Joe Turner

Shelley Norman

September 15, 2004

Reading through the Bible in one Year: Titus

Weekly Memory Verse: 2 Timothy 2:15

Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,

Daily Reminder, pray for the "Forty days of purpose" that is coming up on September 25th at 9pm each evening.  Be sure to email me and let me know if you want to be a member of the study group that meets.  I will be emailing out times that I will be at Starbucks and where, once we start the program.

Genesis 48:1-22 (NASB95)
¹ Now it came about after these things that Joseph was told, “Behold, your father is sick.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him. ² When it was told to Jacob, “Behold, your son Joseph has come to you,” Israel collected his strength and sat up in the bed. ³ Then Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, ⁴ and He said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and numerous, and I will make you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you for an everlasting possession.’ ⁵ “Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are. ⁶ “But your offspring that have been born after them shall be yours; they shall be called by the names of their brothers in their inheritance. ⁷ “Now as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died, to my sorrow, in the land of Canaan on the journey, when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).” ⁸ When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he said, “Who are these?” ⁹ Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me here.” So he said, “Bring them to me, please, that I may bless them.” ¹⁰ Now the eyes of Israel were so dim from age that he could not see. Then Joseph brought them close to him, and he kissed them and embraced them. ¹¹ Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face, and behold, God has let me see your children as well.” ¹² Then Joseph took them from his knees, and bowed with his face to the ground. ¹³ Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s left, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right, and brought them close to him. ¹⁴ But Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, crossing his hands, although Manasseh was the firstborn. ¹⁵ He blessed Joseph, and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, The God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, ¹⁶ The angel who has redeemed me from all evil, Bless the lads; And may my name live on in them, And the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; And may they grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.” ¹⁷ When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on Ephraim’s head, it displeased him; and he grasped his father’s hand to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. ¹⁸ Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn. Place your right hand on his head.” ¹⁹ But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know; he also will become a people and he also will be great. However, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.” ²⁰ He blessed them that day, saying, “By you Israel will pronounce blessing, saying, ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh!’ ” Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh. ²¹ Then Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am about to die, but God will be with you, and bring you back to the land of your fathers. ²² “I give you one portion more than your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow.”^[1]

Joseph went to visit his father when he was extremely sick, and took his two sons with him.  There is a significant name change in verse 2 that is worth noting.  Jacob acted as Israel, which was the name that God had given him.  He performed the role of spiritual leader in the rest of this chapter.  Not only did he perform as a spiritual leader, he demonstrated authority in his life, and the power of God through his words.  He demonstrated the actions as a prophet of God.  First though, Jacob recalls the promise of God as he had recently traveled from Canaan. Which makes three seperate times that God had spoken to Jacob about his plans for him.

Genesis 28:13-15 (NASB95)
¹³ And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. ¹⁴ “Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. ¹⁵ “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Genesis 35:9-12 (NASB95)
⁹ Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him. ¹⁰ God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; You shall no longer be called Jacob, But Israel shall be your name.” Thus He called him Israel. ¹¹ God also said to him, “I am God Almighty; Be fruitful and multiply; A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, And kings shall come forth from you. ¹² “The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, And I will give the land to your descendants after you.”

1 Chronicles 5:1-2 (NASB95)
¹ Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (for he was 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 he is not enrolled in the genealogy according to the birthright. ² Though Judah prevailed over his brothers, and from him came the leader, yet the birthright belonged to Joseph),

Joshua 14:4 (NASB95)
⁴ For the sons of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim, and they did not give a portion to the Levites in the land, except cities to live in, with their pasture lands for their livestock and for their property. ^[2]

At first, Jacob seems to be a little confused, thinking that Joseph had visited him alone.  He seems surprised as he finds out that Ephraim and Manasseh have joined him.  It is interesting that in verse 5 Jacob transfers the blessing that went to the firstborn, Reuben and Simeon to Ephraim and Manasseh.  This may seem a little weird at first, but think about it, Reuben was the one who had defiled Jacob's bed by going to bed with one of Jacobs wives. 

