Zebulun shall dwell at the shore of the sea; and he shall be for a haven of ships; and his border shall be unto Sidon.
All Commentaries on Genesis 49:13 Go To Genesis 49
Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
The very interpretation of his name gives promise of better things, since in our tongue it means “freedom from the things of night,” which is surely a good, and appropriate to one who trusts in the wings of the Lord. For the truth of the Lord encompasses him, so that he is not afraid of the terror of the night or of the thing that walks about in darkness. Therefore “Zebulun shall dwell by the sea.” Thus he may look upon the shipwrecks of others while being himself free from danger; he may behold others driven here and there on the sea of this world, those who are borne about by every wind of doctrine, while himself persevering on the ground of an immovable faith. Just so, the most holy church is grounded and founded in faith, as it beholds the tempests of heretics and the shipwrecks of the Jews, because they refused the pilot whom they once had. Therefore [the church] dwells beside the waters, but it is not disturbed by the waters. It is ready to give help rather than being subject to danger. Even so, if anyone have been driven by severe storms and wants to take refuge in the harbor, the church is at hand like a harbor of salvation. Opening its arms, it calls into the lap of its tranquility those who are in danger and shows them a trusty place of anchorage. Therefore, the churches in this world are scattered over the coasts like seaports; they stand to meet the afflicted, and say to them that a refuge has been prepared for believers, where they can beach their windbattered vessels.
