Genesis 47:13-48:22

Big Idea: God’s Blessings

Doctrine: God the Father

Attribute: Good

AIM:

Division 1: 47:13-31

Division 2: 48:1-22

Conclusion

INTRODUCTION

“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” 

…This blessing is from the OT book of Numbers and was given BY God TO Moses to speak over the people of Israel. God gave this to the priests of Israel not for them to ask for blessing...but to declare it because God had already done it.

But wait…if they aren’t asking for blessing, then what does the “Lord bless you”... actually mean…and who is really blessed?

I did a quick search on social media resulted in over 1 mill. tags containing the word blessed.

As I scrolled through the posts I saw: weddings, babies, celebrations of new jobs, money, people blessed with curly hair, people blessed with straight hair, groups of friends, graduations, and beautiful places.

If I look at social media alone- I walk away thinking that to be blessed must mean to have a life of abundance, power, popularity, and success. Is that the only way that God blesses us? Are God’s blessings tied up into God giving us obviously good things? Are all those things actually blessings?

All the way back in Genesis 1 and 2 we see the word “blessing” being introduced 3x!

In fact, Genesis contains approximately 1/6 of ALL scriptural references to blessing- so it is a good place to start when it comes to understanding God’s blessings and what a blessing actually is and what it is not.

Today I want to I don’t have time today to walk you through all the examples of blessing in Genesis, or for that matter, the whole Bible.

So I am going to summarize for you what we find in scripture about God’s blessing.

A blessing is ANYTHING God gives us that makes us FULLY SATISFIED IN HIM....

it is anything that draws us closer to him....

If something we have draws us AWAY from God- away from relationship with him and does not make his presence known then it is NOT a blessing.

All blessings have their source in God…

One theologian said it this way: “Blessing is not about getting more from God it is about getting more of God.”

Blessing is about right relationship with God. Over and over in Genesis God tells us the core of Blessing is relationship with him and anything that brings us back and draws us closer to that relationship is. a. blessing...

God blesses us to make himself known on the earth. He wants to be praised, He wants to be enjoyed.

So if a beautiful sunset reminds you that God is creator and draws you into worship of Him- then yes- that sunset is 100% a blessing!

God our Father is good and LONGS to bless his people. He works his plans and purposes to ensure that people through all generations are blessed through the work of Jesus Christ.

All of these blessings in scripture and in our lives are about making God’s name great and drawing people into relationship with him.

AIM: God purpose in blessing is to make His name Great and draw us to Himself.

So today, we are going to look at God’s blessings in two sections:

I. God’s Unexpected Blessing: Genesis 47:13-28

II. A Father’s Blessing: Genesis 47:29-48:22

DIVISION 1: 47:13-28 God’s Unexpected Blessing.

Picking up in 47:13- the Egyptians are still stuck in the middle of a famine.

vs. 13 tells us that the famine was VERY severe- and everything in Egypt and Canaan wasted away.

Joseph’s interpretation of Pharaohs dream—> 7 years total, and right now…we are only in year 2

Initially, people paid for grain

vs. 15: money ran out->Joseph asked for livestock= grain

vs 18...ran out of livestock to give-> so they show up, with nothing to give but their land and themselves....

The people of Egypt were at their breaking point. So desperate that they sold themselves—simply to eat.

I wonder…what was going through the Egyptians minds...

fear…anguish…recognizing their deep need for a savior.

Here we see them at the end of their rope- willing to sell themselves because LIFE was more important to them than freedom.

Some people don’t want to turn their life to Christ because they don’t want to give up their “freedom” to do as they please and live the way THEY want.

But in Christ- we are not only offered LIFE and life to the fullest, but we are offered freedom.

Yes. It is true that Christ asks us to give up our old way of life- our sin patterns- and turn to follow him..but not for bondage. Unlike the Egyptians situation, Christ offers true freedom..

Galatians 5:1 says: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.”

Here we see Joseph grant the Egyptians request and SAVE their lives- giving them grain to eat and seed to plant in the fields.

He sets up a deal that Pharoah will own the land but they can harvest it as long as they will give 1/5 of all their yield to Pharoah...The Egyptians recognized that they were at the end…that they needed someone to save them.

This servanthood that the people entered was not like the slavery that normally comes to our minds when we hear the word. This was voluntary. Not marked by cruelty or oppression-and not fueled by discrimination or prejudice.

God provided for the Egyptians..and his name was Joseph- Joseph was ready to save them- he could literally save them from death by giving them grain. They recognized their need for food and were willing to do ANYTHING to get it.

