49; and we have to bear in mind the possibility that this ancient document may have preserved an older tradition as to the grouping and relations of the tribes than that which is given in the prose legends (chs. 29. 30).—On the question whether a sojourn in Egypt is presupposed between the utterance and the fulfilment of the predictions, the poem naturally throws no direct light. It is not improbable that in this respect it stands on the same plane as 4822 (34. 38), and traces the conquest of Palestine back to Jacob himself.
Metrical Form.—See Sievers, Metrische Studien, i. 404 ff., ii. 152 ff., 361 ff. The poem (vv.2-27) exhibits throughout a clearly marked metrical structure, the unit being the trimeter distich, with frequent parallelism between the two members. The lines which do not conform to this type (vv.7b. 13b. 18, and esp. 24b-26) are so few that interpolation or corruption of text may reasonably be suspected; although our knowledge of the laws of Hebrew poetry does not entitle us to say that an occasional variation of rhythm is in itself inadmissible.
Source.—Since the poem is older than any of the Pentateuchal
documents, the only question that arises is the relatively unimportant
one of the stage of compilation at which it was incorporated in the
narrative of Gen. Of the primary sources, E and P are excluded;
the former because of the degradation of Reuben, which is nowhere
recognised by E; and the latter by the general tendency of that
work, and its suppression of discreditable incidents in the story of
the patriarchs. The passage is in perfect harmony with the representation
of J, and may without difficulty be assigned to that document,
as is done by the majority of critics. At the same time, the
absence of literary connexion with the narrative leaves a considerable
margin of uncertainty; and it is just as easy to suppose that the insertion
took place in the combined narrative JE, perhaps by the same
hand which inserted the Blessing of Moses in Deut. (see We. Comp.2 62).
That it was introduced during the final redaction of the Pent. is less
probable, especially if 28bβ ((
Hebrew characters)) was the original continuation of 1b in P
(see on v.1).
Monographs on the Song: Diestel, Der Segen Jakob's in Genes. xlix. historisch erläutert (1853); Land, Disputatio de carmine Jacobi (1858); Kohler, Der Segen Jakob's mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der alten Versionen und des Midrasch historisch-kritisch untersucht und erklärt (1867); cf. also Meier, Geschichte der poetischen National Literatur der Hebräer (1856), pp. 109-113; Peters, JSBL, 1886, pp. 99-116; and see the copious reff. in Tu. or Di.
1, 2. Introduction.—The poem begins with a preamble
(v.2) from the hand of the writer who composed or collected
the oracles and put them in the mouth of Jacob. 1b is a
prose introduction, supplied probably by the editor who
incorporated the Song in the narrative of J or JE; while 1a
appears to be a fragment of P divorced from its original
