Read: Genesis 48
Jacob was
preparing for death by recounting God’s faithfulness and care throughout his
life. Jacob showed deep faith and
gratitude to God. As death approached he
pronounced a variety of blessings on all his sons. In this chapter we see him blessing Joseph’s
two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. These
boys were born in the land of Egypt. As sons of Joseph their future in Egypt
may have seemed very bright as they could follow in their father’s footsteps
and become great administrators and governors in the land of Egypt. But that was not God’s plan. His plan was for them to put their hope in a
land they had not yet seen, for they were destined to be a part of the “company
of peoples” (verse 4) that God had promised Jacob. The events of this chapter set Joseph and his
sons apart from the other eleven sons of Jacob.
Ephraim received the blessing of the firstborn even though he was a
grandson of Jacob. This indicates that
the line of blessing would be traced through him and his descendants.
The chapter
begins with Joseph going to visit Jacob because he heard that he is ill (v.
1). Joseph brought his two sons with
him. Jacob then explained a vision that
he received from the Lord in Canaan (v. 4) and he claimed Ephraim and Manasseh
as his own sons, on par with Reuben and Simeon (v. 5). It was sort of like he adopted them. Later in Scripture we find that these sons became
two separate tribes of Israel. This meant that when the land of Israel was
divided into pieces, one for each tribe, Joseph’s sons would get one-twelfth
each, totaling one-sixth of the land.
This represents a double portion of inheritance which is usually
designated to the first born but in this case was designated to Joseph’s line
as he acted as the firstborn. Jacob
mentioned that any other children that Joseph had would be Joseph’s and not
associated with Jacob’s sons (v. 6) and he goes on to describe the death of
Rachel (v. 7).
Jacob then
desired to bless Joseph’s sons (v. 9) and he verbalized his delight at being
able to see Joseph’s offspring (v. 11).
Jacob laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim and his left hand on
the head of Manasseh (v. 14) and blessed them.
Joseph protested thinking that Jacob had mistakenly put the hand on the
wrong head (v. 17-18) but Jacob assured him that Ephraim, the youngest should
be blessed as the firstborn ahead of Manasseh (v. 19) because the younger would
be greater than the older. Biblical
history shows us that Joshua came from the line of Ephraim and this tribe became
a leading tribe. Later the Ephraimites were
rejected by God in favor of Judah. The
chapter concludes with Jacob anticipating his death and that his family would
return to the Promised Land (v. 21) and Jacob gave Joseph a mountain slope
which he took from the Amorites, which possibly refers to Joseph’s burial
place.
Prayer and Journaling
1. Even
though Jacob had suffered much in his life he could see that God had been his
shepherd all the days of his life (v. 15).
The mark of a mature believer is seeing pain and suffering as working
together for good in his/her life and ultimately causing him/her to be drawn
closer to God through it. While no one
really should seek suffering, the mature come to appreciate it in the light of
how beautifully God works to bring us closer to Him through it. God is
good! Suffering is not too high a price
to pay for experiencing a deeper intimacy with our great and good God! Here we see that Jacob had come to realize
that suffering and trials were God’s instruments to draw him into submission to
God’s will and to deeper spiritual intimacy with God. As believers, we would be much happier if we,
like Joseph, decided to see the hand of God in our sufferings and if we learned
to rejoice in our tribulations knowing that God is at work in us. Ask God to
recount to you the struggles that you have had in your life and show you the
work that He was doing in your through those sufferings. Thank Him for the opportunity that you have
had to grow through each one of these struggles.
2. The
book of Genesis is full of accounts of the younger child being chosen over the
older child. It was that case with Seth
and Cain, Shem and Japheth, Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau and now Ephraim
over Manasseh. Of course, this is not
always the case. The thing to remember
is that God can do whatever He wills is right and this may not be according to
our expectations. God is Sovereign and
all knowing, He gets to decide, we are to obey and trust that He knows better
than we do. Thank God for His
sovereignty. Praise Him for doing what
is right, holy and just. He is a good
God!
3. God
chose Jacob to be Israel, the father of His chosen nation. Joseph, the most righteous of his sons,
didn’t even get a tribe named after him and would not end up being the line of
the Messiah even though Ephraim receives the blessing of the firstborn. The line of the priesthood would also not be
Joseph’s line but Levi’s – even though he deceived the men of Shechem and
slaughtered them. Judah, who failed
morally, would become the line of the Messiah.
Isn’t it amazing how God can take unlikely and unpromising people such
as you and me and do great and wonderful things through us! That is our amazing God! Ask Him to show you 5-10 things that He has
saved you from. Then thank Him for
making a difference in your life and for changing you into the person whom you
are becoming, more like Jesus!
