Genesis 49

Chap. XLIX. Ver. 1—12. Jacob blesses the tribes of Israel. (See plate of the standards of the twelve tribes, p. 126.)—In this very interesting and important chapter, we behold the venerable patriarch, Israel, at the age of 147 years, raising himself in bed, Ver. 8. Thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies.—iii 40. Fulfilled, Judges, (Genesis 1)v aes pe Hs Ver. 9. Judah is a lion’s whelp.—A lion, we remark, is the well known hieroglyphic for strength and valour; hence Ali, Mahomet’s son-in-law, was named “the Lion of God;” and Richard I., Cœur de Lion, lion-hearted. The writer thinks he perceives here a gradation not noticed by any of the critics, different from what Achilles, the chief of a Greek tribe, bore, or the baton of a modern general.

The other word, (Chakak,) which, it is now agreed, means also a staff, (for they had no lawgiver after Moses,) and probably with an iron point at bottom, to rest between the feet: for it appears, these staves were sometimes used to dig out wells; see (Numbers 21:18). which might be read, ‘‘The princes—the nobles—digged it out with their legislative staves;” the Philistines; and in the conduct of the Danites, as recorded in the 18th chapter of that book. Here we may well conceive the aged patriarch to make a pause: exhausted with fatigue, and perhaps overwhelmed with the scenes passing before his prophetic eye, he cries, “I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord!” As if he had said, “Behold thy waiting servant; when shall I enter into rest?”

After a short pause, in which he a little recovers his strength, he then proceeds;—“Gap, is a troop; a troop shall overcome him, but he shall overcome at the last;” that is, he shall suffer in many skirmishes, but finally prove victorious. (See (1 Chronicles 5:18).) The original must be confessed to be obscure, nor do the conjectures offered by the learned seem more intelli- Asner, means happy, and happy was his lot, consisting of the most luxuriant corn-fields and pastures; “out of one were produced the finest of the wheat, and the other nourished the choicest of the flocks, which things, in those days of primitive simplicity, were accounted royal dainties: so Pharaoh’s “baked meats” for his royal master.

baker prepare ((Genesis 40:17).) Napnraut, means “wrestling” or entwisting, as wrestlers do their limbs. (See (Genesis 30:8).) But there is some doubt whether the hieroglyphic be taken from the animal or vegetable world; whether Naphtali be compared to a stag, with beautiful branching antlers, or to a tree with wide spreading branches, (for so the Hebrew term rendered words should certainly be rendered.) Either way, the blessing indicates that his territory should be in an open, champaign, fruitful country, and that his posterity should be numerous. ((Joshua 19:32-39).) Joseph (adding) furnishes another subject on which the patriarch seems to delight to enlarge; and he is compared, not to a bough, but to the branch of a fruitful vine, growing near a spring, and spreading over a wall to a considerable extent.

Then he is compared to an archer, shot at by many archers, that is, by his brethren, who made him their butt and aim for several years; but he was strengthened and supported by the God of Jacob. The blessings pronounced on Joseph’s tribe, or rather two tribes, (Ephraim and Manasseh,) are “the blessings of heaven,” “rain and dew;”—of the deep, “springs of water;”—of the breasts and of the womb, a numerous posterity. The posterity of Joseph, including the two tribes, amounted, at the first cen- ((Numbers 1:33, 35).) To these sus taken, to 72,700 men of war. To these are added, the blessings of his progenitors to the utmost boundary of the everlasting hills. It is highly poetical, as, indeed, is this whole chapter, and seems an accumulation of blessings; combining every blessing, every privilege, every honour, every head of Jacob’s favour and enjoyment, to form a crown upon the ite and highly favoured son, Joseph.

Benjamin is the last, as he was the youngest, on whom a seat was prokean em; and here also are considerable diffi- The hieroglyphic is a wolf—a ravening wolf, which, it is strange, should form the character of Jacob’s second ing. Indeed, it seems not to have been the character of Benjamin himself, but certainly too well suits his tribe. (See Judges, (Genesis 20)) Of him it is said, “In the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night divide the spoil.” The wolf is a creature remarkably voracious; they sometimes hunt in companies. “It is said that a wolf, when he cannot himself sell, ‘tis content to share it with his associate.” The cure the spo prey only in the night, but if they succeed, will gluttonize till the morning.

(Taylor’s Expos. Index.) This tribe furnished the first king to Israel, in the person of Saul; and, in the evening of the Jewish dispensation, Mordecai and Esther were of this tribe. These are the twelve tribes of Israel, and thus their father blessed them. _In conclusion, we beg to offer two or three Sebel observations. 1. That the various difficulties of this chapter arise from its high antiquity, its symbolical language, and its poetical forms. 2. That some farther light will be thrown on this portion of sacred writ, when we come to consider the blessings pronounced to emblems of this Ried, may be seen in their application of the like images, astronomically, to the signs of the zodiac, in which they might possibly have some allusion to these prophetic The chapter closes with the death of Jacob; after charging his son not to bury him in Egypt, but in the cave of Machpelah, in Canaan, thereby expressing his faith in the promise of that land to his erect At length the good old patriarch “yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his fathers.”

(See (Genesis 25:8).) Cause. L. Ver. 1—26. The funeral of Jacob and death of Joseph.—Jacob was buried with all the honours of an Egyptian prince; being first embalmed, and then carried in solemn funeral procession, attended by Joseph, the governor, with his brethren; Pharaoh’s servants, the elders of his house and all the elders of the land of Egypt, with chariots and horsemen, a very great company. As the procession was very splendid, so the “lamentation was very sore;” insomuch that the inhabitants named the place where they stopped Abel-Mizraim, “the mourning of the Egyptians,” as they naturally supposed the mourners to be, seeing among them Pharaoh’s chariots and horsemen, and the elders of Egypt, who were sent no doubt, out of respect to Joseph.

After the funeral, they all returned to Egypt; and his brethren said among themselves, “Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him.” This suspicion, arising from a guilty conscience, had forgiveness; not from any suspicion on his part of Joseph’s reconciliation, but as a duty which they owed him for his kindness. An assurance of forgiveness should in no case repress our expressions of penitence, or lower our confessions of guilt, but rather the contrary. “The goodness of God” should always “lead us to repentance.” ((Romans 2:4).) Their fears, and renewed submission, were first expressed by a messenger; and afterwards in a personal visit, in which they all prostrated themselves before their brother Joseph.

This of course awakened all his sensibilities, and a thousand painful recollections, which brought tears into his eyes, and he wept with them, and comforted them. Here we ought not to omit observing, that he founded all his consolations on the doctrine of a divine superintending Providence: “Fear not,” saith he, “for I am (as we should prefer reading it) in the place of God;” that is, I am sensible that you are at my mercy; and feel it both my duty and my honour to exercise toward you the divine prerogative of forgiveness. “As for you, ye thought evil against me, but God meant it for good;” and I can no more remember the evil you did to me, when I contemplate the consequences that have arisen out of it.

“God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Now, therefore, fear not; I will nourish you and your little ones: and he comforted them, and spake kindly to them:” or, as the Hebrew phrase in the margin is, “spake to their hearts,” which is God’s way of comforting his people. ((Isaiah 40:1-2).) Joseph no doubt kept his promise; and as he lived fifty-four