A COMPLETE HISTORY OF ISRAEL AS A NATION IN THE PRE-MILLENNIAL EARTH
GENESIS 48 and 49 introduce us to a scene of great moral beauty; every element of which tells us how divine is its order, depth, and harmony. Not only does it present to us a comprehensive range of the counsels of God in connection with His earthly people, but it is invested with an additional interest if we consider the one who declares these counsels, and the circumstances under which he declares them. It was a moment when life was ebbing fast, and earth receding from the view of the dying patriarch; he whose previous course had not been bright, but whose end is here marked with all the brilliancy of a sunset— calm, blessed, and full of light and glory.
The history of Jacob had been eventful, checkered, and strongly marked with crookedness; but he had nevertheless held fast the promises of God, and grounded his line of conduct thereon; though the means he had taken to reach them were for the most part carnal. He had passed from stage to stage in the divine school; Bethel, Peniel, and Beersheba had followed one another; the anguish of the loss of Joseph had been succeeded by his resurrection from the dead (as it were); and from thence a marked restoration is discernible in his soul.
The light then waxed brighter and brighter, until such a flood of illumination envelopes his deathbed, that, in company with the mind of the Lord, his gaze, after first resting on the promised land, and then reviewing his own course and taking his position from thence, stretches far out into future ages and dispensations, and rests not till it has scanned the whole history of God's people, from the time of their redemption out of Egypt till Christ shall appear as their Deliverer: in fact it embraces the whole range of Jewish history, from Exodus to Rev. 19
Let us review this wondrous scene in detail. It is divided into three parts: the oath, the review, and the blessing, or rather prophecy. The first seems to have taken place shortly before his death (chap. xlvii. 29); the last two are properly the deathbed scene, with which we have to do.
Israel is about to die; and on the approach of Joseph he strengthens himself, and sits on the bed, in preparation for what was to follow: but ere Israel (the prince with God) can declare God's mind, Jacob, the man in nature, must review his own individual course, and acknowledge God's faithfulness therein. Thus we read, "God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me." This was the starting-point of his course. Luz (signifying separation or departure), turned into Bethel (the house of God) by the Lord's manifestation to him, was where the Lord had met and blessed him. The scope of that blessing related to the earth: “Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee; and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession."And on the ground of this (dropping the narrative of his own history for a moment,) he takes Joseph's two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, as his own; he declares that as Reuben and Simeon they shall be his; and then he defines their relative positions, and marks out their portion and inheritance in the earth. But, ere he proceeds, one epoch more in his own personal history is to be reviewed; one indeed which was the pivot on which all the rest turned, and which is introduced here on account of its moral connection with the moment. He had been detailing the earthly future of his grandsons, mapping out their respective allotments; and in the midst of it his own position and experience seem to rise before him in contrast, as he turns for a moment from them and says, "As for me."It was a contrast; for in these Israel individually had no part. He was passing away from the earth, after having undergone experiences which had blighted it to him; and he says," As for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when yet there was but a little way to come unto Ephrath: and I buried her there in the way of Ephrath."How beautiful are those words, "As for me!" What a tale they unfold of a heart which has emerged from the crucible of suffering, which has been brought in spirit to the tomb, and has left there all most dear to its natural affections and instincts; but which is content to leave them there, and seeks no more for an outlet for them below. And how strikingly the manner and moment in which the dying Jacob 'utters this brief clause throws out into relief the contrast which we have noticed above! It is as if he said, "You have hopes and interests here; but as for me, mine were buried at Ephrath." In Rachel all his human affections and desires were centered: he had served seven years for her, and they "seemed but a few days for the love he had for her." In every subsequent action of his life, whether at the "brook Jabbok" or in his extreme fondness for her two sons, it is evident that she commanded his heart. She died; and his earthly hopes died with her. But what then? Almost in the same breath he adds, "the same is Bethlehem:" the very spot which had entombed his earthly affections was that from whence He should arise on whom all the promises were based, and who should be the hope and satisfaction of every renewed heart. "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." (Mic. 5:22But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. (Micah 5:2); Psa. 132:66Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah: we found it in the fields of the wood. (Psalm 132:6).) The royal seed, the hope of the nation, did not spring from Rachel. Judah, the royal tribe, was Leah's offspring; but the place which enclosed the tomb of Rachel was the spot from whence that seed arose, and was preserved from generation to generation. Bethlehem was the birthplace of Jesse, who sprang from Ruth the Moabitess: and the blessing pronounced our Boaz in Ruth 4:1111And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. The Lord make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem: (Ruth 4:11) (margin) is beautifully illustrative of the connection: "Get thee riches in Ephratah, and proclaim thy name in Bethlehem." There also was David born; and there arose the greater than David, on whom the prophetic eye of Jacob doubtless rested (if not intelligently, the Spirit in him pointed thereto), when he said "the same is Bethlehem:" the tomb of his earthly hopes was the birthplace of his heavenly ones: Ephrath and Bethlehem were one and the same place. Death and resurrection go together in the counsels of God and the experience of His people. As surely as Ephrath does the work of death for us, so surely will it become a Bethlehem to us.
