Beginning with two animal images,
the next, long section (vv. 22-26) represents Joseph as a figure of warfare,
blessing, and superior status relative to his brothers (as in the blessings of
Joseph in Deut 33:13-17). The blessing is a marked departure for this poem. The
divine epithets attached to these blessings (v. 25) include three parallel pairs:
“the God of your father” (again the family or clan god; see 48:15) identified
as “God Almighty” (‘ēl šadday); “heavens and earth;” “breasts and womb”
(aka Asherah) parallel to “your father.” Probably El (not “fresh grain and
blossoms,” so NABRE). With Yahweh absent from this poem, this section suggests
devotion to the divine pair, El and Asherah. Elsewhere Yahweh is identified
with the male titles in this section, and the female title follows suit; it is
hardly nontheistic (cf. Deut 33:13-16 for nontheistic, natural elements,
including “Heavens” and “Deeps”). The poem ends with the youngest brother,
Joseph’s only full brother, Benjamin (cf. the opposite order in Deut 33;12-17).
The pithy animal-image used for Benjamin, the “ravenous wolf,” heads the
reference to his success in warfare and war spoils (v. 27). (Mark S. Smith,
“Genesis,” in The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century,
ed. John J. Collins, Gina Hens-Piazza, Barbara Reid, and Donald Senior [3d
ed.; London: T&T Clark, 2022], 255)