We too, are in desperate need of a savior. In chapter 3 of Genesis we learned about the fall of mankind into sin- sin which leads straight to death. We are unable to escape death without a savior.

So while God provided Joseph to save the Egyptians, to save them when they could not save themselves....God also provides each of us with His son, Jesus Christ- who came to die on the cross to save us from our sin-to save us when we could not save ourselves- he took the punishment we deserved so that we could have LIFE through him.

The Egyptians recognize the gift of LIFE Joseph has given them: stating in 37:25:  “You have saved our lives,” they said. “May we find favor in the eyes of our lord; we will be in bondage to Pharaoh.”

Have you ever been that desperate? At the end of your rope? Desperate and in need of a savior. For those of you that are Christians- your answer should be yes.

We cannot accept the gift and blessing of LIFE through Jesus and what he did on the cross if we don’t first recognize our intense need for a Savior.

Our desire for God is fueled by our NEED for Him.

God uses moments of loss and need in our lives to bring us to Him. To bring us to a place where we recognize our desperate need for him.

In what situation has God used in your life to draw you closer to him?

Do you see those trials or circumstances in your life that seem/seemed hopeless- as a way for God to bring a blessing over you- a way for him to draw you to himself?

Thousands of years later, when Jesus came- times had changed and the Hebrew people were living under oppressive Roman leaders.

They were desperately waiting for the promised Messiah to rescue them.

As Jesus began asking his disciples to follow him, they said yes, recognizing that he was the Messiah.

However, they were assuming that he was going to take down the oppressive Roman government.

Jesus came to save them, but not in the way they thought…he saved them in the most unexpected way.

By dying…and taking what you deserve upon himself...

he then comes back to life- bringing the promise of eternal LIFE with him forever.

This was a greater blessing than they could have ever imagined. This moment brought them into a deeper and everlasting right relationship with God forever.

If you are a believer today this is your greatest blessing.

Next year- we are going to be studying the book of Matthew in BSF, looking closer into the life of Jesus as our unexpected King who came to save and bless the world- who came to save you.

Who in your life can you invite to join our Matthew study with us next year? Who in your life is in desperate need of a savior and in desperate need of an unexpected blessing?

So while God does provide people like Joseph in our lives to sometimes literally give us our daily bread…

Sometimes God gives us the blessing of need,

Our needs cause us to stop being so focused on everything around us and start focusing on the greatest blessing he has given us…his Son, Jesus.

How often, do we look at the things around us and think: I have all this because I worked hard. I made the right choices. I accomplished it. I. I. I.

In many cases- when we have much- we pat ourselves on the back and say well done. You did it. Great Job.

But our moment of need reminds us that God is the ultimate source of every blessing. If it isn’t from God-if it doesnt draw us closer to Him- it isn’t a blessing.

Need reminds us that we are not in control- and that we don’t have to be. We can rely on the our sovereign and good God to bless us and provide all that we need.

Not because of anything we have done. But because of who He is.

In Gen. 37:27 it says: “Now the Israelites settled in Egypt in the region of Goshen. They acquired property there and were fruitful and increased greatly in number.

So, here are the Egyptians- at the end of their rope, selling themselves for grain while the Israelites are apparently popping out babies right and left and acquiring lots of land- all in the middle of a famine.

In Genesis 12- God promised Abraham that he would bless him and his descendents by making them into great nation. And that is exactly what we see happening here.

Do you see the blessing in this…He chooses to give abundantly to Israel in the MIDDLE of a famine. The ONLY way that the Israelites could be fruitful and multiply in the middle of a severe famine is if God was blessing them and making it happen.

Nothing about this makes sense. Logically, the Israelites should be standing in line with the Egyptians- begging Joseph to save them…but God, through his blessing on them protects them and blesses them abundantly.

The Israelites would have no choice but to look at the state of the Egyptians and then look at their blessing and no doubt step back and say- wow…to God be the Glory. That’s what makes it a blessing- not the fact that they were prospering but because their prospering pointed out God’s goodness and influence over their situation. God uses the situation to give them much to draw them to himself...

It might be tempting to look at this scripture and say. Man, the Egyptians got hosed in this- selling themselves while the Israelites were doing great.

But…remember in Genesis 12:2-3 God said to Abraham “ I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Do you see this again coming to fruition?

At this point in time, the Egyptians treated the Israelites well- giving them land and a place to live- and so God blesses the Egyptians because of it- saving their lives!

God didn’t have to do that…He would have been perfectly just and perfectly right to let them starve during the famine.

