JACOB’S DEATHBED BLESSINGS CONTINUE FOR HIS SONS

Now we’ve come to this last study in the Book of Genesis, and we got down in the 49th Chapter to Verse 16.  Old Jacob is on his deathbed.  He called his 12 sons around him, and we’d already seen what he had to say concerning 6 of the boys.  Now we have 6 more to go and we’ll be much briefer with these because we feel like the one that was really now all important is Judah.  And why?  Well, it’s because we know now that the Lord Jesus is coming through Judah.  

You see, all we knew at the beginning was that it would be the “seed of the woman”.  Then we saw that it went down through Seth and then to Noah, and it moved on down then to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  But Jacob had 12 sons.  Which one will it be?  Well, we know it’s not going to be Reuben.  It looks like Joseph, does it not?  But not Joseph; it’s Judah.  And God, by his marvelous grace, picked him and out of that tribe there will come the Messiah; there will come the Deliverer; there will come the Savior of the world!

Now in Verse 16 we take up the tribe of Dan.

Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.  17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.  I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord.  (Genesis 49:16-18)

Now Dan is going to need the salvation of the LORD, because Dan was one of the tribes, you will recall, that actually led in rebellion.  We’ll see that when we get to it.

Now Verse 19:

Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.

Now actually these are tribes if you’ll notice the location of them.  The prophecy is given to the son, and these sons were the founders of the tribes that actually were in the north.  You find that Dan was really the one farthest north.  We use the expression, “Dan to Beersheba” and we find that along the coast we’ve seen Zebulun and Issachar and now we move on down; it says, “Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.”  And we’re now beginning to move down just a little.

Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.  Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words.  (Genesis 49:20-21)

Now I can’t go into detail, but as I mentioned last time, this young man who’s a Lutheran, he wrote a thesis and I understand it was published—I couldn’t tell you much about it now.  I know that I had a copy of the thesis and have it somewhere today.  I can’t put my finger on it, but it was quite remarkable how he took each one of these boys and showed how these prophecies were fulfilled in the lives of each one of the tribes.  You see that different ones—in fact, every one that we’ll deal with personally from now on comes out of one of the tribes of Israel.  In fact, we follow, of course, David and his line, and we know he came out of the tribe of Judah.  We saw that last time; that the kingly line would come from Judah.

Now we come to Joseph, Verse 22.

Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:

Now Joseph, you see, had left the land and gone down into Egypt, but he still was a witness for God there.  And you’ll find that Ephraim and Manasseh were put in the land where actually the Samaritans were later on.  It was called Gentile territory in Christ’s day.  Great place for witness; the gospel went into that area.  My, you could follow each one of these through in such a very remarkable way!

And then we have here, Verse 23:

The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:

But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)  Verse 25:  Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:  (Genesis 49:23-25)

Actually, the two tribes that came from Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, became very prominent, important tribes.  But out of these tribes also there came the division of the kingdom.  They were just that potent, by the way.  

Now we have here Verse 26:

The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.

The thing Jacob does is to try to tie Joseph and the two tribes that are going to come from him back to the God of Israel, the God of Jacob, the Creator, the Redeemer, and why?  Well, it’s these two tribes; especially Ephraim, that led into idolatry and caused the division of the kingdom where we have Jeroboam out of the tribe of Ephraim leading, and it was up in these two tribes that the two calves were placed for worship.  So that he did well, you see, to call them back to the God of his fathers.

Now he gives them, having given Joseph—Joseph is next to the youngest, we have Benjamin, Verse 27.

Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.

This is a strange prophecy concerning Benjamin, but again, why, you will find that Benjamin was closely identified with Judah; so much so that Benjamin went with the tribe of Judah at the division of the kingdom, they’re the only tribes that stayed with the house of David.  This is a remarkable prophecy that has other fulfillment.  We’re not going into detail on all these.  It just would make a remarkable study to just spend time on following these 12 sons into the 12 tribes and the history of the 12 tribes.  

JACOB’S FINAL WORDS & DEATH

We read Verse 29, and this is Jacob now.

And he charged them, (that is, his sons) and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people…

You see, death to him was not an end of it all.  He was going to be with his people. 

