In the Beginning: A Study in Genesis 37-50Sample

What is the key to being blessed by God?

As we near the end of the book of Genesis, we come to the end of Jacob’s, aka Israel’s, life. He has spent much of his life in disobedience and rebellion to God’s laws, and, as a result, most of his sons are themselves disobedient and rebellious. By this point, however, Jacob has repented and reconciled himself to Joseph and his brothers, along with God. As a repentant and changed man, he now has regained the moral authority to lead his family and bless his sons before he dies, even giving prophetic words from the Holy Spirit over the futures of his sons and grandsons.

In this, we see there are three kinds of blessings. One, there is internal blessing; this is the blessing of knowing that God loves you, forgives you, and wipes your conscience clean. This is the blessing that Jacob has from God. It’s the blessing that Joseph’s brothers have from his forgiveness. Two, there’s external blessing, which is a gift. Somebody buys you a car. They pay off your mortgage. A relative passes away and leaves you an estate. This is precisely what is happening in this scene where the wealth is passed from one generation to the next.

Three, there’s eternal blessing. Jesus says that we store up our treasure in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy. Many if not most of our blessings are sent ahead and will be waiting for us when we enter into the kingdom of God. Upon his death, Jacob will experience the beginning of this eternal blessing.

The law of blessing is that loyalty must go up for blessing to come down. For God to bless us, we must obey Him and be loyal to His laws. For our boss at work to bless us, we must first be loyal employees. For our parents to bless us, we must first be honoring, loyal children.

Some of the most intriguing prophecies are given to Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, and Joseph. Jacob begins by rebuking Reuben for having sex with his fathers concubine (Genesis 35:22), and Simeon and Levi for being violent men (e.g. Genesis 34). For this reason, although Reuben was the firstborn of Jacob, he does not receive the customary blessing that the firstborn receives. We see in verse four that his disloyalty to his father has come with a consequence.

He then appoints Judah as the son of the promise as Judah has made the journey from godless to godly man in much the same fashion as his father had. And, Jacob prophesies a coming king from the line of Judah in Genesis 49:10 which included David (II Samuel 7) and was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who is the King of Kings.

Judah finishes well despite a bad start; he was completely immoral and degenerate, disloyal and rebellious to his father and God. Judah, however, had a change of heart. He repented, came clean with his mistakes, and tried to live his life in obedience and loyalty. The loyalty went up and the blessing came down. He’s going to be the leader of the family after Jacob passes. The Lord Jesus will come through Judah’s family line. There is tremendous hope in this for all of us that, even if we start out disloyal and rebellious, we can still be blessed by God if we are willing to repent and submit.

Jacob goes on to speak blessings over all of his sons. Some are harsh words. He calls out their bad character and condemns them for it. Harsh words from a loving voice can still be a huge blessing if it causes you to change. Some of Jacob’s blessings are prophecies. He warns them of trials to come, but reassures them that God is for them, and they will be fine if they remain faithful.

The son who receives the most blessing by leaps and bounds is Joseph. Jacob could not use kinder, more loving, more blessing-oriented language when he speaks over Joseph. It is a tremendous thing to see a father speak over a son. Why Joseph? Loyalty goes up, blessing comes down. Joseph has endured the most while remaining loyal to God. Joseph has had the most challenging life of all of his brothers, and he still remained faithful. Joseph is proof that greater upward loyalty results in greater downward blessing.

Then, Jacob dies. He’s had a long life, full of mistakes, but he finishes strong. The last day of our lives is the most important. Jacob’s made his final plans. He has a plot of land to be buried in. He’s said his final words to his family. He’s appointed a leader to guide the family into the next season once he’s gone. He has blessed his kids and grandkids, and made sure they all know he loves them. Jacob is giving us an example of how to hand off the baton to the next generation well. He’s finishing his race well.

Joseph takes his father to be buried, and mourns significantly. He lost out on his 20’s and 30’s with his dad. His sons didn’t meet grandpa until their teens. Verse ten of chapter 50 says there was a “very great and grievous lamentation” for seven days. The mourning is so serious that the locals watching the funeral procession actually rename the land “Abel-mizraim,” which means “mourning.” Imagine a former president dies, and the state funeral is so emotional and moving that we change the name of Washington D.C. to “Sadness.” That is the depth of this death.

Lamenting is a very serious and repetitive theme in the Bible. It’s a healthy emotion. Sometimes we need to lament to heal properly and healthily. There’s an attitude a lot of men have where they think they need to bury their emotions, lace up their boots, and work through their pain. If the Lord Jesus wept to mourn his friend Lazarus, we know that an emotionally healthy man has to be able to weep when it’s appropriate.

There’s a day coming when we won’t have to lament anymore. We look forward to a place where we won’t have to weep anymore. Revelation 21 tells us that when we get to Heaven and see Jesus face-to-face, He will take His nail-scarred hands and wipe the tears from our eyes. Those of us who are in Christ look forward with eager expectation to this day.

Question:

The rest of the Bible contributes a great deal to our understanding of who this promised coming king is. According to Matthew 1:1-3, 2:6; Luke 3:30-33; Hebrews 7:14; and Revelation 5:5, Jesus is the promised descendant of Judah. According to Numbers 24:17; Hebrews 1:8; and Revelation 19:15- 16, Jesus Christ is the King of Kings who is coming again to rule all nations of the earth in fulfillment of Genesis 49:10. Look up any of these Scriptures that interest you to see how the promises in this scene of Genesis are fulfilled in Jesus Christ.