Bible Commentaries
Genesis 47

Verses 1-27

XXXI

JACOB AND HIS FAMILY MIGRATE TO EGYPT

Genesis 46:1-47:27

Concerning this eventful migration, we consider just now several important matters:

IT WAS BY DIVINE APPOINTMENT
This appears first from the revelation made to Abraham when he was yet childless (Genesis 15:13-16); and here again in a vision to Jacob at Beer-sheba (Genesis 46:1-4). There is much interplay of human passion and purpose (Genesis 37:18-36) and natural causes, as the famine, and high above all God is reigning, making the envious brothers and Joseph their victim (Genesis 46:4-7), the famine itself, the Midianite, Ishmaelite, Potiphar and wife, the prison, the butler and baker, and Pharaoh himself – all subservient to his plan of the ages concerning the redemption of the race.

THE NUMBER OF THE IMMIGRANTS
Two totals are given in the Hebrew text, sixty-six and seventy. The sixty-six are those descending from Jacob’s own loins and who went with him. This, of course, does not include Jacob himself, nor Joseph and his two sons, already in Egypt: they, added, make the seventy. In detail we have as descendants of Leah, his first wife: Reuben and four sons, five; Simeon and six sons, seven; Levi and three sons, four; Judah, three living sons, and two grandsons, six; Issachar and four sons, five; Zebulun and three sons, four; his daughter Dinah, one; total, thirty-two, Jacob himself making thirty-three. Of Zilpah, Leah’s maid, we have Gad and seven sons, eight; Asher, four sons, a daughter, and two grandsons, eight; total, sixteen. Of Rachel, Joseph, and two sons, three; Benjamin and ten sons, eleven; total fourteen. Of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid, we have Dan and one son, two; Naphtali and four sons, five; total, seven. Then thirty-three plus sixteen plus fourteen plus seven equals seventy. You will observe that neither Jacob’s surviving wives, nor any of his sons’ wives, nor any slaves, nor other dependents, are counted in this register. Judging from the numerous following of Abraham and Isaac, the dependents must have been a little army. It is remarkable that only one daughter and one granddaughter appear in the list. When we compare ages that are expressly given, for example, Jacob 130 (Genesis 47:9), and that all of the children except Benjamin were born in the sojourn of twenty years in Haran, we may agree with Murphy that the respective ages must have been at this time: Jacob 130; Joseph 30 (Genesis 41:26) ; Reuben 46; Simeon 45; Judah 43; Naphtali 42; Gad 42; Asher 41; Issachar 41; Zebulun 40; Dinah 39; Benjamin 26. We must conclude that both Judah and his son married at about fourteen, and Benjamin, to have ten sons, must have married at fifteen.

But we now fall upon more serious difficulties, at least to some commentators. These arise from (1) the Septuagint Version of Genesis 46: which gives the number seventy-five instead of seventy, and Stephen in Acts 7:14, gives seventy-five. How shall we reconcile these accounts with the Hebrew? The explanation is not very difficult. The Septuagint, not inspired, itself explains the discrepancy between it and the Hebrew text by adding five additional names, descendants of Joseph’s children, Ephraim and Manasseh. The usual explanation of the passage in Acts is that Stephen merely quoted from the Septuagint. But this is more than doubtful. Stephen’s words, quoting from the American Standard Version, are: "And Joseph sent and called to him Jacob his father, and all his kindred, three score and fifteen souls." In this seventy-five neither Joseph nor his children may be counted. We readily see how Jacob and sixty-six descendants, sixty-seven in all, are counted in the seventy-five, but where do we get the other eight? We must look for them in the words, "All his kindred." But who are these? They may well be the surviving wives of Jacob and his sons, none of them given in the Genesis list. We know that two of Jacob’s wives are dead, Rachel, buried near Bethlehem (Genesis 31:19), and Leah, buried in the cave of Machpelah (Genesis 49:31). Judah’s wife was also dead (Genesis 38:12), and possibly Reuben’s. But we may reasonably count that at least eight wives of Jacob and his sons were living, and this would better explain Stephen’s words, "All his kindred," than to suppose that he quoted from the Septuagint.