…bury me (that is, his body) with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite.  (Genesis 49:29)

Now this is the cave that Abraham bought.  And he wanted to be buried there because that one was bought and paid for, and he wanted to make sure that he stayed in that land until the day that he’d be raised from the dead to live in that land.  He goes on now in Verse 30, depicting all of this.

In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a burying place…  (Genesis 49:30)

Now you see how much this man knew of his own history.  It’s quite remarkable.  I don’t think he carried with him a written record at this time.  He says:

 …There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.  (Genesis 49:31)

Now it’s not that he’s interested in being buried with Leah; after all, Rachel is buried up at Bethlehem, but he wants to be where he’ll be raised from the dead at the resurrection when God fulfills his promises to this nation.  And you see it’s going to be to each one of these tribes too.  And now he goes on in Verse 32.

The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth.  And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.  (Genesis 49:32-33)

And I think this is quite interesting.  Up to the very last, Jacob kept his feet on the floor.  He started out in life a man that was a man of the flesh.  He took hold of his brother’s heel at birth and he’s named “the supplanter,” and he lived up to that name.  It was certainly characteristic of him.  He’d seize everything that he could hold onto.  He was always reaching out, trying to be first.  And he started out by going on all fours.  He took what he wanted by any method.  Now as a young man, he walked in his own strength and ability, depended on his own cleverness and ingenuity.  He was able to take care of himself; he didn’t need God.  And he learned his lessons when he visited Uncle Laban, self-sufficient, self-opinionated, self-assertive, aggressive, and contemptible and despicable.  

And then he comes after that experience to Peniel at the Brook Jabba.  God crippled him.  God had to break his leg to get him, and I think God was prepared to break his neck.  And he went through life limping.  In other words, he started out on four legs, he went on two legs, now he’s going to go on three legs.  He’s going to use a staff; he’ll walk on a walking stick.  And he could not any longer walk by himself.  

And now here at death, he’s still sitting up in bed and he’s leaning on his staff, but now the time has come.  He just pulls his feet up in bed, puts down the staff, and he lays down and dies.  

This is Jacob.  He’d walked a long ways through life, and he’d come a long ways.

CHAPTER 50

JACOB’S BURIAL & 

JOSEPH’S DEATH AND BURIAL

Now we have in Chapter 50, actually, the burial of Jacob.  And it’s a fitting chapter to end Genesis, that began with the Creation and then it ends almost dull-fully, but sin has come in and brought death.  And you have here the death and burial of Jacob and you have the death and burial of Joseph—the burial of Jacob up in Canaan; the burial of Joseph in Egypt.

Now notice Genesis 50, Verse 1:

And Joseph fell upon his father’s face, and wept upon him, and kissed him.

He sorrowed naturally.  He loved his father.

And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel.  (Genesis 50:2)

As you know, the Egyptians were quite expert at this sort of thing.  We hear of the mummies in Egypt.  Well, they had a method of burying that we haven’t caught onto really today.  Here was something that was quite remarkable that they knew.  A great many people think that it was the nation Israel that developed this down in the land of Egypt.  Well, I’m not prepared to discuss that, but at least Joseph called in the physicians and had them embalm his father.  And you don’t laugh at a funeral, but I can’t help but smile when I think they made old Jacob into a mummy.  That’s what happened to him.  And I’m of the opinion that his mummy’s up there in Hebron today.  His request was, “I want to be taken and buried up there.”  Why?  His hope is an earthly hope, Friends, don’t you see it?  He wants to be buried up there in that land because someday he’s to be raised from the dead and, when he is, why he’ll be there in the land with the nation Israel.  

Now he has no promise of being caught up to meet the Lord in the air and going to a place called the New Jerusalem out in space.  Now that’s a promise given to the child of God today in the Church.  There are two different hopes, by the way.  But they’re both glorious, wonderful hopes.  I’ll be honest with you, I just as soon have one as the other, but I’m confident that it’s the superior hope to go and be with Christ.  That is the hope today of the believer in the church.

Now we’re told:

And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed: and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days.  (Genesis 50:3)

And I’d call attention to two things there—the length of time that it took to embalm; 40 days.  Evidently, there were several processes to this and that which we know nothing about today.  Now the Egyptians mourned for him, and I don’t think this was professional mourning.  I think he became a real saint in the land of Egypt and probably was looked up to and respected as the father of Joseph.  Joseph was the deliverer, but certainly this was his father, and he at this time was a real saint of God.

