Genesis 49

Now such as are not settled in religion will at one time or other prove wandering stars, they will lose their former strictness, and wander from one opinion to another. Such as are unsettled are of the tribe of Reuben, Unstable as water (Genesis 49:4). Like a ship without a ball…

2. There is a never-failing fullness of grace in Christ: grace in the saints is ebbing and flowing, it is not always in the same degree and proportion: at one time David's faith was strong, at another time so faint and weak, that you could hardly feel any pulse (Psalm 31:22): I…

1. Sin has degraded us of our honor. Reuben by incest lost his dignity, and though he were the firstborn, he could not excel (Genesis 49:4). God made us in his own image, a little lower than the angels, but sin has debased us.

Mutableness denotes weakness; it is not so in God, he is the same yesterday and today, and for ever (Hebrews 13:8). Men are fickle and mutable, like Reuben, unstable as water (Genesis 49:4). They go in changeable colors:

Anger boils up the blood in the veins, and often produces murder. (Genesis 49:6) In their anger they slew a man. 2. Envy.

So wait and faint not. Be not weary; the Kingdom of Heaven will make amends for your waiting: I have waited for your salvation, O Lord, said that dying patriarch (Genesis 49:18).

For, First, the name of the most high God, is first ascribed to God in (Genesis 49:18, 19, 22) denoting his sovereignty and dominion. Now, as other attributes of God, it is not distinctive of the subject, but only descriptive of it.

Secondly, he gives them charge of some duties concerning himself and some others, especially concerning religion and Gods worship, and then he dies; as it is said, When he had made an end of giving charge unto his sons, he plucked up his feet into his bed, and gave up the ghost.…

And thus it was [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] manifest to them before-hand. For to Judah the promise was solemnly confined (Genesis 49:8, 9, 10), and frequently reiterated to David, as I have showed elsewhere. Whoever therefore acknowledged our Lord Jesus Christ to be the true Mes…

That they should have a certain abiding place or country which they might freely inhabit, distinct from other nations, and under a rule or scepter of their own. So it is said of them, That the people should dwell alone, and not be reckoned among the nations (Numbers 23:9), and t…

First, extraordinary by virtue of especial immediate inspiration, or a spirit of prophecy: secondly, ordinary by virtue of office and institution. In the first way Jacob blessed his sons, which he calls a declaration of what should befall them in the last days (Genesis 49:1). An…

And we may adde further, That as there is difference between those Shechemites and the rest, and the persons spoken of, both in respect of Church-relation and Conversation; so in respect of this latter, these are farre better then sundry that abode in the Family of Jacob, to who…

Furthermore, the incarnation of Christ is the ground and foundation of all our comfort, as the names of Christ serving to express the same do testify. Jacob in his last testament says, that the scepter shall not depart from Judah in Shilo, that is, the Messiah come (Genesis 49:1…

Let not the righteous debase themselves by sinful compliance: Such as profess themselves to be regenerate, should not be malleable to every opinion and humor; shall the excellent cedar bend like the pliant willow? Issachar is a strong ass, couching down between two burdens (Gene…

The whole similitude alludes to what is said of wicked men in general (Isaiah 57:20): The wicked are like a troubled Sea, that cannot rest, whose water casts up mire and dirt. Observe in the first place that they are Waves, which notes their inconstancy (Genesis 49:4): Reuben is…

Now if Abraham knew not his posterity, neither Mary nor Peter nor any other of the saints departed know us and our estate, and consequently they cannot make any particular intercession for us. If they say that Abraham and Jacob were then in Limbo, which they will have to be a pa…

Inf. 2. Hence those things which have a tendency to, and a degree of Murder in them, must needs be [illegible], for example, rash sinful anger is an evil thing, Murder begins there. It was said of those brethren in iniquity, Simeon and Levi, that instruments of cruelty were in t…

And Canticles 8:14: "Make haste, my Beloved, and be you like to a Roe, or to a young Hart upon the mountains of Spices." Agreeable to this, was the spirit of old Jacob, which he expressed when he was dying, in faith in the great promise made to him and Isaac and Abraham, that in…

From the words of Moses in Genesis 47:31 — the Hebrew text of which is heavily damaged in the source — the apostle shows that Jacob worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff; that is, he was strong in faith, though nearly dying. The apostolic words, and he bowed in worship u…

XII. Those words, "in the last days," moreover, refer to those prophecies of the Old Testament which expressly denote the final times of the Jewish church. Jacob, about to set forth what would befall his posterity until the coming of the Messiah, begins his prophecy as follows (…

All which must be shut up with setting order for all things at their death, with especial exhortations and prayers for religion, for uprightness in their callings, for peace and order after them. [Isaiah 38:1. In those days Hezechiah was sick to death: Esaiah the son of Amos the…

Of the actions of the body orderly and reverently used, are bowing of our bodies (Isaiah 45:23). Reverent attention declared sometimes by rising up (Genesis 49:33; 1 Chronicles 28:2; Numbers 23:22; 2 Kings 23:2; 2 Chronicles 34:31; Nehemiah 8:6). Also lifting up of the hands and…

Third, in urging this doctrine more hardly upon the people, to cause them not to rest on the letter of the law, but seek to the promised Messiah, in whom only was their righteousness — as young heirs and minors are kept under tutors while their minority expires. But, first, who…

(1 Chronicles 4:9): And Jabez was more honorable than his brethren; the same word, and way, Verse 10: And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, oh that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast. It was said of Reuben (Genesis 49:4): Reuben you shall not excel; [illegi…

In these respects: first, when the man is mortified to time, and is satisfied with days, he desires no more life; he lies at the water side, near by death, waiting for wind and tide, like a passenger who would gladly be over the water. So dying Jacob, in the midst of his testame…

