Genesis 49:1

And Jacob called upon his sons,.... Who either were near at hand, and within call at the time Joseph came to visit him, or if at a distance, and at another time, he sent a messenger or messengers to

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. Jacob called unto his sons.

GENESIS CHAPTER 49 Jacob calls his sons to bless them before his death, . Bespeaks their attention, . Condemns Reuben’ s incest, ,4; Simeon’ s and Levi’ s cruelty, . Extols Judah; prophesieth of Christ, and the calling of the Gentiles, . Of Zebulun, ; Issachar, ,15; Dan, ,17. Expresses his faith on God’ s salvation, . Of Gad, ; Asher, ; Naphtali, . Joseph’ s peculiar blessing, . Of Benjamin, . His charge eoncerning his burial and death, . Or, in the following times, or latter days, when you shall enter into and be settled in the Land of Promise. Hereby he signifies, that he speaks here of things which concern not so much their persons as their posterity.

Genesis 49:1 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.Ver. 1. Gather yourselves together.] This is Jacob’ s swan-like song, his last bequeath, his farewell to the world; and it is a most heavenly one. The wine of God’ s Spirit is usually strongest and best at last in the hearts of his people: his motions, quickest when natural motions are slowest; most sensible when the body begins to be senseless most lively when holy men are dying. Look how the sun shines most amiably toward the descent and rivers, the nearer they draw to the sea, the sooner they are met by the tide: so it is with the saints when nigh to death; when grace is changing into glory, they deliver themselves usually to the standers-by most sweetly. So, besides Jacob, did Moses, Joshua, Paul, and he in whose one example is a globe of precepts, our Lord Jesus Christ, in that last heavenly sermon and prayer of his, John 14:1-31; John 15:1-27; John 16:1-33; John 17:1-26 Whereunto let me add that faithful martyr, John Diazius, who was cruelly butchered by his own brother Alphonsus Diazius, and that merely for his religion. I remember, saith Senarclaeus, his friend and bedfellow, who wrote the history of his death, when he and I were at Newburg, the very night before he was murdered, he prayed before he went to bed more ardently than ordinary, and for a longer time together. After which he spent a good part of the night in discoursing of the great works of God, and exhorting me to the practice of true piety. And truly I felt myself so inflamed and quickened by his words, that when I heard him discoursing, I thought I heard the Spirit of God speaking unto me. This, and much more, Senarclaeus writes to Bucer, who at that time had employed Diazius to overlook the correct printing of a book of his that was then in the press. That I may tell you that which shall befall you.] But how knew Moses this last speech of Jacob, being born so long after? Partly by revelation, and partly also by tradition. For the words of dying men are living oracles, and their last speeches are long remembered. And the accomplishment of all these prophecies in their due time, as the following scriptures show, adds much to the authority of Moses’ s writings, and confirms them to be "faithful and true," as he saith, John 21:24. Sic ubi fata vocant, udis abiectus in herbis, Ad vada Maeandri concinit albus olor. - Ovid., Epist. Ego vero illius oratione sic incendebar, ut cum eum disserentem audirem, Spiritus sancti verba me audire existimarem. - Ibid.

XLIX. THE OF THE TWELVE TRIBES.(1) That which shall befall you.—This dying song of Jacob has been regarded alike by Jews and Christians as a prophetic hymn spoken by the patriarch under the influence of the Holy Spirit. By many modern commentators, however, it has been placed in David’s time, and even ascribed to Nathan, partly on the ground that it is too spirited to have been the composition of one lying in the last decrepitude of old age, but chiefly because, in the description given of Judah, it is supposed to refer to the elevation of David to the royal dignity. But if it was thus written by a member of David’s court, we should reasonably expect an exact knowledge of the state of things in David’s time. For this, in fact, is the argument upon which these critics depend, that the internal evidence shows that it belongs to David’s reign. Now, so far is this from being true, that not only is the whole exceedingly general, containing scarcely more than faint and dim hopes and anticipations, but, except in the matter of Judah’s pre-eminence, there is no knowledge whatsoever of the arrangements of David’s time. Thus, for instance, there is no word about Levi’s priestly functions, and his dispersion in Israel is described as a punishment, and put upon exactly the same level as that of Simeon It is said in answer that it was David who established the priesthood, and set the Levites apart for their duties. If so, this was the very reason why Nathan, a seer of his court, should have put into Jacob’s mouth some allusion to so important an event, in order to justify so strong a proceeding as the depriving of a tribe of its lands and political importance, the seizure of towns in every other tribe for the abode of its members, and the bestowal upon them of priestly functions. If however David, by an act of despotic power, was able to effect so violent a subversion of all tribal rights, it is strange that no reference is ever made to it: and, moreover, both the Pentateuch and the Books of Joshua (Joshua 3:3; Joshua 8:33, &c), of Judges (Judges 17:9-13), and of Samuel (1 Samuel 2:13; 1 Samuel 2:27-28; 1 Samuel 6:15, &c.) must be of a date so modern as for all remembrance of David’s act to have passed away, and for the national traditions to have created for themselves a setting modelled upon a state of things that never existed, and which was contradictory to the most glorious age of the nation’s history. But national traditions precede the historical period of a people’s annals, and from the time of David careful records of all events in Judah and Israel were kept, and the history of Judah and Israel was one of the chief subjects of instruction given to the youth of the nation in the prophetic schools. But let us take another instance.

