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Genesis Chapter
Forty-nine
Genesis 49
Outlines
New King James Version (NKJV)
INTRODUCTION TO
GENESIS 49
This chapter contains a
prophecy of future things, relating to the twelve sons of Jacob, and to the
twelve tribes, as descending from them, and which he delivered to his sons on
his death bed, having called them together for that purpose, Genesis 49:1, he
begins with Reuben his firstborn, whose incest he takes notice of, on which
account he should not excel, Genesis 49:3, next
Simeon and Levi have a curse denounced on them for their cruelty at Shechem, Genesis 49:5, but
Judah is praised, and good things prophesied of him; and particularly that
Shiloh, or the Messiah, should spring from him, the time of whose coming is
pointed at, Genesis 49:7, the
predictions concerning Zebulun, Issachar, and Dan, follow, at the close of
which Jacob expresses his longing expectation of God's salvation, Genesis 49:13 and
after foretelling what should befall Gad, Asher, and Naphtali, Genesis 49:19, a
large account is given of Joseph, his troubles, his trials, and his blessings, Genesis 49:22, and
Benjamin the youngest son is taken notice of last of all, all the tribes being
blessed in their order according to the nature of their blessing, Genesis 49:27, and
the chapter is closed with a charge of Jacob's to his sons to bury him in
Canaan, which having delivered, he died, Genesis 49:29.
Genesis 49:1. And Jacob called
his sons and said, “Gather together, that I may tell you what shall befall you
in the last days:
YLT 1And Jacob calleth unto his sons and saith,
`Be gathered together, and I declare to you that which doth happen with you in
the latter end of the days.
And Jacob
called upon his sons,....
Who either were near at
hand, and within call at the time Joseph came to visit him, or if at a
distance, and at another time, he sent a messenger or messengers to them to
come unto him:
and said,
gather yourselves together;
his will was, that they
should attend him all together at the same time, that he might deliver what he
had to say to them in the hearing of them all; for what he after declares was
not said to them singly and alone, but when they were all before him:
that I may tell
you that which shall befall you in the last days;
not their persons merely,
but their posterity chiefly, from that time forward to the coming of the
Messiah, who is spoken of in this prophecy, and the time of his coming; some
things are said relating to temporals, others to spirituals; some are blessings
or prophecies of good things to them, others curses, or foretell evil, but all
are predictions delivered out by Jacob under a spirit of prophecy; some things
had their accomplishment when the tribes of Israel were placed in the land of
Canaan, others in the times of the judges, and in later times; and some in the
times of the Messiah, to which this prophecy reaches, whose coming was in the
last days, Hebrews 1:1 and
Nachmanides says, according to the sense of all their writers, the last days
here are the days of the Messiah; and in an ancient writing of the Jews it is
saidF24Zohar in Gen. fol. 126. 1. , that Jacob called his sons,
because he had a mind to reveal the end of the Messiah, i.e. the time of his
coming; and Abraham SebaF25Tzeror Hammor, fol. 57. 4. & 58. 1.
observes, that this section is the seal and key of the whole law, and of all the
prophets prophesied of, unto the days of the Messiah.
Genesis 49:2. 2 “Gather
together and hear, you sons of Jacob, And listen to Israel your father.
YLT 2`Be assembled, and hear, sons of Jacob, And
hearken unto Israel your father.
Gather
yourselves together,....
This is repeated to hasten
them, and to suggest that he had something of importance to make known unto
them, which he chose to do, when they were together:
and hear, ye
sons of Jacob, and hearken to Israel your father:
these words are used and
doubled to excite their attention to what he was about to say, and which is
urged from the near relation there was between them.
Genesis 49:3. 3 “Reuben,
you are my firstborn, My might and the beginning of my strength, The excellency
of dignity and the excellency of power.
YLT 3Reuben! my first-born thou, My power, and
beginning of my strength, The abundance of exaltation, And the abundance of
strength;
Reuben, thou
art my firstborn,....
Jacob addressed himself to
Reuben first, in the presence of his brethren, owned him as his firstborn, as
he was, Genesis 29:31 did
not cashier him from his family, nor disinherit him, though he had greatly
disobliged him, for which the birthright, and the privileges of it, were taken
from him, 1 Chronicles 5:1.
my might, and
the beginning of my strength;
begotten by him when in
his full strengthF26"Nate. meae vires. --------" Virgil. ,
as well as the first of his family, in which his strength and glory lay; so the
Septuagint, "the beginning of my children"; and because he was so, of
right the double portion belonged to him, had he not forfeited it, Deuteronomy 21:17.
Some versions render the words, "the beginning of my grief", or
"sorrow"F1ראשית אוני κεφαλαιον
λυπης μου, Aquila; αρχη
οδυνης, Symmachus apud Drusium; "principium doloris mei", V.
L. Tigurine version. , the word "Oni" sometimes so signifying, as
Rachel called her youngest son "Benoni", the son of my sorrow; but
this is not true of Reuben, he was not the beginning of Jacob's sorrow, for the
ravishing of Dinah, and the slaughter and spoil of the Shechemites, by his
sons, which gave him great sorrow and grief, were before the affair of Reuben's
lying with Bilhah:
the excellency
of dignity, and the excellency of power;
that is, to him of right
belonged excellent dignity, power, and authority in the family, a preeminence
over his brethren, a double portion of goods, succession in government, and, as
is commonly understood, the exercise of the priesthood; and so the Targums
interpret it, that he should, had he not sinned, took three parts or portions
above his brethren, the birthright, priesthood, and kingdom. Jacob observes
this to him, that he might know what he had lost by sinning, and from what
excellency and dignity, grandeur and power, he was fallen.
Genesis 49:4. 4 Unstable
as water, you shall not excel, Because you went up to your father’s bed; Then
you defiled it— He went up to my couch.
YLT 4Unstable as water, thou art not abundant; For
thou hast gone up thy father's bed; Then thou hast polluted: My couch he went
up!
Unstable as
water,....
Which is not to be
understood of the levity of his mind, and his disposition to hurt, and the
impetuous force of that breaking forth like water, and carrying him into the
commission of it; but rather of his fall from his excellency and dignity, like
the fall of water from an high place; and of his being vile, mean, and
contemptible, useless and unprofitable, like water spilled on the ground; and
of his weak and strengthless condition and circumstances, being deprived of the
prerogatives and privileges of his birthright, and having lost all his honour
and grandeur, power and authority. The word in the Arabic language signifiesF2"superbivit,
semet extulit gloria fastuque", Golius, col. 1767. so Castel. col. 2980.
to be proud and haughty, to lift up one's self, to swell and rise like the
turgent and swelling waters: but though he did thus lift himself, yet it
follows:
thou shall not
excel;
not have the excellency of
dignity and power which belonged to him as the firstborn; the birthright and
the double portion were given to Joseph, who had two tribes descending from
him, when Reuben had but one; the kingdom was given to Judah, and the priesthood
to Levi, as both the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem observe: as he did not
excel his brethren in honour and dignity, so neither in wealth and riches, nor
in numbers; see Deuteronomy 33:6
where the word "not" is wrongly supplied; nor in his share in the
land of Canaan, his posterity being seated on the other side of Jordan, at
their request; nor did any persons of note and eminence spring from his tribe:
because thou wentest up to thy father's bed, then defiledst thou it; referring
to his incest with Bilhah, his father's concubine wife, Genesis 35:22
which, though done forty years ago, was now remembered, and left an indelible
spot on Reuben's character, and his posterity:
he went up to
my couch:
turning himself to his
other sons, to take notice of the crime, as very abominable and detestable;
affirming the truth of it, and speaking of it with some vehemency, his
affections being moved; and it may be could not bear to look at Reuben, but
turned himself to his brethren; though he had forgiven the sin, and very
probably Reuben had repented of it, and had forgiveness of God, which he might
have, though in some sense vengeance was taken on this sinful invention of his,
Psalm 99:8. There
are various senses given of this phrase; some, as Aben Ezra, "my bed
departed from me"; that is, he departed from his bed; or, as KimchiF3Sepher
Shorash. rad. עלה. , "it ceased to be my
bed"; he left it, he abstained from the bed of Bilhah upon its being
defiled by Reuben: and others separate these words, and read עלה, singly, "it went up"F4עלה "ascendit", i.e. "abiit" "et
evanuit", Vatablus. ; either the excellency of Reuben went up, vanished
and disappeared like smoke; or, as Ben Melech connects it with the beginning of
the verse, "unstable as water", giving the sense, "it", the
inundation of water, "ascended" and prevailed over thee; as waters
ascend, meaning his lust ascended, and got the prevalence over him; but the
accents will not admit of such a separation of the words; it is best to understand
them in the first sense. As to the manner of the expression, of going up to a
bed, it may be observed, that not only their beds in those times might be
raised higher than ours, but that they were placed in an higher part of the
room, and so there was an ascent to them: and Dr. ShawF5Travels, p.
