Preparation
for Death; Genesis 48
Chapters
48 and 49 form a unit dealing with the passing on of the blessings from Jacob
to his sons. The focus in these two chapters is on the blessings. The Abrahamic
covenant is the interpretive foundation for everything in Genesis from chapter
12 to the end of the book. It is truly the interpretive foundation for
understanding everything in the Bible from Genesis 12 to Revelation 22. We must
understand God’s unconditional permanent covenant with Abraham; that He will
provide him with a permanent piece of real estate, the land; and every time we
see that terminology in certain contexts related to Israel throughout the Bible
we have to always think of physical real estate. Part of the promise of God to
Abraham is that he would be a blessing to all nations, and blessing is one of
the major themes throughout the book of Genesis.
In
chapter 48:3, 4 Jacob is going to adopt Joseph’s two sons as his own, just as
Reuben and Simeon are his sons; so they become equal within the family. As the
chapter focuses on this double portion blessing of Joseph’s house we see
historically the outworking of this because Ephraim and Manasseh become the two
most powerful and populated tribes in the northern kingdom. Remember, when
Solomon died his son Rehoboam becomes the king and he listens to all the young
foolish advisors. This created a major problem within the kingdom and Jeroboam
who is an Ephraimite led the first tax revolt in history and the ten northern tribes
of Israel separate themselves from the two southern tribes, Judah and Benjamin,
and are known historically as the kingdom of Judah. The ten tribes in the
northern kingdom are usually referred to as Israel, but there are passages
where the northern kingdom is referred to Ephraim and there are passages where
the northern kingdom is also referred to as Joseph because the two prominent
tribes in the north are Ephraim and Manasseh, the two sons of Joseph.
Ezekiel
37: is a prophecy related to the future restoration and regathering of the
nation Israel and what will happen at the end times in Israel’s history. In the
middle of this section dealing with the regathering is the dry bones passage
where the prophet says that he sat down in the midst of the valley and it was
full of dry bones. While he watching the bones began to live and to come
together. If we just jump into this passage with no understanding of context we
might get fooled. In verse 16 we read: “And you, son of man, take for yourself
one stick and write on it, ‘For Judah and for the sons of Israel, his
companions’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of
Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions.’ [17] Then join them for
yourself one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand.”
(The Mormons say the stick is a scroll; that the stick of Judah is the Bible
the Christians have; the stick of Joseph is Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon)
What is happening here is that it is talking about the future restoration of
Israel and the union and reunification of the northern kingdom of Israel with
the southern kingdom of Judah. The sticks aren’t scrolls of Scripture, they’re
sticks. They are designed to represent the two nations. The prophet was to join
them together into one stick. Israel comes together first as unregenerate, and
then ultimately it will be breathed upon and regenerated. [18] “When the sons
of your people speak to you saying, ‘Will you not declare to us what you mean
by these?’ [19] say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I
will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes
of Israel, his companions; and I will put them with it, with the stick of
Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.”
We
see in chapters 48 and 49 a foreshadowing of the dominance of the sons of
Joseph and Judah. As we start chapter 48 we see the setting has to do with
Jacob in his old age. We need to note that change from calling him Jacob to
Israel. When he is called Jacob in this chapter it is emphasizing Jacob as
Jacob the individual, but when he is called Israel that is a sort of clue that
what is happening to him has national and historical significance for the
nation Israel.
Genesis
48:1 NASB “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.” Verses 1-12 deals with Jacob’s adoption of his two grandsons
as full heirs, and then in vv. 13-20 the patriarch will then bless his
grandsons following the principle of the elder serving the younger. Then the
last two verses of the chapter represent his confident assertion that they will
indeed return to the land that God has promised them in the land of Canaan and
they will eventually be buried there. He also bestows an addition blessing, the
land grant, on Joseph. In their culture the bestowal of a blessing by a dying
patriarch had irrevocable authority. We see similar examples in Genesis 22:20
and Joshua 24:29. So Jacob begins the ceremony, and he does so by something
that smacks of a covenant type of ceremony; he is going to remind Joseph and
his two sons of the Abrahamic covenant and how God had reaffirmed it with him.
By adopting Joseph’s two sons and by reiterating this blessing to them they
come into the line of the promise. Jacob recognizes here that the blessing
isn’t his, the blessing is from God. Genesis 48:3 NASB “Then Jacob
said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and
blessed me,” The blessing is divine in its source and he is the channel of
blessing. [4] “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.’ [5] Now your two
sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt,
are mine [adoption]; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as [in the same way]
Reuben and Simeon are.” So the two sons now become historically known as the
sons of Joseph and on equal par as tribal heads with the others. The two sons
establish their inheritance, Numbers 26:28; Deuteronomy 33:13-17; Joshua 17:17.
The rationale that he gives for this adoption is because of the premature death
of his beloved Rachel.
