Chapter Overview
Jacob gives his sons prophecies and final thoughts about them before dying. He doesn’t have favorable words for most of them.
Additional Thoughts
It’s official… Jacob is a dick. This appears to be a final F-U to most of his children when he realizes that he’s going to be dying soon. Relatedly… how did he know he was getting close to dying? Is this a magical ability that people in Ye Olden Times possessed? I’ve never understood the “giving up the ghost” thing either. It sounds like people chose when to die. Does that mean his death is technically a suicide if he did?
All in all, another chapter with an iron-age understanding of the world. Nothing important to see here.
Chapter 49: Jacob Dies
- 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.
- Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.
- Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:
- 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.
- Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.
- O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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?
- The 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.
- 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:
- His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.
- Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships; and his border shall be unto Zidon.
- Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens:
- 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.
- Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.
- 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.
- I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord.
- Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.
- Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.
- Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words.
- Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:
- The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:
- 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:)
- 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:
- 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.
- Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.
- All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them.
- 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,
- 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 buryingplace.
- There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.
- The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth.
- 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 starts off sounding like it’s going to be an apocalyptic prophecy. Unfortunately, it’s not. It’s just Jacob ragging on most of his sons.
- Hear ye, hear ye, Jacob (not Israel) speaks.
- Aw how nice.
- And this immediately turns sour.
- Aw, how mean.
- Sounds like Jacob REALLY doesn’t like Simeon or Levi.
- Divide them in Jacob? WTF does this mean?
- Judah, in the original hebrew, sounds like the hebrew word for “Praise”. That might be the origin of the name.
- Sounds like Judah isn’t being completely ragged on… still not a super nice picture of him.
- Not entirely sure who this Shiloh person is supposed to be.
- That’s a lot of references to wine.
- Is Shiloh some sort of drunkard?
- Claims this guy will live by the sea. This doesn’t work though. Zebulun is land locked…
- As opposed to being strong of ass?
- Guess he’s happy with his lot in life
- Apparently Dan means “He provides justice”.
- Isn’t it a bit suspicious to have a judge named “He who provides justice” being compared to a snake?
- This disrupts the narrative. 0/10 slaves.
- This guy is going to be attacked and fail to defend, but ultimately prevail?
- Someone gets a good lot out of life.
- This guy sounds like he gets a good reading from jacob as well.
- Jacob is really obsessed with Joseph. He spends 5 verses on him. I think we found the next main chracter.
- Probably referencing his brothers.
- God kept him strong apparently despite there not really being evidence for this.
- But why? Jacob claims all this will happen, but there’s been no real reason to believe any of this.
- Apparently Joseph is the chosen one now.
- Huh… back to hating on his offspring.
- I’d honestly do literally anything other than forming a tribe if I were these kids just to spite Jacob at this point.
- After telling them how much he kinda hates most of them, why would they?
- Yeah, no. That’s a long walk. They should do literally anything else.
- Recap of the past.
- That was a pretty weird chapter too.
- Jacob shouts “YEET!” and yeets his soul out of his body. And dies.