209. Ed. 2. says this is the custom of the eastern people to this day,"at
one end of each chamber there is a little gallery, raised three, four, or five
feet above the floor, with a balustrade in the front of it, with a few steps
likewise leading up to it, here they place their beds.'
Genesis 49:5. 5 “Simeon
and Levi are brothers; Instruments of cruelty are in their
dwelling place.
YLT 5Simeon and Levi [are] brethren! Instruments
of violence -- their espousals!
Simeon and Levi
are brothers,....
Not because they were so
in a natural sense, being brethren both by father and mother's side, for there
were others so besides them; but because they were of like tempers,
dispositions, and mannersF6"--------par nobile fratrum Nequitia
et nugis pravorum et amore gemellum." Horat. Sermon. l. 2. Satyr. 3. ,
bold, wrathful, cruel, revengeful, and deceitful, and joined together in their
evil counsels and evil actions, and so are joined together in the evils
predicted of them:
instruments of
cruelty are in their habitations:
or vessels, utensils,
household goods gotten by violence and rapine, and through the cruel usage of the
Shechemites; these were in their dwellings, their houses were full of such
mammon of unrighteousness, or spoil; or, as others, "instruments of
cruelty" are "their swords"F7מכרתיהם
"Machaerae eorum", Montanus, Tigurine version, Schmidt; and so R.
Sol. Urbin Ohel Moed, fol. 31. 2. ; what they should only have used in their
own defence, with these they shed the blood of the Shechemites very
barbarously, Genesis 34:25. Some
think the word here used is the Greek word for a sword; and the Jews sayF8Pirke
Eliezer, c. 38. that Jacob cursed the swords of Simeon and Levi in the Greek
tongue; and others say it is Persic, being used by Xenophon for Persian swords;
but neither of them seems probable: rather this word was originally Hebrew, and
so passed from thence into other languages; but perhaps the sense of it, which
Aben Ezra gives, may be most agreeable, if the first sense is not admitted,
that it signifies covenants, compacts, agreementsF9So Castell.
Lexic. col. 2058. Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. , such as these men made
with the Shechemites, even nuptial contracts; for the root of the word, in the
Chaldee language, signifies to espouseF11מכר
Chald. & Syr. "despondit", "desponsavit", Schindler.
Lex. col. 998. ; and these they abused to cruelty, bloodshed, and slaughter, in
a most deceitful manner: in the Ethiopic language, the word signifies counsels;
so De Dieu takes it here.
Genesis 49:6. 6 Let
not my soul enter their council; Let not my honor be united to their assembly; For
in their anger they slew a man, And in their self-will they hamstrung an ox.
YLT 6Into their secret, come not, O my soul! Unto
their assembly be not united, O mine honour; For in their anger they slew a
man, And in their self-will eradicated a prince.
O my soul, come
not thou into their secret,....
Their cabinet counsels,
combinations and conspiracies; this Jacob said, as abhorring the wicked counsel
they had took of slaying the Shechemites; and lest any should think he was
concerned in it, or connived at it, he expressed a detestation of the fact on
his dying bed: the future tense may be put for the past; and so Onkelos renders
it, "my soul was not in their secret"; and so the other two Targums
paraphrase it, that when they got and consulted together, his soul was not
pleased and delighted with their counsel, but abhorred it; or "my soul
shall not come", which Jarchi thinks prophetical refers to the case of
Zimri, the son of Salu, of the tribe of Simeon, as the following clause to the
affair of Korah, of the tribe of Levi, as foreseeing and disapproving them, and
desiring they might not be called by his name, or his name called upon them, Numbers 25:14.
unto their
assembly, mine honour, be not thou united;
the same thing expressed
in different words; by his "honour or glory" he means his soul, the
more honourable part of man, or his tongue, with which man glorifies God; and
hereby Jacob intimates, that he did not in thought, and much less in express
words, give any consent unto, and approbation of the deed of those two sons of
his, and that he never was, nor never desired to be with them in their meetings
and consultations:
for in their
anger they slew a man;
Hamor or Shechem, together
with all the males of the city; and so "man" may be put for
"men", the singular for the plural, as is frequent. The Targum of
Jonathan is, a king and his governor; and the Targum of Jerusalem, kings with
governors:
and in their
selfwill they digged down a wall;
not the wall of the city
of Shechem, which does not appear to be walled, by their easy access into it;
and if it was, they do not seem to have had proper instruments for such an
undertaking, nor a sufficient number for such work, and which would have
required longer time than they used, unless it was a poor wall indeed: rather
the wall of Shechem's house, or the court before it, which they dug down, or
broke through to get in and slay Hamor and Shechem, and take away their sister;
though the word, as here pointed, always signifies an ox; and so the Samaritan
and Septuagint versions render it, they hamstringed a bull, or houghed an ox,
just in like manner as horses are said to be houghed, Joshua 11:6 and
which some understandF12R. Jacob Ben Eleazer in Ben Melech, in loc.
figuratively of a prince or ruler; so great personages are called bulls of
Bashan, Psalm 22:12 and
interpret it either of Hamor or of Shechem, who was a prince among his people,
and furious in his lust towards Dinah, and so this clause is much the same with
the former: and besides, him they enervated by circumcision, and took the
advantage of this his condition at the worst, and slew him, which seems to be
the true sense of the text, agreeably to Genesis 34:25 but
the Jerusalem Targum paraphrases it of Joseph, whom his brethren sold, who was
like unto an ox; and so Jarchi interprets it of him, whom they designed to
slay, see Deuteronomy 33:17
but it is better to take the words in a literal sense, either of the oxen that
Simeon and Levi took from the Shechemites, which they plucked or drove away
from their mangers, as some render the wordsF13עקרו
שור "avulserunt boves", Junius &
Tremellius, Piscator; others, "enervarunt bovem", Schmidt; so
Ainsworth. ; and some of them they might hough or hamstring, that they might
not get away from them, see Genesis 34:28 or rather
of Shechem himself, who was שר, "a prince",
a word which has some likeness and affinity to this in the text.
Genesis 49:7. 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.
YLT 7Cursed [is] their anger, for [it is] fierce,
And their wrath, for [it is] sharp; I divide them in Jacob, And I scatter them
in Israel.
Cursed be their
anger, for it was fierce,....
It was sinful anger in the
nature of it, and so criminal and detestable; it was strong, fierce, and
furious in its operation and effects, and so justly cursed; not their persons,
but their passions:
and their
wrath, for it was cruel;
it issued in the cruel and
barbarous slaughter of the inhabitants of Shechem; the same thing as before in
other words repeated, to express his great abhorrence of their wrath and rage.
Aben Ezra thinks that the words may be considered either as a prophecy or a
prayer, that their anger might cease: what follows is certainly a prophecy:
I will divide
them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel;
which he is said to do,
because he foretold it would be done; as Jeremiah is said to root out and pull
down kingdoms, because he prophesied thereof, Jeremiah 1:10 and
this was fulfilled in the tribes of Simeon and Levi; as for the tribe of
Simeon, that had not a distinct part by itself in the land of Canaan, but had
their inheritance out of the portion, and within the inheritance of the tribe
of Judah, Joshua 19:1 and
their cities did not join to one another, as Aben Ezra observes, but lay
scattered up and down in the tribe of Judah; and when they were increased and
straitened for room, many of them went without the land, to the entrance of
Gedor, where they of Ham, or the Egyptians, had dwelt, and others to Mount Seir
in Edom, 1 Chronicles 4:39
and it is a notion which prevails with the Jews, and which Jarchi takes notice
of, that a great many of this tribe were scribes and teachers of the law, and
even teachers of children, and by which they lived among the several tribes;
and so the Jerusalem Targum,"I will divide the tribe of Simeon, that they
may be scribes and teachers of the law in the congregation of Jacob.'And as for
the tribe of Levi, it is well known that they had no inheritance in the land of
Canaan, but had forty eight cities assigned them in the several tribes here and
there; and thus Jacob's prophecy had an exact accomplishment.
