After he had finished with Joseph’s sons, Jacob called in his own sons so that he could bless them all and tell them of their futures. Most of what he said comes across as some sort of fever dream, but here’s the gist of what he promised each of his sons:
1. Reuben, the firstborn, is screwed. He won’t get anything because he slept with his father’s mistress way back in Chapter 35. Jacob sure knows how to hold a grudge.
2 and 3. Simeon and Levi will be divided, and their families scattered because they killed a guy earlier.
4. Judah will rule over the rest of his brothers until some dude named Shiloh with red eyes and white teeth shows up and takes over.
5. Zebulon will live by the sea, and run a harbor bordering Zidon, which is apparently a town in Lebanon (thanks, Wikipedia!)
6. Issachar is a strong ass. Seriously, that’s what Jacob called him. Oh, he also said he was going to be a servant forever.
7. Dan will judge everyone. The analogy used is that he will be a serpent biting the heels of peoples’ horses and knocking them down. So basically a nice guy.
8. Gad will be overrun by troops of some kind, but will prevail in the end.
9. Asher will get fat and yield "royal dainties". So, apparently Asher’s kids will be gay nobility. Sort of a mixed blessing given the prejudices of the time.
10. Naphtali "giveth goodly words", but apparently won’t do much else. So yeah, tough luck kiddo.
11. Joseph will inherit the whole "great multitude" blessing that was given to Abraham, passed to Isaac, and then to Jacob. Not bad.
12. Benjamin will be like a wolf, devouring his prey during the day and splitting up the spoils by night. Kind of cryptic, but we can probably assume this means Benjamin is not going to end up being a vegetarian.
So there you have it, the fates of all 12 of Jacob’s sons.
Jacob then told his sons to take his body and bury it in the cave Abraham bought from Ephron all those years ago, and where Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, and Leah were all buried.
After he was done telling his sons what to do, Jacob laid down in bed and died.
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