This episode is a precious link in the chain of Jacob's utterances. Standing in remembrance on Bethlehem Ephratah-the scene of death and resurrection, the earth receding before him-he takes the place of a heavenly man, and from this elevated position declares "things to come." He can now turn again to the earthly expectants, as above them, but still identifying himself with them, as one who has done with self best can: " And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them ... .And he brought them near unto him; and he kissed them, and embraced them. And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face: and, lo, God hath showed me also thy seed. And Joseph brought them out from between his knees."It is well to observe the attitude here described. Israel, having arisen at the approach of Joseph, was sitting on the bed while all that has been recounted took place; and when he desired his grandsons to be brought to him, they must have been placed" between his knees" while he embraced them. But from this endearing position Joseph now removes them; for Israel is about to worship. He is going to perform that act which the Spirit of God takes special note of in Heb. 11; and, every touch of this scene being in harmony, Joseph, it seems instinctively, draws the children aside, and he (i.e. Israel) bows himself with his face to the earth. Israel had Often bowed himself before. In the close of the previous chapter we read, "he bowed himself upon the bed's head:" but that this special instance was an act of faith is plain, by the Holy Ghost's comment on it: "By faith Jacob, when lie was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff." Moreover he bowed himself with his face to the earth. May we not say that it was at this moment that the counsel of God was imparted to him; at least that full disclosure of it which his subsequent utterances declare? In the attitude of subjection to God's mind and will—having reviewed his own life, scanned the tomb of his hopes, and discerned in the spring-light the green blade that was to arise from thence—he now worships, leaning on his staff, the emblem of his pilgrimage, in which he had learned that God whose counsel he was about to declare. His action is emblematic of his mind, will, heart, and affections, being in abeyance to God; and he is therefore a fit vessel for God's counsels, which the Spirit now reveals to him. Now he knows well how to place Ephraim and Manasseh, though "his eyes were dim that he could not see." Joseph is far behind him in, intelligence: he may place them in the order of nature, but Israel in the power of the Spirit will thwart his arrangement, and God's order must be preserved Ephraim, the younger, must be first.
Israel continues: " Behold I die: but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers. Moreover I have given to thee one portion: above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow."What portion was this? Was it not that parcel of ground in Shechem which he bought from Hamor? (chap. 33:19.) This seems probable from Josh. 24:3232And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for an hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph. (Joshua 24:32), where we find that this purchase" became the inheritance of the children of Joseph;"and again, in John 4, we read of Sychar or Sychem," that parcel of ground which Jacob gave to his son Joseph."But why does he say" which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow"? This may be explained by remembering the quarrel between Jacob's sons and the Shechemites in Gen. 34, which may have occasioned the forfeiture of the possession, And if so, he must have regained it by force; i.e., by "sword and by bow.”
This bequest closes the private part of the scene, viz., that which took place between Israel, Joseph, and Joseph's sons. But now it enlarges into one of wider range; and Jacob, ceasing to address Joseph exclusively, but still retaining the same attitude, summons all his sons to hear the purposes of God committed to him concerning themselves. They were the nucleus of the nation; consequently we have in his utterance a full epitome of the history of the Jewish nation, from its call to its future restoration. His words are more a prophecy than a blessing: he is going to tell "that which should befall them in the last days.”
“Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father."Mark the double appellation he gives himself, indicative of the double communication about to be made. They were indeed the sons of Jacob; the failing, crooked Jacob; the supplanter; and the history of their own evil and corruption well attested their origin: but it was from Israel—the one who had" prevailed with God"— that they were to receive God's counsel, which was to drop from his lips; and in the light of that counsel they might descry the bright end and consummation of their blessing, though the intervening parts were to be so dimmed and clouded by sin.
"Reuben, my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength," etc., etc. Here we have the nation as son of Israel: God's firstborn, called and chosen. "Thus saith the Lord: Israel is my son, even my firstborn." (Ex. 4:2222And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn: (Exodus 4:22).) But immediately failure and defilement come in: Reuben, son of Israel, is God's chosen and firstborn; Reuben, son of Jacob, is "unstable as water," etc. And so it proved. No sooner had the people been redeemed from Egypt, and ere the song of deliverance had died away on the banks of the Red Sea, than evil comes in; idolatry and defilement of every form succeed, and continue during the whole period of their occupation of the land of their inheritance.
Simeon and Levi. (Ver. 5-7.) Israel (the nation), a step farther in sin, having committed a deed of murder, even that of their Messiah, of which the bloody deed of Simeon and Levi towards the Shechemites (chap. 34.) was the type. The penalty uttered consequent on this is, "I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel." This double prediction has been literally fulfilled in the double sense in which it was uttered. As sons of Jacob; i.e., regarded as individuals, men in natural brotherhood; they were "divided:" their league, formed in sin, was not kept up by proximity or unity of inheritance. Simeon, we find by Josh. 19:1-91And the second lot came forth to Simeon, even for the tribe of the children of Simeon according to their families: and their inheritance was within the inheritance of the children of Judah. 2And they had in their inheritance Beer-sheba, or Sheba, and Moladah, 3And Hazar-shual, and Balah, and Azem, 4And Eltolad, and Bethul, and Hormah, 5And Ziklag, and Beth-marcaboth, and Hazar-susah, 6And Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen; thirteen cities and their villages: 7Ain, Remmon, and Ether, and Ashan; four cities and their villages: 8And all the villages that were round about these cities to Baalath-beer, Ramath of the south. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Simeon according to their families. 9Out of the portion of the children of Judah was the inheritance of the children of Simeon: for the part of the children of Judah was too much for them: therefore the children of Simeon had their inheritance within the inheritance of them. (Joshua 19:1‑9), had no distinct inheritance; the portion allotted to him being within the precincts of Judah; while Levi's portion was among all the tribes. On the other hand they were "scattered in Israel;" that is, regarding them, not as individuals but as a type of the whole nation, to which the murder of Christ bore the same relation as that of the Shechemites to Simeon and Levi personally. This deed filled up the measure of the nation's sin, and they were dispersed and scattered from that land which was their rightful inheritance, not through their Jacob-nature, but through their Israel-calling.
Judah. (Ver. 8-12.) Here we have the nation at that stage of its history which it occupied at the Lord's first coming. Christ personifies the tribe in its royal character; therefore the blessing and prophecy opens with Him, who is the root and offspring of David. "Thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee." He is the "lion's whelp," the "lion of the tribe of Judah," who, after leading captivity captive, ascended, and rests at God's right hand. "From the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he couched as a lion; who shall rouse him up?”
Verse 10 drops the personal aspect, and takes up the history of the tribe; and intimates that the scepter shall not depart from. Judah until the Shiloh come. Shiloh is Christ in another character; not as the Lion, but the sent one—the Savior; not as embodying the tribe, but springing out of it. Thus we learn that the tribe should preserve its tribal character until the Savior should come: שֵׁבֶט translated "scepter," literally means "rod;" taken from Num. 17, where all the tribes had rods, and each rod was emblematic of its respective tribe. Judah, then, should not lose his rod or tribal character until the Lord appeared: and this was what actually took place. "And unto him shall the gathering of the people be:" the whole of the present age is passed over between these last two clauses, and the two comings of Christ are linked together, showing their close connection one with the other. The "gathering of the people" ought to have been to Him at His first appearing; but it was not so; He was rejected; and the prophecy, omitting the notice of this, passes on to the day of His power, when it will be so; and still farther (ver. 11), to the day of millennial blessing, resulting from Christ's power and rule, of which verses 11, 12, give us a vivid picture. Thus the prophecy of Judah is that of Israel in its royal character; Christ being the rightful heir to the throne, it opens by the tribe or nation being merged in His person. All who had rightfully occupied the throne of David were but types of Him who is to fill it throughout the millennial age: so that the real gist of the prophecy relates to Him.
