Rosonmiiller, Kalisch, Gerlach, Murphy, and brooks which spring from the great deep or others). But his bow abode in strength, the abyss of the earth, pour their fertilisin" and the arms of his hands were made strong waters over J oseph's land, so that cverythin~ by the hands of the mighty Gou of Jacob. that had womb and breast should bccomo N otwitlu!tanding the multitudinous and pregnant, bring forth an,! suckle" (Keil). fierce assaults which had been ma(lo on The blessings of thy father have prevaifocl Joseph, lie had risen superior to his adver- above the blessings of my progenitors unto Haries; his bow had continued firm aml un- the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. broken (cf. 1 Sam. ii. 4 ; ,fob xii. 19 ; xxxiii. The meaning is, according to this renJerin" 19), and his arms had bum rendered active which some adopt (the Tar6'11ms, Vulgat;, and flexible-neither il!,,Xi,91/ Ta ,,,upa {3pa- Syriac, Saaclia.~, Rosenmiiller, Lange, Mnr- ,c:uivwv x••piic auTwv (LXX.), dissoluta sunt phy, et alii), that the blessings which Jacoh vincula brachiorum et manuum (Vulgatc), pronounced upon Joseph surpassed thoso as if Joseph's enemies were the subjects re- which he himself had rccei,ed from Abraham ferred to ; nor, " Therefore gold was placed and Isaac, either as far as the primary monn- upon his arms " (Onkelos, Rashi, and others), tains towered above the earth (Keil, Mnr- refen'ing to the gift of Pharaoh's ring-by the phy), or, while exceeding the bcnc,lic:ions of hands of the Mighty Ono of Jacob, i. e. God, his ancestors, those now <lclive1·eJ by him- who had proved himself to be Jacob's Mighty self would last while the hills endurccl (Ro- One by the powerful protection vouchsafed senmiiller, 'Spcakel"s Commentary'). B11t to his servant. The title here nscribed to the words may be othenvise rentlered : "The God occurs afterwards in Isa. i. 24. From blessings of thy father prevail over, nre thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel. mightier than the blessings of the mountain~ If the claus6 is parenthetical, it may signify of eternity, the delight, oc glory, or love- either that from the time of Joseph's exalt.'t- liness of the hills of eternity" (LXX., Dath". tion he became the shepherd (who sustained) l\Iichaelis, Gesenius, Bohlen, Kalisch, Ger- and the stone of (i. e. the rock which sup- lach, and others); and in favour of this may ported) Israel (Oleaster), or that from God, the be adduced the beautiful parallelism between Mighty One of Jacob, Joseph received strength the last two clauses, which the received trans- to become the shepherd and stone of Israel lation overlooks. They shell be on the head (Pererius, .Ainsworth, Lawson, Patrick, and of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of others), in which capacity ho served ns a pre- him tha.t we.s separate from his brethren- figuration of the Good Shepherd who was also literally, of him, the separatccl (from na::ar, to become the Rock or Foundation ofhis Church to separate )from his brethi-cn (Onkelos, Ras hi, (Calvin, Pererius, Cnndlish, &c.) ; but if the Rosenmiiller, Keil, nnd others), though by clause is rather co-ordinate with that which some different renderings nre prefeJTed, as, precedes and thnt which follows, as the intro- e. q., the crowned among his brethren (LXX. ductory particle IQ nppears to suggest, then Syriac, 'fargum of Jcrnsalem, Kimchi, Ka- the words "shepherd and stone of Iaraol" lisch, Gol'lach), taking 1u,,:,ir to signify ho will apply to God, nnd the sentiment will be who woars tho nc:cr, or royal dia,lem. thnt the httnds of Joseph were made strong Vor. 27.-Benja.min shall ravin a.s a. walf from the hnnds of the Mighty One of Jacob, (literally, a wolf, he shall tear in pieces): iu from there (i. e. from there where is, or from the morning he shall devour the prey, nnd him who is) the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel e.t night he shall divide the spoil. 'l'he (Keil, Knlisch, Murphy, Gerlnch, Lnnge, et prediction alludes to the warlike character of alii). Even by the God of thy father, who the tribe of Benjamin, which was manifestc,l shnll help thee (liternlly, /T&m the God of in Ehud the judge (Jucli::es iii. 15), aml Saul thy father, and he shall help thee, i. o. who tho king of Israel (1 Sam. :d. 6-11 ; xiv. sho.11 help thee); and by the Almighty, who 13, 15, 47, 48), who both sprang fron1 shall bleBB thee-literally, and with (sc. the Rnchel's younger son. 11.id of) the Almighty, and he shall bless Ver. 28.-All these aro the twelve tribes fhee. It is unnecessary to chango n~1 into of Israel (the underlying thouglit is that ',~l (LXX., Vulgatc, Samnritan, Syriac, in blessing his sons Jncob was really bless- Ewald), or to insert lr.> before n~, ns thus, ing the futuro tribes) : and this is it the.t their father spake unto them, e.nd blessoi n~~ (Knobel, Rosonmiiller, Kalisch), sinco them; every one e.ocording to his blessin~ n~ may be understood bore, as in eh. iv. 1 ; he blessed them (i. e. every ouo received hi; v.'• 24, in the sense of helpful communion own appropriate benediction). (Keil)-with blessings of heaven above, Vors. 29, 80.-And he charged them, an:! blessings of the deep that lieth under, ea.id unto them, I am to be gathered unto my bleBBinge of the breasts, and of the womb. people (vide on eh. xv. 15): bury me witlJ. "From the God of Jncob, nnd by the holp of my fathers-thus laying on them tho in- foe Almi"hty, shoi1IJ. tho rain nnd J.cw of junction ho had previously, with tho super• heaven (eh. x.XYii. 28), 11nd fountain~ nud ucl,\cd solemnity of nu oath, bi,l on Josq,11 Q~NEBIS. MM 530 THE BOOK OF GENESIS. [en. XLIX. 1-33.
(eh. xln.i. 29-31)-in the cave that•isin the Ver. 32.-The purchase of the field and field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave of the cave that is therein was from the that is in the field of Machpelah, which is children of Heth. Knlisch connects the before Mamre, in the land of Cane.an, which present verso "ith tho 30th, and reads ver. Abrshe.m bought with the field of Ephron 31 as a parenthesis. the Hittite fo;: a possession of a burying- Ver. 33.-And when Jacob had made an place (vide eh. xxiii. 16-20), Jacob had end of oommanding his sons, he gathered learnt from his father and had carefully pre- u_p his feet into the bed (having on the ar- served nil the details relating to the purchase rival of Joseph strengthened himself and sat of their family sepulchre. There they buried up upon the bed, probably with his feet Abraham and Sarah his wife ; there they overhanging its edge), and yielded up the buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there ghost, and wo.s gatherod unto his people I buried Leah. From this it ~ronld appear (vick on eh. XXV. 8; XXXV, 29). J that Leah had not descended into Egypt.