Genesi 49:11 Commento

This chapter is a prophecy; the likest to it we have yet met with was that of Noah, Gen 9:25, etc. Jacob is here upon his death-bed, making his will. He put it off till now, because dying men's words are apt to make deep impressions, and to be remembered long: what he said here, he could not say when he would, but as the Spirit gave him utterance, who chose this time, that divine strength might be perfected in his weakness. The twelve sons of Jacob were, in their day, men of renown, but the twelve tribes of Israel, which descended and were denominated from them, were much more renowned; we find their names upon the gates of the New Jerusalem, Rev 21:12. In the prospect of this their dying father says something remarkable of each son, or of the tribe that bore his name. Here is, I. The preface (Gen 49:1, Gen 49:2). II. Th prediction concerning each tribe (v. 3-28). III. The charge repeated concerning his burial (Gen 49:29-32). IV. His death (Gen 49:33).

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 49 This chapter contains a prophecy of future things, relating to the twelve sons of Jacob, and to the twelve tribes, as descending from them, and which he delivered to his sons on his death bed, having called them together for that purpose, Gen 49:1, he begins with Reuben his firstborn, whose incest he takes notice of, on which account he should not excel, Gen 49:3, next Simeon and Levi have a curse denounced on them for their cruelty at Shechem, Gen 49:5, but Judah is praised, and good things prophesied of him; and particularly that Shiloh, or the Messiah, should spring from him, the time of whose coming is pointed at, Gen 49:7, the predictions concerning Zebulun, Issachar, and Dan, follow, at the close of which Jacob expresses his longing expectation of God's salvation, Gen 49:13 and after foretelling what should befall Gad, Asher, and Naphtali, Gen 49:19, a large account is given of Joseph, his troubles, his trials, and his blessings, Gen 49:22, and Benjamin the youngest son is taken notice of last of all, all the tribes being blessed in their order according to the nature of their blessing, Gen 49:27, and the chapter is closed with a charge of Jacob's to his sons to bury him in Canaan, which having delivered, he died, Gen 49:29.

Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine,.... Which may be understood either of the tribe of Judah, and signify that vines should grow in such plenty, and so large and strong, that a man might fasten his ass to one of them, and if it ate and destroyed it, it would give no great concern, since the country abounded with them; or they would be so full of clusters that a man might load an ass from one of them. Some parts of the tribe of Judah were famous for vines, especially Engedi; hence we read of the vineyards of Engedi, Sol 1:14 or else of Shiloh the Messiah, which some interpret literally of him, when the prophecy in Zac 9:9 was fulfilled, as is recorded in Mat 21:2 but others better, figuratively, of Christ's causing the Gentiles, comparable to an ass's colt, for their impurity, ignorance of, and sluggishness in spiritual things, to cleave to him the true vine, Joh 15:1 in the exercise of faith, hope, and love, or to join themselves to his church and people, sometimes compared to a vine or vineyard, Isa 5:1. and he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes: an hyperbolical expression, setting forth the great abundance of wine in this tribe, of which there was such plenty, that if they would, they might have used it instead of water to wash their clothes in, but not that they did do so, only might if they would; and may denote the great quantity of spiritual blessings flowing from the love of God, which come by Christ; and of his word and ordinances, which are comparable to wine and milk, and are a feast of fat things, of wine on the lees, well refined, Isa 26:6 and may be applied to Christ, to the garment of his human nature, which, through his sufferings and death, was like a vesture dipped in blood, and he became red in his apparel, Isa 63:1 or to his church and people, which cleave to him as a garment, and whose garments are washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb, Rev 1:5 these words are interpreted of the Messiah in the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem, and are applied to him and his times in the Talmud (y), and in other Jewish writings (z): so wine is called the blood of the grape by the son of Sirach in the Apocrypha:"The principal things for the whole use of man's life are water, fire, iron, and salt, flour of wheat, honey, milk, and the blood of the grape, and oil, and clothing.'' (Sirach 39:26)"He stretched out his hand to the cup, and poured of the blood of the grape, he poured out at the foot of the altar a sweetsmelling savour unto the most high King of all.'' (Sirach 50:15) (y) T. Bab. Berac. fol. 57. 1. (z) Zohar in Gen. fol. 127. 3. & 128. 2, 3.

Again, it is said, “He tethers his colt to the vine.” This means he united the simple, new people to the Word, whom the vine signifies. For the product of the vine is wine; of the Word, blood. Both are saving potions: wine, for the health of the body; the other, blood, for the salvation of the soul.

