49:15. He saw rest that it was good: and the land that it was excellent: and he bowed his shoulder to carry, and became a servant under tribute. 49:16. Dan shall judge his people like another tribe in Israel. Dan shall judge, etc.... This was verified in Samson, who was of the tribe of Dan, and began to deliver Israel. Judges 13.5. But as this deliverance was but temporal and very imperfect, the holy patriarch (ver. 18) aspires after another kind of deliverer, saying: I will look for thy salvation, O Lord. 49:17. Let Dan be a snake in the way, a serpent in the path, that biteth the horse’s heels, that his rider may fall backward. 49:18. I will look for thy salvation, O Lord. 49:19. Gad, being girded, shall fight before him: and he himself shall be girded backward. Gad being girded, etc.... It seems to allude to the tribe of Gad; when after they had received for their lot the land of Galaad, they marched in arms before the rest of the Israelites, to the conquest of the land of Chanaan: from whence they afterwards returned loaded with spoils. See Jos. 4. and 12. 49:20. Aser, his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield dainties to kings. 49:21. Nephthali, a hart let loose, and giving words of beauty. 49:22. Joseph is a growing son, a growing son and comely to behold: the daughters run to and fro upon the wall; Run to and fro, etc.... To behold his beauty; whilst his envious brethren turned their darts against him, etc. 49:23. But they that held darts, provoked him, and quarrelled with him, and envied him. 49:24. His bow rested upon the strong, and the bands of his arms and his hands were loosed, by the hands of the mighty one of Jacob: thence he came forth a pastor, the stone of Israel. His bow rested upon the strong, etc.... That is, upon God, who was his strength: who also loosed his bands, and brought him out of prison to be the pastor, that is, the feeder and ruler of Egypt, and the stone, that is, the rock and support of Israel. 49:25. The God of thy father shall be thy helper, and the Almighty shall bless thee with the blessings of heaven above, with the blessings of the deep that lieth beneath, with the blessings of the breasts and of the womb. 49:26. The blessings of thy father are strengthened with the blessings of his fathers: until the desire of the everlasting hills should come: may they be upon the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of the Nazarite among his brethren.