Genesis 48-49:12

Jack Abeelen
1/16/2013
Jacob At 147 Years Old
Genesis 48-49:12

Jacob--a man who is, at best, unsteady.  We can relate to Jacob.
Joseph--you really can't point to anybody. He sails through life--godly, committed, steadfast, 110 years old

Genesis 1-11
4 major events
formation
fall of man
flood
fallout

Joseph--nearly 25% of the book
Great lesson to teach us---the sovereignty of God rules over all.

God's only interested in two things
*get us to the first coming of his son.
*prepare us for the second coming.
What's the Bible about?  It's to take you to the first coming of Christ at the cross and have you wait for the second coming.

Man goes through 7 steps in his life
spills--babies spill everything
drills--go to school, get tested
thrills--grow up, date, drive, college
bills--pay for stuff, cost involved
ills--get older, things begin to hurt, not as resilient, sick more
pills--
wills--

Jacob is in the wills stage. Jacob wants to adopt Joseph's two sons, Manesseh and Ephraim.  Wants to promote these two to tribe status--make them part of the tribes of Israel.  Joseph isn't mentioned as a tribe, but with his two sons, that would make 13. There are some 29 lists of tribes in the Bible. The lists vary. Tribes shift. Levi is often left off the list. Joseph isn't on any list until Rev 7.

God continues to bless Joseph for sure.  In Bethlehem today, (under PLO) if you go into the city right before you go inside, you can see Rachel's tomb.  3rd holiest site to the Jews. Jacob wants to make them full and equal partners.  He notices movement in the room, (dim with age eyesight) and asks about sons. Joseph positions the boys for blessing, and Jacob does the grandpa thing---does what he wants. Joseph "guided his hands knowingly," well meaning, tries to help Jacob out because he knows he can't see. But Jacob crosses his arms. He knew exactly what he was doing even though he couldn't see.   Israel was a man of the Spirit at that point.

The law of the first born precedes Moses.  First born rights born only to him.  Patriarchal head of the family, double inheritance, voting rights in what happened to the family, business, adjudicate matters, new "master of the house" Authority to lead, rule, choose.  Elisha followed Elijah around, "What do you want from me?" "I want a double portion."  He wants his position when Elijah dies. Typically the way things went unless God had other ideas.

Second law, precedes the law of the firstborn--the law of preeminence.  Literally mean that God chooses whom He chooses when He chooses because of His will to choose outside of the law that we would follow.  Because He's sovereign, He oftentimes interjected Himself and made decisions only He could make.

not Cain--Abel
not Ishmael--Isaac
not Esau---Jacob
not Reuben--Joseph
not Manasseh--Ephraim

not Aaron--Moses
not Eliab--David

He does a lot of these things. He wants us to graphically see that He's the one who's in charge.

The greatest example of preeminence is Colossians 1:15  "He is the image of the first born God. The first born of all creation."

Greek--prototokos, "first in value or importance"  not first born. Not a matter of timing but choice. Where does God place the value on the use of that individual for the sake of others.

Ephraim became a huge tribe in terms of population
Manansseh had more space, but not useful land