Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 47:28
And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was a hundred forty and seven years.
28. seventeen years ] This verse, giving the years of Jacob’s life, comes from P: see Gen 47:9. Note that 147 = 7 7 3, sacred numbers.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years,…. He lived just the same term of years with Joseph in Egypt as he had lived with him in Syria and Canaan, Ge 37:2; about two hours’ walk from Fium are now to be seen the ruins of an ancient town, which the Coptics say was inhabited by the patriarch Jacob, and for this cause they name it, yet, Modsellet Jacub, or the tabernacle of Jacob n, which place is supposed to be in the land of Goshen, see Ge 47:11;
so the whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years; he was one hundred and thirty when he stood before Pharaoh, Ge 47:9; and now had lived in Egypt seventeen years, as in the above clause, which together make up the sum; and this exact time of the years of his life is given by Polyhistor from Demetrius, an Heathen writer o.
n Vansleb’s Relation of a Voyage to Egypt, p. 167. o Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 21. p. 425.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Jacob lived in Egypt for 17 years. He then sent for Joseph, as he felt that his death was approaching; and having requested him, as a mark of love and faithfulness, not to bury him in Egypt, but near his fathers in Canaan, he made him assure him on oath (by putting his hand under his hip, vid., p. 164) that his wishes should be fulfilled. When Joseph had taken this oath, “ Israel bowed (in worship) upon the bed’s head.” He had talked with Joseph while sitting upon the bed; and when Joseph had promised to fulfil his wish, he turned towards the head of the bed, so as to lie with his face upon the bed, and thus worshipped God, thanking Him for granting his wish, which sprang from living faith in the promises of God; just as David also worshipped upon his bed (1Ki 1:47-48). The Vulgate rendering is correct: adoravit Deum conversus ad lectuli caput . That of the lxx, on the contrary, is (i.e., ); and the Syriac and Itala have the same (cf. Heb 11:21). But no fitting sense can be obtained from this rendering, unless we think of the staff with which Jacob had gone through life, and, taking therefore in the sense of , assume that Jacob made use of the staff to enable him to sit upright in bed, and so prayed, bent upon or over it, though even then the expression remains a strange one; so that unquestionably this rendering arose from a false reading of , and is not proved to be correct by the quotation in Heb 11:21. “ Adduxit enim lxx Interpr. versionem Apostolus, quod ea tum usitata esset, non quod lectionem illam praeferendam judicaret (Calovii Bibl. illustr. ad h. l.).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
28. And Jacob lived. It was no common source of temptation to the holy old man, to be an exile from the land of Canaan, for so many years. Be it so, that on account of the famine, he was compelled to go to Egypt; why could he not return when the fifth year was passed? For he did not stupidly lie there in a state of torpor, but he remained quiet, because free egress was not allowed him. Wherefore, also, in this respect, God did not lightly exercise his patience. For, however sweet might be the delights of Egypt, yet he was more than miserable to be deprived of the sight of that land which was the lively figure of his celestial country. With the men of this world, indeed, earthly advantage would have prevailed: but such was the piety of the holy man, that the profit of the flesh weighed nothing against the loss of spiritual good. But he was more deeply wounded, when he saw his death approaching: because, not only was he himself deprived of the inheritance promised to him, but he was leaving his sons, of doubtful, or at least of feeble, faith, buried in Egypt as in a sepulcher. Moreover, his example is proposed to us, that our minds may not languish or become enfeebled by the weariness of a protracted warfare: yea, the more Satan attempts to depress them to the earth, the more fervently let them look and soar towards heaven.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
JACOB’S DESIRE TO BE BURIED WITH HIS FATHERS, Gen 47:27-31.
28. Seventeen years He survived the famine, and lived twelve years thereafter to see the result of the wise administration of Joseph . Yet the spiritually minded patriarch sees something better for his posterity than the land of Egypt .
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
EXPOSITION
Gen 47:28
And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was (literally, the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were) an hundred forty and seven years. He had lived seventy-seven years in Canaan, twenty years in Padanaram, thirty-three in Canaan again, and seventeen in Egypt, in all 147 years.
