1 And Jacob sent for his sons, and said, Come together, all of you, so that I may give you news of your fate in future times.
So now I will go back to my people: but first let me make clear to you what this people will do to your people in days to come.
Now I have come to give you knowledge of the fate of your people in the later days; for there is still a vision for the days.
When you are in trouble and all these things have come on you, if, in the future, you are turned again to the Lord your God, and give ear to his voice:
After these things I saw a door open in heaven, and the first voice came to my ears, like the sound of a horn, saying, Come up here, and I will make clear to you the things which are to come.
But in the last days it will come about that the mountain of the Lord's house will be placed on the top of the mountains, and be lifted up over the hills; and peoples will be flowing to it.
And let us be moving one another at all times to love and good works; Not giving up our meetings, as is the way of some, but keeping one another strong in faith; and all the more because you see the day coming near.
But be certain of this, that in the last days times of trouble will come.
But the Spirit says clearly that in later times some will be turned away from the faith, giving their minds to spirits of deceit, and the teachings of evil spirits,
For in it there is the revelation of the righteousness of God from faith to faith: as it is said in the holy Writings, The man who does righteousness will be living by his faith. For there is a revelation of the wrath of God from heaven against all the wrongdoing and evil thoughts of men who keep down what is true by wrongdoing;
And it will come about, in the last days, says God, that I will send out my Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will be prophets, and your young men will see visions, and your old men will have dreams:
And he had knowledge, through the Holy Spirit, that he would not see death till he had seen the Lord's Christ.
In the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia, a secret was unfolded to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar; and the thing was true, even a hard work: and he had knowledge of it, and the vision was clear to him.
And the king made answer to Daniel and said, Truly, your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings, and an unveiler of secrets, for you have been able to make this secret clear.
But there is a God in heaven, the unveiler of secrets, and he has given to King Nebuchadnezzar knowledge of what will take place in the last days. Your dreams and the visions of your head on your bed are these: As for you, O King, the thoughts which came to you on your bed were of what will come about after this: and the unveiler of secrets has made clear to you what is to come.
Who would have had faith in the word which has come to our ears, and to whom had the arm of the Lord been unveiled?
Truly, the days are coming when everything in your house, and whatever your fathers have put in store till this day, will be taken away to Babylon: all will be gone.
Saying, Put not your hand on those who have been marked with my holy oil, and do my prophets no wrong.
The secret of the Lord is with those in whose hearts is the fear of him; he will make his agreement clear to them.
Now this is the blessing which Moses, the man of God, gave to the children of Israel before his death. He said, The Lord came from Sinai, dawning on them from Seir; shining out from Mount Paran, coming from Meribath Kadesh: from his right hand went flames of fire: his wrath made waste the peoples. All his holy ones are at his hand; they go at his feet; they are lifted up on his wings. Moses gave us a law, a heritage for the people of Jacob. And there was a king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel came together. Let life not death be Reuben's, let not the number of his men be small. And this is the blessing of Judah: he said, Give ear, O Lord, to the voice of Judah and make him one with his people: let your hands take up his cause, and be his help against his attackers. And of Levi he said, Give your Thummim to Levi and let the Urim be with your loved one, whom you put to the test at Massah, with whom you were angry at the waters of Meribah; Who said of his father, Who is he? and of his mother, I have not seen her; he kept himself separate from his brothers and had no knowledge of his children: for they have given ear to your word and kept your agreement. They will be the teachers of your decisions to Jacob and of your law to Israel: the burning of perfumes before you will be their right, and the ordering of burned offerings on your altar. Let your blessing, O Lord, be on his substance, may the work of his hands be pleasing to you: may those who take up arms against him and all who have hate for him, be wounded through the heart, never to be lifted up again. And of Benjamin he said, Benjamin is the loved one of the Lord, he will be kept safe at all times; he will be covered by the Most High, resting between his arms. And of Joseph he said, Let the blessing of the Lord be on his