Commentari biblici

Genesis 49:18. I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord— Various have been the reasons assigned by commentators, for the introduction of this ejaculation. Some suppose, that the good old patriarch's spirits growing faint, he sighed for a happy deliverance out of this world. Some, that, referring to Samson in the former verse, his ideas were carried to a better salvation, even that of the Messiah: and others think, that, foreseeing the oppressions under which this tribe was to labour, he breathed out this prayer for their deliverance. The ingenious interpretation, which Bishop Sherlock has given of it, (Dissert. 3:) seems perfectly satisfactory, and is therefore subjoined: "The difficulty here, at least the main difficulty, is, to give an account of the propriety of this passionate wish for salvation, in the present connection. It has evidently relation to the prophecy concerning Dan, and the exposition ought to shew and preserve the relation: and yet, according to the common interpretations, this passage might as well stand after the blessing of Gad, Asher, Naphtali, or any other of the tribes, as after this prophecy concerning the tribe of Dan. They who refer the salvation here mentioned to the deliverance wrought by Samson descended from the house of Dan, do also expound the prophecy to relate to him and his victory; so far judging right, that the prophecy and the epiphonema ought to terminate in the same point of view. But how comes Samson to be thus distinguished? Israel had many other judges and deliverers descended from other tribes, many of them, in all respects, bodily strength only excepted, preferable to this strong Danite: of them there is no notice taken in the prophecy of Jacob, nor of the salvation which God, by their means, wrought in Israel. Besides, in what sense had Jacob waited for this salvation? and how, for this, rather than twenty others of the same kind, which happened to his posterity? The words plainly imply him to speak something which had been long the object of his heart's desire; the thought of which came strong upon him, when he prophetically beheld the fortune of this tribe. Further, the images here used, of serpent and adder, are odious, and very improper to describe a brave or gallant man in any circumstance of life; nor are they, as I remember, ever so used in the sacred writers. It cannot be reasonable therefore to look for the accomplishment of this prophecy among the actions of the tribe of Dan, deserving honour and praise; for the ideas, by which the prediction is conveyed, point out actions of another kind, and lead us to expect, in the history of this tribe, an account of some very dishonourable and perfidious transaction. The history will justify this expectation: for though the house of Israel stands recorded for a wilful and disobedient people, whose heart was not right with their God, yet it is the peculiar infamy of the house of Dan, to be the ringleaders in idolatry, the first who erected publicly a molten image in the land of Promise, and, by their example and perseverance in this iniquity, infected all the tribes of Israel. This idolatry began soon after the days of Joshua, and continued until the day of the captivity of the land, Judges 8:30-31. compared with Archbishop Usher's Annals.

Supposing this to be the view before the prophets eyes, in what terms more proper could he describe this new tempter and seducer, than by those which were commonly used to describe the first? If the first Tempter deserved the name of serpent, for drawing Adam and Eve from their obedience to the original law, in virtue of which they held the possession of Paradise; did Dan deserve it less, for drawing the people of Israel from obedience to the Divine law, in virtue of which they had but even then taken possession of the land of Promise? If the mischiefs brought upon the race of Adam, were justly represented by the serpent's bruising the heel of the woman's seed; did not the mischiefs brought upon the house of Israel by the idolatry of Dan, well deserve to be painted in colours of the same kind? and, when Jacob saw that the venom of the old Serpent would work in one of his own sons even to the utter ruin of his posterity, could he help looking back upon God's promise of deliverance, and the hope given that the serpent's head should be bruised? could this view, and this reflection together, be attended with any other sentiments than those which close this prophecy? I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord!

This prophecy, considered in this light, affords a very ancient evidence of the expectation of deliverance from the curse of the fall. The hope of salvation, here, manifestly relates to the mischief wrought by a serpent biting the heels: and though this image is used to foretel a mischief then to come, yet the hope was older than Jacob, had been his comfort all along, and was his comfort under the sad prospect he had of his children's iniquity.

Lay these circumstances together, and it is impossible to conceive any salvation which can answer to these ideas, but that only which arose from the promise, that 'the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head.'"

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Genesis 49:19. Gad, a troop shall overcome him— Jacob, alluding to the name of Gad, which signifies a troop, foretels that this tribe should have many enemies to struggle with, who should sometimes get the better of them; but that in time they, by the Divine aid, should prove victorious over all opposition. Durell renders it, A troop shall invade Gad, but he shall invade their rear. This part of the prophecy, he observes, seems to have been fulfilled the soonest of any: Sihon, the king of the Amorites, refused the Israelites a free passage through his country to the land of Canaan; and, not content with this, levied a large army, and, in conjunction with Og the king of Bashan, marched out, and attacked the Israelites. The consequence of this rash expedition was, that both those kings and their armies met with a total overthrow, and lost their country and all that they had. The country of the Amorites was given by Moses to the Gadites, probably because they had been chiefly instrumental in subduing it; for they are frequently represented as some of the bravest soldiers of all Israel; and it is with reference to that grant, that what he says of this tribe, in the parallel place, Deu 33:21 is to be understood; and I think it is so here.

