nation, such a national transaction as the conquest of the land by his descendants; but in this connection it does not appear probable. Jacob's gift is evidently referred to here, as an expression of personal favour and affection, for which there would be a much better opportunity if the land to be disposed of had been acquired by his own exertions. Moreover, it must be remembered that Jacob had already separated Joseph from his sons by adopting the latter as his own (chap. xlviii. 6), and therefore that the present was made to Joseph personally, and not as the father of Ephraim and Manasseh, who had already received their blessings (vv. 15-20). Hence we are shut up to some event in the life of Jacob, which has been passed over by the book of Genesis ; and, as we can only fall back upon conjectures, that offered by Heim (Bibelstunden. i. 644) is perhaps the most plausible. As we learn from Gen. 1. 23 that the children of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were born on Joseph's knees, i.e., were adopted by him, and from Num. xxvi. 29-33 that one of these sons was named Gilead, and also from Num. xxxii. 39 sqq., and Joshua xvii. 1, that the families of the tribe of Manasseh, who sprang from Gilead, received the land of Gilead on the east of the Jordan as their possession, Heim supposes that the tract of land to which Jacob refers (lit. the shoulder of land), was the hillcountry of Gilead. Jacob was peculiarly interested in this district on account of his interview with Laban there (chap. xxxi. 23 sqq.), and the "heap of witness" erected by him gave him a certain claim. The Amorites may possibly have destroyed this sacred memorial, and thus Jacob may have been led to attack them, for the purpose of conquering and maintaining possession of the memorial itself and the shoulder of land on which it stood. Joseph may perhaps have bestowed the land, which was presented to him by Jacob, upon the son of Machir, who was "born upon his knees," and have named it Gilead in consequence. This would probably explain the abrupt introduction of the tribe of Manasseh in Num. xxxii. 39: "And the children of Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead and took it, and dispossessed the Amorite which was in it. And Moses gave Gilead unto Machir." Hitherto the historian had only spoken of Reuben and Gad.

JACOB'S PROPHETIC BLESSING ON HIS SONS.

§ 3.

(Gen. xlix. 1-28).

Jacob assembles his twelve sons

around his deathbed. The germs of the future, which are wrapped up in the present, open before his prophetic glance. He says:

V. 1. "Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you

That which shall befal you in the end of the days! (1) 2. Gather yourselves together and hear, ye sons of Jacob, Hearken unto Israel, your father!

3. Reuben, my first-born art thou!

My might and the first-fruits of my strength!
Pre-eminence in dignity and pre-eminence in power.
4. A fountain like water; have no pre-eminence!
For thou ascendedst thy father's bed,

Then defiledst thou it,—my couch he ascended!

5. Simeon and Levi, brethren are they!

Instruments of violence are their strokes.
6. Into their fellowship come not, my soul,
Join not in their assembly, my glory!
For in their wrath they strangled the man,
And in their wantonness lamed the ox.

7. Cursed be their wrath, for it is fierce,
And their rage, for it is cruel!

I will divide them in Jacob,

And scatter them in Israel (2).

8. Judah (i.e. praised) art thou, thy brethren praise thee,

Thy hand is on the neck of thine enemies;

The sons of thy father bow before thee.

9. A young lion is Judah.

From the prey thou risest up, my son.

He lieth down, he coucheth as a lion
And as a lioness. Who rouseth him up?

10. The sceptre shall not depart from Judah,

Nor the ruler's rod from the place between his feet,

Till he attain to rest.

And the nations obey him.

11. He binds his ass-foal to the vine,

And the young of his she-ass to the vine-branch,

He washes his clothes in wine,

His garment in the blood of the grape.

White are thy teeth with milk (3).

13. Zebulon (i.e. dwelling), on the sea shore he dwells, He dwells on the coast of ships

And his side is at Zidon.

14. Issachar, an ass with strong bones,

He lieth down between the hurdles.

15. He sees that rest is good,

And that the land is pleasant. He bends his neck to the burden, He becomes a tributary servant. 16. Dan (i. e. judge) judges his people As one of the tribes of Israel. 17. Dan is a snake in the way, An adder in the path.

He stings the horse's heel,

And backward falls his rider. 18. For thy help I wait, Jehovah. 19. Gad, oppressors press upon him, But he presses their heel.

20. From Asher come fat things, his food, He yields the dainties of a king.

21. Naphthali, a hind escaped,

Speaking words of beauty.

22. Son of the fruit-tree is Joseph,

Son of the fruit-tree at the well,

Daughters grow up over the wall.

23. They cause him bitterness, they shoot with arrows, They lie in wait for him, the heroes of the arrow.

24. But his bow remains firm,

Supple is the strength of his hands.

