Sermon Manuscript: Jacob's Prophecies (Gen 49:1-18)

(Gen. 49:1-18) Jacob’s Prophecies (Part 1)

It’s amazing we have the Word of God.

We get to hear from God everytime we read the bible.

It is perfect, it is true, it is life giving, from Genesis, God wants us to know him, and so he gave us his word.

And we have gathered together as his people to hear from him again.

And so I want us to stand in the honor of the reading of God’s word, and pray that we would truly hear from him today.

(Gen. 49:1-18) “Genesis 49:1   Then Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather around, and I will tell you what will happen to you in the days to come. Genesis 49:2 Come together and listen, sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel: Genesis 49:3 Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength and the firstfruits of my virility, excelling in prominence, excelling in power. Genesis 49:4 Turbulent as water, you will not excel, because you got into your father’s bed and you defiled it—he got into my bed. Genesis 49:5 Simeon and Levi are brothers; their knives are vicious weapons. Genesis 49:6 May I never enter their council; may I never join their assembly. For in their anger they kill men, and on a whim they hamstring oxen. Genesis 49:7 Their anger is cursed, for it is strong, and their fury, for it is cruel! I will disperse them throughout Jacob and scatter them throughout Israel. Genesis 49:8 Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the necks of your enemies; your father’s sons will bow down to you. Genesis 49:9 Judah is a young lion— my son, you return from the kill. He crouches; he lies down like a lion or a lioness—who dares to rouse him? Genesis 49:10 The scepter will not depart from Judah or the staff from between his feet until he whose right it is comes and the obedience of the peoples belongs to him. Genesis 49:11 He ties his donkey to a vine, and the colt of his donkey to the choice vine. He washes his clothes in wine and his robes in the blood of grapes. Genesis 49:12 His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk. Genesis 49:13 Zebulun will live by the seashore and will be a harbor for ships, and his territory will be next to Sidon. Genesis 49:14 Issachar is a strong donkey lying down between the saddlebags. Genesis 49:15 He saw that his resting place was good and that the land was pleasant, so he leaned his shoulder to bear a load and became a forced laborer. Genesis 49:16 Dan will judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Genesis 49:17 Dan will be a snake by the road, a viper beside the path, that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider falls backward. Genesis 49:18 I wait for your salvation, LORD.”

God’s word is so good and perfect, and we can receive blessing as we read it, but sometimes like this chapter it can be difficult to see what God is trying to tell us. What does this all mean, well ill do my best to explain.

1. Consequences of Sin (2-7)

2. The Solution to Sin (1, 8-12)

3. The Complexity of Sin (13-18)

“Genesis 49:1   Then Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather around, and I will tell you what will happen to you in the days to come.

In a sense everything that he will say will be a type of foretelling prophecy of their decedents.

  And we can see that these are important prophecies for the nation of Israel because of the specific phrase used here  “in the days to come” or in some translation  “in the last days” this phrase occurs 13 times in the OT, most occurring in prophetic books.

And the closest parallel, it is most similar to the context of Moses’ Prophecy at the end of his life in Deut 31-33, he even uses this language “in the last days, the days to come” Deut. 31:29)

Jacob is the last prophet in Israel for 400 years as the people will be in slavery in Egypt until Moses arises.

He is the next prophet of God. Then there will be many prophets speaking that God will speak through, ending with the prophet Malachi,

And guess how many years before the next prophet of God arises. About 400 years, John the Baptist arrives, preparing the way for Jesus, Jesus is the culmination of all these prophecies.

As John declares about Jesus (John 1:29) “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

The book of Genesis began with the promise that someone will come to defeat sin, death, and the devil in Gen 3:15.

And works this promise through his chosen people, not that they were better or that they deserved, he often chose the younger son to work his promises through, to show that it was by his grace undeserved.

The whole OT is pointing the ultimate prophet of God, because Jesus is not only speaking on behalf of God, Jesus is God, Jesus is the Word of God.

It was pointing to this coming king Jesus.

Because the ultimate king that would make everything right, wasn’t Joseph, wasn’t Jacob, wasn’t Moses, or Joshua, or David, or Solomon, they were all looking forward to the perfect king Jesus

That was promised to come through tribe of Judah.



But mixed in with these prophecies will also be Jacob’s deathbed blessings and farewell to his sons.

