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| 1 And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. |
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| 2 Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father. |
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| 3 Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power: |
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| 4 Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch. |
Thy father's bed – Thus forfeiting the chief blessing. R1635:5
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| 5 Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. |
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| 6 O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall. |
Their secret – Their scheming. HG558:1
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| 7 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. |
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| 8 Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee. |
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| 9 Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?
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| 10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. |
The sceptre – The right to rule, the title to all power. B85, B87
The ruling power went to Judah. R2124:5; CR41:2
Shall not – Although kingly power was taken away from them in the days of king Zedekiah, nevertheless the scepter of authority remained with them. HG428:3
Depart from Judah – Thus shown to be the ancestor of Christ. A42
Nor a lawgiver – The great Deliverer, Christ. B86
Between his feet – Loins. B86, HG48:3
Until Shiloh – The great peacemaker, "The Prince of Peace." B86
And unto him – At the expiration of the Times of the Gentiles. B87
God kept Israel together as a people until Christ came. R1373:2
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| 11 Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes: |
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| 12 His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk. |
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| 13 Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships; and his border shall be unto Zidon. |
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| 14 Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens: |
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| 15 And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute. |
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| 16 Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. |
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| 17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward. |
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| 18 I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD. |
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| 19 Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last. |
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| 20 Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties. |
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| 21 Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words. |
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| 22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall: |
Run over the wall – The tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, Joseph's descendants, took up about one-half of the land of Canaan and in addition large branches or tracts of land "over the wall," or river of Jordan, on its east bank. R2124:6
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| 23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him: |
Sorely grieved him – Not a prophecy, but a reference to Joseph's past experiences. R2125:1
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| 24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:) |
From thence Is – By the name of. R2125:1
Stone – A supernatural power, heavenly, divine -- the Messianic Kingdom. R3359:4
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| 25 Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb: |
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| 26 The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren. |
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| 27 Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil. |
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| 28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them. |
Tribes of Israel – First so called after Jacob's death. A78; B213; HG54:3
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| 29 And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, |
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| 30 In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace. |
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| 31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah. |
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| 32 The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth. |
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| 33 And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and expired, and was gathered unto his people. |
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