De Benedictionibus Patriarcharum

ON THE BLESSINGS OF THE PATRIARCHS: A SMALL BOOK. PREFACE. The sacrosanct and prophetic blessing of the holy Patriarchs, which was distributed to each according to his fitting quality through the Holy Spirit and the mouth of the blessed Jacob, can neither be understood in every respect according to the literal sense—especially since the same blessed Patriarch says: “That I may announce to you what is to come in the last days” (Gen. 49:1)—nor should it be so diminished through the allegorical sense that the historical sense must be entirely evacuated; for, as we shall see later, some things were predicted to them in such a way that certain things came to pass in the near future, and certain things much later; nevertheless, many of them have been reserved to come to pass at the end. Therefore, what we can understand historically in the words themselves, we shall first set forth briefly, laying them as foundations, by the Lord’s gift; but those things which in every way flee from the letter, let us discuss them through spiritual understanding, just as they were understood spiritually, and are to be taken up.

CHAPTER ONE. THE BLESSING OF RUBEN. Ruben, my firstborn; you are my strength, and the beginning of my sorrow: first in gifts, greater in authority (Ibid., 3). The literal sense is clear, because the blessed Jacob received his first son Ruben from his wife Leah (Gen. 29:31-32): who, if he had conducted himself worthily of such a father, the birthright and the kingdom would have pertained to him. Hence he calls him firstborn, as one to whom the gifts of the firstborn were owed. But he also names him his strength, in that the strength of the rule ought to have devolved upon him. He did not, however, utter these things indicatively because he either foresaw or willed that they would be so; but rather to exhort him through these words to repentance, when he recalled from how great a dignity he had fallen by sinning. Hence he says: and the beginning of my sorrow. For the beginning of his sorrow was he who, having broken the reins of chastity, rushed unbridled to defile his father’s wife (Gen. 35:22); which matter is believed to have stung him with no small grief. And he is well called the beginning of sorrow, because the remaining brothers were also accused by the blessed Joseph before their father of a most wicked crime (Gen. 37:2).

Now what he says: "first in gifts" pertains to the birthright, which was owed to him as the firstborn. But what he adds: "greater in authority" is clearly declared to have pertained to him, so that from his seed the kings of the remaining brothers would be created. Now what he says: "poured out and like water" has this meaning: Just as water which is not confined by a vessel flows in every direction, and where a lower place offers itself as more lowly, it falls with full force; so you restrained conjugal lust by no measure, but wherever the impulse of pleasure enticed you, you poured out the bilge of your concupiscence. But when he adds: "you do not increase," it forbids him from proceeding further in such and similar turpitude. Hence also the Lord to Cain: "You have sinned? Cease." But whither these things tend, the words that follow bear witness: "Because you ascended your father's bed and defiled his couch" (Gen. 49:4). For by these words the crime of incest, which he had committed with Balaam, his father's concubine (Gen. 35:22), is plainly exaggerated. Lest this perhaps seem violent to anyone, because it was premised: "I will announce with vows what are to come in the last days," let him hear what the book of Chronicles says about this matter: "The sons also of Ruben, the firstborn of Israel: he himself indeed was his firstborn: but because he had violated his father's bed, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph, son of Israel, and he was not counted as firstborn" (1 Chron. 5:1).

Typically, however, this Reuben the firstborn signifies the Jewish people, who were the firstborn of God, according to that which the Lord said to Moses about him: "My firstborn son Israel" (Exod. 4:22); and the blessed Jeremiah: "Israel is holy to the Lord, the first fruits of his harvest" (Jer. 2:3). He was his strength, when among the Patriarchs and Prophets and all other most valiant men he fought bravely against idolatry and the impure throng of all vices. Yet he later became the beginning of his sorrow, when, upon the coming of the Savior, he remained in unbelief and, with a swollen mind, refused to receive his teaching. Hence the Lord, seeing the city of Jerusalem, is said to have wept (Luke 19:41), and at the raising of Lazarus, tears are reported to have been shed for the blindness of that people (John 11:38). But when he is said to be "first in gifts," it is shown that this people indeed preceded in the gifts conferred by God; but the Church of the Gentiles was to follow, which would be endowed with the same and much greater charismata. When, however, it is added "greater in authority," it is not surprising if that same people, which first believed by the prerogative of the fathers, is honored, when the blessed Apostle Paul says that the Jew is much more in every way (Rom. 3:1-2).

Meanwhile he added: "You have poured forth like water," considering the unbridled nature of that people, who were in no way restrained by the measure of the vessel of the law and divine precepts; but, having cast off all the bonds of God's commandments, they poured forth the rivers of their speech with full effort toward the murder of the Savior. For that water signifies good or evil speech is attested by divine Scripture, which says in a good sense: "Deep water, words from the mouth of a man" (Prov. 23:4); and likewise in an evil sense: "He who lets out water is the head of quarrels" (Prov. 17:14). And when it adds: "you shall not increase," it shows that same people, as we also see with our own eyes, diminished to a very small number among all nations. But why he suffered this, the following words testify: "Because you ascended the bed of your father and stained his couch." By the bed of the father we understand the flesh of the Savior. Nor is this surprising. The bed of his father means the nations and the body of the Lord, because that same people was created by him: for it is written of him: "All things were made through him" (John 1:3). And by the couch the same body is understood, which was stained, as it were, by the Jews when, at their acclamation, the Lord was hung on the cross, pierced with a lance, and drenched with his own blood.