Zebulun returns to the historical narrative which Judah had stretched beyond, and presents Israel mingled with the nations, trafficking among them, as they are now, and have been ever since their dispersion.
Issachar intensifies the picture, and shows us Israel in servile submission to the Gentile, "couching between two burdens." For the sake of ease and gain, he has "bowed his shoulder to bear, and become a servant to tribute.”
The rest of the prophecies reach on to the end; and the remaining five severally personate those who will bear the most prominent part in the scene during the last week of Daniel—"the end of the age"— which will wind up the seventy weeks of Jewish history.
Thus we find typified in them the willful king—the offspring (it may be) and the antitype of Dan; Christ, the suffering Lamb—the true Joseph. And between these two, the godly remnant (Gad, Asher, and Naphtali), under the pressure and persecution of Antichrist on the one hand, but sustained by the sympathies of Christ on the other. The position which these three tribes occupy in the order of Jacob's utterances is indicative of that moral position which their antitypes will occupy during this period: exposed, yet sheltered; crushed, yet sustained; overcome, yet victorious.
We now return to the detail. Dan, the nation under the willful king. A fearful phase in Israel's history is now reached; and, ere it is unfolded, the Spirit of God, by way of relief, reveals what shall follow: "Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel." Notwithstanding the iniquitous picture about to be portrayed, grace shall triumph in the end: Dan shall recover himself and share in millennial blessing and rule.
Thus we find in Ezek. 28, after the vision of the holy waters, and when the earth becomes a scene of peace and blessing instead of violence and evil, "a portion for Dan" is marked out in spite of his past history. But in the interval—during that period of which these prophecies treat—Dan develops that vein of blasphemy and idolatry which has been discovered early in his history. It was an offspring of Dan who "blasphemed the name of the Lord and cursed" (Lev. 24:1111And the Israelitish woman's son blasphemed the name of the Lord, and cursed. And they brought him unto Moses: (and his mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan:) (Leviticus 24:11)), and who in consequence was doomed by the express word of the Lord to be stoned, and "to bear his sin." It was "children of Dan" who set up a graven image (Judg. 18) while "the house of God was in Shiloh." And it is probable that the "man of sin," the full-blown fruit of blasphemy and idolatry, will arise from this tribe, which is the only one of the twelve from which a company of holy ones—"servants of our God"—is not sealed or set apart for preservation in Rev. 7 At any rate, Dan is here presented as typifying that evil one who characterizes and leads the ungodly part of the nation during this fearful period, and is very fitly described as "a serpent by the way, an adder in the path." Deceit and treachery attend his steps, and entrap all who are not kept by divine power.
At this point the Spirit in the dying prophet breaks forth, "I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord!" This is the relief from man's full-blown and matured iniquity —God and His salvation. This will be the utterance of the holy remnant—that part of the nation which will be exposed through their godliness and faithfulness to the fury of Dan's offspring; and Jacob, in spirit with them, utters this ejaculation; to the human eye, a break in the narrative; but to the spiritual mind, how beautiful a link! This brief clause lifts the veil, and shows us what is so often found in the Psalms; viz., the inner life, the experience, of these godly sufferers, as well as their outward position and character.
Gad, Asher, Naphtali, present the faithful Jewish remnant under different aspects. In Gad we see it in its suffering aspect, under pressure and persecution from the evil one; "overcome by a troop" in the first instance, but with the assurance given that he "shall overcome at last." However the enemy's power may prosper for a time, Gad shall overcome "through the blood of the Lamb.”
In Naphtali we find the same company delivered: the victory promised to Gad is celebrated in Naphtali. He is "a hind let loose, and giveth goodly words." His lips open in testimony and praise. The victory has been accomplished "through the blood of the Lamb, and the word of their testimony;" and on the sea of glass these victorious ones sing the song of Moses, and the song of the Lamb. (Rev. 15)
Asher gives us another aspect of the remnant. The fatness of the earth shall be his.