But some critics find difficulties from another source, to wit: the enumerations in Numbers 26:5-51, and in 1 Chronicles 4-8. The enumeration in Numbers, hundreds of years later, under different time conditions, deals with the later descendants of Jacob’s children, and would not naturally fit exactly into the Genesis list. It nowhere contradicts Genesis, and the slight variation in the spelling of certain names is easily explicable. The Chronicles enumeration, still more remote in time, and for other purposes, presents no difficulty except for one looking for discrepancies.

There is a difficulty in chronology concerning the length of the sojourn in Egypt, already considered in Genesis 15:13, and it will come up again in Exodus 12:40; Acts 7:6; and Galatians 3:17, which will be considered when we come to Exodus 12:40.

THE AFFECTING MEETING OF JACOB AND JOSEPH
The sorrow of Jacob for the loss of Joseph has become proverbial in the East. It was a sorrow that could not be comforted: "I have grief like that which Jacob felt for the loss of Joseph" (see Arabian Nights, Vol. 2, pp. 112, 206, 222). Scriptural expressions of his sorrow are Genesis 37:33-35; Genesis 42:36-38; Genesis 47:9.

When his sons returned from Egypt and announced that Joseph was alive, he fainted. Note Genesis 45:25-28: "And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father. And they told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt. And his heart fainted, for he believed them not. And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them; and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived: and Israel said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die." He was also greatly assured with these words of Jehovah, Genesis 46:2-4: "And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am 1. And he said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation; I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes."

Their affecting meeting is thus described in Genesis 46:29-30: "And Joseph made ready with his chariot, and went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen; and he presented himself unto him, and fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while. And Israel said unto Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, and thou art yet alive." Under widely different circumstances our Lord, in the parable of the prodigal son, described the touching meeting of a long-separated father and son.

JOSEPH PRESENTS HIS FATHER AND BROTHERS TO PHARAOH
Taking with him five of his brothers, after instructing them what to say, Joseph introduces them to Pharaoh, and so manages to secure the land of Goshen for them (Genesis 46-47:6). The advantages of the land of Goshen were these: (1) It was the best in Egypt for pasturage; (2) it isolated the children of Israel from the Egyptians, thus enabling them to preserve uncontaminated the exclusive religious faith, and hedged against giving offense to the Egyptians by either religion or occupation and tended to prevent intermarriage; (3) it was the frontier gateway into their Promised Land.

According to Herodotus (2:164), the Egyptians were divided into seven distinct classes or castes: Priests, warriors, cowherders, swine-herders, interpreters, boatmen and shepherds. Our text says: "Every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians." It is certain that Egyptian sculpture represents the shepherds in a most degrading way. So the two peoples would be mutually repulsive on many grounds. The favor accorded to Jacob’s family and dependents being attributable to the esteem of the royal family for Joseph, all the dreams of Joseph were thus fulfilled. His brethren now bow down before him, and the father is nourished by him.

JACOB AND PHARAOH (Genesis 47:7-11)
The meeting between these two men, so strongly alike in every way, presents both of them in a favorable light. Pharaoh is very courteous and Jacob is full of dignity. It is he that blesses Pharaoh. The sincerity of Jacob’s famous words has been questioned. "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are thirty and a hundred years: few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage." Marcus Dods, on Genesis, quotes Lady Duff-Gordon: "Old Jacob’s speech to Pharaoh really made me laugh (don’t be shocked), because it is so exactly like what a fellah says to a pasha – Jacob being a most prosperous man, but it is manners to say all that." Lady Duff-Gordon may indeed be amused at the Oriental manners of her time, as the Orientals were doubtless amused at hers, only they were too polite to show it. But you might make a great sermon on Jacob’s words) and find in them evidences of deepest sincerity.

