"Naphtali is a deer roaming at liberty; he shooteth forth goodly

branches," or majestic antlers [TAYLOR,

Scripture Illustrations], and the meaning of the prophecy seems

to be that the tribe of Naphtali would be located in a territory so

fertile and peaceable, that, feeding on the richest pasture, he would

spread out, like a deer, branching antlers.

Ge 49:22-26.

JOSEPH--

22. a fruitful bough, &c.--denotes the extraordinary increase of

that tribe (compare

Nu 1:33-35;

Jos 17:17;

De 33:17).

The patriarch describes him as attacked by envy, revenge, temptation,

ingratitude; yet still, by the grace of God, he triumphed over all

opposition, so that he became the sustainer of Israel; and then he

proceeds to shower blessings of every kind upon the head of this

favorite son. The history of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh shows

how fully these blessings were realized.

Ge 49:27-33.

BENJAMIN

27. shall ravin like a wolf--This tribe in its early history

spent its energies in petty or inglorious warfare and especially in the

violent and unjust contest

(Jud 19:1-20:48),

in which it engaged with the other tribes, when, notwithstanding two

victories, it was almost exterminated.

28. all these are the twelve tribes of Israel--or ancestors.

Jacob's prophetic words obviously refer not so much to the sons as to

the tribes of Israel.

29. he charged them--The charge had already been given and

solemnly undertaken

(Ge 47:31).

But in mentioning his wishes now and rehearsing all the circumstances

connected with the purchase of Machpelah, he wished to declare, with

his latest breath, before all his family, that he died in the same

faith as Abraham.

33. when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons--It is

probable that he was supernaturally strengthened for this last

momentous office of the patriarch, and that when the divine afflatus

ceased, his exhausted powers giving way, he yielded up the ghost, and

was gathered unto his people.