CHAPTER II. The Blessing of Simeon and Levi. Simeon and Levi, brothers, vessels of iniquity waging war (Gen. 49:5). The literal sense is clear: because these two brothers, to avenge the defilement of their sister, under a pretense of peace and feigned friendships, deceived Shechem and his father Hamor (Gen. 34). He calls them vessels of iniquity waging war, because it was very wicked to have pretended friendship and then to have betrayed it. Let not my soul enter into their counsel (Gen. 49:6); that is, he curses every feigned peace. Hence also the blessed David imprecates against all such dissemblers: "Those who speak peace with their neighbor, but have evil in their hearts. Give them according to their works" (Ps. 27:3-4). And as for what he adds: "And let not my glory be in their assembly," he certainly did not wish to glory in such a victory, in which the valor of a warrior could not be praised, but rather the deceit of a deceiver could be exposed.

Because in their fury they killed a man, and of their own will they undermined a wall. By "the man" Shechem is to be understood, and through him all those who were slain on his account. The undermining of the wall, however, is not read in the book of Genesis as having been perpetrated there; but this is drawn from the custom of warriors, who, by digging through the earth from a distance via tunnels, are accustomed to destroy the foundations of walls and to set fire, by which the stones, once baked, cause the firmness and stability of the walls to be cast down. But let us see with what great condemnation this deed is struck. "Cursed," it says, "is their fury," because it was stubborn; and "their indignation," because it was harsh. For their fury proved stubborn, because it could be neither softened by flattery nor mitigated by gifts. And their indignation was proven harsh, which could not be mollified even by the killing of those who perpetrated the crime, but did not hesitate to rage rather against the entire city.

But when it says: "I will divide them in Jacob, and I will scatter them in Israel," this pertains specifically to Levi, who was scattered throughout all Israel, not having received his own inheritance; but dwelling in the cities and their suburbs, as it is said here, he was scattered and divided. For it is the custom of Sacred Scripture, when speaking of those adhering to it, to predict in a general way things that happen not to all, but to some. Hence the Lord says to James and John: "Can you drink the cup which I am about to drink? You will drink my cup, indeed," he says (Matthew 20:21, 24). Yet John did not drink the cup of passion by shedding his blood. Now, as far as pertains to the prophecy of future events, by Simeon and Levi, the Scribes and Pharisees are designated: for it is clear that the chief priests came from Levi. They were vessels of iniquity waging war, having hearts, according to the Lord's reproach, full of iniquity and plunder (Luke 11:39). They waged war against the Lord not by a battle of arms, but by cunning deceit, seeking how to attack the truthful words and deeds of the Lord with false arguments.

The holy man, detesting this, says: "Let my soul not enter into their counsel," clearly cursing that counsel which the Jews, gathering together, used to say: "What are we doing, because this man performs many signs?" (John 11:47) and so forth. And he did not wish his glory to be in their assembly, unwilling, that is, to glory in the multitude of those who, the more numerous they were, the worse they were: already fulfilling in his work the sense of Scripture, which says: "Do not glory in your worst sons, if they multiply" (Sirach 16:1). He then gives the reason why he abominates the counsel and assembly of such men, saying: "Because in their fury they killed a man, and in their will they undermined a wall." For in their fury they killed the Man, that is, the Lord Savior, of whom Zechariah says: "Behold the man: his name is Orient" (Zechariah 6:12), by crying out to Pilate: "Away, away, crucify him" (John 19:15). And in their will they undermined the wall, because, fulfilling their will, they both crucified the Lord and pierced his side. This wall is rightly called ours, because by its fortification we are guarded from the adversities of spiritual enemies. Concerning this, it is promised to the holy Church in these words: "The city of our strength, Zion the Savior: a wall and a rampart will be placed in it" (Isaiah 26:1).

The holy man pierced this deed with the very sharp point of a curse, saying: "Cursed is their fury, because it is stubborn; and their indignation, because it is harsh." For they had a stubborn fury and a harsh indignation, because they could not be led by divine miracles to believe that he was God, nor did they spare him, as an innocent man harming no one, from persecuting him even unto death. But when he adds: "I will divide them in Jacob, and I will scatter them in Israel," this is what we now see. That same people, disinherited from their ancestral land, scattered among all nations, pays the penalty for their faithlessness as a testimony to our belief. This also the blessed David prophesied in a psalm from the person of our Lord, saying: "My God has shown me concerning my enemies: do not kill them, lest they forget your law; scatter them by your power" (Ps. 58:12). Now they are rightly said to be divided in Jacob and scattered in Israel, because the holy Church, which is the supplanter of vices, is rightly called Jacob; and that which strives by purity of mind to see God is called by the name Israel; through her the Jews, divided and scattered, wander; she, spread throughout the four corners of the earth, daily endures them as vagabonds.

