Genesis 49.16-21-Israel's Prophetic Blessing on Zilpah and Bilhah's Sons and Prayer for Deliverance
Thursday April 19, 2007
Genesis: Genesis 49:16-21-Israel’s Prophetic Blessing on Zilpah and Bilhah’s Sons and Prayer for Deliverance
Lesson # 316
Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 49:8.
This evening we will continue with our study of Genesis 49, which gives us the record of Jacob/Israel bestowing prophetic blessings and antiblessings upon his twelve sons as well as giving instructions for his burial and this chapter also records his death.
In Genesis 49:1-4, we read where Israel pronounced an antiblessing on Reuben, his firstborn because Reuben committed adultery and incest with his concubine Bilhah.
Then, in Genesis 49:5-7, he pronounced prophetic anti-blessings upon Simeon and Levi for the massacre of the city of Shechem.
Last evening in Genesis 49:8-15, Israel pronounced prophetic blessings upon Judah, Zebulun and Issachar.
This evening we will note Genesis 49:16-21, which records the patriarch pronouncing prophetic blessings upon the sons of Zilpah and Bilhah as well as praying to God for deliverance.
In Genesis 49:3-15, Israel bestowed prophetic blessings and antiblessings upon the sons of Leah but now in Genesis 49:16-21, we see him bestowing prophetic blessings upon the sons of his concubines, Bilhah and Zilpah.
“Concubine” is the noun pileghesh (vg#l#P!) (pee-leh-ghesh) which refers to the fact that Bilhah and Zilpah were second-class wives, acquired without payment of bride-money and possessing fewer legal rights (see Genesis 30:4; Judges 19:1-4).
The people in Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’s culture regarded a concubine as a secondary wife with some, but not all, of the rights and privileges of the primary wife.
In the Old Testament period, a concubine was a legal wife but one of secondary rank and she could be divorced with a small gift.
Therefore, the children of a concubine did not have the same legal rights as the wife and so the inheritance would go to the child of the wife rather than the concubine.
Having a concubine was often a sign of wealth and was recognized as a status symbol.
The following men had concubines: (1) Nahor (Gen. 22:24) (2) Abraham (Gen. 25:6) (3) Jacob (Gen. 35:22) (4) Eliphaz (Gen. 36:12) (5) Saul (2 Sam. 3:7) (6) David (2 Sam. 5:13; 15:16; 16:21) Solomon (1 Kings 11:3).
As we saw in our study of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar in Genesis 16, men and their wives sought concubines when the wife could not bear children.
In these situations, wives presented their maidservants to their own husbands.
As Genesis 22:24 records, children of a concubine were not viewed as illegitimate but were considered part of the family.
Genesis 49:1, “Then Jacob summoned his sons and said, ‘Assemble yourselves that I may tell you what will befall you in the days to come.’”
Genesis 49:2, “Gather together and hear, O sons of Jacob and listen to Israel your father.”
Genesis 49:3, “Reuben, you are my firstborn; My might and the beginning of my strength, preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.”
Genesis 49:4, “Uncontrolled as water, you shall not have preeminence, because you went up to your father's bed; Then you defiled it -- he went up to my couch.”
Genesis 49:5, “Simeon and Levi are brothers; Their swords are implements of violence.”
Genesis 49:6, “Let my soul not enter into their council; Let not my glory be united with their assembly; Because in their anger they slew men, and in their self-will they lamed oxen.”
Genesis 49:7, “Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce; And their wrath, for it is cruel. I will disperse them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.”
Genesis 49:8, “Judah, your brothers shall praise you; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father's sons shall bow down to you.”
Genesis 49:9, “Judah is a lion's whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, and as a lion, who dares rouse him up?”
Genesis 49:10, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.”
Genesis 49:11, “He ties his foal to the vine, and his donkey's colt to the choice vine; He washes his garments in wine, and his robes in the blood of grapes.”
Genesis 49:12, “His eyes are dull from wine, and his teeth white from milk.”
Genesis 49:13, “Zebulun will dwell at the seashore; And he shall be a haven for ships, and his flank shall be toward Sidon.”
Genesis 49:14, “Issachar is a strong donkey, lying down between the sheepfolds.”
Genesis 49:15, “When he saw that a resting place was good and that the land was pleasant, he bowed his shoulder to bear burdens, and became a slave at forced labor.”
Genesis 49:16, “Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.”
“Dan” is the proper noun dan (dawn) (/D*) and was the first child that Bilhah bore Jacob and his name means, “God has vindicated me” and his birth is recorded in Genesis 30:5-6.
Rachel named Bilhah’s first child with Jacob “Dan” since she did not consider the birth of Dan merely as a blessing from the Lord but rather as the justice due her as a hopeless victim, which was in response to the fact that Rachel was barren and Leah was not.
