Read Genesis 49:19 at Bible Gateway.
Hebrew paragraph division
Gen 49:19 {s} Gad’s blessing
Gad, a troop shall tramp upon him, but he shall tramp upon their heel. {s} Gen 49:19
This translation is a bit different than the NKJV linked above. It is from the HBE translation, and, as we will see, the Hebrew bears it out.
Original Hebrew
Gad means, “troop.” Its first occurrence:
And Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a son. Then Leah said, “A troop comes!”[c] So she called his name Gad.[d] Gen 30:10-11
The footnote in my Bible says, d. Literally Troop.
Gad is Strong’s H1410, Gad, a proper name, from Strong’s H1464, guwd, a primitive root meaning “to press upon.” The ancient Hebrew pictographs are gimel + vav + dalet:
gimel = the foot, thus foot, walk, gather
vav = the tent peg, thus add, secure, hook
dalet = the door, thus enter, move, hang
The story the pictographs are telling is of gathering together (gimel) for the purpose (vav, in the sense of securing) of entering (dalet), i.e., to press an attack upon another person, group, place, idea, etc.
Troop is Strong’s H1416, geduwd, a concrete noun meaning “troop,” from Strong’s H1413, gadad, a primitive root meaning “to penetrate, to cut into.” The ancient Hebrew pictographs are the gimel + dalet + dalet:
gimel = the foot, thus foot, walk, gather
dalet = the door, thus enter, move, hang
dalet = the door, thus enter, move, hang
The story the pictographs are telling is of gathering together (gimel) and entering upon (dalet) repeatedly (dalet repeated) until penetrated. This root is related to H1464 above, whereas H1464 conveys the idea of pressing upon without indicating the outcome, H1413 conveys the idea of pressing upon again and again until the other is penetrated.
Tramp is Strong’s H1464, the same as guwd, to press upon, above.
Heel is Strong’s H6119, aqeb, a concrete noun meaning “heel;” from Strong’s H6117, aqab, a primitive root meaning “to come from behind, to supplant” i.e., to take by the heel. The ancient pictographs are the ayin + quph + bet. The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon says the quph was transposed from an original kaph:
ayin = the eye, thus watch, know, shade
kaph = the open palm, thus bend, open, allow, tame
bet = the house, thus house, household, family, in, within
The story the pictographs are telling, is of watching (ayin) for an open (kaph) in (bet). We even still have the same idiom in English, when we say, “I have an in with them.” This is the same root found in the name “Jacob;” he was given his name because he took his brother by the heel at birth.
Gen 49:19 reverse parallelism
The A pair: As a troop is a group banded together for the purpose of pressing into something that belongs to another, so “heel” comes from the root of watching for an open in, an entrance into. Gad’s blessing is that when an attack is pressed upon him, he will not just take it lying down, but he will press an attack of his own back, until he has come from behind, taken by the heel, and been victorious. When the enemy comes against them, may all Your people do likewise, Father! ♥
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