CHAPTER III The Blessing of Judah "Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hands will be on the necks of your enemies. The sons of your father will adore you" (Gen. 49:8). In these words the modesty of this man is demonstrated equally according to the letter, along with an abundance of strength: because, evidently, by dealing civilly with his brothers, he was seen with such modesty that he was considered worthy of praise by all—which is difficult, namely, to have the minds of all reconciled among so many brothers. But he also so abounded in fortitude that he was able to bend the necks of his enemies. Moreover, that he was very powerful in eloquence is attested by the speech in which he pleaded the necessity of himself and his own before Joseph (Gen. 42, 43, and 44). Furthermore, the historian Josephus relates that he was able to do very much by his words. But that he was considered preeminent in strength among his brothers is attested by the Books of the Chronicles, which relate as follows: "Moreover, Judah, who was the strongest among his brothers; from his stock princes have sprung" (1 Chron. 5:2). And as for what follows: "The sons of your father will adore you," it clearly entrusted to Judah the kingdom which Reuben had taken away, saying that he was to be adored by his remaining brothers—which certainly befits royal dignity.

Mystically, however, through Judah was prefigured even then the one who was born from his stock according to the flesh, our Lord and Savior; whom all his brothers praise, namely those believing in him: whence he himself, first among those who believed in him, sent a command from the tomb through the women, saying: "Go, and tell my brothers" (Matt. 28:10). But lest we think this dignity is attributed only to the apostles, that they are called his brothers; he himself testifies that all who believe in him are to be granted this dignity, saying: "Whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, that one is my brother, sister, and mother" (Matt. 12:50). Therefore his brothers praise him; namely the whole Church, which still, exiled from the heavenly inheritance, is on earth, or which has already gone before to the heavens. Whence the psalm: "Let the heavens and the earth praise him" (Ps. 68:35). And in the Apocalypse John says: "Speak praise to our God, all his servants, and you who fear him, small and great" (Rev. 19:5). Whose hands are on the necks of his enemies; because, according to the testimony of the Gospel: "The Father gave everything into his hands" (John 13:3). He himself also agrees with these words, saying: "All power has been given to me in heaven and on earth" (Matt. 33:18). And the Father speaks to him: "Sit at my right hand, until I place your enemies as a footstool for your feet" (Ps. 109:1; Matt. 22:44; Luke 20:43).

Whom the sons of his father adore; that is, all those adopted through him into the dignity of sons, according to what the Apostle says: That in the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of the celestial, terrestrial, and infernal beings. It follows: "A whelp of a lion is Judah: to the prey, my son, you have ascended: resting you lay down like a lion, and like a lioness: who will rouse him?" As far as the surface of the letter is concerned, the strength of the kings descending from the stock of Judah is prefigured through these words: such as we read the blessed David was, and the blessed Hezekiah, and all others who, serving the divinity most humbly, subdued the forces of the enemy, by His gift, like a lion and a lioness, and were so great a terror to their enemies that no one presumed to provoke them to battle as they lay resting: of which thing the books of Kings are witnesses. Typically, however, he calls the Lord Savior a whelp of a lion, as if born from a leonine lineage; that is, descended from a royal stock. And rightly is he called a whelp of a lion, whose nature is said to be that, when born, he sleeps for three days, then, roused by his father's roar, he rises up. Which figure most beautifully corresponds to the Lord's sleep; whereby, sleeping for three days, he cries out to the Father: "But you, Lord, have mercy on me, and raise me up" (Psalm 40:11). But, roused, he ascends to the prey; because, despoiling hell, he triumphantly carried off all the righteous with him to the heights, as a splendid prey.

He who, like a lion, and as a lioness, lay down; because he who wished to sleep through the flesh in the tomb, like a lion, triumphed as victor over his enemies. But what he adds: Who will rouse him, is understood, except the Father? For no one, not to say of perishable men, but not even any of the Angels, except he of whom the apostle Peter said to the Jews: Whom God raised from the dead, of whom we are witnesses (Acts 3:15). The scepter will not be taken away from Judah, nor the leader from his loins, until he who is to be sent comes: and he himself will be the expectation of the nations (Gen. 49:10). This sentence is understood more clearly by the faithful, because the people were ruled by the princes and leaders of their own nation for as long as until our Lord and Savior came, who was to be sent by the Father. He is the expectation of the nations; because, evidently, God the Father waited for the nations to repent until, through the advent of his Son, he would recall them from the worship of idolatry to his knowledge. For whether the Jews were led into Babylon, they always had leaders from their own people set over them: or when they returned from Babylon, until Herod, a foreigner, was appointed king over them: and their affairs were governed by the high priests, until it came to Aristobulus, who first after the return from Babylon, being high priest, placed the diadem upon himself and declared himself king.