CHAPTER XLIX Jacob, about to die, calls his sons together that he may bless them, or give prophetic declarations concerning their posterity, 1, 2. Prophetic declaration concerning Reuben, 3, 4. Concerning Simeon and Levi, 57; concerning Judah, 8-12; concerning Zebulun, 13; concerning Issachar, 14, 15; concerning Dan, 16-18; concerning Gad, 19; concerning Asher, 20; concerning Naphtali, 21; concerning Joseph, 22-26; concerning Benjamin, 27. Summary concerning the twelve tribes, 28. Jacob gives directions concerning his being buried in the cave of Machpelah, 29-32. Jacob dies, 33. NOTES ON CHAP. XLIX Verse 1. That which shall befall you in the last days.] It is evident from this, and indeed from the whole complexion of these important prophecies, that the twelve sons of Jacob had very little concern in them, personally considered, as they were to be fulfilled in the last days, i. e., in times remote from that period, and consequently to their posterity, and not to themselves, or to their immediate families. The whole of these prophetic declarations, from Genesis 49:2-27 inclusive, is delivered in strongly figurative language, and in the poetic form, which, in every translation, should be preserved as nearly as possible, rendering the version line for line with the original. This order I shall pursue in the succeeding notes, always proposing the verse first, in as literal a translation as possible, line for line with the Hebrew after the hemistich form, from which the sense will more readily appear; but to the Hebrew text and the common version the reader is ultimately referred. 2. Come together and hear, O sons of Jacob! And hearken unto Israel your father. Bishop Newton has justly observed that Jacob had received a double blessing, spiritual and temporal; the promise of being progenitor of the Messiah, and the promise of the land of Canaan. The promised land he might divide among his children as he pleased, but the other must be confined to one of his sons; he therefore assigns to each son a portion in the land of Canaan, but limits the descent of the blessed seed to the tribe of Judah. Some have put themselves to a great deal of trouble and learned labour to show that it was a general opinion of the ancients that the soul, a short time previous to its departure from the body, becomes endued with a certain measure of the prophetic gift or foresight; and that this was probably the case with Jacob. But it would be derogatory to the dignity of the prophecies delivered in this chapter, to suppose that they came by any other means than direct inspiration, as to their main matter, though certain circumstances appear to be left to the patriarch himself, in which he might express his own feelings both as a father and as a judge. This is strikingly evident, 1. In the case of Reuben, from whom he had received the grossest insult, however the passage relative to him may be understood; and, 2.

1–27. The Blessing of Jacob 1. And Jacob called] It is possible that this first clause may be from P, and is continued in the last clause of Gen 49:28. Notice that the name “Israel,” used eight times in the course of the previous 15 verses (Genesis 48:8-22), here makes way for “Jacob.” in the latter days] Lit. “in the after part of days,” denoting the period which is present to the vision of the Prophet. Cf. Numbers 24:14, “I will advertise thee what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days”; Isaiah 2:2; Micah 4:1. See Deuteronomy 4:30; Deuteronomy 31:29; Jeremiah 23:20; Hosea 3:5; Daniel 2:28; Daniel 10:14. Cf. Hebrews 1:2, “at the end of these days”; 1 Peter 1:20, “at the end of the times”; 2Es 2:34, “at the end of the world.”

- Jacob Blesses His Sons 5. מכרה mekêrāh, “weapon;” related: כיר kārar or כרה kārāh dig. “Device, design?” related: מכר mākar “sell,” in Arabic “take counsel. Habitation.” 10.

1. Assemble yourselves — These words evidently belong to the poem itself, and are not the composition of the historian, who inserted a copy of Jacob’s prophecy in this place in his volume.