Jacob Blesses His Sons

Story: Jacob Blesses His Sons

Passage: Genesis 49:1-27

Characters:  Jacob, his sons

Summary:  Jacob gathered his sons and blessed them.  In reality, he prophesied over all of them. 

Notes: Not all of these “blessings” were good.  This is the first time a human makes a prophecy in the Bible.  We have seen some sort of veiled prophecies, but this is the first time a person blatantly prophecies about the future.  Simeon was first.  As firstborn, he should have the biggest inheritance and blessing, Jacob begins by describing how he was excellent as firstborn, but he would not excel.  This was the result of him sleeping with his father’s wives.  Simeon and Levi were next.  They were identified as violent after the episode with their sister Dinah.  They would be scattered and divided.  Looking ahead in the story, both Simeon and Levi were divided, but it was a curse for Simeon and a blessing for Levi.  Simeon ended up being the smallest tribe and shared land with Judah.  Levi however never got land and served as priests throughout the land.  Either way, Jacob’s blessing came true.  Judah was told he would be a ruler.  Judah was probably freaking out after hearing his three older brothers’ blessings, but he was told he would be a ruler.  In fact, from the time of David until Christ, there was always someone from Judah in a leadership position.  Even Daniel was from the tribe of Judah.  When Israel finally lost all authority in the Roman Empire, Jesus had already been born.  So from the time of David until now, Judah has been a royal tribe in fulfillment of this prophecy.  Zebulun would dwell on the shore.  Issachar would be strong, but they would be servants.  Dan would be a judge.  Dan would also be a serpent.  They did indeed introduce idolatry into Israel.  They are left out of the list of tribes in Revelation 7, but they are included in Ezekiel.   Gad would be raided but they would fight back.  Asher would be rich and blessed.  Naphtali would have beautiful words.  Joseph had endured trials but God would continue to bless him abundantly.  Benjamin would be a ravenous wolf.  Benjamin was indeed a fierce tribe.  I could go into a lot more detail on these blessings, but I encourage you to look into them yourself.  Maybe as we read about the history of Israel we can refer back to these prophecies. 

Questions:  What did the brothers think of these blessings?  Were some offended with what they got?  Were they jealous of what others got? 

Lessons:  Here we see God’s redemptive nature in His plan for Judah and Levi, but we also see his justice in His plan for Reuben and Simeon.    God is both full of justice and grace.  It makes no sense to us, but it is possible for Him to have both.