Likewise his successors, until the Jewish state was faltering and Hyrcanus, the last king of the Jews, was afflicted with the worst evils, and the kingdom of Judaea was taken up by Herod, a foreigner, under Caesar Augustus. In whose time, according to this prophecy and the testimony of the Gospel (Matt. 2:1), he who was to be sent, our Lord and Savior, came. "Binding his foal to the vine, and his she-ass to the vine, O my son" (Gen. 49:11). By this arrangement of words it is shown that blessed Jacob is not speaking to Judah, but about him, indeed, who was to be sent; for he who, speaking to his son, says "O my son," and added "your foal" or "your she-ass," speaks most manifestly about him whom he had earlier foretold was to be sent. We read (Matt. 21:5-7) that he, coming into Jerusalem, had use of a she-ass and a foal, yet they were not tied to a vine or a vine-stock. It remains, therefore, that in these words nothing historical is to be sought, but everything is to be understood as spoken typologically. For the Lord and Savior bound his foal to the vine when he subjected the untamed people of the nations to the precepts of the Apostles, who were produced from the Jewish vine, concerning which Isaiah says: "For the vine of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel" (Isa. 5:7). He also bound his she-ass to the vine-stock, that is, the Church, namely the Synagogue, which, at the end of the age, recalling it from perfidy and oppressed by the yoke of the law, he will subject to the discipleship of the Church, and thus there will be one flock and one shepherd (John 10:16).

... and according to the testimony of blessed Zechariah, those two rods will be joined together and will be united in the hand of the Lord. "He will wash his stole with wine, and his cloak with the blood of the grape" (Gen. 49:11). It is a characteristic of Hebrew speech to repeat the same thing with different words, as here. For what is wine but the blood of the grape? But as much as the literal surface is inconsistent (for no one washes either a stole or a cloak with wine), so much the more is a deeper meaning commended within. For the Savior washed his stole with wine and his cloak with the blood of the grape, because, hanging on the cross, he wished his sacred flesh, which was his stole, to be drenched with his own blood. It follows: "His eyes are more beautiful than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk" (Ibid., 12). The eyes of the Savior are proclaimed more beautiful than wine, because the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are conferred through Christ, are shown to be more splendid than the legal wine. For that the eyes of the Savior signify the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the prophet Zechariah testifies by saying: "On one stone there are seven eyes" (Zech. 3:9); which Isaiah enumerates by saying: "The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and piety, and the spirit of the fear of the Lord" (Isa. 11:2-3). These are more beautiful than the legal wine which failed at the wedding (John 2:3), because through the law comes knowledge of sin (Rom. 3:10), but through the grace of the Holy Spirit its remission is granted to us.

And according to the Gospel, the law was indeed given through Moses, but grace and truth through Jesus Christ (John 1:17). Now as to what is said: "And his teeth whiter than milk": by the teeth, the preachers of the New Testament should be understood, who, by breaking down spiritual foods—that is, by expounding them—transmit many things very useful to us into the stomach of memory. Milk, however, is not incongruously taken as the teaching of the Old Testament, which was prepared for a people just beginning, still weak for the perfect loaf. Therefore, Jesus has teeth whiter than milk, because he has made the preachers of his Church conspicuous for the purity of their cleanliness. For how great the difference is between the observances of the followers of the Gospel and those of the law, blessed Peter is a witness, who says: "You were not able to be justified in the law; in this, everyone who believes is justified" (Acts 13:38-39). Therefore, these teeth are white, because, washed by the font of baptism, they are rendered most pure from the stains of sins. But concerning the observers of the law, nothing of the sort is reported; rather, it is only said that "Whoever does them will live in them" (Galatians 3:12). Moreover, all who serve the law carnally are under a curse, the same Law saying terribly: "Cursed is everyone who does not remain in the commandments of this law, to do those things that are written in it" (Deuteronomy 27:26).

CHAPTER IV. The Blessing of Zabulon. Zabulon shall dwell by the seashore, and shall reach to Sidon in the station of ships (Gen. 49:13). According to the historical sense, the portion of his sons which he was to receive in the land of promise by God's gift is foretold: namely, that the land of his possession would begin on one side from the sea and be bounded by a torrent on the other, as is clearly declared in the book of Joshua (Joshua 19:11), where the distributions of those possessions are defined; hence Sidon is also mentioned here, which is adjacent to the sea. According to the mystical understanding, however, Zabulon designates the firstfruits of the holy Church; from whose tribe some of the holy Apostles are believed to have come, who, because they constantly tarried by the seashore, as they sought their livelihood from it by hand and craft, were called by the Lord to the summit of the apostolate, according to the prophecy of blessed David saying: The princes of Judah are their leaders, the princes of Zabulon, the princes of Nephthali (Ps. 67:28). They also dwell in the station of ships, because they rest in secure peace with trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. For ships are understood as the Church, which in the most faithful station seek the port of salvation, their Lord, and find him. And it is well added: Reaching to Sidon; because evidently the same holy Church is not confined to one corner of the world, but by growing comes even to the peoples of the Gentiles.

