Jacob was 130 years old, when he first came to Egypt (Genesis 47:9), and he spent the final seventeen years of his life there, dying at the age of 147 years (Genesis 47:28). He is the shortest lived of the three Patriarchs. Abraham was 175 years old, when he died (Genesis 25:7-8), and Jacob’s father, Isaac, was 180 years old at his death (Genesis 35:28-29). Their record begins with the Record of the Descendants of Terah (Genesis 11:27),[1] who was Abraham’s father. We probably know most about Abraham and least about his son, Isaac, but the reality is that the records don’t offer much detail about any of their lives. Instead, they touch upon important events and offer an account of how each individual Patriarch responded to those events, and this gives us insight into the character of each of the three. Abraham was a courageous man of faith, while Isaac was obedient and a man of integrity. Jacob shows us that he was a man of self will, who learned to trust the will of God more than his own way.
We are told in the text that these twelve sons of Jacob were the patriarchs of the nation of Israel (Genesis 49:28). These men were the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel, who were called by their names. That is, they are so named, except for the tribe of Joseph, which is named after his sons Ephraim and Manasseh, because Joseph, through his sons, received the double portion of the blessing. So, on his deathbed, Jacob blessed his sons. The blessing took the form of a prophecy of how they would end up in the last days (Genesis 49:1), and each blessing/prophecy ended up being more about the nation than about the particular son or tribe, which Jacob mentioned. Nevertheless, although his prophecy of some of his sons seem more like a curse, they are called blessings here by the translator.
Why is that? Well, the word for blessed (H1288) can be translated to either blessing or curse. In fact, the word (H1288) is used for blessing and curse in Job 1:10-11. God was accused of blessing (H1288) Job, but, if he took back his blessings, Job would curse (H1288) God to his face! Therefore, the text in Genesis 49:28 tells us that the blessing/curse (H1288), which Jacob offered each of his sons was according to the appropriate blessing or reward of each son’s life. In other words, what Jacob’s sons sowed they reaped, vis-à-vis their character would eventually be embraced by their descendants (cp. Galatians 6:7).
Afterward, Jacob charged his sons to bury him in the Land of Canaan, in the cave, which Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite for a possession and a burying place (Genesis 49:29-30). This same site was the place where Abraham buried Sarah, and where Isaac and Ishmael buried Abraham. Moreover, Jacob and Esau buried their father Isaac there, who also buried his wife, Rebekah in the same cave. Finally, Jacob buried Leah there, and it was there that he charged his sons to bury him (Genesis 49:31-32).
Immediately afterward, the text concludes by saying Jacob gathered his feet into the bed and yielded up the ghost, probably meaning that he was sitting on the bed, while speaking to his sons. He then laid down upon the bed, and he expired. The text says he “was gathered to his people” (Genesis 49:33), which is how it describes each of the Patriarch’s deaths (Genesis 25:8; 35:29). The phrase: was gathered to his people is claimed by some scholars to refer to the immortality of the soul, but such an understanding is wrong. God’s word tells us, “The soul who sins dies!” (Ezekiel 18:20). Moreover, God makes it plain through the Teacher: “The fate of humans and the fate of animals are the same; as one dies, so dies the other…” (Ecclesiastes 3:19). So, what does the phrase mean?
Other scholars tell us that it simply means the one who dies is gathered to his people who are in their graves. It’s just an idiom for death and burial, and perhaps this is so. However, once again the Teacher tells us that although the deaths of the beast and man are the same, as one dies so does the other, their spirits go to a different place. The spirit of man goes upward, while the spirit of the beast goes downward to the earth (Ecclesiastes 3:21). The point is that although the rebellion of men had introduced death into their lives, God protects their identities until the last days (cp. Genesis 49:1), when the Messiah would come (cp. Genesis 49:10) and gather all men to himself (John 12:32), and each man will be rewarded according to his works (Matthew 16:27).
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[1] There are three records that give an account of their lives: the Record of the Descendants of Terah (Genesis 11:27), the Record of the Descendants of Isaac (Genesis 25:19), and the Record of the Descendants of Jacob (Genesis 37:2).
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