land; for the good things of heaven on high, and the deep waters flowing under the earth, And the good things of the fruits of the sun, and the good things of the growth of the moons, And the chief things of the oldest mountains, and the good things of the eternal hills, The good things of the earth and all its wealth, the good pleasure of him who was seen in the burning tree: may they come on the head of Joseph, on the head of him who was prince among his brothers. He is a young ox, glory is his; his horns are the horns of the mountain ox, with which all peoples will be wounded, even to the ends of the earth: they are the ten thousands of Ephraim and the thousands of Manasseh. And of Zebulun he said, Be glad, Zebulun, in your going out; and, Issachar, in your tents. They will send out the word for the people to come to the mountain, taking there the offerings of righteousness: for the store of the seas will be theirs, and the secret wealth of the sand. Of Gad he said, A blessing be on him who makes wide the limits of Gad: he takes his rest like a she-lion, taking for himself the arm and the crown of the head. He kept for himself the first part, for his was the ruler's right: he put in force the righteousness of the Lord, and his decisions for Israel. And of Dan he said, Dan is a young lion, springing out from Bashan. And of Naphtali he said, O Naphtali, made glad with grace and full of the blessing of the Lord: the sea and its fishes will be his. And of Asher he said, Let Asher have the blessing of children; may he be pleasing to his brothers, and let his foot be wet with oil. Your shoes will be iron and brass; and as your days, so may your work be. No other is like the God of Jeshurun, coming on the heavens to your help, and letting his glory be seen in the skies. The God of your fathers is your safe resting-place, and under you are his eternal arms: driving out the forces of your haters from before you, he said, Let destruction overtake them. And Israel is living in peace, the fountain of Jacob by himself, in a land of grain and wine, with dew dropping from the heavens. Happy are you, O Israel: who is like you, a people whose saviour is the Lord, whose help is your cover, whose sword is your strength! All those who are against you will put themselves under your rule, and your feet will be planted on their high places.
Get together before me all those who are in authority in your tribes, and your overseers, so that I may say these things in their hearing, and make heaven and earth my witnesses against them. For I am certain that after my death you will give yourselves up to sin, wandering from the way which I have given you; and evil will overtake you in the end, because you will do evil in the eyes of the Lord, moving him to wrath by the work of your hands.
Make all the people come together, men and women and children, and anyone from another country who is with you, so that hearing they may become wise in the fear of the Lord your God, and take care to do all the words of this law;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Genesis 49
Commentary on Genesis 49 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 49
This chapter is a prophecy; the likest to it we have yet met with was that of Noah, ch. 9:25, etc. Jacob is here upon his death-bed, making his will. He put it off till now, because dying men's words are apt to make deep impressions, and to be remembered long: what he said here, he could not say when he would, but as the Spirit gave him utterance, who chose this time, that divine strength might be perfected in his weakness. The twelve sons of Jacob were, in their day, men of renown, but the twelve tribes of Israel, which descended and were denominated from them, were much more renowned; we find their names upon the gates of the New Jerusalem, Rev. 21:12. In the prospect of this their dying father says something remarkable of each son, or of the tribe that bore his name. Here is,
Gen 49:1-4
Here is,
Gen 49:5-7
These were next in age to Reuben, and they also had been a grief and shame to Jacob, when they treacherously and barbarously destroyed the Shechemites, which he here remembers against them. Children should be afraid of incurring their parents' just displeasure, lest they fare the worse for it long afterwards, and, when they would inherit the blessing, be rejected. Observe,
Gen 49:8-12
Glorious things are here said of Judah. The mention of the crimes of the three elder of his sons had not so put the dying patriarch out of humour but that he had a blessing ready for Judah, to whom blessings belonged. Judah's name signifies praise, in allusion to which he says, Thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise, v. 8. God was praised for him (ch. 29:35), praised by him, and praised in him; and therefore his brethren shall praise him. Note, Those that are to God for a praise shall be the praise of their brethren. It is prophesied that,
Gen 49:13-21
Here we have Jacob's prophecy concerning six of his sons.
Gen 49:22-27
He closes with the blessings of his best beloved sons, Joseph and Benjamin; with these he will breathe his last.
Gen 49:28-33
Here is,