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Then Israel said unto Joseph, "Behold, I die: but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers. Moreover I have given thee one portion above thy brethren."

The seed or family of Joseph were to have a double portion of the land of Canaan, which God had promised to give to the children of Jacob to be their own for ever.

Then Jacob sent for all his sons, that he might bless them before he died, and tell them what should befall them and their seed in the last days.

God gave Jacob the power to do this, now that he was about to die. God made him able to foretell things which should happen very many years after his death.

Now the Lord had said, that the seed of Jacob should become a very great people. Each one of Jacob's twelve sons was to be the father of a tribe. A tribe is a great number of families called after the name of one man, the father of all of them. The children and families of each one of Jacob's sons, and the children of their children with their fami

lies, and so on for ever, were to be a separate tribe. So there would be a tribe of Reuben, a tribe of Simeon, a tribe of Judah, and so on of each of Jacob's sons, except Joseph. Joseph was to be the father of two tribes: each of his two sons was to be the father of a tribe. So there was no tribe to be called the tribe of Joseph, but instead, the tribe of Ephraim, and the tribe of Manasseh.

A possession is any thing that a man has of his own. A part of the land of Goshen was given to the children of Israel for their own; it was their possession.

Chapter XLE.

THE BLESSING OF ISRAEL'S TWELVE SONS, AND ISRAEL'S DEATH.

AND Israel's twelve sons were gathered together around their father, that he might bless them before he died. And Israel prophesied, and told his sons what should happen to them and to their seed.

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Then Israel told Reuben, his first born, that he could not have the chief blessing, and that his tribe should not be the first or greatest, because many years before he had been wicked, and sinned a great sin. Reuben had forfeited the blessing of the eldest son, as Esau had done.

Then Israel told Simeon and Levi, his two next sons, that they should not have the first place, because they also had sinned, and had been very cruel to the people among whom Jacob lived in the land of Canaan: their anger was fierce, and their wrath cruel; therefore, they also forfeited the blessing.

Then Israel blessed Judah, his fourth son, and he gave to him the best blessing, which his elder brethren had forfeited, and said that Judah's tribe should be the first and greatest.

Our Lord Jesus Christ was to be born in the tribe of Judah.

Israel prophesied, and said to Judah, "Thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise. The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come;

and unto him shall the gathering of the people be."

By these words Jacob meant, that the tribe of Judah should have the first place among all the other tribes; and that when the children of Israel should become a great nation, the ruler of God's people should dwell among the tribe of Judah, until our Lord Jesus Christ (the Shiloh) should come; and that then all nations should be gathered into His kingdom, and should be blessed in Him.

Then Israel prophesied concerning his other sons, and said, that their seed should also be very many; but that the seed of Joseph should be more blessed, and be more in number. The seed of Joseph were to be made two tribes; and to them was to be given a double portion of the land of Canaan.

So Israel blessed his sons, every one according to his blessing. To them was given the blessing God had promised to Abraham and his seed. They and their seed were to be God's own people for ever, and through them were all the nations of the earth to be blessed. Reuben, Simeon, and

Levi, did not lose their portion in this blessing, as Esau had done. Esau had despised God's gifts and promises, therefore he was rejected altogether: he and his seed were not counted by God as the seed of faithful Abraham.

Then Israel charged his twelve sons, and said, "I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought for a burying-place. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.”

"And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he died, and was gathered unto his people."

Then Joseph fell upon his father's face, and wept upon him.

To forfeit, is to lose by a fault of our own.

To reject, is to put away.

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