Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 49:10-12

10 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.

11 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:

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

Yesterday we discussed how the tribe of Judah would give rise to the greatest kings of Israel and the Savior, Jesus Christ. This is why Jacob says that the “sceptre shall not depart from Judah, until Shiloh come.” Shiloh, of course, is a title for the Messiah.

Verses 11 and 12 can be interpreted in two ways. The first is that Jacob has gone back to describing Judah, foretelling how his land would be rich and overflowing, using hyperbole like the wine being so excessive that the people of the land would use it to wash their clothing.

Or these verses can be seen as one of the first poetic prophecies we have of the Messiah. Thus, they would be referring to “Shiloh,” who was just mentioned at the end of verse 10. From this perspective the “binding of his foal unto the vine,” would be how Christ integrated his disciples into the living vine of his own teachings. The washing his garments in wine refers to his sacrifice in the Garden of Gethsemane, where blood drained from his pores and must have permeated his clothing.

Of course, it’s perfectly reasonable to assume that this description is twofold, meant to describe both Judah and the Savior. Indeed, many prophecies we interpret in a worldly way, and it fits perfectly fine as such, but then one day we realize there was a deeper, spiritual interpretation that was hiding within it this whole time!

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 49:8-10

8 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.

9 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?

10 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.

Judah receives a far more promising blessing than Reuben, Simeon, and Levi. We have previously seen that after the three oldest brothers had tarnished themselves and Joseph was taken away, Judah was the one that Jacob relied upon as if he were the firstborn. The man has not been perfect, but he has also proven himself to have a working conscience from time to time.

Jacob foretells that all the other brethren will praise Judah. He even describes the two ways in which this will come true. First, when Israel’s greatest kings, David and Solomon, will come of Judah, and secondly, when our Savior, Jesus Christ, will be born of Judah as well. In fact, to this very day we refer to Christ as “the lion of Judah,” an image that is first suggested right here in Jacob’s blessing.

For a moment let us look more closely at this imagery of a lion. Judah is compared both to a whelp, or a young lion, and then to an old one. He is compared to the youth in terms of having taken his prey, and to the old in how he is now at peaceful repose. Thus, Judah is a warrior returned from successful battle, now able to rest in contentment. He is able to act when the moment requires, but then has the self-confidence to not have to prove himself thereafter. He knows that he has what it takes and is calm and sure in that knowledge.

This is the image of the warrior-poet. This is David, who was able to ride fearlessly into battle, and slay giants, but then go home and write beautiful psalms. This is Jesus, who could scatter the moneychangers at the table with a whip, but then invite the little children to come and be blessed. Judah is the nation of people that possess a deep-rooted and self-confident strength.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 49:5-7

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

6 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.

7 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.

Simeon and Levi are the next to be blessed by Jacob, but their pronouncement is even more dire than Reuben’s! Both of them are rebuked for their slaughter in the city of Shalem. Indeed, verse six he seems to express a fear that Jacob has held towards them himself ever since he knew such violence existed in their hearts.

Jacob refers to their act of killing, but also how they “digged down a wall,” by which I assume he means how their actions broke down his relationship with all the people in that country. This expression would be very similar to our current one of “burning bridges.”

As recompense, Jacob pronounces a curse rather than a blessing upon the tribes. He says that they will be divided and scattered in Israel. We will learn in Joshua 19 and 1 Chronicles 4 that Simeon was a stunted nation when they came into Canaan, such that it only received various cities within the kingdom of Judah, not becoming a proper state unto itself, and quite probably without all of its habitations connected as one. As for Levi, it would be even more scattered, never possessing any collected stretch of land to call its own, being distributed instead throughout the entire nation of Israel.

Levi’s curse did have a blessing inside of it, though, as their scattering was due to their being the priest caste that oversaw the functions of the temple. This assignment seems to be due at least in part to the fact that Moses and Aaron were of that tribe, and they were the ones entrusted with the priesthood when Israel was led out of Egypt. One other notable figure in Levi’s descendancy is John the Baptist. Of course, John was the cousin of Jesus, who was of the tribe Judah. The two men’s connection was through their mothers, while their fathers were of separate tribes.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 49:3-4

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

4 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.