(1) He correctly represents his life as a "pilgrimage," whose destination, rest and home, and reward, are in the world above, and so testifies the New Testament (Hebrews 11:8-10; Hebrews 11:13-16). It was from the New Testament Scriptures, descriptive of this feeling of the patriarch life, that Bunyan derived the idea immortalized in his Pilgrim’s Progress. There is no mere mannerism or perfunctory custom in Jacob’s reference to his life as a pilgrim. (2) It is strictly true that he had not attained to the days of his fathers. Relative fewness of days was his when compared with either patriarchal longevity, or eternity. (3) While brightened here and there by divine visitations, his days were full of evil. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with hardships and griefs. Remorse of conscience for his own sins clouded his life, and the chastening therefore was a heavy burden. His apprehension of Esau’s violence, his separation from his mother never to see her again in this life, his exile from home, and lonely, friendless life, counted much. No gem of literature is more exquisite, pathetic and tragic than his own simple statement to Laban of his twenty years of trial in Padan-Aram, as follows: "And Jacob was wroth, and chode with Laban; and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my trespass? what is my sin, that thou hast holly pursued after me? Whereas thou hast felt about all my stuff, what hast thou found of all thy household stuff? Set it here before my brethren and thy brethren, that they may judge betwixt us two. These twenty years have I been with thee; thy ewes and thy she-goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flocks have I not eaten. That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it; of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. Thus I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep fled from mine eyes. These twenty years have I been in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy flock: and thou hast changed my wages ten times. Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now hadst thou sent me away empty. God hath seen mine affliction and the labour of my hands, and rebuked thee yesternight." His troubles from the polygamy forced upon him were many. The sin of Reuben wounded him to the heart. The dishonor done to Dinah, and the violence of Simeon and Levi left lasting scars never to be forgotten. His anxieties about hostile neighbors never left him. His loss of his beloved Rachel was irreparable, and his loss of Joseph broke his heart. It was shallow pertness and affected smartness on the part of Lady Duff Gordon to ridicule a speech so eloquently and so sublimely true.

JOSEPH’S ADMINISTRATION OF THE AFFAIRS OF EGYPT (Genesis 41:37-57; Genesis 47:13-26)
More than once has the world been surprised at the wise administration of national affairs by alien Jews, promoted for merit alone to the highest political offices. It commenced with Joseph’s rule over Egypt; it is followed by Daniel’s rule over Babylon, and Mordecai’s and Nehemiah’s influence at the court of Persia. We have modern examples in the sway of the Rothschilds over the finances of many nations, Disraeli in England creating the British Empire, and Judah P. Benjamin in the Confederate States. There are multitudes of examples on a smaller scale.

Joseph’s administration in Egypt gave it world pre-eminence. His bringing all the land to Pharaoh has been questioned. But it was not only an unavoidable expedient, but greatly simplified the government of a turbulent population, and gave to the people themselves a definite one-fifth tribute, instead of uncertain, oppressive taxation and much tyrannical oppression. If they paid the one-fifth, a land rent far cheaper than prevails here, their burdens were ended. His gathering the people into cities was to simplify the distribution of stores. There will doubtless always be difference of opinions about the wisdom of agrarian laws. The abolition of private ownership in land has been argued in our time and country by Henry George and his followers. A political economist will find it difficult to answer satisfactorily his Progress and Poverty. The accumulation of large landed interests, mines, minerals, timbers, oil, etc., in the hands of a few men, or irresponsible syndicates, menaces today the peace of the world. Isaiah prophesies woe to those who add house to house and land to land until there is no room for the people. Jefferson claimed that the earth in usufruct belongs to the living. Goldsmith well says in his Deserted Village:

III fares the land to hastening ills a prey,

Where wealth accumulates and men decay.

The Gracchi perished in trying to remedy the land evil in ancient Rome. The ancient Germans, according to Caesar, prevented private ownership of lands, as, according to Prescott, did the ancient Peruvians. England passed through the throes of this very burning question. It is certain that Egypt was happier under Joseph’s rule than ever before or since. So were the Peruvians under the land policy of the Incas. In the United States today the battle is on to the death to preserve to the people the water courses, the forests, the natural resources; and to relax the choking grasp of monopolies that prey, in selfish, insatiable greed, upon the very vitals of the people. Joseph, being an alien, did not attempt to destroy the landownership of the priesthood, the most plausible and yet the most dangerous monopoly known to a free people. Other nations have been compelled to abolish their ownership. The successful fight in Mexico on that point is the most notable in history. The priesthood held one-half the land in fee simple, and not only paid no taxes, but forced the people owning the other half to support them. They ruled the cradle, the grave and futurity itself. Their holidays drove labor from the calendar. This ownership in the Philippines constituted one-half of the gravest problems in our government of those islands, in the solution of which, mainly by President Taft when in charge there, more unwise statesmanship was displayed than was ever before exercised by our country’s rulers, the end of which in fateful consequences is not yet.

