Genesis 49:1 - Exposition

And Jacob (having closed his interview with Joseph and his two sons) called (by means of messengers) unto his sons ( i.e. the others who were then absent), and said, Gather yourselves together ,—the prophet's last utterance must be a public one— that I may tell you —literally, and I will tell you — that which shall befall you — קָרָא , in the sense of happening or occurring to any one, is here equivalent to קָרָה (cf. Genesis 42:4 , Genesis 42:38 )— in the last days —literally, in the end of the days, not simply in future time (Gesenius, Rosenmüller, Kalisch), or in the times intervening between the speaker and the end of the human race (Murphy), but in the last age, the closing period of time, the era of fulfillment (Kurtz, Hengstenberg), which era, however, must be judged from the standpoint of the speaker (Baumgarten). Hence the period must not be restricted to exclusively Messianic times (Rabbi Nachmanides), ἐπ ἐσχάτῶν τῶν ἡμερῶν ( LXX .), in diebus novissimis (Vulgate), but must commence with what to Jacob was the era of consummation, the days of the conquest (Baumgarten, Hengstenberg); while, on the other hand, it can as little be limited to these, but must be held as extending over totum tempus ab exitu AE gypti ad Christi regnum (Calvin), and even as reaching, though unconsciously to Jacob, to the very terminus of human history (Keil, Lange).