Charles Spurgeon Commentary Genesis 49

And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father. Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:

All this was to Reuben's advantage, yet he was spoiled through one fault.

Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel;

So it is clear that the greatest strength and dignity and power will not serve a man, so as to make him excel, if he is unstable.

There are many such persons still remaining in the world; their doctrine changes like the moon, and we never know what it is. Their spirit and temper constantly change; their pursuits are sometimes in one direction, and sometimes in another; they are "everything by starts, and nothing long;" and to each of them it may be said, Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel.

Because you went up to your father's bed; then you defiled it: he went up to my couch. Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. O my soul, do not come into their secret; to their assembly, my honour, do not be united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.

It is a very remarkable circumstance, well worth noticing, that this curse was turned into a real blessing, especially in the case of the tribe of Levi.

It is true that they were divided and scattered, like handfuls of salt, throughout the whole of Israel, because they were attendants to the Lord's priests and had cities appointed to them. In this way, while they dwelt here, there, and everywhere, it was so that they might reach all the people and prove a blessing to them.

Are any of you struggling with a very serious disadvantage? Does it look to you like a curse? Then pray to God to make it into a blessing. I believe that, often, the worst thing that can happen to Christian men is really the best thing, for, while nature would cry out, "The clouds are to be dreaded," grace can reply:
The clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.

It must have been a great comfort to the old man to have all his twelve sons with him. What a quiet answer this was to his former unbelief! They were all there, yet he could remember the time when he had said, "Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away." Ah! we also shall have in our later days to chide ourselves for our foolish unbelief. "Jacob called unto his sons," so he was not bereaved after all. They are all here, Jacob.

It falls to the lot of few fathers to have twelve sons, and to fewer still to have all twelve of them gathered about his dying bed. "Gather yourselves together." They were to keep together as a family; and shall not the people of God keep together? Come away from the world, beloved, but come close to one another; be one household, let it be your delight to assemble around your elder Brother, the Lord Jesus Christ. "Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days." We are not told nowadays everything about the future, but much of the future is unfolded to us in the great principles of the law and the gospel, and we may learn very much of holy foresight by coming to the oracles of God.

Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:

The patriarch fixes his eyes on his firstborn; he must say something sharp that would dishonor him, but he does not deny him the rights of birthright. He clothes him with the robes and the jewels of primogeniture, and then he strips him.