The blessings of your father are mighty beyond the blessings of my parents, up to the bounties of the everlasting hills. May they be on the head of Joseph, and on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers.
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?
Blessing that outruns the fathers
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 one set apart
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.
Head and crown
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.
Why this head
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.
Blessing received, then shared
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.
Separation as a pattern
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.
Summary
- 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.