Jacob as representing the ideal unity of Israel (see Kohler, p. 8 f.). All these facts point to the following conclusion (which is that of the great majority of modern interpreters): the poem is a series of vaticinia ex eventu, reflecting the conditions and aspirations of the period that saw the consolidation of the Hebrew nationality. The examination of the separate oracles will show that some (e.g. those on Issachar and Dan) are certainly pre-monarchic; and that indeed all may be so except the blessing on Judah, which presupposes the establishment of the Davidic kingdom. The process of composition must therefore have been a protracted one; the poem may be supposed to have existed as a traditional document whose origin dates from the early days of the Israelite occupation of Palestine, and which underwent successive modifications and expansions before it took final shape in the hands of a Judæan poet of the age of David or Solomon. The conception of Jacob as the speaker belongs to the original intention of the poem; the oracles express the verdict of the collective consciousness of Israel on the conduct and destiny of the various tribes, an idea finely suggested by putting them in the mouth of the heroic ancestor of the nation. Ultimately the song was incorporated in the patriarchal tradition, probably by the Yahwist, who found a suitable setting for it amongst the dying utterances of Jacob.
Literary Parallels.—Before proceeding to consider the more intricate
problems arising out of the passage, it will be useful to compare it with
(1) the Song of Deborah (Ju. 5), and (2) the Blessing of Moses (Dt. 33).—1.
The former is like an instantaneous photograph: it exhibits the
attitude and disposition of the tribes in a single crisis of the national
history. It resembles Gen. 49 in the strong feeling of national unity
which pervades it, and in the mingling of blame and commendation. It
reveals, however, a very different historical background. The chief
differences are: the entire ignoring of the southern tribes Judah, Simeon,
and Levi; the praise bestowed on Issachar; the substitution of Gilead
for Gad; and the division of the unity of Joseph into its constituents
Ephraim and Machir (= Manasseh). The importance of these and other
divergences for the determination of the relative dates of the two
documents is obvious, although the evidence is frequently of a kind
which makes it very difficult to form a confident judgement.—2. The
Blessing of Moses shows signs (especially in the section on Joseph) of