Under all circumstances, the administration of Egyptian affairs by Joseph is the wisest record in the annals of time. A writer cited by Marcus Dods mentions an inscription on the tomb of an Egyptian, supposed to refer to this famine in Joseph’s time: "When a famine broke out for many years I gave corn to the city in each famine." Smith’s Bible Dictionary, article "Famine," cites the only other seven years of famine known to Egyptian history. It lasted from A.D. 1064-1071.

QUESTIONS
1. What is the proof that Jacob’s migration to Egypt was of divine appointment?

2. Show the interplay of human passion, the natural causes and name the actors who played any part in this matter.

3. How do you reconcile the two totals of sixty-six and seventy given in the Hebrew text?

4. How do you reconcile the numbers in Genesis 46:26-27, with the addition of Genesis 46:15; Genesis 46:18; Genesis 46:22; Genesis 46:25, and Acts 7:14?

5. What difficulties from another source puzzle the critics and what the explanation?

6. What proverb is based on Jacob’s loss of Joseph?

7. What are the scriptural expressions of his sorrow?

8. How did the news that Joseph was alive affect him?

9. How was he assured in this matter?

10. Describe the affecting meeting of Joseph and Jacob. What New Testament illustration of this incident cited?

11. What land did Joseph secure for his father and brothers, and what the advantages of this land?

12. According to Herodotus, what were the classes of the Egyptians?

13. What was the position of the shepherd among the Egyptians, the evidence and how account for the favor accorded Jacob and his family?

14. What were his famous words to Pharaoh and what Lady Duff Gordon’s remark about them?

15. What evidences of the sincerity of his words?

16. What New Testament evidence that Jacob correctly represented his life as a pilgrimage?

17. In what famous allegory is this idea immortalized?

18. How old was Jacob when he stood before Pharaoh and how do his days compare with the days of the other patriarchs?

19. What the evidence that his days were full of evil?

20. Itemize Jacob’s troubles somewhat.

21. What ancient Jews became powerful in the affairs of foreign governments?

22. What modern ones have made their influence felt likewise?

23. What were the blessings of Joseph’s administration to the people?

24. What are agrarian laws? Who wrote Progress and Poverty and what was its aim?

25. Cite Isaiah’s prophecy in point.

26. What was Jefferson’s position on it?

27. What said Goldsmith about it?

28. Cite illustrations of this in ancient and modern history.

29. How does the administration of Joseph in Egypt compare with other administrations of like nature?

30. What is the meaning of "Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes"? (Genesis 46:4.)

31. The meaning of "And Pharaoh took off his ring and put it on Joseph’s hand"?

32. Cite other Bible instances of the use of the signet ring.

Verses 27-31

XXXII

THE LAST DAYS OF JACOB AND JOSEPH

Genesis 47:27-31

We may thus compare Jacob and Solomon: The sun of Solomon’s life rose in a blaze of light and glory, and set in the darkest clouds. The sun of Jacob’s life rose in clouds, which lingered long, but set in joy and glory. Joseph and Daniel may thus be compared: These are the two basal personal lives of history, and the most important in beneficent political administration known to the annals of time. We may search in vain among the records of men to find two other prime ministers of nations that may rank with them.

How very few old men, after a hale and strong career, are permitted to enjoy the last seventeen years of declining age in peace, nourished by a favorite son, with tranquility in the family and prosperity in business. But age lives much in the past, exercising memory more than hope. Jacob now remembers, as death approaches, the cave of Machpelah in the Promised Land, where side by side repose the bodies of his ancestors, and exacts a solemn promise from Joseph that he be buried there. And in his farewell request to his sons he repeats this dying charge (read chapter Genesis 49:29-33), as follows: "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 from Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a burying-place. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah – the field and the cave that is therein, which was purchased from the children of Heth. And when Jacob made an end of charging his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people."

