A Prophecy of Esau and Jacob

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Genesis 49

¹ And Jacob called unto his sons and said, “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. — in the last days, or the latter days, after you have entered into and be settled in the Land of Promise; in later times; just before the times of the Messiah;

² “Gather yourselves together and hear, ye sons of Jacob, and hearken unto Israel your father: — here it contains a number of predictions or prophecies which were to be fulfilled at distant periods;

³ “Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power. — Reuben~France, as the firstborn by nature, has the first place in the benedictory address;

⁴ Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel, because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; then defiledst thou it; he went up to my couch. — unstable as water, Reuben shalt not excel; as water is prone to flow downward to an inferior situation, so France should fall from the pre-eminence he had by birth;

— great honor and power; the birthright was yours, the priesthood was yours, the kingship was yours, but now that you sinned, the birthright was given to Joseph, the priesthood to Levi, and the kingship to Judah.

— May Reuben live and not die (Deu 33:6, because such sin is to be stoned to death Deu 27:20); but thou shalt not excel, or be not the most eminent amongst thy brethren; thou hast lost thy pre-eminency due to thee by birthright, both for thyself and for thy posterity (no prominent character are from Reuben/French);

— Reuben most famous posterity, Napoleon, was best known not for his conquest, but for his defeat at Waterloo; and it shall be given to others; the priesthood to Levi, the dominion or septer to Judah (the Jews); and the double portion of birthright to Joseph (the Anglo-Saxons).

⁵ “Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. — Simeon and Levi are brethren; brother for Dinah, but not for Joseph, that is, they are alike in character and disposition;

— weapons of villainy are their heritage; these two brothers were in their same modes of thought and action; and were associated in the massacre of the Shechemites; but not for Joseph.

⁶ O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honor, be not thou united; for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they dug down a wall. — my soul, come not thou into their secret; Jacob seems ashame to be with either of them; their cursed plot hatched in secret: far be it from me to approve of their secret designs.

⁷ Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel! I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel. — the violence against the Shechemites is a proof of this: thus both posteries of Simeon and Levi were to be scattered throughout Israel;

— for the tribe of Levi: “I am your portion and your inheritance” Numbers 18:20;

— for the tribe Simeon, the mysteries remain why they were lost among Israel;

⁸ “Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise; thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee. — Judah, the fourth son of Jacob, comes in for the supremacy;

— thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies; that is, always ready to strangle its enemies to death;

— thy father’s children shall bow down before thee; before the kings that should spring from this tribe, and should rule over all the rest, as David and Solomon, to whom civil adoration and respect were given by them;

— the Book of Jasher, chapter 56, adds regarding Judah’s propensity and prominence in war, and the use of bow (and arrows); missiles, and all other form of weapons; that is, Judah is prone to go to war with its neighbours:

And Jacob said unto Judah, I know my son that thou art a mighty man for thy brethren; reign over them, and thy sons shall reign over their sons forever.

Only teach thy sons the bow and all the weapons of war, in order that they may fight the battles of their brother who will rule over his enemies. Book of Jasher 56:8-9

⁹ Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, thou art gone up. He stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? — Judah is a lion’s whelp; the lion is the king of beasts, the terror of the forest when he roars; when he seizeth his prey, none can resist him;

— this it was prophecised that the tribe of Judah should become very formidable, and should not only obtain great victories, but should peaceably enjoy what was gotten by those victories;

— here Judah is compared, not to a lion rampant, always raging, but to a lion couching, enjoying the satisfaction of his success, and that shouldn’t create vexation to others;

— who shall rouse him up? a lion grown up and in its full strength, or a lioness, which is the fiercest, and therefore the most dangerous to rouse up when laid down, either in its den, or with its prey in its paws: so dangerous it was to provoke the tribe of Judah;

¹⁰ The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come; and unto Him shall the gathering of the people be.

