Genesis 49:14

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Genesis 49:14-15

Issachar. Original Orth = he bringeth reward; referring to birth, Genesis 30:18 (compare Psalms 24:5 .Ecclesiastes 5:18 . Esther 2:9 , &c.) But here = a hireling. The prophecy is: "The hireling is the ass (or saddle-bearer) of strangers, Couching down among the folds; When he saw rest that it was good, And the land that it was pleasant:" &c. He preferred to pay tribute to the Canaanites rather than engage in the struggle to expel them. read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Genesis 49:14-15

"Issachar is a strong ass, Couching down between the sheepfolds: And he saw a resting place that it was good, And the land that it was pleasant; And he bowed his shoulder to bear, And became a servant unto taskwork."The thing in view here is the character of Issachar whose tribe would be satisfied with physical comfort and plenty to eat, with a complacency that would make them prefer to accept oppression and taskwork rather than fight to maintain freedom and independence. It is possible that... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Genesis 49:14

Genesis 49:14. Issachar is a strong ass— Heb. An ass of bone, i.e.. brawny, strong, robust. Jacob having compared Judah to a lion, to denote his courage and valour, compares Issachar to an ass, to give us an idea of his strength, his patience, and assiduity in the labours of the field: asses were highly esteemed and much used in Judea. Couching down between two burdens— The proper signification of the word משׁפתים mishpetaim, here rendered burdens, is, the divisions in a stall or stable; i.e..... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Genesis 49:14

14. a strong ass couching down between two burdens—that is, it was to be active, patient, given to agricultural labors. It was established in lower Galilee—a "good land," settling down in the midst of the Canaanites, where, for the sake of quiet, they "bowed their shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute." :-. DAN—though the son of a secondary wife, was to be "as one of the tribes of Israel." read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Genesis 49:1-28

14. Jacob’s blessing of his sons 49:1-28Having blessed Pharaoh (Genesis 47:7-10) and Ephraim and Manasseh (Genesis 48:15-20), Jacob next blessed all 12 of his sons and foretold what would become of each of them and their descendants. He disqualified Reuben, Simeon, and Levi from leadership and gave that blessing to Judah. He granted the double portion to Joseph. This chapter is the last one in Genesis that gives the destinies of the family members of Abraham’s chosen line. It contains... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Genesis 49:13-21

These verses contain Jacob’s shorter blessings on the other sons except Joseph and Benjamin, whose blessings follow these."True to the poetic qualities of the text, the images of the destiny of the remaining sons are, in most cases, based on a wordplay of the son’s name. The central theme uniting each image is that of prosperity." [Note: Ibid.] Zebulun (Genesis 49:13) later obtained territory between the Mediterranean Sea and the Sea of Galilee. This was a thriving commercial area, though... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 49:1-33

Jacob Blesses his Twelve SonsIt is generally considered that in its present form, this chapter gives us indeed the last utterances of the dying patriarch respecting the future of his sons, but with additions and developments of a later date. As it stands we have not the broken utterances of a dying man, but an elaborate piece of work full of word-plays and metaphors (see on Genesis 49:8, Genesis 49:13, Genesis 49:16), and of those parallelisms in the vv. which are the chief feature of Hebrew... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 49:14

(14) Issachar.—The description of Issachar’s lot is derived partly from the cognizance he had chosen for his signet, and partly from his personal character, He had taken for his symbol the ass—a very noble, active, spirited, and enduring animal in the East. (See Genesis 16:12, where Ishmael is compared to the wild ass, which adds to these qualities the love of freedom.) His real character was slothful, inactive, and commonplace. Jacob therefore likens him to a “strong ass;” Heb., an ass of... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Genesis 49:1-33

Genesis 49:4 The verse which Ruskin once, in a mood of depression, thought was most suitable for his own epitaph. 'The public men of the times which followed the Restoration were by no means deficient in courage or ability; and some kinds of talent appear to have been developed amongst them to a remarkable degree.... Their power of reading things of high import, in signs which to others were invisible or unintelligible, resembled magic. But the curse of Reuben was upon them all: "Unstable as... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Genesis 49:1-33

THE BLESSINGS OF THE TRIBESGenesis 48:1-22; Genesis 49:1-33JACOB’S blessing of his sons marks the close of the patriarchal dispensation. Henceforth the channel of God’s blessing to man does not consist of one person only, but of a people or nation. It is still one seed, as Paul reminds us, a unit that God will bless, but this unit is now no longer a single person-as Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob-but one people, composed of several parts, and yet one whole: equally representative of Christ, as the... read more

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