Called— Jacob, sensible that his last hour drew near, and having made an end of blessing Joseph's two sons, as is related at length in the preceding chapter, now calls all his sons together, that he may take his farewel of them.
That which shall befall you— We have in Scripture many instances of fathers summoning their children, or magistrates the people under their charge, to attend to their last words, ch. Genesis 27:4. 1 Kings 2:1.Joshua 23; Joshua 24. where the declarations, except in the case of Isaac, are to be regarded rather as prayers for their posterity, or as directions for their conduct, than in the light of prophecies. But, in the remarkable prophecy before us, we have, as it were, an epitome of the history of the most extraordinary nation that ever existed, for near the space of fifteen hundred years. We have facts so remote, and some of them so extraordinary, foretold in it, that, as they are infinitely beyond the penetration of human sagacity, they must be allowed by every fair inquirer, when he sees how exactly they were fulfilled, to have been dictated by the unerring Spirit of GOD.
An opinion prevailed very early in the world, that the soul, when it was near departing from the body, acquired a presaging faculty. Socrates and his disciples seem to have been persuaded of the truth of it, as we are informed by Plato and Xenophon; and Tully relates many instances in proof of it, and cites Homer to that effect. Whether this was a popular notion in Jacob's time, it is not material to inquire: it is highly probable, however, that his sons, who were well acquainted with the intercourse there had been between GOD and their fathers, were persuaded that their parent's voice was to them at that juncture, as the oracles of God, and that they gave credit to it accordingly.
In the last days— In after-times. The phrase הימים באחרית in the end of days, is not used for time which is immediately coming on, but only for a remote future time, as will appear on consulting Numbers 24:14.Deuteronomy 4:30; Deuteronomy 31:29. Daniel 2:28; Daniel 10:14. And as none of Jacob's children, or any of his descendants, till the fourth or fifth generation, possessed the portions assigned them, we may infer from the event, that by these words we are to understand the time which passed from the settling of the Israelites in Canaan to their general dissolution as distinct tribes.