Genesis 49. Jacob Blesses His Sons

Jacob Blesses His Sons

• Visual of blessings/prophecies below- I feel like chapter 49 could be a whole study on its own!

Then Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what shall happen to you in days to come.

• This is the first extended prophecy from a human in the Bible (not counting Enoch from Jude 14 or Noah’s words in Genesis 9)

² “Assemble and listen, O sons of Jacob,
    listen to Israel your father.

• Jacob uses both of his names here in verse 1 “Sons of Jacob….Israel is your father”
• Jacob does not go by birth order when he gives out blessings, but instead by Leah’s children, then Bilhah’s and Zilphah’s, then Rachel’s sons last (which is close to the actual order).

Reuben

³ “Reuben, you are my firstborn,
    my might, and the firstfruits of my strength,
    preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.
⁴ Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence,
    because you went up to your father’s bed;
    then you defiled it—he went up to my couch!

• Once again the eldest (Reuben) is not given the firstborn blessing.
• Callback: when he slept with Bilhah in Genesis 35
• Outcome: Reuben never did excel as a tribe. No judges, no prophets, no kings (mentioned in Bible)

Simeon and Levi

⁵ “Simeon and Levi are brothers;
    weapons of violence are their swords.
⁶ Let my soul come not into their council;
    O my glory, be not joined to their company.
For in their anger they killed men,
    and in their willfulness they hamstrung oxen.
⁷ Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce,
    and their wrath, for it is cruel!
I will divide them in Jacob
    and scatter them in Israel.

• Callback: the brutality after Dinah’s rape (Genesis 34)
• Simeon and Levi are scattered but we see a redemptive arc for Levi in Exodus during the golden calf incident where they are blessed by Moses. Simeon however is mentioned in Judges and then barely heard of again.
• Why did Jacob deal so harshly to Simeon and Levi? It seems that they took over a dire situation while their father was inactive.
• Outcome: Simeon’s tribe dwindles, becomes the smallest tribe, and gets absorbed into Judah. Levi’s tribe does not receive any land (God is their inheritance) and becomes the priestly line.

Judah

⁸ “Judah, your brothers shall praise you;    

• This is a Hebrew word play- Judah = יְהוּדָה (Yehudah) is from the root יָדָה (yadah), “to praise.”

your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;

• Kings often placed their foot on an enemy’s neck after victory (Joshua 10:24)

 your father’s sons shall bow down before you.

• This is a switch from Joseph’s brothers bowing down to him

⁹ Judah is a lion’s cub;

• This is the first time Judah is compared to a lion and it becomes the symbol of Judah. (Jesus is called “The Lion of the tribe of Judah.” in Revelation 5:5)

    from the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He stooped down; he crouched as a lion
    and as a lioness; who dares rouse him?
¹⁰ The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
    nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until tribute comes to him;
    and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

• “The scepter shall not depart from Judah… until Shiloh (שִׁילֹה) comes,” a term understood to mean “the one to whom it belongs” or “the peaceful one,” most likely a reference to the Messiah. 
• David and Solomon will also fall in the Judah line

¹¹ Binding his foal to the vine
    and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,

• Normally one would not bind their donkey to a vine as it was not strong, but here we have such an abundance of vines it can hold a donkey.

he has washed his garments in wine
    and his vesture in the blood of grapes.
¹² His eyes are darker than wine,
    and his teeth whiter than milk.

• These are images of prosperity
• The land of Judah became known for their wine/grapes

• Outcome: Judah becomes the line of the Messiah

Zebulun

¹³ “Zebulun shall dwell at the shore of the sea;
    he shall become a haven for ships,
    and his border shall be at Sidon.

• Zebulun was told he would dwell by the sea, but the land given in Joshua is inland (but by the seas). It was also by trade routes leading to the sea.

Issachar

¹⁴ “Issachar is a strong donkey,
    crouching between the sheepfolds.
¹⁵ He saw that a resting place was good,
    and that the land was pleasant,
so he bowed his shoulder to bear,
    and became a servant at forced labor.

• Issachar was the third largest tribe
• They rested in the Jezreel Valley
• In 1 Chronicles 12:32 they are described as a tribe who “understood the times and knew what Israel should do.”

Dan

¹⁶ “Dan shall judge his people
    as one of the tribes of Israel.

• “Dan” דָּן means “judge” or “he judges”
• Samson came from the tribe of Dan (Judges 13:2)

¹⁷ Dan shall be a serpent in the way,
    a viper by the path,
that bites the horse’s heels
    so that his rider falls backward.
¹⁸ I wait for your salvation, O Lord.

• Dan, the serpent in the way, introduces idolatry in Judges 18 and is omitted from end times Revelation 7 sealed tribes (but mentioned in Ezekiel’s prophecy Ezekiel 48)
• salvation: יְשׁוּעָה (yeshuah) – close to Yeshua (Jesus)

Gad

¹⁹ “Raiders shall raid Gad,
    but he shall raid at their heels.

• Gad settled in the east of the Jordan river, and shared borders with the Ammonites and Moabites.
• They were known for being warriors

Asher

²⁰ “Asher’s food shall be rich,
    and he shall yield royal delicacies.

• Deuteronomy 33:24 recalls this blessing
• Asher occupied fertile northern land known for olives, orchards, and rich agriculture

Naphtali

²¹ “Naphtali is a doe let loose
    that bears beautiful fawns.

• Moses later gives the blessing to Naphtali in Deuteronomy 33:23 “Naphtali is abounding with the favor of the Lord and is full of his blessing; he will inherit southward to the lake”
• Jesus’ ministry near Sea of Galilee is attributed to Naphtali in Matthew 4:12-16
• Barak (Judges 4) comes form Naphtali

Joseph

²² “Joseph is a fruitful bough,
    a fruitful bough by a spring;
    his branches run over the wall.

• Joseph receives double inheritance through his sons

²³ The archers bitterly attacked him,
    shot at him, and harassed him severely,

• Joseph had many obstacles thrown his way in life (sold into slavery, false accusations, imprisonment)

²⁴ yet his bow remained unmoved;
    his arms were made agile
by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob
    (from there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel),
²⁵ by the God of your father who will help you,
    by the Almighty who will bless you
    with blessings of heaven above,
blessings of the deep that crouches beneath,
    blessings of the breasts and of the womb.

• Despite all those hardships, God was with him and blessed him every step of the way.
• Notice the many names of God: Mighty One of Jacob, Shepherd, Stone of Israel, God of your father, Almighty

²⁶ The blessings of your father
    are mighty beyond the blessings of my parents,
    up to the bounties of the everlasting hills.
May they be on the head of Joseph,
    and on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers.

• Manasseh became the largest tribal territory and inherited land on both sides of the Jordan
• Ephraim encompassed the Northern Kingdom, and gave birth to Joshua and Jeroboam 1
• Shiloh (where Tabernacle stood) was in Ephraim

Benjamin

²⁷ “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf,
    in the morning devouring the prey
    and at evening dividing the spoil.”

• Both King Saul and Saul/Paul come from Benjamin (“devours the prey”)
• Also Ehud (Judges 3) was from Benjamin, which is kind of funny because Benjamin means “son of the right hand” and Ehud is famous for being left-handed.

Jacob’s Death and Burial

²⁸ All these are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each with the blessing suitable to him. ²⁹ Then he commanded them and said to them, “I am 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 that is in the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. 

• Jacob longed to be buried with his family outside of Egypt.

³¹ There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah— ³² the field and the cave that is in it were bought from the Hittites.” ³³ When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people.