Genesis 49:15

_AND HE SAW THAT REST WAS GOOD, AND THE LAND THAT IT WAS PLEASANT; AND BOWED HIS SHOULDER TO BEAR, AND BECAME A SERVANT UNTO TRIBUTE._ He saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant. The plain of Esdraelon, on which they settled, formed as it were a deep and spacious valley, separating in a very striking manner the two mountainous regions of Palestine-that of Samaria and Judea on the south, and that of Galilee on the north. Esdraelon, with the plain of Acre, belongs geographically to neither of these districts. Its fertility has been proverbial in all ages. 'Every traveler has remarked on the richness of its soil and the exuberance of its crops. The very weeds are a sign of what, in better hands, the vast plain might become' (Stanley, 'Sinai and Palestine,' p. 348). The tribe of Issachar was originally enterprising and independent. They were commended by Deborah (Jud

13-18 Concerning Zebulun: if prophecy says, Zebulun shall be a haven of ships, be sure Providence will so plant him. God appoints the bounds of our habitation. It is our wisdom and duty to accommodate ourselves to our lot, and to improve it; if Zebulun dwell at the heaven of the sea, let him be for a haven of ships. Concerning Issachar: he saw that the land was pleasant, yielding not only pleasant prospects, but pleasant fruits to recompense his toils. Let us, with an eye of faith, see the heavenly rest to be good, and that land of promise to be pleasant; this will make our present services easy. Dan should, by art, and policy, and surprise, gain advantages against his enemies, like a serpent biting the heel of the traveller. Jacob, almost spent, and ready to faint, relieves himself with those words, "I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord!" The salvation he waited for was Christ, the...

Verse Genesis 49:15. _HE SAW THAT REST_] The _inland portion_ that was assigned to him between the other tribes. _He inclined his shoulder_ _to the load_; the Chaldee paraphrast gives this a widely different turn to that given it by most commentators: "He saw his portion that it was good, and the land that it was fruitful; and he shall subdue the provinces of the people, and drive out their inhabitants, and those who are left shall be his servants, and his tributaries." Grotius understands it nearly in the same way. The _pusillanimity_ which is generally attributed to this tribe certainly does not agree with the view in which they are exhibited in Scripture. In the song of Deborah this tribe is praised for the _powerful assistance_ which it then afforded, Judges 5:15. And in...

- Jacob Blesses His Sons 5. מכרה _m__e__kêrāh_, “weapon;” related: כיר _kārar_ or כרה _kārāh_ dig. “Device, design?” related: מכר _mākar_ “sell,” in Arabic “take counsel. Habitation.” 10. מחקק _m__e__choqēq_, “lawgiver, judge, dispenser of laws.” This word occurs in six other places - Numbers 21:18; Deuteronomy 33:21; Jud. Deuteronomy 5:14;...

EXPOSITION GENESIS 49:1 AND JACOB (having closed his interview with Joseph and his two sons) CALLED (by means of messengers) UNTO HIS SONS (_i.e._ the others who were then absent), AND SAID, GATHER YOURSELVES TOGETHER,—the prophet's last utterance must be a public one—THAT I MAY TELL YOU—literally, and I _will tell you_—THAT WHICH SHALL BEFALL YOU—קָרָא, in the sense of happening or occurring to any one, is here equivalent to קָרָה (cf. Genesis 42:4, Genesis 42:38)—IN THE LAST DAYS—literally, _in the end of the days, _not simply in f

AND HE SAW THAT REST WAS GOOD,.... Not the house of the sanctuary, and attendance there, and the service of that, as the Targum of Jerusalem; nor the rest of the world to come, the happiness of a future state, as that of Jonathan; but rather, as Onkelos, the part and portion of the good land allotted him; he saw that a quiet industry exercised in a diligent cultivation and manuring his land was preferable to the hurry of a court, or the fatigue of a camp, or the dangers of the seas: AND THE LAND THAT IT WAS PLEASANT; a fine delightful country, which, if well looked after and improved, would produce plenty of pleasant fruits; and within this tribe were the rich vale of Esdraelon or Jezreel, and the fruitful mountains of Gilboa: of the former it is agreed by all travellers the like has never been seen by them, being of vast extent and very fertile, and formerly abounded with corn, wine, a...

L, 2. _And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last day. Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father._ It must have been a great comfort to the old man to have all his twelve sons with him. What a quiet answer this was to his former unbelief! They were all there, yet he could remember the time when he had said, «Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away.» Ah! we also shall have in our later days to chide ourselves for our foolish unbelief. «Jacob called unto his sons,» so he was not bereaved after all. They are all here, Jacob. It falls to the lot of few fathers to have twelve sons, and to fewer still to have all twelve of them gathered about his dying bed. «Gather yourselves together.» They were t...

CHAPTER 49 JACOB'S PROPHECY _ 1. The call of Jacob: “Gather yourselves together” (Genesis 49:1)_ 2. The prophecy concerning his sons (Genesis 49:3) Reuben (Genesis 49:3) Simeon and Levi (Genesis 49:5) Judah (Genesis 49:8) Zebulun (Genesis 49:13) Issachar (Genesis 49:14) Dan ...

THE BLESSING OF JACOB. This poem had an independent origin, but if it was incorporated in one of the main documents it would be in J. It is not a mere collection of originally isolated utterances on the tribes, but was from the first put in the lips of Jacob, though expansions and alterations have, no doubt, taken place. It need hardly be said that it is not the utterance of Jacob himself. It would be inexplicable that his vision should fix just on the period here covered. The oppression of Egypt, the Exodus, the wandering are all passed over, though they lay nearer to Jacob's day, and were momentous in character. And beyond the time of David or Solomon the author's vision does not range. Why should Jacob, who can see the period of the Judges and early monarchy, see only this, especially as he claims to foretell what is to happen in the latter days? The period is so restricted because it...

HE SAW THAT REST WAS GOOD— _He saw the resting-place, that it was good,_ as Durell renders it, after the Samaritan: and he justly observes, that the original word signifying both _rest_ and a _resting-place,_ the latter appears more suitable here, as it is explained by _land_ in the next clause. The goodness of this portion may be sufficiently collected from what is said in Scripture of _the vale of Jezreel,_ so frequently mentioned in it; from the detail we meet with of its produce; and from what Josephus says of Lower Galilee, in which this tribe was situated: for "that country," he says, (Jewish War, l. iii. c. 3.) "is fruitful to admiration, abounding in pastures, and nurseries of all kinds, so that it would make any man in love with husbandry." _AND BOWED HIS SHOULDER TO BEAR_— He still speaks of Issachar under the similitude of _an ass;_ and gives us a natural image of a people pat...