Gen 47:29
And the time drew nigh that Israel (i.e. Jacob) must die (literally, and the days of Israel to die drew near): and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight (not as if Jacob doubted Joseph’s affection, but simply as desiring a last token of his love, perhaps also as unconsciously recognizing his son’s greatness), put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh,an ancient form of adjuration (cf. Gen 24:2)and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt. On the root , to bury (cf. Eng. cover), vide Gen 23:4.
Gen 47:30
But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying-place. The request of the venerable patriarch, while due in some respect to the deeply-seated instinct of human nature which makes men, almost universally, long to be buried in ancestral graves, was inspired by the clear faith that Canaan was the true inheritance of Israel, and that, though now obtaining a temporary refuge in Egypt, his descendants would eventually return to the land of promise as their permanent abode. And he (i.e. Joseph) said, I will do as thou hast saidliterally, according to thy word.
Gen 47:31
And he (i.e. Jacob) said, Swear unto me (in the manner indicated in Gen 47:29). And he (i.e. Joseph) sware unto him. And (having concluded this touching and impressive ceremonial) Israel bowed himself upon the bed’s head. Though supported by many eminent authorities (Chaldee Pard. phrase, Symmachus, Vulgate, Calvin, Willet, Rosenmller, Delitzsch, Keil, Kalisch, &c; &c.), the present rendering is not entirely free from difficulty, since not until the next chapter is there any mention of Jacob’s sickness; while in favor of the reading, “And Israel bowed himself on the top of his staff” (LXX.), it may be urged
(1) that it is adopted by the writer to the Hebrews (Heb 11:21),
(2) that the Hebrew words for staff and bed differ only in the punctuation, and
(3) that the action of leaning on his staff was quite as suitable to Jacob’s circumstances as turning over and bowing on his bed’s head.
HOMILETICS
Gen 47:28-31
Jacob’s residence in Egypt.
I. JACOB‘S PEACEFUL OLD AGE. “And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years.” After an eventful and checkered pilgrimage of 130 years, during which Jacob had made largo experience of the ills of life, having encountered adversity in forms both more numerous and severe than are allotted to most, he had at length reached a happy harbor of rest in the calm contemplative evening of old age, exchanging the anxieties and toils of his previously wandering condition for a home of ease and comfort in the fat land of Goshen, and bidding farewell to all his past tears and sorrows in the enjoyment of the tender care and rich love of Joseph, Rachel’s son. Verily, with this old weather-beaten traveler it had become light at eventide. It is noticeable that Jacob lived as long a time in Egypt as Joseph had spent in Jacob’s home in Canaanseventeen yearsthus receiving an ample recompense for the affection he had lavished on his son. Let parents be encouraged thereby to love and care for their children in the tender years of infancy and youth; and let children see in Joseph an example of the rich return which they should give their parents, cherishing amid the infirmities of age those who have watched over them, and loved them, and prayed for them with so much solicitude and affection.
II. JACOB‘S APPROACHING DISSOLUTION. “The time drew nigh that Israel must die.” It was a time that Israel had now for some considerable period been anticipating. When he stood before Pharaoh he informed that august but benevolent monarch that he reckoned his earthly pilgrimage as good as closed. At least his words imply that he had no expectation of living to the ago of his revered ancestors. Consequently he was not surprised, though he perceived that death was rapidly gaining ground upon his feeble steps. Perfectly aware that it was appointed unto all men once to die, he had been piously, while reposing beneath the shadow of Joseph’s wing, reckoning up the number of his own days m particular, and had found that the allotted span was nearly passed. Nor does it appear that he was alarmed by the knowledge of that melancholy fact. The man who had fought with God and prevailed was not likely to be dismayed by the prospect of engaging with the king of terrors. He who had been so long in the enjoyment of Jehovah’s friendship and salvation would scarcely regard it as a hardship to be translated to Jehovah’s presence. Let the saints learn to number their days that so they may apply their hearts to heavenly wisdom; to live in habitual contemplation of the end, that they may not be afraid when death comes, and to cultivate that holy alliance with the God of salvation which will enable them to say, “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
III. JACOB‘S DYING REQUEST. “Bury me not in Egypt; but I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their, burying place.” This request was addressed to his son Joseph, whom he had hastily summoned to his side. It is not quite certain that at this moment Jacob was confined to bed, or that he was actually so near his decease as he imagined. The probability is that he survived for some little while longer, but that with the knowledge that his departure from the earth could not be long delayed, he desired to leave his last instructions for his funeral with his honored and beloved son. Accordingly, in a conversation, he explained that he was anxious that Joseph should convey his remains to the family vault at Hebron, and lay them beside the dust of Abraham and Isaac. It was a natural desire that the old man should seek to sleep among his kindred; but the wish had a higher origin than simply the instincts of nature. Canaan was the God-given inheritance of himself and his descendants; and though as yet a long interval must elapse before his children could enter on its possession, he would manifest his faith in the Divine promise by laying his bones in the sacred soil. It becomes God’s people to imitate the patriarch in still holding on to God’s sure word of promise, although the fulfillment should be long delayed, and in particular to remember that as with Jacob so with them, God’s best promises will be realized not on earth, but in the better country, even an heavenly.
