Genesis 48.1-4-Joseph Visits His Sick Father Who Recalls Divine Promises
Thursday April 5, 2007
Genesis: Genesis 48:1-4-Joseph Visits His Sick Father Who Recalls Divine Promises
Lesson # 309
Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 48:1.
This evening we will begin a study of Genesis 48, which is divided into four sections: (1) The introduction to Jacob blessing Joseph (48:1-2). (2) Jacob adopts Joseph’s sons in order to elevate them to the status of founding fathers (48:3-12). (3) Jacob confers blessing on Joseph who is represented by his sons with Ephraim receiving the greater blessing (48:13-20). (4) Jacob gives Joseph the portion of the land he took from the Amorites (48:21-22).
Although Jacob adopts Joseph’s two sons, giving them founding father status, which would make the total number of tribes in Israel as thirteen, the number of tribes in Israel still remained at twelve by eliminating the tribe of Levi’s territorial share (See Joshua 14:1-4).
Genesis 48-50 brings to a conclusion the story of Jacob, which began in Genesis 35 and the story of Joseph, which began in Genesis 37.
There are two significant themes recorded in Genesis 48: (1) Jacob adopts Joseph’s sons and elevates them to the status of Israelite tribes. (2) Ephraim receives a greater status over the first-born Manasseh.
This evening we will study Genesis 48:1-4, which records Joseph visiting his father after being informed that he has become sick and his father in turn recalls the promises that God gave him before entering into the ceremony of adopting Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh.
Genesis 48:1, “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.”
“After these things” refers to the oath ceremony where Joseph agreed to his father’s request to have him buried in the land of Canaan, which is recorded in Genesis 47:27-31 and marks the final stage of Jacob’s life.
The expression “Joseph was told” indicates that Joseph did not live with his father in Goshen but rather resided in Memphis due to his responsibilities as prime minister of Egypt, which would keep him distant from his family.
The statement “Behold, your father is sick” is the first reference in the Bible to sickness and refers to the fact that Jacob is terminally ill.
Joseph’s firstborn was “Manasseh” (menashsheh) (hv#n^m+) (men-ash-sheh) whose name means, “He who causes to forget” as indicated by Joseph’s statement “For God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.”
Manasseh’s birth is recorded in Genesis 41:51, “Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, ‘For,’ he said, ‘God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father's household.’”
The name “Manasseh” is derived from the verb nashah (hv#n^m+) (naw-shaw), which means, “to forget” and appears also in Genesis 41:51 and is translated “forget.”
The verb nashah, “forget” does “not” mean the loss of memory of his adversities related to his brothers selling him into slavery but rather it means the hurt or the sting has gone out of the memory since God has blessed him greatly in Egypt.
In fact, the mere mention of his father’s household reveals that Joseph has not forgotten his father or brothers.
The phrase “all my trouble and all my father's household” is a “hendiadys” meaning that even though there are two different expressions one idea is intended, thus it can be translated “all my trouble associated with my father’s household.”
The name of Joseph’s firstborn praises God for delivering him from all the adversities and heartbreak inflicted upon him by his brothers for selling him into slavery in Egypt.
The name “Manasseh” signifies that God had healed Joseph of the bitter memories of being sold into slavery by his brothers by blessing Joseph while in Egypt.
Job 5:18, “For He inflicts pain, and gives relief; He wounds, and His hands also heal.”
Psalm 147:3, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”
The second son that Asenath bore to Joseph was named “Ephraim” (`ephrayim) (<y!r^p+a#) (ef-rah-yim) whose name means, “He has made me fruitful,” as indicated by Joseph’s statement “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”
Ephraim’s birth is recorded in Genesis 41:52, “He named the second Ephraim, ‘For,’ he said, ‘God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.’”
The name “Ephraim” is derived from the verb parah (hrP) (paw-raw), which means, “to be fruitful” and appears also in Genesis 41:52 and is translated “has made me fruitful.”
The verb parah refers to abundant posterity (See Genesis 17:6, 20; 28:3; 48:4; Psalm 105:23-24), which is unusual that it should be used by Joseph after the birth of only his second child.
Therefore, we can see that the verb parah along with the proper noun `ephrayim, “Ephraim” forms a prophecy related to the tribe that would descend from Joseph’s second son Ephraim.
