Genesischapter 49
33 verses · Moses, by tradition · 15th to 13th century BC · The Law
The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and the allegiance of the nations is his.
Introduction
Moses, by tradition, The Law, Genesis Overview.
These are Jacob's last words, and they are set as poetry, the only long poem in Genesis. A dying father speaks to each of his twelve sons in turn, and the sons stand for the tribes that will come from them. Israel heard these lines as a people about to receive their land. Listen for how the sins of the older sons are remembered, and for the one son given the scepter. Some lines are hard in the Hebrew and have been read in more than one way. Read them slowly, as words meant to reach far ahead.
Context
- Who
- Israel in the wilderness, twelve tribes about to be given the territories described here
- What
- A poem of Jacob's last words over his twelve sons, one saying for each, followed by his charge about his burial and his death.
- Where
- Jacob's deathbed in Egypt, with his twelve sons gathered around him.
- When
- The day of Jacob's death, about 1859 BC on the traditional chronology.
- Why
- To set out the future of the tribes and to give the rule among the brothers to Judah.
Historical context
The chapter is Jacob's own speech, and it is the only sustained poem in the book of Genesis. The time is the day of his death in Egypt, and the place is the same bedside as chapter 48.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
The occasion is a blessing pronounced over assembled heirs, which was the closing act of the head of a household. An ancient audience expected those last words to allot standing as well as to bless. K. A. Kitchen and Keil and Delitzsch treat the poem as archaic verse, dense enough that several of its lines have been argued over ever since.
The allotments track the later map closely. Zebulun stands toward the coast and Sidon, and Issachar bends his shoulder on a pleasant plain, which is the history of the Jezreel valley. Judah has the lion, the scepter and the vine, in the hill country that fed Jerusalem.
The first three sons are set aside in order and told why, Reuben for his father's bed at 35:22 and Simeon and Levi for the slaughter at Shechem in chapter 34. Judah, the fourth, receives the rule.
Significance
A nation about to draw lots for territory heard the shape of the map spoken over its ancestors centuries before the survey.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The line about the scepter staying with Judah until Shiloh comes, however its hard Hebrew is read, kept Israel watching one tribe's line for a king who had not arrived.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
How it is read
This is the chapter of the half where the corpus holds the least English and the most citation. Rashi comments at twenty-three places, one for almost every tribe, and the corpus holds no English of any of them under a licence permitting quotation, so his whole commentary on the blessings stands here as reference: Rashi on Genesis 49:1:1, 49:3:1, 49:4:1, 49:5:1, 49:6:1, 49:7:1, 49:8:1, 49:9:1, 49:10:1, 49:11:1, 49:12:1, 49:13:1, 49:14:1, 49:15:1, 49:16:1, 49:17:1, 49:18:1, 49:19:1, 49:20:1, 49:21:1, 49:22:1, 49:23:1 and 49:24:1. One comment carries English. Radak reads the call to gather as the formal opening of prophecy rather than of a family conversation: "this was the introduction to his prophetic utterances", and he sets it beside the opening line of Moses' parting song in Deuteronomy as the same kind of address (Radak on Genesis 49:2:1, translated by Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash, CC-BY).
What the rabbis say
The corpus records forty rabbinic locators on this chapter, thirty-two of them Midrash and eight Talmud, and the Talmud count is the second highest in this half of the book, which is what a chapter of blessings on the twelve tribes draws. Bamidbar Rabbah carries the tribal readings and is cited eleven times, at 6:2, 10:2, 10:5, 13:4, 13:8, 13:15, 13:17, 14:5, 14:6, 14:11 and 18:5, one or more for most of the sons in turn. Aggadat Bereshit is cited at 3:1, 37:2, 49:3, 56:1, 62:4, 73:2, 81:2 and 83:1, and Bereshit Rabbah at 80:10, 87:6, 98:3, 98:5, 98:15, 98:17 and 100:1, the last at Jacob's charge about his burial. Bereshit Rabbati stands at Parashat Vayechi 29, Midrash Aggadah at Genesis 49:30:1 and at Numbers 1:12:1, Midrash Sekhel Tov at Bereshit 49:32:1, Devarim Rabbah at 2:35, and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition) at Shabbat 20:4. The eight Talmud locators fall on the tribes whose blessings the rabbis read hardest and on Jacob's death: Avot DeRabbi Natan, Recension B 44:3 at Reuben, 37:1 and 44:1 at Simeon and Levi, Avodah Zarah 25a:12 at Judah, Berakhot 57a:6 at the vine and the wine, Bava Kamma 17a:10 at Issachar, and Avot DeRabbi Natan 36:3 and 11:1 at the burial charge and at the gathering to his people.