Now Verse 4:

And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again.  And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear.  And Joseph went up to bury his father: and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt.  (Genesis 50:4-7)

You see, this man was greatly respected and loved and honored in the land of Egypt.  This is probably the longest funeral procession the world’s ever seen.  When I say long, I mean by that it was all the way from Egypt up to Canaan to Hebron, and that’s a pretty long funeral procession.

And all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father’s house: only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen.  (Genesis 50:8)

I don’t know this, but I highly suspect that Pharaoh required this to make sure Joseph would come back.  Pharaoh needed him.  Verse 9:

And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company.   And they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days.  And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians: wherefore the name of it was called Abelmizraim, which is beyond Jordan.  

And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them:  For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a burying place of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.  (Genesis 50:9-13)

Now maybe this will answer the question that I’m sure several will ask, and that will be, “Well, what about Jacob?  Why wasn’t he buried with his lovely Rachel in Bethlehem?  It was nearby; probably 20 more miles farther north.”  Well, I think it’s obvious now.  Again and again we’ve been told that this is the place that Abraham “bought” and Jacob wanted to be put in the place that was bought and paid for to make sure he’d stay in that land.  I think that’s important to see. That’s the reason he was buried here with the other patriarchs.  This was their hope.

And now, Verse 14:

And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.

And when Joseph’s brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him.  

And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.  (Genesis 50:14-17)

You see, evidently, these brethren before old Jacob died they came to him and said to him, “What’ll happen to us when you die?  And Joseph will turn on us and against us at that time?”  Well, he said, “Then here’s my message that I want you to give to Joseph, and he’ll not, I’m sure, persecute you or attempt to get even.”  Finally, the confession of these brethren bring from Joseph, you see here, there men were just weeping because of it, because they’re now repenting of it.  And Verse 18:

And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants.  (Genesis 50:18)

You see the prophecy that he’d had of the sun, moon, and star falling down before him is certainly come true.  Verse 19:

And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? (Genesis 50:19)

And Joseph will give God the glory in every case!  Notice!  “But as for you….”  Now here’s a remarkable verse of Scripture; Verse 20:

But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.  (Genesis 50:20)

Friends, God has a far-off purpose that you and I do not see.  And that respects your life and my life today.  And I must confess how human I am about this because I tell you I can’t see any farther than my nose when trouble comes to me, and my question is, “Why does God permit it to happen?”  Well, He’s got a good purpose in view, and He’s not going to let it happen to you unless it will accomplish a good purpose in your life.  Listen to him!

Now therefore (He says) fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.  And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father’s house: and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years.  And Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third generation:  (I take it he was a great-great grandfather!) the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought up upon Joseph’s knees.

And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.  And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.  So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.  (Genesis 50:21-26).  

And that’s the way the Book of Genesis ends.  “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”  That’s the beginning.  But now, a coffin in Egypt—what happened?  Well, sin entered the human family.  

But now notice this specifically.  The question arises, “Why was Joseph taken up at this time and buried in the land?”  Well, I think, obviously, Joseph happens to be a hero in the land of Egypt.  I do not think that they would have permitted his body to have been removed from that land at the time.  I think he was one of the outstanding patriots that the Egyptians worshipped probably—at least they certainly treated with respect his grave and probably a monument was reared to him.

But now he said to his own people, “When you go up, don’t leave my bones down here.”  Now again, Friends, may I say that he had a hope.  It was an earthly hope…that someday he was to be raised from the dead.  Now if he is to be raised from the dead and to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, what difference does it make whether the launching pad’s in Egypt or Canaan or Florida or wherever you live?  It wouldn’t make a bit of difference!  We are to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air someday!  It doesn’t make any difference where we are buried!  But to these people, it meant a great deal to be buried in that land, for that land is their hope.  It is to be their eternal possession.  And this brings us now to the conclusion of the Book of Genesis!  

Next time, Friends, we’re going to the New Testament to the Gospel of Matthew.  I hope you have our “Notes and Outlines”.  If not, be sure and write in and ask for them!