IV. JACOB‘S DEEP ANXIETY. “And he said, Swear unto me.” It might have been supposed that Joseph’s word of promise, “I will do as thou hast said,” would be sufficient to allay the aged patriarch’s apprehensions, but it was not. Remembering the old form of oath which Abraham had employed in connection with Eliszer, he imposed it on his son, as if to bind him by the holiest obligations to fulfill his last request. Joseph, we may be sure, would have honored his aged parent’s wish without the additional ceremony of swearing; but inasmuch as it was not necessarily sinful, and it would tend to dispel his father’s fears, he consented to the proposal, “and he swore unto him.” Jacob perhaps might have dispensed with the oath, and certainly Christians should be satisfied with a simple “yea” or “nay,” remembering that whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil; but sons may learn from Joseph to bear with an aged parent’s infirmities and to humor his inclinations, when these are not sinful.
V. JACOB‘S SOLEMN WORSHIP. “And Jacob bowed himself upon the bed’s head,” or “worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.” But whatever was the exact position of the patriarch, his exercise was devotion. With reverent inclination of his aged head he poured out his soul in grateful adoration to his God, who had enabled him so successfully to arrange everything connected with his funeral that he had now nothing left to do but die. And in this too the patriarch might advantageously be followed by his spiritual children. Happy they who before being summoned to put off this tabernacle are able to say, “Father, I have finished the work thou gavest me to do!” It is a special mercy for which they may well give God thanks.
HOMILIES BY R.A. REDFORD
Gen 47:27-31
The sunset of a long life.
There is a touching beauty in this scene between the veteran Israel and the prosperous Joseph.
I. An illustration of HUMAN INFIRMITY. The supplanter, the prince of God, must succumb at last to the King of Terrors. “Israel must die.” Yet he is not afraid of death.
II. STRENGTH IS MADE PERFECT IN WEAKNESS. Grace appears brightest at the end. His gray hairs have not been “brought with sorrow to the grave,” although he feared they would. The lost son is the comforter of his last days; to him he commits his dust-to be laid with his fathers.
III. PERSEVERANCE IS NOT THE FRUIT OF MAN‘S PERFECTION, BUT OF GOD‘S MERCY. Jacob is faithful to the covenant spirit to the end, although in many respects his character was a mingled one. Yet he clung to the Divine word. Seventeen years could not wear out his love for the promised land. He knew the Solemnity of an oath, for had he not himself sworn and changed not? He would leave behind him in his last wishes a testimony which would help to keep his children faithful. “And Israel bowed himself upon the becks head.” The LXX; and the Syriac, and the Itala versions, with the reference in Heb 11:21; by a slight change in the Hebrew vowels, have rendered the words “he worshipped upon the top of his staff“i.e. leaning on that which had borne him through his pilgrimage, and thus, as it were, declaring the long journey at an end. But whether he turned towards the bed’s head, as it were away from the world towards God, or leaned on his staff, the idea is the samehe bowed himself, like Simeon, saying, “Now, Lord, lettest thou thy servant depart in peace.” It was a lovely sunset after a day of many clouds and much weariness and fear.R.
