Joseph: The Firstborn

Introduction

As the story of Joseph and the book of Genesis both begin to wrap up, the focus turns to the future of God’s people. This is a book of beginnings and now it sets itself to continue through the salvation history that is revealed to us through the rest of Scripture. It is fitting that this scene at the deathbed of the third patriarch in the family of Abraham should signal the end of the story and look forward to the future of God’s people.

As this conclusion draws near, we are reminded of one of the most important themes in this book and in all the Bible: that God’s ways are not our ways, that human sovereignty is a myth, and that God’s works always reach their intended end.

The End of Jacob’s Life Approaches

vs 1 After “this”, that is, after Joseph has promised his father he would return his body to the promised land. Joseph swore in the same way as Abraham’s servant, reminding us of another request of faith made by a dying patriarch.

Joseph hears his father is sick, the kind of sick you don’t get better from. Jacob was no longer dwelling in the land of Goshen, he is dwelling in bed. He is visually coming to the end of his life. This is that call from the hospital that they don’t have long to live and goodbyes need to be said.

Joseph takes his two sons for the purpose of receiving a blessing from the Patriarch, hopeful that his sons will not be considered outsiders like the sons of Keturah in Genesis 25, but will be considered part of the covenant community of Israel.

Jacob summons his strength to sit up. This is very difficult for him to do, but also very important for him.

Jacob and Joseph both see this moment as an important time to look at the future of God’s people, specifically the future of Joseph’s family. The danger is that, because of Joseph’s position in Egypt and because of his children being born in Egypt from an Egyptian woman with connections to the Egyptian priesthood, and because both the boys’ names could be interpreted to spurn Joseph’s family as the source of his hardship from which God had delivered him.

This puts a heavy emphasis on the importance of leaving a godly heritage for the coming generations of the people of God. This is the culmination of Jacob’s life, that through him a Kingdom of Priests would rise up and that the nations would be blessed through them. He had done this at the end of his life after he had let go of his idolatry for his sons and reconciliation had been possible, but that was just a taste.

Christ came through Israel to create a new Kingdom of Priests, a perfect heritage of those born in the world but blessed by their covenant head to be his children, and no longer belonging to the world.

Jacob’s Blessing

The dialogue that begins almost certainly did not take place at this time, but earlier. Verses 2-7 are sort of a recollection of what Jacob had told Joseph previously to explain why he is doing what he is currently doing. It sets up the purpose of the meeting.

This speech begins in verse 3 by referring to God’s appearance to Jacob in Genesis 35:9-12. Jacob repeats the same promises that God had made to his Fathers. This establishes Jacob’s authority to bless the children, because he is the legitimate heir of the promises of God to Abraham.

From the perspective of the entire Bible, this points us to Christ and his right to bless his people. While God appeared to Israel and blessed him, God appeared in the person of Jesus Christ. The Father then declared at his baptism in Mark 1:11 that he was his Son and that he was pleased with him. This gave Christ all the authority to bless his people, all who believe on him, with salvation and life. In fact, in him we have ever spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Eph 1:3). The foreshadowing of Christ’s ministry in this text gives it a special importance for us, because it establishes a heritage of faith that Christ has given us more fully and which we seek to pass along until his coming.

“Your two sons…are mine”

Jacob than claims fatherhood of the two boys. This is because:

Jacob wishes to give Joseph a double portion in this possession. Although Judah has taken the place of the firstborn from, Joseph represents the faith of the family in the most Christlike way. In the same way that Christ gives his redeemed people to the Father (John 17:10) as coheirs with him in his heavenly inheritance. In these ways, Joseph giving his sons to his father displays the way Jesus gives us to the Father after redeeming us from our sins so that we may receive a divine inheritance.

Jacob wishes to legitimize the future generations from Joseph’s line. Since both boys are half Egyptian and were born in Egypt, their legitimacy as children of the promise might be questioned. Remember, not all born of Abraham were the people of God. Ishmael, the sons of Keturah, and Esau all had no part in the people of God. Ishmael was the son of an Egyptian, the sons of Keturah would found various Arabian tribes, and Esau would marry Canaanites and become one people with Sierites. All of these were excluded from the people of God and so joined the world. This is not what Israel wants for Joseph’s family. He will not lose his son’s heritage to the world.

Legitimacy in the people of God is not based on us, but on God’s blessing. It is not good enough to simply be a visible part of the church just like it isn’t good enough simply to be a descendant of Abraham. To truly be part of God’s people, you must receive his blessing, a blessing bought for the elect by the blood of Christ. It is the blessing of God’s presence with us, one that reflects the blessing God gave to his people in Numbers 6:24-26

Numbers 6:24–26 ESV

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

God then told the sons of Aaron,

Numbers 6:27 ESV

“So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”

God’s blessing following the blessing of the priests proves the legitimacy of his people. They are his, he claims them, and he uses his priests to convey that. God used Jacob to bless and legitimize Joseph’s children to separate them from the world of Egypt and unite them to the people of God. God’s blessing to Jacob that he refers to in our text gives him the authority to pronounce Joseph’s sons as legitimate.