By the "foal" he means the calling of the Gentiles; by the other, that of the circumcision: "one ass," moreover, that is to signify that the two colts are of one faith; in other words, the two callings. And one colt is bound to the "vine," and the other to the "vine tendril," which means that the Church of the Gentiles is bound to the Lord, but he who is of the circumcision to the oldness of the law. "He will wash his garment in wine; "that is, by the Holy Spirit and the word of truth, he will cleanse the flesh, which is meant by the garment. And "in the blood of the grape," trodden and giving forth blood, which means the flesh of the Lord, he cleanses the whole calling of the Gentiles.

Here Christ has mystically indicated his baptism. After he had come up from the Jordan and had purified its waters (by plunging in them), he received the grace and the gift of the Holy Spirit. … And since by hanging on the cross he was like a bunch of ripe grapes, after his side was pierced he emitted blood and water: 81 the former for the bath (baptism), the latter for the ransom (redemption), the prophet [Jacob] rightly said, “He shall wash his robe in wine, and his garment in the blood of ripe grapes.”

Therefore it was the Word of God, as we have already stated, who is found to have at one time put on and at another time to have put off the flesh. He even foretold this in the blessing “He shall wash his garment in wine, and his clothing in the blood of the grape.” … It is quite evident to us that the flesh was the garment and the body was the clothing of the Word who washed the substance of his body and the matter of his flesh in the blood, that is, in wine, cleansing by his passion that humanity he had taken upon himself. Therefore, inasmuch as he is washed, he is man, because the garment that is washed is flesh. But he who washed it is the Word of God, who, in order to wash the garment, was made the wearer of the garment. Accordingly he is declared to be man by that substance which was assumed that it might be washed, just as he who washed it is shown to be God, by the authority of the Word.

When our Lord came, he also bound his foal to the true vine. Just as all the symbols are fulfilled by him, he would fulfill in truth even this that was handed down to them in likeness. Either there was a vine in Jerusalem outside of the sanctuary to which he bound his foal when he entered the temple, or in that city from which the foal came it had been bound to a vine. He said, “If they say to you, ‘Why are you untying this foal?’ say to them, ‘The master requires it.’ ”

Let us be bound with bonds of a faith that is like a fruitful branch and cannot be undone, as it were, to that everlasting vine, that is, to the Lord Jesus, who says, “I am the vine; my Father is the gardener.” This explains the mystery that the Lord Jesus in the Gospel ordered an ass’s colt to be loosed and himself sat upon it; thus, like one that was bound to a vine, he could find rest in the everlasting goodness of the saints.

“He will wash his robe in wine.” The good robe is the flesh of Christ, which has covered the sins of all people, taken up the offenses of all, concealed the misdeeds of all—the good robe which has clothed all people with the garment of rejoicing. He washed this robe in wine at his baptism in the Jordan, when the Holy Spirit came down like a dove and remained upon him. By this, it is indicated that the fullness of the Holy Spirit will be indivisible in him and will not depart. On this account also the Evangelist says, “The Lord Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan.” Therefore Jesus washed his robe, not to wash away his stain, for he had none, but to wash away the stain that was ours. Then Jacob continued, “and his mantle in the blood of the grape.” This means that in the passion of his body he washed the nations with his blood. Truly the mantle represents the nations, as it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, unless I shall clothe myself with them all, as with a garment,” and in another passage, “Like clothing you will change them, and they will be changed.” And so with his own blood he cleansed not his own sins, for there were none, but the offenses that we committed. It was appropriate that Jacob spoke of a grape, because Christ hung on the wood like a grape. He is the vine, he is the grape; he is the vine because he cleaves to the wood and the grape because, when his side was opened by the soldier’s lance, he sent forth water and blood. For thus John said that “there came out from him blood and water,” water for baptism, blood for redemption. The water washed us, the blood redeemed us.

I mean, since the ass is an unclean animal, hence he says, “Those unclean Gentiles will be introduced with such ease as if someone were to tether the foal to the stem of the vine, referring to the extraordinary degree of his authority and to the great responsiveness of the Gentiles.” That is to say, its readiness to be tethered to the stem of the vine is a mark of the ass’s gentleness. Now it was to the vine that Jesus compared his own teaching: “I am the true vine,” he says, remember, “and my Father is the vinedresser.”