HOMILIES BY W. ROBERTS
Gen 47:28-31
Jacob’s apprehension.
I. WHAT IT WAS.
1. It was not anxiety about temporal support, for that had been generously made sure to him by his son Joseph.
2. It was not concern about the future fortunes of his family, for these had been graciously taken under God’s protection.
3. It was not uncertainty as to his own personal acceptance with Jehovah, for of that he had long ago been assured.
4. It was scarcely even fear of his approaching death, for besides being a thought with which Jacob had long been familiar, to a weary pilgrim like him the event itself would not be altogether unwelcome.
5. It was dread lest his lifeless body should be interred in Egypt, far from the graves of his ancestors in the holy land.
II. WHENCE IT AROSE.
1. From the deeply-seated instinct in human nature, which makes men wish, if possible, to sleep beside their fathers and friends. Though religion teaches us to believe that every spot on earth is in a manner holy ground, yet it does not induce a spirit of indifference as to the last resting-place where we shall lie.
2. From a firm faith in the Divine promise that his descendants should yet return to Canaan. Even if Jacob did not anticipate that this would immediately occur, if, as is probable, he had already dark forebodings that the period of exile and servitude spoken of by Jehovah to Abraham was about to commence, he was yet able to detect a silver lining in the cloud, to see the happy time beyond, when his children, in accordance with the promise “I will surely bring thee up again,” should return home to their presently abandoned inheritance.
III. HOW IT WAS REMOVED.
1. By Joseph’s promise. Requested by his aged parent to convey his body back to Canaan, when the life had departed, Joseph solemnly, engages to carry out that parent’s wishes to the letter. “I will do as thou hast said.”
2. By Joseph’s oath. As if to remove every possible ground of apprehension, the old man further binds his son by an appeal to heaven. “And he said, Swear unto me; and he (Joseph) sware unto him.” The venerable patriarch’s anxieties were at an end. “And Israel bowed himself upon the bed’s head.”W.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Gen 47:28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years.
Ver. 28. Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. ] So long he had nourished Joseph; and so long Joseph nourished him; paying his to the utmost penny. These were the sweetest days that ever Jacob saw. God reserved his best to the last. “Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for,” be his beginning and his middle never so troublesome, “the end of that man is peace.” Psa 37:37 A Goshen he shall have, either here or in heaven.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the whole age. Hebrew the days of the years of his life. Figure of speech Pleonasm. This charge concerning his burial to be distinguished from the charge to all his sons.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
whole age Or, days of the years of his life.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
am 2315, bc 1689
seventeen: Gen 37:2
the whole age: Heb. the days of the years of his life, Gen 47:8, *marg. Gen 47:9, Psa 90:10, Psa 90:12, Psa 119:84
Reciprocal: Gen 35:28 – General Gen 50:26 – being an hundred and ten years old Exo 6:16 – an hundred 2Sa 19:32 – fourscore Job 42:16 – an Psa 105:23 – Jacob Jer 28:3 – two full years 1Ti 5:4 – to requite
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Section 5. (Gen 47:28-31; Gen 48:1-22; Gen 49:1-27.)
The moral conclusion: the end as the way.
The fifth section, well-nigh the close of the whole book, is Deuteronomic in character, giving moral results. Here, Jacob again, rather than Joseph, is the central figure, his day brightening at the end to a serene sunset. He dies at a hundred and forty-seven years old,a number not without meaning, we may believe, in its 7 X 7 X 3, the number of complete accomplishment intensified, with that of divine manifestation. With him, the single, simple, patriarchal life is ended, the first division of this primitive divine history is over.
In the first place, here we have the vow which Jacob exacts from Josephthat he shall be buried in Canaan, in the sepulchre of his fathers. He thus links himself with them as waiting, even in death, for the promise to be fulfilled. Thus the promise is a promise of life which death cannot vanquish or undo.
