Holly Bible - KJV with Concise Commentaries by Z Selam - HTML preview
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our children what shall befall them or their families in this world; but we can tell them, from the word of God, what will befall them in the last day of all, according as they conduct themselves in this world.
3. Attention is demanded (Ge 49:2): "Hearken to Israel your father; let Israel, that has prevailed with God, prevail with you." Note, Children must diligently hearken to what their godly parents say, particularly when they are dying. Hear, you children, the instruction of a father, which carries with it both authority and affection, Pr 4:1.
3 Reuben, thou art my firstborn,
my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:
The prophecy concerning Reuben. He begins with him (Ge 49:3, 4), for he was the firstborn; but by committing uncleanness with his father's wife, to the great reproach of the family to which he ought to have been an ornament, he forfeited the prerogatives of the birthright; and his dying father here solemnly degrades him, though he does not disown nor disinherit him: he shall have all the privileges of a son, but not of a firstborn. We have reason to think Reuben had repented of his sin, and it was pardoned; yet it was a necessary piece of justice, in detestation of the villany, and for warning to others, to put this mark of disgrace upon him. Now according to the method of degrading,
1. Jacob here puts upon him the ornaments of the birthright (Ge 49:3), that he and all his brethren might see what he had forfeited, and, in that, might see the evil of the sin: as the firstborn, he was his father's joy, almost his pride, being the beginning of his strength. How welcome he was to his parents his name bespeaks, Reuben, See a son. To him belonged the excellency of dignity above his brethren, and some power over them. Christ Jesus is the firstborn among many brethren, and to him, of right, belong the most excellent power and dignity: his church also, through him, is a church of firstborn.
2. He then strips him of these ornaments (Ge 49:4), lifts him up, that he may cast him down, by that one word, "Thou shalt