John Calvin Commentary Genesis 48:22

"Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow." — Genesis 48:22 (ASV)

I have given to you one portion. In order to increase the confidence of his son Joseph, Jacob here assigns him a portion beyond his proper lot. Some interpret the passage differently, as if he called him a double heir in his two sons, thus honoring him with one portion more than the rest.

But there is no doubt that he means a certain territory. And John (John 4:5), removes all controversy; for, speaking of the field adjoining Sychar (which before was called Shechem), he says it was that which Jacob gave to his son Joseph. And, in the last chapter of Joshua (Joshua 24:32), it is said to have come into the possession of the sons of Joseph.

But in the word שכם (Shechem), which among the Hebrews signifies a part, an allusion is made to the proper name of the place. Here, however, a question arises: how can he say that he had obtained the field by his sword and by his bow, which he had purchased with money, as is stated before (Genesis 33:19), and is again recorded in the previously mentioned chapter of Joshua?

However, since only a small portion of the field where he might pitch his tents was bought, I do not doubt that he here included a much greater area. For we may easily calculate from the price how small a portion of land he possessed before the destruction of the city.

Therefore, he now gives to his son Joseph not only the place of his tent, which had cost a hundred pieces of silver, but also the field that had been the common land of the city of Sychar. But it remains to inquire how he can be said to have obtained it by his sword, when the inhabitants had been wickedly and cruelly slain by Simon and Levi.

How then could it be acquired by the right of conquest from those against whom war had been unjustly brought, or rather, against whom the most cruel perfidy had been practiced without any declaration of war? Jerome resorts to allegory, saying that the field was obtained by money, which is called strength or justice.

Others suppose a prolepsis, as if Jacob were speaking of a future acquisition of the land—a meaning that, though I do not reject it, still seems somewhat forced.

I rather incline to this interpretation: first, that he wished to testify that he had taken nothing by means of his two sons Simon and Levi. They, having raged like robbers, were not lawful conquerors and had never obtained a single foot of land after the perpetration of the slaughter.

For they were so far from gaining anything that they compelled their father to flee; nor would escape have been possible unless they had been delivered by a miracle. When, however, Jacob strips them of their empty title, he transfers this right of victory to himself, as divinely granted to him.

For though he always held their wickedness in abhorrence and will show his detestation of it in the next chapter (Genesis 49:1); yet, because they had armed his whole household, they fought as if under his auspices.

Gladly would he have preserved the citizens of Shechem, a design he was not able to accomplish. Yet, he appropriates to himself the land left empty and deserted by their destruction, because God, for Jacob's sake, had spared the murderers.

CHAPTER 49