Sources: Radak, Radak on Genesis 49:2:1, translated by Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash, CC-BY; Rashi, Rashi on Genesis 49:1:1, 49:3:1, 49:4:1, 49:5:1, 49:6:1, 49:7:1, 49:8:1, 49:9:1, 49:10:1, 49:11:1, 49:12:1, 49:13:1, 49:14:1, 49:15:1, 49:16:1, 49:17:1, 49:18:1, 49:19:1, 49:20:1, 49:21:1, 49:22:1, 49:23:1 and 49:24:1, cited only, no English version in the corpus under a licence permitting quotation; Midrash, Bamidbar Rabbah 6:2, 10:2, 10:5, 13:4, 13:8, 13:15, 13:17, 14:5, 14:6, 14:11 and 18:5; Aggadat Bereshit 3:1, 37:2, 49:3, 56:1, 62:4, 73:2, 81:2 and 83:1; Bereshit Rabbah 80:10, 87:6, 98:3, 98:5, 98:15, 98:17 and 100:1; Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayechi 29; Midrash Aggadah, Genesis 49:30:1 and Numbers 1:12:1; Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 49:32:1; Devarim Rabbah 2:35; Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Shabbat 20:4; Babylonian Talmud, Avodah Zarah 25a:12, Berakhot 57a:6, Bava Kamma 17a:10; Avot DeRabbi Natan, Avot DeRabbi Natan 11:1 and 36:3; Avot DeRabbi Natan, Recension B 37:1, 44:1 and 44:3.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Reuben, Simeon, and Levi
Genesis 49:1-2
in the days to come: Jacob calls the twelve together to tell them what will happen in the days to come. The Hebrew is acharit hayyamim, the far end of the days, and this is its first place in Scripture. What follows is the longest speech in Genesis, poetry from verse 2 to verse 27. Each saying reaches past the man to his tribe.
Genesis 49:1
“After this blessing was celebrated, he also called his sons (Gen. XLIX, 1). And the one who had preferred the younger to the elder began with the first, so that he might bestow favor upon him in that mystery, and observe the order of age in this.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · THE PATRIARCHS 2.6patristic
listen to your father Israel: The line is Hebrew poetry, two halves that say one thing twice. Jacob and Israel stand in parallel, the name of the man born grasping a heel and the name God gave him at Peniel in 32:28. Both names speak here.
Genesis 49:2
“See the good man's shrewdness. Since he foresaw the moment of his death, he summoned his sons and said, "Gather around so that I may predict ahead of time what is in store for you at the end of your days. Come together, and listen to Israel your father." Come along, he says, and learn from me, not the immediate future but what will happen in the last days. This I foretell to you not of myself but under the inspiration of the Spirit; hence I predict ahead of time what will occur after many generations.”
John Chrysostom · written before 407 · HOMILIES ON GENESIS 67.4-5patristic
Genesis 49:3-4
you are my firstborn, my might: Reuben is handed every title of the firstborn, his father's might and the beginning of his strength. He loses it in the next line, uncontrolled as the waters, and will excel no longer. The verse names the reason, his father's bed and couch, defiled at Genesis 35:22. The account is settled at the end of Jacob's life.
Genesis 49:3
“Reuben thou art my first-born - Jacob here puts upon him the ornaments of the birth-right, that he and all his brethren might see what he had forfeited and in that might see the evil of his sin. As the first-born he was his father's joy, being the beginning of his strength.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Genesis 49:3
“Reuben as the first-born had a right to a double portion of all that the father had; see Deu 21:17 The eminence or dignity mentioned here may refer to the priesthood; the power, to the regal government or kingdom - In this sense it has been understood by all the ancient Targumists.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Genesis 49:3
“How welcome he was to his parents his name bespeaks, Reuben, See a son. To him belonged the excellency of dignity above his brethren, and some power over them. Christ Jesus is the firstborn among many brethren, and to him, of right, belong the most excellent power and dignity: his church also, through him, is a church of firstborn.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Uncontrolled as the waters: Uncontrolled translates pachaz, the word Zephaniah 3:4 uses for reckless prophets. Water that boils over cannot be held in one place. No judge, prophet or king in Scripture comes from the tribe of Reuben.
Genesis 49:4
“Pouring out like the waters - This is an obscure sentence because unfinished. It evidently relates to the defilement of his father’s couch; and the word פחז pachaz, here translated pouring out, and in our Version unstable, has a bad meaning in other places of the Scripture, being applied to dissolute, debauched, and licentious conduct.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Genesis 49:4
“Jacob charges him particularly with the sin for which he was disgraced, thou wentest up to thy father's bed - It was forty years ago that he had been guilty of this sin, yet now it is remembered against him. Reuben's sin left an indelible mark of infamy upon his family; a wound not to be healed without a scar.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Genesis 49:5-7
Simeon and Levi are brothers: Simeon and Levi are taken together for what they did at Shechem in Genesis 34. Their swords are called weapons of violence, and the curse falls on their anger and their wrath. The sentence on both is to be dispersed in Jacob and scattered in Israel. Joshua 21 gives Levi towns among every tribe.
Genesis 49:5
“Simeon and Levi are brethren - Not only springing from the same parents, but they have the same kind or disposition, head-strong, deceitful, vindictive, and cruel. They have accomplished, etc. - Our margin has it, Their swords are weapons of violence, i. e., Their swords, which they should have used in defense of their persons or the honorable protection of their families, they have employed in the base and dastardly murder of an innocent people.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Genesis 49:5
“For the brothers supplied the reasons for their own misfortune when they claimed to their father that they, although young in years, were vindicators and avengers of a wrong done to the sense of respect and of a violation of chastity. Surely the holy Jacob could not have condemned the fact that they did not permit their sister to be unavenged, in the position of a harlot, who had lost her virginity and did not have the consolation of a vindication.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · On the Blessings of the Patriarchspatristic
hamstring oxen on a whim: Council translates sod, the circle of trusted talk, and Jacob refuses any place in the council of Simeon and Levi. At 34:28 the brothers carry off the flocks and herds of Shechem. The hamstrung oxen add a cruel act, done in anger, that chapter 34 leaves out.