— the sceptre shall not depart from Judah; the staff, adorned with carvings, and handed down from father to son, soon became the emblem of authority: kingship; also, the great council of the Israelites, termed the Sanhedrin; first constituted chiefly of the Levites, then the tribe of Judah, together they constitute the Jews;

— until Shilo arrives, this is the Messianic king; until he comes;

¹¹ Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine, he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes. — binding his foal unto the vine; of the tribe of Judah, signify that vines should grow in such plenty, and so large and strong, that a man might fasten his ass to one of them;

— and he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes: an hyperbolical expression, setting forth the great abundance of wine in this tribe, of which there was such plenty, that if they would, they might have used it instead of water to wash their clothes in;

¹² His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk. — his eyes shall be red with wine; signifying their adult or elder use of wine, and the effect of it on them; also the goodness and generosity of their wine, that if drank plentifully of, and especially to excess, would have such an effect;

— and his teeth white with milk; denoting the fruitfulness of his land, producing fine pastures, on which flocks and herds fed, and gave abundance of milk for their young; the Targums say “his mountains shall be red with his vineyards, and his hills shall drop wine, and his valleys shall be white with corn and flocks of sheep;”

¹³ “Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for a haven of ships, and his border shall be unto Sidon. — Zebulun~Holland; shall dwell at the haven of the “sea;” the territory of Holland, or the Netherlands, the tribe then lay upon the inland sea of Gennesaret and toward the shore of the Mediterranean; but now in low-lying northern Europe.

— that Jonah was from Zebulun; that is what is written: “The third lot arose [for the children of Zebulun.… from there it passed eastward [to Gat Ḥefer]” (Joshua 19:10, 13). And it is written: “In accordance with the word of the Lord, God of Israel, that He spoke by means of His servant Jonah son of Amitai [the prophet, who was from Gat Ḥefer]” (II Kings 14:25);

¹⁴ “Issachar is a strong ass, couching down between two burdens. — Issachar is a strong ass; the men of that tribe shall be strong and industrious, fit for and inclined to labour, particularly the toil of husbandry; like the ass that patiently carries his burden; to be active, given to agricultural labors;

— couching down between two burdens; for much of history, Finland was ruled by Sweden; and during the Cold War, had to struggle to navigate between Western and Soviet forces; even where it is now a part of NATO, it still has to couch between two burdens;

¹⁵ And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant, and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant to tribute. — a servant unto tribute; or task-work; it means service paid in actual labour, such as was exacted by Solomon of the descendants of the Canaanites (1Kings 9:21, where the phrase used here is translated “a tribute of bondservice;” and IIChronicles 8:8);

— asking ChatGPT: had Finland paid tributes to her neighbours in history?

Yes, Finland has historically been involved in paying tributes to neighboring powers under various circumstances. These payments were usually the result of political pressure, conquest, or as part of peace treaties. Here are some notable instances:

1. Tribute to Novgorod and Russia:

In the medieval period, parts of what is now Finland were under the influence of both Sweden and Novgorod (a powerful Russian principality). Some Finnish tribes, especially in Karelia and eastern Finland, were sometimes forced to pay tribute to Novgorod. This was part of the broader competition for control over Finland between Novgorod and Sweden.

• Karelia: Eastern Finland and the Karelian region were especially contested. Finnic tribes in this region would at times pay tribute to Novgorod, particularly during periods when Novgorod held power over parts of the area.

2. Swedish Rule:

Finland was part of the Kingdom of Sweden from the 12th century until 1809. During this time, Finland did not pay tribute as a foreign subject but contributed to Swedish military campaigns and supported the Swedish economy through taxes, which sometimes resembled tribute-like obligations, especially in wartime.

• Wars with Russia: Finland often bore the brunt of Swedish conflicts with Russia, and as part of the Kingdom of Sweden, its resources were used to support these wars. While this was not tribute in the classical sense, it involved significant economic sacrifice.

3. Under Russian Rule (1809–1917):

After Sweden ceded Finland to Russia following the Finnish War (1808–1809), Finland became an autonomous Grand Duchy under the Russian Empire. Although Finland had its own governmental structures and relative autonomy, it was required to support the Russian Empire, particularly in terms of military service and taxes.

• Tribute-like obligations: Finland had to contribute economically and militarily to the Russian Empire. While Finland was not subjected to formal “tribute,” the economic obligations placed on it during its time as a Russian Grand Duchy were similar to the tributes or taxes paid by other subjugated territories.

