Binding his foal unto the vine, and his donkey's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:
All Commentaries on Genesis 49:11 Go To Genesis 49
Rufinus of Aquileia
AD 411
This is appropriately and exclusively said about Christ. He that said, “I am the true vine” bound his foal to the vine. Therefore he binds his foal and his ass’s foal to this vine. His foal is the people of the nations, onto whom certainly the burden of the law had never been imposed and among whom no one but he had ever held the first position. His ass’s foal are those, who coming from the first people symbolized here by the sheass, were elected for salvation and about whom the prophet says, “If the sons of Israel are like the sand of the sea, the rest shall be saved.” After rejecting the sheass who preferred to wear the yoke of the law in its infidelity, the foal born from it is elected, that is, a new people coming from the old one through faith is adopted and associated to the people of the nations. Therefore Christ is called “vine” because he has received the human nature, to which the Word of God binds his foal, that is, unites his people and associates it with that way of life that he followed in the flesh, so that the foal that has been bound may become with him son of God and coheir of Christ.