Genesis 49:6
“Into their secret council, etc. - Jacob here exculpates himself from all participation in the guilt of Simeon and Levi in the murder of the Shechemites. He most solemnly declares that he knew nothing of the confederacy by which it was executed, nor of the secret council in which it was plotted.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Cursed be their anger: The curse falls on the anger and the wrath, and the two brothers go uncursed. Simeon's lot lay inside Judah's territory at Joshua 19:1 and 19:9. Levi's scattering became the priestly service that began at Exodus 32:26 to 29.
Genesis 49:7
“Cursed be their anger - Not their persons. We ought always in the expressions of our zeal carefully to distinguish between the sinner and the sin, so as not to love or bless the sin for the sake of the person, nor to hate or curse the person for the sake of the sin.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
The Scepter Shall Not Leave Judah
Genesis 49:8-9
your brothers shall praise you: Judah is the fourth son, and the first three have just been set aside. The bowing his father's sons will do is the bowing of Joseph's dream at Genesis 37:7. Judah proposed the sale at Genesis 37:26 and offered himself for Benjamin at 44:33. Revelation 5:5 calls Christ the Lion of the tribe of Judah.
Genesis 49:8
“Judah's name signifies praise, in allusion to which he saith, Thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise, God was praised for him, chap. xxix, 35, praised by him, and praised in him; and therefore his brethren shall praise him. Thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies - This was fulfilled in David, Psalm xviii, 40.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Genesis 49:8
“This text appears to be directed to the patriarch Judah, indeed, but more so that later Judah is meant, the true confessor who was born of that tribe and who alone is praised by his brothers; of them he says, "I will declare your name to my brothers." He is the Lord by nature but a brother by grace; his hands, which he stretched out to an unbelieving people, are on the back of his enemies.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · On the Blessings of the Patriarchspatristic
Genesis 49:8
THESE words were spoken by the Patriarch Jacob when he blessed his sons as he lay a-dying. But before he finished Judah's blessing, the good old man seemed to forget his son and to turn his thoughts to Jesus, our Lord, of whom Judah was a very significant type. Jacob compared Judah to a lion and a lion's whelp—and in the Revelation we read that one of the elders said to John, "The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the book, and to loosen the seven seals thereof."
Charles Spurgeon · written before 1892 · The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3296: “Praise for Jesus” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular Baptist
you return from the prey: Prey translates teref, from the root of 37:33, where Jacob cried that Joseph had been torn to pieces. The lion grows across the line, a cub, then a lion at rest, then a lioness no one dares to rouse. Numbers 24:9 gives Balaam the same picture for all Israel.
Genesis 49:9
Therefore you have become acquainted with the incarnation; learn of the passion. "Resting, you have slept like a lion." When Christ lay at rest in the tomb, it was as if he were in a kind of bodily sleep, as he himself says, "I have slept and have taken my rest and have risen up, because the Lord will sustain me."
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · On the Blessings of the Patriarchspatristic
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Genesis 49:9
“By this it is foretold that the tribe of Judah should become very formidable, and should not only obtain great victories but should peaceably enjoy what was got by those victories. Judah is compared not to a lion rampant, always raging but to a lion couching, enjoying the satisfaction of his success, without creating vexation to others.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
The scepter will not depart from Judah: The scepter is the rod of rule, and the staff between his feet is the mechoqeq, the ruler's staff of the one who decrees. John Gill and Adam Clarke take Shiloh as a title of the Messiah, the anointed king of Judah's line. A second reading follows the Hebrew as until he comes to whom it belongs, the sense of Ezekiel 21:27, and a third names the town where the tabernacle stood. Each reading sets a term on Judah's rule.
Genesis 49:10
“The scepter shall not depart from Judah till Shiloh come - Jacob here foretels, (1.) That the scepter should come into the tribe of Judah, which was fulfilled in David, on whose family the crown was entailed.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Genesis 49:10
“This passage clearly refers to Judah. It appears that until the birth of Christ there was no lack of princes from the family of Judah or of heads from its sides, until Herod came, who according to the history written by Josephus was a foreigner and usurped the throne of Judea through his plots. As soon as this happened and a head from the sides of Judah was lacking, the one to whom the kingdom had been reserved immediately came.”
Tyrannius Rufinus · written before 411 · THE BLESSINGS OF THE PATRIARCHS 1.7patristic
Genesis 49:10
“THE dying Patriarch was speaking of his own son, Judah, but while speaking of Judah, he had a special eye to our Lord, who sprang from the tribe of Judah. Everything, therefore, which he says of Judah, the type, he means with regard to our greater Judah, the Antitype, our Lord Jesus Christ. You will remember how Jacob gathered his 12 sons around his bed and, addressing them individually as representatives of the 12 tribes that bear their names, uttered different predictions, and gave to each a special blessing.”