Next, we have the blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh, in whom Joseph receives the double portion of the birthright, Reuben having lost it. (1Ch 5:1-2.) It shows how Joseph fulfills his name, which is, “adding,” or “increase.” This is, indeed, the beautiful lesson of his life. The law of spiritual increase we find in him, as indicated by the name of his son, “Ephraim.” -“fruitfulness.” But the way to fruitfulness is by “Manasseh” -“forgetfulness,” as with the apostle, “Forgetting that which is behind, I press on.” (Php 3:13-14.) Manasseh is the first-born, in fact; but as the end is greater than the means, so Ephraim is, in the mind of God, greater than Manasseh. Nature would often with us, as in Joseph here, resist so simple a conclusion. Manasseh before Ephraim is in truth the very principle of asceticism in all times.
In the third place, we have the blessing of the tribes as a whole, in which, from their characters as already shown, or their names as indicating character, their future is predicted. Thus the government of God shows itself throughout it.
In the enumeration, we have, first, the sons of Leah, then those of the bond-maids intermingled with one another, and then Rachel’s children. These are plainly three divisions.
Of Leah’s, the first-born is Reuben; but just as the might of nature which is fallen, he is necessarily deposed from his primacy: we have seen Joseph getting what Reuben loses here; the two are opposites. Reuben represents, not the flesh, -for God does not bless the flesh; but the dignity of nature, -of man as natural, now indeed fallen, but not necessarily fallen. And man’s nobility lies essentially in that intelligent will, which alone is “will,” and without which he would be the mere machine worked by other hands, or the boat adrift without oar or rudder. Reuben -“see a son” -is thus man in that which makes him the “offspring of God,” His image, -not merely a cause, but a causer. Sin has come in, alas! and his will has become self-will -an independent energy with “vanity” stamped on it; a “bubbling over,” as the word “unstable,” said here of Reuben, really means, which scruples not to shame and defile the man himself, the source of it. Thus the will in man has lost its dignity, and become his degradation; and that which is his glory as man lowers him beneath the beast. For indeed his pre-eminence is necessarily connected with this power for self-debasement, which the beast has not.
But one may ask, Where is the blessing of Reuben in all this? for it is said of all, “Every one he blessed according to his own blessing,” -that is, according to what would be blessing in each case. For Reuben, it must be found, then, in this very deprivation of his. When the will accepts its humiliation, -when we say, but from a different cause from that which made the Lord say it, “Not my will, but Thine”! then is it blessed, and its glory returns to it.
Dispensationally for Israel, Reuben represents the time of its energetic youth, when upon the ground of the first covenant, -that is, of its own responsibility, when its corruption deposed it from the primacy among the nations with which God had endowed it, and the birthright passed to Him who alone is able to support it; here the blessing could only be attained in their humiliation.
Violence necessarily follows corruption, as Simeon and Levi follow Reuben. They are united together, as brethren well agreed in character, and actually united upon that terrible occasion of which Jacob here so energetically speaks. Notice how the thought of agreement -confederacy -runs through what is said, and how the doom upon them, which, as in Reuben’s case, works for blessing, is to be disunited, “divided,” “scattered.” To be brought into loneliness, individuality, weakness, would be the reproof and the remedy for that “strength” which comes of “union,” and which so constantly manifests itself in deeds of violence. Conscience is individual, and brings in God. The weakness of individuality makes Him our necessary resource. But thus all the highest character of manhood is developed by it. Confederacy annuls the individual conscience, begins in craft, and develops into tyranny as power is acquired. The doom is here the remedy, and is to bring Simeon and Levi back to the true meaning of their names: Simeon -“hearing,” to find the answer which God gives to human prayer; and Levi -“joined,” to own the ties only which have divine origin and sanction.
Here, then, relationship to others is the question, as in Reuben, what man is in himself. In the divine life both must be met; and one’s associations come only next in importance to the fundamental one, Who is my Master? Indeed, the first question truly answered answers all; but because we answer it so little truly, God would search us out with one upon another, till He has shown us all.
Dispensationally, we find here, as it would seem, the history of Israel during the times of the Judges, and until David. Coalitions and divisions, strife and violence, fill up this period: there is no king, and no real turning to God.
