Jacob Prophesies Over His Sons – Genesis 49

The words spoken by Jacob are characterized in two ways.  Jacob says they are “what shall happen” to his sons in the days to come, that is, in the distant future.  Moses characterizes them as a “blessing.”  What feels strange about that is blessing, to us, is normally positive, whereas Jacob’s words for his sons are not always positive.

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

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

[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!

[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.

[8] “Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down before you.  [9] Judah is a lion’s cub; 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.  [11] Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, 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.

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

[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.

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

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

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

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

[22] “Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring; his branches run over the wall.  [23] The archers bitterly attacked him, shot at him, and harassed him severely, [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.  [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.

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

[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. [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. (ESV)

REUBEN: Reuben was Jacob’s firstborn who therefore possesses Jacob’s might and the firstfruits of his strength.  He says Reuben is preeminent in dignity and power, but removes the firstborn blessing from him because of his transgression of sleeping with one of Jacob’s wives (see 35:22).

SIMEON and LEVI:  Likewise, Simeon and Levi, who led the slaughter of the men of Shechem for raping their sister, are cursed for their anger and violence, and a seeming punishment is meted out to them that they will be scattered throughout the land Israel is going to, Canaan.  Simeon did have a strange possession in the land, actually within the borders of Judah, and Levi was not given land but scattered throughout Israel in cities where as the priestly caste they ministered in all those places.

JUDAH:  This is the first fully positive “blessing.”  As Walton notes, “Here the focus turns away from the past to the future. At the same time, the blessing now adopts the use of animal metaphors, which become characteristic of many of the remaining sayings. This is the only saying that appears to carry relevance that extends beyond the land divisions that occur in the period of Joshua and Judges.”  Whereas Jacob’s sons bowed down to Joseph in the present, in the future they will bow to Judah.  Judah will become the leader of Israel, taking a kingly role, which we see fulfilled in king David and the dynasty that came from him, and ultimately in his greatest son, Jesus.  Walton argues that this passage should be translated, “the scepter will be held ‘so firmly that (ʿad-ki), at last, tribute will come to him.'”  This is messianic prediction.

ZEBULON:  Zebulon was actually born after Issachar (see 30:17), so it is unusual that Jacob mentions him first.  He will dwell by the shore and be involved in shipping near Sidon.  In the allotment given by Joshua (Joshua 19:10-16), Zebulon did not have a territory extending to the Mediterranean Sea, so did Jacob’s prediction not come true, or do we just misunderstand his prediction?

ISSACHAR:  The ESV Study Bible says, “Although Jacob’s blessing of Issachar emphasizes the strength of his descendants, it also indicates that like a donkey they will be forced to work for others.”

DAN:  His name means judge and he will judge his people but also be a viper who bites the “horse’s heels so that his rider falls backwards,” and Jacob prays for Yahweh’s salvation.  Is he saying Dan will not survive without divine help (ESV Study Bible), or does this remind him of Genesis 3:15 and the promise of deliverance through the seed of the woman (NIV Grace and Truth Study Bible), or does Jacob see Dan as leading Israel into idolatry and Israel needing Yahweh’s salvation because of that (Godskingdom.org)?

GAD, ASHER, NAPHTALI:  Gad will become skillful warriors, Asher and Naphtali will become prosperous and reproductive.

JOSEPH:  Jacob’s favorite son will become prosperous despite bitter attack.  An alternative translation that drops the plant metaphor for an animal metaphor is, “A young bullcalf is Joseph, A young bullcalf next to a well, In the meadow he will stride towards the Bull, And he will make him strong so they will become numerous.  And if archers should harass him,  His bow will remain stable, And the arms of his hands become nimble, By the hands of the Strong One of Jacob, By the name of the Shepherd of Israel’s stone, By El, your father, who will help you, And by Shaddai, who will bless you, With the blessings of the Heavens above, Blessings of the Flood, resting below, Blessings of breasts and womb.  The blessings of your Father prevail, Over the blessings of the eternal mountains, The longings of the everlasting hills.  May they be on the head of Joseph, And on the skull of one set apart of his brothers.” (De Hoop as quoted by Walton)

BENJAMIN:  Benjamin will be aggressive warriors.

It is not hard to imagine how the various brothers would have felt about these “blessings,” some receiving wonderful promises, others more a curse, and still others very little by way of blessing at all.  Perhaps there is an example for how all of us have felt blessed or cursed by our families.

After this, Jacob commands his sons to bury him where Sarah, Rebekah and Leah were buried, the cave in Machpelah in Canaan, the plot purchased by Abraham.  This serves strongly to tie Israel’s future to Canaan.  Jacob then dies after finishing this family business.  Four hundred years will pass before Israel goes to Canaan again.