Genesis 49:8. 8 “Judah,
you are he whom your brothers shall praise; Your hand shall be on
the neck of your enemies; Your father’s children shall bow down before you.
YLT 8Judah! thou -- thy brethren praise thee! Thy
hand [is] on the neck of thine enemies, Sons of thy father bow themselves to
thee.
Judah, thou art
he whom thy brethren shall praise,....
His name signifies praise,
and was given him by his mother, her heart being filled with praises to God for
him, Genesis 29:35 and
is here confirmed by his father on another account, because his brethren should
praise him for many excellent virtues in him; and it appears, by instances
already observed, that he had great authority, and was highly esteemed among
his brethren, as his posterity would be in future times for their courage,
warlike expeditions and success, and being famous for heroes, such as David,
and others; and especially his famous seed the Messiah, and of whom he was a
type, should be praised by his brethren, who are so through his incarnation,
and by divine adoption, and who praise him for the glories and excellencies of
his person, and the blessings of his grace:
thine hand
shall be in the neck of thine enemies;
pressing them down by his
superior power, subduing them, and causing them to submit to him, and which was
verified in David, who was of this tribe, Psalm 18:40 and
especially in the Messiah, in a spiritual sense, who has conquered and subdued
all his and his people's enemies, sin, Satan, the world and death:
thy father's
children shall bow down before thee;
before the kings that
should spring from this tribe, and should rule over all the rest, as David and
Solomon, to whom civil adoration and respect were given by them; and before the
King Messiah, his son and antitype, in a way of religious worship, which is
given him by the angels, the sons of God, and by all the saints and people of
God, who are his father's children by adoption; these bow before him, and give
him religious adoration as a divine Person, and submit to his righteousness as
Mediator, and bow to the sceptre of his kingdom, and cast their crowns at his
feet, and give him the glory of their whole salvation. This in some Jewish
writingsF14Zohar in Gen. fol. 127. 2. is applied to the time of the
Messiah's coming.
Genesis 49:9. 9 Judah
is a lion’s whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows
down, he lies down as a lion; And as a lion, who shall rouse him?
YLT 9A lion's whelp [is] Judah, For prey, my son,
thou hast gone up; He hath bent, he hath crouched as a lion, And as a lioness;
who causeth him to arise?
Judah is a
lion's whelp,....
Or as one; the note of
similitude being wanting, as Aben Ezra and Ben Melech observe; he was
comparable to a young lion for his strength, courage, and generosity; and it
may refer to the infant state of this tribe in the times of the judges, who
first went up against the Canaanites and overcame them, Judges 1:1.
from the prey,
my son, thou art gone up;
alluding to the lion going
up to the mountains, where it chiefly resides, after it has found its prey and
satiated itself with it:
he stooped
down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion;
one that is grown up, and
has arrived to its full strength, such an one is a proper emblem of David king
of Israel, of his royalty, courage, valour and conquests; and who having subdued
the nations round about him, couched like a lion, and had rest from all his
enemies; and especially this was verified in the times of Solomon his son, when
he had peace on all sides, and Judah and Israel dwelt safely under their vines
and fig trees, 1 Kings 4:24.
who shall rouse
him up?
a lion grown up and in its
full strength, or a lioness, as some choose to interpret it, and which is the
fiercest, and therefore the most dangerous to rouse up when laid down, either
in its den, or with its prey in its paws: so dangerous it was to provoke the
tribe of Judah, as its enemies after found, especially in the times of David:
all this may be applied to Christ, the lion of the tribe of Judah; the lion
being the king of beasts, and the strongest among them, may denote the kingly
power and authority of Christ, his great strength as the mighty God and mighty
Saviour, his courage in engaging with all the powers of darkness, and valour in
vanquishing all enemies; his generosity and lenity to those that stoop to him,
and his fierceness to his adversaries, who took the prey from the mighty, and
then ascended on high, leading captivity captive; where he sat down at the
right hand of God at rest and ease, and who will dare to rouse him up, or be
able to stand before him when once he is angry? This verse in some ancientF15Raya
Mehimna in Zohar in Exod. fol. 49. 3. 4. writings of the Jews is interpreted of
Messiah the son of David.
Genesis 49:10. 10 The
scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until
Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.
YLT 10The sceptre turneth not aside from Judah, And
a lawgiver from between his feet, Till his Seed come; And his [is] the
obedience of peoples.
The sceptre
shall not depart from Judah,....
Which some understand of
the tribe, that Judah should not cease from being a tribe, or that it should
continue a distinct tribe until the coming of the Messiah, who was to be of it,
and was, and that it might appear he sprung from it; but this was not peculiar
to this tribe, for the tribe of Benjamin continued, and so did the tribe of
Levi unto the coming of Christ: besides, by Judah is meant the tribe, and to
say a tribe shall not depart from the tribe, is not only a tautology, but
scarcely sense; it rather signifies dominion, power, and authority, as the sceptre
always does, it being an emblem of it, see Numbers 24:17 and
this intends either the government, which was in the heads and princes of the
tribe, which commenced as soon as it became a tribe, and lasted as long as it
remained one, even unto the times of the Messiah; or kingly power and
government, which the sceptre is generally thought to be an emblem of, and
which first commenced in David, who was of the tribe of Judah, and continued
unto the Babylonish captivity, when another sort of governors and government
took place, designed in the next clause:
nor a lawgiver
from between his feet;
which may be rendered
disjunctively, "or a lawgiver"; any ruler or governor, that has
jurisdiction over others, though under another, as the word is used, Judges 5:14 and the
sense is, that till the Messiah came there should be in the tribe of Judah,
either a king, a sceptre bearer, as there was unto the captivity; or a
governor, though under others, as there were unto the times of Christ under the
Babylonians, Persians, Grecians, and Romans; such as Gedaliah, Zorobabel,
&c. and particularly the sanhedrim, a court of judicature, the members of
which chiefly consisted of the tribe of Judah, and the נשיא,
or prince of it, was always of that tribe, and which retained its power to the
latter end of Herod's reign, when Christ was come; and though it was greatly
diminished, it had some power remaining, even at the death of Christ, but
quickly after had none at all: and if by the "lawgiver" is meant a
scribe or a teacher of the law, as all the Targums, Aben Ezra, Ben Melech, and
others interpret it, who used to sit at the feet of a ruler, judge, or prince
of the sanhedrim; it is notorious there were of these unto, and in the times of
the Messiah: in short, it matters not for the fulfilment of this prophecy what
sort of governors those were after the captivity, nor of what tribe they were;
they were in Judah, and their government was exercised therein, and that was in
the hands of Judah, and they and that did not depart from thence till Shiloh
came; since those that were of the other tribes, after the return from the
captivity all went by the name of Judah:
until Shiloh
come;
which all the three
Targums interpret of the Messiah, as do many of the Jewish writers, ancient and
modernF16Zohar in Gen. fol. 32. 4. & in Exod. fol. 4. 1. &
in Numb. fol. 101. 2. Bereshit Rabba, fol. 98. sect. 85. 3. Jarchi & Baal
Hatturim, in loc. Nachmanidis Disputat. cum Paulo, p. 53. Abarbinel. Mashmiah
Jesbuah, fol. 10. 1. R. Abraham Seba, Tzeror Hammor, fol. 36. 4. & 62. 2. ;
and is the name of the Messiah in their TalmudF17T. Bab. Sanhedrin,
fol. 98. 2. , and in other writingsF18Echa Rabbati, fol. 50. 2. ;
and well agrees with him, coming from a root which signifies to be
"quiet", "peaceable", and "prosperous"; as he was
of a quiet and peaceable disposition, came to make peace between God and men,
and made it by the blood of his cross, and gives spiritual peace to all his
followers, and brings them at length to everlasting peace and happiness; having
prospered and succeeded in the great work of their redemption and salvation he
undertook:
and unto him
