19 Gad! a troop assaulteth him, But he assaulteth last.
And much cattle hath been to the sons of Reuben and to the sons of Gad, very many; and they see the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, and lo, the place `is' a place `for' cattle; and the sons of Gad, and the sons of Reuben, come in and speak unto Moses, and unto Eleazar the priest, and unto the princes of the company, saying: `Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jazer, and Nimrah, and Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Shebam, and Nebo, and Beon -- the land which Jehovah hath smitten before the company of Israel, is a land for cattle, and thy servants have cattle.' And they say, `If we have found grace in thine eyes, let this land be given to thy servants for a possession; cause us not to pass over the Jordan.' And Moses saith to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Reuben, `Do your brethren go in to the battle, and ye -- do ye sit here? and why discourage ye the heart of the sons of Israel from passing over unto the land which Jehovah hath given to them? `Thus did your fathers in my sending them from Kadesh-Barnea to see the land; and they go up unto the valley of Eshcol, and see the land, and discourage the heart of the sons of Israel so as not to go in unto the land which Jehovah hath given to them; and the anger of Jehovah burneth in that day, and He sweareth, saying, They do not see -- the men who are coming up out of Egypt from a son of twenty years and upward -- the ground which I have sworn to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, for they have not been fully after Me; save Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, and Joshua son of Nun, for they have been fully after Jehovah; and the anger of Jehovah burneth against Israel, and He causeth them to wander in the wilderness forty years, until the consumption of all the generation which is doing the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah. `And lo, ye have risen in the stead of your fathers, an increase of men -- sinners, to add yet to the fury of the anger of Jehovah toward Israel; when ye turn back from after Him, then He hath added yet to leave him in the wilderness, and ye have done corruptly to all this people.' And they come nigh unto him, and say, `Folds for the flock we build for our cattle here, and cities for our infants; and we -- we are armed hasting before the sons of Israel till that we have brought them in unto their place; and our infants have dwelt in the cities of defence because of the inhabitants of the land; we do not turn back unto our houses till the sons of Israel have inherited each his inheritance, for we do not inherit with them beyond the Jordan and yonder, for our inheritance hath come unto us beyond the Jordan at the `sun'-rising.' And Moses saith unto them, `If ye do this thing: if ye are armed before Jehovah for battle, and every armed one of you hath passed over the Jordan before Jehovah, till his dispossessing His enemies from before Him, and the land hath been subdued before Jehovah -- then afterwards ye do turn back, and have been acquitted by Jehovah, and by Israel; and this land hath been to you for a possession before Jehovah. `And if ye do not so, lo, ye have sinned against Jehovah, and know ye your sin, that it doth find you; build for yourselves cities for your infants, and folds for your flock, and that which is going out from your mouth do ye.' And the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben speak unto Moses, saying, `Thy servants do as my lord is commanding; our infants, our wives, our cattle, and all our beasts, are there in cities of Gilead, and thy servants pass over, every armed one of the host, before Jehovah, to battle, as my lord is saying.' And Moses commandeth concerning them Eleazar the priest, and Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the sons of Israel; and Moses saith unto them, `If the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben pass over with you the Jordan, every one armed for battle, before Jehovah, and the land hath been subdued before you, then ye have given to them the land of Gilead for a possession; and if they do not pass over armed with you, then they have possessions in your midst in the land of Canaan.' And the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben answer, saying, `That which Jehovah hath spoken unto thy servants -- so we do; we -- we pass over armed before Jehovah `to' the land of Canaan, and with us `is' the possession of our inheritance beyond the Jordan.' And Moses giveth to them, to the sons of Gad, and to the sons of Reuben, and to the half of the tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorite, and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land by its cities, in the borders, the cities of the land round about. And the sons of Gad build Dihon, and Ataroth, and Aroer, and Atroth, Shophan, and Jaazer, and Jogbehah, and Beth-Nimrah, and Beth-Haran, cities of defence, and sheepfolds. And the sons of Reuben have build Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Kirjathaim, and Nebo, and Baal-Meon (changed in name), and Shibmah, and they call by `these' names the names of the cities which they have built. And sons of Machir son of Manasseh go to Gilead, and capture it, and dispossess the Amorite, who `is' in it; and Moses giveth Gilead to Machir son of Manasseh, and he dwelleth in it. And Jair son of Manasseh hath gone and captureth their towns, and calleth them `Towns of Jair;' and Nobah hath gone and captureth Kenath, and its villages, and calleth it Nobah, by his own name.
