The blessing of Jacob
1 Jacob then called his sons and said,
2 “Gather round, sons of Jacob. And listen to your father Israel!
3 Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength and the firstfruits of my manhood! excelling in honor and excelling in power.
4 Restless as water, you will excel no more for you went to your father’s wife, on to my bed and defiled it.
5 Simeon and Levi are brothers; their swords are weapons of violence. 6 Let me not share their counsel! Let my heart keep far from their company, for in anger they killed men, and hamstrung oxen at their pleasure. 7 A curse on their anger for it is fierce; a curse on their fury, so cruel! I will divide them among Jacob, and scatter them among Israel.
13 Zebulun lives by the seashore; he is a haven for the ships, and his flank stretches to Sidon.
14 Issachar is a sturdy ass, lolling be side the sheepfolds.
15 He saw that a resting place was good, and that the land was pleasant. He bends his back to the burden and submits to forced labor.
16 Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. 17 Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a viper on the path, that bites the horse’s heels, making the rider fall backwards!
with blessings of the breast and the womb!
26 The blessings of your father are greater than the blessings of the ancient mountains, the bounty of the everlasting hills! May they all rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the one who is a prince among his brothers!
The death and funeral of Jacob
28 These are all the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what his father said when he blessed them, giving each one a special and appropriate blessing. 29 He then gave them these instructions: “I am soon to be gathered to my people; bury me near my fathers, in the cave in the field of Ephron, the Hittite; 30 in the cave in the field of Machpelah, to the east of Mamre in Canaan, the field that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite as a burial place. 31 It was there that Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried. There they buried Leah. 32 The field and the cave in it were purchased from the Hittites.”
33 When Jacob had given these instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed; he breathed his last and was gathered to his people.
- Genesis 29,32
- Genesis 35,22
- Genesis 34,25
- 2 Samuel 20,18
- Genesis 49,22
- Deuteronomy 33,13
Jacob's blessings do not go to his sons but to the twelve tribes bearing their names. The future destiny of these tribes will vary greatly. Jacob's blessing is a way of saying that these destinies were known to God beforehand and that they were part of his plan of salvation which benefits everyone, but does not give the same gift to everyone.
The two tribes of Judah and Joseph dominate. This ancient prophecy seems to say that Judah would live apart from others until the coming of "the one the people would obey." This text, however, has been corrupted and is doubtful.
Did they wish only to celebrate the coming of King David, or was it the announcement of a great destiny for the kingdom of Judah, or was it the expectation of a savior-king? Actually the kings of the people of God and Jesus after them were to come from this tribe. Judah here is considered as the heir of the promises made to Abraham and Jacob.
