MORNING MESSAGEW: John Cline
TEXT: Genesis 48-50
Reader: Tim Davison
As we finish off our sermon series on the Book of Genesis, I will let you know that the apostle Paul’s very significant letters, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, will be preached through in September, October, and November. In December we will focus on the birth of Jesus, and, in the New Year, we will turn to the book of Ezekiel. That fascinating book, with pauses during the Easter season to look at Christ’s death and resurrection, will take us at least half a year to preach through. Finally, next summer or fall, we will arrive at Revelation, the last of the 66 books of the Bible, the book everyone wants to know about and understand. Revelation will conclude our 18-year sermon series of preaching through every book and letter of the Bible, chapter by chapter as a rule. Yes, in case you noticed, I intentionally did save the five most difficult books to understand to end with: Genesis, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, Ezekiel, and Revelation. Ok, returning now to Genesis, last week we skipped past chapters 48 and 49, finishing in chapter 50 with the death and burial of Jacob. Today, we will back up and see what happened in chapters 48 and 49. Jacob is ill and on his deathbed.
Some time later Joseph was told, “Your father is ill.” So, he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim along with him. When Jacob was told, “Your son Joseph has come to you,” Israel rallied his strength and sat up on the bed. Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there he blessed me and said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you.’” (Genesis 48:1-4)
This was the final restating in Genesis of God’s covenant promises which He first made to Jacob’s grandfather Abraham, then to his father Isaac, and finally to Jacob himself. It was essential that Abraham’s family line be kept safe so that God’s covenant was preserved. This, we have seen, is the one paramount theme, the one of first-importance, in Genesis. Jacob continued speaking to Joseph,
“Now then, your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here will be reckoned as mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine.” (Genesis 48:5)
Jacob’s claiming of Joseph’s two sons to be his own seems strange to our way of thinking but it was due to Jacob desiring to have Joseph’s two sons grow up with his Hebrew family, in Goshen, and not with Joseph’s in-laws, who were Egyptians in Pharaoh’s court. On a prophetic level, God moved Jacob to declare this as Joseph himself remained living in Pharaoh’s court and did not move to Goshen where Jacob’s family lived. Ephraim and Manasseh appear to have moved there to be identified with and come to know their Hebrew family.
When Israel saw the sons of Joseph, he asked, “Who are these?” “They are the sons God has given me here,” Joseph said to his father. Then Israel said, “Bring them to me so I may bless them.” Now Israel’s eyes were failing because of old age, and he could hardly see. So, Joseph brought his sons close to him, and his father kissed them and embraced them. Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your children too.” (Genesis 48:8-11)
For decades, both Jacob and Joseph must have longed for this visit. Jacob welcomed the two sons of Joseph and held them tightly.
Then Joseph removed them from Israel’s knees and bowed down with his face to the ground. And Joseph took both of them, Ephraim on his right toward Israel’s left hand and Manasseh on his left toward Israel’s right hand and brought them close to him. But Israel reached out his right hand and put it on Ephraim’s head, though he was the younger, and crossing his arms, he put his left hand on Manasseh’s head, even though Manasseh was the firstborn. Then he blessed Joseph and said, “May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, the Angel who has delivered me from all harm—may he bless these boys. May they be called by my name & the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, & may they increase greatly on the earth.” (48:12-16)
Jacob blessed Joseph and his two sons, but it isn’t Jacob’s words that stand out, but his actions. According to the custom of that age, the firstborn son, Manasseh, should have received the primary blessing, a blessing always marked by the giver placing his right hand on the recipient’s head. Jacob deliberately crossed his arms, placed his right hand on Ephraim and his left on Manasseh, thereby giving precedence to the younger son. Jacob had experience with such a thing himself, in that he was the younger son who received the blessing of the oldest son, although it was given to him through deception. For some reason, presumably because God had insight into the character of both Esau and Jacob, God knew that Esau’s heart would not honour His covenant, but that Jacob, after stumbling, would eventually do so. Thus, God allowed the blessing of the first-born son to go to Jacob.
