Jacob

A hodgepodge of reflections on Jacob, Joseph, and the providential sweep of Genesis---some a record of emails, some from BKC, some loose thoughts knocking around my head:

BKCisms:

"With the coming of Messiah there will be paradise-like splendor. Kidner says that every line of Gen_49:11-12 “speaks of exuberant, intoxicating abundance: it is the golden age of the Coming One, whose universal rule was glimpsed inGen_49:10” (Genesis, p. 219). For Judah, grapevines will be so abundant that they will be used for hitching posts; wine will be as abundant as wash water. In Judah, people’s eyes will be red or bright from wine and their teeth will be white from drinking much milk. These are picturesque ways of describing the suitability of Judah’s territory for vineyards. Such opulence will be evident in the Millennium"(Isa_61:6-7; Isa_65:21-25; Zec_3:10).

This was Jacob’s decision in spite of Joseph’s direction. Joseph, like so many others, expected God to work in a certain way, but found that He is often pleased to work differently and sometimes even unconventionally. But faith recognizes that God’s ways are not man’s ways. It took Jacob a lifetime of discipline to learn that fact. But he learned it, and now he blessed the younger over the elder. For four consecutive generations this reversed pattern was followed: Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob over Esau, Joseph over Reuben, and Ephraim over Manasseh.

Joseph lived to see his great-great-grandchildren by Ephraim and his great-grandchildren by Manasseh.

Verses I find interesting:

Gen 50:20  Don't you see, you planned evil against me but God used those same plans for my good, as you see all around you right now--life for many people. 

God's plan was much bigger than the perimeters of Jacob's life---so is His plan for all of us.

Gen 50:21  "Easy now, you have nothing to fear; I'll take care of you and your children." He reassured them, speaking with them heart-to-heart."  -The Message, Joseph to his brothers, reassuring them after their father'sh death.

 I find the details of the care he extended to his family notable---certainly this care grew out of his personal experience of being NOT cared for, as well as his wise stewardship experience of tending Pharoah's land and people for so many years.