Now the reasons of it are these. 1. Because by nature we love our own ease and contentment (Genesis 49:15), he saw that rest was good. We are loath to undergo the cross, and desirous to enjoy happiness and glory before and without afflictions; but this is an untimely and prepost…

In the second part of the comparison 25. v. Paul sets downe one point, that at the comming of the faith the Iewes were freeed from the dominion of the law of Moses, and consequently that the said law was abrogated. The lawgiuer, that is, the expounder of Moses law was to last bu…

If we have the first fruits of the Spirit, the hatred of our own sin, the purpose of not sinning, the fear of God, and such like, we must content ourselves, and wait for the fruition of further grace till the life to come. Thirdly, we must become waiters for the mercy of God, an…

Some think that he is here mentioned by Luke, because he was their first foreign king; and that this was a suitable time for their deliverance, because the scepter had passed into a different nation. But they who speak in this manner do not correctly understand Jacob's prophecy,…

"Qui avoit este mis bas, et comme rompu;" — "which had been thrown down, and, as it were, broken." lasted till the coming of Christ was at hand, agreeably to the prediction of Jacob, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh com…

Without entering into that inquiry, which would occupy more space than we could easily spare, we have thought it due to our Author to hint, that the two passages which he quotes, and which at first sight appear to have no bearing on his argument, contain the very word in questio…

From the Law, therefore, we may properly learn Christ, if we consider that the covenant which God made with the fathers was founded on the Mediator; that the sanctuary, by which God manifested the presence of his grace, was consecrated by his blood; that the Law itself, with its…

First, he is called a Lion. He seems to be called the Lion of the tribe of Judah, in allusion to what Jacob said, in his blessing of the tribes on his deathbed, who when he came to bless Judah, compares him to a lion (Genesis 49:9). It is much on account of the valiant acts of D…

The words there used, last of all he sent to them his Son, are exegetical of these, he spoke in the Son in the last days. 3. This phrase of speech is signally used in the Old Testament to denote the last days of the Judaical Church; so by Jacob (Genesis 49:1), I will tell you wh…

Promise with the limitation of time for his coming necessary. First determination hereof made by Jacob, Gen. 49. The Promise confined to Judah; afterwards to David; no more restrained.

The next solemn renovation of it to Abraham extends the blessing wherewith it was to be attended to all the kindreds of the earth (Genesis 12:3; chap. 18:18). The whole restriction of the promise to him and to his posterity consisted only in the designation of them to be the mea…

First, By certain [in non-Latin alphabet], or evident tokens, taken from the Judaical Church, with the state and condition of the whole people of the Jews. This we have insisted on from Genesis 49:10, Haggai 2:8, Malachi 3:1, 2. Secondly, By a computation of the time its self as…

Aquila somewhat otherwise, [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉]; Symmachus [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] ([〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] came to be translated [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉], from likeness of sound) in [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] O God, he expresseth the Apostrophe which is evide…

Nature of it as given to him. Testified to and confirmed (Genesis 49:10; Numbers 24:17, 19; Job 19:25). Opened; with sundry other Places.

Occasion of the mention of the Messiah in that place, from Micah 4:8. Genesis 49:1. [in non-Latin alphabet] first mentioned.

As in (Genesis 48:11), when Joseph came into the presence of Jacob his father, he bowed down to the ground; this was a civil worship, and a worship of duty from an inferior to a superior. And it is said of the brothers of Judah, (Genesis 49:8), when Jacob on his death-bed blesse…

2. They evidence good or ill food, that the person feeds on. 3. A healthful or unhealthful complexion, which depends much on the former: hence Judah's good portion and healthfulness is set out by this (Genesis 49:12): His teeth shall be white with milk. According to the first, b…

The promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, "That in their seed all the families of the earth should be blessed," were also mystical; which prophecy is not so particular, because the expression, thy seed, is general, and not plainly limited to any particular person. The prop…

Now is come the time for this also: John 12:32. "And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me;" which is agreeable to Jacob's prophecy of Christ, that "when Shiloh should come, to him should the gathering of the people be," Genesis 49:10. Another design is the salvation o…

In all the rises and fallings of Princes, the stars of whatever magnitude (Isaiah 40:21; 1 Samuel 2:7, 8; Psalm 76:12). 5. His actings are in matter of lots that seem to be ruled by fortune and chance (Proverbs 16:33; Genesis 49; Deuteronomy 33, compared with Joshua 14:1, 2, 3).…

Our first care should be to prevent the anger of others, by giving no offence to any, but becoming all things to all men, every one studying to please his neighbor for good to edification (Romans 15:2), and endeavoring as much as lies in us, to accommodate ourselves to the tempe…

One of the elders told John (Revelation 5:5) that the Lion of the tribe of Judah would open the sealed book; and I beheld (says John, verse 6) and lo a Lamb. He that was a lion for strength and courage, was a lamb for mildness and gentleness: and if a lion, yet the lion of the t…

Certainly, it is a great blessing to be with them, though upon never such hard terms in regard of afflictions. That is observable that we read of Jacob blessing his sons, Gen. 49:28 it is said, He blessed every one of them; How was that? for you shall finde he rather seemed to c…

God has let out good things to other creatures, and they never return back again directly to him; but the good that God lets out to mankinde, and to his people, it returns back again to God: The Saints are made by God, and they come and return to the first fountain from whence t…

A tool that is daily used, is kept bright and shining; and so grace, when it is most exercised, it it is most beautiful: The glory of the things of the world minishes in the use of them, but grace is ever better for the wearing. Fifthly, in afflictions the power of grace does mu…