Genesis 49: 13-28

Joseph Blesses His Sons - Unequal Inheritances

(2 of 2)

 Let continue looking and this inheritance speech of Jacob as he continues to speak out blessings [or otherwise upon his sons] Let’s pick it up from verse 13.

“Zebulun will live by the seashore and become a haven for ships;
     his border will extend toward Sidon.

(Genesis 49: 13)

This is simply Zebulun is going to get a piece of land, and his territory is going to touch the Sea of Galilee on the east and spread west to Sidon. That’s 2/3 of the way across the land from the Mediterranean to the Sea of Galilee. Probably this land came with some rights of access to the Mediterranean Sea which would have made it valuable…. Verse 14 

“Issachar is a raw-boned donkey lying down among the sheep pens. When he sees how good is his resting place and how pleasant is his land, he will bend his shoulder to the burden and submit to forced labour.

(Genesis 49: 14-15)

All right, what he says about Issachar is again a case of using figurative language describing a huge amount of physical strength. He was strong as a donkey, that’s figurative language for great physical strength. It says he is lying between the sheep pens which experts say means that they had settled in the country where sheep where plentiful, at any rate, it’s suggesting they are going to live among or become an agricultural people. 

In verse 15 he says he saw that rest was good and the land was pleasant. That Hebrew word resting describes being in a pleasant, agreeable state. But please note language experts say that this is suggesting he was unambitious and perhaps even a little lethargic. He was strong, but he was lazy. It means, he worked hard, but what he really wanted to do was rest.  So, this tribe would do work that required exertion and brute strength and they would readily become a toiling labor force for other people, but because of this his descendants would become like a band of slaves. Issachar is thereby warned against aiming low, or against burying his talent.

One commentator says that Issachar preferred a life of idle luxury so much, so he was willing to trade his liberty for the material things of life instead of using his ability to work for himself. He would be seen to work for the Canaanites, for food and rest. This gain was considered a mockery, for it is the reversal of the relationship that should have prevailed between Israel and the Canaanites instead the Canaanites should have been serving them.

Now what I’ve done so far is go through the children of Leah. At this point at verse 16, we are now going to talk about the children of the concubines and then we will get to the children of Rachel, the other wife, the one that Jacob fell in love with first. 

But let’s pick up at verse 16 where he talks about Dan. 

“Dan will provide justice for his people as one of the tribes of Israel.  Dan will be a snake by the roadside, a viper along the path, that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider tumbles backward. “I look for your deliverance, Lord.

(Genesis 49: 16-18)

This means that he would be like a serpent, a small animal that could take down a horse and its rider. The tribe of Dan was, by the way, small and they got a portion of the land, and they didn’t like it so they moved north and because of their fierce qualities they were able to protect Israel from some of those people that lived to the north of Israel. Therefore, what this passage is saying is that Dan, while apparently unimpressive because it occupied such a small area, nevertheless was a dangerous adversary, well able to protect Israel's northern border from invaders. However, they are also the ones that will lead Israel into idolatry and therefore in that sense they were likened to a serpent. Verse 18 seems to be saying that Jacob asked the Lord to deliver his descendants from this aspect of Dan’s influence in the future. That takes us to verse 19 and Gad and Asher. 

Gad will be attacked by a band of raiders, but he will attack them at their heels. “Asher’s food will be rich; he will provide delicacies fit for a king.

(Genesis 49: 19-20)

Gad’s name can be literally translated as “trampled underfoot”. In the end, however, God will allow him to counterattack. Let me explain, Asher by living in the fertile part of the promised land was able to supply food and delicacies for the whole region. The whole region was bordered on the West by the Mediterranean Sea, when you entered the land, there was a mountain range in the middle, and then there was the Sea of Galilee, the Jordan River, and the Dead Sea on the east. Those bodies of water served as protection of the land on the other side of the Jordan River. 

“Naphtali is a doe set free that bears beautiful fawns.

(Genesis 49: 21)

This is another verse which scholars struggle to accurately translate. The first part of the sentence seems straightforward: Naphtali is compared to a female deer which has been set free. The second part of the verse is a bit less clear. The words literally to mean "gives beautiful fawns." However, similar Hebrew words refer to flowery speech. This is why some translations render this to mean Naphtali's tribe will produce beautiful "words." There is no question that Naphtali's descendants would settle in mountainous terrain, which in that region was associated with "deer" and similar animals. So, a reputation for being free-spirited and mountain-dwelling would fit this prophecy well. The rest of this passage down through verse 26 talks about Joseph.

“Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine near a spring, whose branches climb over a wall.  With bitterness archers attacked him; they shot at him with hostility, but his bow remained steady, his strong arms stayed limber, because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, because of your father’s God, who helps you, because of the Almighty, who blesses you with blessings of the skies above, blessings of the deep springs below, blessings of the breast and womb. Your father’s blessings are greater than the blessings of the ancient mountains, than the bounty of the age-old hills. Let all these rest on the head of Joseph,
     on the brow of the prince among his brothers.

