Genesis 49:24

His bow, wherewith he opposed his enemies; which was no military bow, but that which he opposed to all their injuries, to wit, his own virtue, his innocence, his patience, his temperance, his faith and hope in God, whereby he resisted and vanquished all the temptations and difficulties which he met with, so that all his enemies could neither defile nor destroy him. The mighty God of Jacob, i.e. my God; the noun for the pronoun, which is frequent. When men forsook and persecuted him, my God and his God stood by him. He showed that it was not Joseph's wisdom or courage, but God's gracious assistance, that made him conqueror. From thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel; either,

1. From that great deliverance vouchsafed by God to Joseph it is that Israel or Jacob hath a shepherd to feed him, a stone to lay his head upon, as once he did, Genesis 28:11, or a rock of refuge to fly to in his great distresses, or a foundation-stone, or corner-stone, or pillar, to sustain or preserve Jacob's house. Or rather, 2. From the hands of the mighty God of Jacob, last mentioned. Or from the God of his father, as it follows Genesis 49:25. So the sense is this, Though Joseph was a blessed instrument in this wonderful work, yet the God of Jacob was the chief author of it, by whose wise and merciful providence it was so ordered that Joseph should be first sold, and afterwards advanced, and all in order to this end, that his Israel, with whom he hath been pleased to make a gracious and everlasting covenant, should have a shepherd to feed him in the time of famine, and a stone or rock to support him. Here he explains and determines that doubtful expression from thence, by adding, even by (or rather from, as this particle mem properly signifies, and was just now used) the God of thy father, i.e. who hath chosen and loved thy father, and made a league with him, and blessed him with all manner of blessings. Blessings of heaven above, i.e. the sweet and powerful influences of the heavenly bodies, and the dews and rains which fall from heaven, whereby the fruits of the earth are produced in great plenty. See Leviticus 26:4 Deuteronomy 28:12, Deuteronomy 33:14. Blessings of the deep, i.e. of that great sea of waters both about the earth, and in the earth, whence come those springs and rivers by which the earth is moistened and made fruitful. See Genesis 1:2, Genesis 7:11 Deuteronomy 8:7. Blessings of the breasts, and of the womb, whereby both men and beasts shall be greatly multiplied, and abundantly supplied with all necessaries.