The Testament of Ya'akov: Ibn Ezra, Ramban, Sarna and Others

(1) And Jacob called his sons and said, “Come together that I may tell you what is to befall you in days to come. (2) Assemble and hearken, O sons of Jacob;
Hearken to Israel your father:

(3) Reuben, you are my first-born,
My might and first fruit of my vigor,
Exceeding in rank
And exceeding in honor.
(4) Unstable as water, you shall excel no longer;
For when you mounted your father’s bed,
You brought disgrace—my couch he mounted!

(5) Simeon and Levi are a pair;
Their weapons are tools of lawlessness.
(6) Let not my person be included in their council,
Let not my being be counted in their assembly.
For when angry they slay a man,
And when pleased they maim an ox.
(7) Cursed be their anger so fierce,
And their wrath so relentless.
I will divide them in Jacob,
Scatter them in Israel.

(8) You, O Judah, your brothers shall praise;
Your hand shall be on the nape of your foes;
Your father’s sons shall bow low to you.
(9) Judah is a lion’s whelp;
On prey, my son, have you grown.
He crouches, lies down like a lion,
Like a lioness, who dare rouse him?
(10) The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet;
So that tribute shall come to him Meaning of Heb. uncertain;

And the homage of peoples be his.
(11) He tethers his ass to a vine,
His ass’s foal to a choice vine;
He washes his garment in wine,
His robe in blood of grapes.
(12) His eyes are darker than wine;
His teeth are whiter than milk....

(28) All these were the tribes of Israel, twelve in number, and this is what their father said to them as he bade them farewell, addressing to each a parting word appropriate to him.

(1) IN THE END OF DAYS. These are the days of the Messiah, for Jacob alludes to him in his words, even as he said, Until Shiloh come, and his be the obedience of peoples.73Verse 10 here. Now our Rabbis have said74Pesachim 56a. that Jacob wished to reveal the end of Israel’s exile, but the Shechinah departed from him. Thus in the opinion of all scholars, the end of days is a reference to the days of the Messiah.

(1) THAT WHICH SHALL BEFALL YOU. Prophecies foretelling that which shall befall you in the future. Those who base themselves on Scripture’s closing remark, and this is that their father spoke unto them and blessed them (v. 28), and conclude that they (Jacob’s words) are blessings, err. For if it were so, where are the blessings of Reuben, Simeon and Levi? The way to understand this (v. 3-27) is what their father spoke unto them by way of prophecy after which he blessed them. Scripture omits the blessings.

(16) They set out from Bethel; but when they were still some distance short of Ephrath, Rachel was in childbirth, and she had hard labor.... (18) But as she breathed her last—for she was dying Thus Rachel died. She was buried on the road to Ephrath—now Bethlehem. (20) Over her grave Jacob set up a pillar; it is the pillar at Rachel’s grave to this day.... While Israel stayed in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine; and Israel found out.

(1) UNSTABLE (‘PACHAZ’) AS WATER, YOU HAVE NOT THE EXCELLENCY.
From the literal meaning of this verse it would appear as I have explained it in Seder Vayishlach that it was Reuben’s intention to disqualify Bilhah from his father so that she should no longer give birth to children, thus lessening his share as the firstborn. It was for this reason that Jacob said to him that it was reckless and impulsive to think that he would gain thereby, whereas he had no profit from it but only loss.

(30) Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me, making me odious among the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites; my fighters are few in number, so that if they unite against me and attack me, I and my house will be destroyed.” (31) But they answered, “Should our sister be treated like a whore?”

(1) SIMEON AND LEVI ARE BRETHREN....
The correct interpretation appears to me to be that he is saying that Simeon and Levi are real brothers, uniting in fraternity and brotherhood in counsel and deed. Now I have already explained that Jacob was angry with Simeon and Levi for having committed violence when they killed the people of the city of Shechem, for they had not sinned against them at all. They even made a covenant with them and they were circumcised, thus being enabled to return to G-d and become included within the people of the household of Abraham, part of the souls that they had gotten in Haran. Jacob was additionally angry with them lest people say that the matter was done at his suggestion, thus creating a profaning of G-d’s Name, as people will say that the prophet has committed violence and plunder. This is the intent of the verse, Let my soul not come into their council.

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The next declaration by Jacob seems to elevate Judah over his brothers. It, like Joseph's depiction, is five lines long. Judah, the fourth son, is treated differently by Ya'akov.

However, Professor Rendsburg's interpretation below depicts Judah negatively, in a double-entendre fashion. Rendsburg understands Jacob to continue his criticisms of his sons in his remarks regarding Judah.

(10) The incident of Reuben, about which it says: “And Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine” (Genesis 35:22), is read from the Torah in public but not translated [so that the uneducated not come to denigrate Reuben] .

(10) The incident of Reuben, about which it says: “And Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine” (Genesis 35:22), is read from the Torah in public but not translated, so that the uneducated not come to denigrate Reuben. The incident of Tamar (Genesis, chapter 38) is read in public and also translated.