For Sidon is interpreted as "hunting," signifying, as has been said, the gentiles who, with beastly customs, pursue the cult of idolatry as if it were the lairs of the desert. This people later, by the net of the Lord's preaching and the barking of the holy Apostles, merited to be admitted within the enclosures of the holy Church. CHAPTER V. The Blessing of Issachar. Issachar, a strong ass lying down at the boundaries. He saw that the rest was good, and that the land was very good, and he placed his shoulder under the burden to carry it, and he became a servant of tributes (Gen. 49:14, 15). Through these words, this tribe is signified as one that will devote itself to the study of the law, and will more readily transfer itself to the scrutiny of God's commandments. For it is said that he saw that the rest was good, and that the land was very good; that is, he tasted in his mind how sweet it is to occupy one's senses with God's commandments. And therefore he is said to have placed his shoulder under the burden to carry it, that is, to have transferred his mind with all effort to the scrutiny of the eloquence of the divine word: and through this, all those inferior to him brought him gifts and honor as to a master and teacher. The book of Chronicles agrees with this understanding, which says of this tribe: "Also from the sons of Issachar were learned men, who knew the times, to instruct the leading princes what they ought to do" (1 Chron. 12:32).

This ass bears a type of the gentile people, who, before they had the Lord as their rider, were brutish and, impatient of bridles, were carried about by their own whim. But after they merited having the Lord as their rider, they borrowed the name of a strong ass from him. He saw that the royal [way] was good, hearing from his rider: "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28). He also perceived that the land was excellent, because, having abandoned the empty teachings of the philosophers, he turned most zealously to the reading of sacred Scripture. Whence, because he learned among other things that hearers of the law are not justified, it is added: "he put his shoulder to carrying" (Rom. 2:13); that is, he subjected his whole power to the divine commands, and especially in the love of God and neighbor. For a neighbor is not loved if he is not carried. And it is added: "and he became a servant of tributes"; for as if paying a certain tribute daily, he hears from the Apostle: "Render to all their due: fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor, tax to whom tax" (Rom. 13:7), and so forth.

CHAPTER VI The Blessing of Dan Dan will judge his people, as also the other tribes of Israel. Let Dan be an adder on the path, a horned serpent in the byway, biting the hooves of the horse, so that its rider falls backward. I will await your salvation, O Lord (Gen. 49:18). Historically, indeed, it is foretold not only concerning the other more noble tribes, but also concerning Dan, that he will be a future prince for Israel, and by a descriptive manner, what sort he will be is indicated. For Samson is prefigured by these words, who was like an adder and a terrible serpent; and to suggest how much more terrible he was, he is described as horned on account of his exceptional power and strength. Thus he beset the roads and byways of the Israelite kingdom during the time of his leadership, lest any enemy by force presume to invade the land of his dominion. But if anyone more savage, trusting in his own swiftness and strength as of a horse, wished to attack him, soon, with his plants gnawed away and his powers of stability consumed, he would cast his pursuer to the ground. Lest anyone, deceived by error, esteem him as more than a man, he immediately added, saying: I will await your salvation, O Lord, in whose image this one, in some part, preceded as a type.

This Dan prefigures the Antichrist, who will be like a serpent on the path and a horned serpent in the byway: because for those walking in the path and byway of God’s commandments, he sets himself as an obstacle, as far as in him lies, armed with a twofold cunning against them. For in the serpent his craftiness is prefigured, because he cunningly seeks to deceive those who hold to the way of the Lord by the step of their works. In the horns, however, his fury is shown, which he will use against those whom he has not been able to deceive by cunning machination. For *cerasta* in Greek is called *cornua* in Latin; and therefore this serpent is described as horned. Therefore, when the Antichrist, coming, has performed great signs before the eyes of onlookers, has brought down fire from on high, he is a serpent on the path (Apoc. xiii, 13). But when he turns to inflict punishments and torments on those not believing in him, he becomes a horned serpent in the byway; because he strives to subdue to himself by the horns of his power those walking along the narrow byway of the Lord. And while he exalts himself above everything that is called God or that is worshipped (II Thess. ii, 4), he bites the hooves of the horse, so that its rider falls backward: because he takes away worldly glory from those who do not acquiesce to him, so that, enticed by love of present goods, they fall there where they do not see. For to fall backward is to fall both here and shamelessly, without seeing, and to come afterward into outer darkness.