The blessing of Judah comes in the third place. “Judah,” as we know, means “praise,” Leah saying, when she bore him, “Now will I praise the Lord.” It is striking to see in the history of the people of which these blessings give us the general outline, how, when Judah came to power with David, the worship of Jehovah revived. The ark in the days of Saul the Benjamite had never been inquired at. (1Ch 13:3.) David brought it to Jerusalem with rejoicing, and Solomon built the house in which it was enshrined. When the great schism came, and the ten tribes went after the golden calves, Judah remained thus far faithful. David was himself Israel’s sweet psalmist, and has given to the saints of every generation since songs of praise that never grow old. Thus Judah’s name has vindicated its prophetic character, and the rise of the tribe to power is connected with a real revival of spiritual power, which in Israel ever was the basis of political revival. Judah, therefore, was not to lose the sceptre until Shiloh came (the “Man of peace”) -Christ springing out of Judah, and to Him would the obedience of the people be. This carries us plainly through the whole of the Old-Testament history, and into the New, while then, (strange as it might seem,) Judah’s sceptre, it is implied, would pass away, just when the coming of Christ would seem to make it permanent. We know well the reason, and see once more how prophecy justifies itself. Messiah comes to His own, and is rejected and cut off.
In its individual application, we find the spirit of praise as that of power -necessarily, because God is exalted in it. It is what the fiftieth psalm challenges on His part from His people: “Offer unto God thanksgiving, and pay thy vows unto the Most High; . . . . whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me.” It is this that marks the life which comes from God, that it turns back to God again; and the joy of the Lord is ever its principle of strength. A simple lesson, but, oh, that it were learnt! The “wine” so abundant in the portion of Judah is the sign of a joy in which there can be no excess; and the “milk” may show that here there is not merely stimulus, but nourishment as well, and that in a form in which the merest babe may find it.
In the fourth place, we come to Zebulon; and again his name is plainly referred to. It is a “dwelling with,” in intimacy, as Leah’s use of it shows; but Jacob here uses another word, which has, in this place, evidently a bad significance. Its primary meaning is, “to lay one’s self down,” and Zebulon does this at the haven of the sea -the haven for ships, and his border is toward Zidon. While the idea of prosperity, or at least the industrious seeking of it, is plain, yet for Israel, we must remember, this commerce with the idolatrous nations was not a good sign, nor in result good, and her border reaching out toward Zidon prophesies dangerous obliteration of what divided Israel from the nations. Coming in the place in which it does also, there is a clear intimation of how the people, having turned from their God-sent Deliverer, would turn to the world.
What is the blessing here for Zebulon? and what is the principle which underlies it, similar to what we have found in the former blessings? Openly, God does not come in at all, either to bless or judge, except it be in this, that his portion comes to him from Him in that which it is evident he chooses. And is not this often for us judgment and blessing in one, when God apportions us the very thing we desire, that we may taste the bitterness of our own ways, and learn, in result, the happiness of His? It is not the best way of learning; but yet it is not seldom the only way in which we can learn, and God means at any rate to teach us. What these nations would be -have been -for Israel, we shall learn in Issachar.
In Issachar, we find Israel content to be the drudge of the Gentiles; one who would not endure God’s yoke tamely accepting that of men. Here, too, the name is dwelt upon: “there is reward;” ease and gain are alone what is sought. How true to the character of unbelieving Israel! And these are the governmental ways of God, who, unknown by them, yet ordains their circumstances; and this is more plainly from Him, and for good, than in the case we were last considering.