shall the gathering of the people be;
not of the Jews, though
there were great gatherings of them to hear him preach, and see his miracles;
as there were of all his people to him at his death, and in him as their head
and representative, Ephesians 1:10 but
of the Gentiles; upon his death, the Gospel being preached to all nations,
multitudes among them were converted to Christ, embraced his doctrines,
professed his religion, and abode by him, see Isaiah 11:10 some
render it, the obedience of the peopleF19יקהת
עמים "obedientia populorum", Montanus,
Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Ainsworth; with which agree the
Targums of Onkelos and Jerusalem, Aben Ezra, Kimchi in Sepher Shorash. rad. יקה , from the use of the word in Proverbs 30:17,
which sense agrees with the former; for those who are truly gathered by the
ministry of the word yield an obedience to his doctrines and ordinances; and
others read, "the expectation of the people"F20 προσδοκια εθνων, Sept Theodotion; "expectatio
Gentium", V. L. ; the Messiah being the desire of all nations, Haggai 2:6 this,
with what goes before, clearly shows that the Messiah must be come, since
government in every sense has departed from Judah for 1900 years or thereabout,
and the Gentiles have embraced the Messiah and his Gospel the Jews rejected:
the various contradictory senses they put upon this prophecy show the puzzle
and confusion they are in about it, and serve to confirm the true sense of it:
some apply it to the city Shiloh, others to Moses, others to Saul, others to
David; nay, some will have Shiloh to be Jeroboam, or Ahijah the Shilonite, and
even Nebuchadnezzar: there are two senses they put upon it which deserve the
most notice, the one is, that "Shebet", we render
"sceptre", signifies a "rod"; and so it does, but such a
rod as is an ensign of government, as it must here, by what follows, see Ezekiel 19:11, but
they would have it to signify either a rod of correctionF21R. Joel
Ben Sueb apud Menasseh, Ben Israel. Conciliator in Gen. Quaest. 65. sect. 8. ,
or a staff of support; but what correction or affliction has befallen the tribe
of Judah peculiar to it? was it not in a flourishing condition for five hundred
years, under the reign of David's family? and when the rest of the tribes were
carried captive and never returned, Judah remained in its own land, and, when
carried captive, after seventy years returned again to it; add to which, that
this is a prediction, not of affliction and distress, that should abide in the
tribe of Judah, but of honour and glory to it: and besides, Judah has had a far
greater share of correction since the coming of the true Messiah than ever it
had before: and what support have the Jews now, or have had for many hundred
years, being out of their landF22Written about 1750. Ed. , destitute
of their privileges, living among other nations in disgrace, and for the most
part in poverty and distress? the other sense is this, "the sceptre and
lawgiver shall not depart from Judah for ever, when Shiloh comesF23Vid.
Menasseh, ib. sect. 3. "; but this is contrary to the accents which
separate and divide the phrase, "between his feet", from that,
"for ever", as this version renders the word; though עד never signifies "for ever", absolutely put,
without some antecedent noun or particle; nor does כי
signify "when", but always "until", when it is joined with
the particle עד, as it is here; besides, this sense
makes the prophecy to pass over some thousands of years before any notice is
taken of Judah's sceptre, which, according to the Jews, it had thousands of
years ago, as well as contradicts a received notion of their own, that the
Messiah, when he comes, shall not reign for ever, but for a certain time, and
even a small time; some say forty years, some seventy, and others four hundredF24T.
Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 99. 1. .
Genesis 49:11. 11 Binding
his donkey to the vine, And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, He washed his
garments in wine, And his clothes in the blood of grapes.
YLT 11Binding to the vine his ass, And to the
choice vine the colt of his ass, He hath washed in wine his clothing, And in
the blood of grapes his covering;
Binding his
foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine,....
Which may be understood
either of the tribe of Judah, and signify that vines should grow in such
plenty, and so large and strong, that a man might fasten his ass to one of
them, and if it ate and destroyed it, it would give no great concern, since the
country abounded with them; or they would be so full of clusters that a man
might load an ass from one of them. Some parts of the tribe of Judah were
famous for vines, especially Engedi; hence we read of the vineyards of Engedi, Song of Solomon 1:14
or else of Shiloh the Messiah, which some interpret literally of him, when the
prophecy in Zechariah 9:9 was
fulfilled, as is recorded in Matthew 21:2 but
others better, figuratively, of Christ's causing the Gentiles, comparable to an
ass's colt, for their impurity, ignorance of, and sluggishness in spiritual
things, to cleave to him the true vine, John 15:1 in the
exercise of faith, hope, and love, or to join themselves to his church and
people, sometimes compared to a vine or vineyard, Isaiah 5:1.
and he washed
his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:
an hyperbolical
expression, setting forth the great abundance of wine in this tribe, of which
there was such plenty, that if they would, they might have used it instead of
water to wash their clothes in, but not that they did do so, only might if they
would; and may denote the great quantity of spiritual blessings flowing from
the love of God, which come by Christ; and of his word and ordinances, which
are comparable to wine and milk, and are a feast of fat things, of wine on the
lees, well refined, Isaiah 26:6 and may
be applied to Christ, to the garment of his human nature, which, through his
sufferings and death, was like a vesture dipped in blood, and he became red in
his apparel, Isaiah 63:1 or to
his church and people, which cleave to him as a garment, and whose garments are
washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb, Revelation 1:5
these words are interpreted of the Messiah in the Targums of Jonathan and
Jerusalem, and are applied to him and his times in the TalmudF25T.
Bab. Berac. fol. 57. 1. , and in other Jewish writingsF26Zohar in
Gen. fol. 127. 3. & 128. 2, 3. : so wine is called the blood of the grape
by the son of Sirach in the Apocrypha:"The principal things for the whole
use of man's life are water, fire, iron, and salt, flour of wheat, honey, milk,
and the blood of the grape, and oil, and clothing.' (Sirach 39:26)"He
stretched out his hand to the cup, and poured of the blood of the grape, he
poured out at the foot of the altar a sweetsmelling savour unto the most high
King of all.' (Sirach 50:15)
Genesis 49:12. 12 His
eyes are darker than wine, And his teeth whiter than milk.
YLT 12Red [are] eyes with wine, And white [are]
teeth with milk!
His eyes shall
be red with wine,....
Signifying, not the
intemperance of this tribe, and their immoderate use of wine, and the effect of
it on them; but the goodness and generosity of their wine, that if drank
plentifully of, and especially to excess, would have such an effect, see Proverbs 23:29 and,
as applied to the Messiah, the antitype of Judah, and who was of this tribe, it
may denote not so much the beauty of his eyes, as the Targums paraphrase it; as
the joy and pleasure that sparkled in his eyes when he shed his blood on the
cross, enduring that, and despising the shame of it, for the joy of the
salvation of his people; or the clearness of his sight in beholding the actions
of his enemies, and especially of the fierceness and fury of his wrath against
them, whose eyes are said to be an flames of fire, Revelation 1:14.
and his teeth
white with milk;
denoting the fruitfulness
of his land, producing fine pastures, on which flocks and herds fed, and gave
abundance of milk; and so Onkelos paraphrases the whole verse,"his
mountains shall be red with his vineyards, and his hills shall drop wine, and
his valleys shall be white with corn and flocks of sheep;'and much the same are
the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem: the mystical sense may respect Christ
and his people, and be expressive of the purity of his nature, life, and
doctrine, and of the holiness of his members, their faith and conversation; or
the clauses may be rendered, redder than wine, whiter than milk; but though
whiteness recommends teeth, yet not redness the eyes; wherefore someF1Danzius
apud Stockium, p. 334. by transposing the first letters of the word for
"red", make it to signify black, as it does with the Arabs, and that
colour of the eye is reckoned beautiful.
