Jacob's "Blessings" Over Reuben, Simeon And Levi

Genesis 49:1-4

"1 And Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather together, that I may tell you what shall befall you IN THE LAST DAYS:

2 Gather together and hear, you sons of Jacob,

And listen to Israel your father.  {Notice he changes from Jacob-"supplanter"- to Israel, his covenant name}.

3 “Reuben, you are my firstborn,

My might and the beginning of my strength,

The excellency of dignity and the excellency of power.

4 Unstable as water, you shall not excel,

Because you went up to your father’s bed;

Then you defiled it—

He went up to my couch."
 

(Reuben loses his blessing.)

Jacob was about to die and be gathered to his fathers, so he called his sons to himself to speak a blessing over each one.  They are recorded in chapter 49 of Genesis. These blessings he pronounced were prophetic of the last days but some are more than a little strange!  

This should have been a time of joy for all of them.  He should have been given the mantle of priesthood, of kingship and given a double portion of His father's blessing.  But it was not to be anything more than a sad reminder of something shameful he did earlier in his life.  He didn't think his dad was aware of his deed but, apparently, he was.

The office of priest went to Levi, the crown of kingship to Judah and the double portion of blessing to Joseph.  

Surprisingly, he replaced Reuben and Simeon, his first and second born, with his two grandsons:  Ephraim and Manasseh, adopting them as his own.  Simeon also did something very dishonorable to have his blessing taken away.  
(For more info on these topics, follow the link below:
http://emmausrevelations.blogspot.com/2016/04/ephraim-and-house-of-judah-part-2-of-9.html)

 

Reuben's name means, "See the Son," or "behold The Son," referring to Jesus!  He is a picture of natural Israel who had the chance to "see Jesus" in person in His first coming, but they didn't recognize Him.  The Jewish people for 2,000 years were partially blinded to the truth about Jesus.

“Simeon and Levi are brothers; Instruments of cruelty are  in their dwelling place. Let not my soul enter their council; Let not my honor be united to their assembly; For in their anger they slew a man, And in their self-will they hamstrung an ox. Cursed be their anger, for it  is fierce; And their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob And scatter them in Israel.

Genesis 49:5‭-‬7 

Simon comes from the root word "shemá," which means "hear."  For 2,000 years the Jewish people were deaf to the gospel.

Reuben was rejected because he committed adultery with Bilhah, his father's concubine.  Her name means, "fear," in Hebrew.  The Holy Spirit is saying that when we turn our eyes away from "The Son" and "embrace fear," we sink beneath the waves like Peter when he took his eyes off Jesus.

365 times throughout the Bible, God tells us to "Fear not; don't be afraid;" or words to that effect.  "Fear not" and keep your eyes on Jesus, one for every day of the year.

There is great benefit to keeping our eyes on Jesus.  Read about another beautiful picture of the wisdom of this advice by following the link below:
http://emmausrevelations.blogspot.com/2014/07/god-protection-plan.html

 

(Esau sells his birth right to Jacob.)

All throughout the Bible you see this kind of thing happening where the firstborn blessing went to the younger son.  For instance, Jacob and Esau:  Esau sold his birth right.  Isaac and Ishmael:  Isaac was born of his wife, Sarah, Ishmael of Hagar, her Egyptian slave.  Ephraim and Manasseh are discussed in one of the links above.   

All of these are all pictures of our Lord Jesus, THE FIRST BORN, Who was rejected and all the blessings that should have been His were passed to the younger sons--you and I, Church--who came afterward!  HALLELUIA!  He became nothing and gave us everything!

He also became sin so that we could be made righteous.  
He became poor so we could become rich.  
He took on Himself all our sicknesses an diseases so that we could be made whole.  
His cried out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" so that we could one day say, "My Father, My Father, why have you so blessed me?"  Jesus was forsaken on the cross so we would NEVER BE! 

Thank you, Jesus, for sending the Holy Spirit to bless us and teach us how best conduct our lives. 
He does it by drawing beautiful pictures of Jesus in like Jacob's blessing over Reuben.