Prayer: Even when I am old and gray, Do not forsake me, O God, Until I declare your power to the next generation, Your might to all who are to come. Your righteousness reaches to the skies, O God, You who have done great things. Who, O God, is like you? Amen (Psalms 71:18-19).
Main Scripture: Read Hebrews 1:9, 21.
By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did …Jacob (vs. 9). By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff (vs. 21).
Associated Scriptures:
Then Israel said to Joseph, "I am about to die, but God will be with you and will bring you again to Canaan, the land of your fathers. And I have given the choice land of Shekem to you instead of to your brothers, as your portion of that land which I took from the Amorites with my sword and with my bow" (Genesis 48:21-22, TLB).
Then Jacob called together all his sons and said, "Gather around me and I will tell you what is going to happen to you in the days to come. Listen to me, O sons of Jacob; listen to Israel your father.”
Reuben, you are my oldest son, the child of my vigorous youth. You are the head of the list in rank and in honor. But you are unruly as the wild waves of the sea, and you shall be first no longer. I am demoting you, for you slept with one of my wives and thus dishonored me.
Simeon and Levi are two of a kind. They are men of violence and injustice. O my soul, stay away from them. May I never be a party to their wicked plans. For in their anger they murdered a man, and maimed oxen just for fun. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce and cruel. Therefore, I will scatter their descendants throughout Israel.
Judah, your brothers shall praise you. You shall destroy your enemies. Your father's sons shall bow before you. Judah is a young lion that has finished eating its prey. He has settled down as a lion-who will dare to rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh comes, whom all people shall obey. He has chained his steed to the choicest vine and washed his clothes in wine. His eyes are darker than wine and his teeth are whiter than milk.
Zebulun shall dwell on the shores of the sea and shall be a harbor for ships, with his borders extending to Sidon.
Issachar is a strong beast of burden resting among the saddlebags. When he saw how good the countryside was, how pleasant the land, he willingly bent his shoulder to the task and served his masters with vigor.
Dan shall govern his people like any other tribe in Israel. He shall be a serpent in the path that bites the horses' heels, so that the rider falls off. I trust in your salvation, Lord.
A marauding band shall stamp upon Gad, but he shall rob and pursue them!
Asher shall produce rich foods, fit for kings!
Naphtali is a deer let loose, producing lovely fawns.
Joseph is a fruitful tree beside a fountain. His branches shade the wall. He has been severely injured by those who shot at him and persecuted him, but their weapons were shattered by the Mighty One of Jacob, the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel. May the God of your fathers, the Almighty, bless you with blessings of heaven above and of the earth beneath-blessings of the breasts and of the womb, blessings of the grain and flowers, blessings reaching to the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills. These shall be the blessings upon the head of Joseph who was exiled from his brothers.
Benjamin is a wolf that prowls. He devours his enemies in the morning, and in the evening divides the loot."
So these are the blessings that Israel, their father, blessed his twelve sons with(Genesis 49:1-28, TLB).
Correlative Quotes:
Herein we behold the manner in which the blessing was bestowed. Once more the younger, by the appointment of God, was preferred before the elder, for the Lord distributes His favors as He pleases, saying "Is it not lawful for Me to do what I will with Mine own?" (Matthew 20:15). Unto the high sovereignty of God Jacob here submissively bowed. It was not a thing of chance that he crossed his hands, for the Hebrew of "guiding his hands wittingly" is "made his hands to understand." It was the understanding of faith, for his physical eyes were too dim to see what he was doing—true faith is ever opposed to sight! Note how the Holy Spirit emphasizes the fact that it was "Isaac" (and not "Jacob") who did this.[1] – Arthur W. Pink
Unlike his father, Jacob did not try to circumvent God's plan for his heirs. Joseph, though younger than all his brothers except Benjamin, was the chosen son to bless, just as Jacob, though younger, was chosen above Esau. In fact Joseph received a double blessing, in that his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, were both blessed; although again the younger son, Ephraim, received the greater blessing (48:19). Consequently, instead of only one tribe descending from Joseph, as with his brothers, two tribes (often referred to as half-tribes) descended from him. As he was dying, Jacob blessed his son through his two grandsons. "Then Israel [Jacob's new name] said to Joseph, 'Behold, I am about to die, but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers. And I give you one portion more than your brothers" (48:21-22). Once again, what was never possessed was passed on in faith. Jacob died as a man of faith.[2] – John MacArthur
The ancient chiefs, in all countries had this staff or scepter continually at hand. See Homer throughout. It is said, Genesis 48:2, that when Joseph came to see his father Jacob, who was then in his last sickness, Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed. Still I conceive he had his staff or scepter at hand; and while sitting upon the bed, with his feet on the floor, he supported himself with his staff.[3] – Adam Clark
Study:
Many things could be said about the birth, life, and last moments before Jacob’s death. First of all, he had a strange birth, being the first twin to be recorded in the Bible, grabbing onto the heel of his brother as he exited the womb (Genesis 25:26). God predicted that the older brother, Esau, would serve the younger brother Jacob (Genesis 25:23). A famished Esau sells his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew (Genesis 25:30-33). Jacob uses his mother’s plot to trick Isaac into giving the father’s blessing reserved for the firstborn (Genesis 27:2-10). Finally, Jacob finds the woman he loves. However, it took him fourteen years of hard labor to be able to marry her and an additional seven years to gain his family’s freedom from his father-in-law (Genesis 29-31). However, the author of Hebrews chose the blessings given to his twelve son’s to express and highlight Jacobs faith (Hebrews 1:21, Genesis 48-49).
