Genesis 49:27-33
27“Benjamin is a ravenous wolf;
In the morning he devours the prey,
And in the evening he divides the spoil.”
28All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them. He blessed them, every one with the blessing appropriate to him.
29Then he charged them and said to them, “I am about to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,
30in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought along with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a burial site.
31“There they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah, there they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah, and there I buried Leah—
32the field and the cave that is in it, purchased from the sons of Heth.”
33When Jacob finished charging his sons, he drew his feet into the bed and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.
Summary:
Benjamin is a ravenous wolf
Benjamin is a ravenous wolf;
In the morning he devours the prey
his posterity should be a warlike tribe, strong and daring, and that they should enrich themselves with the spoils of their enemies—that they should be active and busy in the world, and a tribe as much feared by their neighbours as any other: In the morning, he shall devour the prey, which he seized and divided over night
Ehud the second judge, and Saul the first king, were of this tribe; and so also in the last times Esther and Mordecai, by whom the enemies of the Jews were destroyed, were of this tribe. The Benjamites ravened like wolves when they desperately espoused the cause of the men of Gibeah, those men of Belial, Jdg. 20:14
his posterity should be a warlike tribe, strong and daring, and that they should enrich themselves with the spoils of their enemies—that they should be active and busy in the world, and a tribe as much feared by their neighbours as any other: In the morning, he shall devour the prey, which he seized and divided over night
All these are the twelve tribes of Israel
He blessed them, every one with the blessing appropriate to him
Here is, I. The summing up of the blessings of Jacob’s sons
all these are the twelve tribes of Israel—or ancestors. Jacob’s prophetic words obviously refer not so much to the sons as to the tribes of Israel
I am about to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers
in the land of Canaan
Observe, 1. His heart was very much upon it, not so much from a natural affection to his native soil as from a principle of faith in the promise of God, that Canaan should be the inheritance of his seed in due time. Thus he would keep up in his sons a remembrance of the promised land, and not only would have their acquaintance with it renewed by a journey thither on that occasion, but their desire towards it and their expectation of it preserved
When Jacob finished charging his sons, he drew his feet into the bed and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people
When he had finished both his blessing and his charge (both which are included in the commanding of his sons), and so had finished his testimony, he addressed himself to his dying work
Key Points/Application:
Appropriate Blessings
He blessed them, every one with the blessing appropriate to him.
Finishing Strong
When Jacob finished charging his sons, he drew his feet into the bed and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.