Ten Blessings 3 - Genesis 49:16-33

49:16- - After having blessed all the sons of Leah, we now get to the four sons of the concubines, beginning with Dan, the oldest of the four. Jacob makes a statement that seems so benign to me, but apparently is loaded with meaning, “Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.” Sounds to me like he’s going to be a judge, incorrect. This word “judge” was the word used when Rachel named him after he was born, saying, “God hath judged me, and hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a son: therefore called she his name Dan.” TB clarifies for us though that this did not mean that the tribe of Dan was going to be a group of court room presiders, but instead that they would be constantly judged by God.

The territory that the tribe of Dan was given shared a border with the Philistines which resulted in Dan being fierce fighters. The bit about the snake might suggest that this indicates the struggle that Danites had with idolatry, with a significant portion of their population eventually leaving their promised allotment of land and moving north near modern day Lebanon. TB also notes, “Dan’s tribe dimished, over time, in size and importance. In fact, not only are they not even mentioned in the O.T. listing of tribal genealogies in 1st Chronicles 2, they are omitted in the N.T. listing of tries that will make up the 144,000 sealed Israelite witnesses told about in Revelation 7.” That seems like a pretty significant judgment from Go.

The second part of Jacob’s first sentence to Dan, that he will be a tribe in Israel is significant because, as TB comments that the sons of concubines held no legal authority within the family structure, but Jacob wanted to make sure that once he was gone, they would still be treated as brothers, instead of demoted to “concubine children.” This was actually a very well thought out, knowing that his sons were fickle and couldn’t be trusted to take care of each other once he was gone.

49:19 – Gad is next with a very short blessing, “Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.” This could be interpreted that Gad will be warriors who will win in the end. Like the tribe of Reuben, Gad also elected to stay outside of Canaan, on the east side of the Jordan River, meaning that they also bordered hostile nations who were constantly at war. But this perpetual warfare “led to Gad becoming regarded as the fiercest of warriors.”

49:20 – Asher is next, and unlike the two boys before him, he is given a happy blessing, promising “out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.” TB notes, “Ashur’s portion of land was some of the most fertile in the Holy Lands. Stretching between the land of Type on to Mount Carmel, their corn and olive oil was famous for its quality and quantity. Apparently, Asher shunned military conflicts, and chose a very peaceful life of agriculture. Consequently, we read of no great military commander, leader, or even judge coming from Asher.” Sounds like he’s made out on some of the best blessing so far.

49:21 – Last born among these brothers is Naphtali, who is told, “Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words.” Sounds pretty weird, but straight forward, they will be good speakers, but that is not the message. Apparently, a “hind” is a female deer, a doe, who is graceful and swift. They are noted as having performed “special acts of bravery in a significant military conflict between the Israelites and some Canaanite tribes.” As for the last part about great speakers, TB notes, “It was in Naphtali’s territory, not part of the Galilee, that Jesus recruited the most of His disciples and then began his ministry… So, Naphtali was greatly blessed, even if not one other thing of importance could be said about this tribe.”

49:22-26 – Joseph’s blessing is complicated by the fact that Jacob removed Joseph’s two sons from his spiritual custody and took them into his own, meaning that the blessings that Joseph is to receive will be fulfilled by his two sons inheriting them. We know that Joseph was to receive the second part of the birthright blessing, the double portion of the inheritance, but instead of Joseph just receiving two pieces of the pie, the double portion is realized by Ephraim and Manassa each receiving an equal part.

Joseph is promised to have “a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall.” It could be hypothesized that this is in reference to the large portion of the population of Israel as a whole that is made up by Ephraim and Manassa, but I also think that this “running over the wall” could be referencing Lehi’s departure from Canaan and coming to the Americas. We’ve discussed Joseph and his blessings extensively already, so I’m just going to leave it at that.

49:27 – Benjamin only gets a one verse blessing, despite being one of his father’s favorite sons, and despite how much be is beloved by his father and brother, his blessing is not a positive one. Benjamin, “shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.” TB notes that the future of the tribe of Benjamin is chaotic because this tribe, “was also ferocious and stiff-necked.” He notes that the land that Benjamin was given worked as not only a buffer between Ephraim and Judah, but that they also had two major through fairs, one running north-south and the other running east-west. TB states the significance of this is that these thorough fairs not only allowed armies to cross through their lands along these major highways, but also made Benjamin rich, as this tribe robbed and pillaged those who traveled along these routes.

An incident reminiscent of Sodom and Gomorrah occurred in Benjamin where male visitors were meant to be victims of gang rape by the men of Benjamin, but instead another man’s concubine was almost raped to death as a substitute, then she died on his doorstep because he wouldn’t let her in because he was disgusted with her, then dismembered her into 12 pieces, one sent to every tribe as a message of who the tribe of Benjamin was. This is a super messed up story and I’m not going to get into it because it will piss me off, but anyway, the other tribes were so disgusted by Benjamin’s behavior, that they gathered their armies and attacked Benjamin, and even though it was close, Benjamin was finally defeated and “never fully recovered.”

49:28-33 – After blessing all his boys, Jacob implores them to take his body back to Canaan and bury him with his fathers in the cave that Abraham bought, and also ‘there I buried Leah.” This request isn’t sentimental, TB suggests it’s because Jacob truly believed that he wouldn’t be able to be with his fathers in the next life if his body wasn’t in close proximity to them. Then Jacob died, and what a wild ride this has been.