The approach of death is a time of special perspicacity, a time of special grace, and frequently a time of special blessing. In the reading from Genesis, Jacob [Israel] is on his deathbed in Egypt. He looks to the future happiness of his sons and blesses them. The passage chosen for today is his blessing for Judah. In his act of blessing, Jacob shows himself a true patriarch, but in what he says he shows himself a prophet as well. Just as God has spoken to us through the history of the chosen people of Israel, so too God speaks now through Jacob, the ancestor of the people of Israel. As a prophet, Jacob speaks of a future that will extend long after his sons are dead. God will bless that in a way that no human being could bless it. That future would see the fullness of every blessing and the climax of grace in the Incarnation and the re-creation of the human race in Jesus.

Jacob was wise to bless Judah, but human wisdom can never compare with divine wisdom. Hence we pray in the Alleluia verse that the wisdom of God most high might come. That prayer has been answered for us in Christ.