From the щGod of thy father, and he will help thee; And from the Almighty, and he will bless thee -- With blessings of heaven from above, With blessings of the deep that lieth under, With blessings of the breast and of the womb.
At the end of his life, Jacob traces Joseph's blessing back to two names. It comes from the God of his father, who helps, and from the Almighty, who blesses. The blessing then arrives from three places: the sky above, the deep below, and the body that gives life.
The title Jacob uses here is not a general word for God. Writers have never settled its exact force. And this blessing is the first place where the title stands alone, without the word God beside it.
Morrish Bible DictionaryScholars do not agree about where the word shaddai comes from, or what it means. Some give it as "all bountiful," others "all sufficient," others "almighty," and so on. This is not surprising. Any name of God must be above mere human learning or definition. Yet it was the ground of faith to those who had the revelation. The name first occurs in Genesis 17:1; God said to Abraham, "I am God Almighty." This links it with the patriarchs: it is the name by which God was known to them. The title "the Almighty" without the name of God added occurs first in Jacob's address to his twelve sons before he died.
That name carried a promise long before Jacob used it.
An Outline of Sound WordsThe Name of the Almighty assured Abraham that God would do everything He had promised… Jacob uses the Name of the Almighty in Genesis 43:14; 48:3 and 49:25. He knew the all-powerful might of Him who had blessed him despite all his failures.
The verse looks up and then down. One writer takes the two directions as two companies of people blessed through the Messiah.
L. M. GrantVerses 25-26 indicate the widespread fullness of the blessing of the Almighty resting upon the Lord Jesus. There are blessings of heaven above. That is a faint hint that He would have a heavenly company. He does have one today, "blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ" (Eph. 1:3). "Blessings of the deep that lies beneath" implies the blessing of Gentile nations through the Messiah of Israel (Rev. 17:15). The heavens speak of what is above Israel, and the deep of what is in a lower place, as the Gentiles rightly will be.
Commentators differ. Another writer reads the deep as the ocean floor itself, giving up its treasure.
An Outline of Sound WordsThere are the blessings of the deep that lies under. They are the precious things that come from the bed of the oceans to enrich God's earthly people. The twelve gates we have read of were "twelve pearls; each one of the gates was of one pearl." Where do the pearls come from? Are they included in the blessings of the deep that lies under?
The last pair in the verse turns from the land to the body.
L. M. GrantThe breasts speak of nourishment, and the womb of fruitfulness. This shows that the land will produce plenty. Israel's blessing in Christ will exceed what Jacob's ancestors, Abraham and Isaac, received. It will bring wide blessing on the earth, "to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills." This completes the three spheres of the great blessing connected with the Messiah: the heavens, the deep, and the hills of earth.
Jacob says plainly that what he is handing over outstrips what his own fathers received. The scale is the point.
Hamilton SmithThe rejected but exalted Christ becomes the source of blessing far exceeding all known blessings, for He will bless "with the blessings of heaven above" in addition to the blessings of the deep "that lies under." This is blessing that will far exceed anything the nation has enjoyed in the past. What is more, the blessing will reach beyond the land "to the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills."
The verses around this one set suffering and glory side by side.
C. H. MackintoshThese verses display "the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow." The archers have done their work, but God was stronger than they were. The true Joseph was shot at and badly wounded in the house of His friends. But "the arms of his hands have been made strong" in the power of resurrection. Faith now knows Him as the basis of all God's purposes of blessing and glory.
What He now holds, He does not hold for Himself alone.
J. G. BellettAll power is now in Him, in heaven and on earth. He is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high. His title to the resources of creation is sure, sealed by the dignity of the place He now fills. And the resources He now owns, He will in time use for Israel and for the whole earth, after the pattern of this mystery of Joseph.
- Source. The blessing starts with a name: the Almighty. The patriarchs knew God by that name, and Jacob trusted it despite a lifetime of failures.
- Shape. From that name it comes down in three spheres: heaven above, the deep beneath, and the fruitfulness of breast and womb.
- Scale. Jacob measures it against what Abraham and Isaac received and calls it greater. It reaches past the land to the farthest hills.
- Cost. It comes through One the archers wounded; His arms were made strong in the power of resurrection.
- Crown. All power now belongs to Him, and one day He will use His resources for Israel and the whole earth.
The blessings of thy father surpass the blessings of my ancestors, Unto the bounds of the everlasting hills They shall be on the head of Joseph, And on the crown of the head of him that was separated from his brethren.
