Genesis 49
Dear RTB’ers,
Jacob’s blessings on his twelve sons. We see Jacob’s most abundant blessings falling on Judah and Joseph. Why not Reuben, his firstborn? While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine. And Israel heard of it. (Genesis 35:22) So Jacob bypassed Reuben. Why not Simeon and Levi? Go back to Genesis 34, where we read of the violence of their revenge on behalf of their sister, Dinah, and Jacob’s response to that episode: Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites…” (Gen. 34:30). We will see Jacob’s “blessing” on Simeon and Levi fulfilled later in the division of the Promised Land among the twelve tribes, “…I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.” (Gen. 49:7b) So, with these three set aside, Judah inherits the blessing of Jacob’s firstborn, the firstborn of Leah, and Joseph inherits the blessing of the firstborn of Rachel.
There’s so much more to be said about all this. Let’s discuss Judah and Joseph more at our next gathering on April 7.
Blessings!
See also: January 16 (2023) / Genesis 47-50