Unstable as water. Figure of speech Simile. Compare Numbers 16:1 , Numbers 16:2 ; Numbers 32:1 . water . . . thou. Figure of speech Ellipsis here ( App-6 . b). The word "unstable" = to flow down, and requires the Ellipsis to be filled up thus: "Flowing down as water [passes away, so] thou shalt not excel". What thus would pass away is set forth in Genesis 49:3 , and so it came to pass (1 Chronicles 5:1 ). read more
my soul = myself. Hebrew. nephesh. App-13 . secret = council. unto. Samaritan Pentateuch, The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, Septuagint, and Syriac insert "and" = "and into". assembly. Hebrew. kahal = Greek. eeclesia. See Genesis 28:3 . digged down a wall. Samaritan Pentateuch and Septuagint read "hamstrung an ox". Compare Genesis 34:26 . read more
divide. Fulfilled, Joshua 19:1 . 1 Chronicles 4:39-43 .Leviticus 25:32-34 . Levi's turned to blessing later, Exodus 32:26-29 . Deuteronomy 10:8 , Deuteronomy 10:9 . Jacob. First occurance as used of the whole nation. Israel. See note on Genesis 34:7 . Compare Genesis 47:27 . read more
"Assemble yourselves, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; And hearken unto Israel your father. Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength. The pre-eminence of dignity and the pre-eminence of power."The natural love of Jacob for his firstborn appears in this. God had promised Jacob to make of him a great nation, and Reuben was the beginning of the fulfillment. But, alas, the firstborn, in this instance, was not destined to live up to all the high hopes that his father had... read more
"Boiling over as water, thou shalt not have the pre-eminence; Because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; Then defilest thou it: he went up to my couch.""Boiling over as water ..." This rendition is based upon the Symmachus and the LXX;[9] and is probably better rendered in the New English Bible which has "turbulent as a flood." Recklessness, and wantonness,[10] lust, frivolity and insolent pride[11] are all said to be included in the meaning. The reference, of course, is to the incest which... read more
"Simeon and Levi are brethren. Weapons of violence are their swords. O my soul, come not thou into their council. Unto their assembly, my glory, be not thou united; For in their anger they slew a man, And in their self-will they hocked an ox. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce. And their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, And scatter them in Israel."The background of this prophecy is the shameful conduct of these two brothers in the events hinging upon the rape of their... read more
Genesis 49:2. Gather yourselves together— Jacob received a double blessing, spiritual and temporal, the promise of the land of Canaan, and the promise of the seed in which all the nations of the earth should be blessed; which promises were first made to Abraham, then repeated to Isaac, and afterward confirmed to Jacob; and Jacob, a little before his death, bequeaths the same to his children. The temporal blessing, or inheritance of the land of Canaan, might be shared and divided among all his... read more
Genesis 49:3. Reuben, &c.— Dr. Durell observes on this prophecy, that in the former part "Jacob dwells on the circumstance of Reuben's primogeniture, and, by the affectionate manner in which he expresses himself, seems to be concerned that his eldest son was to reap no advantage from it; he then, by opposing his great insolence to his great dignity, insinuates that the one proceeded from the other; and after having touched upon his crime in general, in the conclusion he declares that he... read more
Genesis 49:4. Unstable as water— Thou hast been unstable as the waters, Durell renders it, following the Samaritan reading, which according to his judgment connects better with the preceding verse. Shalt not excel— The Chaldee paraphrase has it: Thou wast to have had three parts, viz. the birth-right, the kingdom, and the priesthood; but, because thou hast followed thy own will, as water spilled, thou shalt not prosper:" thou art deprived of that dignity which belonged to thee; for to the... read more
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E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Genesis 49:3
Reuben. See Genesis 49:28 , Compare Genesis 46:8-25 , and App-45 . read more