Genesis 49:1-50:14

The blessings of Jacob are more like prophecies of his sons' fates.  He tells them, from the outset, that he is going to let them know what is to come in the future.  Here's the break-down

• Reuben, because he defiled his father's bed by sleeping with one of his father's concubines, loses his place as the firstborn and the preeminence that should have gone with it.  Interesting, that instead it goes to Judah, from whom the future kings of Israel come as well as the Christ.  Could that possibly have come from Reuben if he hadn't been unstable, impatient, and lustful?
• Simeon and Levi are condemned for their actions at Shechem.  Here is Jacob's prophecy that I've mentioned before: he says they will be scattered among Israel.  In Joshua, we will see that come to pass. Simeon is given no land to inherit and Levi, because the service the Levites performed for Moses before the Golden Calf at Sinai, are granted towns throughout Israel to uphold the priesthood.
• Judah, then, certainly not the eldest, is given the preeminence of the eldest.  Jacob says that his father's sons shall bow before him, and all of Israel does when they bend their knees to their kings, as well as someday, The King.  He says the scepter and the rod shall not depart, and in Christ it never shall.
• Zebulun, though not actually on the sea, apparently does in fact profit from sea trade during Israel's occupancy of the Land.
• Issachar because of its occupancy of a fertile plain is often raided by armies and is subject to them, as Jacob says that they choose to rest in a good resting place and yet are forced laborers.
• Dan, whose name is a play on "judge", is to be a judge and mediator amongst his brothers.  Yet Jacob predicts he will be wily and treacherous, like a snake in the grass.  It is among the Danites we will eventually see the first practices of idolatry.
• Gad was among the two and a half tribes that settled on the east of the Jordan River.  Because of it, it was often subject to raiders.  The price of not actually entering into the Promised Land and experiencing fellowship with the brother tribes, I guess.
• The tribe of Asher eventually settles in rich farm land and are very productive.
• Naphtali settles in the mountains.  Cross-reference the story of Deborah and how the Naphatalite warriors descend from the hills on Sisero.  (Cool story.)
• For Joseph and his sons, they get a lot of praise.  If you read through Judges, many of the heros there are actually from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.  Here you can see Jacob's favoritism for Joseph in the rich blessings bestowed on him.
• The prophecy about Benjamin proves too true; they are brutal.  Have you read the last three chapters of Judges?  Yeah.

Shortly after Jacob "blesses" his sons (because how many of those are actually blessings rather than foretellings?), he "goes to be with his fathers. "  Joseph, particularly, is broken by his father's passing, having only been recently reunited with him.  This is the only time Joseph leaves Egypt again: to return his father's body to be buried with Isaac, Abraham, and Sarah (and we can assume likely Rebekah).  However, we see that that is not Joseph's last connection to the land of his father's sojourning.