Likewise, God gave the church the authority to welcome believers into the community of God. This is what Jesus meant when he gave the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven to the church. We display this blessing in the action of baptism, which welcomes those who have shown genuine faith into the Kingdom. Just like not all of Abraham’s descendants were part of this Kingdom, we don’t baptize infants into the Kingdom just because they are the children of believers. No, the basis of our allowance into the Kingdom of God is personal faith alone, a work of God in our hearts. Just as Isaac’s blessing of Esau was not legitimate, neither is the baptism of an infant who has not yet recieved saving faith. This is the Kingdom God is building, one built of those God has blessed with saving faith in the work of Christ Jesus.

So in this intention to bless these two boys, who were likely in their late teens by this time, we see this text reflect greater realities of a better covenant in Christ.

The Younger before the Older

Joseph and the boys arrive and the whole scene is very reminiscent of Jacob’s blessing by Isaac. In that case, Jacob had lied when asked who he was, but Joseph comes honestly. Jacob, like his father, is almost blind when he goes through this adoption ceremony which puts these boys on equal standing with Reuben and Simeon (vs 5) as the firstborn of Rachel. From Jacob’s language in verses 7-8 hint that Jacob sees these two boys as his children from Rachel, giving them a double portion and giving Rachel more of a legacy in the family since she died before she could be buried in Sarah’s tomb.

As the blessing ceremony proceeds Jacob, like his father, blesses the youngest over the oldest. It’s clear this is intentional.

Reflects God’s providential grace shown to him in his years.

Shows God’s willingness to bless the weak.

Echoes Jesus axiom that the first shall be last, a reality in the Kingdom where the lowly are honoured and the proud and high are brought low. This is also evident in the life of David.

The future of the Kingdom of God will not be built the way human Kingdoms are built. It is not built from the oldest and strongest in a dynasty, it is built by the humble and unexpected, the ones of God’s choosing.

Blessing for the Future of God’s People

At the end of his life, Jacob’s concern is the future of his people and specifically the future of Joseph’s family. What can we take away from this text and apply to ourselves and our church today?

The blessings of Jacob to Joseph’s sons points us to the blessings we have been given in Christ.

Our responsibility as the church of God is to be blessing those who have been made new by the grace of God with the blessings of the church community. This is done through administering Baptism, the Lords Table, brotherly love, and church discipline.

It is also our responsibility to consider the future of the church and act accordingly. We have a faith that is solidly founded in the future, and so it is imperative that the future of our congregation, denomination, city, country, and world in terms of the gospel witness and the proclamation of Christ. How will we equip the future of the church to face the unique challenges to the faith in the rest of the 21st century? And perhaps even more important, will the future of the church look back on us as men and women filled with the Spirit and reflecting Christ? Or will they see apostates, hypocrites, weak theology, and worldliness? They are bound to see some of both, but which will define our time? Will we be a help or a hindrance to the future of Gospel ministry in this city and country?

God’s choosing is different from ours. We are reminded of what we saw when God promised Rebekah that the older would serve the younger. Yet it was not Jacob’s deceit that gave him this blessing, but rather God’s gracious appearance to him that night at Bethel as he fled from Esau. So here, although culture would have the oldest blessed, Jacob blesses the younger. However, we see God’s will turn things around again. Jacob adopts these two boys as his own and blesses them before the rest of the brothers as a way to show them, and particularly Ephraim, as being the firstborn. They were the sons of Rachel, Jacob’s favourite wife, and so in Jacob’s eyes Ephraim is the first born. However, this isn’t God’s plan.

Psalm 78:67–71 ESV

He rejected the tent of Joseph; he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loves. He built his sanctuary like the high heavens, like the earth, which he has founded forever. He chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds; from following the nursing ewes he brought him to shepherd Jacob his people, Israel his inheritance.

Ephraim would indeed become one of the most prominent tribes in Israel and the most populated tribe in the Northern Kingdom after the death of Solomon. In fact, it brings the story to the point where the northern Kingdom is sometimes just referred to as Ephraim and the Southern Kingdom as Judah. However, it is clear that God would choose the southern Kingdom, the Tribe of Judah, and not Ephraim as his blessed remnant.

Even on his deathbed, Jacob seems to think that he could get his way and manipulate God’s purposes and plans. If he could bless the younger, as Isaac had mistakenly done, maybe God’s hands would be tied and his favourite son from his favourite wife would be the one through whom the Christ would come.

We’ve already seen that God favoured Leah, not Rachel, and that is clear through the faith she displayed at the birth of Judah.

God cannot be manipulated, completely grasped, or predicted. He can only be trusted in his sovereign will.

Conclusion

While the future of God’s people and the spread of the Kingdom is something we should be actively thinking about, it is not something in our control. We cannot manipulate or control the working of the Spirit, and we cannot predict how God will work in the years leading up to Christ’s return. All we can do is trust God and walk faithfully in him. It is he, and not us, that blesses the nations through his church. It is he who uses us to bring the Gospel to the lost. It is he who uses the pulpit to bring his Word to our hearts. It is he who fills us with his Spirit to accomplish every good work he has predestined for us to do. May we remember that it was through Judah, not Jacob’s chosen Ephraim, that Christ came through, and so God will continue to use those who are selected, not by human will or ability, but by his sovereign grace.