Genesis 49:13

Reuben, Simeon, and Levi are corrupt and violent. Judah is connected with God's purposes as to the royal line. Zebulun, a haven of ships, and Issachar, a strong donkey burdened, are linked with prosperity in commerce with the nations, or Gentiles. Then Dan is to judge his people. So when Israel joins with the Gentiles in that way (Zebulun and Issachar), you get the serpent brought in.

Zebulun gives us the next picture of the history of Israel. Now that they have had Shiloh presented but have refused Him, the Jews find their comforts in dealings with the Gentiles. This is what they do now — trying to make themselves happy, when, if they weigh their own prophets, they must suspect a fatal error somewhere in their history. They have lost their Messiah, and they court the world.

In the fourth place, we come to Zebulun, and again Jacob points to his name. It means "dwelling with," in closeness, as Leah's use of it shows. But Jacob here uses another word, and in this place it clearly has a bad sense. Its primary meaning is "to lay oneself down." Zebulun does this at the haven of the sea — the haven for ships — and his border is toward Sidon. The idea of prosperity, or at least of working hard for it, is plain. Yet for Israel we must remember that this trade with the idolatrous nations was not a good sign, and it did not end well. Her border reaching out toward Sidon predicts a dangerous rubbing out of the line that divided Israel from the nations.

Here we find Zebulun in connection with the sea of peoples and nations. Zebulun (= dwelling) looked entirely towards the nations, and to Sidon in particular. Baal worship came from there, and King Ahab brought it into Israel.

With Zebulun, in verse 13, we come to a prediction. It sets out what has marked the people since they rejected their Messiah. That tribe did occupy the north-western part of the land toward Sidon. This brought them into contact with the wide outlook of the shipping world. And for many centuries now the Jew has been pushed out all over the world and has given himself up to trade. Ships are a fitting symbol of it.

Zebulun, the dweller in relationship, as he should have been, had long fulfilled Jacob's prophecy. "Dwelling at the shore of the sea," he had become the picture of Israel as a whole. Israel gave up its "dwelling alone" to mingle in adulterous commerce with the nations... But the Saviour of sinners is not stopped by this, and there in the darkness was the very place for light to spring up. And now there had come to Zebulun a Dweller, in whom God Himself could dwell with man.

However much the inconsistency may surprise us, the fact remains that there are many Christians who have far too much traffic with the world, yet who, if foundational principles are attacked, will throw off their worldly spirit and come forward vigorously, even to a death struggle and martyrdom, in defence of the word of God and the honour of Christ.