Blessing of Jacob

The Blessing of Jacob is a prophetic poem that appears in Genesis at 49:1-27 and mentions each of Jacob's twelve sons. Genesis presents the poem as the words of Jacob to his sons when Jacob is about to die.

Like the Blessing of Moses, Genesis 49 assesses the Tribes of Israel, but there is little in common between the poems, except for describing one of the tribes as a judge, and another as a lion's cub. In the Blessing of Jacob it is Dan that is the judge and Judah the cub, whereas in that of Moses it is Gad that is the judge and Dan the cub.

Unlike Moses, Jacob is not afraid to castigate some of the tribes, in particular, Reuben, Simeon, and Levi. The poem appears to aim to describe why each of the tribes suffered the fate they did, and thus explains the small territory of Reuben, the firstborn, compared to Judah, as being due to Reuben's incest (mentioned at Genesis 35:22 and 49:3-4). As Simeon's territory was located completely within that of Judah, and Levi only had a few scattered cities, their fates were attributed to their wickedness. Other tribes have an ascribed characteristic, whether it be seafaring or beautiful princesses.

Judah and the Joseph tribes both receive extensive blessings, suited to their pre-eminence, Judah's as the major component of the Kingdom of Judah, and the Joseph tribes, in particular Ephraim, as the pre-eminent group in the Kingdom of Israel. In particular, Joseph is described as mighty, and thus as conquering, but Judah's authority is described as given directly by God, and consequently it arguably suits the southern (i.e. Judah) bias of the source (Jahwist), according to the Documentary Hypothesis.

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