49-'-'' contains the more elaborate poetical Ulesa- iug, which Jacob is said to have addressed to all his sons before his death. Throughout this liless- ing what the poet really has in view are the tribes ; as so often elsewhere in Genesis, the tribe is con- ceived as impersonated in its ancestor, and the ancestor foreshadows the character of the tribe. The poet i)asses the tribes in review : he singles out in each some striking feature of moral char- acter, political state, or geographical position, for poetical aniplilication ; and on each he pionounces some word of praise or blame, according to its deserts. The moral instability of Reuben, the dis- organized social condition of Simeon and Levi, the ideal sovereignty and vine-clad territory of Judah, the maritime advantages enjoyed by Zebulun, the ignoble indifl'erence which led Issachar to prefer case to independence, the quick and eflective attack of Dan, the warlike bravery of Gad, the richness of Asher's soil,J the blessings of jpopulous- ness, military efficiency, climate, and soil, which, in spite of envious assailants, are showered upon Joseph, the martial skUl and success of Benjamin, — these, briefly, are the features which the poet selects, and develops one after another, in varied and eirective imagery. The historical and geo- gr.'iphical conditions reflected in the poem are those of the period of the Judges, Samuel, and David ; and this is the age in which the ancient tradition of the patriarch's Blessing must have received its present poetical form.
After this, we read, Jacob charged his sons to bury him in the faniUy grave at Machpelah (49^-^ r : 47-^-»' is parallel in JE), and then died (v.^^ P). His body was embalmed, according to the Egyp- tian custom (50'"') : a great funeral procession was organized, such as was usual in Egypt (50'"") ; § and he was buried in the land of Canaan, in the cave at Hebron (SO''- ").||
• •'.«. ' mountain-elope ' or ' -side' ; of. the use of the ejii. IPJ Jos I6S. 10 isii li- la. 18 (RV poorly, ' side 'X
t In the parta of ch. 34 which belong to J, two of Jacob's sons wreak their venjjeanee on individual Shecheniites ; but Jacob liiinself rejiu'iiates their deed. The present pass-it'e shows that a version must have been current accordinj;: to which Jacob (i.e. Israel as a whole) conquered and took possession of Shechem. This version is allied to, and perhaps unaerlies, the other narra- tive in ch. 34, according to which the eons of Jacob (and not Simeon and Levi alone) massacred the inhabitanta of Sliechem ; hut it is not said, or even implied, in this narrative that they retained the citj- as their own possession. (The statement in 3311* that Jacob purchased a piece of land outside the cit.v, is of course not inconsistent with his forcible conquest cf the city itaelf afterwards). See further, Dillm., Holzinger, and Wellh. Comp. 316 fl.
1 The blessing on Naphtali is too uncertain In Iti terms to be •ummarized with any confidence.
f Erman, Life in Ancient Egj/pUp. 320 f.
I 604 11 (JK) is the sequel to 47»3l (in both Joseph alone U the prominent person) ; Goms (p) jg the sequel to 49^-33 (in both Jacob's sons in general are the actors), the d/lour by Atad (vv.lO- 11). on the East of Jordan, is manifestly made merely bv the narrator, for the purpose of explaining the name * Abel-
The chronology of Jacob's life presents serious ditlicultius : n is evident that the traditions (or theories) about it are incon- sistent. (1) r's chronology, as olu*n elsewhere in Un, is eiUirely irreconcilable with that ol JE. In cli. 'i7 (JE) Isaac is to all appearance uiton his deathl>ed (Cf. v.2) ; yet according lo P ('J.'j'.w '.i»p4 3iJ'.^) he survived for eighty/ yearg, dying at the age ol ISO. t'ssher, Keil, and others, arguing back iroui the dales . given in 47" 460 ji-ui sjJl, inier that Jacob's llight to l,Iaran took place in his 77lh year ; this reduces the SU year« to 43 years, though that is almost ciiuully incredible ; but it involves the fresh incongruity o( supposing that thirty. scren years elaitscd between Ksau's marryinj; his Hittite wives ('.itpJ), and Uebeliah's expressing her fear ('11^) that Jacob, then aged *'ctr»fi/-«frer», should follow his brother's example I Nor is it natural to picture Jacob seeking a wife in llaran, and tending Laban's sheep, as a man 77 years old. C^) It may bf doubted whether even the chronology of JK is perfectly consistent, (a) The supposition matle p. 630 note § is rc»iuired, as there explained, for consistency : but an unspecified sojourn of some years at eithsr Succoth or Shechem is harrlly consonant with the general tenor of the narrative of Jacob's return (31^) from l,Iaran. It is true, in 37'^ Joseph is said to be 17 years of age ; but the years of Joseph's boyhood would be placed more naturally between 35* and 3r.i than at 331' or 3;l'». tli) Joseph is called' (373) ^ son of Jacob's * old age,' as though he were appreciably ^ ounger than his brethren : jet Zebulun and Dinah could not have been more than a year or two older (3020-^); for all Jacob's children (except Henjainin) nuist have been born, at least according to K (see 3H0. between the 7lh and the 10-17th yearn of his service with Laban (leaving, say, 4-3 years for the events narrated in 3025-43). llowevrr. 373' belongs very probably to the other source, J, which mav have represented Josejih as born later. In V he is horn when J'acob is about DO (Gn 414<i (« 45" KJ 4"9).