Genesis 49:22 Ulasan

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).

He closes with the blessings of his best beloved sons, Joseph and Benjamin; with these he will breathe his last. I. The blessing of Joseph, which is very large and full. He is compared (Gen 49:22) to a fruitful bouth, or young tree; for God had made him fruitful in the land of his affliction; he owned it. Gen 41:52. His two sons were as branches of a vine, or other spreading plant, running over the wall. Note, God can make those fruitful, great comforts to themselves and others, who have been looked upon as dry and withered. More is recorded in the history concerning Joseph than concerning any other of Jacob's sons; and therefore what Jacob says of him is historical as well as prophetical. Observe, 1. The providences of God concerning Joseph, Gen 49:23, Gen 49:24. These are mentioned to the glory of God, and for the encouragement of Jacob's faith and hope, that God had blessings in store for his seed. Here observe (1.) Joseph's straits and troubles, Gen 49:23. Though he now lived at ease and in honour, Jacob reminds him of the difficulties he had formerly waded through. He had had many enemies, here called archers, being skilful to do mischief, masters of their art of persecution. They hated him: there persecution begins. They shot their poisonous darts at him, and thus they sorely grieved him. His brethren, in his father's house, were very spiteful towards him, mocked him, stripped him, threatened him, sold him, thought they had been the death of him. His mistress, in the house of Potiphar, sorely grieved him, and shot at him, when she impudently assaulted his chastity (temptations are fiery darts, thorns in the flesh, sorely grievous to gracious souls); when she prevailed not in this, she hated him, and shot at him by her false accusations, arrows against which there is little fence but the hold God has in the consciences of the worst of men. Doubtless he had enemies in the court of Pharaoh, that envied his preferment, and sought to undermine him. (2.) Joseph's strength and support under all these troubles (Gen 49:24): His bow abode in strength, that is, his faith did not fail, but he kept his ground, and came off a conqueror. The arms of his hands were made strong, that is, his other graces did their part, his wisdom, courage, and patience, which are better than weapons of war. In short, he maintained both his integrity and his comfort through all his trials; he bore all his burdens with an invincible resolution, and did not sink under them, nor do any thing unbecoming him. (3.) The spring and fountain of this strength; it was by the hands of the mighty God, who was therefore able to strengthen him, and the God of Jacob, a God in covenant with him, and therefore engaged to help him. All our strength for the resisting of temptations, and the bearing of afflictions, comes from God: his grace is sufficient, and his strength is perfected in our weakness. (4.) The state of honour and usefulness to which he was subsequently advanced: Thence (from this strange method of providence) he became the shepherd and stone, the feeder and supporter, of God's Israel, Jacob and his family. Herein Joseph was a type, [1.] Of Christ; he was shot at and hated, but borne up under his sufferings (Isa 50:7-9), and was afterwards advanced to be the shepherd and stone. [2.] Of the church in general, and particular believers; hell shoots its arrows against the saints, but Heaven protects and strengthens them, and will crown them. 2. The promises of God to Joseph. See how these are connected with the former: Even by the God of thy father Jacob, who shall help thee, Gen 49:25. Note, Our experiences of God's power and goodness in strengthening us hitherto are our encouragements still to hope for help from him; he that has helped us will help: we may build much upon our Eben-ezers. See what Joseph may expect from the Almighty, even the God of his father. (1.) He shall help thee in difficulties and dangers which may yet be before thee, help thy seed in their wars. Joshua came from him, who commanded in chief in the wars of Canaan. (2.) He shall bless thee; and he only blesses indeed. Jacob prays for a blessing upon Joseph, but the God of Jacob commands the blessing. Observe the blessings conferred on Joseph. [1.] Various and abundant blessings: Blessings of heaven above (rain in its season, and fair weather in its season, and the benign influences of the heavenly bodies); blessings of the deep that lieth under this earth, which, compared with the upper world, is but a great deep, with subterraneous mines and springs. Spiritual blessings are blessings of heaven above, which we ought to desire and seek for in the first place, and to which we must give the preference; while temporal blessings, those of this earth, must lie under in our account and esteem. Blessings of the womb and the breasts are given when children are safely born and comfortably nursed. In the word of God, by which we are born again, and nourished up (Pe1 1:23; Pe1 2:2), there are to the new man blessings both of the womb and the breasts. [2.] Eminent and transcendent blessings, which prevail above the blessings of my progenitors, Gen 49:26. His father Isaac had but one blessing, and, when he had given that to Jacob, he was at a loss for a blessing to bestow upon Esau; but Jacob had a blessing for each of his twelve sons, and now, at the latter end, a copious one for Joseph. The great blessing entailed upon that family was increase, which did not so immediately and so signally follow the blessings which Abraham and Isaac gave to their sons as it followed the blessing which Jacob gave to his; for, soon after his death, they multiplied exceedingly. [3.] Durable and extensive blessings: Unto the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills, including all the productions of the most fruitful hills, and lasting as long as they last, Isa 54:10. Note, the blessings of the everlasting God include the riches of the everlasting hills, and much more. Well, of these blessings it is here said, They shall be, so it is a promise, or, Let them be, so it is a prayer, on the head of Joseph, to which let them be as a crown to adorn it and a helmet to protect it. Joseph was separated from his brethren (so we read it) for a time; yet, as others read it, he was a Nazarite among his brethren, better and more excellent than they. Note, It is no new thing for the best men to meet with the worst usage, for Nazarites among their brethren to be cast out and separated from their brethren; but the blessing of God will make it up to them. II. The blessing of Benjamin (Gen 49:27): He shall raven as a wolf; it is plain by this that Jacob was guided in what he said by a spirit of prophecy, and not by natural affection; else he would have spoken with more tenderness of his beloved son Benjamin, concerning whom he only foresees and foretels this, that his posterity should be a warlike tribe, strong and daring, and that they should enrich themselves with the spoils of their enemies - that they should be active and busy in the world, and a tribe as much feared by their neighbours as any other: In the morning, he shall devour the prey, which he seized and divided over night. Or, in the first times of Israel, they shall be noted for activity, though many of them left-handed, Jdg 3:15; Jdg 20:16. Ehud the second judge, and Saul the first king, were of this tribe; and so also in the last times Esther and Mordecai, by whom the enemies of the Jews were destroyed, were of this tribe. The Benjamites ravened like wolves when they desperately espoused the cause of the men of Gibeah, those men of Belial, Jdg 20:14. Blessed Paul was of this tribe (Rom 11:1; Phi 3:5); and he did, in the morning of his day, devour the prey as a persecutor, but, in the evening, divided the spoil as a preacher. Note, God can serve his own purposes by the different tempers of men; the deceived and the deceiver are his.

