The Bible Binge - Preposterous! (Genesis 49:8-12,22-26)

No inheritance for you!

The late Tom Benson is best known as the owner of the New Orleans Saints. He died about 5 years ago and when he died, he was worth about $3 billion dollars, making most of his money in banking. When he died, he left his wife Gayle with the bulk of his money. However, that’s not the full story. About 3 years before he died, it became known that he had cut one of his daughters and a couple of grandchildren out of his will. They sued, before he died, claiming he was not competent to make that decision. They lost that argument in court. Judge said he was competent. Benson claimed he fired them from their jobs with the Saints and left them out of the will because they had mistreated his wife after she married into the family. If it’s true, that mistreatment of a family member cost them billions.

We’re making our way through the books of the Bible in our Bible Binge. And in our Bible reading for this week, we find that a father giving his last will and testament to his sons. And some of those sons have been horrendous. There’s been lying, deception, thievery, adultery, and murder in this family. The father himself has not always been a model citizen. And now, he’s nearing the end of his life.

Themes in Genesis

We’ve already talked about the themes of the book of Genesis over the past few weeks here in our Bible Binge.

Genesis is a book of:

Origins

The Promise

Families

Kings

Genesis is a book of origins, a book of The Promise, a book of families… and now today, a book of kings. That may seem kind of odd to us. We don’t normally associate Genesis with kings. But by the time we get to the end of the book, which is in our reading this week, kings have become part of the storyline and it all has to do with this guy Jacob.

Jacob’s Last Will and Testament

Jacob gets to the end of his life… his son Joseph has become the second most powerful guy in the world, working as Pharoah’s right hand man in Egypt, and Jacob gathers his sons around to give them his last will and testament. Jacob has 12 sons. And we get to chapter 49 and we’ve already been clued in that most of these 12 sons are scoundrels.

We open the pages of Genesis 48 and 49 and we imagine hearing Jacob say something like: I, Jacob, being of sound mind but weak in body and conscious that all must die do make and declare this my last will and testament hereby revoking all others. Being of sound mind but weak in body. Those words become important when the will being read has language that is probably going to upset some people. None of them are cut out of this will per se, but many of them are going to wish they hadn’t been mentioned at all. What Jacob says here is in poem form. He’s not so much leaving a will as he is giving blessings to his sons, some of which are not blessings at all, but curses. No inheritance for you! Some of them are violent. They sold Joseph to slave traders headed to Egypt. They lied about Joseph’s demise to their dad Jacob. And now here they are, Joseph is running the country and they’re in Egypt. And Jacob has one last meeting with them all.

He has something to say about the future of all 12 sons. These are not predictions. We talked about this a few weeks ago… this is not Jacob gazing into a crystal ball. This is Jacob reading the room. This is Jacob understanding his place and his family’s place in the line of the Promise made to Grandpa Abraham.

Again, these are poems, and they talk about the future based on what Jacob knows of his sons. But among all the curses and all the blessings there are two that stand out. They stand out because they are over-the-top blessings that are unmatched by anything else Jacob says. They also stand out because they are connecting the dots for us in the book of Genesis. After suggesting that he wouldn’t be caught alone with two of his sons because they are violent and murderous… he gets to Judah.

The Lion King of Judah

Judah himself has been one of the scoundrels. He’s party to selling Joseph to the slave traders. He helped create the lie to deceive Jacob about Joseph’s death. He has two sons born to a supposed prostitute who turned out to be his daughter-in-law. Not a great guy. Yet here’s what Jacob says about Judah:

Genesis 49:8–10 “Judah, your brothers will praise you...your father’s sons will bow down to you. Judah is a young lion— The scepter will not depart from Judah or the staff from between his feet until he whose right it is comes and the obedience of the peoples belongs to him.”

Judah’s destiny is going to be tied up with royalty… identified as a lion. Jacob is giving the blessing of his family line to Judah… of all 12 sons, the notorious Judah get’s the blessing. That’s preposterous. But there it is. Judah not only gets the blessing, but his line is going to be a royal line. Jacob’s family isn’t just a family perpetuating the line of The Promised One. This line is going to a line of kings.