He who falls on his face blushes for his past deeds; but he who falls backward, as we have already said, nourishes wrath for himself in his unrepentant heart on the day of wrath (Rom. 2:5). Lest anyone, on account of such great sublimity of miracles, should think the Antichrist is to be worshipped as God, he added: "I will await your salvation, O Lord"; as if to say: although the Antichrist shines with many insignia of miracles, yet for me your Salvation, which in Hebrew is called Jesus, is to be awaited, so that when he comes he may crush the power of this one with eternal punishment, and finding me among his faithful, may bless me with a blessed dwelling. CHAPTER VII. The Blessing of Gad. "Gad, girded, will fight before him, and he himself will be girded from behind" (Gen. 49:19). The literal sense of the text is clear to those reading the book of Joshua; because Gad, who sought and received an inheritance from Moses across the Jordan, merited to possess it on this condition: that, girded with arms before Israel, together with Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh, he would advance fighting against adversaries (Deut. 3:18); which he later did under Joshua. Nevertheless, after the enemies were subdued, in order to return to his own possession, he had to attend to the incursions of neighboring peoples (1 Chron. 5:18). This, therefore, is what it says: first he fought girded before his brothers, and afterwards he was again girded for battle.

Spiritually, however, it signifies certain chosen ones from among the Jews, who stood forth as leaders, as it were, for the new people, and led them into the land once promised. Such were the prophets and holy patriarchs, who pierced with the darts of their words the mother of all vices, idolatry, and its countless offspring. Yet they will again be girded up above, because in the last times, when the fullness of the nations enters, they will be roused to renewed struggles, which will be theirs against the Antichrist and his satellites. For now they do not have their inheritance across the streams of the Jordan, because they do not enter the Church through the grace of Baptism, but dwell apart, outside the brethren, remaining in the legal ceremonies. CHAPTER VIII. The Blessing of Asher. Asher, his bread is fat, and he will provide delicacies for kings (Gen. 49:20). According to the letter, indeed, the fertility of the land seems to be promised to this tribe; for in the portion of its possession it had Mount Carmel, renowned for its fertility; and at the same time it bordered on the sea, and by this means it is not doubted that he, abounding in the delicacies of both sea and land, offered them even to his own kings.

Through these words, however, are foretold the holy men who would come from the Synagogue, whose bread is rich; that is, prophetic doctrine abounding in the fatness of the Holy Spirit. One of them, inflamed with insatiable eagerness, cried out: “Let my soul be filled with fat and suet” (Ps. 62:6). They serve their delights to kings; because they show forth the royal standard to those who desire to hold a kingdom of just moderation in themselves and over those subject to them. CHAPTER IX. The Blessing of Naphtali. “Naphtali, a deer set free, and giving utterances of beauty” (Gen. 49:21). With the blessed Jerome as teacher, we learn that in the Hebrew it is not “a deer set free,” but “an irrigated field,” and that by “an irrigated field” is signified the abundance of hot waters, which abound most plentifully in the suburb of Tiberias. Yet the tradition of the Hebrews is that this city was most zealous for the divine commandments; and by this “irrigated field” they signify the most abundant teaching of the instructing masters, which would water the hearts of the ignorant, as by a certain stream, to bring forth the fruits of understanding; and this is explained in the following words, when it is said: “giving utterances of beauty.

Through Nephthali, however, we understand the holy preachers of the Church, who, sent to the holy Church, have known, like stags, how to make leaps of understanding, and to ascend the mountains of contemplation intrepidly, and thus to give to the peoples the eloquence of beauty: so that what they have learned, raised up in the height of contemplation, they may diligently minister to those placed below. CHAPTER X. The Blessing of Joseph. Joseph, the increasing son, Joseph, the increasing son, and comely in appearance (Gen. 49:22; 39:6). According to the letter, indeed, blessed Jacob foresaw that the tribe of Joseph would abound with countless offspring; whence he was also the father of two tribes, as he had foretold above while blessing them. Hence, as if blessing two tribes, he repeated: the increasing son. It is established, however, that Joseph prefigured the Savior in type, because he fed Egypt, wasting with hunger, with the grain of the word of God; and, sold by his brothers the Jews, he nourishes the Church of the Gentiles even to this day. To him it is said, the increasing son, and comely in appearance: for he himself, the Son of God, and likewise the Son of Man, in a certain way increased, when he joined to himself the people of Israel, who were dishonoring God through transgression of the law, in the Apostles and the other faithful of that time. He is the same increasing son, when he also spread the knowledge of his name among the Gentiles, and grows among them even to the end of the world through the illumination of faith and works.

Now Joseph himself is comely in appearance, because he is beautiful in form beyond the sons of men (Ps. 44:3). The daughters ran about upon the wall. But they provoked him, and they quarreled, and they envied him, having javelins (Gen. 49:22, 23). As far as the historical event is concerned, it calls his brothers “daughters” on account of the disgrace of their inhumanity. For it was not a manly and steadfast counsel to have wished either to kill or to sell an innocent brother; but rather a womanly fickleness. Moreover, they ran about upon the wall, because they thought they had found an invincible plan concerning him, lest he become king over them. But they provoked him, stripping him of his coat of many colors (Gen. 28:23) and afflicting him with unworthy insults. They quarreled, and they envied him, having javelins: “Will you be our king? Or shall we be subjected to your rule?” (Gen. 37:8). Whence it was said above: “Therefore his brothers envied him” (Gen. 38:11). Moreover, they had javelins; that is, hearts prepared for harming. Whence it is said of the Jews desiring to kill the Lord: “Their wounds have become the arrows of little ones” (Ps. 63:9).

