Genesis 49 Level One

Jacob Blesses His Sons
1 Then Jacob called for his sons and said: Gather round so that I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come. 2 Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel.

3 Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, the first sign of my strength, excelling in honour, excelling in power. 4 Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel, for you went up onto your father's bed, onto my couch and defiled it.

<> } MellowWolf NOTE: Reuben you are my firstborn... In the end Reuben will be able to testify to the messianic nature of the position of the firstborn.  The rectification of this testimony will come first before every other rectified testimony.  The key to Reuben being able to do this is for him to testify as to why the nature of his error muted the testimony of the firstborn.  This means that he must show how it was the root of the sin of allowing the making of the golden calf, that it was at the root of Israel's failure with respect to the erev rav at that time.


5 Simeon and Levi are brothers- their swords are weapons of violence. 6 Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly, for they have killed men in their anger and hamstrung oxen as they pleased. 7 Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel.

<> } MellowWolf NOTE: Simeon and Levi are brothers... In the end Simeon and Levi will have the privilege of testifying to the true eternal relationship between the tribes of Israel.  They will testify also as to the purpose of the twelve tribes in relation to the nations.  The key to Simeon and Levi being able to do this is for them to testify as to why Jacob was severed into two houses resulting in alienation in captivity under the rule of ungodliness of all Jacob's children due to misdirected righteous anger.


8 Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father's sons will bow down to you. 9 You are a lion's cub, O Judah; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness- who dares to rouse him? 10 The sceptre will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his. 11 He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. 12 His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk.

<> } MellowWolf NOTE: Judah, your brothers will praise you... In the end the anointing of Joseph will freely pass to Judah. Just as the whole house of Jacob freely bowed down to Joseph in chastisement, so it will freely bow down to Judah in victory over the world.  The Redeemer from Judah will not rest in his land until he has established eye to eye justice in all the earth.  How can Judah prepare to fulfill this destiny?  What is the key?  He can only faithfully protect Benjamin and guarantee his life and prepare to yield him up to Joseph when it is time.


13 Zebulun will live by the seashore and become a haven for ships; his border will extend towards Sidon.

<> } MellowWolf NOTE: Zebulun will live by the seashore...his border...  In the end Zebulun will have the privilege of testifying to the definition of the border of the Land of Israel and to the distinction of the Land of Israel among all the lands of the earth, for blessing and prosperity, world without end, amen.  The key to Zebulun's being able to this is for him to testify always, with humility and fearlessness, of the love in his heart for the living Land of Israel while he is yet in the dust of captivity.


14 Issachar is a strong-boned donkey lying down between two saddlebags. 15 When he sees how good is his resting place and how pleasant is his land, he will bend his shoulder to the burden and submit to forced labour.

<> } MellowWolf NOTE:  Issachar...lying down between... In the end Issachar will have the privilege of testifying to the perfect halachic rulings that set the boundaries between each of the tribes of Israel.  Out of the principles of these rulings will arise the testimony of the joy of the perfection of Halakah, world without end, amen.  The key to Issachar's being able to do this is for him to testify always, with humility and fearlessness, of the love in his heart for the living Torah of Israel's God while he is yet in the dust of captivity.


16 Dan will provide justice for his people as one of the tribes of Israel. 17 Dan will be a serpent by the roadside, a viper along the path, that bites the horse's heels so that its rider tumbles backwards. 18 I look for your deliverance, O LORD.

<> } MellowWolf NOTE: Dan will provide justice...the tribes... In the end Dan will have the privilege of testifying to the amazing grace of Israel's Redeemer.  As one who was lost from being a tribe of Israel, he shall be found like Joseph, and in being found he shall testify to the restorative justice of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, the Holy One Blessed is He.  The key for Dan to be able to do this is to learn to proclaim the commandment, with humility and fear, whereby Israel's God, in the end days, commands all people everywhere to repent.


19 Gad will be attacked by a band of raiders, but he will attack them at their heels.

<> } MellowWolf NOTE: Gad...attacked...will attack... In the end Gad will have the privilege of testifying to Israel's victory over Amalek coming from behind.  Gad will stand up with Simeon and Levi and will testify to the rectification of all converts in the heart of Israel and the end of the erev rav, the mixed multitude.


20 Asher's food will be rich; he will provide delicacies fit for a king.

<> } MellowWolf NOTE: Asher...will be rich...will provide... In the end Asher will have the privilege of giving the testimony to the full nature of the riches of the blessing of the Creator to his world, which is the blessing of Torah-Israel, both a land and people of milk and honey.  The key for Asher to be able to do this is for him to be satisfied with no fruit that is not fit for King Mashiach.


