Ask God to open your mind, heart
and will to understand, delight in and obey what you read.
Read Genesis
49-50 & Matthew
15v1-20
To discover:
As you read note the different things predicted.
To ponder:
Genesis began explaining humanity’s loss of paradise and
blessing. It ends with us confident God will restore it.
Jacob’s gathering of his sons
raises our interest. He speaks prophetically of what the later Old Testament
confirms. Perhaps God revealed these things in another vision.
Reuben, Simeon and Levi all miss
out because of the sin we saw them commit. Reuben’s example offers particular
warning: He started well, yet fell into sexual sin. Simeon and Levi are denied
a share in the land. So Simeon’s tribe is barely heard of after the land is
taken; and Levi forfeit their share because of the priestly role they are given.
Contrast Judah:
He will conquer like the lion enjoying his prey. He will always rule, and not
just over the other tribes, but over the nations – when “the one comes to whom”
his sceptre belongs (v8, 10)! Verses 11-12 are then filled with the language of
prosperity, joy and health. We should not be surprised that Jesus, the lion of
Judah (Rev 5v5), stemmed from Judah’s
line. Nor that his kingdom is described with similar images (Rev 7v14-17).
Jacob’s words are fulfilled in him.
Judah’s
pre-eminence explains why the southern kingdom is often called Judah
after Israel
splits in the 8th century BC. Joseph’s pre-eminence explains why the
northern kingdom from then is often called Ephraim, after his second son who
Jacob blessed as first. God is honoured for Joseph’s strength. He is a “prince”
among his brothers, and blessings are showered on him (v25-26).
The death of both Jacob and
Joseph display their enduring faith in God’s promise. Jacob is determined that
he is buried in the tomb Abraham bought in the land (49v29-33). In death he is
said to have been “gathered to his people” – primarily those in v31. The sense is
of them together awaiting the day when they will be brought to enjoy God’s
promise.
Jacob’s significance is affirmed
by the honour ascribed him: 70 and 7 days of mourning – where seven symbolising
completion or fullness, and ten symbolises many. The Egyptians going to the land with the
embryonic Israel
may hint at God’s intention eventually to include Gentiles in his promise.
With Jacob dead the brothers did
not need to worry about Joseph’s attitude to them. He weeps, shows kindness,
and reaffirms what we’ve been learning: God was acting through their evil acts
– a truth the Bible applies to evil more generally too (Eph 1v11). Yet God is
not charged with evil because his intention is good (Rom 8v28-30).
By
faith Joseph is confident that God will come to his family’s aid and take them
from Egypt to Canaan.
He therefore asks that his bones go too so that he also is laid to rest in the
inheritance (Heb 11v22). We finish then, ready for the book of Exodus.
Praying it home:
List the key things you’ve learnt about God in Genesis, and
praise him for them. Pray that you would be able to rejoice in all we have in
Christ.
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