From the hands of the strong one of Jacob,

From thence, where the shepherd is, the rock of Israel.

25. From the God of thy father-and he helps thee,

From the Almighty,—he blesses thee,

Blessings of heaven from above,

Blessings of the flood, which rests beneath,

Blessings of the breast and of the womb.

26. The blessings of thy father are stronger than the blessings of the everlasting hills,

Than the loveliness of the hills of antiquity.

They come upon the head of Joseph,

On the crown of the consecrated among his brethren.

27. Benjamin, a rapacious wolf,

In the morning he devours the prey,

In the evening he divides the plunder (4).

(1). Tuch, in his Commentary (p. 561), has given a list of the numerous ancient authors who have written upon the chapter before us. Among modern expositions we may mention that of Hävernick (Vorlesungen über die Theol. des alten Test. p. 208 sqq.). Every prophecy is founded upon the circumstances and necessities of the period of its delivery; and it is necessary, therefore, that we should understand both the feelings of the prophet and the outward circumstances which gave occasion to the prophecy, before we can interpret the prophecy itself. The blessing of Jacob is no exception to this rule. We have now arrived at that point in the history of the chosen seed, in which the family began to expand into the people. In the dodekad of Jacob's sons a true basis had been laid for the future development of the nation. The law, which required the separation of Abraham from his family and the exclusion of Ishmael and Esau, was now satisfied (vid. vol. i. § 49). Not one of the twelve sons of Jacob had to be shut out. They were all enclosed and united by the bond of election and promise. The fulfilment of their destiny depended upon their becoming a nation and possessing the promised land. These were the two results towards which their history was leading. The germs of both were now apparent; on the one hand, in the fact that, after so long a period of comparative barrenness, they suddenly became remarkably prolific, and, on the other, in the distinct consciousness that they were strangers in Egypt, where they never could and never were intended to feel at home. The fulfilment of each of these involved the union and amalgamation of the two, for the second was dependent upon the first. And this amalgamation constituted the future of Israel. This was to be the goal, and to constitute the completion, of their history, so far, that is, as it had already struck its roots and put forth its buds. From the very nature

of prophecy, then, the eye of the prophet could not look beyond this goal (vid. vol. i. § 7), or, at least, could only do so where the development of the existing germ would furnish the basis or the germs of still further expansions.

The organ of the prophecy belonging to that age was Jacob. With a heavy heart he had left the land of his pilgrimage, his trials, his adventures, and his hopes, to see it no more; but he had left it with the fullest assurance, confirmed by God, that in his descendants he should receive it as a permanent possession.

His whole soul was filled with the one thought of his return to take possession of the promised land. On this one point were all his thoughts and feelings, all his hopes and longings, concentrated. So completely was his inner life absorbed by this, that there was no room for other thoughts or feelings, and all events were viewed in their relation to this one. From the accounts we possess of his sayings and doings after the removal to Egypt, everything seems to have been merely an expression of this one deep-rooted feeling of his nature (see chap. xlvii. 29 sqq., xlviii. 3-5; 21, 22), and he could not rest till he was assured on oath that his remains should be buried in the land of his fathers. A mind thus occupied and absorbed might well urge him to prophesy. And as he draws near to death, at that moment when the fetters of the spiritual sight are often broken,* not only is he enabled to look into the future with clearer eyes, but the spirit of prophecy comes upon him from above, and in its light he sees the longings of his heart fulfilled, and the promised land in the possession of his descendants. He sees the tribes of Israel stirring and active in the full enjoyment of the rich blessings of the land, victorious over the dangers which they meet with there; each one in the situation which the elective affinity of his character and his inclinations may have led him to choose, or which the patriarchal authority of the prophet, as the medium of the divine decrees, may have assigned him by way of punishment or reward. His twelve sons are standing round his bed, the representatives and fathers of the tribes by which the land is to be taken. Before his mind there are gathered together in one living picture all the pleasing and painful events of which they have been the cause. With prophetic vision he traces the characters and dispositions of the fathers, as they are transmitted, expanded, or modified, through the history of their descendants. And aided by this insight, he allots to every one, on the authority of God, his fitting portion of that land, in which he himself has led a pilgrim life for more than a hundred years, and which now stands with all its natural diversities and with its rich and manifold productions, as vividly and distinctly before

* Cicero de divinatione, i. 30: facilius evenit appropinquante morte, ut animi futura augurentur; Homer, Il. 22, 355-360; Plato, Apol. i. p. 90 Bip.; Xenophon, Cyr. viii. 7, 21, &c; Passavant, Lebens-Magnetismus, Ed. 2, p. 163.