And of Gad he said: -- Blessed of the Enlarger `is' Gad, As a lioness he doth tabernacle, And hath torn the arm -- also the crown! And he provideth the first part for himself, For there the portion of the lawgiver is covered, And he cometh `with' the heads of the people; The righteousness of Jehovah he hath done, And His judgments with Israel.
And there riseth after Abimelech, to save Israel, Tola son of Puah, son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, and he is dwelling in Shamir, in the hill-country of Ephraim, and he judgeth Israel twenty and three years, and he dieth, and is buried in Shamir. And there riseth after him Jair the Gileadite, and he judgeth Israel twenty and two years, and he hath thirty sons riding on thirty ass-colts, and they have thirty cities, (they call them Havoth-Jair unto this day), which `are' in the land of Gilead; and Jair dieth, and is buried in Kamon. And the sons of Israel add to do the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, and serve the Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Aram, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the Bene-Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsake Jehovah, and have not served Him; and the anger of Jehovah burneth against Israel, and He selleth them into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the Bene-Ammon, and they crush and oppress the sons of Israel in that year -- eighteen years all the sons of Israel `who' are beyond the Jordan, in the land of the Amorite, which `is' in Gilead. And the Bene-Ammon pass over the Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim, and Israel hath great distress. And the sons of Israel cry unto Jehovah, saying, `We have sinned against Thee, even because we have forsaken our God, and serve the Baalim.' And Jehovah saith unto the sons of Israel, ``Have I' not `saved you' from the Egyptians, and from the Amorite, from the Bene-Ammon, and from the Philistines?
also Malchiram and Pedaiah, and Shenazzar, Jecamiah, Hoshama, and Nedabiah. And sons of Pedaiah: Zerubbabel, and Shimei. And sons of Zerubbabel: Meshullam, and Hananiah, and Shelomith their sister, and Hashubah, and Ohel, and Berechiah, and Hasadiah, Jushab-Hesed, five. And sons of Hananiah: Pelatiah, and Jesaiah, sons of Rephaiah, sons of Arnan, sons of Obadiah, sons of Shechaniah. And sons of Shechaniah: Shemaiah; and sons of Shemaiah: Hattush, and Igeal, and Bariah, and Neariah, and Shaphat, six.
And the sons of Gad, over-against them have dwelt in the land of Bashan unto Salcah, Joel the head, and Shapham the second, and Jaanai and Shaphat in Bashan; and their brethren of the house of their fathers `are' Michael, and Meshullam, and Sheba, and Jorai, and Jachan, and Zia, and Heber, seven. These `are' sons of Abihail son of Huri, son of Jaroah, son of Gilead, son of Michael, son of Jeshishai, son of Jahdo, son of Buz; Ahi son of Abdiel, son of Guni, `is' head of the house of their fathers; and they dwell in Gilead in Bashan, and in her small towns, and in all suburbs of Sharon, upon their outskirts; all of them reckoned themselves by genealogy in the days of Jotham king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam king of Israel. Sons of Reuben, and the Gadite, and the half of the tribe of Manasseh, of sons of valour, men bearing shield and sword, and treading bow, and taught in battle, `are' forty and four thousand and seven hundred and sixty, going out to the host. And they make war with the Hagarites, and Jetur, and Naphish, and Nodab, and they are helped against them, and the Hagarites are given into their hand, and all who `are' with them, for they cried to God in battle, and He was entreated of them, because they trusted in Him. And they take captive their cattle, of their camels fifty thousand, and of sheep two hundred and fifty thousand, and of asses two thousand, and of human beings a hundred thousand; for many have fallen pierced, for of God `is' the battle; and they dwell in their stead till the removal.
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,