Genesis 49:13. 13 “Zebulun
shall dwell by the haven of the sea; He shall become a haven for ships, And
his border shall adjoin Sidon.
YLT 13Zebulun at a haven of the seas doth dwell,
And he [is] for a haven of ships; And his side [is] unto Zidon.
Zebulun shall
dwell at the haven of the sea,....
Of the sea of Galilee,
sometimes called the sea of Tiberias and of Gennesaret; and of the
Mediterranean sea; and accordingly we find that the border of this tribe, when
settled in the land of Canaan, was toward the sea, Joshua 19:10 and
this was done, not at the discretion of Joshua, or at the choice of this tribe,
but by lot; and which shows that Jacob said this under a spirit of prophecy,
and which had its fulfilment two hundred years after; and is a full proof of
the prescience and providence of God; and who, as he sets the bounds of the
people, or of the nations of the world, and of the tribes of Israel, so the
bounds of the habitations of particular persons, Acts 17:26 and he
shall be for an haven of ships; shall have good ports commodious for ships to
station in, and to cover them from storms and tempests; this tribe being
situated by the sea shoreF2לחוף ימים "in litore maris", V. L. "ad litus
marium", Drusius, Cocceius, Schmidt. :
and his border
shall be unto Zidon;
not the city Zidon, for
the tribe of Zebulun reached no further than Carmel, as Josephus
observes;"the Zebulunites (says he) obtained the land from Carmel, and the
sea to the lake of Gennesaret.'Now Carmel was forty miles at least from Zidon;
but Phoenicia is meant, of which Zidon was the chief city; and so the
Septuagint in Isaiah 23:2 put
Phoenicia instead of Zidon; and whereas Carmel was the border of this tribe
that way, it is also said by JeromF4Comment. in Amos, 9. 3. to be
the border of Phoenicia; so that Zebulun reaching to Carmel, its border may be
truly said to be to Zidon or Phoenicia.
Genesis 49:14. 14 “Issachar
is a strong donkey, Lying down between two burdens;
YLT 14Issacher [is] a strong ass, Crouching between
the two folds;
Issachar is a
strong ass,....
Or as one, the note of
similitude being wanting, as Ben Melech observes; "a bony"F5חמר גרם "Asinus
osseus", Montanus, Tigurine version, Munster, Vatablus, Drusius, Piscator,
Cartwright. one, as the word signifies; not one that is lean, and nothing but
skin and bones, as some interpret it, but that is strong and robust, able to
carry burdens; and this tribe is compared to an ass, not for stupidity and
sluggishness, but for its strength, and its use in husbandry, in which this
tribe was chiefly occupied: the Targums of Jonathan and Jarchi interpret this
figuratively, of his being strong to bear the yoke of the law: and it is a
notion of the Jews, that this tribe were skilful in the doctrines of the law,
and the intercalation of years, &c. from 1 Chronicles 12:32
couching down between two burdens: one hanging on one side, and another on the
other; which Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret of bales of goods; and may as well
be understood of sacks of corn, or anything else, carried by these creatures,
which, when they come into a good pasture, and for the sake of that and ease,
will lie down with their burdens on them, and rise up again with them: the
Targums of Onkelos and Jerusalem paraphrase it, "between two borders"F6בין המשפתים "inter
terminos", V. L. "inter terminos duos", Pagninus, Montanus,
Drusius, Cartwright; so Ainsworth, "inter duos finos", Tigurine
version. , or the borders of his brethren, as Jonathan, Zebulun and Dan,
between which this tribe lay; and this is the reason Aben Ezra gives why
Issachar, who was older than Zebulun, is mentioned after him, and between him
and Dan, because his land lay between them; and so it may be observed, that in
the division of the land in Joshua's time, Issachar's lot came up after
Zebulun's, Joshua 19:10 but
Doctor Lightfoot thinksF7Works, vol. 1. p. 698. it refers to the two
kingdoms, between which it lay, that of Phoenicia on one side, and that of
Samaria on the other.
Genesis 49:15. 15 He
saw that rest was good, And that the land was pleasant; He bowed
his shoulder to bear a burden, And became a band of slaves.
YLT 15And he seeth rest that [it is] good, And the
land that [it is] pleasant, And he inclineth his shoulder to bear, And is to
tribute a servant.
And he saw that
rest was good,....
Not the house of the
sanctuary, and attendance there, and the service of that, as the Targum of
Jerusalem; nor the rest of the world to come, the happiness of a future state,
as that of Jonathan; but rather, as Onkelos, the part and portion of the good
land allotted him; he saw that a quiet industry exercised in a diligent
cultivation and manuring his land was preferable to the hurry of a court, or
the fatigue of a camp, or the dangers of the seas:
and the land
that it was pleasant;
a fine delightful country,
which, if well looked after and improved, would produce plenty of pleasant
fruits; and within this tribe were the rich vale of Esdraelon or Jezreel, and
the fruitful mountains of Gilboa: of the former it is agreed by all travellers
the like has never been seen by them, being of vast extent and very fertile,
and formerly abounded with corn, wine, and oil; See Gill on Hosea 1:5 and the
latter were famous for their fruitfulness, through the dews that descended on
them, 2 Samuel 1:21.
and bowed his
shoulders to bear;
the fatigues of ploughing
and sowing, and reaping, and carrying in the fruits of the earth:
and became a
servant unto tribute;
which greatly arises from
agriculture and the fruits of the earth; and this tribe chose rather to pay
more tribute than the rest, that they might abide at home and attend the
business of their fields, when others were called to go forth to war.
Genesis 49:16. 16 “Dan
shall judge his people As one of the tribes of Israel.
YLT 16Dan doth judge his people, As one of the
tribes of Israel;
Dan shall judge
his people as one of the tribes of Israel.
There is an elegant
paronomasia, or an allusion to the name of Dan in those words, which signifies
to judge, and the sense of them is, there should be heads, rulers, and judges
of it, as the other tribes had; and this is the rather mentioned of him,
because he is the first of the children of concubine wives as yet taken notice
of; and what is here said of him is also to be understood of the rest of the
sons of the concubines; for the meaning is not, that a judge should arise out
of him as out of the other tribes, that should judge all Israel, restraining it
to Samson, who was of this tribe, as the Targums and Jarchi; for no such judge
did arise out of all the tribes of Israel; nor was Samson such a judge of
Israel as David, who, according to Jarchi, is one of the tribes of Israel,
namely, of Judah; for David did not judge as Samson, nor Samson as David, their
form of government being different.
Genesis 49:17. 17 Dan
shall be a serpent by the way, A viper by the path, That bites the horse’s
heels So that its rider shall fall backward.
YLT 17Dan is a serpent by the way, An adder by the
path, Which is biting the horse's heels, And its rider falleth backward.
Dan shall be a
serpent by the way, an adder in the path,....
Or be like that sort of
serpents called the adder; or rather, that which has the name of Cerastes,
which lies among sand, and being of the same colour is not easily discerned,
and is often trampled upon unawares, and bites at once, unexpected; as BothartF8Hierozoic.
par. 2. l. 3. c. 12. col. 418, 419, 420. from various writers has shown;
particularly Diodorus SiculusF9Bibliothec. l. 3. p. 183. says, of
this kind of serpents, that their bites are deadly, and being of the same
colour with the sand, few discern them, so that many ignorantly treading on
them fall into danger unawares; and so Onkelos paraphrases it, that lies in
wait by the way; and is by another writerF11R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel
Moed. fol. 57. 1. interpreted, a very grievous and hurtful serpent as the adder
is:
that biteth the
horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward;
for this sort of serpents
lying in horse ways and cart ruts, snaps at and bites horses as they pass
along, which bites affecting their legs and thighs, cause them to fall and
throw their riders: this, by the Jewish writers, who are followed by many
Christian interpreters, is applied to Samson, who by craft and policy managed
the Philistines, as in the affair of the foxes, and especially in his last
enterprise, when he got placed between the two pillars of the house, which
answer, as some think, to the horse heels, as the multitude on the roof of the house
to the riders: but though this may be illustrated in a particular person in
this tribe, as a specimen of the genius and disposition of the whole tribe, yet
the prophecy respects the whole tribe, and points at the situation of it, which
was "by the way", at the extreme part of the country; so that they
had need of craft and policy as well as power to defend themselves against
encroachers and invaders, and describes the general temper and disposition of
this tribe, of which an instance may be seen in Judges 18:1 and it
may have respect to the stumblingblocks and offences laid in this tribe to the
rest of the tribes, by the idol of Micah, and more especially by the golden
calf set up in Dan by Jeroboam.
