Y t 1,2. Collectively.
u 3-27. Separately. The order of the names.
t 28. Collectively.
1701 B.C.Genesis 49)
1 And Jacob called to his sons, and said, "Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you [that] which shall befall you in the last days. (This blessing-v.28-is therefore direct prophecy. First occ. of 14: Gen.49:1, Num.24:14, Deut.4:30; 31:29, Isa.2:2, Jer.23:20; 30:24; 48:47; 49:38, Ezek.38:16, Dan.2:28; 10:14, Hos.3:5, Mic.4:1. In 10 of these rendered "later days". A study of these will show that prophecy-v.1-and "blessing"-v28-extends to, and embraces the days of Messiah, and His first and second Advents)
2 Gather yourselves together, and hear, all you sons of Jacob; and listen to Israel your father.
u v 3-15. Leah's 6 sons. Wife's offspring.
w 16-18. Bilhah's son (Dan).
x 19,20. Zilphah's 2 sons.
w 21. Bilhah's son (Naphtali).
v 22-27. Rachel's 2 sons. Wife's offspring.
3 Reuben (see v.28, cp. 46:8-25), you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:
4 Unstable as water, you shall not excel (Fig. Resemblance, and Omission. The word "unstable" = to flow down, and requires the Fig. to be filled thus: Flowing down as water passes away, so you shall not excel. What thus would pass away is set forth in v.3, and so it came to pass 1 Chron.5:1); because you went up to your father's bed; then you defiled it: he went up to my couch.
5 Simeon and Levi are brothers; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.
6 Oh my soul (= myself), come not you into their secret (= council); to their assembly, my honor, be not you united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they dug down a wall. (Sept. reads-"they hamstrung an ox". Cp.34:26)
7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide (Fulfilled, Josh.19:1, 1 Chron.4:39-43, Lev.25:32-34. Levi's turned to blessing later, Ex.32:26-29, Deut.10:8,9) them in Jacob (First occ. as used of the whole Nation), and scatter them in Israel. (See 34:7. Cp. 47:27)
8 Judah, you are he whom your brethren shall praise: your hand shall be in the neck of your enemies; your father's children shall bow down before you. (= To Christ through Judah. Cp. 2 Sam.5:1-8 and Ps.72:11, Phil.2:10)
9 Judah is a lion's whelp (= strength): from the prey, my son, you are gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion (see Num.2:32), and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?
10 The scepter (= ruler, see Num.24:17, Ps.45:6, Zech.10:11) shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver (First occ. Cp. Num.21:18, Deut.33:21, Ps.60:7; 108:8, Isa.33:22) from between his feet (= from his thighs, i.e. "his seed"), until He, Shiloh comes (=Peace, or rest = Christ, the mystery of Melchazedeck. Note the 6 Pentateuch titles: "Seed"-3:5, "Shiloh"-49:10, "Sceptre"-49:10=Ruler, "Shepherd" and "Stone"-49:24, "Star"-Num.24:17); and to Him shall the gathering (= obedience) of the people be.
11 Binding his foal (in the sense of raising) to the vine (so plentiful in Judah, that people were without care in such matters, wanting nothing), and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine (there was more than enough to lavish), and his clothes in the blood of grapes: (These are all idioms for plenty)
12 His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.
13 Zebulun shall dwell at the haven (port) of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships; and his border shall be toward Zidon (= fishery).
14 Issachar (= hireling) is a strong ass (or saddle bearer of strangers) couching down between two burdens (foals. He doesn't mind work)
15 And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant to tribute. (He preferred to pay tribute to Canaanites rather than engage in the struggle to expel them. He would rather pay than fight, i.e. try to buy friends. That my friends in not real friendship!)
16 Dan shall judge his people (cp. 30:6. Fulfilled in Judg.15:20), as one of the tribes (= Heb. scepter, put for ruler) of Israel.
17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way (beguiling to idolatry. The first tribe to do so. See Judg.18:30. Hence omitted in Rev.7:4, cp. Deut.29:18-21, Lev.24:10-16, 1 Kings 12:30, 2 Kings 10:29), an adder in the path, that bites the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.
18 {I have waited for Your salvation (put for Him Who brings deliverance from all the works of the old serpent-Isa.25:8,9. Matt.24:13), O the Lord.}
These are the words repeated 3 times (and in 3 different ways) by every pious Jew, morning and evening. In the note in the above verse it is pointed out that by the Fig. Metonomy (of effect), "salvation" is put for Him Who brings it. The meaning is beautifully put, thus, in the Jerusalem Targum:-
"Not to the salvation wrought by Gideon, the son of Joash, does my soul look, for it is temporal. Not to the salvation wrought by Samson, the son of Manoah, is my longing directed, for it is transient: but to the salvation, the completion of Which You have promised, by your everlasting Word, to bring Your People the descendants of Israel.
To Your Salvation, O Lord, to the salvation of Messiah the son of David, Who will one day redeem Israel and bring her back from the dispersion, to that salvation my soul looks forward; for Your salvation is an everlasting salvation."
19 Gad, a troop shall overcome him (= shall troop [or press] upon him, but he shall press upon their heel): but he shall overcome at the last. (Our people always have the victory)
21 Naphtali is a hind let loose (emphasis on freedom): he is it that gives goodly words (= song of Deborah -Judg.5:18. God will always provide a leader.)
22 Joseph is a fruitful bough (cp. Deut.33:13-17), even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall (= branches it has each has over-climbed a wall. From nourishment from God)
23 The archers have sorely grieved him (cp. Amos 6:6), and shot at him, and hated him: (People that are blessed are hated)
24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty One of Jacob; {from that place is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel: (Cp. the "stone of Scone"-Jacob's pillar)
25 Even by the GOD (El) of your father, Who shall help you; and by GOD ALMIGHTY, Who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:
26 The blessings of your father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they (=Ephraim and Manasseh) shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was set apart (=consecrated)) from his brothers.
27 Benjamin shall raven as a wolf (cp. the Benjamites, Judg.3:15, 1Sam.11:6-11; 14:13-48, Acts 7:58; 8:1; 9:13,14,21; 22:4-8; 1 Tim.1:13 and cp. Rom.11:1): in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil."
28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spoke to them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them. (All positive)
33 And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost (To God, the spirit going to God Who gave it-Ecc.12:7, Num.16:22; 27:16), and was gathered to his people. (Refers to body, as the previous gathering refers to his feet. See v.29. He was 147.)