Reuben, the firstborn, receives his blessing from Jacob. Jacob acknowledges the strength and dignity and excellency that Reuben began with, but for his crime of adultery he has lost his place. Jacob foretells that Reuben will not excel among his brethren, and this proves to be true. Reuben will never produce a king or a prophet, at least none that are noted in the biblical narrative.

Reuben will be part of the ten tribes that break off from Judah and will be taken captive by the Assyrians with the rest of the kingdom, more than seven hundred years before the birth of Christ. What happened to them after that is a matter of broad speculation, but as with most of the tribes there is no clear answer.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 49:1-2

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.

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

“Gather, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.” This is quite an opportunity! A chance to hear a prophet foretell the destiny of one’s posterity through the ages, to learn what their ultimate legacy will be.

As with Ephraim and Manasseh, these blessings will not be “wishful prayers.” They will be the truth, and some of it will be more positive than others. Not all the sons are going to necessarily receive from God what they want. Some of their people will face affliction from the natural turmoil of the world, and some from the natural consequence of choosing a baser form of life, and some as a scourge to bring them back to the light. Some of them will enjoy prosperity and joy…for a time. All of them will pass through trials of being conquered and enslaved and scattered, but through it all, they will remain preserved and eventually restored by their God.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 48:20-22

20 And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh. 

21 And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers. 

22 Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.

Ephraim and Manasseh will not only be full-fledged tribes in Israel, but also the envy of all the others. Of course, these prophecies will take time to be fulfilled, at this point the sons of Jacob have their own households, but they are hardly full-blown tribes. We won’t hear of them in that capacity until the book Exodus, at which point they are slaves to the Egyptians, longing for the return to their promised land.

Which, Israel assures Joseph in verse 21, will certainly occur. He entrusts his son to the care of the same God that has kept and preserved him, and passes on the promise that he received of God: that the Israelites would be returned to their homeland once again.

This moment is a beautiful callback to when Jacob was a much younger man, leaving his father’s home to escape the wrath of his brother Esau. Then, in a strange land, he had committed to pay a tithe in return for the promise that he would one day be returned back to his father’s abode. Now he is in a strange land once again, but trusts that though he will die here, his people will return back home just as he did all those years before. No doubt he is able to have faith in that unknown, by having experienced the fulfillment already in the past.

In fact, Jacob’s earlier journeys in a strange land foreshadow the Israelites detour in Egypt in many ways. Just as he was under unfair servitude to his uncle Laban, they will be under unfair servitude to the Egyptians. And just as he was eventually delivered by the blessing of the Lord, so too, will they. Jacob’s entire life was being used as a template to let his own people, the Israelites, what to expect. Rightly, then, did the Lord name him Israel.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 48:17-19

17 And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head unto Manasseh’s head.

18 And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.

19 And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.

Joseph notices a little late that Jacob has his hands crossed upon Ephraim and Manasseh’s heads. He seeks to correct the placement, presumably assuming that Jacob had made some oversight.

Jacob assures that he knows exactly what it is he’s doing, though. As mentioned before, the record makes it sound as though Jacob and Joseph have had very little interaction over the past years, that this might even be his very first time meeting these grandsons, and so it cannot be petty favoritism that Jacob holds towards Ephraim over Manasseh. The only reason Jacob has to differ from the norm in this blessing is because he is being guided by truth and prophecy.

For every blessing that is a true blessing must also be so guided. It is not supposed to be a concoction of the speaker. It is not meant to represent what the giver of the blessing hopes for, for then it is merely a declaration of wishes, with no binding power behind it. A true blessing must be the words and actions inspired of God, a declaration of truth, totally independent of expectation or personal desire. And the truth in this matter is that Ephraim will exceed Manasseh. Not because Jacob wants it, but simply because that was what would be.

How many of us when we seek a blessing do so with the intent of receiving pure truth, unfiltered? How many of us are willing to set aside what we hope to hear, to accept what we do hear?

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 48:13-16

13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near unto him.

14 And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn.

15 And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day,

16 The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.

Joseph presented his sons on either side of Jacob, Manasseh aligned with the right hand and Ephraim with the left. Thus, to put his right hand on Ephraim’s head instead, Jacob must have crossed his arms in front of his body, an action that is clearly intentional.