ConnectionsNumbers 24:17, Revelation 5:5, seed
Genesis 49:11-12
He ties his donkey to the vine: The picture is a land so thick with vines that a man ties his donkey to one. Wine is common enough to wash clothes in. Isaiah 63:1 to 3 sets a figure in garments stained red from a winepress. Zechariah 9:9 brings the king to Jerusalem on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Genesis 49:11
“Let us be bound with bonds of a faith that is like a fruitful branch and cannot be undone, as it were, to that everlasting vine, that is, to the Lord Jesus, who says, "I am the vine; my Father is the gardener." This explains the mystery that the Lord Jesus in the Gospel ordered an ass's colt to be loosed and himself sat upon it; thus, like one that was bound to a vine, he could find rest in the everlasting goodness of the saints.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · On the Blessings of the Patriarchspatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Genesis 49:11
“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.”
darker than wine: The Hebrew can be read darker than wine or dark from wine, and whiter than milk or white from milk. Either way the picture is plenty. Judah's land is rich in vineyards and in flocks.
Genesis 49:12
“And therefore the prophet says, "His eyes are joyful from wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk," for he means the prophets and the apostles. For some, like eyes of Christ, have foreseen and announced his coming, and of them Christ himself says, "Abraham saw my day and he rejoiced," and one of the prophets says, "I saw the Lord of hosts." Seeing him, they were filled with a spiritual joy. Others, however, that is, the apostles, whom the Lord cleansed from every stain of sin, were made whiter than milk, for no blemish darkened them afterward.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · On the Blessings of the Patriarchspatristic
2 more voices on this verse
Genesis 49:12
"Eyes" then, the prophets have been the eyes of Christ when they rejoiced in the power of the Spirit, and announced in advance the sufferings which had to rush upon him and which were useful for the generations after him to understand that every person can be saved. Through the words "His teeth (ARE) whiter than milk" he signified either the apostles sanctified by the Word himself and become like milk, the apostles who have provided us with the spiritual and heavenly nourishment.
Hippolytus of Rome · written before 235 · ON THE BLESSINGS OF ISAAC AND JACOB 19patristic
Genesis 49:12
We have already discussed many times about the nature and quality of Christ's limbs, and it seems to be superfluous to repeat again the same things in this passage. So his teeth whiter than milk are those who can chew and grind with their teeth the strong and solid food of the Word of God to extreme fineness, those about whom the apostle in his epistle to the Hebrews says, "Solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish good from evil."
Tyrannius Rufinus · written before 411 · THE BLESSINGS OF THE PATRIARCHS 1.10patristic
From Zebulun Through Naphtali
Genesis 49:13-15
Zebulun shall dwell by the seashore: Zebulun gets the sea, a harbor for ships and a border reaching to Sidon. Issachar is a strong donkey that lies down between the sheepfolds. He finds his resting place good and his land pleasant, then bends his shoulder to the burden. Jacob is naming settled character, and Joshua's division of the land answers to it.
Genesis 49:13
“Zebulun’s lot or portion in the division of the Promised Land extended from the Mediterranean Sea on the west, to the lake of Gennesareth on the east; see his division, Jos 19:10, etc. The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel paraphrases the passage thus: “Zebulun shall be on the coasts of the sea, and he shall rule over the havens; he shall subdue the provinces of the sea with his, ships, and his border shall extend unto Sidon. 14. Issachar is a strong ass Couching between two burdens.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
lying down between the sheepfolds: Sheepfolds translates a rare Hebrew word. Judges 5:16 uses it when Reuben sits idle among the sheepfolds, and Issachar's land held the fertile valley of Jezreel at Joshua 19:18. A strong donkey is made for work and content at rest.
Genesis 49:14
“Issachar is a strong ass - חמר גרם chamor garem is properly a strong-limbed ass; couching between two burdens - bearing patiently, as most understand it, the fatigues of agriculture, and submitting to exorbitant taxes rather that exert themselves to drive out the old inhabitants. The two burdens literally mean the two sacks or panniers, one on each side of the animal’s body; and couching down between these refers to the well-known propensity of the ass, whenever wearied or overloaded, to lie down even with its burden on its back.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
submitted to labor as a servant: Labor as a servant renders mas oved, the forced labor laid on the Canaanites at Joshua 16:10 and on the peoples left in the land at 1 Kings 9:21. Issachar trades freedom for comfort. The good land costs him the yoke.
Genesis 49:15
“He saw that rest - The inland portion that was assigned to him between the other tribes. He inclined his shoulder to the load; the Chaldee paraphrase gives this a widely different turn to that given it by most commentators: “He saw his portion that it was good, and the land that it was fruitful; and he shall subdue the provinces of the people, and drive out their inhabitants, and those who are left shall be his servants, and his tributaries.” Grotius understands it nearly in the same way.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Genesis 49:16-18
Dan shall provide justice for his people: Dan is promised justice for his people, and Samson the Danite is the judge the history gives. The image then turns to a snake by the road and a viper in the path. Verse 18 breaks off the sayings: I await Your salvation, O LORD. That is the first time the word salvation stands in Scripture.