Jacob was chosen by God for a special mission. He would give birth to a new nation. The new nation would be called Israel, assigned according to the new name that God gave to Jacob (Genesis 27). Each step of the process that started with Jacob’s unusual birth to the birth of his twelve children was another movement of the will of God.
Jacob, like us (Romans 3:23), was not a perfect man. Even though he knew God’s will for his life, Jacob didn’t always wait for a clear indication of God’s plan. However, when he took action it was through faith and it was effective as a result. Too often we wait for a clear understanding of God’s direction in our lives when the command was to act using our own initiative. We see examples of this quality of leadership in all of the Old Testament saints.
In analyzing each of the twelve blessings, we see that Jacob (now Israel) was following God’s direction. At the same time, he was actually predicting the fate of each of his twelve sons.
True to Jacob’s prophecy, the Reubenites never produced a leader of any kind for Israel. They never entered the Promised Land (Numbers 23). They built unauthorized places of worship (Joshua 22:10-34). About no other tribe do we know so little as about Reuben. The tribe produced no significant man, no judge, no king, and no prophet. From this first oracle, the teaching is clear that the behavior of one individual affects the destiny of his descendants.[4] – Keith Krell
The prophecy of dividing and scattering turned out to be a curse for Simeon. The tribe of Simeon was the weakest numerically of the 12 (Numbers 26:14) and shared an allotment of land with Judah (Joshua 19:1). The tribe of Simeon became small during the wilderness wanderings. They started out from Egypt being the third largest tribe (Numbers 1:23), but some 35 years later, at the second wilderness census of Israel, 63% of the tribe perished and they became the smallest tribe (Numbers 26:14). I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel: The prophecy of dividing and scattering became a blessing for Levi. Because of the faithfulness of this tribe during the rebellion of the golden calf (Exodus 32:26-28), it was scattered as a blessing throughout the whole nation of Israel. They received no large tract of land, for the Lord was their inheritance, not land (Joshua 13:33).So both Simeon and Levi were scattered, but one as a blessing and the other as a curse.[5]
The name "Shiloh" in verse 10 has given rise to many interpretations and speculations, but the most reasonable is that it refers to the Messiah (Numbers 24:17). The phrase could be translated "until he comes whose right it is [the scepter, i.e, the rule]," because the word Shiloh means "whose it is." The ancient rabbinical scholars took Shiloh to be a name of the promised Messiah, who alone had the right to claim rule over God's people Israel.[6] – Warren W. Wiersbe
The final promise to Zebulun was fulfilled in the time of Jesus. Jesus heard that John the Baptist was imprisoned. Matthew 4:13-17 describes this act as the end of one ministry and the beginning of another. “Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali— to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah: ‘Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, along the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.’ From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."
