Charles Ellicott Commentary Genesis 49:1

"And Jacob called unto his sons, and said: gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the latter days." — Genesis 49:1 (ASV)

That which shall befall you. — This dying song of Jacob has been regarded alike by Jews and Christians as a prophetic hymn spoken by the patriarch under the influence of the Holy Spirit. By many modern commentators, however, it has been placed in David’s time, and even ascribed to Nathan, partly on the ground that it is too spirited to have been the composition of one lying in the last decrepitude of old age, but chiefly because, in the description given of Judah, it is supposed to refer to the elevation of David to the royal dignity.

But if it was thus written by a member of David’s court, we should reasonably expect an exact knowledge of the state of things in David’s time. For this, in fact, is the argument on which these critics depend: that the internal evidence shows that it belongs to David’s reign.

Now, so far is this from being true, that not only is the whole exceedingly general, containing scarcely more than faint and dim hopes and anticipations, but, except in the matter of Judah’s pre-eminence, there is no knowledge whatsoever of the arrangements of David’s time. Thus, for instance, there is no word about Levi’s priestly functions, and his dispersion in Israel is described as a punishment and put on exactly the same level as that of Simeon. It is said in answer that it was David who established the priesthood and set the Levites apart for their duties.

If so, this was the very reason why Nathan, a seer of his court, should have put into Jacob’s mouth some allusion to so important an event, in order to justify so strong a proceeding as depriving a tribe of its lands and political importance, seizing towns in every other tribe for the abode of its members, and bestowing priestly functions on them.

If, however, David, by an act of despotic power, was able to effect so violent a subversion of all tribal rights, it is strange that no reference is ever made to it.

Moreover, this would imply that the Pentateuch, the Books of Joshua (Joshua 3:3; Joshua 8:33, etc.), Judges (Judges 17:9–13), and Samuel (1 Samuel 2:13; 1 Samuel 2:27–28; 1 Samuel 6:15, etc.) must all be of a date so modern that all remembrance of David’s act has passed away. It would also mean that national traditions created for themselves a setting modelled on a state of things that never existed and which contradicted the most glorious age of the nation’s history.

But national traditions precede the historical period of a people’s annals. From the time of David, careful records of all events in Judah and Israel were kept, and the history of Judah and Israel was one of the chief subjects of instruction given to the youth of the nation in the prophetic schools.

But let us take another instance. At the settlement of the tribes in Canaan, it was Asher and not Zebulun to which the sea-coast on the north fell by lot; south of Asher was the half-tribe of Manasseh, and south of this was Dan. (Compare to Judges 5:17.) Zebulun was an inland tribe and did not dwell at the haven of the sea.

It is unnecessary to continue this examination. Generally, we may affirm that the sole argument for Jacob’s blessing having been written in historic times is the position given to Judah. Everything else contradicts this view, and we may reasonably ascribe the high rank of Judah to the fact that after Reuben, Simeon, and Levi were set aside, he became the firstborn.

In the last days. — Heb., in the after part of days. The phrase is often opposed to “the beginning of days,” and is constantly used of the times of the Messiah. Here these “after days” apparently commence with the conquest of Canaan but look onward to the advent of Christ.