GENESIS 48 - The Seed and the Blessing

Introduction

How many of you remember Sunday School perfect attendance pins? For those of you who may not be familiar, this was a regular feature of Sunday School programs in the late 1900’s—you could get a recognition like a pin or some other kind of reward for attending Sunday School every week for a quarter or a year or multiple years, and so on.

So one of the elements of this program was that you had to have proof of attendance if you went to a different church on a given week. So for instance, when your family went on vacation you had to go find a church on Sunday that had a Sunday School program and then get an attendance certificate to turn in to your own Sunday School when you got home. So that meant you had to be really serious about this contest if it meant you were going to go through the experience of going to a strange church and sitting in a class with a bunch of other kids you didn’t know just to keep your perfect attendance streak going!

It’s an awkward experience, isn’t it—walking into a church you’ve never been to before? Whether you’ve been a long-time member at a different church and you’re visiting a new one for the first time, or you’re new to church-going altogether, it is really intimidating to walk into a tight-knit group of people who know each other and have their own customs and vocabulary and try to fit in with them.

Right after the account of Jesus’ triumphal entry that we read earlier in John’s Gospel, there is an account of some outsiders that came to the Passover:

John 12:20–23 LSB

Now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast; these then came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip came and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip came and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

Here were Gentiles from Greece who were “going up to worship” for Passover—Exodus 12:48-49 tells us that they had to have been circumcised into the Mosaic Covenant in order to do so:

Exodus 12:48–49 LSB

“But if a sojourner sojourns with you and celebrates the Passover to Yahweh, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near to celebrate it; and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat of it. “The same law shall apply to the native as to the sojourner who sojourns among you.”

These Greek worshippers of YHWH wanted to meet Jesus—they were seeking Him as Messiah, looking to Him as the fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel, but they weren’t even related to Abraham! And when Jesus heard about them coming to Him, He said “THIS is it! My time to be glorified among all the nations has come!” He was about to be crucified, and with His death and resurrection was going to bring blessing to those Greek proselytes, was going to bring blessing to every family of the world—the ancient promises of YHWH to Abraham were about to be fulfilled!

God has always had the entire world in view for receiving the blessing of His promises—He has always meant to include every family of the earth in His covenant. He delights in bringing strangers into His family and reconciling groups that had been estranged from each other and bringing all people together into fellowship with Him and with each other.

What we see in John’s account, what we see in Exodus 12, what we see in our text in the life of Joseph here this morning, and what I want to show you here from God’s Word this morning is that

God’s COVENANT always creates a new PEOPLE out of every NATION

Here in Genesis 48 we read about the blessing that Jacob gives to Joseph’s sons Ephraim and Manasseh—two Egyptian boys who have suddenly been surrounded by seventy cousins who all know each other and have their own language and their own customs and their own worship. They would have been teenagers by this time—old enough to understand that the family of Jacob were inheriting these massive promises from YHWH—land, seed and blessing.

And they had to wonder, “What does that mean for us?” Would there be any part of these covenant blessings? They belonged to a noble Egyptian family; their grandfather {po-TIPH-er-uh} on their mother’s side was a priest of Ra! They were seen in Egyptian society as descended from the Sun God himself—would YHWH even want them?

But see here God’s delight in making a new people for Himself through His covenant promises—

I. He turns OUTSIDERS into His CHILDREN (Genesis 48:1-7)

The chapter begins on a somber note—Joseph gets word that Jacob does not have much longer. This is when the doctor would say, “It’s time for the family to come in”:

Genesis 48:1 LSB

Now it happened after these things that Joseph was told, “Behold, your father is sick.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him.

Joseph took his boys, because he knew this would probably be the last time they saw their grandfather. And when they arrived, Jacob didn’t waste any time. He roused himself (v. 2) and immediately addressed the one thing that he and his sons had to be wondering about: Where do these Egyptian outsiders fit into YHWH’s covenant promises?

