JOSEPH #53 | JOSEPH IN EGYPT #35 | LAST WORDS OF JACOB #24

Pastor Christopher Choo

Lesson 3649

JOSEPH #53

JOSEPH IN EGYPT #35
LAST WORDS OF JACOB #24

Today our study focuses on a prelude to Joseph's blessing.

Already his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh have received their blessings. When it came to Joseph's turn to be blessed, we realise that he and his descendants are getting a double-portion as it were.

1. Jacob's prophecy for his 12 sons were meant for the future of their descendants as the original heads of each tribe passed away in Egypt. 

Joseph himself requested for his remains to be taken from Egypt and be buried in the Promised Land.

2. The prophecies were pointers to their spiritual maturity.

"You sons of Jacob, and listen to Israel your father..." were the preface words used by Jacob at the very beginning of their blessing.

Jacob realized he was both Jacob and Israel, and his sons are sons of each.

This was a place of spiritual maturity, realizing both what God made him (Israel) and what he had to battle against (Jacob).

3. The future which is foretold is not independent of the past, but an extension of it.

Prophecy, then, is not detached from history, but an extension of it into the future.

Jacob's prophecy planted the seed of greatness in the 12 tribes to become a nation - from slaves in Egypt to a nation of freedmen in the Promised Land.

4. Joseph

(49:22-26)

Joseph, we would all have to agree, was most worthy of any blessing which Jacob might pronounce. 

Jacob notes that Joseph had been bitterly attacked by his brothers but had remained faithful (verses 23-24). Thus he was seemingly more blessed by God than his brothers.

Even so, he does not have the privilege of being the forefather of the Messiah, as does Judah.

His blessings are largely material as we will learn.

Although he will be pre-eminent among his brothers, his descendants will not be exalted in the same way as Judah and his sons.

In fact, the younger of Joseph's two sons called Ephraim will spawn a tribe filled with pride - and it will secede from and challenge the leadership of Judah after the death of Solomon.

Because of Ephraim’s pride (Judges 8:1; 12:1) and apostasy (Hosea 4:17; 5:3f.), the enjoyment of his blessings was not what it could have been.

What lessons have we gleaned from this prelude to Joseph's blessings?

Joseph’s story presents amazing insights into how God sovereignly works to overcome evil and bring about His plan. 

After all his ordeals, Joseph was able to see God’s hand at work. As he revealed his identity to his brothers, Joseph spoke of their sin this way: “Do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. . . . It was not you who sent me here, but God” (Genesis 45:5, 8). Later, Joseph again reassured his brothers, offering forgiveness and saying, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good” (Genesis 50:20). 

Man’s most wicked intentions can never thwart the perfect plan of God.

By remaining faithful and accepting that God is ultimately in charge, we can be confident that God will reward our faithfulness in the fullness of time.

Who would blame Joseph if he had turned his brothers away in their need?

Yet Joseph showed them uncommon mercy, and God desires that we exercise mercy above all other sacrifices (Hosea 6:6; Matthew 9:13).

For God is sovereign and any accusations that He shows favoritism to Joseph is negated when we consider how Judah was blessed above Joseph although Judah's sins ought to have disqualified him as they did in the cases of Reuben, Levi, and Simeon.

Indeed the ways of God are often over and above our mean human understanding and self-righteous reasoning.