rdfs:comment
| - The Blessing of Jacob is a poem that appears in Genesis at 49:1-27. The poem presents an opinion of the merits and attributes of each of the Tribes of Israel, and so can be compared with the Blessing of Moses, which has the same theme. However, there is very little in common between the poems, except for describing one of the tribes as a judge, and another as a lion's whelp, though in the Blessing of Jacob it is Dan that is the judge and Judah the whelp, whereas in the other poem it is Gad that is the judge and Dan the whelp.
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abstract
| - The Blessing of Jacob is a poem that appears in Genesis at 49:1-27. The poem presents an opinion of the merits and attributes of each of the Tribes of Israel, and so can be compared with the Blessing of Moses, which has the same theme. However, there is very little in common between the poems, except for describing one of the tribes as a judge, and another as a lion's whelp, though in the Blessing of Jacob it is Dan that is the judge and Judah the whelp, whereas in the other poem it is Gad that is the judge and Dan the whelp. Also, unlike the Blessing of Moses, that of 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 (abruptly mentioned at Genesis 49:3-4). Also, as Simeon's territory was completely within that of Judah, and Levi only had a few scattered cities, these fates were described as being due to their wickedness. Most of the other tribes have brief descriptions suiting their main characteristic, whether it be seafaring or beautiful princesses. However, 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 suits the southern (i.e. Judah) bias of the Jahwist.
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