21 Naphtali is a doe set loose that bears beautiful fawns.

<> } MellowWolf NOTE: Naphtali...set loose...bears... How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!" Isaiah 52:7  In the end Naphtali's feet are these feet and her fawns are singing good news with her.  The key for Naphtali to be able to do this is to wait upon Hashem until the hour when the barren one is given children, and not to turn to the bonds-maid...


22 Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine near a spring, whose branches climb over a wall. 23 With bitterness archers attacked him; they shot at him with hostility. 24 But his bow remained steady, his strong arms stayed supple, because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, 25 because of your father's God, who helps you, because of the Almighty, who blesses you with blessings of the heavens above, blessings of the deep that lies below, blessings of the breast and womb. 26 Your father's blessings are greater than the blessings of the ancient mountains, than the bounty of the age-old hills. Let all these rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince among his brothers.

<> } MellowWolf NOTE: Joseph...branches...over a wall.  In the end Joseph will have the privilege of revealing all that is concealed.  He will reveal the cornerstone of the Temple of the Eternal Jerusalem, the stone rejected by the builders.  The key to Joseph's being able to do this is to remain himself a rejected stone that offers itself as a key stone until it finally is the only stone that remains for its place, and rejoices to be carried in the arms of those who cherish it and put in its place.


27 Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he devours the prey, in the evening he divides the plunder.

<> } MellowWolf NOTE: Benjamin... a wolf in the morning...in the evening... In the end Benjamin will have already captured the captivity, for he is the net of Mashiach.  And as a net is hungry for fish, like a wolf for its prey, yet in the evening rests in its place, so Benjamin will rest in his own camp in the evening and share with his brothers the abundance of his harvest.


28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him.

<> } MellowWolf NOTE: The Twelve Tribes...this is what their father said to them... In the end the twelve will be four camps of three, and each camp will be a gate to the Creator's new creation, that the old may enter into the new from every direction, each according to its proper gate.


29 Then he gave them these instructions: 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 in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, which Abraham bought as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite, along with the field.

<> } MellowWolf NOTE: Bury me with my fathers... In the end the burial place of Israel will yield its fruit an hundred fold.


31 There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried, and there I buried Leah.

<> } Mellow Wolf NOTE: ...there I buried Leah.  Rachel and Leah in the end will be as one.  From the side of G-d we exist and we do not exist.  G-d sees both our existence and our non-existence.  From our side we must receive our existence and behold our existence as being entirely in the Hand of G-d, not as being taken from the Hand of G-d.  The desire to possess our own existence in our own power is the desire for the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  It is the spirit of the erev rav, the mixed multitude that came with Israel out of Egypt, the old nature, the fallen nature; it is Israel's evil inclination, the inheritance of Israel in Adam and not in the Son of Adam; but it is the fallen nature of Adam that is the object of G-d's pity, and while we error in taking as our own the forbidden fruit, as if to take our existence out of G-d's Hand, and destroy our existence, G-d, who calls what is not as though it was, is able to turn the destruction of our existence into our eternal life, for He is able to do it from His side.  For He sees all and keeps all things within His Hand, both existence and non-existence.  The G-d of Jacob will utterly destroy the old Adam and yet redeem him and make him a new Adam.  Jacob loved Rachel as Adam loved Eve, and how else could he redeem the world through his offspring?  He had to have this love, but by this love alone he could not bring forth the children of eternal life.  Laban thought to take advantage of the weakness of Jacob's natural love for Rachel by putting his daughter Leah in her sister's place and causing Jacob to stumble.  He thought to mock Jacob's spiritual calling by requiring of him a purely spiritual love for Leah.  Jacob laboured then for Leah, but his heart laboured for Rachel and he could not rectify his own heart by his own effort.  But the Protector of Jacob redeemed Jacob's heart so that it was transformed through great suffering until Leah and Rachel were one soul in his heart.  So it is that G-d created joy in the world of sorrow and revealed the Protector of Jacob in Jacob's heart, to be found there by all souls that would be saved.


32 The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittites. 33 When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people.

<> } MellowWolf NOTE: The breath of Jacob = In the end the breath of Jacob will return to the dry bones of all Israel.  Jacob breathed his last in exile and was gathered to his people in the world of redemption.