Read Genesis 49:27-50:26 at Bible Gateway.
the teaching tools of scripture
Hebrew paragraph divisions
Gen 49:27-50:26 {p} Benjamin’s blessing + death, burial of Jacob + death of Joseph
Gen 49:27-50:26 chiastic structure
1a.1) Gen 49:27 Benjamin will apportion gifts, spoil;
1a.2) Gen 49:28 The twelve tribes of Israel received their father’s blessing;
1a.3) Gen 49:29-33, The charge of Jacob;
1a) Gen 49:29a And he charged them: I am to be gathered to my people;
1b) Gen 49:29b-30a Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite;
central axis) Gen 49:30b For a possession of a burying-place;
2b) Gen 49:31-32 There they buried Abraham + Sarah; there they buried Isaac + Rebekah; there I buried Leah. The field + the cave that is there, which was purchased from the children of Heth;
2a) Gen 49:33 When Jacob made an end of charging his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and expired, and was gathered to his people;
1b) Gen 50:1-11 Joseph went up to bury his father;
1a) Gen 50:1-3 Joseph + the Egyptians wept for his father 70 days;
1a) Gen 50:1 Joseph fell on his father’s face, and wept on him, and kissed him;
1b) Gen 50:2 Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father + they did so;
central axis) Gen 50:3a Forty days were fulfilled for him;
2b) Gen 50:3b For so are fulfilled the days of embalming;
2a) Gen 50:3c The Egyptians wept for him 70 days;
1b) Gen 50:4-5 Joseph: Let me go up + bury my father, as he made me swear/ I will come back;”
central axis) Gen 50:6 Pharaoh said: “Go up + bury your father, according as he made you swear;”
2b) Gen 50:7-9 Joseph went up to bury his father/ with him went a very great company;
2a) Gen 50:10-11 The burial company wailed with a very great wailing for his father 7 days;
1a) Gen 50:10a They came to the threshing-floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan;
central axis) Gen 50:10b There they wailed with a very great wailing/ mourning for his father 7 days;
2a) Gen 50:11 Therefore the name of the floor of Atad was called Abel-mizraim [The Mourning of Egypt], which is beyond the Jordan;
central axis) Gen 50:12-13 And his sons did to him according as he commanded them. For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field, for a possession of a burying-place, of Ephron the Hittite, in front of Mamre;
2b) Gen 50:14 Joseph returned to Egypt, he, his brethren, + all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father;
2a.1) Gen 50:15-21 Joseph forgives + sustains his brothers;
1a) Gen 50:15-17 Joseph’s brothers fear he will hate them + repay them for the evil they did;
1a) Gen 50:15-16a When Joseph’s brethren saw that their father was dead, they said: “It may be that Joseph will hate us, and will fully requite us all the evil which we did to him.” And they sent a message to Joseph, saying:
1b) Gen 50:16b-17a Your father did command before he died, saying: So shall you say to Joseph: Forgive, I pray you now, the transgression of your brethren, and their sin;
central axis) Gen 50:17b For that they did evil to you;
2b) Gen 50:17c And now, we pray you, forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father;
2a) Gen 50:17d And Joseph wept when they spoke to him;
central axis) Gen 50:18 And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said: “Behold, we are your bondmen;”
2a) Gen 50:19-21 Joseph comforted + spoke kindly to them: Fear not;
1a) Gen 50:19a Joseph said to them: Fear not;
1b) Gen 50:19b For am I in the place of God?
central axis) Gen 50:20a And as for you, you meant evil against me;
2b) Gen 50:20b But God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive;
2a) Gen 50:21 Therefore fear not; I will sustain you + your little ones. And he comforted + spoke kindly to them;
2a.2) Gen 50:22a The twelve tribes of Israel dwelt in Egypt;
2a.3) Gen 50:22b-26 {p} The charge of Joseph;
1a) Gen 50:22b-23 Joseph lived 110 years/ saw Ephraim’s children of the 3rd generation; the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were born on Joseph’s knees;
1b) Gen 50:24a And Joseph said to his brethren: I die;
1c) Gen 50:24b But God will surely remember you + bring you up out of this land to the land which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob;
central axis) Gen 50:25a And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying;
2c) Gen 50:25b God will surely remember you + you shall carry up my bones from this place;
2b) Gen 50:26a So Joseph died;
2a) Gen 50:26b {p} Being 110 years old/ they embalmed him + he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
The big puzzle in this structure is how the A.1 pairs pair:
“Benjamin is ravenous wolf; in the morning he devours the prey, and at even he divides the spoil.” Gen 49:27
The first puzzle with Benjamin’s blessing, is that it is separated from the blessings of the other 11 sons by a Hebrew paragraph division, and put with the final paragraph of Genesis. This defies human logic, and is one of the reasons, I believe, the English translators of the Scriptures discarded the Hebrew paragraph divisions in the first place. So this puzzle shines the first spotlight on Benjamin.
The second puzzle with Benjamin’s blessing, is that in the blessing of all 11 other sons, Jacob repeats the meaning of the name within the blessing: Judah [praise] shall be praised by his bothers; Dan [judge] shall judge in Israel, and so on, as we saw last week. But Benjamin means, son of my right hand, which is not the meaning of wolf, devouring, prey, dividing, spoil, or any of the other words in Benjamin’s blessing.
I did find a curious translation puzzle with “wolf:” in Gen 30:20, the same Hebrew word is translated, “to bestow a gift.” My sense is that there is a double entendre in the Hebrew of this verse, which Hebrew is so famous for, and more investigation into the original Hebrew here will reveal it. But for now, as Benjamin “bestows gifts” and divides spoil to others, so Joseph bestows the gift of provision to sustain his brothers and their little ones.
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