In chapter 47 we
have seen Jacob and his family settled in the province of Goshen in Egypt. In chapter
48 we shall find a special interaction of blessing between Jacob and Joseph
and Joseph’s sons, Manasseh and Ephraim before Jacob speaks his parting words
and blessings to his sons in chapter 49.
These last chapters of Genesis
mark the end of Jacob’s life and introduce the next generation by means of a transfer
of blessing. The Hebrew word barak (בָרַךְ),
translated as blessing, means literally "to
kneel". We kneel before God to receive a benefit or blessing. To bless
is to give. The opposite of blessing is curse – to curse is to take away. When we bless others we speak and desire well-being
in their lives. To bless and be
blessed is a fundamental part of our relationship with God, as well as
relationships with other people. Whenever
such a mind-set prevails we are on our way to become a well ordered society.
OUTLINE
1.
48: 1- 4 Joseph hears of his father’s final illness and
prepares to receive his blessings
2.
48:5 -7 Jacob adopts Ephraim and Manasseh
into Israel’s inheritance.
3.
48:8-20 Jacob blesses Ephraim and Manasseh
and explains the choosing the younger over the older.
4.
48:21,22
Jacob makes a particular promise
to Joseph.
1. 48:1-4 Joseph hears of his father’s final illness
and prepares to receive his blessings
We know that Jacob was an old man by the time he came to
Egypt (47:9). He has given
instructions to Joseph, that should he die,
he was not to be buried in Egypt, but in the land of his fathers (47:30).
In the 48th chapter we shall
find him sick and near the end of his life. Jacob's frailty is reflected in the
effort it takes him to sit up in bed (48:2).
When Joseph hears of his father’s illness, he does what many family members do
when they hear of such terminal illness of a relative. They go to pay their
final respects. He takes his two oldest sons with him in the hope of receiving
their grandfather’s blessing. We have just considered the nature of blessing. It is
really important that we should learn to respect the aged and to seek out the
prayer and the blessings of their wisdom.
Matthew Henry says, “It is good to
acquaint young people that are coming into the world with the aged servants of
God that are going out of it, whose dying testimony to the goodness of God, and
the pleasantness of wisdom's ways, may be a great encouragement to the rising
generation.” It is sad, that in our own generation we find so few aged fathers
dying in the full blaze of faith, and able to bless their children and
grandchildren. When you have not lived in the blessed presence of God in all
your life (yes- with all its ups and downs) how will you be able to bless your
children and your children’s children with a sense of that presence?
We see that Jacob is thoroughly familiar with a lifetime of
the blessed presence of God. And now that he is ill and weak we see that Jacob
rallies to the occasion: He sits up in bed. As he nears the end of his life, his thoughts
were fixed on the past encounters with the blessings of God,
but also upon the future promises of God.
In 48:3-4 Jacob
recalls that time when the GOD ALMIGHTY (El Shaddai) appeared to him in Luz in 28:10-22 and blessed him there
with the same covenantal promises given to his father Isaac and grandfather
Abraham. On occasion of this blessing he renamed this place Bethel (lit. house of God). From now on these covenant promises and
blessings will not be bestowed upon solitary patriarchs but on the covenant
family, consisting of the 12 tribes of Israel.
2. 48:5-7 He
claims Joseph’s first 2 sons as His own and adopts them into Israel’s
inheritance.
Joseph has been Israel’s human life-line under God’s
good hand. It is therefore not surprising that Joseph will
receive a special blessing. From now on Joseph’s 2 sons Ephraim and
Manasseh will constitute two future tribes in Israel. This is significant, for
thereby he incorporates them into the covenantal line. [Note: Joseph’s name will fall away, and Levi will become the
priestly tribe in Israel with no land inheritance in Canaan. Thus the future configuration
will still be 12 tribes, but there will be no territory of Levi and Joseph].
All this must not be lost on us. Jacob, by faith is assigning a
blessing to the 2 sons of Joseph. A comment found in Hebrews 11:21 tells us, “By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of
the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff.” That faith is in God’s leading, and not in his
own strength. In fact, Jacob- by God’s
leading will elevate Ephraim and Manasseh’s position in the family above his
oldest sons Reuben and Simeon (see his word concerning them in 49:3-7). The extent of this blessing will eventually be
seen in that Ephraim and Manasseh’s land allocations in Canaan will be bigger
because of their numerical superiority.
48:7 Note here that even now the death of
Rachel (Joseph’s mother), who lies buried in Bethlehem is on Jacob’s mind. She
was in truth his legitimate wife. In marriage
you can really only love one partner. Polytheism doesn’t work.
