Great Moments in Bible History
Number 53
Long-Term Consequences
We have reached the end of Jacob’s long life. His is the longest story in Genesis. He was born in chapter 25, and he died in chapter 49, the chapter we are considering here. Before he died, though, he called his sons to his bedside so that he could tell them what was going to happen to their descendants in later years (in fact, hundreds of years later). One surprising feature of these prophecies is how his sons’ behavior in earlier years would affect their descendants.
Since Reuben was the oldest, Jacob began with him. When we studied chapter 35, we covered a story about him that was told in just one verse, “Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine. And Israel heard of it” (Genesis 35:22). Jacob had four wives. Two of those wives were slaves of his first two wives, so they had a lower status and were called concubines (though back in those days a concubine was a legal wife). Reuben did not sleep with his mother Leah, but with one of his father’s concubines. Nevertheless, it was a grievous sin and one that his father remembered on his deathbed.
“Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the firstfruits of my strength, preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power” (Genesis 49:3). Nothing surprising so far, but then Jacob continued, “Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence, because you went up to your father’s bed; then you defiled it—he went up to my couch!” And that was all that Jacob said about Reuben! Instead of getting the blessing of the firstborn, he was demoted for the sin he had committed years earlier.
The later history of the 12 tribes shows the fulfilment of that curse. In the rest of the Old Testament there are only a couple stories about the tribe of Reuben, and they are not flattering. (See Numbers 16 and Judges 5:15-16.) Those stories happened hundreds of years later, yet they showed that what Jacob prophesied was true—because of their ancestor Reuben’s sin, they were destined never to be the leaders of the nation.
It is sobering to think that something we might do in a moment of passion will have consequences that last even beyond our lifetime.
Justice or Vengeance?
The next two sons in the order of their births were Simeon and Levi. Since Reuben had forfeited the right of the firstborn, that right would naturally pass to one of them. But Jacob reminded them about something they had done even earlier than Reuben’s sin. “Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of violence are their swords” (Genesis 49:5).
The story of those brothers’ crime is told in Genesis 34. A local prince named Shechem had raped their sister Dinah. They were so outraged that they slaughtered every male in his city. It was right that they were outraged. It was right that they would want justice. The problem is that when private citizens execute their own “justice,” it invariably becomes not just justice, but vengeance. The apostle Paul warned us, “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’” (Romans 12:19)
To leave vengeance to God requires more faith than Simeon and Levi had. Jacob pronounced a curse on them, “Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel” (Genesis 49:7).
When the nation of Israel was later given Canaan as their inheritance, the tribe of Simeon was so small that it was not given a tribal territory like the other tribes. Instead, it was given cities inside other tribes (mostly in the territory of Judah). The tribe of Levi, on the other hand, was made the priestly tribe. Because of their work as priests they were not given a tribal territory, either, but instead were given cities scattered throughout the other tribes. And so Jacob’s curse on those two sons was fulfilled in their descendants.
A New Firstborn
The first three sons all lost the blessing of the firstborn because of their sins. Next was Jacob’s fourth son Judah. The name Judah means “praise,” and Jacob used that meaning of his name in his blessing. “Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down before you” (Genesis 49:8). Judah was destined to be the ruling tribe in the nation of Israel.
Just as with the first three sons, this prophecy took hundreds of years to be fulfilled. The first king of Israel was Saul, and he was from the tribe of Benjamin. But Saul proved to be a failure and God replaced him with David. David was descended from Judah and was the beginning of the fulfillment of this prophecy.
Jacob’s prophecy of Judah’s future was not finally fulfilled with David. During David’s lifetime God gave a prophecy that ultimately pointed to the Messiah (see 2 Samuel 7:12-16).
The book of Genesis began with a story that did not end well (Adam and Eve in the Garden), but that included the first promise of the Messiah. Speaking to the serpent, God said, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15). As we discussed when we studied Genesis 3, the one who ultimately bruised the head of the serpent (Satan) was Jesus. As the book of Genesis progressed, God’s promise was narrowed down to a single family—the family of Abraham. “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). Later the promise was repeated to Abraham’s son Isaac and his grandson Jacob. In chapter 49 (today’s focus) God narrowed it down to the tribe of Judah. His promise to David, which came hundreds of years later, was the last time He narrowed the promise in the Old Testament.
The New Testament opens with the announcement of the final fulfillment of that promise. “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1). The word “Christ” is the New Testament translation of the Hebrew “Messiah.” Jesus is the ultimate descendant of Abraham and of David. He is the one who was destined to rule God’s people forever.
Over-the-Top Wealth
Sometimes we modern city dwellers miss meanings in the Bible because we are not used to the farm expressions it contains. This is certainly the case with Jacob’s prophecy about Judah. “Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, he has washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes” (Genesis 49:11). What is the big deal about tying a donkey to a vine? Farmers understand this immediately, but the rest of us need to have it explained. If you tie a donkey to a grape vine, the donkey will eat the grapes (and probably the rest of the vine as well). Only a farmer who is super rich would do such a thing. And that is the point. In the future Judah will be very rich—so rich that he can even afford to wash his clothes in wine!
That was another prediction that began to be fulfilled in the time of King David, but ultimately was looking forward to the Messiah—Jesus. Even when Jesus was born, it was not obvious that He would fulfill that promise. He was born to a poor family and lived His life without much in the way of possessions. But He promised to come back in the future and take His people with Him. Revelation 21 tells about that time. The description of the new Jerusalem with its street of gold is even more extravagant than Jacob’s prediction of Judah washing his clothes in wine.
Who would have thought that a prophecy given by an old man dying in Egypt about the future of his fourth son would end up being a blessing to people thousands of years later living in nations that were completely unknown to the family of Jacob? What a wonderful gift we have in Jesus!
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible.