Jacob Adopts His Grandsons

2/7/2008 9:04 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                  Focus:  Jacob adopts his grandsons

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Genesis 48:1-20

            Message of the verses:  “1 ¶  Now it came about after these things that Joseph was told, "Behold, your father is sick." So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him.  2  When it was told to Jacob, "Behold, your son Joseph has come to you," Israel collected his strength and sat up in the bed.  3  Then Jacob said to Joseph, "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, 4  and He said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and numerous, and I will make you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you for an everlasting possession.’  5  "Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are.  6  "But your offspring that have been born after them shall be yours; they shall be called by the names of their brothers in their inheritance.  7  "Now as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died, to my sorrow, in the land of Canaan on the journey, when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem)."

8 ¶  When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he said, "Who are these?"  9  Joseph said to his father, "They are my sons, whom God has given me here." So he said, "Bring them to me, please, that I may bless them."  10  Now the eyes of Israel were so dim from age that he could not see. Then Joseph brought them close to him, and he kissed them and embraced them.  11  Israel said to Joseph, "I never expected to see your face, and behold, God has let me see your children as well."  12  Then Joseph took them from his knees, and bowed with his face to the ground.  13  Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s left, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right, and brought them close to him.  14  But Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, crossing his hands, although Manasseh was the firstborn.  15  He blessed Joseph, and said, "The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, The God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, 16  The angel who has redeemed me from all evil, Bless the lads; And may my name live on in them, And the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; And may they grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth."  17  When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on Ephraim’s head, it displeased him; and he grasped his father’s hand to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head.  18 Joseph said to his father, "Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn. Place your right hand on his head."  19  But his father refused and said, "I know, my son, I know; he also will become a people and he also will be great. However, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations."  20  He blessed them that day, saying, "By you Israel will pronounce blessing, saying, ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh!’" Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh.”

There are some things that happen that are very important to the nation of Israel, and there are also some things that happen here that are pictures of the believers life.

Jacob was about to die at the age of 137 and before he did he had to take care of some business that needed to be taken care of, and that was to adopt the two sons of Joseph, to make Joseph his number one son in place of Ruben and to make Joseph’s sons replace Simeon and Levi because of what they did in killing all of the males in Shechem.  Levi would be scattered throughout the land of Israel and not have an inheritance and Simeon would be a part of the tribe of Judah.  (The story of how this happened can be seen in Judges 19:1-9) 

When Jacob was blessing these two sons of Joseph he had just adopted he reversed the birth order of them and Joseph, for the first time recorded in the Scriptures disagreed with his father and wanted him to bless the oldest first and not the youngest first, however Jacob knew what he was doing and explained why he was doing this to Joseph and there was no more disagreement between them.

Jacob only spoke of the good things that had happened in his life in this section of the story, and he spoke of how his God had blessed him with the covenant blessings, so no the stage was set for this family to become a great nation.

I want to write a bit about how the second born had taken the place of the first born in the book of Genesis for this is not the first time it happened and it does have a deep meaning, as it is a picture of the new birth, for after all it is the second birth of all believers that is more important than the first birth as Jesus spoke of in John three.  God chose Able over Cain, Isaac not Ishmael, Jacob not Esau, and Joseph not Ruben and in replacing Simeon and Levi with Joseph’s two sons Rachel was being replaced by Leah the older of the sisters.

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I really like learning about the pictures of the OT that become real in the NT and this picture of the second over the first is just one of them.  The pictures of Joseph’s life are things that will happen to Jesus Christ when He came to earth.  I can learn from this writing that it is God who controls history and things will happen the way He has planned for them to happen, and this is why Romans 8:28 is one of the more important verses in all of the Scriptures for in that verse it can be seen that God does cause all things, including sins and wrong doings to work together for good and this is surely true in my life as well.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to trust the Lord to take care of my family during these very uncertain times, and not have trust in the money that Andrew Lech owes me to take care of us in our old age, but trust that God will do this because He has promised to do so. 

Memory verses for the week:  Philippians 1:9-11

9. And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment,
10. so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;
11. having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.