This is significant because Joseph moved from being one of the lesser brothers to occupying the place of the first born in regard to his heritage.  The double portion of Joseph's inheritance was split between his two sons who took the place as if they were Jacob's natural born sons.  If you consider who Joseph's mother was, it is kind of funny that Jacob would still be trying to place her in a position of favor in his life.  He loved Rachel more than any of his other wives and made it a point to favor her kids.  On a note of fairness though, Joseph was cast out by all the other brothers, and moved up to be in a position of authority just as his dreams had indicated.  He turned out to be the one responsible for the livelihood of the nation.

One more thought on this, God counts twelve tribes in Israel.  Joseph was eliminated as a tribe and replace by his two sons, which makes thirteen tribes.  However, Levi was moved into a priestly role, thereby loosing the right to be counted as a tribe.  Now we are back to twelve tribes. 

God makes it a point to use people out of birth order.  Remember the story of the conflict between Jacob and Esau, Esau was the oldest, yet had not been the one that stood for the blessing.  Also consider Isaac and Ishmael, Ishmael was born of a slave wife, but stood in position as the first born, yet Isaac was the child of promise.  Joseph was not the oldest either, yet he stood for a double blessing.  In this case, Ephraim was the younger of the two, and stood for the greater blessing. 

Jacob crossed his arms to make a significant issue of who was getting the better of the blessings.  Yet when you read the actual blessing in this chapter, it doesn't really say that much.  First Jacob recognizes the way that God had become involved in his life both through his fathers, through God's protection of him over the years, and through the angel that he had wrestled with before he returned to visit his brother Esau.  Then Jacob gives both sons that same blessing, with the exception of making it a point later in verses 19-20 that Ephraim would be greater.  He also passes the blessing of Abraham on to Ephraim. 

“This is an interesting principle that runs all the way through the Scriptures. For instance, in the choice of David, David was the youngest of the sons of Jesse. Why did God choose him? God is illustrating for you and me a great spiritual truth. God does not accept primogeniture—that is, natural birth. Never will He accept it. There must be the new birth. Therefore, God does not pay attention to our customs. We say that the oldest boy has the responsibility in a family. Well, the oldest boy is not the one whom God always chooses. That is, God does not choose the natural man—He chooses no man because of his natural ability. How don’t misunderstand me. God can use talent, but it must be dedicated to Him! If it took talent alone to bring about revival, we would have had revival in California years ago. We have Christian talent all around, but we don’t have revival. Why not? Because the talent is not dedicated to God. I tell you, my friend, it must be yielded to Him to be used of Him.”^[3]

We don't see much evidence in Jacob's life that he had lived by faith.  Yet in this chapter, he seems to unfold a hidden side of himself.  He not only demonstrates faith, he demonstrates confidence to go along with the faith that God fulfills his promises, which is very strong faith.  He institutes a new form of blessing that is carried on through the rest of the scriptures, that of the laying on of hands.  In some churches today this practice is still carried forth.  The symbolism is tremendous. 

Numbers 27:18 (NASB95)
¹⁸ So the Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him;

Numbers 27:23 (NASB95)
²³ Then he laid his hands on him and commissioned him, just as the Lord had spoken through Moses.

Deuteronomy 34:9 (NASB95)
⁹ Now Joshua the son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him; and the sons of Israel listened to him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Matthew 19:13 (NASB95)
¹³ Then some children were brought to Him so that He might lay His hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them.

Acts 6:6 (NASB95)
⁶ And these they brought before the apostles; and after praying, they laid their hands on them.

Acts 8:17 (NASB95)
¹⁷ Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit. ^[4]

I am going to close here, if you have any comments, please feel free to send them in.

Questions for thought:

Why did Jacob cross his hands when he blessed Joseph’s sons?

Father, as we consider Your word, open our eyes to your will, and make us willing to listen to your guiding as Jacob did.

In Him,

Joe Turner.