Sunday
Morning Bible Study
October
28, 2007
Introduction
We’ve been following the life journey of Joseph. Sold as a slave by his jealous brothers, we
watched his life get even worse as he wound up in prison unjustly. But after the day came when he interpreted a
dream for Pharaoh and ended up becoming the prime minister of Egypt,
we saw an even more important turn of events as Joseph eventually wound up
saving his own family from the worldwide famine. Joseph has been reunited with his father and
the family is not safe in Egypt. But Joseph’s father is coming to the end of
his life…
:1-7 Joseph visits his sick father
:1 Now it came to pass after these things that Joseph was told,
"Indeed your father is sick"; and he took with him his two sons,
Manasseh and Ephraim.
The idea is that Joseph must be thinking that dad is about to die. As we mentioned last week, one of the customs
of the ancients was to have the nearest, dearest next of kin at your bedside
when you die. They would have the honor
of closing your eyelids after death and give you one last parting kiss
goodbye. Joseph is the one his father
has chosen for this honor.
It’s kind of important to remember what the names of Joseph’s sons mean, in
particular:
Manasseh – M@nashsheh
– “causing to forget”
Ephraim – ‘Ephrayim –
“doubly fruitful”
:2 And Jacob was told, "Look, your son Joseph is coming to you";
and Israel
strengthened himself and sat up on the bed.
:3 Then Jacob said to Joseph: "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in
the land of Canaan
and blessed me,
Luz – This was the ancient name for the city of
Bethel, the place where Jacob had a dream of the ladder going to heaven.
:4 "and said to me, 'Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply
you, and I will make of you a multitude of people, and give this land to your
descendants after you as an everlasting possession.'
When Jacob met God the first time at Bethel,
God didn’t exactly use the word “fruitful”, but it’s pretty well implied:
(Gen 28:14 NKJV) …"Also
your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth…
At the time, Jacob wasn’t even married yet.
He had not kids.
When Jacob met God at Bethel
the second time, Jacob had four wives and eleven kids (Ben wasn’t born
yet). This time God did use the word
“fruitful”.
(Gen 35:10-12 NKJV) And God
said to him, "Your name is Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob
anymore, but Israel
shall be your name." So He called his name Israel.
{11} Also God said to him: "I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall
proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body. {12} "The land
which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to you; and to your descendants after you
I give this land."
fruitful – parah – to bear
fruit, be fruitful, branch off.
Note: This is the root word from
which the name “Ephraim” comes from.
:5 "And now your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born to you
in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and
Simeon, they shall be mine.
Even though these two boys are his grandchildren. after this point, Ephraim
and Manasseh are to be considered sons of Joseph, of the same status as Jacobs
other sons like Reuben and Simeon.
This essentially gives Joseph a “double portion” when it comes time to
split the inheritance because instead of him getting one share of Jacob’s
inheritance, his sons will each get a share.
When you see listings of the tribes of Israel,
most lists will include Ephraim and Manasseh, but not Joseph.
Almost all lists of the tribes of Israel
total up to twelve tribes. In order to
compensate, various tribes are opted out to make the list total twelve.
When the Promised Land is finally divided under Joshua, Ephraim and
Manasseh each get a portion, and the tribe of Levi doesn’t.
:6 "Your offspring whom you beget after them shall be yours; they will
be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance.
If Joseph has any more children besides Ephraim and Manasseh, they are
counted in Joseph’s inheritance, but Ephraim and Manasseh will inherit directly
from Jacob. We have no record of any
other children born to Joseph.
:7 "But as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died beside me in
the land of Canaan on the way, when there was but a little distance to go to
Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is,
Bethlehem)."
This seems to be an odd thing inserted into the discussion by Jacob. Why does he bring up Rachel’s death at this
time? She’s been dead now for almost
fifty years.
1. Rachel died in childbirth. She died when Benjamin was born. Perhaps Jacob felt he was cheated of more
kids by his favorite wife and now he has the chance to have more kids through
Joseph’s sons.
2. I wonder if it has something to
do with the name of the place he buried her.
Ephrath – ‘Ephraath –
“place of fruitfulness”; this place had two names, the other being … Bethlehem,
“House of Bread”
There seems to be a theme going on this morning with Jacob.
He’s got a grandson before him named “Doubly Fruitful”
He remembers God’s promise to be “fruitful”.
He remembers that Rachel died in the place named “Fruitful”.
I wonder if this will play into Jacob giving a greater blessing to
Ephraim???