The remaining incidents of the book of Genesis come under these heads:

1. Jacob blesses Joseph’s children.

2. Prophecy concerning his children.

3. The burial of Jacob.

4. The fear of Joseph’s brethren that he would punish them for their sins after their father’s death.

5. The death of Joseph.

Taking them up in order, we have:

THE BLESSING OF THE SONS OF JOSEPH (Genesis 48:1-20)
Hearing of his father’s extreme illness, Joseph visits him and takes his two children with him. The old man is so feeble that he has to sit up in bed supported on his staff, and he is so nearly blind that the children must be brought close to him that he may see their faces and kiss them. Joseph purposes in his heart that Manasseh, his firstborn, should receive the greater blessing, and so places him before Jacob in such a way that Jacob’s right hand might rest on Manasseh’s head. But Jacob crosses his hands, and puts his right hand upon Ephraim’s head, and the left one on Manasseh. He commences his benediction on Joseph himself, and announces that his name must be the name of the two boys; in other words, that both of these sons must be counted as if they were the sons of Jacob, that is, that each one of them should become the head of a tribe of Israel; and this is what is meant by the explanation of Jacob to Joseph: "I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren," and immediately he designates the location of Ephraim in the Promised Land. That is the portion that came to him, and is described as that which came through the destruction of the Shechemites. Here an explanation is needed of Hebrews 11:21: "By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshipped leaning upon the top of his staff." We do not find this last clause in the Hebrew, but the Septuagint uses these words, only it puts them in Genesis 47:31, as a substitute for the words of the Hebrew: "And Israel bore himself upon the bed’s head." It will be observed that the author of the letter to the Hebrews corrects the Septuagint’s misapplication of these words. The Septuagint confines them to the occasion when Jacob exacts the oath from Joseph to bury him in the cave of Machpelah, as related in Genesis 47, but the author of the letter to the Hebrews applies them to the occasion when Jacob blesses the children of Joseph, as related in Genesis 48. We can well see how the words, "and he worshipped, leaning upon the head of his staff," fit the occasion of Jacob’s blessing the children of Joseph. The old man was too feeble to sit up in bed, unless he was supported by his staff; and with his feet resting on the floor, the children of Joseph were put between his knees, that he might see their faces and kiss them, while he steadied himself resting on his staff. When this was over we have these words: "and he bowed his face to the earth"; that is, it was at this juncture that Jacob worshiped, leaning upon the head of his staff. This New Testament usage of a Septuagint passage shows that the writers of the New Testament always quoted intelligently from that version, and whenever necessary, they corrected it.

JACOB’S BLESSING ON HIS SONS (Genesis 49)
In commenting on the forty-ninth chapter of Genesis, which contains the blessings pronounced by Jacob on his twelve sons, four distinct things need to be borne in mind. First, what was in the mother’s mind when the boy was named; second, what the boys turned out to be, as set forth in this chapter; third, what the tribe descending from them turned out to be, as set forth in Deuteronomy 34; fourth, the final reference to the tribes in Revelation 7. These four scriptures should be studied together. For example, I will take up what it says about Reuben first: "And Jacob called unto his sons, and said: Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the latter days." Reuben, the eldest, under usual conditions, would have had all the rights of primogeniture, the head of the family and the tribe and the priest, the one in whom the promised Messiah should come. "Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength; the pre-eminence of dignity and the pre-eminence of power. Boiling over as water, thou shalt not have the pre-eminence." That means that Reuben should not have the primogeniture. "Boiling over as water" refers to a pot on a fire, which, when it gets hot, runs over the pot and into the fire. That is the picture of one whose passions and appetites are not restrained, but when excited boil over. Because of that characteristic Reuben loses the birthright. In the common version it says, "unstable as water." The same idea is involved; that water may seem to be perfectly level, but when you put fire to it, it bubbles over. Now compare that with what Moses said in Deuteronomy 33, and you will see that for Reuben as a tribe the prospect brightens. Moses said, "Let Reuben live, and not die; nor let his men be few." You would have inferred from what Jacob said that the tribe would pass away on account of the sin and instability of the father. We go to the next case:

Simeon and Levi he puts together, because they were united in that great piece of cruelty and deception practiced upon the Shechemites, and the barbarous massacre of the men and the enslavement of the women and children and the robbing of the flocks. Jacob says:

Simeon and Levi are brethren;

Weapons of violence are their swords.