Therefore, by naming Bilhah’s child as “Dan” Rachel was saying that God was vindicating her in the sense that He was defending her cause against Leah, which of course, was not the case.
The blessing of Dan consists of a play on his name since his name is derived from the verb din (/yD!) (deen), which means, “to vindicate.”
Therefore, Israel is predicting that Dan, whose name means, “vindicate,” is going to vindicate his people as one of the tribes of Israel.
The statement “Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel” means that even though Dan was a child of a concubine, his descendants like the descendants of Jacob’s primary wives, Rachel and Leah would vindicate the nation of Israel or in other words defend the nation’s cause.
Therefore, this statement reveals that the tribe of Dan will be on equal footing with the tribes, which descend from the sons of Jacob’s primary wives, Rachel and Leah.
The fact that the tribe of Dan will be on equal footing with the tribes, which descend from the sons of Rachel and Leah is indicated by the use of the phrase “as one of the tribes of Israel.”
This phrase “as one of the tribes of Israel” seems redundant since Dan is one of Israel’s sons.
However, its use makes perfect sense when we understand that Israel is prophesying that even though the tribe of Dan descended from a concubine, it would be equal to the tribes descending from the sons of Rachel and Leah.
Genesis 49:17, “Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a horned snake in the path, that bites the horse's heels, so that his rider falls backward.”
The statement “Dan shall be a serpent in the way” is inaccurate and should be translated “May Dan be a serpent in the way.”
The reason for this translation is that “shall be” is the qal “jussive” form of the verb hayah (hyh) (haw-yaw).
The imperfect has 2 usages: (1) Cohortative: Expresses the speaker’s desire or intention to act. (2) Jussive: Expresses a desire for action from a 3rd person subject.
In Genesis 49:17, we have the “jussive” form of the verb hayah expressing Israel’s Spirit inspired desire for action from the descendants of Dan.
Therefore, Israel’s statement about Dan in Genesis 49:17 is a desire by the Holy Spirit for the descendants of his son Dan, thus, refuting any interpretation that this statement is about his descendants’ involvement with evil as symbolized by the serpent.
However, the tribe of Dan did introduce idolatry into the land of Israel on a regular basis according to Judges 18:30-31.
Also, a son of Shelomith of the tribe of Dan was guilty of blaspheming the name of the Lord according to Leviticus 24:11.
It was also in Dan that Jeroboam who led a rebellion that ended in the divided kingdom, set up one of his two golden calves according to 1 Kings 12:28-30.
Furthermore, it is interesting that the tribe of Dan is not listed among the twelve tribes of Israel during the Tribulation period according to Revelation 7:1-8.
However, in Genesis 49:17, Israel is praying that the descendants of Dan will be a serpent on the road, a horned snake on the path, one who bites the heels of a horse so that the rider falls backward.
Israel is praying that even though Dan would be a small tribe in Israel, like a snake she would be aggressive, dangerous and strike unexpectedly to overthrow nations.
This was fulfilled during the history of the nation of Israel according Judges 18.
In fact, Samson, who was from the tribe of Dan, single-handedly defeated the Philistines according to Judges 14-16.
Genesis 49:18, “For Your salvation I wait, O LORD.”
Suddenly, Israel interrupts his prophetic blessings on his sons and their descendants by proclaiming that he waited with expectation for the Lord’s salvation or deliverance.
Up to this point in our study of these prophetic blessings that Israel bestowed upon his sons, we have seen that Judah is pictured as a lion, which refers to the military prowess of the tribe of Judah and also Dan is depicted as a horned snake.
However, the nation of Israel would not depend upon the strength of these two tribes to deliver them from their adversaries but rather they were to depend upon the Lord to deliver them, thus Israel proclaims that the deliverance of the nation from its enemies must come from the Lord.
Therefore, the patriarch inserts this petition to God because his prophecies predict opposition to the twelve tribes that would descend from him.
Israel’s prayer for deliverance from the Lord expresses Israel’s dependence upon God’s power and not human power of his sons or their descendants to deliver the nation from its enemies.
Psalm 44:4-8, “You are my King, O God; Command victories for Jacob. Through You we will push back our adversaries; Through Your name we will trample down those who rise up against us. For I will not trust in my bow, nor will my sword save me. But You have saved us from our adversaries, and You have put to shame those who hate us. In God we have boasted all day long, and we will give thanks to Your name forever. Selah.”
Israel’s prayer would therefore be a reminder to his sons and their descendants to not depend upon their own human power or military might to defeat their enemies but to depend upon the power of the Lord to do so.
1 Samuel 17:46-47, “This day the LORD will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the LORD'S and He will give you into our hands.”
“Salvation” is the noun yeshu`ah (hu*Wvy+) (yesh-oo-aw), which does “not” refer to salvation or deliverance in a spiritual sense but rather the context indicates that it refers to “deliverance” from one’s enemies in the natural realm.
