the transference of those rights to Joseph, since the double portion was the most essential mark of the birthright (Deut. xxi. 17). But there is no ground for such an inference here. Undoubtedly Joseph did receive a double portion in his sons; but it by no means followed that he obtained the privileges of the firstborn. His sons were placed on an equal footing with those of Jacob, but Reuben's claims to the birthright were not necessarily affected in consequence. We shall enter into the question more fully in a subsequent section (chap. xlix). The only thing that makes the nature of the adoption obscure, is the fact that Jacob expressly declares upon his deathbed, that the three eldest sons have forfeited their rights, and then merely transfers to Judah the second of the two privileges of birthright (a double inheritance and the headship of the family), but says nothing at all with reference to the former. Jacob's blessing is the consequence of his adoption of Joseph's sons. In addition to the formal right to found two separate tribes, he assures them also of the requisite ability, that is, he gives them the blessing of such fruitfulness, as would enable them to form and maintain such tribes. The blessing is imparted by the imposition of hands; for the general meaning of which see my Mosaisches Opfer (Mitau 1842, p. 67 sqq.) Jacob pro nounces the same blessing on the two sons, and blesses them both uno actu. There is indeed a difference, but one of degree merely and not of kind. To the younger there is promised greater fruitfulness and power than to the elder. As there is no reason to suppose that the distinction originated in any personal predilection, we can only explain it on the ground of the prophetic foresight of the patriarch, and discover in the prediction the last expression of that mapà púow, which predominated in the whole of the patriarchal history. (2). When Jacob had blessed the sons of Joseph, he turned again to Joseph himself, and said: "Behold I die, but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers. Moreover I give to thee one portion (D) above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow." This difficult passage has been expounded in various ways, and sometimes very strangely (vid. C. Iken de portione una Josepho prae fratribus a patre data, in his philol. and theol. dissertations). Calvin and others follow אחד the Septuagint, and suppose the passage to refer to the city of Sichem, which Jacob's sons took from the Amorites and destroyed, in consequence of the violence done to Dinah. But this explanation is irreconcileable with the use of the word one, and it is inconceivable that Jacob should attribute to himself an event, which he so strongly lamented and abhorred (Gen. xxxiv. 30, and xlix. 5—7). Hence the must in any case be an appellative, though the choice of this particular expression renders it probable that there is some allusion to Sichem, which was certainly allotted to the tribe of Ephraim. Others imagine that the reference is to the "parcel of a field" which Jacob bought from the Shechemites for a hundred pieces of silver (Gen. xxxiii. 19). This explanation apparently lies at the foundation of John iv. 5. Iken attempts to remove the discrepancy between the statement of chap. xxxiii., that this field was bought, and that of chap. xlviii., that it was conquered, by supposing that after the land had been purchased, it was probably taken away again by the Amorites, so that Jacob was obliged to recover it by force. He finds a positive confirmation of this opinion in a wire-drawn Haggada in Jalkut Shimeon, where Jacob and his sons are said to have returned to Sichem, and to have engaged in a fearful war with the Canaanites, in which the old patriarch Jacob performed miraculous feats of bravery, and Judah did the most extraordinary things with a kind of Berserker fury. But we cannot possibly attribute the smallest residuum of a historical tradition to so absurd a legend, which has evidently grown out of the passage before us. Besides, it appears very inappropriate, that Jacob should found his claim to the piece of land upon a forcible conquest, which is never referred to in the book of Genesis, and not upon the purchase, which is there recorded. There is a third explanation, which is given by several rabbins, and has been revived by Tuch (comm. p. 552), viz., that the word, p, I took, like the other perfects in Jacob's address, is to be regarded as a perfectum propheticum, and therefore that the subsequent conquest of the land by Jacob's descendants is here referred to, and that the play upon the word Shechem indicates the province which should afterwards be assigned to the descendants of Joseph. But there are difficulties connected with this explanation. It is true that, according to the ancient mode of view, Jacob might very well have attributed to himself, as the representative of the 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 ! Then defiledst thou it,—my couch he ascended! 5. Simeon and Levi, brethren are they! Instruments of violence are their strokes. 7. Cursed be their wrath, for it is fierce, 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 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. 12. Dark are thine eyes with wine, 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). |