Then Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what shall happen to you in days to come.
“Assemble and listen, O sons of Jacob,
listen to Israel your father…Reuben, you are my firstborn, Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence, “Simeon and Levi are brothers;
weapons of violence are their swords.,,,Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce,
and their wrath, for it is cruel! Judah, your brothers shall praise you…Judah is a lion’s cub;…The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Zebulun shall dwell at the shore of the sea; he shall become a haven for ships, Issachar is a strong donkey,
and became a servant at forced labor…..“Dan shall judge his people….
Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a viper by the path,….“Raiders shall raid Gad,
but he shall raid at their heels.
“Asher’s food shall be rich, and he shall yield royal delicacies.
“Naphtali is a doe let loose that bears beautiful fawns.
“Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring;…..are mighty beyond the blessings of my parents, up to the bounties of the everlasting hills.
May they be on the head of Joseph, and on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers.
“Benjamin is a ravenous wolf,
in the morning devouring the prey and at evening dividing the spoil.”
Comment: I’ve chopped this passage up into bits. You may desire to read Ch 49 of Genesis but I wanted to highlight how well Jacob knew his sons and while caring for them he didn’t gloss over their failures! A couple get gently good reports but Judah and Joseph get praised highly. Joseph has saved the tribe (under God!) Jesus is the Lion of the tribe of Judah when He steps from heaven onto the earth scene years later!
Prayer: Help me not to make a mess of what You call me to be, O Lord.
As I read it! 