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.

Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee,.... The same with the mighty God of Jacob, by whom his hands had been made strong, and he would be still helped, protected, and defended against his powerful enemies; and by whom Christ, the antitype, was helped as man and Mediator against his enemies, and to do all the work he engaged in; and by whom all the Lord's people are helped to fight his battles with their spiritual enemies, to withstand temptations, exercise every grace, and do the will and work of God: and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above; with those blessings which may be ascribed to the sun, moon, and stars, and their influences as means, and to the rain and dew which descend from thence; and as with such temporal blessings, so with spiritual ones in heavenly things in Christ: blessings of the deep that lieth under; of rivers, fountains and springs that rise out of the earth from below, which water and make fruitful: blessings of the breasts, and of the womb an increase of children, and of cattle, and those healthy, thriving, and prosperous, which are great temporal mercies; as are the word and ordinances spiritual ones, those breasts of consolation, which such that are born again partake of, and grow thereby.

The prophet has blessed Joseph more than all his brothers, because he contemplated the mysteries which, having been prefigured in him, would be fulfilled in Christ. Therefore Jacob did not praise Joseph but the one who was symbolized by Joseph. In fact, he says to him, “My son is increased, Joseph,” because thanks to his kingly and perfect name the grace of Christ has increased and has become abundant in the world.

Just as Jacob depended on Joseph instead of Reuben the firstborn, so also instead of Adam, the firstborn and rebellious one, the world had one Son of old age, in the latter days of the world, so that the whole world might stand and lean on him as if on a pillar. “Rise up, O spring, O building supported” by brothers and sons. Through the power of our Lord the world is supported on the prophets and on the apostles. Joseph became a wall of plenty to his brothers in the time of famine, and our Lord became the wall of knowledge to the world in the time of error.

What was the reason that, above all his sons, the father pursued Joseph more abundantly as his son, if not because he already saw in him the mysteries of Christ prefigured? Therefore, blessing him more who was expected than him who was seen, he said: Joseph, my son, is to be multiplied. Who is to be multiplied, if not Christ, whose grace is always increased, and whose glory has no end? Concerning whom also John says: He must increase, but I must decrease; for through his name, which is salvation and perfection, grace has been multiplied and abounded in this world. My son is to be enlarged; and therefore, because his brothers saw him growing, they began to envy. But Joseph understood and zeal entered into those whom he favored the most. Finally, he said: I came not but for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And they said: We do not know where he is from. He cared for them, and they denied him.

