Welcome to my Hebrew reading & language series.
Genesis 49:19-28
The last three posts have been a bit longer than the rest. It is not easy to go through twelve children and what they have become as men. Some of them sold their brother to slave traders early on in the saga and that is a mark against them in the eyes of their father. Others kept it quiet, which is not as bad but still a crime against their father who wept bitterly as he held his son's bloody coat of many colors. The cover photo from the movie, "Joseph" at 1:22
The reading starts with one brother being raided, yet raiding them back, in his future life. Another becoming rich thereafter, and a third is to have nice looking kids, but then comes Joseph. One can certainly tell which of the kids Jacob loves the most. The one that always did what he was told and told the truth no matter the consequences. Not to mention saving the known world by providing food for them.
The blessings of your father
are mighty beyond the blessings of my parents, up to the bounties of the everlasting hills. May they be on the head of Joseph, and on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers.
What he says there makes me wonder if we somehow earn blessings as we go through our allotted century or so...
We can also tell, for the most part, which ones had a part in causing their father's grief when Joseph "died" at the hands of a wild animal.
Another note. We see a reference to the Mighty One of Jacob whose hands made Joseph's arms agile. The parenthesis need not be there because all of those words are right there in the Hebrew, and I believe, since the eternal God has no hands - He is spirit, Jacob may be referring to the very same "man" that he himself had struggled with until morning as we read in this post and also this post from chapter 32 of Genesis, which were written back in August of 2022. You can jump to them for further study if you wish.
That is it for the blessings upon the twelve brothers who became the tribes of Israel. Next week, we will finish this chapter and move on.
Today's reading
English
19
“Raiders shall raid Gad,
but he shall raid at their heels.
20
“Asher's food shall be rich,
and he shall yield royal delicacies.
21
“Naphtali is a doe let loose
that bears beautiful fawns.
22
“Joseph is a fruitful bough,
a fruitful bough by a spring;
his branches run over the wall.
23
The archers bitterly attacked him,
shot at him, and harassed him severely,
24
yet his bow remained unmoved;
his arms were made agile
by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob
(from there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel),
25
by the God of your father who will help you,
by the Almighty who will bless you
with blessings of heaven above,
blessings of the deep that crouches beneath,
blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
26
The blessings of your father are mighty beyond the blessings of my parents,
up to the bounties of the everlasting hills.
May they be on the head of Joseph,
and on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers.
27
“Benjamin is a ravenous wolf,
in the morning devouring the prey
and at evening dividing the spoil.”
28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each with the blessing suitable to him.
Hebrew
The chapter comes to an end next week...
Info on each letter starting at the beginning
If you are just starting, my lessons are all here starting at Alef, adding vowels (the dots and lines) as we go. I explain the meaning of each letter and its numerical value. Just go to my blog and scroll to the bottom or click here
Get your Hebrew Bible now!
Click here to obtain the book we are using. It is a free download or browser usable.
Thanks for reading.
Greetings @hebrew ,
Lovely to see your post come through....always thought provoking and good to read. So true and appreciate the affirmation of Joseph's most important role in history.
Oh thank you reading about Benjamin reminded bleujay...that from my studies..the Tribe of Benjamin is the Warrior Tribe...is that right and the Apostle Paul was from the Tribe of Benjamin.
Hope you are well.
Kind Regards,
Bleujay