Commentari biblici

Genesis 49:26. The blessings of thy father, &c.— This verse is variously rendered. The common interpretation given is this; thy father's blessings, or prayers, in thy behalf, are more ample, prevalent, and comprehensive, than the blessings of My progenitors in behalf of Me; and these blessings shall be, or, may they be, upon the head of Joseph, unto the utmost bounds or duration of the everlasting hills; i.e.. may they over-top and out-stretch the everlasting mountains, and prove to him more fruitful and lasting than they. Junius renders it, "May the blessings of thy father, with the blessings of my progenitors, whose powerful effect will continue while the lasting hills endure, may they all descend upon the head of Joseph."

The everlasting hills— The word עולם oulam, when applied to time, signifies a duration which is concealed, (for that is the import of the root,) as being an unknown or great length, with respect either to time past or to come; thus, perpetual hills mean hills which have been from the beginning, and shall continue to the end of the world.

That was separate from his brethren— Or, That was prince of his brethren. Durell renders this, On the crown-of-the-head of the prince of his brethren. That נזיר nazir, (the word here used, and in our version rendered, was separate,) implies, one highly distinguished in eminence and dignity, is agreed by the most judicious critics: and Sir John Chardin says, that it is still the very name which is given in Persia to the first officer of state, or superintendant of all the demesnes. See his account of the coronation of Solyman III. Jacob therefore might use this term with reference to the same office, which Joseph enjoyed at that very time; but yet he might very possibly carry his view farther, and here obliquely suggest, that Joseph's posterity would be long distinguished in an eminent manner above their brethren, by being vested with the sovereign power, which they enjoyed for many centuries. However that be, Joseph is called a GOVERNOR OF HIS BRETHREN, in allusion, no doubt, to this place.

The whole scope of this verse will best appear by some such paraphrase as this: "The blessing of a fruitful and numerous progeny (a blessing far superior to the possession of a delightful, fertile, and extensive country) is a blessing which thy father particularly promises as the lot of his son Joseph, who is, and shall be, of a very distinguished rank among his brethren." See note on ch. Genesis 48:20.

REFLECTIONS.—Joseph, being the beloved child, comes in for a peculiar blessing. His sons are the branches of the spreading tree. Though sore afflictions had been his lot, severely treated by his brethren, and more severely tempted by his mistress, (what fiery darts so sharp!) yet firm he stood, unmoved, unshaken: glory be given to Divine Grace! Joseph is Jacob's shepherd, to feed him in the time of dearth, and the support of his sinking family, and his reward shall be accordingly. God, his father's God, shall make his seed victorious, the best of blessings shall descend upon him, and greater than those of his progenitors, in the immediate vast increase of his posterity; and all those blessings should be as enduring as the mountains. Thus, though separated from and hated of his brethren, a crown of excellence is bestowed upon him. Note; On the spiritual seed of Jesus, the hated of his brethren, shall be the blessings of heaven above. They shall be fed by breasts of present consolations, and have their mansions on those mountains which are truly everlasting, separated from the world which lieth in wickedness, and blest with the transcendently glorious favour of Jacob's God. My soul, may this blessing be thine, and then every present trial will be light, every suffering joyous!

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Genesis 49:27. Benjamin— After so remarkable a benediction had been bestowed on Joseph, Benjamin, who was also tenderly loved of his father, might reasonably have expected to have heard that some great blessing was reserved for him likewise. But, though his lot was one of the very best, yet he had not the satisfaction to be informed of it at this time; it pleased God rather that he should have some idea of the rapacious and sanguinary temper of his posterity. The ways of Providence are, in this case, as in many others, unfathomable; but yet it may be humbly supposed, that this declaration was graciously intended as a distant caution to the Benjamites against the dismal effects which they would one day bring on themselves, if they did not curb their passion. The prophecy before us does not present us with a view of a fond father bellowing his favours partially, but of a venerable prophet, declaring from the common Father of all what was of the utmost importance for the welfare of his children to know. Durell.

This last remark is of consequence, as, throughout all these blessings, the particular direction of Providence is observable. If Jacob had followed his own inclination, Joseph, not Judah, would have seen all his brethren bowing down before him, Gen 49:8 and Benjamin, no doubt, would have been second in honour and favour; but God disposed it otherwise; it was his Spirit, not that of the patriarch, which inspired these benedictions.

Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf— Or rather, Benjamin is a ravening wolf. Wolves, it is well known, are the most fierce and cruel of all quadrupeds; and, on this account, we find them in the heathen mythology consecrated to the god of war. It is observed by AElian, that nothing daunts them when stimulated by hunger; and he compares them to very wicked men, who despise all danger in the way to their infamous purposes. That there is great similitude between this animal and the tribe we are now considering, will appear by the sequel. Durell.

And at night he shall divide the spoil— The most judicious among modern commentators are persuaded that the patriarch points to the war, obstinately and unjustly undertaken by this tribe, against the united force of all Israel. See Le Clerc, Calmet, &c. And indeed this sense is built on a more solid foundation; it is an event worthy of the notice of a prophetic spirit, and is agreeable to Jacob's general declaration, Gen 49:1 and to the whole tenor of the prophecy. The account of this most abominable transaction (which arose from small beginnings, till it proceeded to such a height, that sixty-five thousand lives, at least, were lost in it, and which was near being attended with the total extinction of one tribe in Israel) has been transmitted down to us, with all its circumstances, in the book of Judges, ch. 19: and 20: In this event one may, I think, without great sagacity, trace the outline of the wolf in the conduct of the Benjamites: their fierce, but ungenerous spirit, is nearly as striking in the historian's narration as in the poetical description. But if any one expects to discern an exact likeness in every part of the piece between this tribe, in respect to the fact referred to, and the savage beast before mentioned; he should consider, that all the adjuncts in a simile seldom answer, in every respect, to the object illustrated. Durell.

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Genesis 49:28. All these are the twelve tribes of Israel— Bishop Sherlock observes (Diss. 3: on prophecy) 1st, That what is commonly called Jacob's blessing his sons, may be as well called Jacob's appointment of twelve rulers, or princes, to govern the house of Israel: for, that this form of government took place immediately upon the decease of Jacob, may be collected from hence, that from this time all applications and messages are made, not to the people, but to the elders or heads of tribes, Exodus 3:16; Exodus 3:7. And we see the people and their rulers are distinguished plainly, Exodus 34:31-32. Now, as there is no designation of this form of government in any other place in Scripture, and it could not be settled tacitly by a mere devolution of Jacob's power among his sons after his decease, it must be allowed to be settled by Jacob himself, in this and the foregoing chapter: and to this all the circumstances, reported in these two chapters answer. 2ndly, Jacob, having thus settled twelve princes or rulers of people in his house, speaks to them as heads of a people, and not as single persons; and what he says, relates to them and their people collectively, and not to them personally: this is evident from the present words, all these are the twelve tribes of Israel; and hence, likewise, that the things foretold and ascribed to them, are by no means capable of being understood of single persons. When the sacred writer says twelve tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh, though not expressly mentioned, are to be understood as blessed in Joseph.

And blessed them; every one, &c.— i.e.. He informed each of them what would happen in after-times to his posterity respectively, as we are told in the introduction to the prophecy. The verb, ברךֶ barek, in this place, neither signifies, to bless, nor yet, on the contrary, to curse, though it is true, that it is applicable to all Jacob's children separately; as the three eldest were cursed, and the rest were blessed: yet, whatever the precise meaning of it be, it is certain that it must be used in such a manner as to be common to them all, in the same sense. The sense therefore given to this word by Schultens on Job 1:5 viz. to bid farewel, or to take leave, will be here very suitable. It is thus used, 2 Samuel 19:39. And Calmet says, that benir (to bless) is here put to express the last sentiments of a dying father toward his children. Durell.

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Genesis 50:1. And Joseph fell upon his father's face— Thus what God had promised, ch. Genesis 46:4. that Joseph should close his father's eyes, was fulfilled: and after having performed this last and tender office, he, according to the custom of those times, parted from the body with a kiss; expressing all the filial sorrow which such a loss could inspire.

