JOSEPH #59 | JOSEPH IN EGYPT #41 | LAST WORDS OF JSCOB #30

Pastor Christopher Choo

Lesson 3655

JOSEPH #59

JOSEPH IN EGYPT #41
LAST WORDS OF JSCOB #30

11. JOSEPH #6

JOSEPH VERSUS JUDAH

"Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel—he was indeed the firstborn, but because he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph, the son of Israel, so that the genealogy is not listed according to the birthright; yet Judah prevailed over his brothers, and from him came a ruler, although the birthright was Joseph's" ( 1 Chronicles 5:1–2).

According to 1 Chronicles, Kingship went to Judah, but the Firstborn Blessing ( with the material blessing of a double portion ) went to Joseph and his two sons.

Earlier Genesis informed us that just before Jacob (or "Israel") died, God guided him to place his hands on Joseph's two sons (not Judah), conferring upon them the "birthright" promise (Genesis 48:14–22). 

Let us trace these events chronologically:

1. Jacob had twelve sons, the firstborn of whom was Reuben. 

2. Yet, the birthright that should have passed on to Reuben did not because of Reuben's sin against his father (1 Chronicles 5:1-2).

3. Naturally, one would assume that the next in line would be Simeon, the second-oldest. But it did not pass to Simeon either. 

4. In fact, Jacob bypassed all of his other sons until he got to Joseph.

Now, he essentially transferred the birthright to Ephraim, the younger of Joseph's sons.

5. But in blessing Judah with the "scepter" it meant that Judah would prevail over his brothers as their king.

But Judah though bearing the kingly anointing will be without the double portion of the inheritance of the firstborn…that would go to Joseph and his tribe.

Since these two  conferments are in effect leadership blessings, we can understand how struggles for supremacy arose between the tribes of Judah and Joseph throughout the chequered history of Israel.

Thus the united kingdom of Israel under King David ( from the line of Judah ) was split between Judah in the south and Ephraim ( the Northern Kingdom of Israel ) in the north shortly after David's son Solomon passed away.

The question remains: how to reconcile sibling rivalry in God's kingdom?

Jesus is the answer: He is both from the tribe of Judah and the firstborn of His Heavenly Father.

He is the first-born of all creation, not in the sense that He Himself is a created being, but rather that as God’s Son he was his agent in creation and hence has authority over all created things (Col. 1:15-17). Similarly, he is the first-born in the new creation by being raised first from the dead, and is thus Lord over the Church (Col. 1:18; Rev. 1:5). He is thus the first-born in a whole family of children of God who are destined to bear his image (Rom. 8:29). 

What is today's lesson?

Disunity in the family of God as there was among the twelve tribes of Israel invokes the curse of sin. 

Let us turn to Jesus our King and The First-Born of God to revoke the curse - to forgive the unforgivable as Joseph did towards his brothers and as Jesus did for us at the Cross when we were then enemies of God ( Romans 5:10)

Romans 5:10: "For if, while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!"