show of much learning or much reading, but only to offer a plain natural sense of the most important passage in this prophecy, which seems to me to arise from the very state and circumstances of things at the time this prophecy was delivered, I hope it will not be thought the effect of vanity or osten

tation.

There is a passage in the book Ecclesiasticus which will serve as a key to open to us the nature of the blessings bestowed on the twelve tribes by their father Jacob. This author, the Son of Sirach, observes that God gave this covenant to Abraham, established it with Isaac, and made it rest on the head of Jacob." Thus far the intire blessing, and all the parts of it, vested in single persons only; but in the next step there is an alteration; for God' divided Jacob's portions, among the twelve tribes did he part them.'+ There is no question but that this passage relates to the settlement and the blessing of the tribes by Jacob in the 48th and 49th of Genesis; and it shows us that the several blessings given to the several tribes are but parts or portions of the blessings which Jacob received from Isaac; Isaac from Abraham; and Abraham immediately from God. In this view then the several blessings mentioned in the 49th of Genesis, and limited to the several tribes, must be considered as an exposition of the original blessing given to Abraham; and the blessing from which the others are derived, must limit and determine the sense of the particulars; which cannot be extended beyond the bounds of the first promise.

Setting aside the authority of the Son of Sirach, it is reasonable to think that this was the case, from the custom and practice in Abraham's family, in which the blessing of the father was regularly conveyed to the son. And when we see Jacob blessing all his children, what can we suppose else but that he is transmitting to his posterity the blessing which he himself received? If we look to the beginning of the 48th of Genesis, where Jacob adopts Ephraim and Manasseh, the two sons of Joseph, and constitutes them heads of tribes in his family, and consequently intitles them to a share among his own sons of the land of Canaan, there will be no room to doubt of this matter.

Ecclus xliv. 19. &c.

+ Ver. 23.

For Jacob founds his right of allotting the land of Canaan, in the manner he does, on God's grant of that land to himself Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, and said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people, and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession. And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt, before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine: as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine:' ver.

3. 4. 5.

Jacob prefaces his grant to Joseph's family with a recital only of God's promise to make him fruitful, and to give the land of Canaan to him and his seed; for his gift to Joseph's family went not beyond the terms of this grant.

But the blessing of Abraham derived to his chosen, consisted of two parts; the promise of the land of Canaan, and the promise of that Son in whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed.' These two promises went inseparably together from the beginning, and we shall find they continued in some degree to do so to the end,

Let us see now in what terms these two promises are conveyed.

The land of Canaan to
Abraham.

The Lord appeared unto Abraham, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: Gen. xii. 7.

Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward, for all the land which

thou seest, to thee will I give

The blessed seed to Abraham.

Thou shalt be a blessing, and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed: Gen. xii. 2. 3.

Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation; and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him : Gen. xviii. 18.

To the tribe of Judah.

Judah is a lion's whelp; from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? 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, binding his foal unto the vine: &c. Gen. xlix. 9. 10. 11.

To the tribe of Judah.

Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies thy father's children shall bow down before thee: Gen. xlix. 8.

Until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be: Gen. xlix. 10.

If the words which I have here placed as the conveyance of the promise of the blessed seed to the tribe of Judah, be not admitted in that sense, there are no others relating to this or any of the other tribes, which make any mention, much less any settlement, of this part of Jacob's blessing. And yet there never was any doubt, either in the ancient Jewish church before Christ, or among the Jews since the time of Christ, but that the promise of the Messiah was limited to the tribe of Judah in this blessing; nor is it reasonable to imagine that Jacob, in dividing his blessing among his posterity, should forget the chief and principal part, which had been with so much solemnity conveyed from Abraham, through Isaac, to himself. Besides, the expression here used, Thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise,' is equivalent to what was said to Abraham, Thou shalt be a blessing;' and to what was said to Jacob, • Blessed be he that blesseth thee;' and must consequently mean the same thing. But of this part I have already treated in the foregoing discourses, and will not burden the reader and myself with repetitions.

6

The promise of the blessed seed could not be divided, for a man can descend but from one tribe; a son can be born but of one father; and therefore this part of Jacob's blessing went

intire to the tribe of Judah. All the other tribes have their special blessing assigned them out of the promised land; and interpreters need not be concerned, as some of them are, to find wherein the peculiar blessing of some of the sons of Jacob, to whom or of whom very little is said, does consist; for the making them heads of tribes conveyed to them a right to share in the land of Canaan, and in that their blessing consisted, and by that they received a portion of the blessing of their father.

The promise to Abraham of 'multiplying his seed,' and giving them the land of Canaan for a possession, implied necessarily a promise of temporal power and dominion. For a people cannot possess a land without some form or rule of government' among them. All the promises therefore of a numerous issue, of strength and courage in subduing enemies, and the like, are incident to the promise of the land of Canaan, and must be referred to it. Thus when we hear the character of Judah: 'Judah is a lion's whelp; from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: :he stooped down and couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him?' to what else can we apply these images of courage and bravery but to the martial disposition of the tribe of Judah, and to their victories obtained over the ancient possessors of the land of Canaan ? In like manner all the promises of plenty are part of the promise which God gave to Abraham and his posterity, of a land flowing with milk and honey.' Of Judah it is said, 'Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes. His be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.' portion of Jacob's blessing; and can it naturally be deduced from any part of the blessing bestowed on him by his father, but this only? 'God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine:' Gen. xxvii. 28.

eyes

shall

This is a

There remains still to be accounted for, the passage relating to the sceptre of Judah:

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.'