:8-16 Jacob blesses Joseph’s sons
:8 Then Israel
saw Joseph's sons, and said, "Who are these?"
:9 And Joseph said to his father, "They are my sons, whom God has
given me in this place." And he said, "Please bring them to me, and I
will bless them."
These are not little boys. They are
most likely in their mid to late twenties.
They were born before the famine that started 24 years ago.
:10 Now the eyes of Israel
were dim with age, so that he could not see.
It’s important to note that Israel
is going blind. Some of the story makes
better sense when you realize that he doesn’t see so well. It helps explain why
he doesn’t recognize his own grandchildren even though they’ve probably been
around for the last seventeen years. It
will also explain why Joseph will think that Jacob is making a mistake in a
minute.
:10 Then Joseph brought them near him, and he kissed them and embraced
them.
Israel’s
father Isaac also had a problem with eyesight.
When Isaac had come to the point where he wanted to pass on his spiritual
“blessing” to his sons, he didn’t see so well.
That allowed Jacob to deceive his father as he dressed up and disguised
himself as his brother Esau.
The special preferred blessing that Isaac thought he was giving to Esau
really went to Jacob.
The odd thing is that God had long before told Isaac and Rebekah that the
younger son, Jacob, would be the blessed one.
What Isaac intended didn’t happen.
What God intended did happen.
Hmmm.
What is about to happen is another of those “spiritual blessings” that’s
being passed on. Instead of putting the
blessing on Joseph, this blessing is going to skip a generation and rest on
Joseph’s sons.
:11 And Israel
said to Joseph, "I had not thought to see your face; but in fact, God has
also shown me your offspring!"
Israel is
stopping to think of how blessed his life has turned out to be.
For over twenty years he had considered Joseph dead. And now he was not only with Joseph, but with
Joseph’s sons as well.
Lesson
A Blessed Family
I know that some of the deepest pain you can experience can come from
family. The pain of divorce is
devastating. The pain of having a child
rebel and turn against you. The pain of
having an alcoholic or abusive parent who only causes you hurt instead of the
love they’re supposed to.
I wish we could all be able to get to the place where Jacob was.
Don’t get me wrong, Jacob’s family has had plenty of trouble.
Some of you know the problems of a blended family –
Jacob’s got a blended family and he’s not even been divorced. He’s got four wives along with four sets of sons
all competing for that last slice of pecan pie.
They’ve been through the incest mess of the oldest son
(Reuben) sleeping with one of his step moms.
They’ve been through the rape of Jacob’s daughter Dinah.
They’ve been through the raging anger of Simeon and Levi
as they murdered the residents of Shechem.
They’ve been through the kidnapping and enslaving of
Joseph by his older brothers while Jacob thought Joseph was dead.
This is one messy family.
But at this point, Jacob sees the blessing that is his family.
The psalmist wrote,
(Psa 127 NKJV) Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor
in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman stays awake
in vain. {2} It is vain for you to rise up early, To sit up late, To eat the
bread of sorrows; For so He gives His beloved sleep. {3} Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,
The fruit of the womb is a reward. {4} Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So
are the children of one's youth. {5} Happy is the man who has his quiver full
of them; They shall not be ashamed, But shall speak with their enemies in the
gate.
heritage – nachalah
– possession, inheritance; portion, share.
You might be glad if you discovered that Bill Gates had you in his
will. You might like it if he left you
some of his fortune. But if you have
kids, you already have a greater inheritance.
Your kids are your inheritance from the Lord.
Illustration
Dear Ann Landers: It happened again today.
My two sons and I were in a shopping mall, and a total stranger felt the
need to comment on the fact that my boys don’t look anything alike. Apparently,
my 6-year-old decided it was time he explained the difference. “I’m adopted,”
he said. “That’s when you have the same
family but not the same face.” I’m thankful that this child doesn’t let these
rude remarks get to him. Any comment,
Ann?
A Mom in Highland Lakes, N.J.
Dear Mom: That was an extremely intelligent response to a very dumb
remark. Thank you for sharing.
-- Ft. Wayne Journal Gazette, August 18, 1996, p. 3D.
It doesn’t matter if your kids are adopted or if you’re trying to blend the
kids from two divorced families. You are
all in the same family. God has put you
together. God thinks your family is
important. Each one is a treasure.