Genesis 49:16
“Dan shall judge - Dan, whose name signifies judgment, was the eldest of Jacob’s sons by Bilhah, Rachel’s maid, and he is here promised an equal rule with those tribes that sprang from either Leah or Rachel, the legal wives of Jacob. Some Jewish and some Christian writers understand this prophecy of Samson, who sprang from this tribe, and judged, or as the word might be translated avenged, the people of Israel twenty years. See Jdg 13:2; Jdg 15:20.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
a viper in the path: A small snake brings down a horse by striking low. Judges 18:27 shows the tribe taking Laish by surprise, a quiet people caught unguarded. Dan is also the tribe that set up a carved image at Judges 18:30.
Genesis 49:17
“Dan shall be a serpent - The original word is נחש nachash, and we have seen on Genesis 3 that this has a great variety of significations. It is probable that a serpent is here intended, but of what kind we know not; yet as the principal reference in the text is to guile, cunning, etc., the same creature may be intended as in Genesis 3. A cerastes upon the track - The word שפיפון shephiphon, which is nowhere else to be found in the Bible, is thus translated by the Vulgate, and Bochart approves of the translation.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
I await Your salvation: Salvation is yeshuah, from the root of the names Joshua and Jesus, which is Yeshua in Hebrew. The cry follows the snake of verse 17 and looks past it to God. Jacob waits on the LORD in the middle of the blessings.
Genesis 49:19-21
Gad will be attacked by raiders: Three short sayings run together, each on one image. Gad is raided and comes back at the raiders' heels, the picture of a border tribe. Asher's ground yields food rich enough for a king's table. Naphtali is a doe set free, and the closing words are read either as beautiful fawns or as fine speech.
Genesis 49:19
“Concerning Gad, he alludes to his name, which signifies a troop, foresees the character of that tribe, that it should be a warlike tribe; and so we find, 1Ch xii, 8, the Gadites were men of war fit for the battle.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Asher’s food will be rich: Asher means happy, the name Leah gave at 30:13. Moses' blessing at Deuteronomy 33:24 has him dip his foot in oil, and the tribe's land in western Galilee was olive country. His name and his lot agree.
Genesis 49:20
Here the prophet speaks obscurely either about the apostles, who had the duty to provide and distribute the bread of life, or about the Savior himself, since he foretells and let us know the bread descending from heaven, which is food and drink for the saints. In fact, Asher is interpreted as "richness," as he alone was so rich that he might satiate all those who came to him. And Christ also testified about himself by saying, "I am the bread that came down from heaven.
Hippolytus of Rome · written before 235 · ON THE BLESSINGS OF ISAAC AND JACOB 24patristic
3 more voices on this verse
Genesis 49:20
“Note, The God of nature has provided for us not only necessaries but dainties, that we might call him a bountiful benefactor; yet, whereas all places are competently furnished with necessaries, only some places afford dainties. Corn is more common than spices.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Genesis 49:20
“His bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties. The Latin interpretation of Aser signifies riches. Who then is rich, unless where the height of riches is wisdom and knowledge of God? Who is rich but the Lord Jesus, who always abounds, and never fails? The poor came into this world, and has abounded to all, and has filled all. How great is he in riches, who by his poverty has made all rich! But he became poor for our sake, being rich with the Father.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · On the Blessings of the Patriarchspatristic
Genesis 49:20
“Since Asher means "blessed," the bread of that one whom, after being recalled from error to penitence, we lead step by step to the present state of blessedness, after his conversion, after the spiritual knowledge, after the victory over temptations, is, to be sure, called "fat." He eats that bread "which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world," and that bread is fat for him.”
Tyrannius Rufinus · written before 411 · THE BLESSINGS OF THE PATRIARCHS 2.21patristic
Naphtali is a doe set free: Barak came from Kedesh in Naphtali at Judges 4:6, and the tribe risked its life on the heights at Judges 5:18. Isaiah 9:1 names the land of Naphtali among those that will see a great light. Matthew 4:13 to 15 places Jesus' ministry there.
Genesis 49:21
“The vine of Nephthalim is sent forth, stretching out its beauty in its branches. Another branch of the vine is pruned, which appears useless, so that the vine does not boast in vain in the exuberance of its branches; and another is cut back for a short time and then allowed to grow again, so that it may bear fruit, whose beauty is extended in its generation; for as it rises up to the heavens, it embraces the vine, and ascending to the summit, it adorns the precious stem of the vine with a perpetual collar.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · On the Blessings of the Patriarchspatristic
3 more voices on this verse
Genesis 49:21
“Naphtali is a hind let loose - Those of this tribe were, as the loosen'd hind, zealous for their liberty, and yet affable and courteous, their language refined, and they complaisant, giving goodly words. Among God's Israel there is to be found a great variety of dispositions, yet all contributing to the beauty and strength of the body.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Genesis 49:21
With regard to the third explanation, the interpretation of the name Naphtali is that indicated by his father when he blesses him, that is, "leafy tree" or "vine." There was that man of ours, who a bit earlier fed on fat bread and offered food to princes (that bread that comforts the heart of people8). Now, as a second phase, Christ, the true vine, has shown for him a splendid fruit through which he may now cheer with wine the heart that he had comforted before with bread.
