John Gill Commentary Genesis 49

And Jacob called upon his sons. Who either were near at hand, and within call at the time Joseph came to visit him, or if at a distance, and at another time, he sent a messenger or messengers to them to come to him: and said, gather yourselves together; his will was, that they should attend him all together at the same time, that he might deliver what he had to say to them in the hearing of them all; for what he after declares was not said to them singly and alone, but when they were all before him:

that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days; not their persons merely, but their posterity chiefly, from that time forward to the coming of the Messiah, who is spoken of in this prophecy, and the time of his coming; some things are said relating to temporals, others to spirituals; some are blessings or prophecies of good things to them, others curses, or foretell evil, but all are predictions delivered out by Jacob under a spirit of prophecy;

some things had their accomplishment when the tribes of Israel were placed in the land of Canaan, others in the times of the judges, and in later times; and some in the times of the Messiah, to which this prophecy reaches, whose coming was in the last days, (Hebrews 1:1) and Nachmanides says, according to the sense of all their writers, the last days here are the days of the Messiah; and in an ancient writing of the Jews it is said ^F24, that Jacob called his sons, because he has a mind to reveal the end of the Messiah, i.e. the time of his coming; and Abraham Seba ^F25 observes, that this section is the seal and key of the whole law, and of all the prophets prophesied of, to the days of the Messiah.

FOOTNOTES:

• F24: Zohar in Gen. fol. 126. 1.
• F25: Tzeror Hammor, fol. 57. 4. & 58. 1.

Gather yourselves together This is repeated to hasten them, and to suggest that he had something of importance to make known to them, which he chose to do when they were together:

and hear, you sons of Jacob, and hearken to Israel your father: these words are used and doubled to excite their attention to what he was about to say, and which is urged because of the near relation between them.

Reuben, you are my firstborn
Jacob addressed himself to Reuben first, in the presence of his brethren, owned him as his firstborn, as he was, (Genesis 29:31Genesis 29:32) did not cashier him from his family, nor disinherit him, though he had greatly disobliged him, for which the birthright, and the privileges of it, were taken from him, (1 Chronicles 5:1 1 Chronicles 5:2) my might, and the beginning of my strength ;
begotten by him when in his full strength ^F26 , as well as the first of his family, in which his strength and glory lay; so the Septuagint, "the beginning of my children"; and because he was so, of right the double portion belonged to him, had he not forfeited it, (Deuteronomy 21:17) (Psalms 105:36) . Some versions render the words, "the beginning of my grief", or "sorrow" ^F1 , the word "Oni" sometimes so signifying, as Rachel called her youngest son "Benoni", the son of my sorrow; but this is not true of Reuben, he was not the beginning of Jacob's sorrow, for the ravishing of Dinah, and the slaughter and spoil of the Shechemites, by his sons, which gave him great sorrow and grief, were before the affair of Reuben's lying with Bilhah:

the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power ;
that is, to him of right belonged excellent dignity, power, and authority in the family, a preeminence over his brethren, a double portion of goods, succession in government, and, as is commonly understood, the exercise of the priesthood; and so the Targums interpret it, that he should, had he not sinned, took three parts or portions above his brethren, the birthright, priesthood, and kingdom. Jacob observes this to him, that he might know what he had lost by sinning, and from what excellency and dignity, grandeur and power, he was fallen.

FOOTNOTES:

• F26: "Nate. meae vires. --------" Virgil.
• F1: (ynwa tyvar) (kefalaion luphv mou) , Aquila; (arch odunhv) , Symmachus apud Drusium; "principium doloris mei", V. L. Tigurine version.

Unstable as water
Which is not to be understood of the levity of his mind, and his disposition to hurt, and the impetuous force of that breaking forth like water, and carrying him into the commission of it; but rather of his fall from his excellency and dignity, like the fall of water from an high place; and of his being vile, mean, and contemptible, useless and unprofitable, like water spilled on the ground; and of his weak and strengthless condition and circumstances, being deprived of the prerogatives and privileges of his birthright, and having lost all his honour and grandeur, power and authority. The word in the Arabic language signifies ^F2 to be proud and haughty, to lift up one's self, to swell and rise like the turgent and swelling waters: but though he did thus lift himself, yet it follows, you shall not excel;