But God, in his grace and mercy provided a way out. He provided an unexpected blessing to the Egyptians because of the Israelites and his name was made greater because of it and that is why it is a blessing...

Key Truth: God’s blessings often come in unexpected ways.

Application: Where do you need to step back and look for God’s unexpected blessings in your life?

Has God taken something out of your life, something that the world’s standards would deem as “good” so that he can bless you?

In Genesis 12, before God could bless Abraham, he first had to leave his family and everything he had ever known. God had to strip something good to give him something better.

Where, like the Israelites, has God given you abundance in a situation when it doesn’t make logical sense to draw you closer to him?

Is there a trial or circumstance that has brought you closer to God- where you recognized your deep need and dependence on him?

The trial in and of it itself is not a blessing—> but God uses trials as a channel to bless us.

He uses those moments where we are in deep need to draw us closer to Himself.

Do you see God’s blessings in your circumstances?

DIVISION II: A Father’s Blessing

The rest of our scripture this week and the next moves to the last days and moments of Jacob’s life.

At the end of chp. 47, Jacob asks Joseph to promise to bury him in Canaan, in the land of his Fathers.

Normally, this would be the duty of the 1st born- but here we see Jacob calling on Joseph (his 11th son) and asking him to perform the obligation of the 1st born.

Last week, in chp. 46- God promises that he would bring Jacob out of Egypt and back to the promise land. Jacob believed so strongly in God’s promise that he makes preparation for it by having Joseph swear to take him back.

Some time later, in 48:1-2, Jacob becomes ill and is close to death so Joseph comes to see him and brings his sons, Manasseh and Ephraim with him. There is no indication that Joseph has any idea of what is about to happen here- he is simply visiting his dying Father.

As we move through chapter 48 through the end of 49 we are going to see Jacob give what is known as a Testament.

A testament is the last words of a patriarch. Think of it as like reading the last will and testament today.

In the case of the biblical patriarchs it can involve blessings, commands, and prophecies.

Jacob actually gives 2 final testaments.

This week we are going to look at just the 1st one recorded in chp 48.

Next week we will see Jacob finish his final testament through blessing the rest of his sons.

So- Joseph has arrived with his sons to say goodbye to his Father…and Jacob begins his final testament:

In 48:3, Jacob starts by recalling God’s promised blessing to him in Canaan. He then does something, unexpected:

in vs. 5 we see him actually adopt Joseph’s two sons: Manasseh and Ephraim as his own. This puts them at the same status as his own sons- like Reuben and Simeon.

The blessing in chp. 48 is unique because here Jacob is blessing Joseph by blessing his sons. Normally, a patriarch would bless his own sons, not his grandsons.

Jacob first elevates them to the status of sons and then he gives them the inheritance portion of the blessing that typically belongs to the firstborn. Remember- Joseph is the 11th son of Jacob…by cultural standards he should not be getting anything normally given to the 1st born.

As the scene continues, Jacob recognizes that Joseph’s sons are present. Like his Father, Isaac, his eye sight was failing him in his old age.

Jacob brings them close, embraces them and kisses them. And in vs 11…Jacob recognizes God’s enormous blessing to him in this moment- not only did he get to see Joseph again, but he is also getting to see his grandsons!

The simple fact that He gives God glory for this points out that Jacob realized God didn’t have to do that! If Jacob had died and never saw Joseph or his grandsons-God still would have been good. But God loves to bless us- bringing Joseph back into Jacob’s life resulted in Jacob giving praise and worship to God- God got the glory and through the circumstance Jacob drew closer to God! What an enormous blessing for Jacob!

When have you seen God bless you enormously- in a way that He didn’t have to?

Have you taken time to worship him and praise him for doing that?

Or did you focus more on the gift than on the giver?

Blessings are less about the gift itself and more about the one who gave it.

If God is the source of every blessing then every blessing should end in worship of Him.

And now, it’s time for Jacob to give the blessing. Picture this with me for a moment:

Currently, Ephraim and Manasseh are on Jacob’s knees.

Now, Jacob was an old man and Ephraim and Manasseh were probably in their 20’s so it is most likely that they were not literally sitting on his knees.

But, in that culture, when an infant was adopted they would be placed on the parents knees as the adoption occured- since Jacob was adopting Ephr. and Man. they would have symbolically been sitting, most likely next to, Jacob’s knees.

Joseph recognizes the significance of this moment- his Father is about to bless his sons-

he knows the culture…this is not normal-

this is an extreme honor he is about to receive, so he bows, not in worship, but as a sign of honor, to his father...

and then - in preparation for the coming blessing Joseph places Ephraim on Israel’s left and Manasseh on Israel’s right, specifically positioning Manasseh on the right as his firstborn.