Here is a proverb which I have preached from:

O my soul, come not thou into their council;

Unto their assembly, my glory, be not thou united;

For in their anger they slew a man,

And in their self-will they hocked an ox.

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.

One of your examination questions will be: When was that fulfilled? Ans.: When Joshua made the allotments. Simeon and Levi received no allotments. Simeon was scattered about in Judah and other territory. So, as a matter of fact, these two tribes were scattered. Now, let us see when we come to Moses what change has taken place (Deuteronomy 33:8) :

And of Levi he said,

Thy Thummirn and thy Urim are with thy godly one,

Whom thou didst prove at Massah,

With whom thou didst strive at the water of Meribah;

Who said of his father, and of his mother, I have not seen him;

Neither did he acknowledge his brethren,

Nor knew he his own children:

For they have observed thy word,

And keep thy covenant.

They shall teach Jacob thine ordinances,

And Israel thy law:

They shall put incense before thee,

And whole burnt-offering upon thine altar.

Bless, Jehovah, his substance,

And accept the work of his hands:

Smite through the loins of them that rise up against him,

And of them that hate him, that they rise not again.

So far as Levi is concerned, then, the prospects are very wonderfully brightened when you come to Moses. There you begin to get an idea of the answer to another one of the general questions: How were the elements of the rights of primogeniture, which Reuben lost, distributed among the others? You see Levi gets a part, and becomes the priest of the family and the tribe, and as the priest he is the religious instructor. Moses tells us by what act Levi obtained that revision of the original sentence against him. The instance is when Israel worshiped the golden calf; Levi stood by Moses when he said, "Whoever is on the Lord’s side, let him come and stand over here," and the whole tribe of Levi came and stood by him. And in smiting the idolaters, they had no regard of men. In the final division of the rights of primogeniture, Levi received the priesthood, Joseph became the head of the tribe and Judah became the one through whom the promised Messiah should come.

We find that Moses does not mention Simeon at all, but he reappears in the Revelation list, and that Dan disappears from that list. Jacob says about Judah:

Judah, thee shall thy brethren praise:

Thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies;

Thy father’s son 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 a lioness; who shall rouse him up?

The sceptre shall not depart from Judah,

Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,

Until Shiloh come;

And unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be.

Binding his foal unto the vine,

And his ass’s colt unto the choice vine;

He hath washed his garments in wine,

And his vesture in the blood of grapes:

His eyes shall be red with wine,

And his teeth white with milk.

The first line of the above prophecy was a reference to the Messiah who shall come from him. In Genesis 49:10 is a remarkable messianic prophecy: "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh come." Shiloh is the Saviour. And so we find that the kingdom remain-ed (that Judah remained a kingdom) until it was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. Then, subordinated to Persia, civil government was restored under Zerubbabel of the line of David, and a hierarchy under Joshua, the high priest. The restoration was accomplished by Ezra and Nehemiah, aided by the prophets Haggai and Malachi. Under Greek rule Antiochus Epiphanes sought to destroy the whole Jewish polity and religion, but was defeated by the Maccabees, who became kings. Under Roman rule, Herod the Great, who married the last of the Maccabees) became king. Then just before Herod died Shiloh, the Messiah, came. As Herod was an ldumean, "the sceptre had departed from Judah." While Herod’s descendants, at the will of Rome, ruled under some subordinate title over parts of the Holy Land, yet all semblance of autonomous government perished at the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, A.D. 70, since which time the Jews, though existing as a dispersed race, have had no settled home, nor nationality, nor temple, nor altar, nor sacrifice, nor priesthood. If therefore Shiloh has not come, He can never come.

Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea;

And he shall be for a haven of ships;

And his border shall be upon Sidon.

We find Zebulun and Sidon located that way all through their history. Moses said (Deuteronomy 33:18):

Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out;

And, Issachar, in thy tents.

They shall call the peoples unto the mountains;

There shall they offer sacrifices of righteousness.

