Holly Bible - KJV with Concise Commentaries by Z Selam - HTML preview
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20 Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and
he shall yield royal dainties.
Concerning Asher (Ge 49:20), that it should be a very rich tribe, replenished not only with bread for necessity, but with fatness, with dainties, royal dainties (for the king himself is served of the field, Ec 5:9), and these exported out of Asher to other tribes, perhaps to other lands. Note, The God of nature has provided for us not only necessaries but dainties, that we might call him a bountiful benefactor; yet, whereas all places are competently furnished with necessaries, only some places afford dainties. Corn is more common than spices. Were the supports of luxury as universal as the supports of life, the world would be worse than it is, and that it needs not be.
21 Naphtali is a hind let loose:
he giveth goodly words.
Concerning Naphtali (Ge 49:21), a tribe that carries struggles in its name; it signifies wrestling, and the blessing entailed upon it signifies prevailing; it is a hind let loose. Though we find not this prediction so fully answered in the event as some of the rest, yet, no doubt, it proved true that those of this tribe were,
1. As the loving hind (for that is her epithet, Pr 5:19), friendly and obliging to one another and to other tribes; their converse remarkably kind and endearing.
2. As the loosened hind, zealous for their liberty.
3. As the swift hind (Ps 18:33), quick in despatch of business; and perhaps,
4. As the trembling, timorous in times of public danger. It is rare that those that are most amiable to their friends are most formidable to their enemies.
5. That they should be affable and courteous, their language refined, and they complaisant, giving goodly words. Note, Among God's Israel there is to be found a great variety of dispositions, contrary to each other, yet all contributing to the