Ten Blessings 2 - Genesis 49:1-15

Two things, first two years ago, I worked really hard to finish up with the book of Revelations so that I could be done by the end of 2021 and start into the Old Testament in 2022. With that being said, now two years later, at the end of 2023, I basically only have 2 chapters left in Genesis and I’d really like to go into 2024 moving on from Genesis and going into whatever the other books in the Old Testament have to offer, so let’s hope for the best with that.

Secondly, I wish I had done a little bit more research before making the last post, because after listening to more lectures, etc there is a lot more information that I wanted to include about each blessing. I really like the way that TB did it, because as he went through the blessings, he pulls together other references and then looks at the history of each tribe to see how each blessing was fulfilled. It was very instructive, actually, I think that it was the best of his lectures that I’ve heard so far, and I highly recommend it, as I surely won’t do it or the actual scriptures justice. So let’s go back to the blessings and ad some insight because It’s pretty important, not just to the human narrative, but to the future organization of Israel as a whole.

TB reminds us that there are “two major components that make-up the traditional firstborn blessing: first, was the double-portion, which meant that the firstborn was to receive two shares (or more) of the tribe’s wealth instead of one. Second, was that the firstborn was given the right of authority to LEAD, to rule over, the whole tribe.” So let’s go into the this study keeping in mind the two separate parts of the blessing, double portion of the inheritance (the physical) and the right to leadership (the social or spiritual).

Reuben – We know that Jacob was deeply displeased with Reuben and basically told him that he’s not getting the birthright blessing because he had sex with Bilhah, what we don’t know is just how surprised Reuben was by his news, but ultimately it doesn’t matter. TB notes that 1 Chronicles 5:1-2 gives more insight into this, which says of Reuben “his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel, though not in such a way as for him to be regarded in the genealogy as the firstborn. For Judah became greater than his brothers, inasmuch as the ruler came from him; nevertheless, the birthright went to Joseph.”

TB continues, noting that Jacob’s blessing to Reuben was fulfilled by his tribe not being leaders in Israel, saying, “We will find that the tribe of Reuben did not produce one single military leader, king, prophet, not judge… We also find that after the 12 tribes, led by Moses, approached the promised land of Canaan, the tribe of Reuben decided NOT to enter the Promised Land, but rather to settle for ‘good enough.’ They took some territory as their inheritance on the east side of the Jordan River, outside the land of Canaan. We even find that Reuben’s tribe began a steady decline in their population. Moses was apparently so concerned about the condition of the tribe of Reuben that he prayed (Deut. 33:6) ‘Let Reuben live, and not die; and let not his men be few.’” This put a lot into perspective, especially the previously referenced Deuteronomy portion that were totally unintelligible to me before.

Simeon & Levi – they were blessed together because, as TB says, “they are brothers in violence, and so they shall be brothers in their transgressions.” He notes that the blessing basically says that these two tribes will be “divided and scattered,” but also noting that the process of being divided and isolated can lead to election, saying, “It’s a deceived mankind that looks upon division as an automatic negative.”

As far as how this all played out historically, Simeon, like Reuben was drastically and dramatically reduced in population, but was also only given land WITHIN the land of Judah, “and more accurately, certain cities within Judah’s territory… Worse yet, the area they occupied within Judah was primarily the Negev… an arid desert. Simeon was probably the first tribe to be completely absorbed by the other tribes, with some of them joining with Judah, and others joining what would eventually come to be known as the 10 northern tribes of Ephraim.” He also notes that in 1st Chronicles, we learn that some of the tribe of Simeon leave Israel altogether and join the Edomites, or the descendants of Esau.

Levi received the “scattered” part of the blessing, which we’ve seen and discussed previously, with Levi being the tribe that was tasked with performing church service, and not given any land of their own, and instead “stationed’ around the whole of Israel.

Judah – Going back to the two different parts of the birthright blessing, we see that Judah is blessed with all the words regarding, as TB says, “tribal authority and leadership”, but nothing regarding possessions. Judah is the one “whom thy brethren shall praise… they father’s children shall bow down before thee… The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come.” He is also referred to as the “Lion” which TB suggests is “an ancient symbol of regal status… Judah is the new leader of Israel.”

Zebulun – I was partially correct when deduced that Zebulun’s blessing to “swell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships,” which TB says, “Zebulun’s destiny is to be in commercial ventures: he’d be a merchant and a trader.” However, I noted that the territory granted to Zebulun’s tribe was completely landlocked, so I wondered how that would work out. TB explains, “hundreds of years into the future, we find that Zebulun’s territorial allotment will put them as a land bridge between the Sea of Galilee, and the Mediterranean. Now, they never really possessed territory all the way to the seashore, but they had shipping and trade interests on both Seas.” Zebulun’s only other mention in the Bible is in the “Song of Deborah and Barak” where, as TB says, “Zevulun is mentioned as being one of several tribes that committed many men to fighting against the King of Hazor… Though precious little is said in the Bible about Zevulun, what is said could be characterized as positive and complimentary.”

Isaachar – he is blessed as “a strong ass couching down between two burdens.” TB went over this extensively noting that, donkeys at the time were highly regarded as hard workers and quite the asset to anyone who had one, so while this is quite the insult today, at this time, Jacob would have meant it to be basically that Issachar was a strong, reliable, valuable, hard working asset to the team. TB also notes, “so little is known about Issachar, that the ancient Israelite scholars went out of their way to invent good things to say about his descendants.” He went through a couple of “urban legends” about Issachar’s legacy, but that they are easily debunked and that we just don’t know that much about them.

This is the end of the blessings to the 6 sons of Jacob that were born to him by Leah. Tomorrow, we’ll get into the four sons that were born to Jacob’s concubines Bilhah and Zilpah, but we’ll group them by mother, instead of chronologically, because these other four sons were born between when Leah had Judah and Zebulun.