Simeon and Levi are brethren (not in parentage alone, but also in their deeds; e.g. their massacre of the Shechemites ( Genesis 34:25 ), to which undoubtedly the next words allude); instruments of cruelty are in their habitations— literally, instruments of violence their מְכֵדֹת , a ἅπαξ λεγόμ. which has been variously rendered read more
- Jacob Blesses His Sons5. מכרה mekêrāh, “weapon;” related: כיר kārar or כרה kārāh dig. “Device, design?” related: מכר mākar “sell,” in Arabic “take counsel. Habitation.”10. מחקק mechoqēq, “lawgiver, judge, dispenser of laws.” This word occurs in six other places - Numbers 21:18; Deuteronomy 33:21; Jud. Deuteronomy 5:14; Psalms 60:9; Psalms 108:9; Isaiah 33:22; in five of which it clearly denotes ruler, or judge. The meaning “sceptre” is therefore doubtful. שׁילה shı̂ylôh, Shiloh, a... read more
Genesis 49:2. Hearken, unto Israel your father This chapter calls for our strictest attention, for it contains a number of predictions which were to be fulfilled at distant periods, through a long succession of ages; things depending upon so many various circumstances, upon such remote causes, so hid to all human view, so contrary to all appearances at the time they were spoken of, that it was impossible for any foresight or sagacity of man so much as to conjecture or imagine them. And yet... read more
Genesis 49:3-4 . Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might Begotten in the prime and vigour of my days; the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power Such were the prerogatives of the birthright, which he would have enjoyed had he not forfeited and fallen from them by his sin; dignity above his brethren, and considerable power over them. Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel As water is prone to flow, and still tends downward to an inferior situation, so Reuben should fall from... read more
Genesis 49:5. Simeon and Levi are brethren In disposition, but unlike their father: they were passionate and revengeful, fierce and wilful; instruments of cruelty are in their inhabitations, or, as מכרתיהם mecherotheihem rather signifies, their counsels, or compacts, alluding to their treacherous agreement with the Shechemites: their swords, which should have been only weapons of defence, were (as the margin reads it) weapons of violence, to do wrong to others, not to save... read more
Genesis 49:6. My soul, come not thou into their secret Their cursed plot hatched in secret: far be it from me to approve of their secret designs. And let not mine honour Or good name, be stained by being associated with theirs. Thus he signifies to all posterity that that bloody enterprise was undertaken without his consent, and that he could not think of it without detestation, nor let it pass without a severe censure. For in their anger they slew a man Shechem himself, and many... read more
Genesis 49:7. Cursed be their anger Not their persons. We ought always, in the expressions of our zeal, carefully to distinguish between the sinner and the sin, so as not to love or bless the sin for the sake of the person, nor to hate or curse the person for the sake of the sin. I will divide them The Levites were scattered throughout all the tribes, and Simeon’s lot lay not together, and was so strait that many of that tribe were forced to disperse themselves in quest of settlements and... read more
Blessings on Jacob’s twelve sons (49:1-28)The last words of Jacob to his sons found their fulfilment in the history of Israel’s twelve tribes (49:1-2). First Jacob dealt with the six sons of Leah (see v. 3-15), then with the four sons of the minor wives (see v. 16-21), and finally with the two sons of Rachel (see v. 22-27).Reuben should have been strong, but through lack of self-control he lost the leadership of the nation (3-4; cf. 35:22). Simeon and Levi had been violent, and their tribes... read more
Israel. See notes on Genesis 32:28 ; Genesis 43:8 ; Genesis 45:26 , Genesis 45:28 . read more
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The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 49:3-4
Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power :—Jacob's patriarchal benediction takes the form of an elevated poem, or sublime religious hymn, exhibiting the well-known classes of parallelism, the synthetic the antithetic, and the synonymous, not alone in its separate clauses, but sometimes also in its stanzas or verses. As was perhaps to be expected, it begins with Reuben, who is characterized by a... read more