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Genesis 49:20. Out of Asher, &c.— The meat of Asher shall be fat, is Durell's rendering; who observes, that this patriarch (whose name implies happiness) had the satisfaction to hear his father declare, in the clearest manner, that his posterity would enjoy the greatest plenty. The paraphrase of the authors of the Universal History is, "Asher's portion shall make him happy; it shall abound with excellent corn and oil; the bread and dainty meats that shall be made of them shall be fit for a king's table." And they remark, that "the blessing spoken to Asher is capable of a double sense, and both verified by the event; namely, either that his country should be the most fertile, and produce the noblest corn in the whole land of Palestine, which it actually did; or else, that it should abound with the finest and most delicious oil, which his portion was also remarkable for; insomuch that its oil was the most famed of all Canaan's. Moses, in his blessing of that tribe, seems to intimate the latter, when he says, 'that Asher should dip his foot in oil.' See Deuteronomy 33:24." A great part of Solomon's daily provision for his table seems to have come from Asher, 1 Kings 4:22-23. Laish, the town which the Danites surprised and took from the effeminate Zidonians, was in this portion; and the report the spies made of the environs directly confirms the prophecy: We have seen the land, and behold it is very good. Ancient and modern authors agree in confirming this account.

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Genesis 49:21. Naphtali is a hind, &c.— Our translation of this passage is generally esteemed faulty; for it is difficult to make out any connection between a hind let loose, and giving goodly words; the interpretation therefore of Bochart is more generally approved: Naphtali is a well-spread tree or oak, which produceth beautiful boughs. Durell and Houbigant follow Bochart. This is the sense too of the LXX and Chaldee Paraphrast; and by it is understood the fruitfulness of this tribe, which, from four sons of Naphtali, brought with him into AEgypt, ch. Genesis 46:24. grew, in the space of two hundred and fifteen years, to upwards of fifty thousand, Numbers 1:43. It may also denote the fruitfulness of their territory, which, as well as Asher, was in the Upper Galilee, eastward to the city of Damascus and Mount Lebanon; and in this sense it well agrees with Moses's benediction of this tribe, Deuteronomy 33:23. O Naphtali! satisfied with favour, and full of the blessing of the Lord.

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Genesis 49:22. Joseph— The four last were the sons of the two handmaids; from whom Jacob passes with a seeming joy to those of his beloved Rachel; and Joseph, whose turn came next, heard his blessing pronounced in the most sublime and endearing terms.

This difficult verse is differently interpreted. 1st, Those who vindicate our version say, that Joseph, of whom came two tribes, is here properly compared to a fruitful bough, shooting forth two luxuriant stems or branches: and this bough is said to be by a well; i.e.. in a moist and well-watered soil, where plants grow fastest; and the same idea is here used as in the first Psalm, where, Gen 49:3 the good man is compared to a tree planted by the rivers of water. What we render branches is, in the Hebrew, daughters; whose DAUGHTERS run over the wall; for, in the Hebrew, whatever comes from another, is called its son or daughter. Ainsworth, after the Chaldee and Jerusalem paraphrase, understands here the vine-tree, which is usually planted against a wall or other prop, Psalms 128:3. Now these spreading branches, by an easy metaphor, signify the prodigious increase of these tribes. 2nd, Others think the words may be translated, Joseph is a son of beauty, the daughters ran upon the walls to see him; in which sense they are understood by the Vulgate and some other versions. "This reading has by far the most votes," say the authors of the Universal History.

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Genesis 49:23. The archers, &c.— Most commentators allow, that by archers here must be understood Joseph's brethren, who hated him and sold him into AEgypt; his mistress, who tempted and falsely accused him; and his master, who put him in prison; but chiefly his brethren, who shot at him the arrows of malice, envy, calumny, and bitter words.

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Genesis 49:24. But his bow, &c.— In pursuance of the metaphor, which considers his enemies as archers, Joseph himself is represented as armed with a bow, which is said to have abode in strength, to have proved firm; signifying that he sustained all their shocks with unbroken fortitude and resolution, like a tough bow, which, though long employed in battle, neither breaks nor becomes more flexible. The next words seem to justify this exposition: And the arms of his hands were made strong, by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; i.e.. his firm trust in the Divine Providence was rewarded with support and deliverance from that God, who is here emphatically called the God of Jacob, for his distinguished mercies to that patriarch. Our translation of made strong is very just, as the learned reader will see, by referring to Parkhurst on the word פז paz.

From thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel— That is, Joseph, from that Divine Providence, that mighty God of Jacob, just mentioned, is become the shepherd, who nourishes us as his sheep, ch. Genesis 47:12. and the stone, or up-holder of me Israel, and my family. In the same sense Christ is called the stone, Isa 28:16 and God a rock, Psalms 18:2.

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Genesis 49:25. Who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven— Jacob, having mentioned the wonderful effects of GOD's providence towards Joseph himself in the preceding verses, rapidly passes on, without any perceptible stop, to the blessings which the same Providence reserved for his posterity; blessings of heaven; i.e.. a fertile soil, well watered with the rain and dew, and seasonable weather from above: blessings of the deep; i.e.. springs and rivers: metals and minerals too may be meant, and whatever else is contained in the bowels of the earth; for thus the word is used, Psa 71:20 and yet so as not to exclude the produce of its surface. These two blessings may mean, in general, a fine air and a rich soil. Blessings of the breads, and of the womb; i.e.. a numerous, thriving progeny; a vast increase, both of children and of cattle.

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