Looking To The Future
Opening Prayer
Heavenly Father, Your mercies are new every morning, Your faithfulness is great. May I live today in great joy.
Read GENESIS 48
Some time later Joseph was told, “Your father is ill.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim along with him. 2 When Jacob was told, “Your son Joseph has come to you,” Israel rallied his strength and sat up on the bed.
3 Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there he blessed me 4 and said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you.’
5 “Now then, your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here will be reckoned as mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine. 6 Any children born to you after them will be yours; in the territory they inherit they will be reckoned under the names of their brothers. 7 As I was returning from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died in the land of Canaan while we were still on the way, a little distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath” (that is, Bethlehem).
8 When Israel saw the sons of Joseph, he asked, “Who are these?”
9 “They are the sons God has given me here,” Joseph said to his father.
Then Israel said, “Bring them to me so I may bless them.”
10 Now Israel’s eyes were failing because of old age, and he could hardly see. So Joseph brought his sons close to him, and his father kissed them and embraced them.
11 Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your children too.”
12 Then Joseph removed them from Israel’s knees and bowed down with his face to the ground. 13 And Joseph took both of them, Ephraim on his right toward Israel’s left hand and Manasseh on his left toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them close to him. 14 But Israel reached out his right hand and put it on Ephraim’s head, though he was the younger, and crossing his arms, he put his left hand on Manasseh’s head, even though Manasseh was the firstborn.
15 Then he blessed Joseph and said,
“May the God before whom my fathers
Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully,
the God who has been my shepherd
all my life to this day,
16 the Angel who has delivered me from all harm
—may he bless these boys.
May they be called by my name
and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac,
and may they increase greatly
on the earth.”
17 When Joseph saw his father placing his right hand on Ephraim’s head he was displeased; so he took hold of his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. 18 Joseph said to him, “No, my father, this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.”
19 But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of nations.” 20 He blessed them that day and said,
“In your name will Israel pronounce this blessing:
‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’”
So he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.
21 Then Israel said to Joseph, “I am about to die, but God will be with you and take you back to the land of your fathers. 22 And to you I give one more ridge of land than to your brothers, the ridge I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow.”
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
We need to remember the importance of the traditions of the past and the needs of the future.
Think Further
To this point the narrative has focused on life preserved from danger and death. Now there is a change and the final three chapters are concerned with death and dying. This shift of emphasis presents a sharp and disturbing contrast with the preoccupations of people in modern, secular societies in which the loss of tradition and memory “has made death an acutely private crisis for which individual persons lack resources” (Walter Brueggemann).
The conversation between the bedridden, almost-blind Jacob and his son Joseph is full of emotion. Jacob recalls the critical turning points in his life, both the joy of God’s revelation to him (3,4) and the deep grief of the loss of his beloved Rachel (7). Yet through all these “changing scenes of life” (N Tate and N Brady), he has gained a radiant faith and a firm hope that shines from this passage. However, the old man’s concern is not with himself but with the transmission of the hope derived from God’s promise to the coming generation. We notice again the contrast with the modern world, in which people have little wisdom to pass to the young, and the future becomes mortgaged to immediate fulfilment and satisfaction. What a precious resource is ours in Jacob’s wonderful words in verses 15 and 16!
The writer gives no explanation of Jacob’s defiance of tradition in the crossing of his hands, an act which so disturbed Joseph (14,17–20). Perhaps we are meant to recognize God’s freedom and sovereignty, which defies human expectations and reshapes human history according to his will and purpose.
This chapter provides a picture of a man who has become a grandfather. Reflect on how important godly grandparents are and pray for those known to you.
Apply
What do you make of the crisscross way Jacob blesses Ephraim and Manasseh? When Jacob blessed Joseph he spoke of God as a guiding shepherd (15) and a guardian angel (16). What do these images mean to you?
Closing prayer
Truly Lord, You have been my guiding shepherd and guardian angel. As I look back over my life, I can see that Your presence has never left me. I thank and praise You.
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