I have entitled Genesis, Chapter 49, “The Judgment Seat of Jacob.” Jacob, also called Israel, judged his sons and handed out rewards. In these chapters we find a foreshadowing of the Judgment Seat of Christ for Christians.
The order in which Jacob judges his sons is in keeping with their mothers. The first six sons mentioned are the sons of Jacob and Leah. The next four are the sons he had with his concubines. The last two sons blessed are the two sons of Rachel.
The final seven are all blessed with very brief comments (vv 13–21, 27, slightly over one verse each on average). These seven are Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Naphtali, and Benjamin.
Benjamin is blessed last since he is Rachel’s youngest.
The three eldest sons—Reuben, Simeon, and Levi—receive rebuke from their father. This must have been painful to listen to.
Verse 3 starts out well. Reuben was his firstborn, Jacob’s might and the beginning of his strength, the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power.
But things take a turn in v 4. Reuben is unstable. “You shall not excel.” Why? “Because you went up to your father’s bed” (see Gen 35:22). He slept with one of his father’s concubines.
Reuben defiled his father’s bed.
Simeon and Levi receive rebuke as well. “Instruments of cruelty are in their dwelling place.” “Let not honor be united to their assembly; for in anger they slew a man” (Gen 34:26). “Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce; and their wrath, for it is cruel!”
“I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.”
Nothing good was said of any of these three sons.
While they were disinherited, they were still part of the nation of Israel. They did not lose that status. And though the Levites were scattered and had no land of their own, they did become the priestly line. The Reubenites and Simeonites were blessed in many ways. But their futures were not nearly as great as they could have been.
In the case of each of these three brothers, one major sin had a major impact on them and their descendants.
These brothers illustrate believers who will experience rebuke at the Bema and yet will still be in the kingdom and will serve the Lord forever. While it is not certain, they could even picture overcoming believers who receive some measure of rebuke. After all, there is no indication that these three brothers fell away from the Lord and the faith later in life.
Five wonderful verses are addressed to Judah (Gen 49:8–12). Only he and Joseph receive such praise and such extended blessings.
Judah is the one “whom your brothers shall praise.”
One of the most famous OT verses is Gen 49:10: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes.”
A scepter is a rod carried by rulers. It symbolizes their power and authority.
The point is that the King of Israel will come from the tribe of Judah.
Verses 11–12 look to Messiah’s kingdom as a time of eternal joy and gladness. Wine is a symbol of prosperity and gladness.
Zebulun and Issachar (vv 13–15). This may mean that in the future, Zebulun’s land will go to the seashore and come close to Sidon. It’s also possible that the Hebrew means that Zebulun would be toward (not by) the sea, meaning that it would be near enough to trade with people from the sea.
Dan (vv 16–17). The word Daniel means “God is my judge.” Verse 16 picks up on that. However, v 17 is very negative about the tribe of Dan. In Judges 18 the Danites become an idolatrous tribe with their own idol and their own priest.
Amazingly, the tribe of Dan is not mentioned in Rev 7:5–8. What that means concerning Dan, I do not know. The tribe of Ephraim is not mentioned there, though Joseph is, possibly in reference to Ephraim.
Verse 18 is probably not specifically said of Dan. In fact, it is probably the expectation of Jacob, an expectation that every tribe should have as well.
The salvation of v 18 is not everlasting life. It is deliverance from Gentile domination. It is having their own land ruled by the Messiah King.
Gad and Asher (vv 19–20). Gad was going to be raided by his neighbors. But he would prevail.
Asher would have a very fertile land and would be a very productive tribe.
Naphtali (v 21). This is the tribe of Barak, who teamed with Deborah to break Gentile bondage (Judges 4–5). This was a tribe in the highlands, and the picture here is one of a vigorous mountain people. The word translated words in the NKJV is more likely fawns, as per the KJV.
Joseph also received a fantastic blessing. His two sons had already been blessed by Jacob. Now he blesses Joseph as well (Gen 49:22-26).
The two tribes that came from him would be fruitful and would receive many blessings from God. Joseph endured much persecution and suffering, and there will be rewards for both him and his descendants when he is judged by the Messiah before the Millennium.
Benjamin is compared with a ravenous wolf that devours its prey and divides the spoil (Gen 49:27). While this could be a good thing, the history of Benjamin shows that this trait was also misused.
Commentators point to Judges 19–21 to show the violence of this tribe. This is the account of the men of a Benjamite city, Gibeah, mistreating and killing a Levite’s concubine. This led to a battle between the Benjamites and the other tribes. The tribe of Benjamin was nearly wiped out until wives were provided for the small number of men who survived.
Paul says in 2 Cor 5:10 that all believers must appear at the Judgment Seat of Christ, the Bema, to receive the things we have done in the body, whether good or bad.
We know from the Lord’s teachings in the Gospels that our judgment will be a public one (Matt 6:4, 6, 18 – “He Himself will reward you openly” for the things done “in secret”; see also Luke 19:16-26, where all three servants are judged publicly).
We also know that there will be joy and praise for some, but rebuke and shame for others (Luke 19:16–26; 1 John 2:28).
It seems to me that what Jacob is doing here is a bit like what the Lord will do at the Bema, except, of course, that the judgment there will cover our entire Christian lives, and rulership will require holding fast our confession of Christ until the end of our lives
Jacob was a man of faith. He died well. He died in faith. He was looking to the coming of the Messiah–what we would call the Second Coming. He longed for Messiah to reign over Israel in the Promised Land.
Jacob blessed his sons one at a time.
May we live in such a way as to bring honor and glory to our Lord and Savior so that when He judges us, we might hear, “Well done, good servant” (Luke 19:17).
