Genesis 49:1 Then Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather around, and I will tell you what will happen to you in the days to come.
2 Come together and listen, sons of Jacob;
listen to your father Israel:
3 Reuben, you are my firstborn,
my strength and the first fruits of my virility,
excelling in prominence, excelling in power.
4 Turbulent as water, you will no longer excel,
because you got into your father’s bed
and you defiled it—he got into my bed.
Because of his sin, Reuben will no longer be powerful. He slept with his father's concubine in his father's own bed.
Genesis 49:5 Simeon and Levi are brothers;
their knives are vicious weapons.
6 May I never enter their council;
may I never join their assembly.
For in their anger they kill men,
and on a whim they hamstring oxen.
7 Their anger is cursed, for it is strong,
and their fury, for it is cruel!
I will disperse them throughout Jacob
and scatter them throughout Israel.
Remember back when their sister was defiled? It was Simeon and Levi who went to kill all the men in the city.
Genesis 49:8 Judah, your brothers will praise you.
Your hand will be on the necks of your enemies;
your father’s sons will bow down to you.
9 Judah is a young lion—
my son, you return from the kill.
He crouches; he lies down like a lion
or a lioness—who dares to rouse him?
10 The scepter will not depart from Judah
or the staff from between his feet
until He whose right it is comes
and the obedience of the peoples belongs to Him.
11 He ties his donkey to a vine,
and the colt of his donkey to the choice vine.
He washes his clothes in wine
and his robes in the blood of grapes.
12 His eyes are darker than wine,
and his teeth are whiter than milk.
We know that our Messiah will come from Judah. Judah is often refered to as a lion. Our Savior is often refered to as the Lion of Judah. All his brothers will bow down to him. All the descendants of Israel will eventually bow to the authority of Christ, as well as everyone else on earth.
Philipians 2:9 For this reason God highly exalted Him
and gave Him the name
that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus
every knee will bow—
of those who are in heaven and on earth
and under the earth—
11 and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
"The scepter will not depart from Judah or the staff from between his feet until He whose right it is comes and the obedience of the peoples belongs to Him." This is Christ. He comes from the line of Judah and will reign forever. You could also speak of David here and God's promise that an heir of David would always sit on the thrown of Israel. Christ is our great King and is from the line of David, so even if there is currently no Earthly king of Israel, Christ is the King of us all, whether we choose to acknoledge him or not.
13 Zebulun will live by the seashore
and will be a harbor for ships,
and his territory will be next to Sidon.
We learn more about the tribe of Zebulun in Deuteronomy:
Deuteronomy 33:18 He said about Zebulun:
Rejoice, Zebulun, in your journeys,
and Issachar, in your tents.
19 They summon the peoples to a mountain;
there they offer acceptable sacrifices.
For they draw from the wealth of the seas
and the hidden treasures of the sand.
In this chapter of Deuteronomy, Moses blesses each of the tribes of Judah, much like Jacob blessed each of his sons. Go
here to read all of Deuteronomy 33.
Genesis 49:14 Issachar is a strong donkey
lying down between the saddlebags.
15 He saw that his resting place was good
and that the land was pleasant,
so he leaned his shoulder to bear a load
and became a forced laborer.
16 Dan will judge his people
as one of the tribes of Israel.
17 He will be a snake by the road,
a viper beside the path,
that bites the horses’ heels
so that its rider falls backward.
18 I wait for Your salvation, Lord.
19 Gad will be attacked by raiders,
but he will attack their heels.
20 Asher’s food will be rich,
and he will produce royal delicacies.
21 Naphtali is a doe set free
that bears beautiful fawns.
22 Joseph is a fruitful vine,
a fruitful vine beside a spring;
its branches climb over the wall.
23 The archers attacked him,
shot at him, and were hostile toward him.
24 Yet his bow remained steady,
and his strong arms were made agile
by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob,
by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
25 by the God of your father who helps you,
and by the Almighty who blesses you
with blessings of the heavens above,
blessings of the deep that lies below,
and blessings of the breasts and the womb.
26 The blessings of your father excel
the blessings of my ancestors
and the bounty of the eternal hills.
May they rest on the head of Joseph,
on the crown of the prince of his brothers.
27 Benjamin is a wolf; he tears his prey.
In the morning he devours the prey,
and in the evening he divides the plunder.”
28 These are the tribes of Israel, 12 in all, and this was what their father said to them. He blessed them, and he blessed each one with a suitable blessing.
Jacob blessed each of his sons. He gave each one a specific blessing. I have expounded on a few of them and brought in some other verses or shown the reason for some of the statements, but I just do not know enough about the other tribes to make further comments.
Genesis 49:29 Then he commanded them: “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite. 30 The cave is in the field of Machpelah near Mamre, in the land of Canaan. This is the field Abraham purchased from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site. 31 Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried there, Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried there, and I buried Leah there. 32 The field and the cave in it were purchased from the Hittites.” 33 When Jacob had finished instructing his sons, he drew his feet into the bed and died. He was gathered to his people.
Jacob wanted to be buried with his ancestors. You may ask, where is Rachel? Why was his beloved wife not buried in the plot with the rest of the family? Remember, she died in childbirth with Benjamin and was buried "on the way to Ephrath."
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