Genesis 48:3–4 LSB

Then Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, and He said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply, and I will make you an assembly of peoples, and I will give this land to your seed after you for an everlasting possession.’

All the promises—land, seed, blessing—Jacob goes on to tell his grandsons straight out that

They BELONG in God’s PROMISES (vv. 3-5a)

Jacob the patriarch goes on to pronounce Ephraim and Manasseh as his own children—

Genesis 48:5 LSB

“So now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine...

Even though Joseph’s seed were not born in the land, they will still inherit the blessing! YHWH is determined to make these outsiders part of His covenant people—despite their background, despite their upbringing, despite their pagan family ties—Jacob says “these are my boys too!”

And lest anyone question whether Ephraim and Manasseh are truly part of the Covenant or not, Jacob goes on to nail it down as tight as can be that

They are EQUAL in his SIGHT (v. 5b)

Look at how he says it at the end of Verse 5:

Genesis 48:5 LSB

“So 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.

This is a shocking statement from Israel the patriarch—he is putting his grandchildren from his second youngest son at the same level as his firstborn and second-born sons! We are going to see this play out in the way Ephraim and Manasseh and Joseph figure into the inheritance of the land a bit later on, but for now just see how thoroughly YHWH adopts these two boys into His covenant promises! Full rights and privileges and blessings as sons of Jacob, equal with their uncles in his sight and (as we’ll see) greater in his affections!

Throughout this account we see YHWH’s delight in making a new people for Himself through His covenant promises. He turns outsiders into His children, and see in the following verses that

II. He gives His BLESSINGS as He PLEASES (Genesis 48:8-14; 17-20)

In Verses 8-11 we have a poignant moment as Israel prepares to bless his adopted sons:

Genesis 48:8–10 LSB

Then Israel saw Joseph’s sons and said, “Who are these?” And 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.” 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.

Jacob had to be thinking of that day a lifetime ago when his old blind father Isaac prepared to bless him and Esau. He had to be thinking of his deception on that day, and how his father was determined to disobey God’s clear direction that his older son Esau was to serve his younger son Jacob, and how he and his mother Rebekah had contrived to trick Isaac into obeying YHWH.

But see here the grace of God toward Jacob—forgiving the sinful way Jacob received the blessing and birthright of patriarch, God still used him to bless the next generation of his faithful covenant seed—

God’s blessings are not LIMITED by our FAILURES (v. 10; cp. Gen. 27:1)

Jacob the wily old sinner was not blessing his grandsons because of is perfect record of faithfulness; he was not bestowing promises based on his sterling character; Jacob was a recipient of the same grace that he was blessing his grandsons with! Jacob knew what kind of man he had always been; he knew that as he blessed his grandsons that he did not deserve to have that privilege. He had cheated his way into becoming patriarch and knew it. But he was able to bless Joseph’s sons with YHWH’s covenant blessings because of the grace he had received from Him!

Because Jacob was blind, Joseph put his sons in the correct order for Jacob to bless them:

Genesis 48:13 LSB

And 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.

But Jacob had one more unexpected move left in him:

Genesis 48:14 LSB

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.

When Joseph saw what his father was doing, he tried to stop him:

Genesis 48:17–18 LSB

But Joseph saw that his father set his right hand on Ephraim’s head, and it was displeasing in his sight; so he took hold of his father’s hand to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. And Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn. Place your right hand on his head.”

Joseph expected his firstborn Manasseh to receive the right-handed blessing of the firstborn, and tried to “correct” Israel’s “mistake”. But once again we see here (as we have seen all along in Abraham’s family)

God’s blessings are not GOVERNED by our WISDOM (vv. 17-20; cp. Rom. 9:13)

Every generation of Abraham’s covenant family has been the same: The firstborn does not receive the blessing. Ishmael was Abraham’s firstborn, but the younger son Isaac was the Son of the Promise. Isaac’s son Esau was the firstborn, but it was the younger son Jacob that received the blessing. And here again—Reuben and Simeon are Jacob’s firstborn, but neither of them receive the blessing: it goes to Jacob’s grandsons instead!

