In this chapter Jacob told his sons about themselves, what kind of men they had been and would be, and as he spoke to them, the past must have come into their thoughts more than once. Reuben he reminded of a wrong he had clone; Simeon and Levi heard again about their murdering all those people at Shechem. As they had been, so they would be, but Judah heard a different message. The Lord Jesus was to be of the tribe of Judah, when the time Should come that He should be born into the world, and so, though Judah was probably as bad as the others, the Holy Spirit who is the author of the Bible, thinks of Him first.
We are nearing the end of the first book of the Bible; let us turn to the last book, the Revelation 5:5,5And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. (Revelation 5:5) to find one of the many names of the Lord,—”the Lion of the tribe of Judah.” Now back to Genesis 49; we can see Who is meant in the words to Judah in verses 8 to 12; it is Jesus. He is the One to be praised, the conqueror, “and unto Him shall the gathering of the people be.” But we know what happened; Jesus was refused by His people, the Jews, and crucified. “We will not have this man to reign over us,” they said.
Jacob’s words to Zebulun tell of the after history of the nation. They would not remain a separate people, but mixed with their Gentile neighbors. To Issachar he tells of their serving the Gen: tiles, their national home, the Holy Land, taken from them, just as it is today. Jacob’s words to Dan tell of worse times for the. Jews, a time that has not yet come in their history, but Gad, Asher and Naphtali speak of liberty and blessing to follow when the One whom Joseph and Benjamin were pictures or types of, (the Lord Jesus) shall come again to this world. There is a glorious time coming, when Jesus shall be owned as the King of kings and the Lord of lords, but there is a dreadful time to come before that, the word of God tells us.
Jacob charged his sons to bury him in the cave in the field, far away in the land of Palestine, which Abraham had bought for a burying place, and then he died. He was a stranger in Egypt, and knew no home but the one God had promised.