Not what you expected

Genesis 49:19-21

Have you ever stood in line for tickets or an item?   As you get to the front of the line someone announces, “you will have to come back later we are out of the item, or the tickets are all gone.”   It is not a good feeling, it can bring about emotions that we are not proud of, and as I read about Gad, I wonder what he was thinking?  Verse 19, “Raiders shall raid Gad, but he shall raid at their heels.”  I’m not sure he wanted that blessing; what is going on, what is meant by that statement? 

Gad’s mother was Leah’s servant Zilpah, and in Hebrew the name Gad sounds like good fortune.  When Moses took the census that the Lord told him to take, the tribes of Gad numbered 40,500.  Gad’s realm was east of the Jordan on the edge of the Kingdom of the Ammonites and other desert peoples, and thus was especially open to attack.  However, the Gadites were well able to fight (1Chronicles 5:18; 12:8, etc.).  The Genesis Record page 658 by Henry M. Morris

You wonder what Asher is expecting in the way of a blessing, the following is recorded; “Asher’s food shall be rich, and he shall yield royal delicacies.”  Does this mean he is going to be the top chef?  This we know that he was the second son of Leah’s servant Zilpah, and the name Asher is close to the Hebrew word for happy.  This is Henry Morris input on the tribe of Asher, “As it turned out, Asher’s lot fell on the rich northern seacoast north of Mount Carmel, all the way to Tyre and Zidon (Joshua 19:24-31).  However, they failed even to take possession of the Tyre-Sidon region, and the tribe soon became insignificant, possibly deteriorating because of their love of ease and proximity to the Phoenicians.”  The Genesis Record page 659

This is the blessing given to Naphtali the son of Rachel’s servant Bilhah; “Naphtali is a doe let loose that bears beautiful fawns.”  Does that mean he is going to have the best looking kids in all of the twelve tribes?  His name sounds like (wrestling’s of God).

From the Back Porch,

Bob