Don Isaac Abravanel (1437-1508) was a preeminent Jewish thinker, scholar, and prolific Biblical
commentator. The bulk of chapter 49 pertains to Jacob’s final words to his twelve sons, the twelve tribes
of Israel. The patriarch addresses each son by name. Concluding the section of benedictions, the Bible
sums up: “All these are the twelve tribes of Israel…”
“All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is it that their father
spoke unto them and blessed them – every one according to his
blessing – he blessed them.”
Abravanel analyzes Jacob’s words to the twelve tribes, noting incongruities. What, he asks, is at the root
of the patriarch’s disparate messages? Some sons receive blessing and prayerful tidings. Other sons get
an earful of censure and rebuke for their distasteful deeds. Some sons hear about their descendant’s
futures. Finally, a fourth grouping of sons learn about their territorial/geographical portions in the Holy
Land.
Is there a common thread to these seemingly diverse messages that Jacob delivered to his twelve sons,
Abravanel asks? Well, for one thing, Jacob pronounced benediction: “All these are the twelve tribes of
Israel, and this is it that their father spoke unto them and blessed them – every one according to his
blessing – he blessed them.”
Predictably, Abravanel develops a scintillating and lengthy essay on the topic. See Abravanel’s World of Torah
For our purposes here, we bring some of Abravanel’s observations. They include:
Judah, Dan, Asher, and Joseph receive clear-cut blessing.
“Judah, you shall your brethren praise. Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies…”
“Dan shall judge his people…Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a horned snake in the path, that bites the
horse’s heels, so that his rider falls backward.” Asher and Joseph, too, receive blessing from Jacob,
omitted here for brevity.
Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Gad, and Benjamin take rebuke.
“Reuben, you are my first born…unstable as water…”
“Simeon and Levi are brethren, weapons of violence their kinship…”
In Abravanel’s essay, Issachar, Gad, and Benjamin also hear Jacob’s less than flattering assessments.
Nor do Naftali and Zebulun escape their father’s attention, either to hear about their futures or get a
foretaste of the region they will receive in the Chosen Land.
As we have illustrated, Jacob’s parting words to his sons seem, to be colloquial, all over the place.
Abravanel makes sense of it, however, by getting into Jacob’s head, as he lay on his deathbed. The
patriarch foresaw a multitudinous and sprawling nation descending from him. If they were to remain a
cohesive people, they would need a capable king, one both brave and decisive, a man who could forge
consensus, and thus rally the people.
Who was Jacob’s divinely-inspired choice? See Abravanel’s World of Torah.
