בֵּ֤ן פֹּרָת֙ יוֹסֵ֔ף בֵּ֥ן פֹּרָ֖ת עֲלֵי־עָ֑יִן בָּנ֕וֹת צָעֲדָ֖ה עֲלֵי־שֽׁוּר׃

 

One English translation of Genesis 49:22 is:

    "Joseph is a wild ass,

A wild ass by a spring
—Wild colts on a hillside."

A second one is:

    “Joseph is a fruitful bough, / A fruitful bough by a spring, / Its branches run over a wall.”

    Since I see there is no mention of mules/asses or donkeys in the Hebrew, I am prefering the translation about the fruitful bough. But I am asking myself - for years now - what does it mean?

    So, the more I dig, the more interesting it gets!

Here's the whole verse in Hebrew:

בֵּ֤ן פֹּרָת֙ יוֹסֵ֔ף בֵּ֥ן פֹּרָ֖ת עֲלֵי־עָ֑יִן בָּנ֕וֹת צָעֲדָ֖ה עֲלֵי־שֽׁוּר׃

The first three words say: Son of fruitfulness is Joseph. The next two words repeat "son of fruitfulness".

    Then:

עֲלֵי - (prep) arc - Upon, over, on account of, above, to, against. (I chose the archaic meaning, because I reckon there isn't more archaic than Bereshiyt, though there are plenty of other meanings for this little word).

    Then:

עַיִן - (n) Eye, of physical eye, of mental and spiritual faculties (fig.).

Or, wait for it, "spring, fountain". It's also apparently the name of a place within the territory of Simeon!

    So these two little words - עֲלֵי־עָ֑יִן - mean - maybe? - "over a fountain/spring". The root עַל also indicates "ascending".

    The next word - בָּנ֕וֹת - is very interesting. It literally means "daughters".

    This is followed by the Hebrew words צָעֲדָ֖ה - meaning "stepping, marching, or stride".

    Bearing in mind that these blessings that Jacob spoke over his sons on his deathbed by inspiration of the Holy Spirit were supposed to be a revealing of the End Times. But the Holy One, Blessed be He, didn't allow him to reveal that to them at that time, so out came the very individualised blessings for each child.

    Some say that hidden and encoded within these blessings is the information Jacob had initially intended to impart. To uncover the secrets, though, one needs the keys. Just to clarify - I don't have them! - but I am very intrigued by what this cryptic, poetic passage could possibly mean!

    בַּת is also an ancient liquid measure - what we would call a "bath" today. Given that we are talking about a fountain or spring, this phrase could be saying:

    "Daughters (or measures of water - the spring) marching, stepping, or striding".

    The last two words in the verse are: עֲלֵי־שֽׁוּר. We have עַל again, which could mean "over/upon" or "ascending", followed by שֽׁוּר which means "to travel, journey, go". Or, it could also mean: "to see, behold, observe, regard". This is also the name of one of the camps of Israel in the wilderness. It's location is apparently: A place southwest of Israel, on the eastern border, or within the border of, Egypt; the Israelites passed through the wilderness of Shur after crossing the Red Sea; also 'wilderness of Etham'.

    So now we have the names of two places that the Israelites travelled to and/or got as their territory. What are we to make of this?

    With so many possible ways of interpreting this verse, I will close with the words I wrote in my journal earlier today: 

    "The Code!!! I've stumbled onto one of the Codes HaShem put into His Torah!"

    I then asked my journal the question "Could this mean God is going to give them the land referred to in this verse?"

    My brain is pretty scrambled after all this detective work, so I'll leave it here for now. Perhaps you might have further light to shed on this most amazing little verse?!

    

May this coming year be one of blessing and joy for all of us!