The Pulpit Commentary — Genesis — Section 579

in f:Cncrnl appears not to have been entirely Asher the b 1-ead shall bo fat (Kalisch)· fat destitute of the treacherous and formidable shall be his bread (Illm-phy); Out of Asher characteristics here depicted (Judges xviii. (cometh) fat his bread (Keil). Tho import 2i). "It is certainly observable that the of the blessing is that Asher should possess first introduction of idolatry in Israel is a specially productive soil. ascribed to_ the tribe of D_an (Judges xviii.), Ve:. 21.-Ne.phtali is a hind let loose: and that m the numbcrmg of the tribes he giveth goodly words. 'l.'he LXX. fol- in Rev. vii. the name of Dan is omitted. lowed by Dathe, Michaelis, Ewald Boi1len From these or other causes many of the and others, read, Naphtali is o. tall tcrebinth' Fathers (Irenreus, Ambro~e, Augustine, that putteth forth beo.utiful boughs; but th~ Theodoret) were led to believe that Anti- christ shoul<l ~pring from the tribe of Dan " word n~:~ signifies a hlnd or gazelle, and (' Speaker's Commentary'). I have waited for is here employed, along with tho qualify- thy salvation, 0 Lord. To discover in this ing ~pithct bcm~tiful and tender ejaculation of the dying no~tr, let loose, running freely patriarch anapprehensivesigh lest l>.isstrength (Keil), or graceful (Kalisch), to uepict Naph- should be exhausted before his benediction tali as a. beautiful and agile warrior. Iu the w~ complet~d (Tuch), or a prayer that God appended clause he is represented as possess- m,ght speedily effect his painless dissolution ing in addition the capacity of "givinrr (Hcngstcnberg), or a device for dividin" his words of beauty," in which may be detected. benedictions, and separating the group of an allusion to the development in eloquence Judal_1 f:om t~~t of_Joseph (Lang~), is surely and song which afterwarJ.s took place in that to fail m seizmg its hidden spirit. It is northern tribe (Judges iv. 6-9; v. 1-31). doubtful if even the us~al interpretation, that Vers. 22-26.-Joseph is a fruitful bough, Jacob here expresses his hope and expectation even a fruitful bough by a well; whoso that God would help and succour his descend- branches run over the wa.11-literally, son of ants (Calvin, Rosenmilller, Keil, Kalisch, a fntit tree, Joseph ; son of a fruit tree at the Murphy, and others), exhausts its rich signi- well; daughters rwn (each one of them: 11ide ficance. That, speaking in their name he Gesenius, 'Grammar,' § 146, 4) 011er the wall. does anticipate the deliverance of Jehov;h- The structure of the clauses, the order of the " In thy help do I hope, 0 Jehovah! "-is words, tho repetition of the thoughts, sup~ly apparent ; but nothing surely can be more o. glimpse into the fond emotion with which natn_ral than to suppose that the dying the aged prophet approached the blessing of patriarch, at the moment when he was form- his beloved son Joseph. Under the image of a ally transmitting to his children the theo- frnit treo, probably a vine, as in Ps. lxxx., cratic blessing, had his thonghts lifted up planted by a. well, whenco it draws forth towards that great salvation, of which all necessary moisture, and, sending forth its these material and temporal benedictions young twigs or offshoots over the support• pronounced upon his sons were but the ing walls, he pictures tho fruitfulness and shadows and the types, and of which perhaps prosperity which should afterwards attend lle had been incidentally reminded by the the tribes of Ephraim e.nd Manasseh, as the mention of the biting serpent, to which he twofold representative of Joseph, with per- had jnst likened Dan (' Speaker's Comment- haps a backward glance e.t the service which ary'). It is noticeable that this is the first J oscph had performed in Egypt by gathering up and dispensing the produce of the land occurrence of the term salvation (nlm:i!, from for the salvation of his family and people. the root J.'17~, unnsed in Kal, to b; roomy or The archers he.ve sorely grieved him, e.nd spacious, hence in the Hiphil to set free or shot o.t him, and hated him-literally, the?J deliver). provoked hirn, and shot at, and laid snares Ver. 1!il. ----Oe.d, a troop shall overcome for him, m,as_ters of arrows, though Kalisch him: but he shall overcome at the le.et. translates Ulil, and they assembled in The threefold alliteration of the original, multitudes, which yields a sense sufficiently which is lost in the received translation, may clear. It is sometimes alleged (Keil, Lange, be thus expressed: "Gad-a press presses 'Speake1·'s Commentary') that the words con- him, but he presses the heel' (Keil); or, tain no allusion to the persona.I history of ' 'troops shall troop on him, but he shall troop Joseph, but solely to the later fortunes of tho on their retreat"(' Speaker's Commentary'). tribes of Ephraim o.nd Manasseh ; but even The language refors to attacks of nomadic if they do point to tho subsequent hostilities tribes which would harass and annoy the Gacl- which Joscph's descendants should incur ites, but which they would successfully repel. (Josh. xvii. lG-18; Judges xii. 4-6), it is Yer. 20.-0ut of Asher hie breed shall be almost morally certain thnt the imago of the fat, an:! he Ghl\11 yield royal daintiee - shooting archers which he selects to depict lite1<1lly, dainties uf, or for, ti,e /.:in_g. 'f],e their adversaries was suggested to his mind first clause lll"-Y Le otherwise renuercd: Of by the early lot of his beloved son (Calvin, OH. XLIX. 1-33.] THE BOOK OJf GENERIS. 529