Then he begins his blessing, invoking upon Joseph’s sons the protection and nourishment of the same God that has preserved his grandfather, father, and himself. Previously, God had promised these men that they would be fed and cared for, and that they would become fathers to a great multitude. Now the same blessings are being given to them, passing along the covenant of Abraham as their very own.

I find particularly interesting that Jacob also calls on “the Angel which redeemed me from all evil” to “bless the lads.” Most assume that “the Angel” is another term for Jesus Christ, given how it is mentioned as “redeeming from all evil.” It should be noted that the word used in the original Hebrew is “malak,” which means “a messenger,”” and is almost exclusively used throughout the bible when common emissaries of God, angels, are being described. Obviously in its English translation it is being rendered with a capital “A,” suggesting it is not just “an angel,” but “THE Angel,” as in THE messenger of God’s gospel, the one sent to bring knowledge of and fulfillment of God’s will. The word “malak” does not suggest such a special designation, though, it would seem the capitalization is being used simply to fit the assumption that this is a reference to Christ.

Honestly, it seems a confusing interpretation either way to me, but exactly what Jacob meant by saying “malak” frankly isn’t very important. Perhaps he meant Christ, or perhaps he felt he had a guardian angel. If the latter, perhaps he meant the one who had wrestled with him or had assured him of a safe reunion with Esau, and he wanted the same guardianship to be over these grandsons as well. Regardless of whom exactly Jacob meant, it is clear he intended for these grandsons to be cared for as he had been.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 48:8-12

8 And Israel beheld Joseph’s sons, and said, Who are these?

9 And Joseph said unto his father, They are my sons, whom God hath given me in this place. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them.

10 Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see. And he brought them near unto him; and he kissed them, and embraced them.

11 And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face: and, lo, God hath shewed me also thy seed.

12 And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.

At first, I wondered whether this was a senile moment from Jacob, not recognizing his own grandsons, but then he says: “I had not thought to see thy face: and, lo, God hath shewed me also thy seed.” This suggests that this was his first time meeting the boys.

Joseph already had his own responsibilities and circle of life established in Egypt. He is responsible for the lives of countless souls, and it is not too difficult to imagine that he has been very preoccupied since he welcomed his father to the land.

Thus, it seems that this is both Ephraim and Manasseh’s first time meeting the patriarch and the last. What a strange experience that must have been. This man is top of the trunk of their family tree, but he is from a land and a people that they have never known. Though their father, Joseph, has presumably kept them within the traditions of their people, all the world around them has been the customs of the Egyptians.

Jacob adopting them into his inheritance might also be seen as adopting them back into the fold of their heritage. This is an opportunity to refresh in their hearts their true country and master: the promised land and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

And as for Jacob, this final moment to meet his grandsons brings out sweet declarations. Returning to his statement, “I had not thought to see thy face: and, lo, God hath shewed me also thy seed,” I hear a great sense of fatherly contentment. He had thought that he had lost Joseph, but now he has his son restored, and also has been able to live long enough to see him as a grown man with children of his own, a man like unto himself. A branch that Jacob thought he had lost had been returned, abundant and fruitful.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 48:7

7 And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when yet there was but a little way to come unto Ephrath: and I buried her there in the way of Ephrath; the same is Beth-lehem.

This is a very unusual verse. Jacob was just talking about giving an extra inheritance to the sons of Joseph, and immediately following he’s going to pronounce a blessing upon those two sons. So why this sudden interruption where he recounts the death of his wife Rachel?

Some have suggested this is a way for him to give justification for the extra inheritance to Joseph. Since Rachel died prematurely, there was no opportunity for her to give birth to other sons that might have received. But honestly, this theory seems like a stretch of logic to me. There is nothing in this verse to signify that this is Jacob’s intent at all in bringing Rachel up.

Others have noted that Jacob emphasizes the place where Rachel was buried, which reminds us of last chapter, where he made Joseph swear that he would bury him in the land of Canaan. Perhaps this verse was originally included as part of that conversation, but through different translations and compilations got shifted here instead.

Or, if not that, the other possibility that occurs to me is that this is the result of a senile mind. Jacob might have momentarily lost the thread of the conversation, lost within his own memories and grief, only to return to the present moment and continue as though nothing happened. If this is the case, then it is a sign of just how profoundly the loss of Rachel impacted Jacob, a trauma that is ever close the fore in his mind, overcoming him at random from time to time.