(Genesis 47:27 - 49:32)
Israel settled in Egypt in the land of Goshen with all his possessions. He prospered greatly and lived there for 17 years. After he had reached the age of 147, he recognized that death was near and summoned to his side his son Joseph, saying to him, "If I remain in your favor, please place your hand against my genitals and swear to honor my last request: don't bury me in Egypt but allow me to lie at rest with my forefathers. Take my body out of this land and let it be interred in the ancestral burial place of our family."
"I will do what you wish," replied Joseph.
"Swear then to me."
As Joseph swore, Israel reverently kissed the handle of Joseph's staff.
A short time later, Joseph heard word that his father was ill and so when visiting him, he took along his sons Manasseh and Ephraim. When Jacob was told his son Joseph was coming to see him, he mustered all his strength and sat up in bed. Jacob reminisced with Joseph, "The all-powerful god appeared before me at Luz in Canaan and blessed me. He promised me, ‘I will make you prosperous and prolific. Many peoples will be descended from you and I will give you this land for your posterity as an everlasting possession.’ ... Your sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born to you in Egypt before I came here, will be my heirs, just like Reuben and Simeon. But any other children you may have will only be your heirs and will not share in their brothers' inheritance from me. ... I remember when I had left Aram, Rachel died in Canaan during the journey. There was but a short distance until we would have reached Ephrath. I buried her along the road to Ephrath at a place called Bethlehem."
When Israel saw Joseph's sons, he asked, "Who are these?" and Joseph told him, "These are the sons God has given me in this land." Jacob said, "Bring them closer that I may bless them."
Owing to his age, Israel's vision was failing, and he could not see clearly, so Joseph brought them close to him. He kissed and embraced them tenderly, and told Joseph, "I once thought I would never see you again. Now, God has allowed me to see your children."
Joseph took his sons from Jacob's lap and then bowed in obeisance to him. He placed Ephraim on his right (that is, towards Israel's left hand) and Manasseh on his left (towards Israel's right hand) and steered them to his father. Jacob, however, stretched out his right hand and put it on the head of Ephraim, the younger son, and crossed his left hand over to place it on the head of the elder son, Manasseh.
He blessed Joseph, and then proclaimed, "The god worshipped by my forefathers Abraham and Isaac, the god who has sustained me my whole life up until this time, the divine agent that has spared me from evil, put your blessing upon these boys. May my legacy and the legacy of Abraham and Isaac be theirs and may their progeny spread across the face of the earth."
Joseph, noticing that his father had placed his right hand on Ephraim, was perturbed and attempted to lift it off of Ephraim's head and put it on that of Manasseh. He rebuked Jacob, "This is not quite right, my father. This is my older son, put your right hand on his head."
Jacob, however, refused, saying, “Yes, I realize that, my son, but I know what I’m doing. --- Your older son will give birth to a great people and go far. But his younger brother will surpass him: his progeny will grow into a multitude of nations." He blessed them that day and said, “When, in the future, the people of Israel give a blessing, they will say, ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’” He thus made it a settled matter, placing Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.
Israel told his son Joseph, "Even after I die, Jehovah will remain with you and will bring you back to the land of your ancestors. I am bequeathing you a plot of land upon which your brothers will have no claim, land which I wrested from the Amorites by force of arms."
Jacob summoned his sons. "Gather together so I may tell you what will become of you in the future. Gather together and listen, sons of Jacob, and take heed of what your father Israel has to say to you!"
"Reuben, you are my first son, born in the full vigor of my manhood; your arrival was the beginning of my cares. As the eldest, you ought to receive the greatest respect and the greatest authority. But, you will not be foremost among your brothers, your descendants will not thrive, for you, as unruly as water, committed adultery with my wife and defiled my marriage bed. --- He had sex on my very couch!”
"Simeon and Levi are brothers indeed, kindred spirits, warriors wielding swords of violence and cruelty. I want no part of their conspiracies! I want nothing to do with their plots! In their rage they killed a man and in their recklessness tore down the walls of a city. Cursed is their anger, because it is unbridled, and their wrath, because it is merciless. Their descendants will be divided and live scattered among the other tribes of Israel."