(Genesis 49: 22-26)

According to verse 24, even though Joseph will experience hardship, the Lord will strengthen him. His blessing will exceed the blessing of his ancestors. His blessing extended to the borders of the everlasting hills, indicating that they filled the land. In specific terms, Abraham had one son of promise. Isaac had two children. Jacob was more blessed than them in that he had twelve sons, destined to be the head of the 12 Tribes of Israel.  Jacob says his main blessing should be on the head of his son, Joseph, on the crown of the one who was separated from his brothers. He’s going to be blessed by God in the future in a way that will outshine any blessing he has already experienced. 

By the way, no spiritual blessings are mentioned here in this passage. All the blessing described are about land and property. That is because spiritual blessings are never seen to be an inheritance, this is important to notice because we do not inherit spiritual blessing, we receive them as a result of the life of faith we each individually live. At any rate, Joseph’s going to be abundantly blessed.

One more, Benjamin.

“Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he devours the prey, in the evening he divides the plunder.”

(Genesis 49: 27)

The tribe of Benjamin will be bold and strong and successful in warfare, but at the same time they are seen to be cruel. In other words, Benjamin will be successful in plundering his foes but at the same time, he will be fierce like a wolf. Then there is a final concluding verse to close this section which tells us.

“All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him.

(Genesis 49: 28)

So, this summary verse is simply saying this was Jacob’s blessing to his twelve sons. Jacob knew his son’s probably better than they know themselves. He knew which ones would be strong and therefore victorious, and he knew which ones would be lazy. If you are a father of many children, you know that’s not hard to figure out. So, they were each blessed according to their to their individual merit. Their inheritance was not equal. Some even got disinherited, some got an abundance of blessing and, some got an ordinary blessing, all depending on who they were as individuals. 

The summary of this passage is the Lord blesses all of his children, they all entered the land, but the extent of their blessing was dependent on their obedience and on their dependence on the Lord. All of them got blessed in the sense that they entered the promised land, but after that the blessing received was dependent on them on how obedient they were and how they lived a life of faith.

OK, let me conclude by making some observations. Firstly, each brother, and therefore every tribe had his own distinct characteristics. One author list these as industrious or lazy. Some were puritanical and others were sinful. Somewhere peaceful, somewhere aggressive, some were philosophical some were industrial. None of those shortcomings stopped them entering the promised land. Each of these tribes had family characteristics. Now, there will of course be exception in a tribe, but each tribe had an overall characteristic. 

However, beyond all of that, this passage illustrates that whilst that is true is also not necessarily true, that it is always, like father, like son.  Some of Jacobs sons were not like him at all. They did things he abhorred. In those cases, they acted out of their own sinful nature, not out of their upbringing. Their individual flawed human nature won over nurture. That is one of the lessons of this passage and is perhaps a comfort to parents to hear that. However, the main point is to illustrate the concept of inheritance, and this is where I want to think about as we close out are time together today. All the sons and their descendants entered the land, but not everyone received an equal share of the inheritance. All twelve sons received the benefits of the covenant, all were blessed, and that they were all allowed to enter the land.  Which tells me, all of God’s children are blessed in that they will be with the Lord’s forever. We all get at least that much of an inheritance.

If you’ve trusted Christ, you’re going to heaven, and nothing can change that. At the same time, another even greater inheritance is based on obedience. Therefore, obedience and living in faith, both present and future consequences. All of Jacob’s sons were blessed that day, they were all allowed to enter the lane, but once in the land they were not equally blessed. Some are even passed over whilst some elevated to positions of leadership and double blessings. Joseph and Judah come to the fore, in fact Joseph receives a double portion, and his own sons where elevated to receive at least an equal blessing to the other brothers.

Many Bible experts also suggest the scope of these prophecies extend to the millennial age. God did not fulfill all these prophecies completely during the lifetime of Jacob’s sons, some will not be completely fulfilled until the end times. Many see this passage as a far-off view of what will happen when the Messiah comes, but that is beyond the scope of what I want to talk about here, but the most straightforward application we can make to day is the teaching that all who trust Christ will enter the Kingdom. In that sense they are given an inheritance. Some get an abundance in the Kingdom, the double portion the great blessing in the Kingdom, and some get disinherited of the future blessing, and they won’t receive what are sometime figuratively referred to as the crowns of life. 

There’s a difference between entering the Kingdom and inheriting the Kingdom. You can enter a house and not inherit the house. All who trusted Christ enter the kingdom, but some will receive abundant blessings, and some get a modest inheritance, and some get nothing more because of their practice of sin. In Genesis 49, Jacob gave one son a double portion, three were disinherited and one was given leadership of the priestly class. Rubin, the first born would normally have been entitled to a double portion, because of sexual immorality with his father concubine was disinherited completley. Jacob told him he was unstable and would not benefit from his sexual immorality. The leadership of the tribes went to Judah, the priesthood to the Levite’s, and the double portion to Joseph. The application to us is very simple and very clear. If you’ve trusted Christ, you’re going to heaven, you’re going to enter the Kingdom, there’s no question about that, you have it. But as Jesus said, some are going to have authority over 10 cities and summer over 5, or you could just be in there by the skin of your teeth. This illustrates to me that while all believers have an inheritance, not all believers receive an equal inheritance. But this also tell me that in this life we should strive for the greater inheritance. Which is why Jesus said lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, by living in faith, living in obedience, and sharing God’s blessings with others