Genesis 49:1-33 And Jacob called unto his sons, and said: 'Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the end of days. (2) Assemble yourselves, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father. (3) Reuben, thou art my first-born, my might, and the first-fruits of my strength; the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power. (4) Unstable as water, have not thou the excellency; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it - he went up to my couch. (5) Simeon and Levi are brethren; weapons of violence their kinship. (6) Let my soul not come into their council; unto their assembly let my glory not be united; for in their anger they slew men, and in their self-will they houghed oxen. (7) Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel; I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel. (8) Judah, thee shall thy brethren praise; thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies; thy father's sons shall bow down before thee. (9) Judah is a lion's whelp; from the prey, my son, thou art gone up. He stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as a lioness; who shall rouse him up? (10) The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, as long as men come to Shiloh; and unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be. (11) Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washeth his garments in wine, and his vesture in the blood of grapes; (12) His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk. (13) Zebulun shall dwell at the shore of the sea, and he shall be a shore for ships, and his flank shall be upon Zidon. (14) Issachar is a large-boned ass, couching down between the sheep-folds. (15) For he saw a resting-place that it was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and he bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant under task-work (16) Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. (17) Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a horned snake in the path, that biteth the horse's heels, so that his rider falleth backward. (18) I wait for Thy salvation, O Lord. (19) Gad, a troop shall troop upon him; but he shall troop upon their heel. (20) As for Asher, his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties. (21) Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words. (22) Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine by a fountain; its branches run over the wall. (23) The archers have dealt bitterly with him, and shot at him, and hated him; (24) But his bow abode firm, and the arms of his hands were made supple, by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, from thence, from the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel, (25) Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee, and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee, with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that coucheth beneath, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb. (26) The blessings of thy father are mighty beyond the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills; they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of the prince among his brethren. (27) Benjamin is a wolf that raveneth; in the morning he devoureth the prey, and at even he divideth the spoil.' (28) All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is it that their father spoke unto them and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them. (29) And he charged them, and said unto them: 'I am to be gathered unto my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, (30) in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a burying-place. (31) There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah. (32) The field and the cave that is therein, which was purchased from the children of Heth.' (33) And when Jacob made an end of charging his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and expired, and was gathered unto his people.
last days –the things Jacob will be speaking about speak of the future. Some things will refer to what will happen as they come into the Promised Land, some will refer even up to the time of the end.
unstable as water – pachaz – recklessness, like boiling or overflowing water. Water isn't so easy to control, it certainly doesn't control itself; it just boils over.
Jacob is referring to the fact that Reuben had committed adultery with one of Jacob's own wives (Gen. 35:22)
Sexual sin – this was Reuben's problem
The Bible clearly tells us that God designed sex to be enjoyed in the specific setting of marriage. God designed sex to function at it's best when it's in the atmosphere of a man and woman who are committed to each other for life.
Sex outside the boundaries of marriage is called "immorality". It's a broad word that can include things like adultery (when people are married, but having sex with someone outside the marriage), sex before marriage, homosexuality, and just about any other thing you don't want to be imagining.
1 Cor 6:18-20 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. {19} Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? {20} For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.
How do I develop self-control?
1. The work of the Spirit
Gal 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, {23} gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
Self control is one aspect of the "fruit" that the Holy Spirit wants to produce in your life. The kind of self-control that God is looking for starts by yielding your life to the work of the Holy Spirit, letting Him do what He wants in your life.
2. Learn to be faithful in small things
Luke 16:10-12 "He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. {11} "Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? {12} "And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own?
Self-control is a key ingredient to "faithfulness". Even though we see self-control being a work of God's Spirit, it is also a result of what you choose to do.
Faithfulness starts with the "least". Learning to be faithful in the small things of life teaches you to be faithful in the bigger things in life.
It might be learning save your money instead of spend it. It might be learning to get up when the alarm goes off instead of sleeping too late. Start with the smaller things in life.
I find that when you grow in self-control in one area of your life, you affect the other areas of your life as well.
Simeon and Levi were involved in the slaughtering of the Shechemites. The reason for their actions was because Shechem, the son of Hamor raped their sister Dinah, even though he now wanted to marry her, they saw this as wrong and it was. But their plan was evil. They said they would allow it if all the men of Shechem were circumcised. They agreed to this and when they couldn't fight because of the pain of the circumcision, they slaughtered all the men of the city and plundered the city. It was a heinous act.
The tribe of Dan introduced idolatry into the land of Israel. Dan became the center of idol worship.
Jacob finishes his blessings upon his son's and then concludes by telling them not to bury him in the world, in Egypt.
Charles Spurgeon said this about Jacob; "He who had journeyed with unwearied foot fully many a mile was now obliged to gather up his feet into the bed to die. His life had been eventful in the highest degree, but the dread event now came upon him, which is common to us all. He had deceived his blind father in his youth, but no craftiness of Jacob could deceive the grave. He had fled from Esau, his angry brother, but a swifter and surer foot was now in pursuit, from which there was no escape. He had slept with a stone for his pillow and had seen heaven opened, but he was to find that it was only to be entered by the ordinary gate. He had wrestled with the angel at the brook Jabbok, and he had prevailed; at this time he was to wrestle with an angel against whom there was no prevalence. He had dwelt in Canaan in tents, in the midst of enemies, and the Lord had said, 'Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm,' and therefore he had been secure in the midst of a thousand ills; but now he must fall by the hand of the last enemy and feel the great avenger's sword."