This is indicated in that Israel’s prayer in Genesis 49:18 is within the context of his prophecy regarding each of the twelve tribes and the part that each would play in the future with regards to the nation’s enemies.
“Lord” is the proper noun Yahweh (hw*hy+), which is the covenant name of God thus signifying that Israel had a covenant relationship with God.
Also, the term Yahweh, “Lord” emphasizes the “immanency” of God meaning that Israel was petitioning that God would involve Himself in and concern Himself with and intervene on behalf of the nation that would descend from his sons.
“I wait” is the verb qawah (hwq) (kaw-vaw), which is used in the piel (intensive) stem and means, “to wait eagerly, confidently, expectantly and patiently” for deliverance from the Lord.
Micah 7:7, “But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation.”
Psalm 40:1, “I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me and heard my cry.”
Psalm 62:5-8, “My soul, wait in silence for God only, for my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be shaken. On God my salvation and my glory rest; The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah.”
This prayer in Genesis 49:18 was answered at times throughout Israel’s history during the period of the Judges and David but ultimately it will be answered at the “Second Advent” of Jesus Christ.
The “Second Advent” is the visible return of Christ to planet earth with the elect angels and the Church in order to save the nation of Israel from her enemies and end the Tribulation dispensation and establish our Lord’s 1000-year millennial reign (Daniel 2:44-45; Zechariah. 14; Matthew 24:29-31; Revelation 19:11-21).
The Lord and His armies will orbit the earth before landing on the Mount of Olives, which was the site of His Ascension (Acts. 1:9-11) and there will be a great earthquake when our Lord’s foot touches the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14:1-8) and it will be a unique day having neither day nor night (Zech. 14:7).
Therefore, Israel’s prayer for the Lord to deliver the nation that would descend from him recorded in Genesis 49:18 was prophetic in nature.
Genesis 49:19, “As for Gad, raiders shall raid him, but he will raid at their heels.”
“Gad” (dG*) (gawd) was the first boy that Zilpah bore to Jacob, whose birth is recorded in Genesis 30:9-11 and his name comes from “What good fortune” indicating that Leah attributed this child to fortune or good luck rather than God and his birth.
This prophecy predicts that the tribe of Gad will have a troubled existence but will retaliate against its enemies.
Throughout, its history, the tribe of Gad was attacked by the Ammonites according to Judges 10-12 and Jeremiah 49:1-6.
She was also attacked by the Moabites and Arameans according to 1 Kings 22:3 and 2 Kings 10:32-33 and the Assyrians according to 2 Kings 15:29.
Gad fought back after each defeat and her people were considered great fighters by the other tribes of Israel according to Deuteronomy 33:20 and 1 Chronicles 5:18 and 12:8.
The statement “he will raid at their heels” means that the tribe of Gad would only engage in guerilla warfare because she would not be big enough to engage in a full scale war with her enemies.
Genesis 49:20, “As for Asher, his food shall be rich, and he will yield royal dainties.”
“Asher” (rv^a*) (aw-share) is the second son that Zilpah bore to Jacob, whose birth is recorded in Genesis 30:12-13 and his name means “women will call me happy” meaning that Leah thought she would be envied by other women because of this child.
The statement “his food shall be rich” is a reference to the fertile territory of the tribe of Asher, which was strip of land running north from the Carmel range according to Joshua 19:24-31 and Deuteronomy 33:24-25.
The tribe of Asher lived alongside the Canaanites and Phoenicians and traded with them according to Judges 1:32 and Ezekiel 27:17.
The statement “he will yield royal dainties” in the Hebrew text literally reads, “He will produce royal delicacies,” which refers to the tribe of Asher supplying foreign courts with great food products because of the fertile region in which she settled.
Genesis 49:21, “Naphtali is a doe let loose, he gives beautiful words.”
“Naphtali” (yl!T*p+n^) (naf-taw-lee) was the second child that Bilhah bore to Jacob and his name means, “my wrestling” reflecting Rachel’s attitude in which she viewed her relationship with her sister Leah to be like a wrestling match and his birth is recorded in Genesis 30:7-8.
“Doe” is the noun `ayyalah (hlya^) (ah-yaw-law), which refers to an adult female deer.
“Beautiful words” is composed of the noun `emer (rm#a@) (ay-mer), which means, “fawn” and the noun shepher (rp#v#) (sheh-fer), which means, “lovely.”
Therefore, the Hebrew text of Genesis 49:21 literally reads, “Naphtali is a doe let loose, which produces lovely fawns.”
This prophecy refers to the freedom and frequent movements of the tribe of Naphtali according to Deuteronomy 33:23, Judges 4:6, 10 and 5:18.