Illustration
One gal writes, “For weeks, my son, Bill, and his wife, Kathy, were
gathering and pricing things for a yard sale. Their youngest daughter, Meadow
Dawn, was fascinated by the whole process. On the day of the sale, Meadow
wandered around, then headed back to her mother. “Everything has a price tag. I
want a price tag, too!” Even though Kathy explained to Meadow that she wasn’t
for sale, the 3-year-old persisted. Thinking quickly, Kathy made another
tag—“Priceless”—and stuck it on Meadow’s dress.
-- Janice Smith,
Christian Reader, Vol. 35, no. 2.
I hope we have come to the point in our lives that we realize that our
family is priceless as well.
:12 So Joseph brought them from beside his knees, and he bowed down with
his face to the earth.
:13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel's
left hand, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and
brought them near him.
Joseph lines his sons up so the oldest son is under Israel’s
right hand in order to get the best blessing.
:14 Then Israel
stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim's head, who was the
younger, and his left hand on Manasseh's head, guiding his hands knowingly, for
Manasseh was the firstborn.
:15 And he blessed Joseph, and said: "God, before whom my fathers
Abraham and Isaac walked, The God who has fed me all my life long to this day,
:16 The Angel who has redeemed me from all evil, Bless the lads; Let my
name be named upon them, And the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; And let
them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth."
:17 Now when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of
Ephraim, it displeased him; so he took hold of his father's hand to remove it
from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head.
:18 And Joseph said to his father, "Not so, my father, for this one is
the firstborn; put your right hand on his head."
:19 But his father refused and said, "I know, my son, I know. He also
shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger
brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude
of nations."
Lesson
Old folks know a few things
Joseph is a little worried that his father’s poor eyesight is making him
make a mistake in putting the greater blessing on the wrong son.
What he doesn’t realize is that his father knows exactly what he’s
doing. He is very clearly blessing the
correct son.
Illustration
Sally was driving home from one of her business trips in Northern
Arizona when she saw an elderly Navajo woman walking on the side
of the road. As the trip was a long and quiet one, she stopped the car and asked
the woman if she would like a ride. With a silent nod of thanks, the woman got
into the car. Resuming the journey, Sally tried in vain to make a bit of small
talk with the Navajo woman. The old woman just sat silently, looking at
everything she saw, studying every little detail, until she noticed a white bag
on the seat next to Sally. “What’s in the bag?” asked the old woman. Sally
looked down at the bag and, smiling, said, “It’s a box of chocolates. I got it
for my husband.” The Navajo woman was silent for another moment or two. Then
speaking with the quiet wisdom of an elder, she said: “Good trade.”
(Lev 19:32
NKJV) 'You shall rise before the gray
headed and honor the presence of an old man, and fear your God: I am the LORD.
I think in America
we could learn to show a bit more respect to folks older than ourselves.
I’m not saying Joseph is being disrespectful, but that he
simply has it wrong. His dad has it
right.
:20 So he blessed them that day, saying, "By you Israel
will bless, saying, 'May God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh!' " And
thus he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
:21 Then Israel
said to Joseph, "Behold, I am dying, but God will be with you and bring
you back to the land of your fathers.
:22 "Moreover I have given to you one portion above your brothers,
which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow."
Lesson
Passing on the Spiritual Blessing
We are often concerned about providing for our kids financially. That’s a
good thing.
We are concerned that our kids get a good education. We want our kids to
succeed socially. These too are good things.
But the most important thing we can pass on to our kids is a spiritual
heritage.
Jacob will continue not only with these boys, but his entire family as he
gathers his older sons together in the next chapter and pronounces a blessing
on each of them.
These “blessings” aren’t some generic “one size fits all” blessing. There is an almost prophetic sense to these
blessings. Each son got a specific,
unique, tailor-made blessing.
(Gen 49:28 NKJV)
…And he blessed them; he blessed each one according to his own blessing.
With Ephraim and Manasseh, Jacob had the discernment to realize that the
general rule of the older brother being greater wasn’t going to apply.
Jacob had seen in his own life that God broke those kinds
of rules every once in a while.
Jacob had learned in his life to find the correct blessing
for each son.
I see some of the blessings from Jacob being simply
guidance from God. Jacob is a man who
has learned to depend on God. Jacob has
learned to hear from God.
Some of Jacob’s blessings seem based upon human
observation. Because he knows his sons,
he knows how to bless them.
I think those are the elements of what it takes to bless
our children.
We need to cultivate our relationship with God. You need to know God. You need to be cultivating the things in your
life that will mature you as a Christian – reading your Bible, praying, being
at church, sharing your faith.
We need to know our children. Spend time with them. Learn more about them.