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).

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.…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

In good is that communion and fellowship in the Gospel, or in the performance and celebration of that worship of God, which in the Gospel is instituted, which the saints do enjoy (Philippians 1:5), which as to the general kind of it, David so rejoices in (Psalm 42:4). In evil wa…

He is white in the glory of his deity, and ruddy in the preciousness of his humanity. His teeth are white with milk, and his eyes are red with wine (Genesis 49:12). Whiteness (if I may so say) is the complexion of glory; in that appearance of the most high, the Ancient of Days (…

The thoughts of the coming of Christ, which he looked on at the distance of 2000 years, was the joy and delight of his heart. Jacob blessing his sons, lifted up his spirit when he comes to Judah, in whom he considered the Shiloh to come (Genesis 49:8-9) and a little after, weari…

And it is very needful that patience be added to silence, because many parents in tender love of their children, and earnest desire of their good, think they can never speak enough in instructing and admonishing them. The many exhortations given in Scripture to children to hear,…

As if he had said; I will bless you with such women, as shall both bear you children, and also give suck to them which they bear. The consequence then is this: As it is a blessing to have children of a true lawful wife; so to have those children nursed of the same wife their mot…

Now the success is, in seeking they found the certainty, and the time of that his coming, they sought out till they found, and then they prophesied of that salvation, and grace, they searched what, and what manner of time, and the Spirit did manifestly foretell it to them. They…

How few are there that have truly maliceless hearts, and find this entire upright affection towards their brethren meeting them in their whole conversation, this law of love deeply impressed on their hearts, and from there expressed in their words, and actions, and that is unfei…

(2) If these words be supposed to be spoken by the Church, and in her name, they fitly represent the longings of the Old Testament fathers after Christ's coming in the flesh. For as David expresses himself here, so does old Jacob, (Genesis 49:18) I have waited for your salvation…

Galatians 4:4. In the fullness of time God sent his Son. When the scepter was gone from Judah (Genesis 49:10), when the crown was possessed by Herod a tributary and foreigner, during the Roman Monarchy, which at length Christ should utterly destroy. Daniel 2:35. Nebuchadnezzar h…

The young man's glory is his strength (whether of memory, etc.) and will you give your strength to sin, which is due to God? (Mark 12:30). God's sacrifices were to be young, the first ripe fruits, and the first-born (which is the strength, Genesis 49:3) were to be dedicated to G…

The adulterous woman meets with the young man, allures, yes tempts him impudently by her loose speech and behavior. Or [illegible] they are associates together in the same evil, as of Simeon and Levi; brethren in iniquity (Genesis 49:5). Thirdly some sins are secret where no eye…

There is a fitness in regard of the subject, which however it gives no cause nor help to the accomplishment of the work now in doing, yet it makes way for the further manifestation of the skill and goodness of the workman, and holds out the work done to greater admiration. Thus…

Will a father condemn his own son? God will never disinherit any of his children; fathers may disinherit for some fault: Reuben for incest lost the prerogative of his birthright (Genesis 49:4). What is the reason parents disinherit their children?

By faith we resist to blood (Hebrews 11:34). Faith is a victorious grace; the believer will make Christ's crown flourish, though it be in his own ashes; an unbeliever is like Reuben, unstable as water, he shall not excel (Genesis 49:4). A believer is like Joseph, who, though the…

Sinners, did you not bring forth fruit to yourselves? Use 3. Let this exhort us all to fruitfulness; how happy were it if it might be said of us as of Joseph (Genesis 49:22): Joseph is a fruitful bough. We love to see everything fruitful; if there be a tree in our orchard, thoug…

Therefore strive more vigorously, and pray with more earnest importunity. Consider, and plead it with God, that he has set before you the hope of such a state, when you are to be perfectly like him; and shall you (that must hereafter be like God) be now like a clod of earth (Gen…

(2.) Christ the Lord is the Supreme and Sovereign Lord of blessing and cursing: for in him all the nations of the earth, and with them, young ones a considerable part of the covenanted nations, must be blessed. (3.) If Isaac blessed Jacob, and he must be blessed (Genesis [recons…

Their afflictions and death are blessed, precious in the eyes of the Lord, not qualified with any law-curse (Job 5:17; Psalm 94:12; Matthew 5:6; Luke 6:22; 1 Peter 1:6; 1 Peter 4:13; Psalm 21:3-6; Psalm 34:17-19; Revelation 14:13; Psalm 116:15; Psalm 72:14; Psalm 37:37), and the…

Thus gloriously was he inaugurated into his office, in the several acts and degrees thereof God saying unto him, it is a light thing that you should be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel, I will also give you for a light unto the…

The honey that drops from the comb is pure, so must love be pure without deceit: Many are like Naphtali, Genesis 49. 21. He gives goodly words: