GENESIS

Notes on Genesis 49

• Genesis 49:1 And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.

This of course means their descendants that would come after them. Even though we do not know where the tribes of Israel are today, rest assured God knows where they are. We don't have to search and pretend that the tribes are the Indians, the British or some other group of people in order to make sure we will be saved in the end. Our salvation depends upon our faith in Jesus Christ alone, not if we are descendants of some tribe of Israel. We don't have to worry about the 144 thousand or other such numbers if we already belong to Jesus Christ. Those 144, 000 are those who are saved in the last days from the tribes of Israel. Israel as a nation has not yet received Jesus as the Messiah (2025). That will change.

There will be much more than 144 thousand saved but those are the first ones to be saved from Israel during the last 7 year time of Jacob's trouble, or what we call the great tribulation. They will be the latter day preachers. I speculate that this occurs after the believing church will have been taken out or raptured. Jesus is coming for people who are without spot or wrinkle washed in the blood of Jesus. He is not coming for half baked, people who claim to be saved and are still living in open sin that has not been repented of. If we are lukewarm and sleeping spiritually when the Lord comes, we will be left behind I don't care what we claimed to have years ago. Read the letters to the churches in Revelation for references and also the words of Jesus in Luke.

• Luke 21:34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.
• 35 For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.
• 36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

Back to Jacob:

• Genesis 49:2 Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.
• 3 Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:
• 4 Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.

This sin was recorded in Genesis 35.

• Genesis 35:22 And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine: and Israel heard it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve:

Even though Reuben most probably repented of this sin, it caused a loss of the rights of the firstborn upon his descendants. The tribe of Reuben did not excel like the tribe of Judah. Our actions affect our children and sometimes pass to our descendants.

• Genesis 49:5 Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.
• 6 O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honor, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they digged down a wall.
• 7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.

Even though the tribe of Levi was chosen for the priesthood, they were scattered throughout the tribes. Jacob is very severe in telling them that their cruelty in the case of Shechem was very evil. It might have been the beginning of Israel having a bad name among nations around them.

This whole story was told in Chapter 34 of Genesis. A here is what they did as a result of their anger:

• Genesis 34:25 And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males.
• 26 And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem's house, and went out.
• 27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled the city, because they had defiled their sister.

Why did Simeon and Levi kill so many for what one person did? This is what we call prejudice. Prejudice is holding everyone that is of the same eithnic background accountable for what just one of them might have done.

• Genesis 49:8 Judah, 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.
• 9 Judah 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?
• 10 The scepter 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.
• 11 Binding 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:
• 12 His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.

Judah is the tribe from where we have the Jewish people. They are the ones who was to rule in Israel. They had kings until sin was found in them and the kingdom was temporarily taken from them until the coming of the king of kings, Jesus Christ who will rule the whole earth. Even so come Lord Jesus. Our Lord came from the tribe of Judah making Him a legal heir to the throne of David. Even though Joseph (husband of Miriam) was not the real father of Jesus, He was counted in the lineage. Mary (Miriam) was from the tribe of Judah also.

• Genesis 49:13 Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for a haven of ships; and his border shall be unto Zidon.

Zebulun was to dwell by the sea and be a haven for ships. Some of Christ's ministry was there.

• Genesis 49:14 Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens:
• 15 And 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.

Looks like Issachar was going to be a tribe subject to servitude.

• Genesis 49:16 Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.
• 17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.

The tribe of Dan was the first tribe to lead the children of Israel into idolatry. They were a tough adversary to protect the northern borders.

• Genesis 49:18 I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD.
• 19 Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.

Looks as if a troop overcomes that tribe but in the end they excel.

• Genesis 49:20 Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.
• 21 Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words.

Swift warriors maybe and writers of literature?

• Genesis 49:22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:
• 23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:
• 24 But 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:)
• 25 Even 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:
• 26 The 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.

Even though Joseph was persecuted and separated from his family, God brought him out and he became second ruler in Egypt. His descendants end up with two tribes in Israel. Ephraim and Manasseh. Before he died it appears that Jacob discovered what really happened to Joseph.

• Genesis 49:27 Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.

Benjamin was very strong and devoured prey.

• Genesis 49:28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spoke unto them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them.

Separate, these tribes lacked much but together forming all of Israel, they are a force to be reckoned with. Don't mess with Israel. These tribes will be restored their rightful place in the latter days. 10 of the tribes lost their place because of idolatry and sin. Judah followed later but found their homeland again in 1948. God knows where every one of the tribes are scattered. They all will return home again. We can't fight against God. True prophecy will come to pass eventually no matter who tries to stop it. I think I want to be found on the side of the Lord, not man. Beware all nations how you treat Israel.

• Genesis 49:29 And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,
• 30 In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a burial place.
• 31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.

Jacob recognized that his place was with his first wife. He wanted to be buried where Abraham, Isaac and Leah were buried. This showed faith in the plans and purposes of God. I believe God's perfect will is that we marry once and stay with our first wife (husband). God hates divorce and I believe sincerely that He does not approve of plural marriages. He warned in the law of Moses for kings not to multiply wives to themselves. I believe Jacob knew this in the end and was buried by one wife, his first wife. They were buried with Abraham, Isaac and their wives. The other wives of these men were not buried there. Since Rachel died when Benjamin was born, Leah was the one that spent the most time with Jacob.

• Genesis 49:32 The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth.
• 33 And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.

This describes what happens at death. The spirit (ghost) leaves the body and the body is dead. The spirit does not die but goes to await the latter day judgment. Before Jesus Christ came and died for sins, the righteous dead went to a place that was called Abraham's bosom. After Jesus died He went to that place and took those souls with Him to heaven. Now when a person who believes in Christ dies, His soul goes immediately to be with the Lord.

To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. The unrighteous go to Hell but it is a place where they do not have to go because Jesus made the way of escape if they would only repent of sin and believe the gospel. DC

Genesis 50