Tyrannius Rufinus · written before 411 · THE BLESSINGS OF THE PATRIARCHS 2.24patristic
Genesis 49:21
"A spreading vine branch" signifies the people that are called to freedom through faith, so that all may bring fruits to God. In fact, the Savior was the spiritual vine, its branches and trunks are the saints who believe in him. Its bunches of grapes are the martyrs; the trunks of wood which are bound to vines indicate the passion. The grape pickers are the angels; the baskets where the fruits of the vine are gathered are the apostles. The winepress is the church; the wine is the power of the Holy Spirit.
Hippolytus of Rome · written before 235 · ON THE BLESSINGS OF ISAAC AND JACOB 25patristic
Joseph, a Fruitful Bough
Genesis 49:22-24
Joseph is a fruitful vine by a spring, with branches that scale the wall. The archers who attacked him are his brothers, Potiphar's house and the prison, told back in one line. His bow held steady, and the strength came from the Mighty One of Jacob. God is named the Shepherd and the Rock of Israel.
Genesis 49:22
“His two sons were as branches of a vine, or other spreading plant, running over the wall. Note, God can make those fruitful, great comforts to themselves and others, who have been looked upon as dry and withered. More is recorded in the history concerning Joseph than concerning any other of Jacob's sons; and therefore what Jacob says of him is historical as well as prophetical.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
Genesis 49:22
“The sum of a fruitful vine - This appears to me to refer to Jacob himself, who was blessed with such a numerous posterity that in two hundred and fifteen years after this his own descendants amounted to upwards of 600,000 effective men; and the figures here are intended to point out the continual growth and increase of his posterity. Jacob was a fruitful tree planted by a fountain, which because it was good would yield good fruit; and because it was planted near a fountain, from being continually watered, would be perpetually fruitful.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
they aimed at him in hostility: Hostility translates satam, the verb for Esau's grudge against Jacob at 27:41. The brothers fear the same grudge from Joseph at 50:15. The father names the hatred plainly and sets it under God's hand in the next verse.
Genesis 49:23
“The chief archers - בעלי חצים baaley chitstsim, the masters of arrows - Joseph’s brethren, who either used such weapons, while feeding their flocks in the deserts, for the protection of themselves and cattle, or for the purpose of hunting; and who probably excelled in archery. It may however refer to the bitter speeches and harsh words that they spoke to and of him, for they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him, Gen 37:4. Thus they sorely afflicted him, and were incessantly scolding or finding fault.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
the Mighty One of Jacob: is a title first used here, and Psalm 132:2 and Isaiah 49:26 take it up. Jacob had called God his shepherd a chapter earlier at 48:15. The man who kept Laban's flocks names God by the work he knew.
Genesis 49:24
“But his bow abode in strength - His faith did not fail; he kept his ground, and came off conqueror. The arms of his hands were made strong - That is, his other graces did their part, his wisdom, courage, patience, which are better than weapons of war: By the hands of the mighty God - Who was therefore able to strengthen him; and the God of Jacob, a God in covenant with him.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Genesis 49:24
“Herein Joseph was a type, [1.] Of Christ; he was shot at and hated, but borne up under his sufferings ( Isa. l. 7-9 ), and was afterwards advanced to be the shepherd and stone. [2.] Of the church in general, and particular believers; hell shoots its arrows against the saints, but Heaven protects and strengthens them, and will crown them. The promises of God to Joseph.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Genesis 49:25-26
by the God of your father who helps you: The blessings come from every direction, the heavens above, the depths below, and the breasts and womb. They are said to surpass the bounty of the ancient mountains and the everlasting hills. The word behind the prince of his brothers is nazir, one set apart, read either as a prince or as the brother who was separated from the rest. They rest on the head of Joseph.
Genesis 49:25
“Spiritual blessings are blessings of heaven above, which we ought to desire and seek for in the first place, and to which we must give the preference; while temporal blessings, those of this earth, must lie under in our account and esteem. Blessings of the womb and the breasts are given when children are safely born and comfortably nursed.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 more voices on this verse
Genesis 49:25
“The God of thy father - How frequently God is called the God of Jacob none needs be told who reads the Bible. God All-sufficient - Instead of את שדי Eth Shaddai, The Almighty or All-sufficient; I read אל שדי El Shaddai, God All-sufficient; which is the reading of the Samaritan, Septuagint, Syriac, and Coptic, and of three reputable MSS. In the collections of Kennicott and De Rossi. The copies used by those ancient versions had evidently אל El, God, and not את eth, The, a mistake produced in later times.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Genesis 49:25
“You must have noticed, when reading Jacob's prophecies concerning his sons, that the good old man, when he came to talk about Joseph, suddenly seemed to be freer of speech than while he was addressing any of the others. The dying flame of life within him appeared to burn up more brightly at the sight of the son of his old age, the darling of his heart.”
Charles Spurgeon · written before 1892 · The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2531: “A Boundless Benediction” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular Baptist
the brow of the prince of his brothers: Moses repeats these words for Joseph at Deuteronomy 33:15 to 16, down to the brow of the one set apart. Joseph's share came as two tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh, the double portion of the firstborn. First Chronicles 5:1 says Reuben's birthright passed to Joseph's sons.
