JACOB BLESSES
THE CHILDREN OF JOSEPH
Chapter 48
We read in Hebrews 11:21 that: “By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff."
This chapter gives us another opportunity to see the spiritual maturity of Jacob. He changed a lot since his youth, and his example shows us how the spiritual life involves growth and development.
Spiritual life is not an emotional experience that comes at a moment in time, but is described in the Bible as walking in the Spirit. In 2 Peter 3: 18 we read: “… grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ...”
When Jacob was young, there was a preponderance of what we call "the old nature”. As it happened with him, we must expect growth and ripening of the fruit of the Spirit in our character. But let us praise God for this to be possible in our lives, and for the patience He has with us. We can also thank Him because He does not interfere, as perhaps we would do, to force development. He was patient with Jacob, and is patient with us.
Joseph, busy with affairs of state, rushed to visit his father on learning that he was sick, and took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Israel struggled and sat on the bed to receive him. These details show us the love of Joseph for his father, and the respect he had from his father.
For Jacob, Joseph was his favourite son, virtually resurrected and elevated to a glorious place. Joseph also had saved his entire family from a disastrous famine. This caused Jacob to reflect on how God had guided the circumstances in his life and to remember the time when God appeared to him again in Luz, which he named Bethel (chapter 35:9-15), when he returned from Padan Aram, and blessed him with the promise that a nation and a company of nations would proceed from him, and would give the land of Canaan to his descendants.
In his youth, Jacob thought he was clever and would get everything through his own efforts and cunning, but now, with the experience of his long life, he demonstrated that he trusted in God to fulfil His promise.
God's promise made to the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, goes through the whole Bible and has three aspects:
- The nation
- The land
- The blessing
The first two are those quoted by Jacob to Joseph. But the third is the more important aspect for us: “in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Chapter 28:14). Two thirds of the promise, made more than four millennia ago, have already been fulfilled (1 and 3) with only one-third (2) left because the descendants of Israel do not yet possess the promised land in perpetuity. When they are given it by the hands of God, they will live in peace, quietness and assurance forever (Isaiah 32:17,18).
On this occasion Jacob adopted the two sons of Joseph as his direct sons so they acquired the same rights as his own sons, thereby ensuring that Joseph got a double portion of his inheritance. As a result, each of the two grandsons formed a tribe.
It would be thought that there would then be thirteen tribes in Israel, because Jacob had eleven other sons. The descendants of Levi, however, were not regarded as a tribe, having been dedicated to the service of God, ministering as priests among the tribes.
Jacob then remembered his beloved wife Rachel, Joseph's mother, her death and burial near Bethlehem (it is still there). When Joseph was sold into slavery, Jacob had thought he was dead and wept for him (Genesis 37:30). But the plan of God allowed Jacob eventually to not only see his son again, but also his grandchildren.
Our circumstances are never so bad as not to allow us to achieve God's help: Jacob received his son back, Job had a new family (Job 42:10-17), and Mary received her brother Lazarus (John 11:1-44). Let us never despair, for we belong to a loving God. We never know the good that He may cause to rise from a situation that seems to be hopeless.
Joseph brought his sons to Jacob for him to bless them. He on whom Jacob placed his right hand would receive the main blessing.
As a prophet of God, Jacob knew that the younger Ephraim would have pre-eminence over his elder brother: again the right of primogeniture was not to be exercised. Without knowing this, Joseph put Manasseh on the right side of Jacob. Even without being able to see (because, like Isaac, Jacob had lost his sight in his old age, possibly due to cataracts), Jacob realized who was who and simply crossed his arms so that his right hand rested upon Ephraim.
It is interesting to see how many times God does not comply with the law of primogeniture; although it appears on His law (Deuteronomy 21:17), this right is a convention that dates back to ancient times, whereby the eldest son gets all, or most of the paternal inheritance, with the responsibility of caring for his living mother and unmarried sisters. God is not held by these conventions.
When blessing Joseph, Jacob made the first reference to God as Shepherd (fed in the original ispastor) in the Scriptures: he could now distinguish clearly how God had taken care of him through his long and eventful life.
He also stated that the Angel was God (Chapter 16:10), a theophany of God's Son, who was born two millennia later among us as Jesus Christ. The word translated redeemed also appears for the first time, it means to save,redeem, oract as a deliverer (Exodus 6:6, Leviticus 27:13, Ruth 4:4, Isaiah 59:20), which God does for everyone who believes in His Son.
Even displeasing Joseph, Jacob put Ephraim's name ahead of Manasseh. Centuries later we see the fulfilment of this prophecy because:
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the tribe of Manasseh marched under the banner of Ephraim in the wilderness (Numbers 2:18-24).
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Joshua, leader of Israel after Moses, came from the tribe of Ephraim.
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after the division of the kingdom in the days of Jeroboam, the tribe of Ephraim (as predicted in verse 19) became so prevalent in the northern kingdom, that his name was identified with Israel (Isaiah 7:2, Hosea 4:17, 13 : 1).
Jacob gave the children of Joseph for an inheritance more land in Canaan than to his other sons. This was a personal gift of a mountain slope where Shechem was (Joshua 24:32) near Sychar in the future Samaria (John 4:5). Jacob first bought the land from an Amorite, and then had to retake it by force. Today it is disputed between the Palestinians and the country of Israel (the West Bank).
R David Jones
1 Now it came to pass after these things that Joseph was told, "Indeed your father is sick"; and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
2 And Jacob was told, "Look, your son Joseph is coming to you"; and Israel strengthened himself and sat up on the bed.
3 Then Jacob said to Joseph: "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me,
4 and said to me, 'Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a multitude of people, and give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.'
5 And now your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.
6 Your offspring whom you beget after them shall be yours; they will be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance.
7 But as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died beside me in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was but a little distance to go to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem)."
8 Then Israel saw Joseph's sons, and said, "Who are these?"
9 Joseph said to his father, "They are my sons, whom God has given me in this place." And he said, "Please bring them to me, and I will bless them."
10 Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age, so that he could not see. Then Joseph brought them near him, and he kissed them and embraced them.
11 And Israel said to Joseph, "I had not thought to see your face; but in fact, God has also shown me your offspring!"
12 So Joseph brought them from beside his knees, and he bowed down with his face to the earth.
13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near him.
14 Then Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh's head, guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn.
15 And he blessed Joseph, and said: "God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, The God who has fed me all my life long to this day,
16 The Angel who has redeemed me from all evil, Bless the lads; Let my name be named upon them, And the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; And let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth."
17 Now when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him; so he took hold of his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head.
18 And Joseph said to his father, "Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head."
19 But his father refused and said, "I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations."
20 So he blessed them that day, saying, "By you Israel will bless, saying, 'May God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh!' " And thus he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
21 Then Israel said to Joseph, "Behold, I am dying, but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers.
22 Moreover I have given to you one portion above your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow."
Genesis chapter 48