Genesis 49:1–28

Genesis 49:1–28

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Jacob’s Last Words to His Sons

49 And Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days:

2 “Gather together and hear, you sons of Jacob,

And listen to Israel your father.

3 “Reuben, 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,

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 dwelling place.

6 Let not my soul enter their council;

Let not my honor be united to their assembly;

For in their anger they slew a man,

And in their self-will they hamstrung an ox.

7 Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce;

And their wrath, for it is cruel!

I will divide them in Jacob

And scatter them in Israel.

8 “Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise;

Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;

Your father’s children shall bow down before you.

9 Judah is a lion’s whelp;

From the prey, my son, you have gone up.

He bows down, he lies down as a lion;

And as a lion, who shall rouse him?

10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah,

Nor a lawgiver from between his feet,

Until Shiloh comes;

And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.

11 Binding his donkey to the vine,

And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,

He washed his garments in wine,

And his clothes in the blood of grapes.

12 His eyes are darker than wine,

And his teeth whiter than milk.

13 “Zebulun shall dwell by the haven of the sea;

He shall become a haven for ships,

And his border shall adjoin Sidon.

14 “Issachar is a strong donkey,

Lying down between two burdens;

15 He saw that rest was good,

And that the land was pleasant;

He bowed his shoulder to bear a burden,

And became a band of slaves.

16 “Dan shall judge his people

As one of the tribes of Israel.

17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way,

A viper by the path,

That bites the horse’s heels

So that its rider shall fall backward.

18 I have waited for your salvation, O Lord!

19 “Gad, 5a troop shall tramp upon him,

But he shall triumph at last.

20 “Bread from Asher shall be rich,

And he shall yield royal dainties.

21 “Naphtali is a deer let loose;

He uses beautiful words.

22 “Joseph is a fruitful bough,

A fruitful bough by a well;

His branches run over the wall.

23 The archers have bitterly grieved him,

Shot at him and hated him.

24 But his bow remained in strength,

And the arms of his hands were made strong

By the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob

(From there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel),

25 By the God of your father who will help you,

And by the Almighty who will bless you

With blessings of heaven above,

Blessings of the deep that lies beneath,

Blessings of the breasts and of the womb.

26 The blessings of your father

Have excelled the blessings of my ancestors,

Up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills.

They shall be on the head of Joseph,

And on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers.

27 “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf;

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 what their father spoke to them. And he blessed them; he blessed each one according to his own blessing.

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ge 49:1–28.