Genesis 49:26
“The blessing of thy father, etc. - The blessings which thy father now prays for and pronounces are neither temporal nor transitory; they shall exceed in their duration the eternal mountains, and in their value and spiritual nature all the conveniences, comforts, and delicacies which the everlasting hills can produce. They shall last when the heavens and the earth are no more, and shall extend throughout eternity. They are the blessings which shall be communicated to the world by means of the Messiah.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Benjamin, and Jacob's Last Charge
Genesis 49:27-28
Benjamin is a ravenous wolf: The youngest son is given a wolf that tears prey morning and evening. The tribe's history answers to it through Judges 20, through Ehud and Saul, and through Paul of Tarsus, a Benjamite at Philippians 3:5. The closing line counts twelve tribes and says each was blessed with a blessing suitable to him. That covers the sayings that fall as sentences.
Genesis 49:27
“The devil has many wolves, whom he directs towards the sheep of Christ; and therefore Joseph, being intelligent, snatched the wolf Paul, the enemy who came to plunder the sheep, in order to save his own sheep, making him a teacher from a persecutor. Concerning whom Jacob says, as it is written: Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he shall devour prey, and in the evening he shall divide the spoil among the princes. The wolf was present when he scattered and devoured the sheep of the Church. But the one who was a wolf became a shepherd.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · On the Blessings of the Patriarchspatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Genesis 49:27
“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 writers (q) say, that it is compared to a wolf, because of its strength.”
twelve in all: The sons are now counted as twelve tribes. Revelation 21:12 writes the names of the twelve tribes on the gates of the new Jerusalem. The sons of one man become the pattern for the people of God.
Genesis 49:28
“Note, Whatever rebukes of God's word or providence we are under at any time, yet, as long as we have an interest in God's covenant, a place and a name among his people, and good hopes of a share in the heavenly Canaan, we must account ourselves blessed. The solemn charge Jacob gave them concerning his burial, which is a repetition of what he had before given to Joseph.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Genesis 49:29-30
The poetry stops and the last order Jacob gives is about a grave. He names the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite. Genesis 23 records that purchase in front of witnesses at the gate. He asks to be buried with his fathers.
Genesis 49:29
“Bury me with my fathers, etc. - From this it appears that the cave at Machpelah was a common burying-place for Hebrews of distinction; and indeed the first public burying-place mentioned in history. From Gen 49:31 we find that Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, and Leah, had been already deposited there, and among them Jacob wished to have his bones laid; and he left his dying charge with his children to bury him in this place, and this they conscientiously performed. See Gen 50:13.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Genesis 49:29
“Note, It is good to represent death to ourselves under the most desirable images, that the terror of it may be taken off. Though it separates us from our children and our people in this world, it gathers us to our fathers and to our people in the other world.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
near Mamre, in the land of Canaan: Mamre is Hebron, as 23:19 explains, the place Abraham pitched his tent at 13:18. Jacob gives the site with the care of a deed, naming field, cave, town and seller. The details leave his sons no doubt which grave he means.
Genesis 49:30
“He was afraid lest his sons, after seventeen years' sojourning in Egypt, had forgotten Canaan, and even the burying-place of their ancestors there, or lest the Canaanites should dispute his title to it; and therefore he specifies it thus largely, and the purchase of it, even when he lies a-dying, not only to prevent mistakes, but to show how mindful he was of that country.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Genesis 49:31-32
there I buried Leah: Jacob names everyone already lying in the cave, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah. The last name comes in his own voice, there I buried Leah. Leah is the wife he was given, and she is the one who lies beside him. The field was bought from the Hittites.
Genesis 49:31
“His heart was very much upon it, not so much from a natural affection to his native soil as from a principle of faith in the promise of God, that Canaan should be the inheritance of his seed in due time.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Jacob ends his last words on the title to the field and the cave Abraham purchased, a sale no one can dispute. Stephen at Acts 7:16 names a tomb Abraham bought at Shechem, a verse long read as joining this purchase with Jacob's own at 33:19. Both plots were paid for in silver.
Genesis 49:32
“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 Gen 23:16.”
he pulled his feet into the bed: He finishes the instruction, pulls his feet into the bed, and breathes his last. A man sets his house in order and then lies down. Jacob dies in Egypt with his last order pointing the family back to Canaan. Genesis 50 is the procession that carries him there.
Genesis 49:33
“He gathered up his feet into the bed - It is very probable that while delivering these prophetic blessings Jacob sat upon the side of his bed, leaning upon his staff; and having finished, he lifted up his feet into the bed, stretched himself upon it, and expired! And was gathered unto his people - The testimony that this place bears to the immortality of the soul, and to its existence separate from the body, should not be lightly regarded.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Genesis 49:33
“JACOB did not yield up the ghost until he had delivered the last sentence of admonition and benediction to his 12 sons. He was immortal till his work was done. So long as God had another sentence to speak by him, death could not paralyze his tongue. Yet, after all, the strong man was bowed down, and he who had journeyed with unwearied foot full many a mile, was now obliged to gather up his feet into the bed to die.”