"Judah, you are the one your brothers look up to. You will have your hands on your enemies’ throats, for which your brothers will bow down to you. Judah is like a lion who will stalk the hills for prey, returning with his kill to couch in his den, and no one will dare rouse him. No, the royal scepter will not be seized from the hands of Judah’s tribe, nor the ruler’s staff from between the feet of his people until a true king descended from him comes to win the people’s respect and obedience. --- To what tree will he tie his mount, the young donkey he rides? It will be to the best vine in the vineyard. He will wash his robes in the juice of the grape, and they will be stained with wine. His eyes will be red from drinking wine and his teeth white from drinking milk!"
"Zebulun will settle on the sea coast and his descendants will inhabit the ship harbors as far north as Sidon."
"Issachar is but a sturdy donkey kneeling down between his loaded saddlebags. He sees that his resting place is comfortable and the land pleasant, so he will take up his load and resign himself to a life of manual labor.”
"Dan will be a judge among his people and his tribe will be the judges of the tribes of Israel. He will be like a snake on the road biting at the horses' heels so that they throw their riders, who will cry, 'God save me!'"
"Gad will be attacked by marauders, but, when they retreat, he will rout them in return.”
"Asher’s land will produce fine grain and he will make breads and pastries fit for a royal table.”
"Naphtali is a wild and free-running doe who produces beautiful fawns.”
"Joseph is like a wild donkey by a spring or a colt grazing on the hillside. His enemies attack him fiercely and archers relentlessly shoot their arrows at him. But his bow is pulled tautly, for his arms and his hands are given strength and suppleness by the god of Jacob. From him will be descended the shepherd and the pillar of Israel's people. The god of your ancestors will aid you; the all-powerful god will bless you with rain from the heavens and bubbling springs from the ground, many children to your wives and young to your animals. The blessings of your father are stronger than the blessings of your forefathers and they will endure like the eternal mountains. They fall upon the shoulders of Joseph, the one who was exiled from his family, but who is now a prince.”
"Benjamin will be like a ravaging wolf who takes down his prey in the morning and in evening divides the kill."
"These, then, are the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Their father has spoken to them and has blessed them, each with their own individual blessing."
He also appealed to them, saying, "Soon, I will be going to join my ancestors. Bury me with my forbears in the double cave that lies in the field of Ephron the Hethite, the field of Machpelah near Mambre in the land of Canaan, which was purchased by Abraham from Ephron the Hethite for the purpose of serving as a burial chamber. It was there that they buried Abraham, along with his wife Sarah. Isaac is buried there, too, with his wife Rebecca. It is there that I interred Leah. The cave and the field wherein it lies was purchased from the tribe of Heth."
After Jacob had concluded his pronouncements, he instructed his sons to set him back down in bed. It was then he died and joined his ancestors.
Notes
1. The text affirms that Jacob lived in Egypt for 17 years and that Joseph's sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, were born before his arrival. The son's therefore, would have been adults by the time of Jacob's death, yet, in the scene where Joseph presents his sons to his father, they are clearly portrayed as children small enough to sit on their grandfather's knee. At any rate, tradition is followed, the worthy younger son displaces the less worthy elder son who should be his father’s primary heir.
2. Jacob, in his old age, becomes something of a prophet, although the reader gets the feeling his pronouncements on the futures of his descendants is literary embellishment. It is the nature of the narrative, a history of events resulting primarily from divine will, that nothing can occur that has not been either preordained by Providence or attested to by prophecy. Jacob's fortune telling benefits from the 20/20 hindsight of the narrators.
3. Jacob’s blessings refer to past conduct of some of the sons (Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, for instance), but also to destinies either of the sons as individuals or of their tribes. Judah is mentioned as the ancestor of the greatest leader of the Hebrew people, who would be King David. This allusion, although clearly intended to refer to David, has been thought by many Christians to presage the coming of Jesus Christ.
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