A Deathbed Blessing • Genesis 49

So Jacob is literally on his deathbed, and these are going to be the last words that he utters before he dies, speaking to his 12 sons, and of course his 12 sons will become the 12 tribes of Israel.

Now, last words are very meaningful, generally speaking.

If a person is of sound mind and sound heart, and they know that they're going to die, the last things that they say that they want to bestow upon their family are very significant words.

And that's what we have here with Jacob.

But these words are more than just the reflections of a dying man.

These are also prophetic words that are going to be spoken by the power of God over his 12 sons, as we said, who will become the 12 tribes of Israel.

And so these are the final blessings of a dying man, but also the divine prophecy that will be spoken over his sons that will affect the 12 tribes later on in the future.

Now Jacob has already blessed the two sons of Joseph.

Remember he called Joseph in, and when he heard Joseph come, he said, okay, Joseph, bring your two sons, and then he adopted the two sons of Joseph.

Remember that scene.

He said, basically, your two sons are mine.

If you have any other sons, they belong to you.

But these two are mine.

Now, he didn't take them home and raise them in that kind of adoption.

He was calling them by his name so that they would share in his direct inheritance.

In other words, he was giving the spiritual birthright of blessing to Joseph through his two sons.

Joseph, though he wasn't the firstborn, he was the 11th born, he was going to receive the birthright.

He was going to receive a double portion of blessing, and that would come through Manasseh and Ephraim, as they get a significant portion in the land of Israel.

So he's already adopted his sons, but now he turns his attention to his own 12 sons, to speak to them, to both bless them and curse them.

So he begins with his firstborn, Reuben, his first son.

Now as we've said before, generally the birthright goes to the firstborn son.

Normally he got a double portion of inheritance and a double portion of blessing over the other sons.

But Reuben did something that disqualified himself from that place of privilege, and we see it here.

It's brought out upon the deathbed of Jacob.

Reuben sinned by committing sexual immorality with his father's concubine, Billa.