How this psalm is built
The form: Poetic oracle inside a narrative frame, twelve sayings on the twelve sons, spoken as prophecy of the days to come, as Clarke classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| The twelve sayings, in the order of the mothers and the births | Verse 28 calls them the twelve tribes of Israel and says each was given the blessing suitable to him, so the chapter is a list with a rule. Leah's six come first, then the sons of the two maidservants, then Rachel's two last. Adam Clarke reads the whole as prophecy of the characteristic of each tribe through its generations, and Matthew Henry reads the rebukes as part of the blessing rather than as an interruption of it.Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on Genesis 49:28. | Genesis 49:3, Genesis 49:27, Genesis 49:28 |
| The animals | Judah is a lion, Issachar a strong donkey, Dan a serpent by the road, Naphtali a doe set free, Joseph a fruitful vine and Benjamin a ravenous wolf. Matthew Henry reads the lion of verse 9 closely and notes that it is a lion lying down after the kill rather than a lion ranging, which he takes as the picture of a power that is settled rather than restless.Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, on Genesis 49:9. | Genesis 49:9, Genesis 49:14, Genesis 49:17, Genesis 49:21, Genesis 49:22, Genesis 49:27 |
| I await Your salvation, O LORD | Verse 18 breaks off the sayings and speaks to God in the middle of the list, between Dan and Gad. The word salvation stands once in the whole book of Genesis in the Berean text and it stands here, counted in the store, which makes this the first place the word is used in the Bible. Matthew Henry reads the line as the mark of a dying man who has waited for the salvation of the LORD all his life.Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, on Genesis 49:18. | Genesis 49:18 |
| The blessings of the heavens above and the depths below | The saying over Joseph at verses 25 and 26 piles the sources of blessing in pairs, the heavens above and the deep below, the breasts and the womb, and then sets the whole above the bounty of the ancient mountains and the everlasting hills. Adam Clarke reads the comparison as a claim about duration and kind, that these blessings outlast the mountains and are worth more than anything the hills produce.Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on Genesis 49:26. | Genesis 49:25, Genesis 49:26 |
The debated concept
9 more paragraphs on the patterns
Verse 10 is the most argued verse in the book. The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and the allegiance of the nations is his. John Gill and Adam Clarke take Shiloh as a title of the Messiah, which is the reading the Christian tradition has carried and which Charles Spurgeon preaches. A second reading follows the Hebrew as until he comes to whom it belongs, which puts the same weight on a person without using the name. A third takes Shiloh as the town where the tabernacle stood, which sets the term at a place in Israel's history rather than a person. Adam Clarke also records the Jewish reading of the first word as a rod of affliction, so that the verse promises trouble to the Jews until the Messiah comes, and he argues against it. Each reading puts a term on Judah's rule, and the New Testament settles which term it takes at Hebrews 7:14 and Revelation 5:5.
Whether the sayings are blessing or judgment is a second question. Verse 28 calls all twelve a blessing, and three of them are rebukes with lasting consequences. Matthew Henry holds both and reads the rebukes as part of the blessing, on the ground that a place in the covenant is the blessing whatever the rebuke says. John Calvin reads verses 5 to 7 as a father condemning at the end of his life what he condemned at the time, so the sentence on Simeon and Levi is consistent rather than vengeful.
Verse 26 carries a smaller one. The word behind the prince of his brothers is nazir, one set apart, and it is read either as a prince among them or as the brother who was separated from the rest, which is what happened to Joseph at 37:28.
How the rest of Scripture reads this chapter
Revelation 5:5 calls Christ the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, which takes up verse 9. Hebrews 7:14 says it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah, which is the line verse 10 keeps. Matthew 1:2 and 3 begin the genealogy of Jesus with Judah and Perez, the son Tamar bore him in chapter 38.
The tribal sayings are answered by the history. Levi is scattered through Israel by being given towns in every tribe's land, which Joshua 21 records. Dan is promised justice for his people and produces Samson. Machir son of Manasseh receives Gilead at Numbers 32:40. Paul names himself of the tribe of Benjamin at Philippians 3:5, which is the wolf of verse 27. Moses blesses the same twelve tribes at Deuteronomy 33, and the two poems are meant to be read together.
The picture at verses 11 and 12 of a colt tied to a vine and garments washed in wine stands behind two prophetic passages. The king comes on a colt, the foal of a donkey, at Zechariah 9:9, and the figure whose garments are stained red from the winepress stands at Isaiah 63:1 to 3.
The divine connection
The chapter claims to be prophecy in its first verse and names the far end of the days as its subject. What it gives is the character and the territory of twelve tribes many centuries before any of them held land, and the later books record the outcomes: the sea coast for Zebulun, the raiders on Gad's border, the rich food of Asher, the rule in Judah. The claim should be read at the tier the text sets, sayings about tribes rather than dated predictions, and the strongest of them is verse 10, which ties the rule of one tribe to the coming of one figure.
Keep studying
Studies8
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on Genesis 49:28; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, on Genesis 49:8 and 49:10; John Calvin, Commentaries, 1554, on Genesis 49:3 and 49:5 and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, on Genesis 49:28.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Chuck Missler, The Book of Genesis; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on Genesis; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.