My son, he said, is younger. Indeed, he is the youngest, who was almost the last born. Finally, Scripture also says: Jacob loved him, because he was the son of his old age. This also refers to Christ. For the Son of God, shining forth to the aged and already setting world, came late through the birth of the Virgin Mary, as if receiving a body as the son of old age according to the mystery, who always was with the Father before the ages. And the Father says to him: Return to me, calling him from the earth to heaven, whom he had sent for our salvation. Therefore, raising up his only-begotten Son, he frustrated the plan of the slanderers. Hence, Isaiah also says: The futile plan of your spirit. And the one who had been accusing and directing arrows like a hunter, has disarmed everything: he has crushed the power of those who relied on their own strength and not on God. Then, he said, Israel prevailed from the God of your father, and my God helped you. Who is it that strengthened Israel and helped his son, if not the only Father God, who said: Jacob, my servant, I will uphold him; Israel, my chosen one, my soul will uphold him.

(Verse 22 and following) The son of Joseph grew up, the son of Joseph grown tall above the fountain of the daughter, walking with a composed stride on the wall. And they provoked him, and contended with him, and were angry against him, having arrows. He sat in the strength of his bow, and the chains of his hands were broken, from the hands of the mighty Jacob. From there will come the shepherd, the stone of Israel from the God of your father: and the rest. Because the Seventy Interpreters disagree in many places, we have expressed their interpretation as it is in Hebrew. And the meaning of the chapter is this: O Joseph, who is called thus because God has increased you for me, or because you will become greater among your brothers (for indeed Ephraim was the strongest of the tribe, as we read in the Books of Kings and Chronicles); O, I say, my son Joseph, who is so handsome that a crowd of Egyptian girls watches you from the walls, towers, and windows, your brothers envied you and provoked you to anger, wounded by arrows of envy and spears of jealousy. But you have set your bow and weapons of war in God, who is a mighty warrior; and your chains, with which your brothers bound you, have been loosed and broken by him, so that from your seed may be born Ephraim, strong and steadfast, like an unconquerable and unyielding stone, ruling over the ten tribes of Israel.

What is the significance of the fact that only Joseph among all the brothers is called son three times? In accordance with the limits of my point of view, I understand that the first time Joseph was born [to his father] as a son, because he was born of Rachel when his father did not hope any longer to obtain an offspring. But then Joseph was, in a sense, born to his father a second time as a son, because it was announced to Jacob that he was alive, when he was by now convinced of his death. And finally he becomes his son for the third time when, by instructing [Joseph] and educating him with doctrine and erudition and all the virtues through which he was able to see God, he had begotten him also in the spirit. On the other hand, it would not be correct for Jacob to call Joseph the youngest son, since he is older than Benjamin, unless we must understand that he is the youngest in the teaching of his father.

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.

The sum of a fruitful vine - This appears to me to refer to Jacob himself, who was blessed with such a numerous posterity that in two hundred and fifteen years after this his own descendants amounted to upwards of 600,000 effective men; and the figures here are intended to point out the continual growth and increase of his posterity. Jacob was a fruitful tree planted by a fountain, which because it was good would yield good fruit; and because it was planted near a fountain, from being continually watered, would be perpetually fruitful. The same is used and applied to Jacob, Deu 33:28 : The Fountain Of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn, and wine, etc. The daughters, בנות banoth, put here for branches, shoot over or run upon the wall - Alluding probably to the case of the vine, which requires to be supported by a wall, trees, etc. Some commentators have understood this literally, and have applied it to the Egyptian women, who were so struck with the beauty of Joseph as to get upon walls, the tops of houses, etc., to see him as he passed by. This is agreeable to the view taken of the subject by the Koran. See Clarke on Gen 39:6 (note).

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.

JOSEPH-- (Gen 49:22-26) a fruitful bough, &c.--denotes the extraordinary increase of that tribe (compare Num 1:33-35; Jos 17:17; Deu 33:17). The patriarch describes him as attacked by envy, revenge, temptation, ingratitude; yet still, by the grace of God, he triumphed over all opposition, so that he became the sustainer of Israel; and then he proceeds to shower blessings of every kind upon the head of this favorite son. The history of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh shows how fully these blessings were realized.