According to the mystical senses, however, the daughters are understood as the Jews, who are designated by a feminine appellation because, abandoning the solid teaching of our Lord and Savior and adhering to the superstition of the Pharisees, they were disturbed in mind. For those who lack solid sense and whose mind wavers with various fluctuation are designated by the name of women by the Apostle, who says concerning evil teachers: "Who penetrate houses and lead captive little women laden with sins, always learning and never arriving at the knowledge of truth" (2 Tim. 3:6). They ran about upon the wall, when they thought they had found a most fortified plan, with Caiaphas saying: "It is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and not the whole nation perish" (John 11:50). They provoked him, when, moved in some way by the weariness of their unbelief, he said: "O perverse generation, how long will I be with you? How long will I endure you?" (Mark 9:19). They quarreled, saying: "How long do you take away our soul?" (John 10:24). And they envied him, while they said in their council: "What shall we do, because this man does many signs? If we let him go like this, all will believe in him" (John 11:47, 48). And again: "You see that we accomplish nothing? Behold, the whole world has gone after him" (John 12:19). They had darts, concerning which it is written: "The arrows of the little ones have become their wound" (Ps. 63:9).

He sat in the strength of his bow, and the bonds of his arms and his hands were loosened by the hand of the mighty Jacob: then a shepherd came forth, the stone of Israel (Gen. 49:24). The historical sense, as far as can be understood, is this. By the bow is meant the mind foreknowing future things. For in a bow an arrow is placed so that it may strike from afar: and a mind presaging future things is accustomed to send forth arrows of judgments more distantly. Such, therefore, is what is said: he sat in the strength of his bow, as if it said: his mind, afflicted on all sides by tribulations, rested; in the strong, that is, in God, made firm, and with arrows of judgments, by which it foretold what was to be, it would strike future times with barrenness. Now what it says: And the bonds of his arms and his hands were loosened, refers to the time when, at Pharaoh’s command, he was released from prison, and, as is said here, the bonds of his arms and his hands, with which he had been ordered to be bound in prison, were loosened by the hands, that is, by the power of the mighty Jacob, namely of almighty God, by whose help Jacob’s power was made manifest.

Moreover, what follows: "then a shepherd came forth, the stone of Israel" (Gen. 49:24) refers to Christ, who came forth from Jacob, that is, deriving his origin from him. He is rightly called the stone of Israel, because he is strength for the one believing in him. This sentence, however, fits the Savior in such a way. "He sat in the strength of his bow"; that is, the sentence of punishment, by which the Jews who refused to receive him and persecuted him even to death were to be struck, sat in the strong, that is, was fixed with the Father in immutable stability, as he says: "Amen, I say to you, not one stone will be left upon another" (Matt. 24:2). And: "Behold, your house will be left deserted," etc. (Matt. 23:38). But the bonds of his arms and his hands were loosened by the hand of the mighty Jacob, when the bonds of the tomb were untied, and resurrection was not denied to him by the hand of the mighty Jacob, that is, by the power of the Father.

From there, however, a shepherd came forth, and the stone of Israel; that is, the Lord and Savior came forth from God the Father, presenting himself to human sight, just as he himself said: I came forth from the Father, and came into the world (John 16:26). The God of your father will be your helper, and the Almighty will bless you with the blessings of the heaven above, with the blessings of the abyss lying below, with the blessings of the breasts and the womb (Gen. 49:25). He prays to his son for the help of his father's God, namely that one by whose help he remembered having been freed from such great dangers, and whom he had come to know as all-powerful through the benefits granted to him. Now what he says: "with the blessings of the heaven above" pertains to rain and the tempering of the air, by which the earth is made fruitful for crops and the yields of trees are nourished. What he then adds: "with the blessings of the abyss lying below" pertains to the fertility of the earth, which is irrigated by the vapors of the abyss like the hollow of a sponge, so that it is not easily rendered useless by the dryness of the sun's fires. When he blesses with the blessings of the breasts and the womb, he does so that he may increase with numerous offspring, namely so that he may not be condemned to sterility of either men or women.