In fact, Moses in his farewell address recorded in Deuteronomy 33:13-17 bestows a fertility blessing upon Joseph and explicitly refers to the “ten thousands of Ephraim” and the “thousands of Manasseh.”
Joseph’s two sons were twenty years of age since Genesis 41:50 records that Joseph’s two sons were born a year before the famine and Genesis 47:28 records that Jacob lived in Egypt for seventeen years and Genesis 45:11 records that Jacob and his sons arrived in Egypt when there were five more years of famine to come.
Therefore, if Jacob lived in Egypt seventeen years and arrived in Egypt with five years remaining in the famine and Joseph’s sons were born a year before the famine, then Joseph’s sons would be twenty years of age.
Genesis 48:1 lists Manasseh first since he was the first-born and Ephraim second and this is important since this represents Joseph’s viewpoint that by primogeniture rights the older will be greater than the younger, however, Jacob will reverse it.
If you recall, in Genesis 25, we saw Esau was the firstborn son of Isaac and Rebekah, however, the Lord chose Jacob to inherit the blessings, privileges, promises and responsibilities of the Abrahamic covenant since he was a believer and Esau was not.
Also, in Genesis 38, we saw that even though Tamar’s midwife used the scarlet thread to identify Zerah as Judah’s firstborn, God considered Perez the firstborn as demonstrated in that he always appears before Zerah in the genealogical lists (See Genesis 46:12; Numbers 26:20-21; Matthew 1:3).
The reason for this is that the ancestral lines of King David is traced back through Perez according to Ruth 4:18-22 as well as the human nature of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ according to Matthew 1:3 and Luke 3:33.
Genesis 48:2, “When it was told to Jacob, ‘Behold, your son Joseph has come to you,’ Israel collected his strength and sat up in the bed.”
Notice the switch in names from “Jacob” to “Israel,” which is significant.
Although, the name “Jacob” means, “heel catcher” implying someone who is a “deceiver” and a “supplanter,” which is a person who takes the place of another by force, scheming or strategy, the name is used here to signify the patriarch’s weakness in his advance age and his lack of confidence in his own strength.
The use of the name “Jacob” implies that the patriarch was living according to the spiritual principle taught by the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9.
2 Corinthians 12:9, “And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”
The name “Jacob’ signifies that the patriarch has acknowledged his own human weakness or impotence so as to experience the power of God in life and his right to appropriate that power by prayer and claiming the divine promises given to him.
The name “Israel” means, “one who fights (both God and men) and overcomes with the power of God” and memorializes the historical event of Jacob wrestling the preincarnate Christ, and which wrestling match symbolized Jacob’s struggles in life with men, which in reality were with God.
The name “Israel” reflects strength and character produced by appropriating the power of God by claiming the promises of God.
The statement “Israel collected his strength and sat up in the bed” along with the change of name from “Jacob” to “Israel” indicates that the patriarch summoned the strength to sit up in bed by appropriating the power of God by claiming the promises of God or in other words, the promises God gave to him revived him.
Jacob sat up in bed also out of respect for Joseph and his office as prime minister of Egypt.
Jacob is told that Joseph has arrived since Genesis 48:10 records that he was going blind and Joseph is announced to his father since Joseph is a great man in Egypt.
Genesis 48:3-4, “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 numerous, and I will make you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you for an everlasting possession.’”
The expression “God Almighty” (Hebrew: El Shaddai) was first used by God of Himself when speaking to Abraham as recorded in Genesis 17:1.
It was used by Isaac when blessing Jacob as recorded in Genesis 28:3 and was used by God once again when speaking to Jacob after he fulfilled his vow at Bethel as recorded in Genesis 35:11.
The title El Shaddai, “God Almighty” emphasizes the omnipotence of God and describes the Lord as being able to bring to pass that which He has promised to Jacob (See Romans 4:20-21).
Israel’s statement “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan” is a reference to the theophany that he received at Luz when he was returning to Canaan from Paddan Aram, which is recorded in Genesis 35:10-12.
A “theophany” is a theological term used to refer to either a visible or auditory manifestation of the Son of God before His incarnation in Bethlehem (Gen. 32:29-30; Ex. 3:2; 19:18-20; Josh. 5:13-15; Dan. 3:26).
