Holly Bible - KJV with Concise Commentaries by Z Selam - HTML preview
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The blessing of Benjamin (Ge 49:27): He shall raven as a wolf; it is plain by this that Jacob was guided in what he said by a spirit of prophecy, and not by natural affection; else he would have spoken with more tenderness of his beloved son Benjamin, concerning whom he only foresees and foretells this, that his posterity should be a warlike tribe, strong and daring, and that they should enrich themselves with the spoils of their enemies--that they should be active and busy in the world, and a tribe as much feared by their neighbours as any other: In the morning, he shall devour the prey, which he seized and divided over night. Or, in the first times of Israel, they shall be noted for activity, though many of them left-handed, Jdg 3:15, 20:16. Ehud the second judge, and Saul the first king, were of this tribe; and so also in the last times Esther and Mordecai, by whom the enemies of the Jews were destroyed, were of this tribe. The Benjamites ravened like wolves when they desperately espoused the cause of the men of Gibeah, those men of Belial, Jdg 20:14. Blessed Paul was of this tribe (Ro 11:1, Php 3:5); and he did, in the morning of his day, devour the prey as a persecutor, but, in the evening, divided the spoil as a preacher. Note, God can serve his own purposes by the different tempers of men; the deceived and the deceiver are his.
The Death and Burial of Jacob
28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father
spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them.
Here is, the summing up of the blessings of Jacob's sons, Ge 49:28. Though Reuben, Simeon, and Levi were put under the marks of their father's displeasure, yet he is said to bless them every one according to his blessing; for none of them were rejected as Esau was. Note, Whatever rebukes of God's word or providence we are under at any time, yet, as long as we have an interest in God's covenant, a place and a name among his people, and good hopes of a share in the heavenly Canaan, we must account ourselves blessed.
29 And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto
my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,