And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together,
that I may tell you [that] which shall befall you
in the (a) last days.
(a) When God will bring you out of Egypt, and because he speaks of the
Messiah, he calls it the last days.... [ Continue Reading ]
Reuben, thou [art] my firstborn, my (b) might, and the beginning of my
strength, (c) the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:
(b) Begotten in my youth.
(c) If you have not left your birthright by your offence.... [ Continue Reading ]
O my soul, come not thou into their (d) secret; unto their assembly,
mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a (e)
man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall.
(d) Or, tongue: meaning that he neither consented to them in word or
thought.
(e) The Shechemites (Genesis 34... [ Continue Reading ]
Cursed [be] their anger, for [it was] fierce; and their wrath, for it
was cruel: I will (f) divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in
Israel.
(f) For Levi had no part, and Simeon was under Judah, (Joshua 19:1)
till God gave them the place of the Amalekites, (1 Chronicles 4:43).... [ Continue Reading ]
Judah, thou [art he] whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand [shall
be] in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall (g) bow
down before thee.
(g) As was verified in David and Christ.... [ Continue Reading ]
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 an old lion; (h) who shall
rouse him up?
(h) His enemies will so fear him.... [ Continue Reading ]
The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between
his feet, until (i) Shiloh come; and unto him [shall] the gathering of
the people [be].
(i) Which is Christ the Messiah, the giver of prosperity who will call
the Gentiles to salvation.... [ Continue Reading ]
Binding his foal unto the (k) vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice
vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of
grapes:
(k) A country most abundant with vines and pastures is promised to
him.... [ Continue Reading ]
Issachar [is] (l) a strong ass couching down between two burdens:
(l) His force will be great, but he will lack courage to resist his
enemies.... [ Continue Reading ]
Dan (m) shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.
(m) Shall have the honour of a tribe.... [ Continue Reading ]
(o) I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD.
(o) Seeing the miseries that his posterity would fall into, he bursts
out in prayer to God to remedy it.... [ Continue Reading ]
Out of Asher his (p) bread [shall be] fat, and he shall yield royal
dainties.
(p) He will abound in corn and pleasant fruits.... [ Continue Reading ]
Naphtali [is] a hind let loose: he giveth (q) goodly words.
(q) Overcoming more by fair words than by force.... [ Continue Reading ]
(r) The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot [at him], and hated
him:
(r) As his brethren when they were his enemies, Potiphar and others.... [ Continue Reading ]
But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made
strong by the hands of the mighty [God] of Jacob; (from thence [is]
the shepherd, the (s) stone of Israel:)
(s) That is God.... [ Continue Reading ]
The blessings of thy father have (t) prevailed above the blessings of
my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they
shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him
that was (u) separate from his brethren.
(t) In as much as he was closer to the accomplishmen... [ Continue Reading ]
And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he (x) gathered
up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered
unto his people.
(x) By which is signified how quietly he died.... [ Continue Reading ]