So that brightens for Issachar and Zebulun. When we come to Judges we find some illustrious people coming out of these tribes. We shall come to Dr. Burleson’s great text: "The sons of Issachar were wise, and had understanding of what Israel ought to do." Therefore, he said, whenever you see a leader of the people, he is a son of Issachar, who knows how, in great conventions, to tell Israel what policy to adopt. Look at Issachar as Jacob describes him (Genesis 49:14) :

Issachar is a strong ass,

Crouching down between the sheepfolds:

And he saw a resting place that it was good,

And the land that it was pleasant;

And he bowed his shoulder to bear,

And became a servant under taskwork.

So Issachar becomes a burden-bearing beast. Just so he could get fodder to eat and a good shed in the winter, he did not mind having a master and paying a tribute to him. But, as we have seen, it brightens for Issachar in the account by Moses. Jacob says of Dan:

Dan shall judge his people,

As one of the tribes of Israel.

There he refers to what the name "Dan" means. I have known several boys named Dan; and their nickname in the family is always "Judge." Doubtless there was an anticipation in this case of the time when an illustrious member of the tribe of Dan should be a judge of Israel. Our friend Samson was that man. Now comes a reference not so good (Genesis 49:17):

Dan shall be a serpent in the way,

An adder in the path,

That biteth the horse’s heels,

So that his rider falleth backward.

I have waited for thy salvation, O Jehovah.

That meant that Dan should not be an open enemy, but would lie in ambush. He was a snake in the grass. When we come to read the history in the book of Judges, we find that Dan got very much dissatisfied with the territory assigned to him, and slips out and steals some idols and goes up into the northern part of the country, and there becomes an idolater. There was an organization in the United States history called the Danites. After Joe Smith was killed at Nauvoo the Mormons moved to Salt Lake City, and organized this secret society to combat their enemies; and these Danites perpetrated that infamous Mountain Meadows Massacre, of which so much has been said. Just as Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s book Uncle Tom’s Cabin, had much to do with stirring up the North, and Thomas Dixon’sClansman has had to do with reversing the effect of that book, so a book entitled The Danites, a dramatized story, brought such a storm of indignation that the whole United States was set on fire against the Mormons, and finally General Albert Sidney Johnston, at that time colonel, was detached there with a force to put down the Mormon Rebellion. I can just remember the indignation created in the public mind by the horrors revealed in The Danites. Dan is not mentioned in Revelation.

Gad, a troop shall press upon him;

But he shall press upon their heel.

There Jacob goes back to the name the mother had in mind. Let us see how Gad enlarges in the writings of Moses (Deuteronomy 33:20-21):

Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad:

He dwelleth as a lioness,

And feareth the arm, yea, the crown of the head.

And he provided the first part for himself,

For there was the lawgiver’s portion reserved;

And he came with the heads of the people;

He executed the righteousness of Jehovah,

And his ordinances with Israel. We come to Asher (Genesis 49:20) :

Out of Asher his bread shall be fat,

And he shall yield royal dainties. Moses says (Deuteronomy 33:24) :

Blessed be Asher with children;

Let him be acceptable unto his brethren,

And let him dip his foot in oil. This last clause means that he will have a prosperous time as to this world’s goods. Moses says of Naphtali:

O Naphtali, satisfied with favour,

And full with the blessing of Jehovah,

Possess thou the west and the south. Whenever a boy is delivering his commencement address and scrapes star dust, we call him a "son of Naphtali." Now Jacob says (Genesis 49:21):

Naphtali is a hind let loose:

He giveth goodly words. That means that Naphtali is to furnish the orators. And we now come to the richest blessing of all, the blessing on Joseph. I read that to my little boy the other night, as the occasion of the service in the family prayer. I wanted him to see what a great thing it is when a father comes to die that he can look into the face of children sad say only good things (Genesis 49:22):

Joseph is a fruitful bough,

A fruitful bough by a fountain;

His branches run over the wall.

The archers have sorely grieved him,

And shot at him, and persecuted him:

But his bow abode in strength,

And the arms of his hands were made strong

By the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob.