Joseph: in him the Lamb on Mount Zion is seen, (Rev. 7,) the hope and sustainer of these godly ones through the strife. In communion with Him throughout that week of suffering, they know that He was once "sorely grieved and shot at;" but His bow abode in strength, and the arms of His hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob." And "from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel." Mark those words, "from thence."The suffering Messiah becomes the glorified Messiah; even as the suffering Joseph became the shepherd of Israel." The stone which the builders refused has become the head of the corner."Thus we find this rich cluster of blessings for Christ are all in connection with His rejection and suffering. They are poured" on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brethren."All blessings are his, whether of the heights above or the depths beneath. (Ver. 26.) Moreover the blessings brought in by Him prevail even over those of Abraham. Unlimited to earth and to earthly kingdoms," they extend unto the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills"—the heavenly regions; and all are centered in Him, the once suffering and rejected, the sanctified and consecrated One.
Benjamin presents to us Christ in another character; not as associating Himself with the sufferers in sympathy, but associating them with Him in victory. He comes for the deliverance of His people; and they, identified with Him in victory, form part of the anti-type; that is, the prophecy to Benjamin points on to the nation (or the godly part of it) as victorious, merged in the person of Christ, who bears the character of conqueror and avenger. This is the action of Isa. 63 and Rev. 19 He comes forth "glorious in his apparel in the greatness of his strength," etc. " In the morning he will devour the prey, and at night he will divide the spoil,” Thus we have in this very comprehensive scripture the whole historical narrative of Israel. It commences with the calling of the firstborn out of Egypt; and pursues the history throughout the subsequent evil and corruption; the coming of Shiloh; the dispersion and mingling among the Gentiles; the nation under Antichrist; the remnant in suffering, testimony, and moral victory; and finally, the whole nation victorious in Christ, associated with Him in the day of His power; the gathering of the people to Him; and full millennial blessing brought in.
We have also the Lord in three different aspects; and in each aspect He is presented in full identification with the people at that stage of their history, and as the perfect expression of what they should be. He is the lion's whelp of Judah (the royal tribe); the Iamb; the Shepherd; the Nazarite of Joseph; the Conqueror, Avenger, and Deliverer of Benjamin.
Here this interesting scene closes, and the voice of the inspired patriarch is hushed in death after delivering the oracles of God; oracles which must have surpassed his own intelligence, but with which his spirit was in full company, and his lips a ready and fitting instrument for the Holy Ghost to use in giving utterance to them.
It may be interesting, in connection with the above, to glance for a moment at Deut. 33, where we find the same people made the subject of dying utterance and blessings, but in a very different aspect and connection. Moses was about to die also; and he knew well the character of the people whom he had led. Their evil and corruption he enters into fully in his song; but in his blessing (chap. 33.) he views them from the height of God's thoughts and purposes, and in contrast to the actual history of the nation in its sin and failure as declared by Jacob: he travels on in spirit to that age when a King shall reign in righteousness, and the law shall be in the people's hearts.
No doubt this blessing had a partial fulfillment in the possession of the land by the tribes under Joshua: Moses, on the borders of Canaan, views the people as already there under God's government: but this was but a shadow of that full consummation which his eye of faith saw in the distance.
Thus the sentence on Reuben is exchanged for a blessing: "Let Reuben live, and not die," etc.
Judah comes next; for the order of nature and of seniority is disregarded here, though carefully preserved in Gen. 49 He is not viewed in connection with the Lord as the Lion, or Shiloh, but in his place among the tribes.
Simeon is omitted; his guilty league with Levi is dissolved (Gen. 49); and Levi gets the honorable place of priesthood and separation.
Benjamin is in the place of safety, favor, and privilege.
Joseph is regarded in millennial blessing, the result of the suffering and separation portrayed by Jacob.
Zebulun and Issachar are freed from the yoke of the Gentile, and rejoice in liberty and plenty.
Gad is "enlarged" and delivered from his distress, and has "overcome at last.”
Dan is no longer an "adder in the path," but a "lion's whelp." The simile of the willful king is exchanged for that of the King of righteousness.
Naphtali and Asher, satisfied with favor, and replete with earthly blessing.
"Israel then shall dwell in safety alone; the fountain of Jacob shall be-upon a land of corn and wine. Also his heavens shall drop down dew." The nation is here seen in the enjoyment of full millennial blessing. The Jacob-nature is lost in the Israel-calling. These are the days in which a "King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely." (Jer. 23:5, 65Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. 6In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. (Jeremiah 23:5‑6).)