(Verse 11.) He ties his young donkey to the vine, and the colt of the donkey to the choice vine. In Hebrew it says, He ties his young donkey to the vine, and in Sorec, his donkey's colt to the choice vine: which colt of the donkey, that is, the Gentile people whom Jesus has taken over, that is, the Apostles' vineyard, who are from the Jews, he has joined together. And in Sorec, that is, the chosen vine, he has tied the donkey, over whom he has taken control, the Church gathered from the nations. And what he says, my son, he addresses to Judas himself, because Christ will do all of this. But it should also be known that where we read: Alligating to its vine its foal, can be read as 'its foal' in Hebrew, its city, with the same meaning demonstrated by other words in the Church, of which it is written elsewhere: A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden (Matt. 5:15). And the streams of the river make the city of God glad (Psalm 46:5).

This is appropriately and exclusively said about Christ. He that said, “I am the true vine” bound his foal to the vine. Therefore he binds his foal and his ass’s foal to this vine. His foal is the people of the nations, onto whom certainly the burden of the law had never been imposed and among whom no one but he had ever held the first position. His ass’s foal are those, who coming from the first people symbolized here by the she-ass, were elected for salvation and about whom the prophet says, “If the sons of Israel are like the sand of the sea, the rest shall be saved.” After rejecting the she-ass who preferred to wear the yoke of the law in its infidelity, the foal born from it is elected, that is, a new people coming from the old one through faith is adopted and associated to the people of the nations. Therefore Christ is called “vine” because he has received the human nature, to which the Word of God binds his foal, that is, unites his people and associates it with that way of life that he followed in the flesh, so that the foal that has been bound may become with him son of God and coheir of Christ.

“Binding his foal to the vine.” Here we understand “foal” as the sense itself (intelligence, reason) on account of the renewal of life: that same sense which elsewhere the Lord calls “child,” when he says, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” When one unites with the Lord and becomes a single spirit with him, he binds his foal to the vine by saying, “It is good for me to cleave close to God.” “And his ass’s foal to its branch.” That branch or rather that tendril, as we have interpreted it above, can be understood as the subtle and flexible intelligence of knowledge. When the ass’s foal, that is, the senses of the soul, are bound to it, they prevent the soul itself from falling.

“He shall wash his robe in wine and his garment in the blood of grapes.” These words, on the basis of the historical account, will appear to signify a fertile land full of vineyards or, in a hyperbolic manner, the abundance of wine. But the mystical explanation will give them a nobler sense. Christ’s robe washed in wine is interpreted with good reason as the church, which he himself has purified in his blood and is spotless and faultless. “You were not redeemed through silver and gold,” the apostle says, “but through the precious blood of the only-begotten Son of God.” And therefore in the wine of that blood, that is, in the bath of regeneration Christ washes the church. And we are buried with him through baptism in his death and in his blood.… But let us see how he will wash his garment in the blood of grapes. The garment appears to be a more intimate cloth, which is closer to the body than the robe. Those who, after they had been washed with the bath and had become his robe, reached the sacrament of the blood of grapes, that is, a more intimate and more secret mystery; they in a sense participate in his garment. In fact, the soul is washed in the blood of grapes, when it has begun to grasp the meaning of that sacrament. After perceiving and comprehending the virtue of the blood of the Word of God, the soul will become more receptive as it is purer. Each day it is washed in order to improve in its knowledge.

Jacob, about to die, calls his sons together that he may bless them, or give prophetic declarations concerning their posterity, Gen 49:1, Gen 49:2. Prophetic declaration concerning Reuben, Gen 49:3, Gen 49:4. Concerning Simeon and Levi, Gen 49:5-7; concerning Judah, Gen 49:8-12; concerning Zebulun, Gen 49:13; concerning Issachar, Gen 49:14, Gen 49:15; concerning Dan, Gen 49:16-18; concerning Gad, Gen 49:19; concerning Asher, Gen 49:20; concerning Naphtali, Gen 49:21; concerning Joseph, Gen 49:22-26; concerning Benjamin, Gen 49:27. Summary concerning the twelve tribes, Gen 49:28. Jacob gives directions concerning his being buried in the cave of Machpelah, Gen 49:29-32. Jacob dies, Gen 49:33.

PATRIARCHAL BLESSING. (Gen. 49:1-33) Jacob called unto his sons--It is not to the sayings of the dying saint, so much as of the inspired prophet, that attention is called in this chapter. Under the immediate influence of the Holy Spirit he pronounced his prophetic benediction and described the condition of their respective descendants in the last days, or future times.