When Joseph saw his father placing his right hand on Ephraim’s head he was displeased; so, he took hold of his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. Joseph said to him, “No, my father, this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.” But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of nations.” He blessed them that day and said, “In your name will Israel pronounce this blessing: ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’” So, he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh. (G. 48:17-20)
Jacob crossing his arms to give Ephraim the blessing of the firstborn son prompted Joseph to protest, but Jacob insisted he knew what he was doing. “I know, my son, I know”. Given hindsight we can see that God was in Jacob’s clear conviction. In that culture, a custom called “primogeniture” ensured the oldest son would inherit a double portion of property, etc. of what other sons would get. However, through the Book of Genesis alone we have seen repeated examples where God’s plan did not follow human convention; Abel, the second son, had his offering favored by God over Cain’s, the firstborn; Isaac was chosen over his older brother Ishmael; Jacob was chosen over Esau; and, Judah was given favour ahead of his three older brothers Reuben, Simeon, and Levi. These patterns underscore a Scriptural theme: God’s sovereignty transcends cultural norms. We humans may make plans but God will ignore them if He has a better plan. His ways are “above” our ways. God often exalts the one seen as less important; think of David, the youngest of eight sons, being chosen by God to the king of Israel. Now, historically, the tribe of Ephraim would become one of the dominant tribes in the later northern kingdom of Israel, even having the name Ephraim poetically standing for the entire northern kingdom, and from it at least one other nation, Samaria, would emerge. The tribe of Manasseh, meanwhile, would become the geographically largest of the tribes, having territory on both sides of the Dead Sea, stretching all the way to the Mediterranean Sea.
Then Israel said to Joseph, “I am about to die, but God will be with you and take the land of your fathers. And to you I give one more ridge of land than to your brothers, the ridge I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow.” (Genesis 48:21,22)Again, the double portion of land that, according to custom, should have been given to the oldest son, Reuben, was instead given to Joseph, and then to his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh. With his blessings of Joseph’s two sons now completed….
Then Jacob called for his sons and said: “Gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come. Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel.” (Genesis 49:1,2)This would be his deathbed final speech, like a modern-day reading of one’s will – but that reading happens after a person has died. This “reading of his will” would be prophetic, given while Jacob was alive.
“Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, the first sign of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power. Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel, for you went up onto your father’s bed, onto my couch and defiled it.” (Genesis 49:3,4)Yikes! If we were expecting kind words for Reuben the firstborn, so would have Reuben hoped. Instead, his sin was called out and justice hand down by his father. After all, the other brothers were all there and watching and if Reuben had been allowed to get away with his sin, that may have encouraged them to likewise sin, believing there would be no consequences for doing so. But, what about sons 2 and 3? They also famously sinned against Jacob and others, murderously.
Simeon and Levi are brothers—their swords are weapons of violence. Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly, for they have killed men in their anger and hamstrung oxen as they pleased. Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel.” (Genesis 49:5-7)Again, yikes! Jacob doesn’t even speak directly to them, that is how offended he was with them and their behaviour. Would his prophecy come true? Indeed, it would as the tribes of Simeon and Levi would later be dispersed among the other tribes in the Promised Land. Going on to fourth son, Judah, what would be said to him? Unlike his three older brothers whose sins disqualified them from leading the family, Judah had been faithful to Jacob and his family, thus leadership of the nation of Israel was given to him by Jacob.
“Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons will bow down to you.You are a lion’s cub, Judah; you return from the prey, my son.
Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness—who dares to rouse him? The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his.” (Genesis 49:8-10)
Those words of Jacob to Judah found their fulfillment when his distant relative, the Messiah, Jesus, came to earth. The scepter has not departed from Jesus’ hand, the ruler’s staff from between his feet, the obedience of the nations to Jesus shall be his. Scripture affirms that. Skipping past Jacob’s final words to sons 5-10, we land next on son 11, Joseph, the faithful son whom many view as a prefiguring, a “type” of Jesus, forgiving, always gracious, a ruler who saved his people.
“Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine near a spring, whose branches climb over a wall. With bitterness archers attacked him; they shot at him with hostility. But his bow remained steady, his strong arms stayed limber, because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, because of your father’s God, who helps you, because of the Almighty, who blesses you with blessings of the skies above, blessings of the deep springs below, blessings of the breast and womb. Your father’s blessings are greater than the blessings of the ancient mountains, than the bounty of the age-old hills. Let all these rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince among his brothers. (Genesis 49:22-26)Jacob’s blessings would be on Joseph because YHWH, Jacob’s God, was also Joseph’s God. YHWH is also the name of our God. Skipping now past son #12, Benjamin, we see that chapter 49 finishes this way:
All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him. (Genesis 49:28)We modern-day softies think it is important to be kind and inclusive of everyone, so we are offended that Jacob chose to dispense justice and righteousness in his final remarks, giving to each son “the blessing appropriate to him”. As we read last week, after he had completed saying all that he had to say, Jacob pulled his feet up on his bed and died. Mourning surrounding his death and then his burial followed.
When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?” So, they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died: ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept. (Genesis 50:15-17)Joseph, just as Jesus later did when he wept over the fate of the citizens of Jerusalem who did not recognize or know him, wept because his brothers didn’t know or trust him. He was hurt by that.
His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said. But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them. (50:18-21)Joseph, as always, honoured YHWH God and reassured his brothers with the famous and insightful words, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” I have seen that scenario play out many times in our modern day and age, even with churches, where a thing intended by Satan and using a human to do and bring harm was turned around by God to create something good. To conclude Genesis, we read,
Joseph stayed in Egypt, along with all his father’s family. He lived a hundred and ten years and saw the third generation of Ephraim’s children. Also, the children of Makir son of Manasseh were placed at birth on Joseph’s knees. Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And Joseph made the Israelites swear an oath and said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.” So, Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. And after they embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt. (Gen. 50:22-26)Genesis ends with Joseph being embalmed and buried in Egypt, but Joseph made his family swear an oath that, with God’s help, they would someday carry his bones back to the Promised Land. Well, that day came, as Exodus 13 records it, hundreds of years later, when Moses, as one of the last things he did before leading the Israelite people out of Egypt to go on their exodus journey back to Canaan, dug up Joseph’s embalmed bones and carried them with him. After they had finished retaking the Promised Land, we then read in Joshua 24 that that the bones of Joseph were buried at Shechem; Shechem being the very place where Joseph had been kidnapped and sold into Egyptian slavery, thus making his journey to Egypt and back a full circle. Karen and I have been to Joseph’s tomb. You can go there, too, if you ever travel to Israel by going to modern-day Shechem/Gerizim.
We saw how Genesis ended. How should we end our sermon series through Genesis? Well, clearly, chapters 1-10 were about the days before Abraham: Creation, the fall of humans due to sin, their first humans expulsion from the Garden of Eden, the sadness and loss and death that then entered the world, then the Flood and God’s sending of a rainbow to promise no such destruction ever again of the earth, then the Tower of Babel and the spread of humanity around the earth. But from chapter 11 on, Genesis tells the stories of Abraham and his family – son Isaac, grandson Jacob, great-grandson Joseph, their spouses and families, etc. However, the overarching theme from chapter 11 through to chapter 50, is about God making a covenant with His people, a covenant so important to humanity that it must not be lost due to human sinning, for through it the entire world be blessed, a reality that finally happened when the Messiah, the last of Abraham’s line, i.e. Jesus, came to earth and restored to humanity what had been lost in the Garden of Eden; unfettered access to and communion with God, safety and salvation for humans that would be both in this life plus eternally in the next, forgiveness of our sins, and life both abundant and eternal, and all that humans have to do is respond in faith to what God has done. We do this by placing our lives and hearts in the hands of Jesus. Thus, the story of the Gospel of Jesus began in Genesis. It will finish in Revelation, as we will see, starting next year. In the meantime, as we have seen in preaching through the Bible, the entire history described within it, as well as human lives today, are to be lived serving God. He doesn’t quit on us. He won’t abandon us. He continually blesses, guides, forgives, and saves us. This message is played out first in the Book of Genesis, the book of beginnings. Let us respond accordingly. Let’s pray.