He says, however: "The blessings of your father are strengthened by the blessings of his fathers" (Ibid., 26); so that Joseph would not doubt that what Saint Jacob promised him would come to pass, not as if from his own recent blessing, but because they were long ago promised to his fathers, that is, Abraham and Isaac. For this is what it means: "the blessings of your father are strengthened," as if to say: do not take these blessings of your father as if they were his own, nor as if given once; but because they were first given by God to my fathers, and not once, but repeatedly. And hence it is that I pour over your head, by the Lord's authority, the same blessings that were promised to me and to my fathers. For the Lord and Savior, God the Almighty and Father, was an aid to him crying out in the psalm: "Help me, O Lord my God; save me according to your mercy" (Ps. 108:26). For He who, by undivided divinity, provides help to all who are announced, He Himself, made human and a little less than the angels (Heb. 2:7), needed not only paternal but also angelic assistance, on account, of course, of manifesting the twofold substance in Himself. Hence it is that He cries out: "God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mark 15:31). And in the Gospel: "An angel from heaven appeared to him, strengthening him" (Luke 22:43). He Himself, the Almighty, blessed him, saying: "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased" (2 Pet.

He blessed him with the blessings of the heaven above and the blessings of the abyss lying below, when, according to the Apostle: He gave him a name which is above every name, so that in his name every knee might bow, of earthly, heavenly, and infernal beings (Philippians 2:10). He exalted him with the blessings of the breast and the womb, when among the sons of the Church—some catechumens, as it were still lying at their mother's breasts, others, however, in the manner of those already born, licking the maternal breasts—he causes himself to be blessed throughout the world. For those who have not yet advanced to the strength of faith, but are being drawn to it through leaders, hear from the Apostle: My little children, whom I am bringing forth again, until Christ is formed in you (Galatians 4:19). But those who have already received the rudiments of faith, but have not yet fully coalesced in the firmness of doctrine, hear from the same: I have given you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able; but neither indeed are you yet able (1 Corinthians 3:2).

It follows: "Until the desire of the eternal hills should come" (Gen. 49:26). Here there is nothing historical, but everything resounds of the divine. For the Israelite people were to be sustained by these blessings until the desire of the eternal hills should come. For the hills are understood as the saints established in the Church, who, although they excel by the merit of their virtues, yet remember from their most devoted humility that they are hills. Whence the Psalm: "Let the mountains receive peace for the people, and the hills justice" (Ps. 71:3). For their desire is known to have always been the coming of the Lord Jesus. Whence Moses first: "I beseech you, Lord, send whom you are to send" (Exod. 4:13). And the blessed Simeon received a response from the Holy Spirit, that he would not see death unless he first saw the Christ of the Lord (Luke 2:26). They are called eternal hills because they are known to have been created for eternity by God. For, unlike that of fools, their intention does not change into diverse things; but always tending toward eternal things and clinging to the eternal, they themselves have also changed the name of eternity from him. For of fools it is said: "For a fool changes like the moon" (Sir. 27:12); but of the truly wise: "The wise man remains like the sun" (Ibid.).

It follows: "Let them be upon the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of the Nazirite among his brothers" (Gen. 49:26). These blessings were upon the head of Joseph, because through Christ all praise and blessing is rendered to the Father. Whence He Himself says to the Father: "Father, glorify Your Son, so that Your Son may glorify You" (John 17:1). Now they are said to be made upon his head, because the head of Christ is God (1 Cor. 11:3). Moreover, the Son Himself is called a Nazirite among his brothers, because He is holy by a special dignity, which is what Nazirite means, concerning whom Scripture most truly says that he committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth (1 Pet. 2:22); and whom God the Father anointed with a special unction above His fellows (Heb. 1:9). CHAPTER XI. The Blessing of Benjamin. Benjamin, a rapacious wolf, will devour prey in the morning, and in the evening will divide the spoils (Gen. 49:27). The tradition of the Hebrews, and also the agreement of the blessed Jerome, holds that by these words the altar of Jerusalem is signified, which is known to have been built in the tribe of Benjamin. This altar, like a rapacious wolf, devoured the morning sacrifice by the consumption of fire; in the evening, however, after the sacrifices and the ceremonies of the victims were completed, it was accustomed to divide among the priests and Levites those things which remained from the fire and, by the mandate of the law, were owed for the sustenance of the priests.

By this knowledge, however, the blessed Paul is signified, who was to come from the same tribe, and who, like a ravenous wolf, devoured in the morning, that is, in his youth; for while he consented to the death of the blessed Stephen and received letters from the chief priests and elders of the Jewish people to Damascus and to other cities, as many saints as he tore apart by various slaughter, so many spoils he devoured like a ravenous wolf. Yet in the evening he divided the spoils, when, prostrated by the Lord’s word and vision, he distributed to the faithful established within the holy Church the fitting divine nourishment of teaching: to some, as to little ones in Christ, giving the milk of wisdom; and to certain ones still suffering, he sympathizes like a woman in labor; to the more perfect, however, he hands over the solid food of doctrine. For that spoils signify divine commandments, David bears witness, saying: “I will rejoice over your words, as one who finds much spoil” (Ps. 118:162). And the blessed Isaiah says of the Apostles: “They will rejoice before you, as they rejoice in the harvest: as those who divide spoils exult” (Isa. 9:3).