4. Viking Age (pre-Swedish control):

Before becoming part of the Swedish kingdom, some Finnish tribes may have been subjected to tribute payments to Viking raiders from Scandinavia. This would have been common in the Viking Age, when Norsemen would raid or exert influence over coastal communities in the Baltic region, including those in Finland.

5. Post-Swedish and Russian Rule:

After gaining independence in 1917 following the Russian Revolution, Finland no longer paid tributes to any neighboring country. However, during the Winter War (1939–1940) and Continuation War (1941–1944) with the Soviet Union, Finland was forced to cede territory and make reparations to the Soviet Union after World War II.

• War Reparations to the Soviet Union: While not a historical tribute in the traditional sense, Finland was forced to pay significant reparations to the Soviet Union after World War II. Finland’s war reparations were in the form of industrial goods, such as machinery, ships, and other materials, rather than direct monetary payments.

In summary, Finland has, at various points in its history, paid tribute or similar obligations to more powerful neighboring states, including Novgorod, Russia, and Sweden, depending on the political situation of the time. These tributes were generally part of power struggles over control of the region and were often driven by geopolitical pressures rather than voluntary alliances.

¹⁶ “Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. — Dan; in passing on to the sons of the maids it was necessary to assure them of an independent rank among their brethren: the four tribes descended from them did always hold an inferior position;

— Dan is the first of the children of concubine wives as yet taken notice of; that a judge should arise out of him as out of the other tribes; that should judge all Israel, an honour given to Samson, who was of the tribe of Dan; today they Dan settled in Ireland and Denmark. 

¹⁷ Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse’s heels, so that his rider shall fall backward. — the adder is the cerastes or horned serpent, of the color of the sand, and therefore, not easily recognized, that inflicts a fatal wound on him that unwarily treads on it; features that are conspicuous in Samson, the most illustrious of its judges;

— that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward; the golden calf set up in Dan by Jeroboam; for this sort of serpents lying in horse ways and cart ruts, snaps at and bites horses as the Ten Tribes of Northern Israel passed along Bethel and Dan; causing their riders to fall backward into idolatry;

¹⁸ I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord! — missing out of the 144,000 of Revelation 7, Dan exclaimed “I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord.” Jacob finding his spirits faint and flag, stops and breathes awhile before he proceeded any further in blessing other tribes; —

¹⁹ “Gad, a troop shall overcome him; but he shall overcome at the last. — Gad~Switzerland; Gad, which signifies a troop, foresees the character a warlike tribe;

— being seated on the other side Jordan was exposed to the incursions and spoils of the Moabites and Amonites; who came upon them like troops of robbers, and seized upon their possessions and retained them for some years; 

²⁰ “Out of Asher, his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties. — Asher~Belgium; the territory of this tribe, extending along the coast from Mount Carmel to Lebanon, was very productive;

— replenished not only with bread for necessity, but with fatness, with dainties, royal daintie; not only oil for ointments, but also delicious and excellent fruits, fit to be presented to a king.

²¹ “Naphtali is a hind let loose; he giveth goodly words. — Naphtali~Sweden;  is a deer roaming at liberty; is light and active, moving rapidly like “a hind let loose;” or literally, sent forth, like the scouts or van of an army;

— a hind let loose; an image of ease and grace in movement, associated with promiscuous sex or experimenting with drugs;

²² “Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall. — Joseph~US&UK is a fruitful bough; or as one, like the bough or branch of a tree laden with fruit, as he was with children;

— with Manasseh over running its walls into Canada, Australia and New Zealand; and from Ephraim: the original thirteen tribes, into Louisiana Purchase; Texas, New Mexico, Arizonia, California and westward march onto Hawaii, Guam and even the Philippines, engulfed the entire archipelago before dislodging it;

— one of which he called Ephraim from his fruitfulness, and both his sons became numerous, and the heads of two tribes in Israel; and with other temporal fruits and blessings, as riches and honour;