Genesis 28:10-15 and Genesis 35:9-15 record that the patriarch received both a visible and auditory manifestation of the Son of God.
“Luz” was later named by Jacob “Bethel” after he received the theophany on the way out of the land of Canaan according to Genesis 28:19.
“Bethel” means, “house of God” and is approximately ten miles north of Jerusalem.
The fact that this is a reference to the theophany Israel received upon returning to Canaan is indicated by the three promises he mentions to Joseph, which were not given to him when he left Canaan for Paddan Aram.
However, we must understand that the promises that Jacob received when leaving Canaan for Paddan Aram that are recorded in Genesis 28:10-19 are nearly identical in substance to the promises that he received when returning to Canaan, which are recorded in Genesis 35:10-12.
Therefore, the promises that Jacob received in his two encounters with the Lord were probably one and the same in the mind of the patriarch.
Israel received six promises when he returned to Canaan, which are recorded in Genesis 35:10-12; however, in Genesis 48:4, he only mentions three of them to Joseph.
The first promise “I will make you fruitful and numerous” is a reference to the promise “be fruitful and multiply” and means that the Lord would give Jacob and his descendants the capacity to be prolific in producing posterity.
The second promise “and I will make you a company of peoples” is a reference to the promise “a company of nations…shall come from you” which refers to the twelve tribes of Israel.
“Peoples” is the noun `am (<u^), which is used of people in terms of their being kinsmen, relatives or members of a tribe and so therefore, this word in Genesis 48:4 refers to the individuals belonging to the various twelve tribes of Israel.
“Nations” is the noun goy (yw{G) (go-ee), which refers to a specific group of people that form a political entity and so therefore, this word refers to the twelve tribes of Israel, each of which formed an independent political entity, as well as forming a nation when joined together.
The third promise “and will give this land to your descendants after you for an everlasting possession” is a reference to the promise “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” which is a reference to the land of Canaan.
The promise of “land” is a reference to the “Palestinian Covenant,” which was a confirmation and enlargement of the original “Abrahamic” covenant and amplified the land features of the “Abrahamic” covenant (Gen. 13:14-15; 15:18).
The “Palestinian” Covenant stipulated that the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who exercise faith alone in Christ alone would not only come into permanent possession of the land of Canaan but also most of the land in Turkey, East Africa, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman and Red Sea, Syria, Iraq, Jordan.
The boundaries of this land grant are on the Mediterranean, Aegean Sea, Euphrates River and the Nile River (See Genesis 15:18).
The Lord promises that this land would be given to Abraham’s descendants and this promise was fulfilled to a certain extent by Israel under Joshua (Josh. 21:43-45; cf. 13:1-7) and David and Solomon (1 Kgs. 4:20-25; Neh. 9:8).
The “Palestinian” covenant will have its literal and ultimate fulfillment during the millennial reign of Christ (Isa. 11:11-12; Jer. 31-37; Ezek. 34:11-16; Hos. 1:10-11; Joel 3:17-21; Amos 9:11-15; Micah 4:6-7; Zeph. 3:14-20; Zech. 8:4-8).
“Your descendants” refers to Jacob’s “biological” descendants, which would be the nation of Israel and it refers to his “spiritual” descendants, which refers to “born-again” Israel.
In a “near” sense “Your descendants” refers to the nation of Israel (saved and unsaved) and in a “far” sense it refers to saved Israel during the millennial reign of Christ.
“Blessed” is the verb barakh (Er^B*) means, “to endue with power for success, prosperity, fecundity, longevity, etc.”
Jacob would be “blessed” or in other words, “endued with power for success, prosperity, fecundity and longevity” by means of the Word of God since the Word of God is “alive and powerful” according to Hebrews 4:12.
Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is alive and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
By means of His Word, the Lord would fulfill His promise to Israel that he would “be fruitful and multiply” by enduing him with power for offspring in great numbers and to become “a company of peoples” and to possess the land of Canaan forever.
Therefore, the statement “God Almighty…blessed me” means that Israel and his descendants would be the recipients and beneficiaries of the omnipotence of God, which would be manifested in time by the Lord fulfilling the three promises through Jacob and his descendants.