not have the excellency of dignity and power which belonged to him as the firstborn; the birthright and the double portion were given to Joseph, who had two tribes descending from him, when Reuben had but one; the kingdom was given to Judah, and the priesthood to Levi, as both the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem observe: as he did not excel his brethren in honour and dignity, so neither in wealth and riches, nor in numbers; see (Deuteronomy 33:6) where the word "not" is wrongly supplied; nor in his share in the land of Canaan, his posterity being seated on the other side of Jordan, at their request; nor did any persons of note and eminence spring from his tribe:

because you went up to your father's bed, then you defiled it; referring to his incest with Bilhah, his father's concubine wife, (Genesis 35:22) which, though done forty years ago, was now remembered, and left an indelible spot on Reuben's character, and his posterity:

he went up to my couch:
turning himself to his other sons, to take notice of the crime, as very abominable and detestable; affirming the truth of it, and speaking of it with some vehemency, his affections being moved; and it may be could not bear to look at Reuben, but turned himself to his brethren; though he had forgiven the sin, and very probably Reuben had repented of it, and had forgiveness of God, which he might have, though in some sense vengeance was taken on this sinful invention of his, (Psalms 99:8) .

There are various senses given of this phrase; some, as Aben Ezra, "my bed departed from me"; that is, he departed from his bed; or, as Kimchi ^F3, "it ceased to be my bed"; he left it, he abstained from the bed of Bilhah upon its being defiled by Reuben: and others separate these words, and read (hle) , singly, "it went up" ^F4; either the excellency of Reuben went up, vanished and disappeared like smoke; or, as Ben Melech connects it with the beginning of the verse, "unstable as water", giving the sense, "it", the inundation of water, "ascended" and prevailed over you; as waters ascend, meaning his lust ascended, and got the prevalence over him; but the accents will not admit of such a separation of the words; it is best to understand them in the first sense.

As to the manner of the expression, of going up to a bed, it may be observed, that not only their beds in those times might be raised higher than ours, but that they were placed in an higher part of the room, and so there was an ascent to them: and Dr. Shaw ^F5 says this is the custom of the eastern people to this day,

``at one end of each chamber there is a little gallery, raised three, four, or five feet above the floor, with a balustrade in the front of it, with a few steps likewise leading up to it, here they place their beds.''

FOOTNOTES:

• F2: "superbivit, semet extulit gloria fastuque", Golius, col. 1767. so Castel. col. 2980.
• F3: Sepher Shorash. rad. (hle) .
• F4: (hle) "ascendit", i.e. "abiit" "et evanuit", Vatablus.
• F5: Travels, p. 209. Ed. 2.

Simeon and Levi are brothers Not because they were so in a natural sense, being brethren both by father and mother's side, for there were others so besides them; but because they were of like tempers, dispositions, and manners ^F6, bold, wrathful, cruel, revengeful, and deceitful, and joined together in their evil counsels and evil actions, and so are joined together in the evils predicted of them: instruments of cruelty are in their habitations: or vessels, utensils, household goods gotten by violence and rapine, and through the cruel usage of the Shechemites; these were in their dwellings, their houses were full of such mammon of unrighteousness, or spoil; or, as others, "instruments of cruelty" are "their swords" ^F7; what they should only have used in their own defence, with these they shed the blood of the Shechemites very barbarously, (Genesis 34:25). Some think the word here used is the Greek word for a sword; and the Jews say ^F8 that Jacob cursed the swords of Simeon and Levi in the Greek tongue; and others say it is Persic, being used by Xenophon for Persian swords; but neither of them seems probable: rather this word was originally Hebrew, and so passed from thence into other languages; but perhaps the sense of it, which Aben Ezra gives, may be most agreeable, if the first sense is not admitted, that it signifies covenants, compacts, agreements ^F9, such as these men made with the Shechemites, even nuptial contracts; for the root of the word, in the Chaldee language, signifies to espouse ^F11; and these they abused to cruelty, bloodshed, and slaughter, in a most deceitful manner: in the Ethiopic language, the word signifies counsels; so De Dieu takes it here.

FOOTNOTES:

• F6: --------par nobile fratrum Nequitia et nugis pravorum et amore gemellum." Horat. Sermon. l. 2. Satyr. 3.
• F7: (Mhytrkm) "Machaerae eorum", Montanus, Tigurine version, Schmidt; and so R. Sol. Urbin Ohel Moed, fol. 31. 2.
• F8: Pirke Eliezer, c. 38.
• F9: So Castell. Lexic. col. 2058. Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
• F11: (rkm) Chald. & Syr. "despondit", "desponsavit", Schindler. Lex. col. 998.