A blessing would have been given by a hand symbolically being extended towards, or even placed on a person.

So Jacob goes to give the blessing and crosses his hands so that Ephraim now receives the firstborn blessing over Manasseh.

Now, if you have been with us since the beginning of Genesis, nothing about this moment should be shocking or surprising.

This is the 5th time in Genesis that we have seen a younger sibling receive the blessing of a firstborn.

Joseph apparently is not familiar or on board with this common trend (even though his own Father, Jacob, received the greater blessing over Esau) and tries to correct Jacob.

Jacob however, is adamant that Ephraim was to receive the greater blessing.

Because we get access to the bigger story, we know from later in the OT that this was in fact God’s plan.

Manasseh and Ephraim would share equally in the inheritance of Jacob’s son and replace Joseph and Levi.

They would both become one of the 12 tribes and acquire their own portion of land in the promised land.

In addition, any other sons Joseph had would become apart of Manasseh and Ephraim’s tribes and share in the inheritance.

The Ephraimites in particular later become one of the leading tribes of Israel, bigger than Manasseh.

In fact, Joshua- Israel’s future leader who will later lead the Israelites into the promised land- is from the tribe of Ephraim.

In turn- Joseph walks away with a double portion of the promised land- one portion for Ephraim and the other for Manasseh.

And now…let’s read the end of Jacobs 1st of 2 testaments, look In vs 21 with me:

Here is Jacob- speaking a blessing over his grandsons Man. and Ephr. with the sole purpose of bringing them into closer relationship with God. He says GOD WILL BE WITH YOU…

Remember what we said about blessing. Blessing is about relationship with God. The blessing here is that God will be with Ephraim and Manasseh....yes, he is going to give them abundance by giving them land but the greater blessing is his presence- and by fulfilling the promise to give them the land God’s name is made great and people are drawn to Him.

Here is Jacob....a Father…about to die…and what does he want to leave with his children and grandchildren? He wants to leave them with the blessing of God’s presence with them.

There is no greater gift you can leave for your loved ones than the blessing of a relationship with Jesus Christ.

So here Jacob, an imperfect, earthly Father, leaves his children with the reminder that God is the source of every blessing- the reminder that God is with them.

Our heavenly Father is the good, good Father…who loves to bless us. For believers, he has adopted you, like Jacob adopted Man. and Ephr. and he longs to draw you closer to himself.

In the NT book of Matthew when Jesus is teaching the disciples to pray he tells us to approach God as Father..why? Because God as Father implies relationship. He isn’t some distant God hanging back while we are down here trying to figure out our lives.

When we pray…we KNOW that he listens.

He knows what is best for us.

He provides for our needs

he discplines us…and he does all of these things perfectly.

Because it makes him happy. He delights in being our Father

Some of you are looking at your example of an earthly Father and are struggling to see how a Father could be good.

But- when we look to God the Father- our perfect Father- we see a Father who longs for relationship with us and who wants to give us good things so that we can enjoy Him, that is what a good and perfect Father does.

If you are a believer hear this: you have been adopted into God’s family. He is your Father. He wants you. He is with you. And He is for you.

Just like we want to give loved ones in our lives good things, God too wants to give us things— he longs to bless us. He longs to bring us into right and close personal relationship with him through his Son Jesus Christ.

Key Truth: God’s greatest blessing is relationship with Him through Jesus.

Application:

How are you blessing those around you today?

Jacob wanted to make sure that his children knew about the blessing’s of God. Do your loved one’s know about the greatest blessing of a relationship with Jesus?

When you die- will they say- she left with me the best gift- the gift of life forever in Jesus!

Or will they only remember the gifts…and not the giver.

Conclusion

Sometimes God will use abundance to bring us to Him.

Sometimes He will use our need to draw us to Himself.

If either results in you being drawn into relationship with God our Father than it is a blessing.

Blessings are all around us...God’s greatest blessing always rests in God himself.

So I’m going to leave you with the blessing we began with from Numbers 6:24-26…

My prayer for you today is not that you will be blessed with abundance, power, popularity, and success: but that with whatever God gives you whether that you will draw closer to his presence…closer to himself

When Christ hung on the cross God’s wrath had to go somewhere..so it went on Jesus....God turned his face away from Jesus in that moment so that his wrath could be satisfied and now he can turn his face towards you....and because of Christ’s death we can have peace and right relationship with God. That is our blessing.... So ladies....

“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” 

Let’s Pray.