²³ The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him. — Joseph’s enemies described as archers, the arrows and the bow, in modern days term would be projectiles, artilleries, missiles, and drones; the words of these text are probably to be taken as prophecy; to future conflicts of the tribe of Joseph;

— at the endtime, the archers from his enemies have sorely grieved Joseph (or Ephraim and Manasseh); though he lived with ease and in honour, Jacob prophecised Joseph of the difficulties he had formerly waded through; as he had many enemies, now described as archers, being skilful to do mischief; they hated him, they shot their poisonous darts back at Joseph; remember this context: “Gather, and I will tell you what will befall you at the end of days” Genesis 49:1

²⁴ But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob, from thence is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel, — but Joseph’s bow abode in strength; God, the mighty God of Jacob; the Shepherd and Stone of Israel, came to Joseph’s rescue;

— Joshua, a descendant of Joseph, by Ephraim, may be a foretaste intended. He, as a solid shepherd, brought into the promised land of Canaan that flock of the Lord which Moses had indeed led forth from Egypt, but which he had left in a barren wilderness;

— say it differently, in the last days, the children of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, the US and the UK, will have an enemy, or enemies, who would strike them with projectiles, artilleries, missiles, drones and even high-powered laser; but that Ephraim and Manasseh will strike back, and be triumphant not by their own hands but “by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob;”

²⁵ even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee, and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts and of the womb.

— blessings of heaven above are the rains and dew; those of “the deep” beneath are lakes, rivers, and springs; and those of “the breasts and womb” mean an abundant offspring both of men and cattle.

²⁶ The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills; they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.

— it means that the blessings which Jacob bestows upon Joseph are greater than those which he had himself received from his ancestors, Abraham and Isaac; but only earthly prosperity, as the chief spiritual blessing was bestowed upon Judah;

— the Targum of Jonathan added: “That the noble ones of the world — Ishmael, Esau, and all the sons of Keturah, have coveted,” symbolizing his greatness and elevated position. Ephraim’s primary emblem was an ox, with his secondary emblem being a unicorn.

²⁷ “Benjamin shall raven as a wolf; in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.” — the tribe, Benjamin~Norway&Iceland; compared to a wolf, but Judah was like a lion; a wolf famed for its fortitude, courage, and valour, as well as for its rapaciousness, it being a warlike tribe;

— both of these modern countries were heavily influenced by Viking exploration, which always involved plundering, pillaging and “dividing the spoil.”

²⁸ All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is it that their father spoke unto them and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them.

— there were indeed thirteen tribes, two springing from Joseph; but then the tribe of Levi had no part in the land of Canaan, which was divided into twelve parts; this shows that the above predictions respect not the persons of the patriarchs, but their tribes;

— why, then, does the verse state: each man in accordance with his blessing he blessed them? It is because he blessed them [by comparing] Judah to a lion, Dan to a serpent, Naphtali to a doe, Benjamin to a wolf, and he then included them all and rendered them lions and rendered them serpents.

²⁹ And he charged them and said unto them, “I am to be gathered unto my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, — bury me with my fathers; the other part of himself, his body, which should not be gathered to his people, as his soul would be, he orders to be interred with his fathers Abraham and Isaac;

³⁰ in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession as a burying place.

³¹ There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah. — there they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; Abraham buried Sarah there himself, and his two sons, Isaac and Ishmael, buried him there;

— there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; we have no other account of the death of Rebekah, and her burial, but here; it is probable she died before Isaac, and that Isaac buried her in this cave; and here Esau and Jacob buried him;

— and there I buried Leah; of whose death and burial we also read nowhere else but here; it is probable she died before Isaac, and that Isaac buried her in this cave; and here Esau and Jacob buried him.

— but for Rachel, she died when she and Jacob journey from Shechem to Hebron, a short distance from Ephrath, which is glossed as Bethlehem (35:16–21, 48:7). She dies on the way giving birth to Benjamin:

“And Rachel died, and was buried on the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel’s grave unto this day.” — Genesis 35:19–20

³² The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth.” — the estate was initially bought by Abraham of Ephron the Hittite, and that the children of Heth were witnesses of the bargain; and of the payment of the money, and by whom the estate was made sure to Abraham;

³³ And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people. — Jacob died an easy death, without any pain or sickness; of his age one hundred and forty seven.

