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The blessings authoritatively pronounced by these old worthies amounted to watchwords for their future development. They were divinely suggested ideas regarding their future courses. We shall look at the ideals thus presented in their order.

I. THE UNOSTENTATIOUS DEVELOPMENT OF REUBEN. Deposed from the primacy among the brethren, because of his self-indulgence, he is to content himself with pastoral progress amid the mountains of Moab. The blessing is a good one, quiet life and progress.

II. THE SOVEREIGNTY THROUGH SUFFERING OF JUDAH. In ver. 7 we have clearly the regal strain. It is the struggle and the victory and the reign. The brunt of battle is to fall on Judah, and the sovereignty in the end. That it refers to Messiah ultimately is, we think, quite reasonable. Indeed, Kennicott regards ver. 5 as referring to the Messiah and not to Moses, and consistently therewith he would have the words "bring him to his people" to refer to the king, Shiloh, of Judah's tribe. However this may be, we can discern in this watchword of Judah the keynote of the Savior's suffering life.

III. THE SELF-DENIAL AND DEVOTEDNESS OF LEVI. The treasure of the oracle was to be with the Levites, and, in prosecuting the work of God, they were to show that they loved their Master more than even father or mother, sister or brother, sons or daughters. In prosecuting their ministerial work, they were to illustrate discipleship as a giving unto God the first place above the nearest and the dearest (cf. Luke 14:26). Moreover, in this holy work the sons of Levi shall need the Lord's blessing on their substance, since they lived by voluntary contributions, and the Lord's help against calamities. A special blessing is thus locked for in connection with special work, of a self-denying character. And the same is applicable to the ministry still.

IV. THE SHADOW OF GOD FOR BENJAMIN. This powerful tribe was to afford shelter to the central government and worship in the time of the monarchy. The Divine presence thus was specially to overshadow the descendants of Benjamin. As Joseph so tenderly overshadowed his brother, so will the central government and worship his seed.

V. THE SPLENDID SUCCESS AND PROWESS OF JOSEPH. All the fatness of the earth and the favor of God and the power to push successfully their way against all opposing forces are to belong to Ephraim and to Manasseh. From Joppa unto Carmel, on the sea across to the pastures of Gilead, the two half-tribes were destined to hold sway, and to enjoy all the wealth this encircled. It was the magnificent central province of Samaria, with any amount of pasture-land beyond the Jordan.

VI. THE HIGHWAY OF ZEBULUN. Its outlets are to be peculiarly important, as we know they proved between the Great Sea and the sea of Tiberias. Through Zebulun the traffic passed from the great Eastern kingdoms. Their situation, mercantilely regarded, was superb.

VII. THE CONFIDENCE AND CONSOLIDATION OF ISSACHAR. Settled beside Zebulun, with a series of mountain fastnesses behind, and Esdraelon's plain down to the sands of the Mediterranean as their coast, the children of Issachar were to feel settled and secure in their tents. The mountain tracts will nurse the piety of the people, while the sea shall yield its abundance, and the sand become a source of treasure. No better home could be found for a trading, manufacturing people.

VIII. THE VANTAGE-GROUND OF GAD. This tribe is represented as hemmed in like a lion at bay, and thus compelled to take a prominent part in critical affairs. Lying between the mountains and the Jordan, it became the battle-ground of the monarchy, and at Ramoth-Gilead and Mahanaim important issues were decided. The watchword was vigilance, because of the vantage-ground.

IX. THE COURAGE OF DAY. He is represented as a lion's whelp, full of courage, though small in size. Leaping from Bashan, he made his lair northwards, but ever ready to shift to better quarters if he heard of them. He found a lair too at the sea, in the borders Of Philistia.

X. EASY-GOING NAPHTALI. This tribe is represented as taking a south-west location after the northernmost Danites, and as rejoicing there in the manifold goodness of God.

XI. BLESSED BY DAME AND NATURE AS ASHER. This tribe is to be blessed, as the very name implies, in domestic relations, in fraternal relations, in the olive-yards yielding such magnificent oil, and in the iron and brass with which, instead of the ordinary wooden bars, they could protect themselves. To this tribe was given the oft-quoted promise, "As thy days, so shall thy strength be." They were to have "strength proportioned to their work." It does not appear why to Simeon no blessing is assigned; and yet it is noticeable that this tribe played but a small part in the drama of Israelitish history. - R.M.E.

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KJV: Let Reuben live, and not die; and let not his men be few.

WEB: "Let Reuben live, and not die; Nor let his men be few."