CHAPTER XV. The benedictions pronounced upon Gad, Asher, and Napthali. So far as we have yet proceeded with Jacob's prophecies, I think they have been satisfactorily shown to be of a highly poetical character. Indeed, it is eloquently and truly maintained by Bishop Lowth,* "that the prophetic office had a most strict connection with the poetic art. They had one common name, one common origin, one common author-the Holy Spirit. Those in particular were called to the exercise of the prophetic office, who were previously conversant with sacred poetry. It was equally a part of their duty to compose verses for the service of the church, and to declare the oracles of God: it cannot therefore be doubted, that a great portion of the sacred hymns may properly be termed prophecies, or that many of the prophecies are in reality hymns or poems. Since, as we have already proved, it was from the first a principal end and aim of poetry to impress upon the minds of men the sayings of the wise, and such precepts as related either to the principles * Eighteenth Prælection. of faith or laws of morality, as well as to transmit the same to posterity; it ought not to appear extraordinary that prophecy, which in this view ranks as a principal, and is of the highest importance, should not disdain the assistance of an art so admirably calculated to effect its purposes.' The benedictions pronounced upon Gad, Asher, and Napthali, consist each of a single couplet. The first is somewhat obscure, and the drift of it not very obvious: Gad, a troop shall overcome him, But he shall overcome at the last. Little or nothing is here foretold of Gad, and he can scarcely be said to have received a blessing. But may not this be expressive of the insignificancy of that tribe which, when they marched out of Egypt under their chief Eliasaph, amounted to forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty men, but decreased in the wilderness to five thousand one hundred and fifty? The inheritance of Gad was a border country, and therefore constantly invaded, but the descendants of this patriarch, being a fierce and warlike race, as is almost invariably the case with borderers who are continually called upon to defend their territories from the sudden irruptions of neighbouring states, they at length succeeded in awing their enemies. Gad, a troop shall overcome him. This, no doubt, refers to the frequent incursions of the Ammonites and other nations dwelling on or near the frontier, by whom the Gadites were often oppressed, sometimes suffering the extremest hardships of tyrannical domination; nevertheless, maintaining their freedom amidst every difficulty and in spite of perpetual opposition. They were vanquished, but not subdued. The hardships of war rendered them intractable, resolute, and brave; whilst the constant perils to which they were exposed, made them wary, active, and hardy. They were ever ready to contend for their liberties, with the courage of freemen, who knew how to value and were determined to possess them. But he shall overcome at the last. This most probably alludes to a signal victory obtained by the Gadites, in conjunction with the half-tribe of Manasseh, over the Hagarites, as related in the first of Chronicles v. 18-22, taking captive "of their camels fifty thousand, and of sheep two hundred and fifty thousand, and of asses two thousand, and of men an hundred thousand." After this victory, the Gadites maintained both their conquest and independence, keeping possession of their enemy's territory until the captivity. They were among the best troops of the Israelites; and what is said respecting this tribe by Moses, when he blessed the children of Israel, just before his death,* is a sufficient attestation of their valour: Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad: He dwelleth as a lion, And teareth the arm with the crown of the head. *Sec Deut. xxxiii. 20. The word Gad signifies a troop, so that the name of this patriarch, as in other instances previously noticed, is made subservient to the purposes of prophecy; foretelling the temporal condition of his descendants. Hebrew scholars have remarked a singular alliteration in both lines of the distich in which this obscure prediction is comprehended. The original words are, in our common letters,— Gad gedud yegudennu; This alliteration is of course lost in our English version, as it is impossible to preserve it; but in the original, it no doubt imparts grace as well as ornament to the passage, being unquestionably an artifice of composition. It must, however, be observed, that the poetical fervor rises or falls in these predictions in proportion as the subjects are susceptible or otherwise of poetical embellishment, which certainly is not predominant in the benediction pronounced upon Gad. It may, nevertheless, be taken as an advantageous contrast to the more ornate passages, throwing them out into more striking relief and imparting to them additional value, as the repose of a beautiful valley heightens the bolder and more diversified features of a magnificent landscape. Dr. Durell suggests the following reading of this difficult passage: A troop shall invade Gad, But he shall invade their rear. "This part of the prophecy," he observes, "seems to have been fulfilled sooner than any. Sihon, king of the Amorites, refused the Israelites a free passage through his country to the land of Canaan; and, not content with this, levied a large army; and, in conjunction with Og, the king of Bashan, marched out and attacked the Israelites under the conduct of Moses. The consequence of this rash expedition was, that both those kings and their armies met with a total overthrow, lost their country and all that they had. The country of the Amorites was given by Moses to the Gadites, probably because they had been chiefly instrumental in subduing it; and it is with reference to that grant, that what he says of this tribe in the parallel place (Deut. xxxiii. 21) is to be understood; and I think it is so here: but perhaps it may be capable of a greater latitude. For the Amorites vexed and oppressed the children of Israel which were on the other side Jordan during eighteen years, till Jepthah subdued them with a very great slaughter. (See Judges x. 8, xi. 33); and a long time after this event we find the Amorites in possession of the land of the Gadites; unto which these latter are promised to be restored, and the usurpers to be carried into captivity." (Jer. xlix. 1-3.) Dr. Adam Clarke justly observes, on the last line of the above rendering, 66 But he shall invade their rear, that it contains almost no meaning, as it only seems to state, that though the army which |