And that brings us back to the storyline of the book of Genesis. This story started with Adam and Eve in the garden. They had it good. They messed up. The rebelled. They sinned. They are cut off from God. Sin and death enter the world. And yet God gives them a promise:

Genesis 3:15 “I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”

This is the very first promise that there will be someone who is going to crush the head of Satan and restore things between God and humanity. And then many hundreds of years later, that Promise is given to Abraham:

Genesis 12:1–3 “The Lord said to Abram: Go from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

This Promised One of Genesis 3 is going to come through Abraham’s family and through that offspring all the peoples of the earth will be restored to relationship with God. And now here’s Jacob at the end of his life saying… about that offspring… kings are going to come from that line, and he will not simply rule the nation, but he will rule the world. From Judah… the scoundrel. That’s preposterous.

But there’s one more thing we need to see… one piece of this that was not missed by many of the Bible’s authors...

Genesis 49:10 “The scepter will not depart from Judah or the staff from between his feet until Shiloh comes...”

Shiloh is another word for sanctuary. It literally means “bringer of peace”. This offspring of Judah will be a King whose robed is dipped in blood and yet comes and brings peace to the nations. Throughout the Bible, Shiloh is the place where God dwells with his people. When God is among his people there is peace. Judah’s life has been anything but peace, but Jacob says there will be one who does just that in his line. That’s preposterous.

Joseph and the Vine

Jacob’s not the only son who has this over-the-top kind of blessing. Joseph, who we would have expected to get all the great blessings Judah seems to be getting also has great blessing of his own. Joseph hasn’t been a scoundrel. But the blessings aren’t based on how moral or good the children are. Here’s what Jacob says about Joseph:

Genesis 49:22–26 “Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine beside a spring; its branches climb over the wall...by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel...who blesses you with blessings of the heavens above, blessings of the deep that lies below, and blessings of the breasts and the womb. The blessings of your father excel the blessings of my ancestors and the bounty of the ancient hills. May they rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince of his brothers.”

How many times can you say the word bless in a last will and testament? Bless, bless, bless, bless, bless Joseph.. the prince of his brothers. There’s the king stuff again. 2nd most powerful dude on the planet… and along with Judah, a picture is developing of just what this Promised One to Adam and Abraham is going to look like.

I, Jacob, being of sound mind but weak in body and conscious that all must die do make and declare this my last will and testament hereby revoking all others...Judah will be a Lion and a King and Joseph is blessed six times over and gets double everybody else. Really? You don't think that will be challenged in court? Preposterous! Yet, there it is. It’s not just all the nations of the world will be blessed through Abraham and that this offspring is going to take care of the sin and death problem… this one is going to reign over the entire world, when it’s all said and done. That’s preposterous! Until it isn’t.

The Unexpected King

This sets up the rest of the storyline of the Old Testament and the story of Israel. This sets up what we find in the New Testament. Judah and Joseph, together, anticipate the coming of a one who will be born in the city of kings… Bethlehem… David’s Royal City that we sing about during this time of year. That king.. the one who was born in a manger and had kings visit and give him royal gifts. That one who grew up and then died with a sign above his head… the King of the Jews. That king. The King to whom has been given all of the nations of the world, who rules and reigns wearing a robe dipped in blood.

And this is where Jacob’s blessing for Judah just defies what we would expect. We expect kings on horses. Kings in majesty and gold and pomp and crowns with lots of jewels and absolute power. But Jacob is talking about wine and blood and war. Because this is a different kind of king. From the very beginning of the story, the rule and reign of the Promised One would be identified and defined by blood. Atonement. Forgiveness. You want preposterous? That’s preposterous. A king who would die for his people. A king who would die for the notorious. The scoundrels. That’s ironic. That’s preposterous. A king whose death brings peace and restores relationship. That’s preposterous.

That’s Jacob’s blessing for Judah and Joseph this Advent season. That’s Jesus for us. Jesus’ scepter and staff is his cross. He has washed his clothes in wine, in blood, for us. Jesus is the bringer of peace. For you and for me.

Let’s pray.

The Table

It’s kind of hard to miss the implications of Jacob’s blessing for this Table right here. He washes his clothing in the wine and his garment in the blood of grapes.. his eyes are darker than wine… our beautiful savior is so extravagant in his grace.. that we benefit from His death. These are his riches… his body pierced and given for us. His blood shed for us. That’s extravagant and rich grace. For you and for me.

Benediction

Numbers 6:24–26

May the Lord bless you and protect you;

may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;

may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.