• Transcript

  about their. Perfect. Well, good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Live in 15. Maybe it's lunchtime for you. Maybe you need to grab a little bit of coffee during your lunch break to get through the rest of this Friday. When we have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll get the Lord's word. My other mug Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for the blessing it is to get to read your word. It is a huge gift from you that you have even spoken to us. And that you have given us your word in your Providence kept your and that we were able to read it in a language that we understand. Father, we pray that you would please help us now to understand it. In Jesus's name. Amen. All right, so we are at we are at Genesis chapter 49. Bookmarks gone, there we go. Genesis chapter 49. And we will read the first 28 verses. Genesis chapter 49. The first 28 verses And Jacob called his sons and said it gathered together that I may tell you what shall before you in the last days. Gather together and hear you sons of Jacob and listen to your father. Reuben You are my firstborn. My might in the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power. Unstable as water. You shall not Excel because you went up to your father's bed. Then you defiled it. He went up to my couch. Simeon and Levi are brothers, instruments of cruelty are in their dwelling place. Let not my soul into their council Let not my honor be united to their assembly for in their anger they slew a man and in their self will they owe him strong inox curse would be their anger for it is fierce, and their wrath for it is pure cruel. I would divide them and Jacob and scatter them in Israel. Judah. You are here whom your brothers shall praise. Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's children showed that bow down before you and Judah is a lion's Welp, from the pray my son you have gone up. He bows down. He lives down as a lion and as a lion who shall rouse him. The scepter shall not depart from Judah nor law giver from between his feet until Shiloh comes and to Him shall be the obedience of the people Binding his donkey to the vine and his donkeys colt the choice fine. He washed his garments and wine and his clothes in the blood of grapes. His eyes are darker than wine and his teeth whiter than milk Zonulin shall dwell in the heaven. So Zeppelin shall dwell by the haven of the sea. He shall become a haven for ships and his border shall be shall adjoin Sidon is a car is a strong donkey lying between two burdens. He saw that rest was good and that the land was pleasant. He bowed down his shoulder to bear a burden and became a band of slaves. Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent by the way, a viper by the path that bites the horse's heel so that it's right or shall fall backward. I have gained waited for your salvation. Oh lord. Again. A troop shall trample on him. But he shall triumphant last read from ashes shall be rich and he shall yield royal dainties Neftali is a dear, let loose. He uses beautiful words. Joseph is a fruitful bone. A Fruitful bow by a well. His branches run over the wall. The archers have bitterly grieved him, shot at him and hated him. But his bow remained in strength and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. From there is the shepherd the stone of Israel by the God of your father who will bless help you and by the Almighty who will bless you with blessings of heaven above blessings of the deep that lies beneath blessings of the breasts and of the womb. The blessing blessings of your father have excelled the blessings of my ancestors up to the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills. They shall beyond the head of Joseph and on the crown of the head of Him who is separate from his brothers. Benjamin is a ravenous Wolf and the morning he shall devour the prey and at night he shall divide the spoil. All these are the 12 tribes of Israel. And this is what their father spoke to them. And he blessed them. He blessed each one according to his own blessing. Well, we need to ask ourselves a What's this about? Be what's the best versus summarize this? Let's see what are we called to do? Right? Well, it's taken us over six minutes just to read this. So let's work through it quickly. Jacob is at his dying days. And now he has final words to say to each son. Right now he talks to Joseph right. These are the 12 tribes of Israel, actually in verse 28. And these are the 12 tribes of Israel. This is the first time in the entire Bible that that phrase has been used the 12 tribes of Israel and Jacob isn't it many, many of your translations might even say Jacob, Jacob blesses His sons. But notice not all of them are blessings. Some of them he's just speaking straight to and that might be the biggest blessing in their lives that their father speaks directly to them. He speaks about Ruben right he says you were my firstborn man. You were the strength of my bones. Right You were my vitality and my excellency. And then you went laid with one of my wives and sent me and leave a man you gotta you guys are I wouldn't want to cast my lot with you. Remember what you did to those men when you promised them that they we would give them our daughters and they would give us their sons and and we would be a strong united people and then you had them to be circumcised and you use that to kill people and to hamstring their oxes we don't want to be like you are these some of these things are hard for him. But then he talks to his fourth boy Judah the one who had come with with the whole plot to have Joseph killed and sold into slavery. But it's Judah who is seem to reform as God has taken us on and taken us on and then he was proven to be ungodly, and seems to have repented. Even offering up his own life. assurity if you brought down Benjamin to Egypt, and didn't bring him back up again. It says Judah, Judah, you're going to be the head, you're going to be the king. The scepter is going to be in your hand and you're going to rule the people. And it goes down. Each child speaking something about them pointing something out about their character, and even sometimes telling them what's going to happen in the future. Or is there a villain you're you're going to be a seafarer and Dude, you're going to live next to the next to the shores. That's where you're going to make your money. I've noticed that you love to go fishing and I love I noticed that he loved to trade and so that's what you're going to be. It's a car. You're strong man. You're able to work hard boy. It will put those shoulders down and get to work and that's a blessing to you. Dan. Dan's late name literally means judge. You're going to be a judge. Right? You're going to have elders come from your people. You're going to have be the one who tells people to wait upon the Lord. Yeah, right. You're going to you're going to suffer difficult things people are going to trample over you but you will have the victory at last. Asher, right Asha, you're going to be the one who who will actually be like the breadbasket. You're going to be the one who's going to be a blessing of rich food and trade people Neftali Neftali you're you're, you're good. You're good with words. You're that you've got a poet's heart. You're like a doe going through the field. Every one looks at what you say and what you write and they admire what you do. Then just says Joseph had the longest portion here besides Judas Joseph. And he recalls how strong Joseph was how resolved he was even though people tried to destroy him God had blessed him. It says in the arms of his hands were made strong and by the hands of mighty God of Jacob. From there, the shepherd, the stone of Israel, by the God of your fathers who will help you and by the Almighty who will bless you with blessings of heaven above right? And he's going to bless him so much that Ephraim and Manasseh become two of the largest tribes in Israel. says God didn't ever forget you. And he looks at his youngest boy, Ben, says Benny Benjamin son. You're gonna have mighty warriors that come from you right? What does he say? It Benjamin's a ravenous Wolf and the morning he shall devour the plot the prey and at night you shall divide the spoil and indeed right when the when the army of Israel is gathered together later on what we find out as Benjamin Benjamin is like the the Special Forces, right men who are able with our right hand a Baris a sword and with our left hand are able to sling stones. She he's calling out his boys, and he's pointing out something special about them. He's got something to say for each of them about each of the tribes of Israel. Some of them for good, some of them, recalling failures, but each one of them he knows what's going on here. Right? Why has he gathered together his sons? These are his final blessings or final words to his voice to different tribes, and prophetically speaking to them where their place will be in the economy of God. Well, what are we what's the best verse to summarize us? Well, in verse 28, does say he blessed them. Right, verse 28, and all these things. All these are the 12 tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them, and he blessed them. He bless each one according to his own blessing. He gives them each one his own ashtray. ashtray is a Hebrew word for blessing. He speaks a word to each one of them. Sometimes the best blessings are being told the honest truth. Sometimes the best blessings are remembering what God has done to redeem us. Sometimes the best blessings are to remind us of the repentance God has wrought in our hearts. Sometimes the best blessing is to know that that character trait that might be difficult for us to handle and and to constrain God will use for the furthering of his kingdom. So this is the their father blessing them. You can imagine, as he's looking upon off his boys thinking, I remember going to Bhutan and it was just me. I had to go find a wife. And it was just me and now here I am. In Egypt. There are tribes God has kept his promises, and he is dying a man surrounded by his family, knowing that God had kept his promises Do you can you look on your family look on your life and know it's not a perfect family that never is? But can you know that God is gracious? That he is loving? That he keeps his promises? Maybe it might be a good helpful thing for you to take this pattern. And maybe think even on your own life. Maybe you have children who are grown. Maybe you are older in your age. Maybe it might be wise of you to write down those blessings for your own children that you might hand it to them. And they might know before you die, the words that you would want them to be remembered by what are the things you take to heart about your children. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much that you are a wonderful God. We do thank you for our families. We thank you for our mother's we thank you for our fathers. We thank you for our brothers and sisters. We thank you for many of us that you have given us children and grandchildren. And we pray, Lord, that we might be a blessing to them and that they might be blessed. By you in Jesus's name, Amen. Well, may God bless you as you continue to rest upon him your rock, your shield and your strength and I'll see you tomorrow. Bye Transcribed by https://otter.ai