Hebrews 11:21 NIVUK
[21] By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshipped as he leaned on the top of his staff.
Have you ever gone to a place and found that it was completely different than you expected?
Early on in our travelling days, my wife and I took our young daughter to a city famed for its romance. We all looked forward to it with great anticipation.
What we found was a city where there are plenty of pickpockets, where transport is a lot harder than we expected and where the views that had a reputation for being the most picturesque in the world seemed somewhat, well, ordinary.
It was one of the most disappointing trips we’ve ever made.
I won’t tell you where it was, but suffice to say that we have never been back since.
This verse is quite unexpected.
Firstly, because of who it is about. Jacob had a reputation right from the earliest recorded moments as being a con man, someone who took advantage of other people for his own personal gain. This was not just a brief moment in his life, but something that happened time and time and time again.
So if you were expecting someone super-spiritual to be one of the Patriarchs, think again. Jacob was anything but.
Secondly, because of where it took place. The words mentioned here were pronounced in Egypt, away from the Promised Land.
Thirdly, because of what these words are. They are among Jacob's last words to his family before he died. And we have to be brutally honest here: some of them are not pleasant.
So how can they possibly be an act of faith?
Let’s take a closer look.
There are three verbs that described what Jacob was doing here – three actions he carried out.
The first is that he was dying.
That makes what he is about to say highly poignant. These are his last words to his sons.
They are very special.
But it also says a lot about Jacob.
He had lived his whole life looking for an angle for himself – a way he can get ahead. He spent every day trying to ascend the ladder of human souls and not caring about whom he trod down in the process.
Yet three things happened to Jacob where God cut the rug from under him, reduced his power and made him dependent on others.
The first is wrestling (Genesis 32:22-32). He did it for a blessing – battling a messenger of God for some form of material gain, and while on the way to meet the brother he had double-crossed on at least two occasions.
Typical Jacob.
Yet this astonishing and utterly unique event left him crippled and needing to lean on a stick. He got the blessing, but also got reduced mobility with it.
The second is famine. The man who did not care about the consequences of his actions for other people now finds himself reduced to utter needy dependency on a foreign power – albeit one administered by his long lost son (Genesis 42, 43, 46).
Let me use terminology we are familiar with, but is loaded with emotional and political baggage: Jacob needed to become an economic migrant and an environmental refugee to survive.
Lastly is aging. Time has caught up with Jacob now. He is an old man. He is close to his passing.
God has taken this proud man and reduced him to dependency.
Does it sound familiar? How about this?
John 21:18-19 NIV
[18] Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.’ [19] Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, ‘Follow me!’ https://bible.com/bible/113/jhn.21.18-19.NIVUK
I don’t doubt for a second that for a man like Jacob, these three states would have grated, chafed and been deeply painful. But here we see a proud man in his last days, used by God one last time to bless his family.
That is what faith does. It keeps going. No matter the obstacles. Even if some are self-imposed.
The second thing we see here is blessing, which is expounded in detail on Genesis 48.
Now, there is something quite remarkable here. In the next chapter, Jacob blesses all his boys. And aspects of this blessing are even prophetic – not just pointing to how and where their offspring will live, but even which tribe will produce kings, also from whom the Messiah would come (Judah – Genesis 49:8-10).
Yet the writer to the Hebrews is more interested in this blessing of Joseph’s sons.
Why?
Firstly, because of his faith. Jacob was in a foreign land. Yet he still held to God's promise to him and his descendants:
Genesis 48:3-4 NIV
[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.”
He still believed it even though at this time it all seemed quite unlikely. They were few in number and hundreds of miles from the land God had promised them. Yet Jacob still believed.
Secondly, because of his gratitude. For all of his life, Jacob had been both a grafter and a grasper. He had lived his entire existence for ‘more’. Yet this is his prayer now:
Genesis 48:15-16 NIV
[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.’
He blesses these boys from a heart that has truly been converted and now recognises his utterly dependence on God, and he, at last, is grateful.
Thirdly, because of his vision. Look at what happened next:
Genesis 48:12-14 NIV
[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 towards Israel’s left hand and Manasseh on his left towards 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.
Genesis 48:17-20 NIV
[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.
Just like his blessing of the other tribes, this is prophetic. Jacob’s blessing comes true. Manasseh becomes just one tribe, but Ephraim became larger, more numerous and more powerful, until the name Ephraim came to represent the entire Israelite nation.
So Jacob’s blessing came true.
As well as dying and blessing, we see Jacob worshipping.
Genesis 47:28-31 NIV
[28] Jacob lived in Egypt seventeen years, and the years of his life were a hundred and forty-seven. [29] When the time drew near for Israel to die, he called for his son Joseph and said to him, ‘If I have found favour in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and promise that you will show me kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt, [30] but when I rest
with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me where they are buried.’ ‘I will do as you say,’ he said. [31] ‘Swear to me,’ he said. Then Joseph swore to him, and Israel worshipped as he leaned on the top of his staff.
This is quite something.
Firstly, because the old man still longer to see God’s vision for him and his family fulfilled – and not his own.
But more importantly, here is a man who lived his life only for himself. Yet now, as his days are shortening, he worships God. He ascribes glory and greatness to God.
More than that, in the middle of blessing his sons, he expresses his utter dependence on God to help him finish what he is doing (Genesis 49:18).
This is all quite impressive.
But also late.
A friend of mine who works with children has a saying: if you bring a child to Christ, you save a life; if you bring an adult to Christ, you save half a life.
Think about that for a second.
Jacob had to wait until his old age, until God had beset him with a crippling injury, family and the frailty of old age before he expressed his utter dependency on God and truly worshipped Him. Yes, he showed faith while doing so. Tremendous faith.
But he would have saved himself, and his family, a whole heaping helping of struggle and pain if he had renounced his selfish, conniving ways and come to faith in God much earlier.
And therein lies the lesson.
Maybe it’s time you gave up living life on your own terms and came to Christ too.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, help me to take the lesson from Jacob’s life. Help me to see that it is of much greater benefit to me, and the people around me, if I come to faith in You and obedience to You now. I come, Lord Jesus. Right now. Amen.
Questions
1. Why did the writer to the Hebrews highlight this event in particular? What did he want us to learn?
2. How did Jacob express faith in God while blessing Joseph’s sons?
3. What did it take for Jacob to truly express faith in God? What will it take for you to do the same?
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