Genesis 49:18. 18 I
have waited for your salvation, O Lord!
YLT 18For Thy salvation I have waited, Jehovah!
I have waited
for thy salvation, O Lord.
Jacob finding his spirits
faint and flag, stops and breathes awhile before he proceeded any further in
blessing the tribes; and as he found he was a dying man, and knew not how soon
he should expire, expresses what he had been thoughtful of and concerned about
in time past, and still was; that he had been waiting and hoping for, and
expecting a state of happiness and bliss in another world, where he should be
saved from sin and Satan, and the world, and from all his enemies, and out of
all his troubles; and this he firmly believed he should enjoy, and hoped it
would not be long ere he did; and especially he may have a regard to the
Messiah, the promised Saviour, and salvation by him he had knowledge of, faith
in, and expectation of; who may be truly called the salvation of God, because
of his contriving, providing, and appointing, whom he had promised and spoken
of by all the prophets; and whom in the fulness of time he would send into the
world to work out salvation for his people; and to him all the Targums apply
the words, which are to this purpose:"said our father Jacob, not for the
salvation of Gideon, the son of Joash, which is a temporal salvation, do I
wait; nor for the salvation of Samson the son of Manoah, which is a transitory
salvation; but for the salvation of Messiah the son of David, (which is an
everlasting one,) who shall bring the children of Israel to himself, and his
salvation my soul desireth:'and though Jacob might be affected with the evils
he foresaw would rise up in the tribe of Dan, he had last mentioned, and with
the troubles that should come upon all the tribes; and had some pleasing sights
of the deliverances and salvations, that should be wrought for them, by judges
and saviours that should be raised up; yet his chief view was to the Messiah,
and salvation by him.
Genesis 49:19. 19 “Gad,
a troop shall tramp upon him, But he shall triumph at last.
YLT 19Gad! a troop assaulteth him, But he
assaulteth last.
Gad, a troop
shall overcome him,....
There is a paronomasia, or
an allusion to the name of Gad almost in every word of the verse, which
signifies a troop: the whole is a prediction that this tribe would be a warlike
one, and have the common fate of war, sometimes be conquered, and at other
times conquer, but however should be at last entirely victorious; all the three
Targums refer this to this tribe passing over Jordan at the head of the armies
of Israel, into the land of Canaan, in Joshua's time, which, when they had
subdued, they returned to their own inheritance on the other side Jordan, Joshua 1:12 and so
Jarchi; but it rather seems to refer to what befell them in their own tribe,
which being seated on the other side Jordan was exposed to the incursions and
spoils of the Moabites and Amonites; who came upon them like troops of robbers,
and seized upon their possessions and retained them for some years; as in the
times of the judges, see Judges 10:7 and in
after times we find the Ammonites in possession of their country, Jeremiah 49:1
whereby this part of the prophecy had its accomplishment:
but he shall
overcome at the last;
as the Gadites with the
Reubenites and half tribe of Manasseh did overcome the Hagarites and Arabians,
the war being of God, and succeeded, and they dwelt in their stead until the
captivity of the ten tribes, 1 Chronicles 5:18
and thus it is with the people of God in their present warfare state, who are
often foiled with sin, Satan, and the world, their spiritual enemies; but at
last they are more than conquerors over them all through Christ that has loved
them.
Genesis 49:20. 20 “Bread
from Asher shall be rich, And he shall yield royal dainties.
YLT 20Out of Asher his bread [is] fat; And he
giveth dainties of a king.
Out of Asher
his bread shall be fat,....
Which signifies that this
tribe would have a sufficiency of food out of their own land, without being
obliged to others, and that it would be of the best sort; it occupied a tract
of land, as AndrichomiusF12Theatrum Terrae sanctae, p. 1. says,
reaching from great Zidon to Carmel of the sea, a space of twenty miles in
length; and in breadth, from the great sea to Asor, and even to Naason, a space
of nine miles; the land of this tribe is very fat, he says, and exceeding
fruitful in wine and oil, especially in the best wheat: and in this tribe, as
the same writerF13lb. p. 13. observes, among other very fruitful
places was the valley of Asher, called the fat valley, which began five miles
from Ptolemais, and reached to the sea of Galilee, and contained more than ten
miles in length; the soil of which was exceeding fat and fruitful, and produced
the most delicate wine and wheat, and might be truly called the fat valley, see
Deuteronomy 33:24.
and he shall
yield royal dainties;
food fit for kings, of all
sorts, flesh, fish, and fowl: here King Solomon had one of his purveyors to
provide food for him and his household, 1 Kings 4:16.
Asher's country answered to his name, which signifies happy or blessed: in
those parts Christ was much in the days of his flesh on earth; in Cana of this
tribe he turned water into wine and in this country discoursed concerning the
bread of life himself, who is the best of bread and royal dainties.
Genesis 49:21. 21 “Naphtali
is a deer let loose; He uses beautiful words.
YLT 21Naphtali [is] a hind sent away, Who is giving
beauteous young ones.
Naphtali is a
hind let loose,....
Onkelos applies it to the
tribe itself, and to the goodness of its land,"as for Naphtali, his lot
fell in a good land, and his inheritance a fruit bearing one,'as it was; for in
it was the most fruitful country of Gennesaret, which gave name to a sea or
lake by it, and which abounded with gardens, with palm trees, fig trees, and
olive trees; and which, Josephus saysF14De Bello Jud. l. 3. c. 9.
sect. 3. one might call the ambition of nature; and StraboF15Geograph.
l. 16. p. 519. , an Heathen writer, says of it, that it was an happy blessed
country, and bearing all sorts of good things; and Jarchi on the place
observes, this is the vale of Gennesaret, which is as quick to bring forth
fruit, as a hind is swift to run. Some will have this prophecy to be fulfilled
in Barak, as Ben Gersom, Abendana, and others, who was of this tribe, and who
at first was fearful like the hind, and backward to go out to war when called,
but afterwards readily went out with Deborah, and at last gave goodly words in
the song they both sung: but it better describes the genius, disposition, and manners
of the tribe, who were kind and loving, swift and expeditious in their affairs;
lovers of liberty, well spoken persons, humane, affable, courteous, of a good
address and pleasing language, as follows:
he giveth
goodly words;
to those he converses with;
and it may be applied, particularly to Christ and his disciples, and to the
inhabitants of this tribe in his time, among whom they much were, see Matthew 4:13 he
himself is compared to the hind of the morning, Psalm 22:1 in the
title, and to a roe or a young hart, Song of Solomon 2:9
Song of Solomon 8:14
for his amiableness and loveliness in himself, and for his lovingness to his
people, and for his swiftness to do the will and work of his father, being sent
outF16Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 3. c. 18. col. 896. , as the word here
used signifies, by him into this world, on the business of man's salvation: and
so his disciples, who were Galilaeans, were swift to obey his call, and left
all and followed him, and were sent out by him to preach his Gospel; and both
he and they may be said to "give goodly words", as the doctrines of
the Gospel are, words of grace, truth, and life; wholesome, comfortable,
pleasant and delightful; good tidings of good things, of peace, pardon,
righteousness, salvation and eternal life by Christ: and the inhabitants of
this country in Christ's time were swift to run after him, and hear him; panted
after him as the hart after the water brooks, and both received and gave out
the goodly words of the Gospel, and were made free thereby, and so like an hind
let loose. Bochart gives a different version of these words, which is
countenanced by the Septuagint version, Naphtali is a tree full of shoots, or
"a tree shot out, sprouting out beautiful branches"; but as this is
contrary to the points, and coincides with the next verse, it is rejected by
many learned men.