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Genesis 50:2. His servants the physicians— The profession of physic appears to have been carried on in ancient times by domestics; and Joseph, as viceroy of AEgypt, may well be supposed to have kept some of these in his retinue. Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus assure us, that it was the custom of the AEgyptians to embalm their dead by the hands of the physicians, or embalmers. Indeed, if we may believe Herodotus, every particular disease in AEgypt had its physician; and Homer describes AEgypt as a land of physicians, every individual pretending to some skill in the medical art. See Odyss. 4: The AEgyptians, says Calmet, ascribe to Isis the invention of medicine, particularly the medicine of immortality; whereby she rendered her son Orus immortal, which seems to be nothing else but the art of embalming, or preserving bodies from putrefaction. Be that as it may, this custom was of great antiquity in AEgypt. The overflowing of the Nile, it is said, put them upon the invention; for, during the time that the country was laid under water (which was for two months annually) they had not access to deposit the dead in their respective burying-places. That which was at first the effect of necessity, became afterwards a subject of pomp and ostentation: for so great is the inclination of man to vain-glory, that things the most proper in the world to humble and mortify him, are turned by him into subjects of vanity. See Saurin's Dissert. 42: We see great use, says Bishop Warburton, in the AEgyptians having a different physician to every distemper, it having been the best, nay, perhaps the only expedient [in those times] for improving medicine into an art. The physicians, who embalmed, were enabled, by inspecting the bodies, to instruct themselves in the causes of the occult diseases, which was the district of each class; and to improve their knowledge in anatomy, which was the business of them all. Pliny expressly says, that it was the custom of their kings to cause dead bodies to be dissected, to find out the origin and nature of diseases. See Jeremiah 46:11.

The AEgyptians excelled all other people in the art of embalming. Bodies remain to the present day preserved by this means, under the name of mummies. The practice was common to both rich and poor; though it was more or less costly according to the rank of the person. Diodorus tells us, that the method of embalming was, first to cure the whole body with a wash, or oil of cedar, and some other ingredients, for the space of more than thirty days: afterwards to mix myrrh and cinnamon, not only to preserve the body, but to make it send forth an agreeable smell. We are told in the third verse, that forty days was the time allotted for embalming, which agrees with Diodorus, who says, more than thirty; hence it appears, that Joseph had his father's body embalmed in the noblest manner.

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Genesis 50:3. And forty days were fulfilled for him— The reader will find, in the first volume of Univ. Hist. 8vo. p. 489, a minute account of the manner of embalming, which was done without disfiguring the body; so that the very hairs remained on the brows and eyelids, and the resemblance of the countenance was preserved. At the expiration of the days allowed for embalming, they washed the whole body, and bound fillets of fine linen round every part, covering it with gum, which the AEgyptians used instead of glue. The embalmers having performed their parts, the relations received the corpse, and put it into a wooden coffin, shaped like a man, which they set upright against the wall of the edifice designed for that purpose; for several of the AEgyptians kept their dead at home with them above ground in magnificent apartments, having, by this method, the pleasure of seeing the lineaments of their ancestors; and often they brought the dried corpse of a friend as a guest to their feasts. We must not hastily condemn Joseph for following the custom of the AEgyptians in this instance, by embalming his father; for nothing less would have appeared decent in the eyes of the AEgyptians, towards the memory of his deceased parent.

The AEgyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days— In forty days the embalming was finished: the body continued thirty days more in the pickle, till it was thoroughly seasoned; and these were the set days for mourning. During this time, as Diodorus informs us, it was the custom to daub the heart with mud, as the Jews sprinkled ashes on their heads, and to go about lamenting till the corpse was buried, or otherwise properly disposed of; abstaining from bathing, from wine, from all delicate food, and fine clothes. The female relations particularly went about making great lamentations, and beating themselves.

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Genesis 50:4. Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh— Affliction and decorum forbidding Joseph to appear at court during the days of mourning; see Esther 4:1-2. he addresses himself to the great officers of Pharaoh, to inform the king of the death and last request of Jacob, concerning his burial. Those in a state of mourning were looked upon as in a state of defilement; and no one durst appear before the eastern kings in a mourning habit. Every thing which contributes to put the great men of the world in mind of death, is odious, says Saurin; and the princes of the East carried this nicety to the utmost excess.

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Genesis 50:5. Which I have digged for me— Rather, according to the Hebrew, which I have cut out for me: alluding to the manner of laying the corpse in a niche cut out for that purpose in the cave, or place of burying. See ch. Genesis 23:9.

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