Genesis 49

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Jacob, on his deathbed, gathers his twelve sons to impart prophetic blessings and judgments concerning their future tribal destinies. He foretells the characteristics and roles of each, notably predicting Judah's lasting kingship and Joseph's abundant fruitfulness. Jacob then instructs his sons to bury him in the cave of Machpelah before he peacefully dies.

Jacob Gathers His Sons for Prophecy 1–2

¶ And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.

Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.

Reuben: Loss of Primacy 3–4

Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:

Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.

Simeon and Levi: Cursed for Cruelty 5–7

¶ Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.

O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall.

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.

Judah: The Royal Line and Messiah 8–12

¶ Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee.

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 an old lion; who shall rouse him up?

The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:

His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.

Zebulun, Issachar, and Dan 13–18

¶ Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships; and his border shall be unto Zidon.

Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens:

And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.

Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.

Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.

I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD.

Gad, Asher, and Naphtali 19–21

Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.

Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.

Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words.

Joseph and Benjamin 22–27

¶ Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:

The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:

But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)

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 lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:

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.

Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.

Summary and Jacob's Burial Command 28–33

¶ 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.

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 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 of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace.

There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.

The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth.

And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Genesis 49

Verse 1

in the last days — Acharith is the end or latter part of a span of time, so the phrase looks to what lies ahead for the tribes, not only to Jacob's own death. It recurs in Balaam's words, 'what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days' (Num 24:14), and in Moses' (Deut 4:30).

Verse 3

the beginning of my strength — Reshith, 'first', is the firstfruit of the father's vigour. The law gave the firstborn a double portion because 'he is the beginning of his strength' (Deut 21:17). Four titles of honour are heaped on Reuben (might, strength, dignity, power) before v.4 takes them away.

Verse 4

Unstable as water — Pachaz is a bubbling-over, froth: water that cannot be held in a vessel. The cause is named: Reuben 'lay with Bilhah his father's concubine' (Gen 35:22). The birthright passed on; 'Judah prevailed above his brethren… but the birthright was Joseph's' (1 Chr 5:2).

Verse 5

instruments of cruelty — Chamas is violence, wrong done to others; keli is any implement, here swords. The reference is to Shechem, where 'two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi… took each man his sword' (Gen 34:25), a deed Jacob rebuked at once (Gen 34:30).

Verse 7

I will divide them in Jacob — Fulfilled for Simeon when its lot fell 'within the inheritance of the children of Judah' (Josh 19:1), because Judah's portion 'was too much for them' (Josh 19:9). The verbs are chalaq, to apportion, and puts, to disperse; the curse falls on the anger, not on the persons.

Verse 8

thy brethren shall praise — Judah's name rests on yadah, 'to praise', the verb used here and by Leah at his birth: 'Now will I praise the LORD: therefore she called his name Judah' (Gen 29:35). The hand on the 'neck' (oreph, the nape) of enemies is the victor's posture over a beaten foe. Christ 'sprang out of Juda' (Heb 7:14).

Verse 9

Judah is a lion's whelp — Gur is a cub, and the verse uses two further words for the lion (ari, labi). Balaam later says of Israel, 'He couched, he lay down as a lion… who shall stir him up?' (Num 24:9). John hears the title fulfilled: 'the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David' (Rev 5:5).

Verse 10

until Shiloh come — Shiloh is read of the one to whom the rule belongs; the 'sceptre' (shebet) is the ruler's rod and 'lawgiver' (chaqaq) one who decrees (cf. Ps 60:7, 'Judah is my lawgiver'). 'Gathering' is yiqqahah, obedience. Gabriel echoes it: 'the throne of his father David… of his kingdom there shall be no end' (Luke 1:32–33).

Verse 11

washed his garments in wine — Vines are so plentiful that the colt is tied to one, and garments are washed in wine; dam, 'blood', is the poetic word for grape juice. The picture of abundance returns in Joel 3:18, 'the mountains shall drop down new wine'; Isa 63:3 uses the same winepress image of judgment.

Verse 13

haven of the sea — Chof is a coast or sheltered shore, and oniyyah is a ship. The lot of Zebulun, drawn centuries later, is described in Josh 19:10–16. Moses' blessing keeps the sea theme: 'they shall suck of the abundance of the seas' (Deut 33:19). The border 'unto Zidon' is the Phoenician city to the north.

Verse 15

bowed his shoulder to bear — Sabal is to carry a load, and mas is tribute paid as forced labour. Issachar sees that 'rest' (menuchah) and the pleasant land are good, and accepts the burden rather than leave them. The verse states the choice and its price without naming a fault.

Verse 17

a serpent by the way — Nachash is the general word for serpent, shephiphon a snapping, horned adder. The bite at the heel unseats the rider, a strike from concealment; the Danites took Laish, 'a people that were at quiet and secure' (Judg 18:27).

Verse 18

I have waited for thy salvation — Qavah, to wait, carries the idea of a cord twisted tight: an expectant, strained waiting. Yeshuah is deliverance, related to the name given to the child 'JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins' (Matt 1:21). Isaiah joins the same two words: 'we have waited for him… we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation' (Isa 25:9).

Verse 19

a troop shall overcome him — Three Hebrew words sound alike: Gad, gedud (troop) and gud (to attack, overcome), a play on Leah's cry at his birth, 'A troop cometh' (Gen 30:11). 'At the last' is aqeb, the heel, the same word as 'heels' in v.17: Gad turns on the pursuers' rear.

Verse 22

a fruitful bough — Parah, to bear fruit, is the word of Joseph's own naming of Ephraim: 'God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction' (Gen 41:52). The branches 'run over the wall' (tsa'ad, to step or climb), as Joseph's descendants spread beyond their bounds in two tribes.

Verse 24

the shepherd, the stone of Israel — Titles of the LORD. Ro'eh, shepherd, is Jacob's verb in 'the God which fed me' (Gen 48:15); compare 'Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock' (Ps 80:1). Eben, stone, anticipates 'a precious corner stone, a sure foundation' (Isa 28:16), applied to Christ in Eph 2:20. 'Mighty' is abir.

Verse 25

the Almighty — Shaddai, the name by which God had spoken to Jacob: 'I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply' (Gen 35:11). The blessings run through heaven, the deep (tehom) and the family; Moses repeats them for Joseph: 'for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath' (Deut 33:13).

Verse 27

ravin as a wolf — Taraph is to tear in pieces. The tribe's fighting is shown in Judg 20:21, where 'the children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites that day twenty and two thousand men.' Morning devouring and evening dividing describe a day of plunder.

Verse 28

the twelve tribes of Israel — Shebet, tribe, is also a rod or sceptre, as in v.10. Though Reuben, Simeon and Levi were rebuked, the verse says he 'blessed them', each 'according to his blessing'. The twelve remained the nation's frame: 'our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night' (Acts 26:7).

Verse 29

I am to be gathered unto my people — Asaph, to gather, is the verb of 'Gather yourselves together' in v.1. The phrase for death was used of Abraham (Gen 25:8). The burial charge repeats the one given to Joseph: 'thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their buryingplace' (Gen 47:30).

Verse 33

gathered up his feet into the bed — Jacob sets himself to die, then is 'gathered unto his people' (asaph), as Abraham had been (Gen 25:8). The writer to the Hebrews counts the patriarchs among those who 'died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off' (Heb 11:13).