3. 48:8- 20 Jacob blesses Ephraim and Manasseh and explains the choosing the younger
over the older
As Joseph stands with his 2 sons before his father, Jacob is
not able to recognise them, because he was nearly blind (48:10) - like Isaac his father (27:1). In those days there was no cataract surgery – a wonderful
blessing of our day. Getting old is not
for sissies, and Matthew Henry helpfully reminds us in this regard that (i)
those that have the honour of age must therewith be content to take the burden
of it, and that (ii) The eye of faith may be very clear even
when the eye of the body is very much clouded. [1]
As Joseph presents the boys to their grandfather, Jacob says,
“Bring them to me, please that I may
bless them.” (48:9). Joseph arranges
them so that the older is to Jacob's right side, and the younger to Jacob's
left. This followed typical customs of the day, and implied that the older son
would receive the greater blessing. Fondly grandpa Jake embraces them and
kisses them, like a good grandfather would. Proverbs
17: 6 reminds us, “grandchildren are
the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their fathers.”
Joseph bows down with his face on the ground before his aged
father. He doesn't notice that Jacob crosses his hands (48:14) —placing his right hand, and thereby the primary blessing on
the head of Ephraim, the younger grandson (48:13–14).
As he does this once again remembers how God had shepherded him throughout life,
and he remembers the angel of God that had protected him from all evil (48:15b,16; cf. 2 Tim. 4:18). This is a lovely thing, -
an experiential knowledge that belongs to older people that have faithfully
walked with God. Our experiences as older people, of God’s faithfulness and our
testimony to His keeping power must serve to encourage and bless
our younger people who as yet have not
tasted as deeply of the Lord’s
faithful provision throughout life.
From this follows the blessing, “bless the boys, and in them let my name be carried on, and the name
of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac; and
let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.” Here Jacob asks God to continue his legacy
and the legacy of Abraham and Isaac through them (48:15–16). Pray that your offspring
will follow in your footsteps , who has
followed in the footsteps of Christ.
48: 17-20 When Joseph realizes that the hands were switched, he is
displeased. This wasn’t according to plan.
His father Jacob however says, “I
know my son, I know.” Hebrews 11:21
is our interpretive key: “By faith
Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over
the head of his staff.” This was no
accident. This was by God’s design. You
may remember that he himself had tricked his father Isaac by pretending to be
firstborn Esau and thus he inherited the blessing. Here in this case Jacob deliberately chooses
the younger over the older, by faith! To
be sure, both would be blessed, but the
younger shall be greater than he, and his offspring will become a multitude of
nations. (48:19). We may wonder
why Ephraim is given the greater position. The simplest answer is that God’s
blessings always come to those who do not deserve it. And so it is true that
God frequently choses the younger above the older - Abel
above Cain, Shem above Japheth and Ham, Abraham above Nahor and Haran, Isaac
above Ishmael, Jacob above Esau; Judah and Joseph before Reuben and Simeon,
Moses before Aaron, David before his older brothers. Even in the matter of the preference given to the Gentiles above
the Jews whereby Gentile believers converts would be many more than those of the Jews. (See
Gal. 4:27). It is true that the first
born birth-right was the norm (Deut.
21:17), but God as the sovereign One
reserves the right to change
that rule. Free grace is God’s
operative principle. And as we look into the future this is exactly what we
see. Ephraim did become the dominant tribe from the days of the Judges onwards.
Joshua was of that tribe after Moses died.
When the division occurred after
the death of Solomon, Ephraim was often used to designate the Northern kingdom (cf. Hosea
5:1-6:11). The rebel king of the NK was Jeroboam from the tribe of Ephraim.
In the foresight of all this, Jacob crossed his hands and blessed accordingly.
48:21-22
The chapter concludes with Jacob giving Joseph and his
descendants a very specific piece of land in Canaan as a gift. Earlier portions
of Genesis don't mention this specific piece of land, The exact Hebrew word
Jacob uses here for the mountain slope is shekem,
so some think this is Shechem, which was
conquered by Jacob's sons in revenge for the rape of Dinah (Genesis 34:27). John 4:5 tells us of a town
called “Sychar, near the field that Jacob
had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there…”. Joseph will be
buried here on this special piece of land given to him by his father (Joshua 24:32). Again, Matthew Henry astutely
comments, “It may sometimes be
both just and prudent to give some children portions above the rest; but a
grave is that which we can most count upon as our own in this earth.”
So much then for the earthly blessings which are ours in the
Name of God. Above all let us remember then that all these things are shadows.
May the Lord increase your families in the sincere faith of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and may many of your tribes be found in the heavenly Canaan by virtue of your fatherly blessing and prayer, in the Name of
God. Amen!
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