John Calvin Commentary Genesis 49:18

"I have waited for thy salvation, O Jehovah." — Genesis 49:18 (ASV)

I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord. It may be asked, in the first place, what occasion induced the holy man to break the connection of his discourse and suddenly to burst forth in this expression. For since he had recently predicted the coming of the Messiah, the mention of salvation would have been more appropriate in that place.

Indeed, I think that when he perceived, as from a lofty watchtower, the condition of his offspring continually exposed to various changes and even tossed by storms that would almost overwhelm them, he was moved with deep concern and fear. For he had not so cast off all paternal affection as to be entirely without care for those who were of his own blood.

Therefore, foreseeing many troubles, many dangers, many assaults, and even many slaughters, which threatened his descendants with as many destructions, he could not help but grieve with them and, as a man, be troubled at the sight. But so that he might rise against every kind of temptation with victorious steadfastness of mind, he commits himself to the Lord, who had promised that He would be the guardian of His people.

Unless this circumstance is noted, I do not see why Jacob exclaims here, rather than at the beginning or the end of his discourse, that he waited for the salvation of the Lord.

But when this sorrowful confusion of events presented itself to him—a situation not only violent enough to shake his faith but also more than burdensome enough to overwhelm his mind entirely—his best remedy was to counter it with this shield.

I also do not doubt that he would advise his sons to rise with him in exercising the same confidence. Moreover, because he could not be the author of his own salvation, it was necessary for him to rest upon the promise of God.

In the same way, we also must, at this present day, hope for the salvation of the Church. For although it seems to be tossed on a turbulent sea and almost sunk in the waves, and though even greater storms are to be feared in the future, yet amidst many destructions, salvation is to be hoped for in the deliverance that the Lord has promised.

It is even possible that Jacob, foreseeing by the Spirit how great the ingratitude, treachery, and wickedness of his descendants would be—by which the grace of God might be stifled—was contending against these temptations.

But although he expected salvation not for himself alone but for all his descendants, this, however, deserves to be specially noted: he shows forth the life-giving covenant of God to many generations, thereby demonstrating his own confidence that, after his death, God would be faithful to His promise.

From this it also follows that, with his last breath and as if in the midst of death, he laid hold of eternal life.

But if he, amidst obscure shadows, relying on a redemption seen from afar, boldly went forth to meet death, what ought we to do, upon whom the clear day has shone? Or what excuse remains for us if our minds fail amidst similar turmoil?