Because the unity of the passage is questionable, it is difficult to determine an exact date of composition. The first to dispute its unity was
Ernest Renan (, p. iii.) and the conjecture that the song consists of sayings originating in different periods gained more and more credence (J. P. N. Land,
Disputatio de Carmine Jacobi, 1857; Kuenen, Holzinger, and others). The great variety of forms in the song supports this theory: while the language of one part is smooth and clear, another part is obscure. The determination of the correctness of this theory involves an investigation of the age of each verse; and in several instances this cannot be ascertained, since the verses indicate nothing concerning the time of their origin (see verses on
Zebulun, Gad,
Asher, and
Naphtali). The verses on
Issachar refer to the period after the struggles of
Deborah (
Judges 5); the verses on Dan, describing his battles in the north, where in his conflicts with the surrounding nations he maintained the old Israelitish custom of making an insidious rear attack instead of offering a bold challenge, refer to the time after Judges chapters 17 and following; and the verses on Judah (8, 11) presuppose the kingdom of Judah. The comparison of Judah to a lion's whelp seems to characterize him as a rising power. This may apply to different periods, not necessarily to the time of David. , 1656 The verses on Joseph (22–27) allude to a defensive war, in which Joseph was successful. Since the text refers to archers, and the Arabs were excellent marksmen,
August Dillmann thinks that the war was with the Arabs. The authors of the
Jewish Encyclopedia regard his conjecture as erroneous; for the conflicts with the Arabs were confined to the portion of
Manasseh east of the Jordan, and the term "Joseph" designates the portion of the tribe of Joseph dwelling west of the Jordan. The
JE states that, moreover, the reference could not have been to the
Philistines, by whom the tribe was occasionally subdued, the verse alludes to the Arameans of Damascus, with whom the conflicts were of long duration, often threatening the safety of the tribe of Joseph—that is, of the Northern Kingdom. Verse 24, however, bears no testimony of times following the glorious period of
Jeroboam II; consequently the passage on Joseph points to the ninth century. The
JE asserts that it was probably in the second half of this century, at all events before the conquests of Jeroboam, and evidently in the Southern Kingdom, that the collection of these pithy descriptions of the tribes was completed. If verses 25 and 26 are interpolations, this is the only interpretation that the
JE authors hold would also explain both the esteem felt for Judah, expressed in the passage on him, and the silence concerning the Benjamite kingdom and possibly even the Northern Kingdom. Dillmann endeavored to arrive at the same conclusion by the supposed sequence in the enumeration of the minor tribes, proceeding from south to north. But this supposition, according to the
JE, is not tenable; for the very first tribe mentioned is the most northerly, and, furthermore, the sequence is broken by Gad. However, even if there were an exact geographical succession of tribes from south to north, it would prove nothing concerning the home of the collector of the passages, since the same order would have been natural for an
Ephraimite (compare Holzinger
ad loc.). Zimmern's attempt (in "Zeit. für Assyriologie," 1892, pp. 161
et seq.) to connect Jacob's blessing with the Babylonian representation of the zodiac, specifically with the
Gilgamesh epic, can not be regarded as successful. Ball has given some important and well-founded arguments against this theory (Commentary on Genesis in "S. B. O. T." pp. 114
et seq.). Zimmern himself does not assume that the poet or collector of the song was aware of the original significance of each passage. Historically, Jacob's blessing is of great value, both because it is the only source of information for certain tribes in ancient times, and because it is an aid in rendering the sources (for example, ) more intelligible. ==See also==