How was Jacob's blessing to his sons prophetic?

Question

Would appreciate detail on this, if possible. I'm fascinated by it.

Answer 1

"I am Esau thy firstborn"... St. Augustine (L. Contra mendacium, c. 10), treating at large upon this place, excuseth Jacob from a lie, because this whole passage was mysterious, as relating to the preference which was afterwards to be given to the Gentiles before the carnal Jews, which Jacob by prophetic light might understand. So far is certain, that the first birthright, both by divine election and by Esau's free cession belonged to Jacob: so that if there were any lie in the case, it could be no more than an officious and venial one.

Answer 2

When Rebekah was pregnant, an angel told her that the younger son would rule over the older. In those days the older almost always received the greater blessing.

Answer 3

I am taking some excerpts from "The Third Thousand Years" by W. Cleon Skousen, one of the pre-eminent Mormon scriptorians who died a year ago. Instead of typing several pages I will just point out what happened and what it meant.
p. 131 "As Joseph entered the room to greet his father, Jacob immediately unfolded to him his plan (Genesis 48:3-4) for adopting Ephraim and Manasseh, (since Reuben was guilty of incest, see Genesis 48:1, and Simeon was guilty of leading murderous attack on the male population of Shechem, see Genesis 34:25-30)...Joseph must have caught the full implication of this plan immediately. It meant that his sons would be moved up as direct heirs of Jacob, each of them receiving one twelfth of Jacob's estate. It also meant that in the pattern of the Priesthood these two sons would be adopted by Jacob to replace Reuben and Simeon, as his first and second sons. This meant that Joseph's house would be the major beneficiary, both materially and spiritually, of Jacob's priceless legacy." There is more to the blessing that Joseph gives Manasseh and Ephraim, as Ephraim was blessed to "be greater than he (Manasseh), and his seed shall become a multitude of nations." Overall, Joseph received the birthright blessing with 6 specific promises. 1. His posterity would be like a "fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall" and extend to "the utmost bound of the everlasting hills." 2. Joseph's descendants would be subject to the ferocious violence of war but would be known as valiant men who would abide in their places and would be blessed of God so they would come off victorious in the end. 3. The tribe of Joseph would enjoy the blessings of heaven with its life-giving moisture necesary to make their inheritance productive. 4. They would have the blessing of the great deep - meaning their travels across the ocean would be blessed (to us as Mormons, we believe this is a direct reference to how Lehi's family was blessed to cross the ocean in 600 B.C., and which uses direct references to the blessings Joseph received, which you can read about in the Book of Mormon), 5. They would be blessed with a great posterity possessing fertility and strength. 6. The birthright blessing itself - meaning Joseph had a larger share of his father's inheritance. Skousen lists the other verses from Genesis 49 with the other sons mentioned.(Genesis 48:19)...With regards to Benjamin Skousen noted, "Apparently the second son of Rachel was not nearly the caliber of the first. As with most of the others, the pronouncement on his head was not so much a blessing as a prophecy: "Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf; in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil." (Genesis 49:27) This prophecy was literally fulfilled in the history of Benjamin's descendants. They invariably displayed a rude courage and a war-like ferocity, particularly in their conflicts with other tribes. On one occasion they had two great victories and then were nearly exterminated. (Judges 20:12-48)
There is another note here on p. 158 regarding something Dr. Joseph Klausner (a Hebrew professor in Jerusalem years ago) said that Skousen quotes, "Dr. Klausner admits that it is historically repugnant to the Jewish scholars to think that anything good could come out of Ephraim. As Joseph's heir, Ephraim took its place at the head of the twelve tribes. When Judah rebelled around 937 B.C. and set up a separate capital it was almost inevitable that the most bitter kind of hostility would persist between Judah and Ephraim. Even after the Northern Kingdom (under Ephraim) had been conquered by the Assyrians around 722 B.C. , and carried off to an unknown destination, the hostility of Judah continued to be vented on the Samaritans, who were said to have a remnant of Ephraimite blood in them."
If you want to read more of W. Cleon Skousen's commentaries see link below. His commentaries on the Bible are called the Thousand Year Series and come in different volumes, or you can also get Skousen's complete works. They are very helpful for those of us who haven't traveled around the world studying with Jewish scholars, which is most of us, I'm sure.