THE BURIAL OF JACOB
By the consent of Pharaoh, Joseph went up to bury his father, accompanied by a great caravan, including distinguished Egyptians, and the whole family, and all the family of Jacob’s sons. It was an immense train, and when they came to the threshing floor of Atad they mourned for their father seven days. It was such an imposing funeral as to impress itself upon the minds of the inhabitants of the land. And then the body of the aged patriarch was put into the family burying place, in the cave of Machpelah.

THE FEARS OF JOSEPH’S BRETHREN
It was quite natural that Joseph’s brethren would suspect, now that the father was out of the way, that Joseph’s conduct toward them would change, and so they sought to conciliate him; but with great magnanimity he thus addresses them (Genesis 50:19-21): "Fear not, for am I in the place of God? And as for you, ye meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to have much people alive. Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them." And the Genesis record closes with:

THE DEATH OF JOSEPH
He lives to see the children of his sons to the third generation. Being about to die he gave this charge to them (Genesis 50:24-26): "God will surely visit you, and bring you up out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence." He told them that they should bury his bones in the Promised Land.

A noted Scotch preacher, Melville, preached a great sermon on "The Bones of Joseph," well making this point: "There can be no sufficient reason for the preservation of the bodies or bones of the dead, if there be no resurrection of the dead." When we take up the later history we will find that when the Israelites did leave Egypt, they took the body of Joseph, i.e., his bones (Exodus 15:19). They put his bones, not in the cave of Machpelah, but according to the promise made to Joshua (Joshua 24:32): "And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in the parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of money."

QUESTIONS
1. Compare the beginning and end of Jacob’s life with Solomon’s.

2. Compare Joseph and Daniel.

3. What characteristic of old age was exemplified in Jacob?

4. What was his request to Joseph which was repeated in his dying charge to his sons?

5. What now are the remaining incidents of the book?

6. How did Jacob thwart the purpose of Joseph to give Manasseh the greater blessing?

7. What did Jacob mean by saying that these sons should be called by his name?

8. What is meant by Jacob in this expression: "I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren"?

9. Explain in this connection Hebrews 11:21.

10. Of what does the forty-ninth chapter of Genesis consist?

11. What 4 things should be borne in mind in the study of this chapter?

12. What wag the element of weakness in Reuben’s character which lost him the birthright?

13. What striking New Testament illustrations are employed concerning preachers who partake of Reuben’s weakness of character? (2 Peter 2:17; Judges 1:12-13.)

14. How does the dying prophecy of Moses brighten the fate of Reuben’s posterity?

15. Why did Jacob take Simeon and Levi together?

16. What was the penalty for their sin and when fulfilled?

17. How does Moses brighten the prospects of Levi?

18. How were the several elements of the birthright forfeited by Reuben distributed among his brethren?

19. How did Levi’s descendants, by a great act of merit, regain a distinction greater than Levi forfeited?

20. What important messianic prophecy is a part of the blessing of Judah?

21. What was its bearing on the claim of Jesus to be the Messiah?

22. According to Jacob’s prophecy, where was Zebulun located?

23. In Jacob’s prophecy to what is Issachar likened?

24. How in Moses’ prophecy do the prospects of Zebulun and Issachar brighten?

25. Cite the text used by Dr. Burleson.

26. What is the meaning of "Dan" and what illustrious member of the tribe exemplified the name?

28. What do we learn of Dan in later history that justifies the prophecy?

29. What deadly secret organization in American history was based on the prophecy about Dan?

30. Whose dramatized story, The Danites, stirred the popular indignation against the Mormons?

31. How does Moses enlarge Gad over Jacob’s prophecy?

32. How do Moses’ and Jacob’s blessings on Asher compare?

33. What special gift should characterize the sons of Naphtali?

34. On which son came the richest blessing?

35. Which tribe is not mentioned in the blessing of Moses?

36. Which is omitted in the sealing of Revelation?

37. Describe the funeral of Jacob.

38. What was the fear of Joseph’s brethren after the death of Jacob?

39. What prophecy did Joseph give at his death?

40. What oath did he take of the children of Israel?

41. Who preached a great sermon on "The Bones of Joseph," and what was the main point?

42. When was the prophecy of Joseph fulfilled and where did they bury him?