Genesis 49:22. 22 “Joseph
is a fruitful bough, A fruitful bough by a well; His branches run over
the wall.
YLT 22Joseph [is] a fruitful son; A fruitful son by
a fountain, Daughters step over the wall;
Joseph is a
fruitful bough,....
Or as one, like the bough
or branch of a tree laden with fruit, as he was with children; one of which he
called Ephraim from his fruitfulness, and both his sons became numerous, and
the heads of two tribes in Israel; and with other temporal fruits and
blessings, as riches, honour, &c. and especially with the fruits of grace
and righteousness:
even a fruitful bough by a well;
those are the most
fruitful that are near a well or fountain of water, as such trees are which are
planted by rivers of water, see Psalm 1:3 this
being repeated may have respect to the two boughs or branches of Joseph's
family, or the two fruitful and numerous tribes that sprung from him:
whose branches
run over the wall;
as such trees that are set
against one, and by the reflected heat of the sun grow the more, and become
more fruitful. The word for "branches" is "daughters",
which some refer to the daughters of Manasseh and Zelophehad, who received
their inheritance on both sides of Jordan; and others interpret it of the
cities of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, as cities are sometimes called.
Genesis 49:23. 23 The
archers have bitterly grieved him, Shot at him and hated him.
YLT 23And embitter him -- yea, they have striven,
Yea, hate him do archers;
The archers
have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him.
His brethren who grieved
him with their ill usage, shot out bitter words against him, and hated him for
his dreams, and because his father loved him; and they could not speak
peaceably to him, they mocked at him, conspired to kill him, stripped him of
his clothes, cast him into a pit, and then sold him; in all which he was a type
of Christ, as used by the Jews. His mistress also, and Satan by her, grieved
him with her temptations and solicitations to sin, which were as fiery darts
shot at him; but being resisted, her impure love was turned into hatred to him,
and she shot her lies, calumnies, and reproaches, as so many darts at him; and,
as the Targum of Jonathan, the magicians of Egypt, who envied him for his
superior knowledge, and perhaps many others in Pharaoh's court, who were
displeased at his preferments, might bring accusations to Pharaoh against him,
out of hatred to him; and Satan and his principalities and powers, whose
temptations are compared to fiery darts, are not to be exempted, which they
shoot at and grieve the people of God, who are hated by them. Perhaps reference
may be had to the wars of the posterity of Joseph under Joshua, who was of the
tribe of Ephraim, with the Canaanites.
Genesis 49:24. 24 But
his bow remained in strength, 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),
YLT 24And his bow abideth in strength, And
strengthened are the arms of his hands By the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob,
Whence is a shepherd, a son of Israel.
But his bow
abode in strength,....
For as his enemies were
archers, and had bows and arrows, so had he, and repelled force by force; but
then his bow and arrows were of a different sort, the virtues and graces that
he was possessed of, as innocence and integrity, chastity, fortitude, wisdom,
prudence and patience, faith, hope, and the like, which remained unmoved, and
in their full exercise, notwithstanding the powerful attacks made upon them;
and so his posterity were unmoved and unshaken, and stood firm and undaunted,
notwithstanding the powerful enemies they had to deal with, until they were
wholly subdued:
and the arms of
his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob;
so that he held his bow,
and drew it with great strength against his enemies, as an archer being used to
the bow, his nerves become strong, and he is not weakened by drawing it, nor
weary of using it; but Joseph had not his strength of himself, but from the
Lord, the mighty One, that had strengthened his father Jacob, and supported him
under all his trouble: saints, like Joseph, have their strength, as well as
their righteousness, in and from Christ; and when they are weak in themselves,
they are strong in him, to exercise grace and perform duty:
from thence is
the shepherd, the stone of Israel;
from Jacob descended
Joseph; or from the God of Jacob it was that Joseph through divine Providence
was sent into Egypt to be as a shepherd, to feed his father's family, and as a
stone to uphold and support it; in which he was a type of Christ, the great and
good Shepherd of the flock, and the stone that is laid in Zion, on which the
whole spiritual Israel of God is built; the foundation stone on which they are
laid, and are safe, and the corner stone which knits them together. And some
think that Christ is principally meant, who in his office capacity was from the
mighty God of Jacob, a Shepherd of his providing and appointing, and a stone of
his laying; and so Nachmahides says, the stone here made mention of is the same
as in Psalm 118:22.
Genesis 49:25. 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
beneath, Blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
YLT 25By the God of thy father who helpeth thee,
And the Mighty One who blesseth thee, Blessings of the heavens from above,
Blessings of the deep lying under, Blessings of breasts and womb; --
Even by the God
of thy father, who shall help thee,....
The same with the mighty
God of Jacob, by whom his hands had been made strong, and he would be still
helped, protected, and defended against his powerful enemies; and by whom
Christ, the antitype, was helped as man and Mediator against his enemies, and
to do all the work he engaged in; and by whom all the Lord's people are helped
to fight his battles with their spiritual enemies, to withstand temptations,
exercise every grace, and do the will and work of God:
and by the
Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above;
with those blessings which
may be ascribed to the sun, moon, and stars, and their influences as means, and
to the rain and dew which descend from thence; and as with such temporal
blessings, so with spiritual ones in heavenly things in Christ:
blessings of
the deep that lieth under;
of rivers, fountains and
springs that rise out of the earth from below, which water and make fruitful:
blessings of
the breasts, and of the womb
an increase of children,
and of cattle, and those healthy, thriving, and prosperous, which are great
temporal mercies; as are the word and ordinances spiritual ones, those breasts
of consolation, which such that are born again partake of, and grow thereby.
Genesis 49:26. 26 The
blessings of your father Have excelled the blessings of my ancestors, Up to the
utmost bound of the everlasting hills. They shall be on the head of Joseph, And
on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers.
YLT 26Thy father's blessings have been mighty Above
the blessings of my progenitors, Unto the limit of the heights age-during They
are for the head of Joseph, And for the crown of the one Separate [from] his
brethren.
The blessings
of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors,....
Jacob's blessings were
greater and more numerous, both those which he himself had, and bestowed upon
his offspring, than those that Abraham and Isaac had, he having more children
than they, and blessings for everyone of them; whereas they each of them had
but two, and one of these two were excluded the blessing: and besides, though
these blessings were the same in substance bestowed on his progenitors, and by
them on him, yet these were more clearly and distinctly given out by him to his
posterity, and were nearer their accomplishment:
unto the utmost
bounds of the everlasting hills, they shall be on the head of Joseph:
that is, continue on him
as long as the everlasting hills continue, particularly those of a spiritual
kind, for they endure for ever. The word for "bounds" signifies
"desire"; and Onkelos paraphrases the words,"which the princes that
were of old desired:'meaning either the angels who desire to look into heavenly
things, or the patriarchs, who were desirous of the coming of the Messiah, and
salvation by him; and so the Vulgate Latin version is, "until the desire
of the everlasting hills should come"; that is, Christ, who is the desire
of all nations, in whom all nations of the earth are to be blessed, and
therefore desirable; blessings of all kinds are upon the head of the just, as
they were on Joseph, Proverbs 10:6.
and on the
crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren;
who shunned company and
conversation with him, and at length sold him into Egypt, where he was parted
from them, and remained separate for many years; and when they came to dwell in
the land of Egypt, they lived in Goshen, and he at Pharaoh's court, where he
was distinguished with peculiar honours, and advanced above them. Of Christ his
antitype, see Hebrews 7:26.
Genesis 49:27. 27 “Benjamin
is a ravenous wolf; In the morning he shall devour the prey, And at night he
shall divide the spoil.”
YLT 27Benjamin! a wolf teareth; In the morning he
eateth prey, And at evening he apportioneth spoil.'
Benjamin shall
ravin as a wolf,....
All the three Targums
apply this prophecy to the priests offering the daily sacrifice, morning and
evening, in the temple, which stood in the lot of Benjamin, and dividing what
was left, and eating it. But it respects the tribe itself, compared to a wolf
for its fortitude, courage, and valour, as well as for its rapaciousness, it
being a warlike tribe; and the Jewish writersF17Targum Jon. Aben
Ezra & Gersom, in loc. say, that it is compared to a wolf, because of its
strength. Wolves, said to be devoted to Mars, are called "martial"
wolves by VirgilF18Virgil. Aeneid. 9. and HoraceF19Horat.
Carmin. l. 1. Ode. 17. ; and we have an early instance of the valour and
success of this tribe in a war waged with all the other tribes, and in two
pitched battles, in one with 26,000 men it beat 400,000, Judges 20:15, and
if this tribe is compared to a wolf for rapaciousness, this may be illustrated
by the remainder of those, after the loss of a third battle, catching and
carrying away the daughters of Shiloh, and making them their wives, Judges 21:23. Some
apply this to particular persons of this tribe, as to Saul the first king of
Israel, who was of Benjamin; and who as soon as he took the kingdom of Israel,
in the morning, in the beginning of that state, fought against all his enemies
on every side, against Moab, Ammon, Edom, the kings of Zobah, and the
Philistines, and the Amalekites, 1 Samuel 14:47 and
to Mordecai and Esther, who were of the same tribe, who after the captivity,
and in the evening of that state, divided the spoil of Haman, Esther 8:1 this is
observed by Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and Ben Gersom. Some of the Christian fathers
have applied the prophecy to the Apostle Paul, who was of the tribe of
Benjamin; who in the morning of his youth was a fierce and ravenous persecutor,
and made havoc of the church of God: and in the evening, or latter part of his
life, spent his days in dividing the spoil of Satan among the Gentiles, taking
the prey out of his hands, turning men from the power of Satan unto God, and
distributed food to the souls of men. In a spiritual sense he was a warlike
man, a good soldier of Christ, and accoutred as such, had a warfare to
accomplish, and enemies to fight with; and did fight the good fight of faith,
conquered, and was more than a conqueror through Christ, and is now crowned:
and why may it not be applied to Christ himself, seeing the blessing of
Benjamin by Moses, Deuteronomy 33:12
seems to belong to him? he is God's Benjamin, the son and man of his right
hand, as dear to him as his right hand, in whom his power has been displayed,
and who is exalted at his right hand; and may as well be compared to a wolf as
to a lion, as he is the lion of the tribe of Judah, and as God himself is
compared to a lion and bear, Hosea 13:7 and who
is expressly said to divide the spoil with the strong, Isaiah 53:12
spoiled principalities and powers, delivered his people as a prey out of the
hands of the mighty, and will make an utter destruction of all his and their
enemies. Some of these things were done in the morning of the Gospel
dispensation, and others will be done in the evening of it, Colossians 2:15.
Genesis 49:28. 28 All
these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their
father spoke to them. And he blessed them; he blessed each one according to his
own blessing.
YLT 28All these [are] the twelve tribes of Israel,
and this [is] that which their father hath spoken unto them, and he blesseth
them; each according to his blessing he hath blessed them.
All these are
the twelve tribes of Israel,....
The twelve sons of Jacob
before mentioned were heads of twelve tribes, who were afterwards seated, and
had their part in the land of Canaan; there were indeed thirteen tribes, two
springing from Joseph; but then the tribe of Levi had no part in the land of
Canaan, which was divided into twelve parts; this shows that the above
predictions respect not the persons of the patriarchs, but their tribes:
and this is
it that their father spake unto them, and blessed them:
the above is the sum and
substance of what he had delivered in his patriarchal benediction of them, a
little before his death; and though some of them, as Reuben, Simeon, and Levi,
may seem rather to be cursed than blessed, yet the greater part of them were
clearly and manifestly blessed; and what he said by way of correction and
rebuke to the others, might be blessed to them for their good; nor is it
improbable, that after he had delivered out the above predictions, he might
wish for and implore a blessing on them all; and certain it is, that they all
had a part in the blessing of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as it related to the
land of Canaan:
everyone
according to his blessing he blessed them;
according to the blessing
which was appointed to them of God, and was in later times bestowed on them,
Jacob under a spirit of prophecy was directed to bless them with, or to
foretell what blessings should come upon them, and which accordingly did.
Genesis 49:29. 29 Then
he charged 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,
YLT 29And he commandeth them, and saith unto them,
`I am being gathered unto my people; bury me by my fathers, at the cave which
[is] in the field of Ephron the Hittite;
And he charged
them, and said unto them,....
The same charge he had
given to Joseph he here renews, and lays it upon his sons, who were everyone of
them to go along with Joseph to bury him in Canaan:
I am to
be gathered unto my people;
the people of God, the
spirits of just men made perfect, the souls of all the saints who before this
time had departed this life, and were in a state of happiness and bliss; called
his people, because he and they were of the same mystical body the church,
belonged to the same general assembly, and church of the firstborn; the company
of God's elect, who were in the same covenant of grace, and partakers of the
same blessings and promises of grace: this shows that the souls of men are
immortal; that there is a future state after death, which is a state of
happiness, and into which saints immediately enter as soon as they die, and
where Jacob expected to be in a short time:
bury me with my
fathers;
the other part of himself,
his body, which should not be gathered to his people, as his soul would be, he
orders to be interred with his fathers Abraham and Isaac:
in the cave
that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite;
which is more particularly
described in the following verse, being the place of his father's sepulchre.
Genesis 49:30. 30 in
the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre
in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the
Hittite as a possession for a burial place.
YLT 30in the cave which [is] in the field of Machpelah,
which [is] on the front of Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought
with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a burying-place;
In the cave
that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan,....
This is so exactly
described, that there might be no mistake about the place, see Genesis 23:17,
which Abraham
bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite, for a possession of a burying
place;
this is observed if any of
the successors of Ephron, or any of the Hittites, should lay any claim unto it,
or dispute the right of Jacob's sons to bury him there.
Genesis 49:31. 31 There they buried Abraham
and Sarah his wife, there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I
buried Leah.
YLT 31(there they buried Abraham and Sarah his
wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah);
There they
buried Abraham and Sarah his wife,....
Abraham buried Sarah there
himself, and his two sons, Isaac and Ishmael, buried him there:
there they
buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife;
we have no other account
of the death of Rebekah, and her burial, but here; it is probable she died
before Isaac, and that Isaac buried her in this cave; and here Esau and Jacob
buried him:
and there I
buried Leah;
of whose death and burial
we also read nowhere else but here; it is probable she died before Isaac, and
that Isaac buried her in this cave; and here Esau and Jacob buried him:
Genesis 49:32. 32 The
field and the cave that is there were purchased from the sons of
Heth.”
YLT 32the purchase of the field and of the cave
which [is] in it, [is] from Sons of Heth.'
The purchase of
the field, and of the cave that is there, was from the children of Heth.
Which is repeated for the
certainty of it, and that it might be taken notice of, that both the field and
cave were bought by Abraham of Ephron the Hittite, and that the children of
Heth were witnesses of the bargain, and of the payment of the money, and by
whom the estate was made sure to Abraham; all which might be urged, if any
controversy should arise about it; see Genesis 23:16
Genesis 49:33. 33 And
when Jacob had finished commanding his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed
and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.
YLT 33And Jacob finisheth commanding his sons, and
gathereth up his feet unto the bed, and expireth, and is gathered unto his
people.
And when Jacob
had made an end of commanding his sons,....
Had given all the proper
directions and instructions concerning his interment in the land of Canaan: he
gathered up his feet into the bed; on which he sat while he blessed his sons,
and gave orders to them about his burial; but now he gathered up his feet into
the bed, laid himself along, and composed himself in a proper posture to die.
What authority the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem on Genesis 49:21 had
for saying this bed was a bed of gold, I know not:
and he yielded
up the ghost;
he expired, he died an easy
death, without any pain or sickness: which Ben Melech says this phrase is
expressive of. He died in the year of his age one hundred and forty seven, and
not one hundred and forty four, as a Jewish chronologerF20Ganz.
Tzemach David, par. 1. fol. 6. 2. wrongly puts it, and in the year of the world
2315, and before Christ 1689, according to Bishop UsherF21Annales
Vet. Test. A. M. 2315. : and was gathered unto his people:
See Gill on Genesis 49:29.
──《John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible》