Last 5 Days
The Twelve Descendants of Jacob
1 Then Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what shall happen to you in days to come.
2 “Assemble and listen, O sons of Jacob, listen to Israel your father.
3 “Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the firstfruits of my strength, preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power. 4 Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence, 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; weapons of violence are their swords. 6 Let my soul come not into their council; O my glory, be not joined to their company. For in their anger they killed men, and in their willfulness they hamstrung oxen. 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, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father's sons shall bow down before you. 9 Judah is a lion's cub; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down; he crouched as a lion and as a lioness; who dares rouse him? 10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. 11 Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey's colt to the choice vine, he has washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes. 12 His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk.
13 “Zebulun shall dwell at the shore of the sea; he shall become a haven for ships, and his border shall be at Sidon.
14 “Issachar is a strong donkey, crouching between the sheepfolds. 15 He saw that a resting place was good, and that the land was pleasant, so he bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant at forced labor.
16 “Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. 17 Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a viper by the path, that bites the horse's heels so that his rider falls backward. 18 I wait for your salvation, O Lord.
19 “Raiders shall raid Gad, but he shall raid at their heels.
20 “Asher's food shall be rich, and he shall yield royal delicacies.
21 “Naphtali is a doe let loose that bears beautiful fawns.
22 “Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring; his branches run over the wall. 23 The archers bitterly attacked him, shot at him, and harassed him severely, 24 yet his bow remained unmoved; his arms were made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob (from there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel), 25 by the God of your father who will help you, by the Almighty who will bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that crouches beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb. 26 The blessings of your father are mighty beyond the blessings of my parents, up to the bounties of the everlasting hills. May they be on the head of Joseph, and on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers.
27 “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf, in the morning devouring the prey and at evening dividing the spoil.”
28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each with the blessing suitable to him. 29 Then he commanded them and said to them, “I am to be gathered to 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 at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. 31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah— 32 the field and the cave that is in it were bought from the Hittites.” 33 When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people.
In this chapter from verse 1 to verse 27, Jacob blessed his descendants who will form the twelve tribes of Israel. It is prophetically related to the blessings and the roles they play as a nation. The firstborn, Reuben will not inherit the prestige of the firstborn because of his sin of sleeping with his stepmother’s maid, the concubine of his father. For Simeon and Levi, the brothers killed Shechem for raping their sister, Dinah. Their descendants would be divided and scattered among their brothers. This was fulfilled in the allotment of the land. The descendants of Simeon lived in the cities and towns belonging to Judah while the Levites was scattered in different cities belonging to the other tribes.
Judah will rule over his brothers as the kingly line as prophesied in the blessing in verse 10, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet.” Zebulun will occupy the coastal areas and become a sea-faring people. Issachar will be strong, but the tribe will serve his brothers. Dan will be assigned the role of judge and punish those he judges. Gad will be “raided” but he will fight back and destroy his enemies. Naphtali will be free and fruitful. Joseph will be resilient and fruitful as despite the adversities he faces, he will be strong as the God of his father will be with him. His brother, Benjamin, will be like a hunter devouring his enemies and enjoying the spoil.
These were the twelve tribes of Israel who were blessed by Jacob. He also gave them instructions what they were to do with his body after he passed away. He said, “I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers at Machpelah, to the east of Mamore in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place.”
After this blessing, the next chapter will transit from these individuals: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to the collective people of God, the nation of Israel. As in the last chapter of Genesis 50. It will end with the death of Joseph to focus on God’s people as a nation after them.
The covenant of God with Abraham will now take shape even though there would be failures and successes of God’s people as a nation. Yet this is the nation that God will bring forth the Messiah who is the Son of God and the Saviour of the world. These descendants of Jacob were identified as those who worship the God of these three individuals: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Messiah who will then call the Gentiles to repent and join this family of God as His children in the New Covenant by accepting Jesus as their Saviour. They will then become
partakers of the blessings God as promised to Abraham. Thus, as God’s children of the New Covenant, He is using His people, the Church to bless the nations today.
The question is whether we know and understand our role as God’s chosen people. Will we allow God’s appointed leaders to lead us as His chosen people just as God used Moses to lead them out of Egypt and Joshua to lead them into Canaan and now Jesus to lead us into the divine kingdom? Or will we be like the Israelites who in their stubbornness rebelled instead of following them? The journey will be easier and faster if we let God’s appointed leaders lead and use them instead of continuing to rebel like the Israelites did instead. Why would anyone want to make his journey harder for himself and everyone else at the same time? Blessed are the peacemakers, for theirs is the kingdom of God as Jesus said.