The message is clear throughout the saga of Abraham’s family: God does not bestow His blessings according to the wisdom or sensibilities of man. He is free to bless whoever He will. His electing grace rests on nothing but His sovereign choice:

Romans 9:13 LSB

Just as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

Manasseh would become a great people, but God’s sovereign choice was for Ephraim to become the most-blessed tribe in Israel:

Genesis 48:19–20 LSB

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 seed shall become the fullness of nations.” And 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.

Throughout the rest of the Old Testament Ephraim will become the most prominent tribe in Israel—the conquering of Canaan and its settlement was conducted by the Ephraimite Joshua, Samuel the prophet was from Ephraim, and the prophet Hosea uses “Ephraim” as a synonym for Israel some three dozen times in his prophecy. And all of it because God was free to bless the younger brother over the former!

God delights to make a new people for Himself out of all the nations through His covenant promises--He turns outsiders into His children, He gives His blessings as He pleases, and

III. He makes STRANGERS one FAMILY (Genesis 48:15-16)

In the blessing that Jacob gave to Joseph and his sons is found in Verses 15-16:

Genesis 48:15–16 LSB

And he blessed Joseph and said, “May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, The God who has been my shepherd throughout my life to this day, The angel who has redeemed me from all evil, Bless these boys; 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.”

Jacob is giving Ephraim and Manasseh his name, his father’s name, and his grandfather’s name—he is making it clear that Ephraim and Manasseh belong with the rest of his sons because they are

Called by the same NAME (v. 16)

This is not some sort of “blended” family where children might have different last names because of who their father was—Israel is saying that these two Egyptian boys bear the same Covenant Name as the rest of his sons, and they will carry on the covenant Name of Abraham right along with the rest! God changed Jacob’s grandfather’s name from “Abram” (“Exalted Father”) to “Abraham” (“Father of many”) to indicate the blessing of the Covenant on him—and now these two boys will carry that same name and that same promise. Ephraim and Manasseh are graciously invited into all the covenant promises of God to Abraham because they are called by his name!

And not only are they called by the same name as Abraham, but see here that they are

Blessed by the same GOD (v. 15)

as Jacob

Genesis 48:15–16 LSB

And he blessed Joseph and said, “May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, The God who has been my shepherd throughout my life to this day, The angel who has redeemed me from all evil, Bless these boys...

This is the first time in all of the Scriptures where God is described as a “shepherd”—no doubt Jacob, a shepherd all his life, saw how God dealt with his own stubbornness and foolishness just as a shepherd has to look after an unruly, foolish sheep. Jacob promises the boys that God will be their shepherd too—He will take care of them and lead them through the wilderness of their lives and feed them and defend them and protect them and shelter them—He will be their God!

And there is another beautiful picture here—Jacob calls God “the angel who redeemed me from all evil”. The Hebrew word here, go’el, means “kinsman redeemer”—someone to come to the aid of a relative in distress. Jacob recognizes how God had constantly rescued him and brought him through every distress, every “danger, toil and snare”—and now he promises that God will be the same for them!

Ephraim and Manasseh are no longer strangers, no longer outsiders. Israel has brought them into YHWH’s covenant promises; he has promised them God’s blessing, and he has turned them from strangers into family members. He will be their kinsman redeemer, to redeem them from all evil and bless them and keep them and make His face to shine on them.

And in Verses 21-22 Israel turns his attention to a blessing for his boy Joseph:

Genesis 48:21–22 LSB

Then Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am about to die, but God will be with you and will bring you back to the land of your fathers. “And I give you one portion more than your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow.”

God turns outsiders into His children, He gives His blessings as He pleases, He makes strangers into one family, and

IV. He keeps PROMISES beyond DEATH (Genesis 48:21-22; cp. Josh. 24:32)

From worrying that God could not be trusted to keep his son Joseph alive, now we see Jacob trusting God to be faithful and true to Joseph long after he is gone! Jacob knows his stewardship of the Covenant is coming to an end, but he is resting in YHWH’s faithfulness to Joseph to return him to the Land of the Covenant again someday, faithful to give him a “double portion” of the Land someday. Joseph would count his inheritance from the land both of his sons would inherit; a double portion of the Promised Land compared to the rest of his brothers.

