The Bible Recap - Day 029 (Genesis 48-50) - Year 3

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible recap. Yesterday we saw Jacob preparing for his death at the age of 147 by asking his son Joseph to make sure he was buried in Canaan, not Egypt. Today we pick up with Joseph asking his father to bless his sons, Ephraim and the NASA, before he dies. Jacob recounts God's promises to him to give him many offspring and to give them the land of Canaan, and he refers to God by a name we've seen a few times, God Almighty. This is translated from the Hebrew L. Shaddai, which loosely means God of the mountains. One of the things we haven't talked about much,

Starting point is 00:00:45 but that's really important, is that God's names represent His character. They tell us who He is and what He does. We've got a list of God's names and attributes that we would love to share with you, because we really believe they'll help you as you're reading through Scripture and looking for your God shot each day.

Starting point is 00:01:02 Stay tuned at the end of this episode to find out where to grab that free PDF. Jacob continues his speech to Joseph and in it, he does a peculiar thing. He formally adopts Joseph's children as his own, possibly because he was robbed of having Joseph in his life as a young boy, but had gotten to spend many years with these children.

Starting point is 00:01:21 He compares Joseph's two oldest children to his two oldest children, Ruben and Simeon. And while this feels a little weird to me, it's actually probably a generous move, a way of establishing that these two boys will receive an inheritance from him along with Joseph's brothers. They will be heirs to the land and the promise.

Starting point is 00:01:40 This will continue to come into play in our reading, so make a mental note of it. Joseph brought the boys to him and positioned Manasseh the oldest in front of Jacob's right hand, because that was considered to be the hand of blessing and power, and he positions Ephraim the youngest in front of Jacob's left hand. But then Jacob crosses his hands, putting his right hand on Ephraim's head. Jacob is going blind, just like his dad Isaac was near the end of his day, so Joseph thought maybe he couldn't see what he was doing, but he totally could. He blessed both

Starting point is 00:02:11 boys, but he intentionally passed the ruling power of the two boys to the younger brother, Ephraim. We've seen this theme elsewhere and it continues here. Manasseh will become a people, but Ephraim will become a multitude. By the way, the angel that Jacob refers to in verse 16 of his blessing, the one who redeemed him from all evil and whom he asked to bless the boys, the original language here gives us lots of clues that he's referring to the angel of the Lord, i.e. God himself. Jacob retracts his pre-eminence. The oldest loses his birthright here, just like we saw happen with Ishmael and Issa. And maybe you remember Simeon and Levi, the second and third sons,

Starting point is 00:03:11 who slaughtered all the men of Shechem in retaliation for the rape of their sister Dina. So because of their actions, the birthright status and pre-eminence pass over them as well. Instead, this blessing lands on the fourth sun, Judah. But make no mistake, it was not because Judah was perfect. After all, he's the one who slept with his daughter in La Tehmar. But that was a different kind of offense in the eyes of their culture. It didn't

Starting point is 00:03:36 threaten the family unit, like the actions of the other three did. Judah fathered Paras, who was listed in the lineage of Jesus. And by the way, Paras isn't the firstborn either. This law of primogeniture keeps getting violated, and anytime God repeats himself or creates a theme, it's worth taking notice. All of this, as I've mentioned before, is painting the picture of Christ our older brother, laying down his rights and privileges

Starting point is 00:04:01 to share his inheritance with us. Jacob continues blessing the other brothers and when he gets to Joseph, there's a distinct blessing for Joseph as well that seems to set him and his descendants apart. More on that in the days to come. At the end of Jacob's blessing, he reiterates his desire to be buried in Canaan.

Starting point is 00:04:21 And then we encounter a phrase you may be familiar with, the 12 tribes of Israel. We know that Jacob is Israel, and these are his 12 sons. They will all go on to have many offspring, and each man's offspring belonged to his tribe. Did you catch all that? So when you see the reference to the 12 tribes of Israel, remember that it's a reference to these 12 sons of Jacob Israel and their corresponding offspring. After Jacob dies, Pharaoh granted them the opportunity to travel to Canaan, to go bury their father in the tomb he requested. But when they get back to Egypt,

Starting point is 00:04:55 Joseph's brothers begin to fear him. They think maybe he was faking forgiveness, that he's been holding back until their dad dies and now he'll retaliate. They tell him a story about how their father wanted him to forgive them. And maybe it's true, who knows? Either way, Joseph has already forgiven them, and his heart is already free of bitterness. So he takes the opportunity to remind them not of what they did, or even of how he has forgiven them, but of who God is. God is the one who went before all of them and made a way, a very difficult way, no doubt, but a way nonetheless for them all to be alive and who provided for them through all these

Starting point is 00:05:33 circumstances. Then we close the book with Joseph's death. In his final days, he echoes the same desires of his father. He does not want to be buried in Egypt. He knew God's promise to give them the land of Canaan would be fulfilled, and he tells them, when that day comes, do not leave my bones behind. Joseph dies trusting in God's promises. Where did you see your God shot today? Mine was in Jacob's blessing to Judah. If you read it closely, you'll see some real lion of Judah prophecies about Jesus here,

Starting point is 00:06:05 like we talked about a few days ago. Micah 5.2 gives us a detailed prophecy about the coming ruler of Israel, who is from the tribe of Judah, who would be born and Bethlehem. Does any of that ring a bell? And verse 11 of Jacob's prophetic blessing says, he has washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes. Wine is the appointed symbol of Christ's blood, and maybe I'm reaching here, but when I read that verse, I can't help but think of Revelation 1913. It describes the second coming of Christ, and it says, he is clothed in a robe dipped in blood.

Starting point is 00:06:40 Images and prophecies of Christ are abundant in the Old Testament. He's all over the place, so much so that no one could invent it. Some say there are more than 400 prophecies of Christ in the Old Testament. But this picture today of Jacob blessing Judah, receive that for yourself because through Judah you have been blessed. Through Judah you have received the promise of the coming Messiah, who reigns forever, and the scepter shall not depart from him. He's our King Jesus, and he's where the joy is.

Starting point is 00:07:13 Congratulations on finishing Genesis Bible readers! I know it may feel like we're just at the beginning, but remember that because we covered Job this month, we've now finished two of the longest books of the Bible. We're nearly 10% of the way through. Before we move to Exodus Tomorrow, remember that we're continuing in the same story we've been reading. It all fits together seamlessly. So take a few minutes and think of how you might summarize what you've learned in Genesis before we move forward into the next part of the story tomorrow. Tomorrow will be starting the Book of Exodus. It's 40 chapters long. We've linked to a short video overview in the show notes, so check that out if you've got six minutes to spare. And as always, if you're using our

Starting point is 00:07:51 plan in the Bible app, this video will also be linked at the start of tomorrow's reading. As we move through scripture, you'll see several names of God referenced. And as we keep looking for him and for our God shot as we read his word each day, we thought it might be helpful to give you a more comprehensive guide to the names and attributes of God. So we've built out a PDF for you that not only lists the names and attributes of God, but also the scripture references where you'll find them. We'd love to share that resource with you. If you want to get this free PDF, all you have to do is go to the BibleRecap.com,

Starting point is 00:08:22 forward slash names, and submit your email address. That's the Biblerecap.com forward slash names and submit your email address. That's thebibelrecap.com forward slash names. The Bible recap is brought to you by D-group, discipleship and Bible study groups that meet in homes and churches around the world each week.

The Bible Recap - Day 029 (Genesis 48-50) - Year 3

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