Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (1871)

Genesis 49 Jacob Blesses His Sons

Classic verse-by-verse commentary on Genesis 49 from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown (1871). Covers: Patriarchal blessing; Judah--a high pre-eminence is destined to this tribe (nu 10:14; Jud 1:2). Besides the honor of giving name to the promised land, David, and a greater than David--the messiah--sprang from it. Chief among the tribes, "it grew up from a lion's whelp"--that is, a little power--till it became "an old lion"--that is, calm and quiet, yet still formidable; Issachar--; Dan--though the son of a secondary wife, was to be "as one of the tribes of Israel.".

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (1871)

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Patriarchal blessing

1. Jacob called unto his sons — It is not to the sayings of the dying saint, so much as of the inspired prophet, that attention is called in this chapter. Under the immediate influence of the Holy Spirit he pronounced his prophetic benediction and described the condition of their respective descendants in the last days, or future times.

Judah--a high pre-eminence is destined to this tribe (nu 10:14; Jud 1:2). Besides the honor of giving name to the promised land, David, and a greater than David--the messiah--sprang from it. Chief among the tribes, "it grew up from a lion's whelp"--that is, a little power--till it became "an old lion"--that is, calm and quiet, yet still formidable

⁸Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee. ⁹Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? ¹⁰The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. ¹¹Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes: ¹²His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk. Genesis 49:8-12 · KJV

10. until Shiloh come — Shiloh — this obscure word is variously interpreted to mean "the sent" (Joh 17:3), "the seed" (Isa 11:1), the "peaceable or prosperous one" (Eph 2:14) — that is, the Messiah (Isa 11:10; Ro 15:12); and when He should come, "the tribe of Judah should no longer boast either an independent king or a judge of their own" [CALVIN]. The Jews have been for eighteen centuries without a ruler and without a judge since Shiloh came, and "to Him the gathering of the people has been."

Issachar--

¹⁴Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens: ¹⁵And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute. Genesis 49:14-15 · KJV

14. a strong ass couching down between two burdens — that is, it was to be active, patient, given to agricultural labors. It was established in lower Galilee — a "good land," settling down in the midst of the Canaanites, where, for the sake of quiet, they "bowed their shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute."

Dan--though the son of a secondary wife, was to be "as one of the tribes of Israel."

¹⁶Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. ¹⁷Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward. ¹⁸I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD. Genesis 49:16-18 · KJV

17. Dan — "a judge." a serpent... an adder — A serpent, an adder, implies subtlety and stratagem; such was pre-eminently the character of Samson, the most illustrious of its judges.

Joseph--

²²Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall: ²³The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him: ²⁴But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:) ²⁵Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb: ²⁶The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren. Genesis 49:22-26 · KJV

22. a fruitful bough, &c. — denotes the extraordinary increase of that tribe (compare Nu 1:33-35; Jos 17:17; De 33:17). The patriarch describes him as attacked by envy, revenge, temptation, ingratitude; yet still, by the grace of God, he triumphed over all opposition, so that he became the sustainer of Israel; and then he proceeds to shower blessings of every kind upon the head of this favorite son. The history of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh shows how fully these blessings were realized.

Benjamin

27: shall ravin like a wolf — This tribe in its early history spent its energies in petty or inglorious warfare and especially in the violent and unjust contest (Jud 19:1-20:48), in which it engaged with the other tribes, when, notwithstanding two victories, it was almost exterminated.
28: all these are the twelve tribes of Israel — or ancestors. Jacob's prophetic words obviously refer not so much to the sons as to the tribes of Israel.
29: he charged them — The charge had already been given and solemnly undertaken (Ge 47:31). But in mentioning his wishes now and rehearsing all the circumstances connected with the purchase of Machpelah, he wished to declare, with his latest breath, before all his family, that he died in the same faith as Abraham.
33: when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons — It is probable that he was supernaturally strengthened for this last momentous office of the patriarch, and that when the divine afflatus ceased, his exhausted powers giving way, he yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.

Commentary text from Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (1871), a public-domain work, offered freely for personal study. Scripture quotations are from the public-domain King James Version.