CRITICAL NOTES.—
Genesis 49:1. In the last days.] This phrase is often used to denote the Messianic times (Isaiah 2:2; Ezekiel 38:8; Ezekiel 38:16; Jeremiah 30:24, etc). “This passage reaches to that period in the Shiloh, and it embraces the intervening history.” (Jacobus.) The expression is chiefly found in prophetic passages.—
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Genesis 49:1-2
JACOB AS A PROPHET OF THE LORD
In this dying speech of Jacob to his sons, we have the characteristics of true prophecy. Consider the following things:—
I. The nature of its contents.
1. Prediction. It is true that the office of a prophet was not simply to predict future events. But this was part of the burden of the Lord laid upon him. In revealing the Divine will he had sometimes to lift the veil of the future. We have here, without doubt, the element of prediction. If we grant any of the circumstances which invest Jacob with a sacred character; if we believe that he was called of God, and that he was in covenant with Him, then the fact that this discourse was really prophetic presents no difficulty. All is clear enough, and worthy of belief, except upon the a priori assumption of the rationalists that prophecy is, in the nature of things, impossible. This speech also contains—
2. Insight into spiritual truths. The prophet was most of all a seer, one who had insight into spiritual truths, a proclaimer of eternal principles. This is a higher thing than the mere prediction of facts which take place but once. In this discourse we discern eternal principles,—of man’s moral and spiritual nature, of the powers which shape history, of God’s government of the world, of Redemption, and of the eternal kingdom which shall reign over and beyond all. Consider:—
II. The nature of the style employed. It has all the marks of reality, it is suited to the age, and such as the patriarchs used. It is vague and mysterious, there are no accurate and minute details, but all is given in shadowy outline; and this forbids us to suppose that it was written in after ages in order to fit into history. The very obscurity, and the difficulties in this speech, are themselves a vindication of its claim to be prophecy. Consider:—
III. The impossibility of accounting for these deliverances upon natural principles. Jacob was now a weak and aged man; the last sickness was upon him. And yet he speaks in this sublime style, the proper vehicle of exalted thought and feeling. He utters this wonderful poem. Surely he was Divinely taught and aided. Inspiration is the only solution. That which reveals so much of God’s thoughts and ways must be from God. Consider:
IV. The stage of prophetic development which it indicates. The prophecy of Messiah now becomes clearer. First, it is the seed, in general terms; then thy seed, Abraham’s. Now, the very tribe out of which the Messiah is to spring is announced. We have here the full bloom of patriarchal prophecy. The language rises to that poetic form which is peculiar to the Messianic predictions. The blessing of Judah is the central point, where the discourse reaches on to the last times, when God would bring His first begotten into the world, and set up his everlasting kingdom. Consider:—
V. The promise of eternal life which it suggests. The spirit of these prophecies is the testimony of Jesus. And He came that we may have life. Eternal life is the end of all prophecy. In regard to this doctrine we may ask in Jacob’s individual case, can we suppose that God would give this light to a man—these reverences and feelings, and then quench his soul in darkness for ever? Could Jacob have been permitted to know of and disclose such a magnificent future, and yet not live on to see it?
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Genesis 49:1-2. The spirit of devoted men of God, in anticipation of death, soars to an elevated consciousness, and either in priestly admonitions, or prophetic fore-seeings, attests its divine nature, its elevation above the common life, and its anticipation of a new and glorious existence. The testimony of antiquity is harmonious in respect to such facts—even heathen antiquity. So declared the dying Socrates, that he regarded himself as in that stage of being when men had most of the foreseeing power.—(Lange.)
He that hears the word of God, must hear as if he did, for so he doth hear for life and death; he must, as Jacob bids his sons, “hear and hearken.”—(Trapp.)