1 “And Jacob called unto his sons, and said: Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the latter days. 2 “Assemble yourselves, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; And hearken unto Israel your father. 3 Reuben, thou art my first-born, my might, and the beginning of my strength; The excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power. 4 Unstable as water, thou shalt not have the excellency; Because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; Then defiledst thou it; he went up to my couch. 5 Simeon and Levi are brethren; Weapons of violence are their swords. 6 O my soul, come not thou into their council; Unto their assembly, my glory, be not thou united; For in their anger they slew a man, And in their self-will they houghed an ox. 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. 8 Judah, thee shall thy brethren praise; Thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies; Thy father’s sons shall bow down before thee. 9 Judah is a lion’s whelp; From the prey, my son, thou art gone up; He stooped down, he couched as a lion; And as a lioness; who shall rouse him up? 10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh come; And unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be. 11 Binding his foal unto the vine, And his ass’ colt unto the choice vine; He hath washed his garments in wine, And his vesture in the blood of grapes; 12 His eyes shall be red with wine, And his teeth white with milk. 13 Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; And he shall be for an haven of ships; And his border shall be upon Zidon. 14 Issachar is a strong ass, Couching down between the sheepfolds; 15 And he saw a resting-place that it was good, And the land that it was pleasant; And he bowed his shoulder to bear, And became a servant under task-work. 16 Dan shall judge his people, As one of the tribes of Israel. 17 Dan shall be a serpent in the way, An adder in the path, That biteth the horse’s heels, So that his rider falleth backward. 18 I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord. 19 Gad, a troop shall press upon him; But he shall press upon their heel. 20 Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, And he shall yield royal dainties. 21 Naphtali is a hind let loose; He giveth goodly words. 22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, A fruitful bough by a fountain; His branches run over the wall. 23 The archers have sorely grieved him, And shot at him, and persecuted him; 24 But his bow abode in strength, And the arms of his hands were made strong, By the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob (From thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel), 25 Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee, And by the Almighty, who shall bless thee, With blessings of heaven above, Blessings of the deep that coucheth beneath, Blessings of the breasts, and of the womb. 26 The blessings of thy father Have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors Unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills; They shall be on the head of Joseph, And on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren. 27 Benjamin is a wolf that raveneth; In the morning he shall devour the prey, And at even he shall divide the spoil. 28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel; and this is it that their father spake unto them and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them. 29 And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field 30 of Ephron the Hittite, 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 from Ephron the Hittite for a 31 possession of a burying-place; there they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; 32 and there I buried Leah; the field and the cave that is therein, 33 which was purchased from the children of Heth. And when Jacob made an end of charging his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.”11
Suggestive Questions.
(1) For what purpose did Jacob now call his sons together? Gen. 49:1, 2. (2) What did he say Reuben ought to be? V. 3. Why could he not hold this position? V. 4. (3) What close union existed between Simeon and Levi? With what curse did he reprove them and forewarn their tribe? What was to be their future? Vs. 5–7. (4) What was to be Judah’s position among his brethren? By what fitting symbol was his tribe represented? How was he made the central figure? Vs. 8–12. Who was Shiloh? See marginal readings of verse 10, R.V.; Rev. 5:5; Heb. 7:14. (5) What was the prophecy concerning Zebulun? V. 13. (6) What did Jacob say of the future of Issachar? Vs. 14, 15. (7) What did he say Dan should be? In what did Dan’s success consist? Vs. 16–18. (8) What shows the endurance of Gad? V. 19. (9) How was Asher to flourish? V. 20. (10) What was the character of the tribe of which Naphtali was the father? V. 21. (11) By what appropriate figures and lofty expressions does Jacob foretell Joseph’s prosperity, his strength, his help, and his blessings? Vs. 22–26. (12) By what symbol did he represent the future of Benjamin? V. 27. (13) What was this that Jacob’s prophetic eye had so clearly seen and so vividly described? In harmony with what was his blessing? V. 28. (14) How did Jacob now show his “pilgrim and stranger” spirit? Vs. 29–32. (15) His last inspired life duty having now been performed, what was the closing scene? V. 33. (16) Carefully read the fiftieth chapter of Genesis.
Suggestive Readings.—“Patriarchs and Prophets,” pages 235–240.
Note.
Make a careful study of the fulfilment of this last prophecy of Jacob in the future history of the several tribes. Meyer says: “Reuben, tho the first-born, never excelled; no judge, prophet, or ruler sprang from his tribe. Simeon was almost absorbed in the nomad tribes of Southern Palestine. The cities in which the sons of Levi dwelt were scattered throughout all the tribes. Vestiges of terraced vineyards still attest how well the hilly province assigned to Judah suited the culture of the vine. Zebulun embosomed the Lake of Galilee, and stretched away toward the coast of the blue Mediterranean. Esdraelon, the battle-field of Palestine, where Assyria from the North and Egypt from the South often met in deadly feud, lay within the limits of Issachar. Dan was small as an adder, but, like it, could inflict dangerous wounds on any invader who had to pass by it towards the heart of the country. Gad, much pressed by border war. Asher, notable for fertility. Naphtali, famous for eloquence. Benjamin, cruel as a wolf. All these justified the prophecy of their dying ancestor, whilst the mighty tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, springing from the sons of Joseph, inherited to the full ‘blessings of heaven above; blessings of the deep that lieth under; blessings of the breasts, and of the womb; blessings to the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills.’ Jacob’s ‘paternal tenderness would have found expression only in words of encouragement and hope; but the power of God rested upon him, and under the influence of inspiration, he was constrained to declare the truth, however painful.’—Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 237.
Additional Study.
(1) Make an outline of this chapter. (2) Read Deuteronomy 33, and compare with this chapter. (3) Look up the character of the several symbols mentioned in Jacob’s dying prophecy, and observe their appropriateness in each instance. (4) In the study of the prophecy concerning Judah, note what is the only royalty of worth in the sight of God, and what the only law. Observe that at the close of Solomon’s reign, his kingdom was divided into Israel, or Ephraim, and Judah, but that at the time of Christ, Ephraim was absorbed in Judah, and thus the sceptre did not depart from Judah till Shiloh came. See Hosea 4:17; Ps. 78:67–69. (5) Why are the faults and follies of Bible characters recorded, as well as their virtues and victories? Has this fact been of any help to you? What? (6) Note how the prophetic spirit was preserved during the history of God’s people up to this point in the lives of Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. The study of this early history and prophecy stood first in the schools of the prophets as well as in the lives of the prophets themselves. Adam and Eve continually saw the seed of the woman; Abel looked to the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world, Enoch beheld the Lord coming with ten thousand of His saints; Noah was enraptured with the rainbow glory about the throne; Abraham saw the Father and the Son in the completion of the great mediatorial plan and the ratification of the everlasting covenant; Isaac witnessed the results of that plan and that ratified covenant, “On earth peace, good-will toward men;” Jacob saw the ministration of angels, Christ the way, God over all; Joseph had a view of the final coronation—Christ enthroned in glory.