And blessing is also a major theme in this chapter, for this is how it concludes

(Gen. 49:28) “These are the tribes of Israel, twelve in all, and this is what their father said to them. He blessed them, and he blessed each one with a suitable blessing.”

So while the main focus is on the blessings, there is also sections of curses or punishment and consequences for sin.

We see these consequences for their sin in v.2

Genesis 49:2 Come together and listen, sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel: Genesis 49:3 Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength and the firstfruits of my virility, excelling in prominence, excelling in power.

Gives him the positive first, but then he is about to lay down the very negative prophecy. Because of his sinful actions.

Genesis 49:4 Turbulent as water, you will not excel, because you got into your father’s bed and you defiled it—he got into my bed.

We read about Reuben’s sin in Gen 35:22, we he tried to take Jacob power and leadership of the family by taking his wife Bilhah.

Jacob did not do anything to Reuben then, but now on his deathbed, he has pronounced judgement on reuben for his sinful actions.

Sin eventually catches up to you. You may get a way with it for a while, you may not face consequences for years or even in this life time.

But one day you will be accountable for your sins. And we need a solution to this problem, because we have all sinned,

And for Reuben, the consequence for his sin, also had effects for his descendants, and future generations.

And this also the truth, not only are we going to be held accountable for our sins, our sin effects other people around us, that we may not even realize.

We need to be on guard against temptation against, sin, not just for the sake of our personal holiness and devotion to God, but also for the sake of others, our kids and grandkids.

A similar consequence is seen with Simeon and Levi

Genesis 49:5 Simeon and Levi are brothers; their knives are vicious weapons. Genesis 49:6 May I never enter their council; may I never join their assembly. For in their anger they kill men, and on a whim they hamstring oxen. Genesis 49:7 Their anger is cursed, for it is strong, and their fury, for it is cruel! I will disperse them throughout Jacob and scatter them throughout Israel.

He  referencing how Simeon and Levi sought revenge for their sister, Dinah, who was abused.

Instead of seeking justice, and holding accountable the guilty person, they killed and destroyed the whole town.

We sometimes like to hide our anger and revenge under the disguise of justice.

Now there is a sense in which we can have righteous anger when people wrong others, and we want them to be held accountable.

 But at the point it moves into cruel fury and revenge and murder, that kind of anger is called cursed. And deserves punishment and justice. 

And so we see Simeon, Levi, and Reuben all eventually face the consequences of their actions. And their actions effect others than just themselves.

But in this we also see something amazing. Despite their sins and failures, God continued to use them in his plan, and continued their tribes, blessed their descendants with life and abundance. Specifically, God still showed grace and mercy on the tribe of Levi to a great degree, selecting them among the tribes to be the priests for the temple. The would get to into the Holy of holies, they would be allowed into the presence of God like no other tribes.

God blesses those whom he wants to bless, the tribe of Levi did not deserve these blessing, the leader of their tribe acted in anger, murder, and revenge.

God does this to emphasize his grace and that didn’t deserve those blessings, and neither do we.

But god is rich in mercy, and rich forgiveness.

Because he offers a solution to our sin problem, as we turn to our section secion

2. The Solution of Sin

2. As we look at Jacob’s prophecy concerning Judah who was also younger brother of the sons of Leah.

Genesis 49:8 Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the necks of your enemies; your father’s sons will bow down to you. Genesis 49:9 Judah is a young lion— my son, you return from the kill. He crouches; he lies down like a lion or a lioness—who dares to rouse him? Genesis 49:10 The scepter will not depart from Judah or the staff from between his feet until he whose right it is comes and the obedience of the peoples belongs to him.

This prophecy stands out from the prophecies to other sons. Judah’s lineage will be exalted,

Specifically, the kings of Israel will be from the line of Judah. And specifically one ultimate king, one whose right it is, or other translations “one to whom it belongs” from a Hebrew word similar to that of Shiloh, which some translations have.

The point is there will be a king who is different from the rest. And the peoples, the nations, the whole world will bow down to the is king. 

This prophecy of a coming king that will have worldwide authority is continued in Psalm 2 and Daniel 7

And who is this prophecied king with all authority? Who is the lion from the tribe of Judah, who is strong and powerful?