Issachar was to manifest a keen appreciation of the land or portion of territory that should be assigned to him, and to renounce the warlike spirit and military enterprises of his brethren for the indolent and luxurious repose of his fat pastures, crouching between his sheep-folds, or rejoicing within his tents, like a lazy ass, capable indeed of mighty efforts, but too self-satisfied to put forth much exertion, devoting himself to agriculture and pastoral pursuits, and preferring rather to pay tribute to his brethren, in order to secure their protection, than to leave his ploughshare and cast aside his shepherd's crook to follow them into the tented field of war.[7]
From the six sons of Leah, Jacob passes to those of Bilhah, Rachel's maid. He begins with intimating, that the sons of the handmaids shall have the same privilege with those of the mistresses, and be heads and judges of their own tribes. Accordingly, alluding to the name of Dan, a judge, he declares, "That he should judge his people, that is, his own tribe, like the rest of the twelve."[8] – Thomas Coke
…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…(See 1 Chronicles 5:18-22).[9] – John Gill
The name means "blessed" or "happy" (30:13). Since the tribe of Asher wasn't able to drive out the inhabitants of their territory (Judges 1:31-32), they settled down to be an agricultural people, taking advantage of the fertile land God gave them (Joshua 19:24-30). Moses said that Asher was "most blessed," referring to its wealth of olive oil and the security of its cities (Deuteronomy 33:24-25). Indeed, Asher's food was rich, and the tribe even provided special delicacies "fit for a king."[10]- Warren W. Wiersbe
Asher would be fertile and productive, providing rich food. That tribe settled along the rich northern coast of Canaan. Naphtali, like a doe, would be a free mountain people. Deborah sang of the people of Naphtali risking their lives "on the heights of the field" (Judges 5:18). That tribe settled northwest of the Sea of Kinnereth (Galilee). [11] - Walvoord and Zuck
This emphasis on God’s presence is a lesson that we must never forget. Worldly success can blind us, making it easy to believe the lie that we can also prevail with God through our own efforts. In fact, this is what happened to the offspring of Joseph’s son Ephraim centuries later when they led the northern kingdom Israel into idolatry and self-reliance, and earned the Lord’s condemnation (Hos. 9). Though blessed to share Joseph’s blessing (Genesis 48:14-16), Ephraim’s clan felt the curses of the covenant when the tribe shunned Yahweh. Those who profess Christ can do the same thing (see Jeremiah 18:1-10, 1 Corinthians. 5), and so we ought to beware of the dangers of complacency.[12] – R. C. Sproul
In Genesis 49, the patriarch Jacob, sensing his impending death, gathers his sons to his bedside to bless them. Each son became the progenitor of one of the twelve tribes of Israel. Benjamin, as the youngest, receives his father’s blessing last: “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil” (Genesis 49:27). The warlike nature of the small tribe of Benjamin became well known, as exhibited in their swordsmen (Judges 20:15-16,1 Chronicles 8:40, 12:2, 2 Chronicles 14:8, 17:17) and in their ungodly defense of their extreme wickedness in Gibeah (Judges 19-20).[13]
Summary Statement:
Jacob is the birthfather of the nation of Israel. What was promised to Abraham in part and reiterated to Isaac, found fruition in Jacob. The twelve tribes were formed from his seed. Each tribe would have its own unique qualities and roles to play in the formation of the nation of Israel. Even though they would not see the prophecy of their own lives, as spoken in their father’s blessings, they believed by faith in things not seen that it would materialize. Jacob set the tone and the direction of the future nation of Israel through his sons and two grandsons. None of these men were or would become perfect examples of obedience. However, God used each of them to carry out His will for the future of the land of Israel.
[1] Arthur W. Pink, Chapter 65: The Faith of Abraham, An Exposition of Hebrews, davidcox.com.mx/library/P/Pink%20-%20Expositions%20in%20Hebrews.pdf.
[2] John MacArthur, Hebrews, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Copyright © Moody Press and John MacArthur, Jr., 1983-2007.
[3] Adam Clarke's Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright © 1996, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.
[4] Keith Krell, 53. "Determining Your Destiny" (Genesis 49:1-28), © 2016 Bible.org, All Rights Reserved, bible.org/seriespage/53-determining-your-destiny-genesis-491-28
[5] David Guzik, Genesis 49 - The Blessing of the Sons of Jacob, ©© Copyright - Enduring Word, enduringword.com/commentary/genesis-49/
[6] Warren E. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary: Old Testament © 2001-2004 by Warren W. Wiersbe. All rights reserved.
[7] The Pulpit Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright © 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.
[8] Thomas Coke, Commentary on Genesis 49:16. Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible. "//www.studylight.org/commentaries/tcc/genesis-49.html". 1801-1803.
[9] John Gill, John Gills Commentary of the Bible, © biblestudytools.com, All Rights Reserved, biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/genesis-49-19.html.
[10] Warren W. Wiersbe, ibid.
[11] Bible Knowledge Commentary/Old Testament Copyright © 1983, 2000 Cook Communications Ministries; 2000 Cook Communications Ministries. All rights reserved.
[12]R. C. Sproul, Joseph, A Fruitful Bough, © 2016 Ligonier Ministries, All Rights Reserved, ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/joseph-fruitful-bough/
[13] What should We Learn from the Tribe of Benjamin, © 2002-2016 Got Questions Ministries, All Rights Reserved, gotquestions.org/tribe-of-Benjamin.html