We see here that Jacob makes a prophecy on all his sons as he lays dying in his bed from the sickness (mentioned in the previous chapter). The first three, he didn’t give his birthright blessing to, but Judah he did. Later Jewish people understood this to be a sign that Jesus would come from Judah. And so He did (see Hebrews 7:14, also Genesis 49:18). But I’m not talking about all of Jacob’s sons today; I’ll put the first three in the next note, Judah on his own note, and the other eight… I don’t know what to do with them yet. I pray to God I make only the right moves… but this chapter is found in pages 30-31 of my NKJV Bible, pages 39-40 of my NASB Bible, pages 66-68 of my VOICE copy, and pages 64-66 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.
I’ve heard theories that people say things to come on their deathbed; indeed, I’ve heard stories from others I won’t mention here, for some of them are really creepy. I don’t want to go there 🤐😖😓😰😱😱😱😩😩😩😩😩💤💤💤 I don’t even want to think about anyone dying; I’d especially be forever downcast if my niece was fatally struck with something 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 but I’m sure her parents are doing a decent job with her, but they’re younger than I am, and I don’t have much of a clue on how to take care of a kid! I pray for some wisdom there, knowing that first of all, there should be no hostility against them, only friendliness should be done to them. I know you’ve probably heard me say this before, but I’m insisting on this so much because I never had true friendship with my parents growing up, and while my dad and I got along ok in his final years, my mom is more and more unrepentant each day, even though I can honestly say we all make many mistakes, some really stupid. Indeed, it was in mid-2009 when she revealed her true colors. I couldn’t trust her again since, no matter how much I tried. (If she’s reading this, I don’t want her to hurt herself, but to be kind to everyone instead. I’m scared how she’ll react, to be honest…)
I thought I’d group Reuben, Simeon, and Levi together first because they’re the ones who went either lewd or vengeful, and it’s a sobering reminder for me to never use anger as fuel for revenge as Simeon and Levi did (Ephesians 4:26-27, contrast Genesis 34:25-29). Spoiler alert: he prophesies they won’t be so numerous in the post-conquest era (read Joshua and Judges for the events after Moses’ death but before Samuel’s birth, and also Ruth). A footnote in the first Amplified Bible says in the beginning of this chapter that Moses blesses the children of Jacob in a similar manner to Jacob himself. Another footnote told me in chapter 48 (sorry I missed it) that Ephraim outnumbers Judah by about 20,000 people at one point (again, in the first Amplified Bible). But Peter in the New Testament is later named after Simeon here (read from Matthew 4 and throughout Acts 1-12, also 1 & 2 Peter). I pray I don’t go in a direction that he wouldn’t approve of (I mean Jesus’ disciple, Peter)… 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺
If you have any prayer requests, you can submit them to me at ron.outland4727@gmail.com! I’ll read each one, write them down, then tape them to my bedroom walls! I don’t think I have any e-mails with prayers in them from you guys still, so I’d really like this to happen… but comment what you feel the Holy Spirit leads you to say. Thanks for reading this and I’ll see you in the next note, coming up Friday night! (Today is Wednesday.)
Ron And His Stories 