The word “portion” is also translated “slope” or “shoulder of land”, and is the Hebrew word shechem—which is the place where Joseph’s bones would be buried four centuries later when Israel re-entered the Promised Land:

Joshua 24:32 LSB

Now they buried the bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel brought up from Egypt, at Shechem, in the portion of the field which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for one hundred qesitah; and they became the inheritance of Joseph’s sons.

See here the long faithfulness of YHWH to Joseph, to bring him back to the land of his fathers in Shechem—the very place his brothers were tending their flocks the day his seventeen-year-old self left home forever! Jacob reminds Joseph here that he has

Never been FORSAKEN in THIS life

God’s hand has been on him, His purposes have never fallen by the wayside, His care and watchfulness and steadfast covenant love has never wavered.

But this would be cold comfort if all Joseph were being promised was that he would be buried in Shechem; that he would die centuries before he actually went back to Canaan. But the real hope that Jacob has for Joseph is that God’s promises go beyond death—the real hope for Jacob, and Joseph, and Ephraim and Manasseh—the real hope for you and me is that

The GRAVE cannot BURY God’s PROMISES

Jacob was days away from his grave; Joseph’s re-entry to the Promised Land would be in a grave; Ephraim and Manasseh themselves would be dead and buried in Egypt long before their inheritance was granted to them. Jacob’s great heartbreak of the death of his beloved Rachel still affects him decades later as he relates his coming to Bethlehem (v. 7)—this whole chapter is written in the shadow of the death of every one of them.

But the great hope that the Promised Seed of Abraham would bring to all of them is that they would live to see the fulfillment of YHWH’s promises! When Jesus disputed with the Sadducees in Mark 12, He said

Mark 12:26–27 LSB

“But regarding the fact that the dead are raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; you are greatly mistaken.”

He does not say He was the God of Jacob “until he died...” Jacob had been lying in his grave for four hundred years by the time Moses had his encounter with YHWH in Exodus 3, and yet God says “I STILL AM Jacob’s God!” Because His promises to Jacob could not be buried with him in that grave!

This is the blessing that the seed of Abraham was bringing to the world—that Jesus Christ, descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the perfect Son of God came and kept perfectly all of the promises of YHWH to His people. And when He went into His grave, the promises of God did not cease; He brought all those promises back out of the grave with Him! He brought back resurrected promises, promises made more sure by His sacrifice—promises that are not just for the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Ephraim, Manasseh or any of the rest, but promises that are sure for everyone who shares the faith of Abraham—everyone who believes God’s promise to save through the Seed of Abraham, Jesus Christ!

The kinsman redeemer that Jacob spoke of in his blessing to Ephraim and Manasseh, the one who “redeemed him from all evil”—this is the One Who will redeem you from all your evil; the One Who shields you from the wrath of God by absorbing all of it on the Cross; He is the One Who will not only buy you back from your sin and your shame and your failure and your rebellion and your indifference and bring you into perfect fellowship with God; He is the One Who brings you into His family!

God delights to take strangers and make them into family; He loves to take the ones far off and unite them as brothers and sisters. If you see that you are outside His family today; you have an invitation this morning that He extends to every outsider—to everyone who has been estranged from Him and from each other by sin:

John 1:12–13 LSB

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Here is your invitation into this covenant family; here is the deathless promise from the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—that you can belong to this family, you can be redeemed from all your evil, you can receive the promise of an eternal inheritance of dwelling for all eternity when you give all your sin and shame and guilt and filth and failure to the One Who redeemed you from it all by His death, burial and resurrection—your Kinsman Redeemer, your Savior—Jesus Christ!

BENEDICTION

1 Timothy 1:17 LSB

Now to the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

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