Jacob's last words to Joseph pile blessing on blessing. The blessing runs past Abraham and Isaac, out to the everlasting hills, and settles on the head of one man. Who is this brother who was set apart, and why does so much rest on him?
Jacob names two things here. One is a comparison: this blessing goes "beyond the blessings of my parents." Older translations read "my ancestors." The other is a boundary: it reaches "the everlasting hills." One writer reads the comparison as Abraham and Isaac. The boundary he reads as the earth's own share in what Christ brings.
L. M. GrantIsrael's blessing in Christ will be greater than the blessings of Jacob's ancestors, Abraham and Isaac. It will bring wide earthly blessing, "to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills." This completes the three areas of the great blessing tied to the Messiah: the heavens, the deep, and the hills of earth.
The word behind "set apart from his brothers" later became the term for the Nazarite. A Nazarite was a person set apart for God by a vow. The word appears here for the first time in the Bible, and it is used of Joseph. Older translations render the phrase "him that was separated from his brethren." One writer asks what this separation really meant.
Michael HardtThis word occurs 16 times in all in the Old Testament. The first time it appears, it refers to Joseph, "him that was separated from his brethren" (Gen. 49:26; Deut. 33:16). Joseph was, of course, not a Nazarite in the full sense, for the law had not yet been given. Still, his example shows very well what separation is really about. It is not separation as an end in itself. It is not a proud, self-righteous separation driven by the flesh either. It was a matter of separating from his brothers, who spoke evil of their father. Joseph stood on his father's side. His untroubled relationship with his father made it impossible for him to side with his brothers in this matter.
Jacob does not just say the blessings will come to Joseph. He says they will rest on his head, and on the crown of it. The blessing is worn like a crown. One writer sees in it a small preview of a far greater one.
Morrish Bible DictionaryThen the blessings of heaven and of the deep, of the breasts and of the womb, are multiplied on the head and on the crown of Joseph, the one separated from his brothers. All of this points ahead to the many crowns and the glory, in heaven and on earth, of the true Nazarite, the Lord Jesus, now sanctified in heavenly glory. And He far exceeds it.
One writer ties the size of the blessing to the size of what Joseph had endured.
The Bible TreasurySo the blessing on Joseph is spiritual and hidden. It has the character of eternity, and it has no limits... These descended on the head of Joseph and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brothers. He had suffered a double rejection, from the world and from his brothers. So the blessing is emphasised twice over.
Joseph did not keep what came to him. In Egypt he shared it with the very brothers who had sold him. One writer follows that pattern forward: the one who suffered alone receives everything, and then hands it on.
Leslie M. GrantAll this blessing comes "on the head of Joseph, on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers." Joseph, separated from his brothers, is a picture of the Lord Jesus. Through His lonely sufferings and death, He is the great Recipient of all blessing from God. Yet Joseph shared with his brothers the blessing that came to him in Egypt. In the same way, the Lord Jesus will share with Israel all these blessings that are called the portion of Joseph. Indeed, today He shares far more than this with the Church of God, giving her a heavenly inheritance.
If the phrase points to Christ, it also points back at the reader. Separation does not come from trying to be different. It comes from following someone.
H. L. RossierIn many ways we all fail. Only Jesus, the true Nazarite, never failed... Pure and holy, He could say, Satan "has nothing in Me." May He be the pattern of our own separation to God — "He that was separated [a Nazarite] from his brethren." (Gen. 49:26; Deut. 33:16.) Then, in the power of the Holy Spirit, we shall follow Him. We will follow at a distance, no doubt, as Israel followed the ark two thousand cubits behind. But we shall follow Him still, and to follow Him is to grow in His likeness.
- Separated. The word for "set apart" appears here first, and it is used of Joseph. He stood on his father's side against his brothers — separation for someone, not just from something.
- Suffering. Joseph suffered a double rejection, from the world and from his own family. The weight of blessing answers the weight of rejection.
- Crowned. The blessing does not just arrive. It rests on his head like a crown — a small picture of the many crowns of the true Nazarite, Jesus.
- Surpassing. It goes beyond even Abraham's and Isaac's portion. It stretches to the everlasting hills, taking in heaven, the deep and the earth.
- Shared. As Joseph shared his blessing with the brothers who sold him, so the One who suffered alone receives all blessing — and hands it on to Israel and to the Church.