Its Jesus, king with all authority in heaven and on earth, all peoples from all nations will bow down in worship to Him, because not only is he the Lion but he’s also the Lamb.

(Rev. 5:5) “Look, the Lion from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered”

He conquered and defeated sin, death, and the devil, through his sacrificial death on the cross and resurrection.

And because of that we see this glimpse of heaven. (Rev. 5:9) “And they sang a new song:  You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slaughtered, and you purchased people for God by your blood from every tribe and language and people and nation”

So for from the beginning of Gen 3:15, the prophecy of the promised offspring of Eve that will save us,

to the prophesied King, the Lion from the tribe of Judah, in Gen 49. To prophecy after prophecy in the OT,  and shown to be fulfilled in the Gospel accounts.

Its all pointing us to see Jesus as the ultimate King.

It all fits perfectly together, over thousands of years of recorded scripture, written and passed down by many human authors, and yet there is a unity and focus that is unmistakable, and can only be explained by the power of God. That this is word.

The more we study the scriptures, the more we should be in awe of God.

The more we study the scriptures, the more we see how it all fits together and points to Jesus.

And from Gen 49 we see these three truths about Jesus. 

1. Jesus deserves our praise and obedience

2. Jesus deserves our trust

3. Jesus deserves our Thanks

1. Jesus deserves our praise and obedience

(Gen. 49:8) “Judah, your brothers will praise you… (Gen. 49:8) “your father’s sons will bow down to you”” (Gen. 49:10) “and the obedience of the peoples belongs to him.”

Jesus is not only our savior, he is also our God and King, that means we are to live a life of worship and obedience to Him. Notice I said live a life of worship and obedience, not just an hour on Sunday.

Singing, praying, learning from his word, are just some types of worship. How you live, what decisions you make, what you say to people, what you do or not do, that is major part of your worship to King Jesus.

Jesus has all authority over all world, and over all of your life. Our lives our not our not own but they are Gods. So let us live in praise and obedience to him.

2. Jesus deserves our Trust

(Gen. 49:8) “Your hand will be on the necks of your enemies;” (Gen. 49:9) “Judah is a young lion— my son, you return from the kill. He crouches; he lies down like a lion or a lioness—who dares to rouse him?”

Remember the enemies in the OT, are a manifestation, they are visual representation and outworking of sin and spiritual enemies.

There is more going on than just flesh and blood, there is a spiritual war always going on.

And remember Jesus came to win the spiritual war for us, we couldn’t do it on our own. We must trust in Jesus to fight for us. He deserves our trust he is power.

Trust in his death and resurrection to defeat the power of sin.

For Jesus is more powerful than anything, the grave couldn’t keep him down. He is powerful, like a lion.

That’s why they call the Lion, because of his power and the symbol of royalty and kingship associated with it dating back to the ancient near east times.

And so Jesus as the powerful king, that means he has the power to judge his enemies.

As it says

(2 Cor. 5:10-11) “2Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. 2Corinthians 5:11 Therefore, since we know the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade people.”

That’s what im trying to do today, im trying to persuade you to see Jesus for who he truly is, that he has the power of blessing and punishment, he is the final judge, there is no other court of appeals.

If your are in rebellion against Christ, then there should be a rightful fear of him. And By rebellion against Christ this is what I mean. That you don’t worship and trust in him as your God, savior and king, that you live your life in the way you want, do what you want, instead of following Christ the king.

Hear this goodnews, you don’t have to remain in rebellion, Jesus the king laid down his life so that you could be forgiven.

 That is the height and depth of God’s love for all peoples, that he would die for sinners, die for people that rebelled against him.

So trust in jesus who has the power to defeat sin and death, trust in him as your God savior and king.

He is the only one that can defeat sin and death, trust in him.

So Jesus is like the Lion, the king and powerful

But what does verse

Genesis 49:11 He ties his donkey to a vine, and the colt of his donkey to the choice vine.

Now when I first read that I had no idea what that was supposed to mean.

Why would any tie their donkey to a vine were grapes grow, specifically your best grapes, as it says the choice, the best vine.

Now this doesn’t seem like a smart idea, because what do you think the donkey will do standing next to those delicious looking grapes on the vine?

He’s going to eat them, and maybe even eat the vine itself.

So why would Jacob describe this future king like this? Here’s what I think is going on.

This king will be so powerful and be so rich and wealthy with blessing, he will have rows and rows of fruit trees and grape vines, he will have so much, he is not concerned with a donkey eating a vine or maybe two.

He is basically saying, eat all you want I have enough.

It’s like a billionaire giving a $100 tip to barista at starbucks, its not that big of a deal to him, he has plenty of money, that he can just give it away.

That’s like Jesus, he owns it all, he is rich with blessing.

And the rest of the verse goes on to describe how rich this king will be too

v.11. He washes his clothes in wine and his robes in the blood of grapes.

Blood of grapes just being another term for the juice or wine from the grape. And again he is so wealthy he can wash his clothes in this expensive wine.

Genesis 49:12 His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk.

And this is communicating the same thing, how rich and prosperous this future king will be, he will afford much wine, and milk. Signs of wealth in that time.

So here is the third truth about Jesus.

3. Jesus deserves our thanks

For King Jesus who is all powerful, the king and owner of all things, because he created all things, is generous and gracious with us.

As (Is. 55:1) ““Come, everyone who is thirsty, come to the water; and you without silver, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without silver and without cost!”

Jesus is rich with mercy and generosity. He invites everyone into his kingdom, to feast at his table. You get to share in Jesus’ riches.

To show that Jesus is bringing this goodness and blessing into the world, his first sign in the book of John is turning water into wine, to reveal his glory, power and riches of the kingdom of God.

 “John 2:10 But you have kept the fine wine until now.” John 2:11 Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee. He revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.”

Jesus is not in shortage of anything, he can turn water into.

Everything we have is from the Lord, and thus he deserves our thanks. 

He will give us everything we need. 

And as we live in this time he has appointed for us: let us live out these three truths

1. Jesus deserves our praise and obedience

2. Jesus deserves our trust

3. Jesus deserves our Thanks

Because he is the king of kings and the lord of lords, the mighty powerful, yet humble, loving sacrificial King and Savior.

And lastly we see in the last section the complixity the sin brings into the world.

3. Complexity of Sin

Because the next group of brothers is prophesied about is kind of a mixed bag of blessing and hardships and we don’t really know way

And up first is Zebulon

Genesis 49:13 Zebulun will live by the seashore and will be a harbor for ships, and his territory will be next to Sidon.

What its communicating is that this future tribe will be successful traders and merchants, of which they must have traveld to the sea to make their trades, because their land boundaries described in Josh 19:10 are land locked.

Notice this blessing is not dependent on any Zebulun did, it is again emphasizing God’s grace.

Next is Issachar

Genesis 49:14 Issachar is a strong donkey lying down between the saddlebags. Genesis 49:15 He saw that his resting place was good and that the land was pleasant, so he leaned his shoulder to bear a load and became a forced laborer.

While they were hard workers, and blessed and content with good land, they one day become forced laborers and servants of the surrounding nations for a time.

Like Zebulon, their blessing nor there forced labor, is said to be dependent on any actions by Issachar.

Sometimes things happen good or bad, to no fault of our own.

We must trust the Lord in blessing and in the hardships.

Sometimes bad things happen because of sin in the world. And so sin complicates things and we don’t have all the answers.

But that’s ok we have a God who we can trust.

Next is the tribe of Dan who like Issachar, will experience remarkable achievements but also really bad failures. There compliceated

Genesis 49:16 Dan will judge (defend) his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Genesis 49:17 Dan will be a snake by the road, a viper beside the path, that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider falls backward.

While the tribe of Dan will do some good, it will be later independent and seek after their own interests before others, much like a snake, as it calls him here.

Because snakes are independent they don’t live in groups

And being like a snake that bits at the heels is also depicting them like the serpent in the garden who will bite the heel of the offspring of eve.

Upon this prophecy that Dan’s tribe will  be like a snake.

Jacob cries out to the Lord.

Genesis 49:18 I wait for your salvation, LORD.

He knows his future decedents will stray from God and rebel against him and each other.

And so he does what any good father will do. He cries out in dependence on the Lord to bring salvation to his people.

And so in the midst of our lives, in the midst of chaos, in the midst of the complexities of life caused by sin, maybe the effects of our own sin, maybe the effects of others sin, heck we might now why something happened at all.

Let us cry out to the Lord, let us wait for him, let be seek his face.