Turning to Joseph, the patriarch's heart swelled with grateful love, and in the richest words and figures he implored the greatest abundance of blessings upon his head. Gen 49:22 "Son of a fruit-tree is Joseph, son of a fruit-tree at the well, daughters run over the wall." Joseph is compared to the branch of a fruit-tree planted by a well (Psa 1:3), which sends it shoots over the wall, and by which, according to Ps 80, we are probably to understand a vine. בּן an unusual form of the construct state for בּן, and פּרת equivalent to פּריּה with the old feminine termination ath, like זמרת, Exo 15:2. - בּנות are the twigs and branches, formed by the young fruit-tree. The singular צעדה is to be regarded as distributive, describing poetically the moving forward, i.e., the rising up of the different branches above the wall (Ges. 146, 4). עלי, a poetical form, as in Gen 49:17. Gen 49:23-24 "Archers provoke him, and shoot and hate him; but his bow abides in strength, and the arms of his hands remain pliant, from the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, from thence, from the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel." From the simile of the fruit-tree Jacob passed to a warlike figure, and described the mighty and victorious unfolding of the tribe of Joseph in conflict with all its foes, describing with prophetic intuition the future as already come (vid., the perf. consec.). The words are not to be referred to the personal history of Joseph himself, to persecutions received by him from his brethren, or to his sufferings in Egypt; still less to any warlike deeds of his in Egypt (Diestel): they merely pointed to the conflicts awaiting his descendants, in which they would constantly overcome all hostile attacks. מרר: Piel, to embitter, provoke, lacessere. רבּוּ: perf. o from רבב to shoot. בּאיתן: "in a strong, unyielding position" (Del.). פּזז: to be active, flexible; only found here, and in Sa2 6:16 of a brisk movement, skipping or jumping. זרעי: the arms, "without whose elasticity the hands could not hold or direct the arrow." The words which follow, "from the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob," are not to be linked to what follows, in opposition to the Masoretic division of the verses; they rather form one sentence with what precedes: "pliant remain the arms of his hands from the hands of God," i.e., through the hands of God supporting them. "The Mighty One of Jacob," He who had proved Himself to be the Mighty One by the powerful defence afforded to Jacob; a title which is copied from this passage in Isa 1:24, etc. "From thence," an emphatic reference to Him, from whom all perfection comes - "from the Shepherd (Gen 48:15) and Stone of Israel." God is called "the Stone," and elsewhere "the Rock" (Deu 32:4, Deu 32:18, etc.), as the immoveable foundation upon which Israel might trust, might stand firm and impregnably secure. Gen 49:25-26 "From the God of thy father, may He help thee, and with the help of the Almighty, may He bless thee, (may there come) blessings of heaven from above, blessings of the deep, that lieth beneath, blessings of the breast and of the womb. The blessing of thy father surpass the blessings of my progenitors to the border of the everlasting hills, may they come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of the illustrious among his brethren." From the form of a description the blessing passes in Gen 49:25 into the form of a desire, in which the "from" of the previous clause is still retained. The words "and may He help thee," "may He bless thee," form parentheses, for "who will help and bless thee." ואת is neither to be altered into ואל (and from God), as Ewald suggests, in accordance with the lxx, Sam., Syr., and Vulg., nor into מאת as Knobel proposes; and even the supplying of מן before את from the parallel clause (Ges. 154, 4) is scarcely allowable, since the repetition of מן before another preposition cannot be supported by any analogous case; but את may be understood here, as in Gen 4:1; Gen 5:24, in the sense of helpful communion: "and with," i.e., with (in) the fellowship of, "the Almighty, may He bless thee, let there be (or come) blessings," etc. The verb תּחיין follows in Gen 49:26 after the whole subject, which is formed of many parallel members. The blessings were to come from heaven above and from the earth beneath. From the God of Jacob and by the help of the Almighty should the rain and dew of heaven (Gen 27:28), and fountains and brooks which spring from the great deep or the abyss of the earth, pour their fertilizing waters over Joseph's land, "so that everything that had womb and breast should become pregnant, bring forth, and suckle." (Note: "Thus is the whole composed in pictorial words. Whatever of man and cattle can be fruitful shall multiply and have enough. Childbearing, and the increase of cattle, and of the corn in the field, are not our affair, but the mercy and blessing of God." - Luther.) הרים from הרה signifies parentes (Chald., Vulg.); and תּאוה signifies not desiderium from אוה, but boundary from תּאה, Num 34:7-8, = תּוה, Sa1 21:14; Eze 9:4, to mark or bound off, as most of the Rabbins explain it. על גּבר to be strong above, i.e., to surpass. The blessings which the patriarch implored for Joseph were to surpass the blessings which his parents transmitted to him, to the boundary of the everlasting hills, i.e., surpass them as far as the primary mountains tower above the earth, or so that they should reach to the summits of the primeval mountains. There is no allusion to the lofty and magnificent mountain-ranges of Ephraim, Bashan, and Gilead, which fell to the house of Joseph, either here or in Deu 33:15. These blessings were to descend upon the head of Joseph, the נזיר among his brethren, i.e., "the separated one," from נזר separavit. Joseph is so designated, both here and Deu 33:16, not on account of his virtue and the preservation of his chastity and piety in Egypt, but propter dignitatem, qua excellit, ab omnibus sit segregatus (Calv.), on account of the eminence to which he attained in Egypt. For this meaning see Lam 4:7; whereas no example can be found of the transference of the idea of Nasir to the sphere of morality.