— and more details from Ezekiel 48

—— (North) Reuben~France; Judah&Levi~Israel;
—— (East) Joseph~US&UK; Benjamin~Norway&Iceland; Dan~Ireland&Denmark;
—— (South) Simeon~scattered throughout; Issachar~Finland; Zebulun~Holland;
—— (West) Gad~Switzerland; Asher~Belgium; Naphtali~Sweden

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The identities of the various tribes above are largely drawn from the researches done by Steven Collins and from Yair Davidiy below; although there is a slight variant between them. Both, however, are erroneous in their identities of Ephraim and Manasseh.

The Tribes of Joseph dominate the USA, Britain, and related nations. Manasseh is especially evident in the USA, and was once present in Scotland. The Tribe of Reuben prevails in France;

Issachar in Switzerland and Finland; Benjamin in Belgium; Zebulon in the Netherlands; Dan in Denmark, as well as in Ireland, and parts of Britain; Naphtali in Norway, Gad in Sweden. The Tribe of Asher may be seen in Ireland; Ephraim, Manasseh and Judah in Ulster.

The Jewish People on the other hand derives mainly from the Tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi with minority element from the others.

For understanding who the modern tribes of Judah and Joseph are, the best book to have expounded this subject is “Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright” by J.H. Allen (1847-1930).

For more details on Ephraim and Manasseh, see

(1) Ephraim / The United States; (2) The Birthrights was Joseph’s (3) Ephraim and Manasseh 

(4) Who is Ephraim, a Chronic Liar? (5) The Ox without the Unicorn

Genesis 50

¹ And Joseph fell upon his father’s face, and wept upon him, and kissed him. — probably the rest of Jacob’s sons and grandsons did the same, much moved, no doubt, with his dying words.

² And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father; and the physicians embalmed Israel. — and the physicians embalmed him; the manner of embalming, with spices, and ointments, and other things necessary for the preservation of the body from putrefaction as long as might be;

³ And forty days were fulfilled for him (for so are fulfilled the days of those who are embalmed), and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days. — the process of embalming as occupying forty days and mouning continued until seventy days;

⁴ And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spoke unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, — that Joseph did not address himself directly to Pharaoh, but through the members of the royal household;

⁵ ‘My father made me swear, saying, “Lo, I die; in my grave which I have dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me.” Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again.’”

⁶ And Pharaoh said, “Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear.”

⁷ And Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house and all the elders of the land of Egypt,

⁸ and all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father’s house. Only their little ones, and their flocks and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen.

⁹ And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen; and it was a very great company.

¹⁰ And they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation; and he made a mourning for his father seven days.

¹¹ And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning of the Egyptians.” Therefore the name of it was called Abelmizraim [that is, The mourning of the Egyptians], which is beyond the Jordan.

¹² And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them.

¹³ For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession as a burying place from Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.

¹⁴ And Joseph returned into Egypt, he and his brethren and all who went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.

¹⁵ And when Joseph’s brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, “Joseph will perhaps hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him.”

¹⁶ And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, “Thy father did command before he died, saying,

¹⁷ ‘So shall ye say unto Joseph, “Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren and their sin, for they did unto thee evil.”’ And now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke unto him.

¹⁸ And his brethren also went and fell down before his face, and they said, “Behold, we are thy servants.”

¹⁹ And Joseph said unto them, “Fear not; for am I in the place of God?

²⁰ But as for you, ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good to bring to pass as it is this day, to save many people alive.

²¹ Now therefore fear ye not; I will nourish you and your little ones.” And he comforted them, and spoke kindly unto them.

²² And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his father’s house; and Joseph lived a hundred and ten years.

²³ And Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third generation. The children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought up upon Joseph’s knees.

²⁴ And Joseph said unto his brethren, “I die; and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”

²⁵ And Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.”

²⁶ So Joseph died, being a hundred and ten years old. And they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

~ THE END ~

~ by Joel on September 24, 2024.

Posted in Books of Moses