Genesis
48:7 NASB “Now as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died, to
my sorrow, in the land of Canaan on the journey, when there was still some
distance to go to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that
is, Bethlehem).” This terminology is used again in Micah 5:2 where we are told
that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem-Ephratha. Ephrath was the
pre-Jewish Canaanite name for Bethlehem, just as Bethel was originally named
Luz, the Canaanite name. Then we see the adoption per se and the preparation
for the blessing. Joseph's two sons are presented in verses 8, 9, and in verse
10 we are told that the eyes of Israel were dim (as with Isaac). But he knows
what he is doing and is going to pass on the blessing in the correct way within
divine viewpoint.
Genesis
48:11NASB “Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your
face, and behold, God has let me see your children as well.” This is a
reflection on God’s grace. Remember, this was Jacob the heel-grabber, the
manipulator, the deceiver. Now he is relaxed, he understands the blessing of
God in his maturity, he is a mature believer. God has provided richly for him
in restoring his son, and not just his sons but his grandsons. [12] “Then
Joseph took them from his knees, and bowed with his face to the ground.” That
is the first section, setting the adoption itself in preparation for the
blessing that comes forward in verses 13-20.
The
scenario: Joseph brings the two boys up and he is looking at his father. He is
go9ng to arrange them so that when he brings these boys forward he is going to
move Ephraim on his right, his father’s left, and put Manasseh over on the
right side because Manasseh is the older. Joseph hasn’t quite grasped the
principle of the older serving the younger yet. Israel understands what is
going forward and when he gets ready to bless them he crosses his hands,
because he is going to bless Ephraim who is going to get the primary blessing,
being the younger, and Manasseh will get the second one. Verse 14 “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.”
This
brings in the whole doctrine of the elder serving the younger. What is the
principle there? God is going to perform His plan God’s way; God’s wisdom
surpasses the wisdom of man. The human viewpoint practice is the law of
primogeniture, that the eldest always received the double portion and the
inheritance; but God is going to work differently because He is teaching a
lesson that is based on grace and not by works. So Ishmael who is firstborn
serves Isaac who is the promised seed and the younger. Esau who was the first
one of the twins to be born served Jacob, the younger. Joseph’s brothers all
served Joseph in fulfilment of that dream he had in chapter 37. Now Manasseh
will serve Ephraim who will be the dominant of the two tribes.
But
then as he crosses his hands Israel blesses Joseph because Joseph is the father
and the blessing is going down through Joseph. Genesis 48:15 NASB
“He blessed Joseph, and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac
walked,” (Walking before God is a sign of living before God, living a positive
spiritual life) “The God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day.” He
recognizes that God is the one who sustained him through all those years that
he was out of the land. [16] “The angel who has redeemed me from all evil,
Bless the lads; 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.” This is the first time the word ga’al, the word for redemption, is used. The
noun form is goel
which refers to the kinsman redeemer. Redeemer always carries with it the idea
of paying a price to deliver or rescue someone. So this is clearly a passing on
of the Abrahamic covenant, the blessing, to his grandsons whom he has now
adopted.
Genesis
48:17 NASB “When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand
on Ephraim’s head, it displeased him; and he grasped his father’s hand to
remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. [18] Joseph said to his
father, ‘Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn. Place your right hand
on his head.’ [19] 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 descendants shall become a multitude
of nations [people].’ [20] He blessed them that day, saying, “By you Israel
[the future nation] will pronounce blessing, saying, ‘May God make you like
Ephraim and Manasseh!’” Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh.” They will become
so prosperous and blessed that it will become proverbial.
In
verses 21, 22 Joseph gets a special land grant. Genesis 48:21 NASB
“Then Israel said to Joseph, ‘Behold, I am about to die, but God will be with
you, and bring you back to the land of your fathers. [22] I give you one
portion more than your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with
my sword and my bow.’” He won’t go back physically, his body will be returned
just as Jacob’s body would be returned. And this would be fulfilled, not
historically but prophetically. Jesus shows us how to interpret this in the
Gospels when He is asked by the Sadducees about resurrection: “I am the God of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”
If there was no resurrection God was have said, I was the God of Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob. So the fulfilment of this promise to Joseph did not take place
historically because Joseph died in Egypt and this fulfilment will come to Joseph
in the resurrection in the millennial kingdom.
The doctrine of dying well
1)
A believer should be able to face the reality of physical
death with objectivity and courage, because he knows that he will be absent
from the body and face to face with the Lord. There should not be fear of death;
there should not be concern and anxiety.
2)
As such a believer should responsibly provide for and take
care of his family in the event of death, whether expected or unexpected.
3)
This means a believer should have an up-to-date will, his
finances should be properly taken care of, an inheritance to be left for the
children (Proverbs 13:22, “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s
children…”) Distribute your valuables before you die.
4)
You should seriously consider leaving some of your estate to
the furtherance of the gospel, for missions, missionaries, ministries and local
churches.
5)
Provision should be taken for the eventuality of nursing
care.
6)
For the elderly some time should be taken to have some
discussion with children, grandchildren, to alleviate whatever anxiety may come
their way at the time of your passing. Make sure they understand the gospel so
that when the time comes and they come together for the funeral it is a time of
joy and rejoicing and celebration. Make sure they understand exactly what the
Bible says transpires at the time of death.
7)
Write a short letter; make a film or recording where you
explain the gospel to make sure that the gospel is given clearly.