The King's Delicacies Text: Genesis 49:20
Introduction: Prophetic Blueprints
When we come to a passage like this, where the patriarch Jacob is blessing his twelve sons, our modern sensibilities are tempted to treat it as a collection of quaint, slightly cryptic fortune cookie sayings. We see a little bit about lions, a little about snakes, and here, a little something about good food. But we must resist this temptation with all our might. This is not sentimental poetry. This is prophetic architecture. Jacob, speaking by the Holy Spirit, is laying down the blueprints for the nation of Israel, and by extension, he is providing types and shadows of the coming age of the Messiah.
Each of these blessings is a covenantal trajectory, a word from God that will shape the identity and destiny of each tribe for centuries to come. These are not guesses; they are decrees. They are spoken realities that will work their way out in the soil of Canaan, in the courts of kings, and ultimately, in the pews of the Church. To understand these blessings is to understand how God works in history, weaving the grand story of redemption through the particular lives of particular people in particular places.
The blessing on Asher is short, just one verse. But it is dense with theological meaning. It speaks of abundance, of quality, and of purpose. It tells us something essential about the nature of God's blessing. God's blessings are never for our own sake alone. They are not meant to terminate on us, making us fat and happy in a corner. God blesses His people so that they might be a blessing, and specifically here, so that they might produce something worthy of a king. This is a principle that runs from Genesis to Revelation. God makes our bread fat so that we might have something to offer at the royal table.
The Text
"As for Asher, his food shall be rich,
And he will yield royal dainties."
(Genesis 49:20 LSB)
Rich Bread from a Rich God (v. 20a)
The first part of the blessing is a promise of profound abundance.
"As for Asher, his food shall be rich..." (Genesis 49:20a)
The name Asher itself means "happy" or "blessed." When he was born, his mother Leah declared, "Happy am I! For women have called me happy" (Gen. 30:13). So this prophecy is a confirmation of his name. Asher's life would be one of happiness flowing from the tangible blessing of God. And this blessing is described as rich food, or as the King James Version puts it, "his bread shall be fat."
This had a direct, historical fulfillment. The tribe of Asher was allotted a strip of land along the Mediterranean coast in northern Canaan, a territory famous for its fertility. It was a land that produced exceptional wheat, fine olive oil, and other bounties. Moses echoes this blessing in Deuteronomy, saying of Asher, "May he dip his foot in oil" (Deut. 33:24). This was not a land of subsistence farming. This was a place of surplus, of richness, of fatness. It was a tangible picture of the goodness of God's creation and the faithfulness of His covenant promises.
But we must not stop at the agricultural level. The Bible always uses physical bread as a pointer to a deeper spiritual reality. Jesus Himself picks up this theme when He declares, "I am the bread of life" (John 6:35). The provision God gives His people is, at its heart, spiritual. The food that the church, the new Israel, enjoys is the richest food of all. It is the pure milk and solid meat of the Word of God. It is the fellowship of the saints. It is the grace administered in the sacraments. Our bread is fat because our God is not a stingy God. He is a God of lavish generosity. He does not give us spiritual stones; He gives us the Bread of Heaven. This blessing is a polemic against all the pagan gods of scarcity, who had to be appeased and bribed lest they withhold the harvest. Our God is the God who delights to give good gifts to His children.
This fatness, this richness, is the objective reality of the gospel. The forgiveness we have is a rich forgiveness. The grace we receive is abundant grace. The inheritance we are promised is a glorious inheritance. We are not called to a life of spiritual anorexia, picking at a few dry crumbs of doctrine. We are called to a feast.
For the King's Table (v. 20b)
But this abundance is not an end in itself. It has a glorious purpose, as the second half of the verse makes clear.
"And he will yield royal dainties." (Genesis 49:20b)
Asher is not just blessed to be full; he is blessed to be fruitful. And his fruit is of the highest quality, delicacies fit for a king. The richness of his provision is meant to be cultivated and crafted into something excellent, something to be presented at the royal court. Historically, this meant that the produce from Asher's territory, its fine flour and oil, would have supplied the tables of kings like David and Solomon. The tribe's prosperity was not just for its own consumption; it was integrated into the life and glory of the kingdom.
Herein lies the profound application for us. We who have been given the fat bread of the gospel are now called to produce royal dainties for our King, the Lord Jesus Christ. What are these delicacies? They are the fruit of the Spirit, cultivated in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, and the rest. They are the works of obedience, done in faith. They are the songs we sing, the prayers we offer, the children we raise, the businesses we build, the art we create, and the culture we shape, all offered up to Him for His glory. God saves us and blesses us with spiritual riches not so we can sit around and admire our full spiritual stomachs, but so that we can get to work, applying that grace to every square inch of our lives and producing something beautiful for our King.
This is the heart of a postmillennial worldview. We are not just trying to escape a doomed world. We are tasked with cultivating the garden of this world so that it yields delicacies for King Jesus. Our families should be royal dainties. Our churches should be royal dainties. Our communities should be cultivated in such a way that they produce justice, beauty, and truth, fit for the King's inspection. The blessing of Asher is a commission for cultural dominion. We are blessed to produce a civilization that honors the King.
Conclusion: From Blessed to Blessing
The prophecy concerning Asher is a microcosm of the Christian life. We begin with a name, "blessed," given to us by grace. God then fills our lives with the rich food of His Word and Spirit. He makes our bread fat. He delivers us from the spiritual famine of the world and seats us at His banqueting table.
But we do not stay there forever. Fed and nourished by His grace, we are sent out into the fields of our lives, our callings, our vocations. And there, we are to work. We are to cultivate, to shape, to build, to create. We are to take the raw materials of the grace we have received and produce something of exquisite value, something that delights the heart of our King.
Are you living as an Asher? Have you understood that the grace you receive is not for your consumption alone? God has blessed you so that you might yield royal dainties. Look at your life, your family, your work, your church. What delicacies are you preparing for the King's table? Let us be a people known for our rich doctrine and our royal deeds, a people whose happiness is found not just in receiving the blessing, but in yielding the fruit.