Read & Study the Bible Online - Bible Portal
Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 49:1-4

Here is, I. The preface to the prophecy, in which, 1. The congregation is called together (Gen. 49:2): Gather yourselves together; let them all be sent for from their several employments, to see their father die, and to hear his dying words. It was a comfort to Jacob, now that he was dying, to see all his children about him, and none missing, though he had sometimes thought himself bereaved. It was of use to them to attend him in his last moments, that they might learn of him how to die, as... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 49:5-7

These were next in age to Reuben, and they also had been a grief and shame to Jacob, when they treacherously and barbarously destroyed the Shechemites, which he here remembers against them. Children should be afraid of incurring their parents? just displeasure, lest they fare the worse for it long afterwards, and, when they would inherit the blessing, be rejected. Observe, 1. The character of Simeon and Levi: they were brethren in disposition; but, unlike their father, they were passionate and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 49:2

Gather yourselves together ,.... This is repeated to hasten them, and to suggest that he had something of importance to make known unto them, which he chose to do, when they were together: and hear, ye sons of Jacob, and hearken to Israel your father : these words are used and doubled to excite their attention to what he was about to say, and which is urged from the near relation there was between them. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 49:3

Reuben, thou art my firstborn ,.... Jacob addressed himself to Reuben first, in the presence of his brethren, owned him as his firstborn, as he was, Genesis 29:31 did not cashier him from his family, nor disinherit him, though he had greatly disobliged him, for which the birthright, and the privileges of it, were taken from him, 1 Chronicles 5:1 . my might, and the beginning of my strength ; begotten by him when in his full strength F26 "Nate. meae vires. --------" Virgil. , as... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 49:4

Unstable as water ,.... Which is not to be understood of the levity of his mind, and his disposition to hurt, and the impetuous force of that breaking forth like water, and carrying him into the commission of it; but rather of his fall from his excellency and dignity, like the fall of water from an high place; and of his being vile, mean, and contemptible, useless and unprofitable, like water spilled on the ground; and of his weak and strengthless condition and circumstances, being deprived... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 49:5

Simeon and Levi are brothers ,.... Not because they were so in a natural sense, being brethren both by father and mother's side, for there were others so besides them; but because they were of like tempers, dispositions, and manners F6 "--------par nobile fratrum Nequitia et nugis pravorum et amore gemellum." Horat. Sermon. l. 2. Satyr. 3. , bold, wrathful, cruel, revengeful, and deceitful, and joined together in their evil counsels and evil actions, and so are joined together in the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 49:6

O my soul, come not thou into their secret ,.... Their cabinet counsels, combinations and conspiracies; this Jacob said, as abhorring the wicked counsel they had took of slaying the Shechemites; and lest any should think he was concerned in it, or connived at it, he expressed a detestation of the fact on his dying bed: the future tense may be put for the past; and so Onkelos renders it, "my soul was not in their secret"; and so the other two Targums paraphrase it, that when they got and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 49:7

Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce ,.... It was sinful anger in the nature of it, and so criminal and detestable; it was strong, fierce, and furious in its operation and effects, and so justly cursed; not their persons, but their passions: and their wrath, for it was cruel ; it issued in the cruel and barbarous slaughter of the inhabitants of Shechem; the same thing as before in other words repeated, to express his great abhorrence of their wrath and rage. Aben Ezra thinks that the... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 49:3

Reuben as the first-born had a right to a double portion of all that the father had; see Deuteronomy 21:17 ; The eminence or dignity mentioned here may refer to the priesthood; the power, to the regal government or kingdom - In this sense it has been understood by all the ancient Targumists. The Targum of Onkelos paraphrases it thus: "Thou shouldst have received three portions, the birthright, the priesthood, and the kingdom:" and to this the Targums of Jonathan ben Uzziel and Jerusalem... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 49:4

Pouring out like the waters - This is an obscure sentence because unfinished. It evidently relates to the defilement of his father's couch; and the word פחז pachaz , here translated pouring out, and in our Version unstable, has a bad meaning in other places of the Scripture, being applied to dissolute, debauched, and licentious conduct. See Judges 9:4 ; Zephaniah 3:4 ; Jeremiah 23:14 , Jeremiah 23:32 ; Jeremiah 29:23 . Thou shalt not excel - This tribe never rose to any... read more

Group of Brands