The prophetic utterances of Jacob…(2)

Going through all the prophetic declarations of Jacob on his children in Gen 49,one could categorize the principles underlining them into eight:

1)The circumstances around the birth:Jacob used the issues that came up during their birth(especially the rivalry between Leah and Rachael-his wives)to shape their future prophetically.

2)Name:While the circumstances that surrounded their birth determined the majority of their names,their names in turn determined their future.

3)The position in the family:Some of the prophecies were linked to the position the individual occupied in the family as either firstborn,last born etc.

4)Character:This played a role in what Jacob said about some of his children.

5)Habits:Jacob mentioned some of their habits and such were used to project their future!

6)Temperament:Some being hot-tempered or cool-headed found its ways into the prophetic declarations of Jacob.

7)Actions: The children’s actions during certain events played significant roles in the prophecies.

8)Interpersonal relationship:The way their mothers related with each other on one hand and the children with outsiders on the other hand were part of the issues that determined their future course of life.

With the above,we can clearly see that prophecies are not something far from what we see all around us.

In fact all of our day-to-day activities are prophetic.They are either fulfilling prophecies or projecting a future for the next generation.

The next posts will be highlighting what Jacob said about each of his sons,why he said it and the lessons we can learn from it…