“Jacob called to his sons, and he said: Gather, and I will tell you what will befall you at the end of days. Assemble and hear, sons of Jacob, and listen to Israel your father” (Genesis 49:1–2). Why did he call them? He sought to reveal to them the End.
It is written: “He removes speech from the trusted, and takes the sense of elders” (Job 12:20). Who are the “trusted” and the “elders”? They are Isaac, Jacob, Aaron, and Moses. In Moses’s regard it is written: “In all My house he is trusted” (Numbers 12:7).
Likewise, in Aaron’s regard: “The Torah of truth was in his mouth” (Malachi 2:6). But because they said: “Hear now, defiant ones” (Numbers 20:10), they were sentenced because of their speech – “therefore, you will not bring this assembly [into the land that I have given them]” (Numbers 20:12). That is, “He removes speech from the trusted.”22Here the midrash interprets the verse to mean: “He removes the trusted due to speech,” meaning that God removed Moses and Aaron from their projected positions of leading Israel into the land due to their sin involving speech.
“And takes the sense of elders” – this is Isaac and Jacob. Isaac was fond of Esau, whom the Holy One blessed be He hated, and he said to him: “Prepare delicacies for me” (Genesis 27:4), and sought to bless him and reveal the End to him. What did the Holy One blessed be He do? He stripped him of his sense, and he did not know,23God removed the divine spirit from Isaac. but he began trembling, as it is stated: “Isaac was overcome [with very great trembling]” (Genesis 27:33).
When he was unable to find what to say, he said: “Indeed he shall be blessed” (Genesis 27:33). Jacob, too, sought to reveal the End to his sons, as it is stated: “Gather, and I will tell you what will befall [you at the end of days]”; and the Holy One blessed be He concealed it from him, and he began saying: “Reuben, you are my firstborn” (Genesis 49:3). That is, “and takes the sense of elders.”