This ends the tale of Leah’s sons, who give us, as it appears to me, the history of Israel according to the flesh until the present time of God’s seeming forgetfulness is ended, the Church removed to heaven, and the “end of the (Jewish) age,” God’s determined time upon them, in which He brings them back to Himself, begins. The children of the bond-maids represent this, for it is in the time of their lowest degradation that He brings in salvation for them. In the first place here we have Dan; and Dan judges his people as one of the tribes of Israel. This is the prophecy of the restoration of the people to self-government, -Dan as well as the rest, though the least of them all. The rise from Issachar’s burdened condition is very evident. Yet it is just at this time that their worst trouble and their deepest fall are found. Hence the mingled character of the abrupt address. For it is when the Jews, restored, though in unbelief, by Gentile aid, have once more become a nation, at least partially independent, that the last antichrist, claiming to be their Messiah will appear amongst them (long since, from this very prophecy, connected with the tribe of Dan). He will be the “lawless one” of 2Th 2:1-17, and the willful king of Dan 11:1-45. He will be “a serpent in the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse-heels, so that the rider falleth backward.” Here, satanic character is apparent, and the cry bursts from Jacob -prophetically, the cry of the remnant of grace in those darkest hours before the dawn, -“I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord.” Thus cast upon Him, now the road is upward.
2. Or, “Gad, a troop shall rush upon him, but he shall rush upon the heel.” Conflict, with final victory, is depicted here: the assaulting foes are routed and pursued.
3. Quiet possession of the land, and abundance, follow with Asher, the “happy one.” And
4. Naphtali is free as the hind, the female deer, no longer a warrior, with nothing to dread; and giving goodly words: for Israel’s tongue will at last be loosed also, and she shall give forth words of joy and praise and sweetness such as she has never done.
Thus God has come in, and salvation is attained; but we have yet Rachel’s children, as a third series, and we are in no doubt as to the significance of these. Joseph, the One separated from His brethren, and Benjamin, the Son of the right hand: both these we know, -the Christ they knew not, now their joy and boast, and the Christ they clung to, but whose dependence upon the rejected One they knew not. Now they are together, the double witness of a double salvation.
1. Joseph whom they despised is, however, the main figure here, whose fruit, maintained for us by the living power of the Spirit, has run over the Jewish wall; and will run over, that the Gentiles also may rejoice in Him; galled, shot at, hated by the archers, yet His bow abides in strength, and the arms of His hands are made strong by the hands of Jacob’s Mighty One, the God of grace. Resurrection has confirmed in this way His power, and as the Risen One He becomes the Shepherd of Israel, the Stone made the head of the corner. Fullness of all blessings are on the head of Him who was separated from His brethren. What a testimony for the Jew today!
2. Benjamin ravens as a wolf, but the notice is slight as compared with that of Joseph. The Messiah believed in by Israel is but little indeed beside the greater and more glorious figure. Still, Christ will fulfill both types; and judgment also be His needed though “strange work.”
Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary
Gen 47:28. Jacob lived seventeen years after he came into Egypt, far beyond his own expectation: seventeen years he had nourished Joseph, for so old he was when he was sold from him, and now, seventeen years Joseph nourished him. Observe how kindly Providence ordered Jacobs affairs; that when he was old, and least able to bear care and fatigue, he had least occasion for it, being well provided for by his son without his own forecast.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jacob’s request to be buried in Canaan 47:28-31
Jacob lived 17 years in the care of Joseph who, ironically, had spent the first 17 years of his life in Jacob’s care (Gen 37:2). As Jacob’s death seemed to be approaching, he called for Joseph and made him swear to bury him in the Promised Land rather than in Egypt (cf. Gen 24:2-3). As the father of such a person as Joseph, Jacob could have had a very fine burial in Egypt. Notwithstanding, his request demonstrated his preference for the promise of God rather than the acclaim of the world (cf. Moses, Heb 11:24-25).
Placing the hand under the "thigh" was a ritual connected with making a solemn promise (cf. Gen 24:2-3). Jacob worshipped God for granting his wish. He evidently prostrated himself on his bed in thanksgiving to Yahweh and or out of respect for Joseph (cf. Gen 37:9-10). He may have been too weak to bow down on the ground (cf. Gen 48:12; 1Ki 1:47).
"Jacob, in life too often the cunning schemer who trusted his own wiliness to achieve his ends, now in the face of death shows that his ultimate hope is the promise of God." [Note: Wenham, Genesis 16-50, p. 452.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
13. Jacob’s worship in Egypt 47:28-48:22
Jacob demonstrated his faith in God’s promises by demanding that his sons bury him in the Promised Land. He also showed he had learned that God will bless those He chooses to bless by blessing the younger Ephraim over the older Manasseh.